NEW C&O Alleghany 4.5 and a new web site!

[Toripony]

After long delay and more work than anticipated, the followup to version 4 is finally ready to download. Though the revision number changed only marginally, the changes to the route are significant! And it comes with a brand new web site. Bob Artim has generously donated some real web space to host the route and all its associated infomation, addons, and components. We even have a C&O Alleghany forum now (anyone's welcome to join, but you can read/download without joining). Thank you, Bob!

Visit the new home of C&O Alleghany for Railworks

The first thing you'll notice about 4.5 is a different packaging and installation from previous releases. The assets and rolling stock paks come with .exe installations courtesy of RWTools. This method allowed me to be more accurate in asset gathering, which both improved package quality and reduced the package size. Thank you Mike Simpson for the recent hard work and upgrades to the packaging routines in RWTools!

The goal of this version was two-fold... one, to include some decent introductory scenarios, and, two, to finalize the track from Alleghany to Alderson so the community can be sure that scenarios they write will continue to work in future versions! The only thing left to do on this portion is trees which is awaiting the new MAP tool in RW2012. If no major problems are reported by the users this time, I will declare this 37 mile portion of the route "Gold" and move on down the road to build the next phase.

For the driving "purists", I hope you will enjoy the improved signaling as much as I am! You can drive the route in traffic now almost without ever looking at a game display panel. Using more heads, the signaling is now more prototypical of the route in 1960 (before radios).

If you happen to run into them, give a special thanks to my testers and early adopters for weeding out the bugs and bothers for us: Gordon Walker, Bob Artim, Trevor Henderson, Grant "Ozinoz" from that lovely land down under (the COA has lots of Aussie fans!), and of course, the late great Pete Bauer!

That's all from me for now; let me know what y'all think! I'll be looking forward to the screenshots and stories from you.

READ THE README READ THE README READ THE README READ THE README READ THE README (also the web pages).

[Toripony]

Feel free to crosspost this announcement to other forums you visit.

[Kali]

Can you open the assets exe up in winzip/winrar/some other archiver of choice? I generally only install what I don't have if it's a 3rd-party asset, because I tend to edit so many things.

[Toripony]

Yes, that is one of the reasons I chose this packaging technique; it is easier to control the installation. The RWTools setup just collects the assets into a mock asset folder tree with a separate executable to install the files. All you have to do with the download is unzip it and drill into the folders and you'll see all the assets. In fact, if you delete the ones you DON'T want installed, you can then still run the RW_RouteSetup executable and it will install all the rest for you!

(Always install the PBauer and Toripony folders completely intact. Those assets sometimes change and some files critical to the route are in those folders!)

[kevarc]

Question

Modeler Asset Pack01 is not shown on the Steam DLC page

[Samwolf]

Question

Modeler Asset Pack01 is not shown on the Steam DLC page

I believe it's the UK Buildings Model Pack (Free DLC), someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Chacal]

Toripony, thanks for sharing this new version of your excellent route.
Since you are working on web site improvements, I offer a few suggestions :

A- Requirements
- Clearly indicate which assets are payware and which are freeware
- Clearly separate requirements into:
1) What is necessary (route won't work without it, major pieces will be missing, no scenario will load without it)
2) What is recommended (route will work but some buildings or trees will be missing, some scenarios will fail to load, asset can be replaced using RWTools without adverse effect)

B- Installation
- Clearly label installation steps. The current running text with "first, next" is confusing because it is not clear if some paragraphs relate to the previous instruction or introduce the next. Use numbering like this:
1) Remove previous versions of the C&O Alleghany route...
2) Run the “Verify Integrity of Game Cache” check...
3) Download the following two files:
4) Using the Railworks Package Manager, click on...
5) Get COA_beta4.5_RollingStockPak...
- The installation page mentions that the SD70ACe single addon DLC is required for one scenario, this should be moved to the requirements page instead.
- The WarningWarningWarning!!!!! paragraph should be moved at the top of the page. Also, it mentions modifying some default engines but the reason for this, and the impact of this on the game is not clear. I need information to decide if I should I install this rolling stock pack or not.
Also it is not clear what will happen if I use the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" function later on. Will those modifications be lost? How will that affect the C&O route?
- The use of yellow color for some words in the text is unnecessary and confusing. Clearly written text does not require highlights.
- Incorrect instruction: "Save the files to a temporary folder and unzip the COA_beta4.5_Assets file there. Look in the unzipped C&O Alleghany folder for the file RW_AssetSetup.exe". There is no such file, the exe is named "RW_RouteSetup.exe".
Please feel free to consider or disregard any or all of these suggestions.

Edit: also the installation instructions in readme.txt included in the zip files are incorrect and do not match those on the web site.
Edit: add the "Isle of Wight" payware DLC from Steam to the requirements.

[kevarc]

He is right about that. Luckily I have RW_tools to change things around for things I do not have, but others may not be.

I know, those who know me from MSTS know my use of payware, and I may end up there sooner or later, will laugh.

[Chacal]

After following the instructions, RW Tools reports 42 missing items in the route, most of which are missing from Assets\RSDL\IslandLine\scenery.

[robbit]

Islandline assets will be missing if you do not own Isle of Wite

[Toripony]

Toripony, thanks for sharing this new version of your excellent route.
Since you are working on web site improvements, I offer a few suggestions :

A- Requirements
- Clearly indicate which assets are payware and which are freeware
- Clearly separate requirements into:
1) What is necessary (route won't work without it, major pieces will be missing, no scenario will load without it)
2) What is recommended (route will work but some buildings or trees will be missing, some scenarios will fail to load, asset can be replaced using RWTools without adverse effect)

B- Installation
- Clearly label installation steps. The current running text with "first, next" is confusing because it is not clear if some paragraphs relate to the previous instruction or introduce the next. Use numbering like this:
1) Remove previous versions of the C&O Alleghany route...
2) Run the “Verify Integrity of Game Cache” check...
3) Download the following two files:
4) Using the Railworks Package Manager, click on...
5) Get COA_beta4.5_RollingStockPak...
- The installation page mentions that the SD70ACe single addon DLC is required for one scenario, this should be moved to the requirements page instead.
- The WarningWarningWarning!!!!! paragraph should be moved at the top of the page. Also, it mentions modifying some default engines but the reason for this, and the impact of this on the game is not clear. I need information to decide if I should I install this rolling stock pack or not.
Also it is not clear what will happen if I use the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" function later on. Will those modifications be lost? How will that affect the C&O route?
- The use of yellow color for some words in the text is unnecessary and confusing. Clearly written text does not require highlights.
- Incorrect instruction: "Save the files to a temporary folder and unzip the COA_beta4.5_Assets file there. Look in the unzipped C&O Alleghany folder for the file RW_AssetSetup.exe". There is no such file, the exe is named "RW_RouteSetup.exe".
Please feel free to consider or disregard any or all of these suggestions.

Edit: also the installation instructions in readme.txt included in the zip files are incorrect and do not match those on the web site.

Great feedback, thanks. We'll address these points as we revise the site. I have to agree the text does not "flow well"; I don't think web pages are my forte, lol.

[Toripony]

We have a new new web site! Special thanks go to Marleyman Design Studio, the new C&O Alleghany webmaster! Marleyman has volunteered to fix and maintain the site for us and I have to say, he does beautiful work. It feels good to be part of such a generous community. Thank you, Marleyman!

[arizonachris]

Quite impressive! Looks great, and works fine with Firefox. Thanks, Tori, and of course, to Marley as well. Yes, we do have a pretty nice community here!

[Chacal]

Great improvements!

[Toripony]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I forgot to mention that the COA also now has a forum for support help, suggestions, addons, and just plain fan stuff (I like seeing your screenshots!). Reading and downloading is open to anyone but you'll need a membership to post.