Staying with RW2

[bsrrco]

Since it looks like i will not be able to run TS2012/RW3 due to my video card not being good enough. Luckily i backed up my entire RW2 folder. It still works & i do not have to be online to play. Maybe i will join the RW3 crowd if they make it able to work with my video card or i can afford a new card that will work.

[Toonces]

Since it looks like i will not be able to run TS2012/RW3 due to my video card not being good enough. Luckily i backed up my entire RW2 folder. It still works & i do not have to be online to play. Maybe i will join the RW3 crowd if they make it able to work with my video card or i can afford a new card that will work.

Actually you can just leave the settings at the lowest levels and don't turn on TSX, and it should do fine with the older video card.

EDIT: it looks like if you don't have pixel shader 3, then TS2012 won't run. My 30$ video card does have PS3, but I imagine that if you have an older card, it might not..

[harryadkins]

I admit to being computer illiterate. How do you setup a backup of RW2 to run outside of Steam? I thought they were integrated. My video card will not run TS2012 at all and I don't think my computer will run a newer card. It doesn't even have a PCI Express slot.

[bsrrco]

I copied my entire railworks folder to my desktop, away from the steam folder & when i click on the railworks icon in the folder RW2 comes up & so far everything works. i haven't tried any of the editors yet but the route i am working on comes up with no problem. i am unsure how it is working but it is working.

[JimM]

Since it looks like i will not be able to run TS2012/RW3 due to my video card not being good enough. Luckily i backed up my entire RW2 folder. It still works & i do not have to be online to play. Maybe i will join the RW3 crowd if they make it able to work with my video card or i can afford a new card that will work.

If you're looking for a new video card for your system....I have an older GeForce 6800 that I'd be willing to send to you. You can find the specs here http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce6_techspecs.html

I'll tell you ahead of time that it has a wonky fan, so I'd include a separate cooling fan that will keep it cool for you. It's not a great board, but it does have 3.0 shaders on it.

Let me know via a PM if you're interested.

Jim

PS: You'll need a HDMI cable or an adaptor (available at Stapels or other stores) to hook it to your monitor if you don't have the cable.

[Toripony]

To copy/preserve your RW2 BEFORE upgrading to TS2012:

(This should have been posted 3 days ago, right? lol)

1. Run Steam in Online mode.
2. In your Steam window, right click on RailWorks in your game list, click Properties, then select the UPDATES tab. Under "Automatic Updates" change "Always keep this game up to date" to "Do not automatically update this game".
3. Copy your Steam folder in its entirety to any other location on your hard drive.
4. Create a shortcut to the Steam.exe file in this new location.

You can now run either your main Steam/Railworks installation or the new alternate (backup) one, BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME. To switch from one to the other, find the small Steam icon beside your Windows clock (usually at the lower right side; used to be called the Tray). Right-click the little icon and select Exit. Now run your "backup" Steam icon. When you want to switch back, just repeat; right-click the little icon and select Exit. When you run either Steam/Railworks/TS2012 installation, it updates your Windows registry to indicate that it is now the default Steam installation on your computer, so you can only run one at a time and it recognizes only one at a time (you can have as many as you have drive space for; I have 6 now).

That allows you to run your "backup" Steam version with the Steam game properties set to "Do not automatically update this game". Exit your backup version, run the "original" installation (usually in C:\Program Files\Steam), and run "Verify integrity of Game Cache..." to let it upgrade to TS2012. And for those who hate automatic game updates... now you have control.

[steve_the_slim]

I'm really wishing I'd done this...