The Little Route with a BIG name

Well I was bored and needed something to do,so,even though it is small, it certainly has a lot of detail and runs nicely.

   

   

Its less than 5 miles long !any guesses !!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Works nicely in Open Rails too

Hi Roger,
Nice shots!! I've no idea of the route's name or location, but that passenger view is very good

My first thought was North American, but then it seems to have an East European "feel" about it.

Cheers,
Ged

Hello Ged,sorta got it in one,its the "Thousand Island Electric Railway" which was in Canada,Now all gone !Sadly,,,,Regards....Roger.

This looks good. I have installed it and X tracks and new roads but I cannot get it to run or the activities to unpack. Help. Roderic

Hi Roderic,
Do you get any error messages?
If not can you please tell us exactly your process, and what happens.

I do remember installing this route quite some time ago, but don't recall any problems.  While I'm awaiting my testers' replies on my other project, I'll try re-installing it!

Cheers,
Ged

No error messages. It does not show up in MSTS at all. Thanks. Roderic

PS I have put the route in the Routes folder and the rolling stock in the trainset folder.

Hi Roderic,
It doesn't show in the MSTS menu because there are no paths set up.  Add one of the activities (eg 00 Introduction) and you should be good to go!!

... but in your earlier post, you said that you couldn't get the activities to unpack - is that still the case?

Cheers,
Ged

Yes, I get a message saying "Failed to open package".

I have got the route to work by making up an activity. Roderic

HI Roderic,
I unpacked all activities successfully!

Can you please tell me the name of one of the activity files you tried to unpack?
Note that they are all in the separate Activities folder which is in the Tier folder unpacked from the zip.

Cheers,
Ged

00 Introduction.apk

Hi Roderic,
Well, that's a puzzle!!

The only way I can get TSUnpack to give such a message is if I drop a folder on to its Desktop icon, or executable.

Do apk files for other routes unpack correctly?

If you are using Vista, Windows 7 or 8.1, I'm hoping none of the MSTS folders and files are in the C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) folders.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged,

I have never unpacked an activity before.

No, nothing to do with trainsim is in the C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) folders.

I simply right clicked the apk file and 'open with'; 'tsunpack.exe' showed up; clicked that then the error message.

Is there an update for tsunpack?

Regards,

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
That's a very useful bit of information!
I tried exactly the same .... and got the same error message!

Can you please try the following :
Right click on any .apk file and then click on Properties (at the bottom of the list)
Towards the top of the Properties display is a line which says "Opens with :"
If TSUnpack.exe is shown to the right of that text :
(a) click the OK button at the bottom of the display, to close the box
(b) double left-click on the .apk file
(c) if it opens correctly (message : "Unpackage new activity to route Thousand Islands Electric Railway?"), you're home and dry!
If TSUnpack.exe is not shown to the right of the text : (What is shown?)
(i) left click on the "Change" button
(ii) on the "Open with" display, is tsunpack.exe shown on the list?
(iii) If so, click on it to highlight it, then click on the OK button; if not, come back
(iv) then click the Apply button on the Properties screen
(v) click the OK button to close the box
(vi) Try double clicking on the apk file - if you get the same message as in (c) above, you're OK.

If none of the above works, please come back.

Cheers,
Ged

Followed instructions. Still no luck. Will come back to it tomorrow.

Hi Roderic,
I have now (re-)discovered the reason for that error message - I apologise that I'd forgotten the solution!

When MSTS is set up, it places an incorrect entry in the Registry for TSUnpack with the result that the "Open with" and double-clicking the apk file return that error message.  The only procedure which seems to work is to drop the .apk file on to the Desktop icon.

If you are happy editing the Registry, I can give you details of how to correct it.

I don't know if anybody has released a utility to put it right, so I'll have a look around.

Cheers,
Ged

Could you let me know how to edit the registry? Thanks. Roderic

Hi Roderic,
Have you ever used the Registry editor?
I ask, because just making one slip can leave your complete system unusable!  This is not scare-mongering, it's fact!!

If you haven't, may I suggest that you create a Desktop shortcut for TSUnpack :
Right click on tsunpack.exe (in your MSTS UTILS folder)
Move your cursor to "Send to.." and scroll up to "Desktop (create shortcut)" and click it.
You should now see a tsunpack.exe shortcut on your Desktop

Try it by dragging an apk file and dropping it on to the icon - it should work!!

My new TSUnpack replacement program should be uploaded in the next week or so, which will make these problems obsolete!

Cheers,
Ged

Still no luck. I completely forgot that a young friend of mine set up my Windows 7 computer and he did install MSTS in C:\Program Files (x86) folders. It was all done at 100 m.p.h. but, as it worked, I left well alone. I don't use that installation. I have copies of the whole fdolder labelled TS LSE, TS Scotland, TS SDJR etc., which suits me better than using Train Store or Mini Routes. Should I uninstal the master installation and reinstall it following the Steam4me instructions? Alternately I could wait for your version of TS unpack.

Regards,

Roderic

Hi Everyone, I had a look for this route and found the following link to get it.
http://www.ovsrails.com/downloads/downloads.htm
and the Route is in the fourth block on the page.
Opening up the Folder called TIER, there are several Folders one of which is
the Route Folder Tier, on opening this up I see that you have a RunRoute Batch
File which I take it you run as this is not mentioned in the Read-me.
Another folder contains the Activities in the form of an .apk file and in the Route
Activities Folder already are several files that shouldn't be there as most are stock
items.
The Route Folder does not come with any installed Activities, Paths, Services or
Traffic files or Consists, but as well as the Stock in the Activities Folder there is a
Folder called Rolling Stock which I take are used in the Activities.

Bob

Hi Roderic.

There is no need to reinstall MSTS, it can be run in program files/program files (x86) by following this simple tutorial on setting permissions which will overcome the problems of installing into program files................

https://tsforum.forumotion.net/t29-setting-permissions-on-vista-windows7-8-1-10

Hope that helps.

Hi Roderic,
I think Mark has covered the necessities!!

If you are able to carry out Mark's very clear instructions, it could be your way to go. If you're not happy doing that, then I recommend you uninstall it and re-locate it according to the Steam4Me tutorial as soon as possible. It won't affect any of your other MSTS installations, which, I assume, are not in C:\Program Files (86) or C:\Program Files.

However, the above won't help with the TSUnpack "Open with" problem because it's caused by an erroneous Registry entry. For that, you could wait for my program, or, after you've done one of the above two options, try creating a Desktop icon for TSUnpack as described in my previous post.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Roderic,
I must be getting forgetful in my old age

Way back in 2001, some kind soul, named Thomas Tydal, produced a utility to correct the TSUnpack Registry problem.  It still works with Windows 7, so I'm sure it'll be OK with Win 8/8.1 and 10.

It's available from the UKTS library as file ID 13769.   One very important point is that it MUST be run "As administrator", otherwise it'll report "TSUnpack Registry Bug already fixed" when it might not have been.  If you get this message when run "As administrator", the bug HAS been fixed, otherwise the message will be "TSUnpack Registry Bug was fixed".

Having checked the Helpful Facts and Links section, it doesn't seem to be included, so I'll create an entry

Cheers,
Ged

Crikey Chaps did I open a can of worms with this one.The surprising thing,to me anyway,is that it appears to work Ok .I for once have not had a problem,either on MSTS or OR.

Thank you, everyone, for the time and trouble you have taken.

Progress has been made by running the TSunpack fix as an administrator.

I now get a new message: "This package requires a route called Thousand Islands Electric Railway. UID TIER"

I have managed to pinch a better throttle sound from the route for the 5BEL sound used on Southern Electrics, so that was very useful.

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
That message means that the route cannot be found in the default MSTS installation.

If you have the route in a separate installation, TSUnpack will not find it because it can only look at the installation pointed to by the Registry entry, which is known as the default.

If you have separate installations called, say, "Train Simulator" (the default) and "Train Simulator TIER", I suggest you rename the "Train Simulator" folder as "Train Simulator Default", then rename folder "Train Simulator TIER" as "Train Simulator". Doing that will make the TIER installation the default and TSUnpack will work without problem.

Cheers,
Ged

Thanks. Success - I have unpacked the activities, but they will not run as there is a long list of required rolling stock. The activities which I made work, but the ones supplied cause a crash to desktop.

Cheers,

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
All the stock required is in the RollingStock folder, where you copied the route folder from.  Just follow the instructions, which are in the same folder - readme.doc! Let me know if you can't open a doc file (requires Word or Word Viewer) and I'll get an rtf (WordPad) version to you.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged,

Yes, I had got the rolling stock in the right place. I installed the route and unpacked the activities in the main MSTS folder and then transferred the activities to the TIER route in my TS USA folder. Of course, I needed to copy the services, paths and traffic across as well. Once that was done, all was well and it is a charming route.

Thank you so much for your patience.

Roderic

All works well except that I cannot move No 22 when it is standing in front of the engine house. It works in one activity with a box car in front of it and one behind.

I had similar troubles with an activity in Great Eastern: the train drifts slowly backwards and refuses to go forwards. Any ideas?

Does anyone know of any other American or Canadian routes using trolley cars? They make a change from rushing along from Charing Cross to Orpington.

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
Make sure the pantograph (ie trolley pole!) is raised. If you can hear the motor running, then it probably is.
Secondly, only set the throttle to 13% and wait a few seconds - you can hear what I assume are the brakes releasing.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged,

Still no luck. It will start anywhere other than the engine house. The other locomotives and cars will start at the engine house all right. A mystery.

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
I've tried all the activities which use 22 (01, 03, 07, 09, 13, 14 & 16) as the Player and all start OK. 03 is the only one which starts inside the Engine House.
I don't know what your problem could be, but have you tried pressing the Z key first? I haven't found it necessary, but some electric locos won't start without it - something to do with the Bin patch (which version are you using?).

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged,

Thanks. I am using MSTS Patch 1.7.0519. The Z key solved the problem. We are moving at last.

Once again, thank you for your patience.

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
That's great news!!
As I use v1.8.0521 of the Bin patch, I haven't come across that problem for a long time!  I believe it also affects some EMUs, so I recommend you update from 1.7 if you're likely to run many electric locos (or always remember to press the Z key!).

Mind you, I don't know why it doesn't affect your 22 wherever it is - that is, as you say, a mystery

Cheers,
Ged