Railworks America

Hello all, is there a step by step guide to packaging a route. I finished a route a while back, but became confused on packaging. I have heard of blueprints needing to be there etc. I am new to this. Unlike MSTS where you just zip and go, RW is a little different. If anyone has any ideas please alert me..


Thanks!

O'brian

Packaging the route itself is easy. You use the Package Manager to pack it up by locating the route's folder and selecting all of it.

The hard part is packing the assets up. The best way to do that is with RW Tools. When you check the route with RW Tools it will provide a list of assets used by your route. You can use the list to manually select your asset folders and pack them with the Manager, or you can let RW Tools pack them for you. It needs the lists too though so you have to save them after you create them while checking the route. RW Tools will copy the assets to the RW Tools folder in to another folder with the name of your route. In the RW Tools main folder is an EXE file called RW_Route_setup.exe. Copy this to route folder RW Tools made and zip it all up together. Use will then unzip and run the EXE to install.

It's always a real plus to us users, include a "readme" about any assets we need to hunt down. Especially payware we may or may not have. (just a little advice)

arizonachris wrote:It's always a real plus to us users, include a "readme" about any assets we need to hunt down.

...and possibly a link where to find them.

The readme files in GreatNortherner's recent uploads are a good model.

Also, I'm not sure but I think you can just zip your assets while preserving the folder structure, then change the .zip extension to .rwp.

Chacal wrote:Also, I'm not sure but I think you can just zip your assets while preserving the folder structure, then change the .zip extension to .rwp.

I tried this once and didn't work. You can change the .rwp to .zip and extract (or even extract directly from .rwp using WinRar and 7-Zip), but you cannot rename .zip to .rwp (there is some essential and hidden information added by Packager into the .rwp).

Thanks, that's good to know.
I wonder if it would be possible to add stuff to an existing rwp using this technique.

Thank you all for responding! That helps tremendously, I have been out of the loop for a while due to work. ...I really need a good beta tester, especially someone who has most of the routes designed for RW including payware ones. just pm me as I have some downtime this weekend. O'brian

Chacal wrote:Thanks, that's good to know.
I wonder if it would be possible to add stuff to an existing rwp using this technique.

I tired adding stuff to an existing RWP it does not work either. The file becomes corrupt.

artimrj wrote:I tired adding stuff to an existing RWP it does not work either. The file becomes corrupt.

Probably that information about author and protected or not proteccted, this is the question, If we could to handle this...

I'm looking at the file structure and the rwp does not respect the zip standard.

An extra header is prepended to the file, consisting of:
- one byte (unknown)
- variable length text (seems to be author, ex: Michael Stephan)
- one byte, value 01

After this we find the normal zip format, but I suspect RSC uses proprietary values for some fields, which are unrecognized by zip tools.
There is no problem reading the file with a zip tool, because such tools first get the file directory from the end of the archive, this provides the start offset for each file. The extra header is invisible to such tools. Compression formats are standard, so the tools can find, extract and open the files.

But when the tools try to modify the files, they find proprietary values for properties and don't know what to do (for example 7-zip says "Not supported"). Also, they don't write the extra header or any proprietary information that Package Manager wants to see in extra fields. So the file won't open in Package Manager.

Anyway, nice one Chacal Was worth the attempt.

Wait, this is confusing. Most third party stuff is in a .zip file. You unpack it and there is a .rwp file that Package Manager can install, right? Some third parties use an .exe to install, that goes past the Package Manager. I guess what I'm asking, can't you just zip up the rwp file?

Yes but that doesn't solve the original problem.

The discussion was about the RW packager (which makes rwp packages) being difficult to use.
If the OP can make a rwp, his problem is solved.

The other official solution is to use RWTools to gather up all needed files in a folder structure, add a .exe that basically just copies the files to the RW folders, and pack all that into a .zip file.

I was trying to come up with a third solution, involving making the .rwp without using the RW packager, using zip tools. But that's not possible.

IMHO the best solution is to just learn to use the RW packager.

Chacal wrote:IMHO the best solution is to just learn to use the RW packager.

That's a solution for users, not route creators, or even in my case creating lighting and cabviews mods.
Packager so far doesn't save a pack profile. If you are packing a route with 80 providers, hundred folders and thousands of files, one missing or wrong file is enough make you to start over again, thousands clicks again (with no fail at the time). No way IMHO, and by experience on handling the thing.