Payware scenario watch: 4th shift of RSS's Ohio Steel pack

[OldProf]

In brief, this is one of the very best switching scenarios I have ever played.

Background: Railworks Scenario Shop ( http://railworks3scenarios.com/ ) is selling "Heavy Hauling Freight A Scenario Pack for Ohio Steel 2 Dover to Massillon. Their price is a mere $3.99 Canadian.

Details: There are a lot of freight switching scenarios available for RW3, both freeware and payware. This one takes place in the complex Philadelphia Finishing Mills yard and exploits all of that yard's challenges. You begin by breaking up an incoming train that just arrived (in fact, you delivered it in the previous scenario of the set) and end by assembling an outgoing freight. I won't give away any more than that, but be prepared to keep busy, probably for more than the scenario's listed time of 70 minutes.

Moment of truth: I received an X at the end of this one, probably because of my habit of reaching for the speed limit and then braking too hard when I realize that my destination is so near, which leads me to shove the throttle into the emergency braking range.

About the package: As I've mentioned in other threads, the full versions of the 5 scenarios contained in this pack require a rather hefty number of downloads that you won't find listed on the website pages, except for the payware Dash 9 DLC. Rolling stock "collectors" may already have some or all of the freeware requisites and the Dash 9 can be avoided by playing the "Default" versions included in your purchase.

[Samwolf]

There's actually a "bug" in that sceanrio. It has been reportred to RSS. You can drop off the cars but you won't get a "complete" on the instruction because of invalid/missing car numbers.

There are two instructions that say pick up 69687, 69988, 69723, 69510, 69886 from NPFM-2 Outgoing and then pick up 69875, 69505, 69609, 69815, 69773 from NPFM Maintenance Storage.

The next instruction says to drop off 30022, 30584, 30097 , etc at NPFM RR Yard 2b. I believe the drop off the instruction is missing 69505 and 69875 and that 30022 s/b 69733, 30584 s/b 69815 and 30097 s/b 69609.

I agree with your statement that this is one of the best switching scenarios around. All the scenarios in the pack are really very good. Just a few kinks that needed fixing.

[OldProf]

Is anybody home at RSS? I've sent several e-mails to their support address, but have yet to receive a reply of any kind.

[4manDanHernandez]

Hello,

Yes, I'm here. I am camping/canoeing/cutting ties to technology for 2 weeks with my girlfriend, and we are checking our emails very rarely while here. Unfortunately I can' t check the scenario until I get home on the weekend. Please check the website on Saturday for an update. AFAIK, I never ran into any problems on the NPFM scenario, but I did make an edit before release and may have inadvertently switched player commands around causing the error. Should be an easy fix.

M.

[OldProf]

A bit -- well, quite a bit off topic, but I just have to say that "4 man Dan Hernandez" is a great handle! Anyone for "Take it to the hook! Takeittothehook!" (repetition required)?

I'm looking forward to the revision, by the way. At heart, this scenario pack is very good, but small flaws keep it from being enjoyed as it deserves.

[4manDanHernandez]

Hey there.

Camping trip done....time to get to work.

Yes, Mr. Hernandez makes an appearance all to often via the cab audio.....thought I'd immortalize him.

Old Prof, I've re-run scenario 4 and I think I've hit on your problem. What appears to be happening is that there is a drop off command for the mixed freight cars at Yard 2b. Then you are supposed to grab the tankers from inside the yard, and drop them on the end of Yard 2, and then you run around the cars on 2b and couple to them, pushing them into the tankers and dropping everything off there. What seems to be happening on my end, is that the first drop off command at 2b is not completing. As soon as I push the cars over the beginning of the track marker, the drop off command disappears, which is causing the incomplete errors. I have no idea why this is happening. The only alternative I can think of, is to remove the drop command at 2b and use a text instruction, therefore alleviating the scenario error for you.

I will experiment a little more with it this afternoon and see what I can come up with.

4DH

[OldProf]

Hey there ...

Old Prof, I've re-run scenario 4 and I think I've hit on your problem. What appears to be happening is that there is a drop off command for the mixed freight cars at Yard 2b. Then you are supposed to grab the tankers from inside the yard, and drop them on the end of Yard 2, and then you run around the cars on 2b and couple to them, pushing them into the tankers and dropping everything off there. What seems to be happening on my end, is that the first drop off command at 2b is not completing. As soon as I push the cars over the beginning of the track marker, the drop off command disappears, which is causing the incomplete errors. I have no idea why this is happening. The only alternative I can think of, is to remove the drop command at 2b and use a text instruction, therefore alleviating the scenario error for you.
4DH

Welcome back and thanks for the reply. Actually, someone else finally called my attention to the real cause of the problems I was having with your scenarios: despite your obvious statement that these are scenarios for version 2 of Ohio Steel 2, I was trying to run them on version 1! There's just no cure for that kind of blind-as-a-bat dumbitude and I sincerely apologize for all of my complaints. Since installing version 2 of Ohio Steel 2, I've run both the 3rd and 4th shift scenarios without problems. For some reason, RW insists on giving me an x rather than a nice green check-mark, but that really doesn't bother me. Oddly enough, I did get a green check-mark for completing the first shift, but none of the others.

[4manDanHernandez]

Good news Tom. I actually ran into that problem myself. When I put out the scenarios, I was trying to work through a problem with a gentleman who was getting errors that I wasn't able to reproduce. Turns out I had v2 of OS but not the LATEST v2. Put Steam in Online mode and it ran a quick update. There still is a problem with the scenario in question, and I will package up a release with a quick fix tonight. FYI, I'm working on a set of scenarios at the moment for Portsmouth Direct Line, based on real world timetables from the National Rail website. British trains are so well documented, that making timetabled scenarios is a joy. I'm a North American train lover, but man, do those Brits know how to run a railroad!.

4DH

[railbard]

I'm like OldProf. I really don't care if I get the red X, I know I did the job and did it right, so green check or red X makes not a bit of difference.

In any event, why should I get a green check if I SPADed 3 times, twice almost colliding iwth other traffic? And yet that happened. Meanwhile, a scenario where I stopped at every single stop and loaded/unloaded as per the instructions gives me a red X. Apparently I didn't put the cars at EXACTLY the infinitesimal point the scenario designer wanted.

Bah, the passengers didn't complain, neither should the scenario designer.