Making Tracks Discussion

35005CP Tue 17 Sep 2013, 7:38 pm

Hi Everyone,
Making Tracks have gone quiet in recent years. Although the website is still going, does anyone know if they are do more stuff for MSTS, or have they stopped production now (So to speak)
Thanks.

**slipperman12** Tue 17 Sep 2013, 8:10 pm

Hi Andy,
They have done one add-on for RailWorks (or whatever it's called this week!), but I don't know if they've stopped producing new MSTS stock all together. They do appear to be switching to Downloads only.

Cheers,
Ged

35005CP Tue 17 Sep 2013, 8:30 pm

Hi Ged and the rest of the TSSH Footplate Crew,
Is it worth me making an approach to see their thoughts for the future? Just an idea. Always good to get MSTS moving forward and for new ideas and bugs to be ironed out?

dee4141 Tue 17 Sep 2013, 9:04 pm

Andy, it would be good to know what's happening. Some months ago I sent reskins to MT for upload, and they were provisionally approved pending them producing an Installer. There's been no word since.

35005CP Tue 17 Sep 2013, 9:36 pm

Hi Danny,
I will await everybody else's thoughts on this and then we will look how to proceed. I think it should be noted to them that there are still plenty whom have a love of all things MSTS and worth proceeding with.
Danny, is right in checking with what is happening with is reskins etc, if nothing else for permission.
Be good to have these guys onboard I think and aware of our forum and causes to keep MSTS alive and kicking! Wink

rufuskins Tue 17 Sep 2013, 9:45 pm

I have a PM on UKTS waiting for a response from Dave Babb, but as he only visits rarely these days . . .

It may be worth trying to access them via their own site?

**slipperman12** Tue 17 Sep 2013, 10:11 pm

I have access to the MT Forum and will send a PM to Dave Babb in the hope that he looks there occasionally. The last post to anywhere on the MT Forum was in June or July this year!

Cheers,
Ged

EDIT: 22:25 - PM sent!

35005CP Tue 17 Sep 2013, 11:06 pm

Thanks Gents, but I was going to say hold fire until we had more feedback from other users of the forum and from Justin in particular.
But need must.... As they say.
What was the PM you both sent?

emufarmer Wed 18 Sep 2013, 9:19 am

Dave Babb's last comment on MT was Posted 26 June 2013 - 05:30 AM. not been heard of since

Frank

**j3801** Wed 18 Sep 2013, 11:33 am

Hi Guys,

To be honest I have no problems with people contacting Making Tracks, as I too am interested in the future of MSTS. I don’t want to sound like fool here but I would like to point out the obvious, in that the Making Tracks team like everyone else only do the work in their very limited spare time. I have noticed myself that lately I have fewer hours in my day, even less when it comes to modelling.

If anything, I would like to find at least one person who works/worked for Making Tracks who is familiar with the bulk of the available content from Making Tracks, primarily to try and act as a support (when they can) for the products “if” Making Tracks is winding down (like I try to do for the EuropeanBahn products as I was doing modelling for them just prior to its closing down).

Justin

35005CP Wed 18 Sep 2013, 7:10 pm

Hi all,
If anyone gets any replies and can find out any ideas or plans to revive MSTS further, please can they post it here from Making Tracks members? Lets hope they can see what we are striving to achieve and that they come back out of the woodwork! Very Happy

Thanks

terrycunliffe Wed 18 Sep 2013, 7:42 pm

I've just looked up Tony Lloyd (lumpchase) who I worked with on the Metrolink project. (he ran the MT online shop IIRC) and am amazed to find he's not been around since June last year!

Bob Latimer Wed 18 Sep 2013, 8:41 pm

Hi guys.

One of the Making Tracks team lurks around here - me.

I'm still providing support for MT products through the MT support ticket system but must admit I have limited knowledge of some of the earlier products. Dave and Tony both appear on there now and then but things are very quiet. The last products released by MT were Gordon Mackenzie's Railworks stock, but he's now set up his own website.

I'm not sure what plans Dave has for the future but, on the other hand, I haven't asked.

Bob.

NiallGray Thu 19 Sep 2013, 8:50 am

Spoke with Dave yesterday and gave him link for this thread.

Asked if he wanted me to post a message on his behalf, he said he'd answer the PM on UKTS when he gets a chance.

Niall

Buffy500 Sun 06 Oct 2013, 1:23 pm

I did reply to Ged's PM on the MT Forum, but as that does not appear to have made it as far as this forum, so I've registered to make my reply.

I wrote:Hi Ged,

Niall Gray did point me to your forum, but I'm not going to register for just one answer.

The official answer is something like this, feel free to copy and paste as you wish.

MSTS is pretty much dead in the water for me now, and sales support this view, even with our very low targets (I'd be happy with sales of 200 units) things are just not worth building now.

BUT MT is not dead, merely sleeping waiting for Open Rails to reach v1.0.

I'll be honest, most MT people has drifted away and are not really in contact with me. But that said, I don't think that its impossible than one or more may return to life when we have something to work with.

There are a lot of unreleased projects which have been built with OR in mind, but until OR has settled and finished developing its hard to really finish them as you don't know whats required to make it work correctly.

The plan is that once OR V1.0 is done we'll reconsider and probably release OR versions of our better stock releases, and probably release new unseen stock.

I've been building since about 2000 and I'm just burnt out I think, without some new motivation I've lost any desire at the moment, but I'm sure its not gone completely.
I did basically build a Class 08 over the summer just to see if I can still use TSM. It appears I can.

Basically, just waiting for OR.

**slipperman12** Sun 06 Oct 2013, 4:53 pm

Hi Dave,
My apologies for not replying to your message on the MT Forum. I did make a couple of visits, but they must have been before you replied.

May I use this opportunity to ask if there's any further news on reskinning of Making Tracks MSTS rolling stock. The last information received was that MT would release them through their own site, if they met certain criteria.

Cheers,
Ged

EDIT : I have now replied to your PM on Making Tracks. Thanks.

gswindale Mon 07 Oct 2013, 9:36 pm

Although Bob/Dave through the MT support ticket system should be user's primary point of contact should users have any issues with MT packs; I'm sure that there are a few of us who can help should posts come in here.

I was involved in some testing - primarily with GE2 and a bit for SCE; so I'm sure that if there are users who are encountering problems but choose to post them publicly rather than via the recommended support channels (as per the manuals); then they will get some help eventually.

(note that I only browse this forum occasionally due to it not being tapatalk enabled as far as I can make out!)

35005CP Mon 07 Oct 2013, 11:03 pm

I take it, that your on an Ipad or Iphone alot of the time then? Surprised

You should still get notifications via email?
As for Tapatalk, I will look into it as I am sure it was created using phpBB. I will bring this to Justin's attention and go from there. Wink

Cheers
Andy

gswindale Tue 08 Oct 2013, 8:41 pm

I do get the notifications - I do tend to use a tablet device a lot of the time for viewing the forums. Keeps the focus on what I'm doing on the PC better that way Very Happy

**j3801** Wed 09 Oct 2013, 9:53 am

Hi Geoff,

I too use a tablet accessing the forum, mostly if I am not on my main computer (such as if I'm in be or like now, I am in the kitchen after dinner). I'm not to sure about TapTalk, as I have this disabled on my tablet. I do have to admit to using a bluetooth keyboard with my tablet if I want to do a lot of writing. Admittedly my tablet is not an expensive one,I brought it from Aldi when I worked there (it was a birthday present for myself) and the keyboard is also from there. Mine runs on Android 4.0.3 with out any major issues.

Justin

rufuskins Wed 09 Oct 2013, 10:58 am

Me . . I have enough problems remembering to take my real tablets! Wink

**slipperman12** Wed 18 Jul 2018, 10:16 pm

Hi All,
I know this is a very old thread, but thought it was most suitable for this announcement!

I have received permission to upload those files which were downloadable from the old Making Tracks site, to the UKTS file library. Files such as route patches and additional liveries for their rolling stock packs. I also have permission to supply fixes where required.

The first group, for various routes, is now available on UKTS - file IDs 38086 to 38090. This will be followed, probably next week, by a set for various rolling stock items.

While on the subject of Making Tracks, some of their products may be purchased from www.bamazoo.com/makingtracks I was advised by Dave Babb that this site really is Making Tracks, but it will probably be closing later in the year, but, even now, it seems a little "flaky"!

Cheers,
Ged

**j3801** Sat 17 Aug 2019, 4:39 am

Hello Everyone,

I thought it was about time to give an update on how the Making Tracks project was going.

Firstly though, I would like to introduce the team that will be working to get these models released.
The list of the unusual suspects is:

Justin Waite [j3801] (Chief Potato Peeler)
Ged Saunders [slipperman12] (Technical expert)
Alec Ralph [rufuskins] (First Gen DMU expert)
Bob Latimer (Lead Tester)
Stephen Wells [stephenrwells](Tester)
Steve [steveenefer] as additional modeler.

At this moment the project is still in the late-early stage.

To clarify what I mean by this:

I have sorted out quite a lot of the stock into class folders so that each individual model can be found. I am still trying to get the time together to sort out the remainder of the files.
I have written up lists of what liveries and variants are included so that I have a reference point for any new stock issues that are made going forward.
Ged is leading the charge to reassemble as many base packs as possible. He has confirmed lists for all packs that MT originally released and found so far that we can reproduce about 7 of the original 21 base packs. Once more stock is located and checked, we may be able to reproduce nearly all the base packs.
With regard to the base packs, Ged has found that the installers add registry keys that are required to match up for the add-on livery packs that have been previously released for them to work. He is currently working out what needs to be exactly added to an installer so that everything works as it should.
I have been poking around in the works folders to see what unfinished models there are as well as finding out where the originals for the completed models are so that if any minor work is needed, then that can be done. I have actually found completed models that are MSTS ready and I think tested hidden within some of these folders.
I have recently heard from Steve on UKTS, who has done some of the original work for MT and he is willing to help complete some of the old projects that he was involved in that were never released so I have sent him copies of the files.

Once we have breached the initial hurdles of getting the base packs sorted I am quietly confident that the files will come thick and fast for uploading.

I do wish to remind people that this work is being done in the team’s spare time. As much as some of us would like to be able to work on this full time this is unfortunately not the case. As such I cannot state any timeframe for when these files will start to appear, only that we will not give up on them.

Regards,
Justin

rufuskins Sat 17 Aug 2019, 1:15 pm

Your approach offers the best method by which the project can be taken forward, and I can only hope that the reference to being a "First Gen DMU expert" is not over the top!

**j3801** Sat 17 Aug 2019, 1:27 pm

I can only hope that the reference to being a "First Gen DMU expert" is not over the top!

Not at all Alec! After watching your progress over the years with your project to recreate for yourself as many of the first gen DMU's as possible was inspiring and well thought out. I can only hope to get close to what you achieved!

Justin

RIGFindlay Sat 17 Aug 2019, 5:51 pm

Agreed. Roderic

**j3801** Fri 27 Sep 2019, 5:54 am

Well things seem to have gone a bit quiet lately….
Does this mean it’s time to hear from the voice from Down Under again?

Yes it does! (Don’t worry I can hear the collective groan from all of you down here Very Happy

)

Well the good news is that there are 4 (yes four) packs currently under test prior to uploading.

But which packs are they?
Ah, now that part is a (sort of) secret. But I will announce the first of the packs via a little video below:

For the rest, well you will just have to wait and see…

Regards,
Justin

stlsf4003 Sun 29 Sep 2019, 7:55 am

Nice to see that the sheds will be the first pack to roll out of the works!

**j3801** Mon 30 Sep 2019, 6:21 am

Hello World!

It is with great pleasure that I make the announcement that the first 4 of the Making Tracks add-ons are ready for release and have been uploaded to the TSSH File Hosting Site.

The packs are:

Class 66
Class 153/155
Class 158
British Wagon Collection 1

I would like to day a great big thank you to Ged Saunders for taking the time to sort out these files and get them upgraded for both MSTS and OR.

And I would like to also personally thank Bob Latimer, not only for his testing prowess but also for helping to get this project off the ground.

Without Bob personally notifying me of Dave Babb’s wish to pass these files on, this project may have languished for a fair while.
After Bob contacted me, I got in touch with Dave about picking up the files. I know that Bob used to work with Dave on testing and I have a funny feeling that he helped put in a good word for me with Dave, and no we have these wonderful files available for future generations to enjoy.

I know that it has been a while since I received these files, however there was a lot of things that have happened behind the scenes to bring the files back to release.

These files are also soon to be available on UKTS.

Regards,
Justin

Jonathan David Mon 30 Sep 2019, 9:21 am

Very many thanks for all your hard work. The loco and dmu files downloaded safely, but the wagons file does not seem to be linked properly. Or is it me?
Jonathan

**j3801** Mon 30 Sep 2019, 9:37 am

Quick sneak peak at what I have been working on for the last 3 days:

LNER HST Powercars (Units will be Numbered after the Hornby models which I have, so 43309 and 43315

Trailer First Open

Trailer Guard Standard

Trailer Restaurant First Buffet

Trailer Standard Open

Trailer Standard Open Disabled access

The coaches are individually lettered to match the correct coach letter (i.e. the 2 TFO's are coaches L and M)
They also have the side lights near the doors.

They still have a long way to go yet, and there will be 2 other new liveries coming. Namely the VTEC version and the all over green GWR version.
As well as the original white logo GNER version and the matching early blue door coaches.

Plus then there are all the previously released versions to go with them.

Regards,
Justin

**j3801** Mon 30 Sep 2019, 9:43 am

Hi Jonathan,

It wasn't you, it was me.
In the due course of updating everything some how the link didn't take when I added it to the image Rolling Eyes

!
I had check before publishing the site, but some how it didn't go through.

The best news is that as I was at my computer I have corrected the issue and check to make sure everything works as it should, so it should work.
(I have checked 4 times and it does link correctly)

Sorry for the slight hiccup,
Justin

StephenRWells Mon 30 Sep 2019, 10:41 am

Hi Justin,

I've just downloaded these without any problems and look forward to trying them soon.

Since the uploads site was revamped the black areas down each side of the pages mask some of the text and the pictures go over them spoiling the effect ( for me anyway ). I don't know if this is because I'm still using a standard 4:3 monitor - this is a personal preference but when it dies it will be replaced by a widescreen version.

Thanks for all your hard work,

Stephen

**j3801** Mon 30 Sep 2019, 11:13 am

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the feedback on the make over.
I will look into a mild revamp tonight to try and clean things up better.

One of the things we got taught during my graphics design course was to test site on as many systems as possible....
Guess who didn't full do that?

I had been bouncing back and forth between my new monster with it's 24 inch Ultra High-def monitor
and my laptop which is a much smaller 15 inch High-def monitor, and never picked up on any issues,
even when shrinking chrome... and just now I checked it out on my mobile affraid

that is not how I
intended it to look Embarassed

!

The background is designed around a width of 1024px by a length of 5216px (scroll reasons).

Just so everyone knows, the side colour isn't supposed to be black (even though it shows up that way on my mobile),
It is actually a custom very dark blue (not quite Midnight Blue) that I created during my final year of the design course.
It ended up being called Justin's blue and it is actually the main colour of my corporate logo and the side colour and
alternate division colour of the forum...

If anybody cares the blue colour's codes are as follows:
HEX: 0D0F1E (web colour)
RGB: 13, 15, 30
CMYK: 85, 78, 57, 76

Regards,
Justin

cgood124 Mon 30 Sep 2019, 2:51 pm

Hi all,

So so so glad to see these items being released and I am looking forward to using the packs.

Could I be sneaky and ask for a skin pack that covers various stock but under the same company, the Network Rail fleet HST, 31, 150 and others they use??

Many thanks

**j3801** Tue 01 Oct 2019, 2:30 am

cgood124 wrote:Could I be sneaky and ask for a skin pack that covers various stock but under the same company, the Network Rail fleet HST, 31, 150 and others they use??

I shall not confirm or deny any rumors of ideas that, at some point in the future, would relate to at least one certain operator, that shall not be identified (GWR), may or may not have a new pack created for it's livery.

Given that this pack may or may not come about, it would also require some new rolling stock (800, 142/143) to be a more complete pack, and depending on the availability of these models (which would go well in another pack... cough East Coast Update cough) then the project could move ahead.

Well that is what I think anyway.... (Hugo from Victor and Hugo, bunglers in crime...)

Justin

cgood124 Tue 01 Oct 2019, 11:27 am

Well that sounds splendid.

I have given a run in the un MT released class 158 and found it a delight to use and fits in well with the Wessex route (the Wessex Mainline and the Heart of Wessex line).

All I can say is keep the good times rolling and I am looking forward to more releases.

Cheers Craig

StephenRWells Tue 01 Oct 2019, 4:13 pm

Hi Justin,

The upload site looks better with the narrower Blue, thank you.

Regards,

Stephen

ianmacmillan Wed 02 Oct 2019, 11:36 pm

Hate to look a gift horse in the mouth but

MTWW_KTA_FL, included in the class 66 download, is missing it's Freight animation loads.
these are....

MTWW_Container_9FT6\\CON40X9_6_LOAD_1. to
MTWW_Container_9FT6\\CON40X9_6_LOAD_5.

Bob Latimer Thu 03 Oct 2019, 12:17 am

Hi Ian.

Hope you are well.

Which download did you get?

I've just checked the set of files that I tested and I also downloaded the files from TSSH and checked them and they both contain those files.

Warm regards,

Bob.

**j3801** Thu 03 Oct 2019, 8:21 am

Hi Ian,

You gave me quite a fright when I woke up and looked at your message. affraid

I can confirm that the loads are present in the "TRAINS\Trainset\MTWW_Common.Loads\MTWW_CONTAINER_9FT6" folder as the have been set up as a common load.

Just to make sure that I wasn't being extra thick in the head Nerd

, I double checked the wag files, which show the correct references,
an I even checked them in MSTS:

They are there, and they do show up.
And they were installed fresh from the installers that I uploaded.

Perhaps if you try re-downloading them? the file may have corrupted during the download process...

Regards,
Justin

ianmacmillan Thu 03 Oct 2019, 10:28 am

I re-downloaded the files and the loads appeared.

Must have been a corrupted download or an incomplete 7zip unzipper.
Or maybe I am just getting senile.

Sorry to give you a fright Justin.

**j3801** Thu 03 Oct 2019, 10:41 am

Hi Ian,

That's ok!
I had actually been thinking about contacting you about a potential new project at some point down the line.
At least I know that you are still hovering around!

Regards,
Justin

terrycunliffe Thu 03 Oct 2019, 2:19 pm

Many thanks to Justin and the rest of the team for their efforts and perseverance in making these files available. My hat goes off to you, sirs! Very Happy

One thing, however, that has affected me is that both Windows Defender SmartScreen, and Trend Micro a/v show false positives and block the .zip files as being malicious. Of course I've over-ridden and installed, Smile

but it may put others off?
Thanks again
T

**j3801** Thu 03 Oct 2019, 2:26 pm

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the feedback.
It must be because I made the installer files with 7zip that a few antivirus softwares may have a few hiccups.
Though I do have Windows Defender SmartScreen and it never triggered???

Sometime I wonder if it's my system acting up when others report issues that I don't have...

Regards,
Justin

Scampispeedway Thu 03 Oct 2019, 2:46 pm

Hi Justin, I used my normal 7-zipPortable tool to extract the .exe file to where I want to store them before
I move them into my main MSTS Trainset Folder.

Bob

Bob Latimer Thu 03 Oct 2019, 7:39 pm

@Scampispeedway

I don't know why you would want to do that. It certainly wasn't necessary. Justin uploaded them as self-extracting 7zips. I don't think you would even need to have 7zip on your computer to extract them.

@Justin

With respect to Terry's post about the files getting flagged by anti-virus programs, I'm running Windows Defender, Avast free and Malwarebytes and I didn't get any warnings at all. Strange.

Bob.

Scampispeedway Thu 03 Oct 2019, 8:11 pm

Hi Bob, I do this with all 7zip files as I have never come across this type of self extracting file before and as I posted I didn't want it to be installed
in my normal MSTS Trainset Folder just yet as I busy with other things and these extra files would get in the way.

Scampispeedway Bob

Bob Latimer Thu 03 Oct 2019, 8:20 pm

If you double-left-click on the .exe file it will let you decide where to put the extracted files.

**j3801** Fri 04 Oct 2019, 6:08 am

Hi Terry,

I'll take the blame for the new installer type, I have misplaced my previous instructions for the Install Creator program that I used in the past, and when I did try to use it to create the 37/4 installer, I just found it frustrating and I went looking for a simpler alternative, hence the 7zip installer.

It’s funny that you mention opening the installer with 7zip, that is how I was double checking to make sure that everything was put together properly.

I can understand not wanting the files in a main setup, I have variations myself, especially if you are in the process of sorting things out.

Regards,
Justin

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