ACTIVITY EDITOR

Hi all,
I wish to give something back to TSSH and create some activities for the superb routes available to us all. Any ideas and suggestions gratefully accepted.
PS. I cannot even find MSTS Activity Editor anywhere on my system.
Regards KenH.

Hi Ken,
The original MSTS Activity Editor is within train.exe.  You need to have MSTS fully installed, with its Registry entry, to be able to use it.
It is started by adding the following parameters to train.exe :  -toolset -mem:2048.  
This is the Target line from my Desktop shortcut : "T:\MSTS\Train Simulator\train.exe" -toolset -mem:2048 . The part before 'train.exe' will be different for you and the quotes after '.exe' is only required if you have an opening quotes before the drive letter.

If you are looking at creating activities for Mick Clarke's MidEast Coast route, I recommend that you don't try!  Although MSTS AE will start, it is EXTREMELY slow, due to the large size of the route.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged ,
How did you guess LOL thanks for the info I'll give it a go wish me luck.
Regards KenH.

Hi Ken,

Mick Clarke states that for his Mid East Coast Route "It is suitable for use in Open Rails only (not in MSTS)".

I have made a few activities for this route using TSRE, the latest version Testing V8.003 is available at Trainsim.com and is a big improvement on the original Open Rails Route Editor
It's not as easy to use as the MSTS Activity Editor but once mastered it is much better ( in my opinion ).

If you are new to activity creation I respectfully suggest that initially you stick to something simple and progress to more complex ones with more expertise. That is how I started years ago - my first efforts were pretty poor and definitely not good enough to upload!!

Best wishes,

Stephen

Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your reply  I really appreciate your advice and encouragement I have tried inside MSTS train exe as Ged suggested nothing happening there I will download TSRE as you suggest and see how that goes maybe in a couple of years I will have an activity worthy of TSSH.
Regards KenH.

Hi Ken & Stephen,
It is quite correct that MEC will not run in the MSTS sim, but we worked quite hard to get it to open in MSTS AE so that it could be used, in emergency.
There was a problem with the original default activity - Firsby to Spilsby Return - which I was able to correct using MSTS AE.  It wasn't easy - like watching paint dry! - but showed it was possible.

If you, Ken, couldn't get MSTS AE to start, I should have mentioned that it takes several minutes before the main AE screen is displayed!  Even after that, moving around the screen and zooming in/out is very slow.

TSRE5 should be a lot easier to use but, as far as I know, it won't do Paths! For those, you have to use the OR Track Viewer.
I haven't (yet) tried making an activity that way so can't offer any advice.

Cheers,
Ged

In the past two years I have done a lot of work coordinating the successful effort to have Med East Cost compatible with MSTS AE. I confirm that it still is compatible (but it is slow!)

Hi Ken and Ged,

As Ged said you have to create paths using the ORTS Track Viewer located in the Tools Drop Down Box of Open Rails.

My method of making activities starts by making a list of what's needed :-
Activity details as to Passenger, freight etc.
Player Consist,
Ai Consists, either existing or new,
Paths,
Consist and path for each service.

Then open TSRE, select Tools, Activity and off you go - hopefully!
It does take a lot of getting used to so expect to make mistakes and have to start again - I still do after all the activities I've made.

For personal preference I use the Consist Editor included in TSRE, it also has the advantage that the consists once created can be automatically found in TSRE when creating an activity.

Good luck,

Stephen

Hi Stephen

You mentioned

I have made a few activities for this route using TSRE, the latest version Testing V8.003 is available at Trainsim.com and is a big improvement on the original Open Rails Route Editor

Do the improvements extend to TSRE activity editor, or is it the same as TSRE5? BTW I have to admire the courage and determination of everyone involved in this fork of TSRE5.

I am *very* inexperienced at writing activities but I've experimented with the TSRE5 editor, and I've managed to write a simple activity that includes reversing and events. The traffic editor seems to be the trickiest part. Using Track Viewer for the paths is I think an improvement over MSTS AE, and the Consist Editor from TSRE5 is very good, *much* better than MSTS AE. So creating the services is a breeze. Does V8.003 have any improvement to saving activities?

I have a Word document downloaded from Trainsim, a tutorial that expands on the manual, that is very useful. I keep it open while working, and make a note of problems and solutions as I go along. It pays to follow the instructions exactly, especially for saving, which is quite tricky.

Another very useful document is Brian Bere-Streeter's "Guidelines for Realistic Activities in MSTS" - it is full of good advice and common sense. It was written in 2003 for MSTS, but is nonetheless very helpful in organising the design of activities - and add to that the Guides included with his routes. It was available as a UKTS download but I don't think it is available from TSSH.

I tried using MSTS AE but this required copying the route to my MSTS installation, editing then copying it back. This is tedious, but workable. However I find that I get a lot of train db errors, possibly due to enhancements in the eng files for OR, and these have to be acknowledged one by one, and occasionally they cause MSTS to close without warning. In spite of not having a gaming computer (I7+16G+ a very modest nVidia card) I found MSTS AE to be very responsive.

I hope this will encourage people to try TSRE activity editor and to share their experiences!

Regards

Tony

tonya37 wrote:Hi Stephen

.................................Another very useful document is Brian Bere-Streeter's "Guidelines for Realistic Activities in MSTS" - it is full of good advice and common sense. It was written in 2003 for MSTS, but is nonetheless very helpful in organizing the design of activities - and add to that the Guides included with his routes. It was available as a UKTS download but I don't think it is available from TSSH......................................Regards    Tony

Now there's a Blast from the Past - over 20 years old - now so far out of date that it is pretty much useless. I haven't seen the document on my system for over 10 years (probably lost in a hard drive crash more than 10 years ago ) !

The original document was an attempt to give some 'structure' to making Activities, rather than the seemingly 'random' approach by other activity authors. Bear in mind that 20 years ago, there wasn't much information around for the newly released simulator, so my efforts were rather 'basic' for the time.

Brian

Hi Brian

I think you do yourself a disservice - your document is very far from nearly useless:

1. It makes the point that organising and planning activities leads to writing activities much easier and produces better results (like with everything else!)
2. It provides practical advice on how to organise activities, paths, consists and services
3 It suggests logical ways of naming these
4. It shows how to analyse and organise traffic flows
5. It provides suggestions on what rolling stock to use
6. It describes how to set up schedules for rolling stock and activities

Following the advice you have given forces one to think logically about the activity. Not only writing an activity, but many other types of project are doomed to failure without proper planning.

You also say

The following documentation is the result of my research, and is provided for your enjoyment and inspiration to do better things with your MS Train Simulator.

Well, yes, it is inspiring.

If you need a copy (and I also have MSTS Guidelines) do let me know and I'll send you a copy. I believe that if you uploaded it to TSSH it would be appreciated.

Just in passing your routes and activities, and their documents, provide many examples of how this is all put into practice.

Having lived within a mile of the former LMS WCML (and on occasions within a hundred yards), and with having had family members who were LMS employees, or very familiar with the LMS, your document's use of examples taken from LMS practice, make it that much more appealing.

Regards

Tony

The two most critical items causing the (very) sluggish performance in AE are 1) Paths and 2) Consists.
What I tend to do is to look for an existing activity that contains some of the consists / stock that I'm considering using in the 'new' activity and load that up using Train Store.
Then use that as a Template for your new activity. Once you've created your player path and service, you can then create additional paths, consists and services, either from scratch or by manually copying and pasting from those now located in your Train Store folder. Of course you'll need to copy all the relevant .eng. and .wag files back over as well.
Sounds complicated, but easy once you get used to it.
Much quicker than having to wait (for me!) 6 minutes between any AE adjustments to register.
T

V8.003 does not touch the Activity Editor. I may start adding some small adjustments once I figure out that portion of the code.

It focuses on the Route Editor and integrated EOTD functions into the Consist Editor (with a huge warning for anyone testing that)