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"Chicago EL problem"

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bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-06-02, 02:56 PM (EDT) "Chicago EL problem" I have the chicago L2 route and is the one that could bust MSTS if you don't use it properly. Well, i tried to make an activity and all i get is 'failed to create tracks'what???James. Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Chicago EL problem davidbeach May-06-02 1 RE: Chicago EL problem bvecrazy May-06-02 2 RE: Chicago EL problem simont May-06-02 3 RE: Chicago EL problem bvecrazy May-06-02 4 RE: Chicago EL problem simont May-07-02 5 RE: Chicago EL problem bvecrazy May-07-02 6 RE: Chicago EL problem sniper297 May-07-02 7 RE: Chicago EL problem bvecrazy May-07-02 8 RE: Chicago EL problem sniper297 May-07-02 9 RE: Chicago EL problem bvecrazy May-08-02 10 RE: Chicago EL problem dvdhoven May-08-02 11 RE: Chicago EL problem bvecrazy May-08-02 12 RE: Chicago EL problem sniper297 May-08-02 13 RE: Chicago EL problem sniper297 May-08-02 14

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davidbeach (134 posts)
May-06-02, 03:34 PM (EDT) 1. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Did you run the batch file before starting the activety editor? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-06-02, 04:20 PM (EDT) 2. "RE: Chicago EL problem" bacth is a .bat file right? do you always need the runL2.bat running when playing msts?James. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
simont (21 posts)
May-06-02, 04:25 PM (EDT) 3. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Yeah. The way it works is (as is my understanding), the L2 route uses an entirely different trackset to the rest of MSTS. So opening the batch file copies the file required for L2's trackset (to be exact, the tsection.dat file), and closing it when you're finished, puts the old one back. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-06-02, 04:53 PM (EDT) 4. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Well, the batch file is trying hard but it still says 'failed to load track database'Any ideas?
James. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
simont (21 posts)
May-07-02, 12:36 PM (EDT) 5. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Are you doing everything in the right order? You need to open the batch file, and not close it untill you're done with the L2 route. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-07-02, 01:46 PM (EDT) 6. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Heres what I do:
1. go to the main MSTS folder
2. Go to routes
3. go to L2 folder
4. Run 'runL2.bat'
5. Minimize it to tray
6. With it still running, opens activity editor
7. new, Chicago elevated.
8. get message 'Failed to create track database'
9. Launches MSTS
10. Finds out that L2 isn't in the list
11. Type 'exit' in runL2.bat
12. swears at it and clicks X in upper right corner.This thread was then made.Thanks alot for at least trying to help, i appreciate it. any more help would be grateful.James. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (2182 posts)
May-07-02, 02:27 PM (EDT) 7. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Something I think everyone is assuming, but you never actually said, can you run the route at all, and you're only having this problem in the activity editor and not when you run the default activities for it in the sim? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-07-02, 03:18 PM (EDT) 8. "RE: Chicago EL problem" I said in the list i launched MSTS, butr its not in the driving routes list.Thanks,
James. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (2182 posts)
May-07-02, 05:06 PM (EDT) 9. "RE: Chicago EL problem" That would be the problem then, L2 is not configured to run. The RunL2.bat has 3 commands in it;1. "copy ..\global\L2.L2 ..\global\tsection.dat /y"
Translation: Copy the L2 \Global\L2.L2 file to overwrite the \Global tsection.dat file. This enables L2 to run, but will cause all other routes to have problems, since the \Global\tsection.dat file is no longer compatible with normal routes.2. "command"
Translation, pause the batch file, go to sleep, wait for the next input.3. "
copy ..\global\tsection.old ..\global\tsection.dat /y"Translation: Reverse the process of #1. Copy the original \Global\tsection.dat file (backed up as tsection.old) to overwrite the \Global tsection.dat file. This disables L2 and restores the compatibility with the other routes.This is pretty much as failsafe as it gets, if the machine locks up or you close the DOS box without typing exit, all you have to do is run the RunL2.bat, type "exit" and hit enter, and the default tsection.dat file is restored by the last command. ("Default", assuming you don't have Xtracks installed.)Two things can screw this up;
1. The install.bat wasn't run, or didn't do the whole thing it was supposed to do. Check in the root of \Train Simulator\Global, there should be an L2.L2 file, a tsection.dat file, and a tsection.old file if the install ran properly. Check the size of those 3 files, L2.L2 is a little bigger than the default tsection.dat file, so if after running RunL2.bat the L2.L2 file and the tsection.dat file are not the same size, then the RunL2.bat isn't doing #1 correctly. If the L2.L2 and tsection.old files are not in \Global, then the install didn't work and you need to re-extract and install the route.
2. The other thing that screws up the L2 route is Hoboken Shore. If you have the Hoboken route in the \Routes folder, there is something in the Hoboken route that's incompatible with the L2 route's tsection.dat file and causes the sim to not load until the USA_HBS folder is moved out of \Routes to a backup location.These are all teething pains with custom track sections, solutions are being worked on, so anyone not willing to be a beta tester for custom track sections should avoid L2, Hoboken Shore, or any other route that uses non-default track sections. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-08-02, 12:42 PM (EDT) 10. "RE: Chicago EL problem" LAST EDITED ON May-08-02 AT 12:45 PM (EDT)Sniper:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! That got it in the list BUT the problem still lives This time it says 'train word initilization failed'. I have RunL2.bat running.Thank you,
James. Northern progress:
Edgware Lines to depot
and siding done.
Now needs scenery.
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dvdhoven (809 posts)
May-08-02, 12:48 PM (EDT) 11. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Hi,Look at this thread:
http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/4737.htmlDick van den Hoven
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bvecrazy (92 posts)
May-08-02, 01:21 PM (EDT) 12. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Thats the problem, There is no such thing on any of the routes (even defaults) a folder called enviroment.
Whys this?James.
Northern progress:
Edgware Lines to depot
and siding done.
Now needs scenery. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (2182 posts)
May-08-02, 02:08 PM (EDT) 13. "RE: Chicago EL problem" Environment = \Envfiles folder, this is where all the data for sky effects and water, plus all the textures for sky, sun, moon, raindrops, snowflakes, and water are accessed. The route developer's community is learning all this stuff together as we go, KUJU did not document any of this stuff worth a rat's ass, and the mechanics of how the envfiles work wasn't understood at all until a few months ago.
I just looked at the install.bat for L2, Chris was worried that somebody might run install.bat twice and screw up the \Global\tsection.dat file so that it couldn't be restored, so the last line in the install.bat deletes itself ("This batch file will self destruct in 5 seconds..."). He has other layers of protection built into it too, but if you somehow deleted the install.bat without it doing everything it needs to do, that will make L2 inoperable. I say all this because the only known cause for "Train World Initialization Failure" is missing or corrupted *.env files in the \Envfiles folder, and the install.bat for L2 has the lines;copy .\USA2\EnvFiles\*.* .\L2\ENVFILES\*.*
copy .\USA2\EnvFiles\textures\*.* .\L2\EnvFiles\textures\*.*copy .\L2\envfiles\USA2rain.env .\L2\envfiles\rain.env
copy .\L2\envfiles\USA2sun.env .\L2\envfiles\sun.env
copy .\L2\envfiles\USA2snow.env .\L2\envfiles\snow.envThat's a clumsy way of doing it, Chris was out of touch for a while and probably hasn't followed all the threads where we were trying to figure out envfiles, so he doesn't know that you can hack the .trk file for the route to use whichever set of envfiles you want without renaming them. But aside from that, the install.bat does give a full set of envfiles, so if you don't have that, I would delete the route, unzip it and run the install.bat. Note that both install.bat and RunL2.bat are different from the usual batch file based on EZstuff, they are meant to be run in the root of the \Routes folder rather than in the folder for the route itself. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (2182 posts)
May-08-02, 08:25 PM (EDT) 14. "RE: Chicago EL problem" One more thing I just noticed, I mentioned in passing that Chris' batch files are set up to run in the root of the \Routes folder, but I didn't stress the point. Looking at your list again just now;1. go to the main MSTS folder
2. Go to routes
3. go to L2 folder
4. Run 'runL2.bat'That should read;1. go to the main MSTS folder
2. Go to routes
3. Run 'runL2.bat'That's because RunL2.bat should be in \Routes\, not \Routes\L2\, it won't work if it's run from \Routes\L2\. If it isn't in \Routes\, you need to move it there, and if you didn't run the install.bat from \Routes\ you need to run it again from \Routes\. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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