Is the Theory About .ap Files Correct?

[Darpor]

Mike, about the files outside of the .ap being deleted in a verification, this is probably because none of the files were modified. It's when the files are modified that they then take precedence and aren't removed, not when they are identical to what is inside the .ap. At least that is how I understand it anyway.

[PapaXpress]

Not sure if I should say this here but I think its a good theory.

Previously when we (constructively) discussed Multiplayer the majority of us agreed that for this to work everyone playing together on a route needs to have the same assets. I think this .ap file idea would lend itself to accomplishing this.

@Mike. Please don't pull RWTools. It is still an incredibly useful tool for creating our own routes and debugging our assets. Yes the .ap file problem is painful, but its localized around RSC created content. I think people will find a way to make it work out in the end.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Not sure if I should say this here but I think its a good theory.

Previously when we (constructively) discussed Multiplayer the majority of us agreed that for this to work everyone playing together on a route needs to have the same assets. I think this .ap file idea would lend itself to accomplishing this.

@Mike. Please don't pull RWTools. It is still an incredibly useful tool for creating our own routes and debugging our assets. Yes the .ap file problem is painful, but its localized around RSC created content. I think people will find a way to make it work out in the end.

.ap files are also used for routes, that makes route verification and scenario alteration by RW_Tools still more difficult.
We must assume the commerial DLC routes are complete and faultless. For freeware routes and assets we can still use the classic folder structure, or we can pack them in .ap files.
Most important in that respect is how to reference dependent assets, like sounds, cabs, shapefile when repainting default stock?

So until 100% reliable information on the use of classic route and asset folders versus the .ap stored ones is available, we are left to our own devices and ingenuity.

[PapaXpress]

... we are left to our own devices and ingenuity.

And how is this any different?

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

... we are left to our own devices and ingenuity.

And how is this any different?

No difference for me whatsoever. If you have followed the thread, I have decided to follow my old strategy of separate installs.
A virgin Steam install for "official" use and a couple of installs per continent, i.e. USA, EUR and UK.
In that USA install I have .ap-ed all the routes and most of the self contained RSC asset collection. Will see in a while if that brings me fortune or grief when I start adding freeware routes.

As far as I can tell from the virgin Steam install only the Kuju US Assets Pack is in .ap format. TheKuju European asset pack is still all folders and files as are the Kuju core assets.

[artimrj]

Some of the routes are also .ap'ed. Forget which I saw, do a search on *.ap in the railworks folder. You will see how many and what they are.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Some of the routes are also .ap'ed. Forget which I saw, do a search on *.ap in the railworks folder. You will see how many and what they are.

32, 34 and 37.

Then fire up NameMyRoute.exe and the name doesn't show. Only the UUID.
Add back the routeproperties.xml and the name shows. Same for each scenario from that route's .ap.

[latimers]

Follow Up:

I just double checked that I had files in the folders listed above and that the date stamps were 30 September 2013. I then (having read a post elsewhere) started up TS2014 on that machine. After shutting TS2014 down again, I went looking for the files and they are no longer there.

In summary, a file verify put files in the old folder structure after the initial TS2014 update and starting TS2014 removed them again.

Go figure!

Bob.

[latimers]

I've just posted this over on the Steam forum in response to a question, so for anyone that doesn't venture over there:

Peter (and anyone else that's interested). let me try to put down my thoughts in a clear, unambiguous way:

We currently have two quite different file structures, those with an .ap file (e.g. Kuju\RailSimulatorUS) and those without an .ap file (e.g. Kuju\Railsimulator).

We also have two ways of getting updates - the automatic updates that happen when you log on to Steam and the updates that happen when you run the Steam file verify process.

The main concern here is with user modifications to the DLC files and whether they survive an update or not, i.e. whether they are overwritten by an update.

Looking at the non-.ap files first, these follow the "old way".

THEORY

If the files in the old folder structure are modified by a user, they generally survive a Steam update (unless that particular file is being updated by Steam) but are overwritten with the originals if the user runs a Steam file verify. If the latter, the modifications have to be reloaded by the user.

IN PRACTICE

That update process doesn't always work correctly. On my DLC-only installation I have seen an update being processed when I log on to Steam but it then takes one or more Steam file verifies to get all of the updated files. This means that sooner or later a Steam file verify is necessary, along with reloading of all modifications.

The SSS sound updates are an example of this type. The modified files should not have been affected by the TS2014 update since the modifications to DLC are in the Kuju\Railsimulator folder and it hasn't (yet) been converted to an .ap file. So an update on starting Steam shouldn't affect them but a Steam file verify will.

Now for folders where an .ap file exists:

THEORY

The TS2014 update removed most of the files in the old folder structure (leaving the folders themselves there) and put the files into an .ap file which contained the folders and files from the old structure. (I say "most" because my Donner Pass has an .ap file but the scenarios are still in the old Scenario folder.)

With the absence of any clarification from RSC, the guessing was that a user could modify something as long as they put the modified files in the old folder structure and the modified file would be used in preference to the copy inside the .ap file. The guessing was also that even the Steam file verify would affect only the .ap file

and the modified files in the old folder structure would not be overwritten.

IN PRACTICE

The correctness of the theory was put in doubt in my mind when a Steam file verify on my DLC-only installation put some files in the old folder structure in the Kuju\RailSimulatorUS folder. If I had modified those files then presumably my modifications would have been overwritten. The next time I started TS2014, the files in the

old folder structure disappeared, but the modifications would have already have been overwritten. There is a possibility that this update was a mistake on the part of RSC and it has since been withdrawn.

TESTING

It seems to me the next step is to fully test the theory. What it will take is to choose a folder that has an .ap file, extract a file from the .ap file and put it in the appropriate old folder, modify it in some way and then run a Steam file verify. If the theory is correct the modified file will remain. If the theory isn't correct, the modified

file will either be removed or replaced with the original file (more likely the former since the original is still in the .ap file).

Another test could be to unzip the Donner Pass .ap file and put the files back in their original places. Then use RW_Tools (which currently can't find this route) to clone a scenario and swap stock. Then run the Steam file verify and see what happens in the Scenario folder. I suspect the new scenario will still be there.

Some people have reported unzipping all of their .ap files and putting the files back in their original folders. The advantage is that RW_Tools now runs as before. I hesitate to do this before we can figure out what exactly is going on.

Anyone still awake??????

[Toonces]

@Mike. Please don't pull RWTools. It is still an incredibly useful tool for creating our own routes and debugging our assets. Yes the .ap file problem is painful, but its localized around RSC created content. I think people will find a way to make it work out in the end.

I can echo this. I first ran across this while verifying a scenario that uses tons of RSC rolling stock. The rolling stock itself is unmodified - I just had numerous AI trains, so any questions of modified assets being reset when you verify the cache aren't relevant in my case, so for me the problem is more of a nuisance rather than a showstopper. In many ways it is a relief to me that the problem is a "known" one, and not something that I screwed up somewhere along the way.

[latimers]

Okay, I've done a bit of testing, using the Donner Pass route as a guinea pig.

First I backed up Content\Routes\00000032-0000-0000-0000-000000000000, Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS and Assets\RSC\Donner Pass. I found I needed to "process" all three or it wouldn't work. (Tried with just the first one - no joy, then with the first two - no joy, then all three - joy.)

I then "unzipped" each of the three .ap files and copied the folders and files back into the old folder structure.

I then used RW_Tools to clone the first standard scenario "1) Donner Pass" and called it "1) Donner Pass BL".

I then edited "1) Donner Pass BL" and substituted two UK Class 47s for the two original locos in the player consist.

I fired up TS2014 and ran the "1) Donner Pass BL" for a minute or so and exited TS2014.

I went back into the Content\Routes\00000032-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 folder and everything seemed to be still there, including the files and folders extracted from the .ap file.

I then ran a Steam file verify and it said there were 8 files needed downloading. All of the files extracted from the .ap file were still in the old folders.

Next I started up TS2014 to make sure my cloned scenario was still there and would run, which it was and it did.

I noticed that TS2014 took a little while to start up and when I checked the routes' folder, the files extracted from the .ap file were gone again but my cloned scenario was still there and intact.

Conclusion - It works but it certainly is a lot of work to substitute stock in a scenario. Whether Mike can come up with a quicker way to do it in RW_Tools, we'll just have to wait and see. (But hey, no pressure Mike!)

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

How does the package manager (utitilies.exe) handle installing asset from a .rwp package?

[Ericmopar]

There are some new applications in the Railworks folder, I bet somewhere in TS2014 is the actual application to decompress those .ap files...

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

.ap files are .zip archives using the "store" method. Store means no compression is applied.
You can open, alter and create them with 7-Zip, WinRAR, WinZip and other archive managers.

[latimers]

I've just sent the following to Railworks Support. Their answer will be interesting. Is anyone else seeing anything like this?

Guys,

Something strange is happening in TS2014.

I have a DLC-only installation. I went online and it updated to TS2014 okay with the .ap files appearing and the old folders being emptied out. I then ran the Steam file verify twice. Both times it came up with all files verified correctly.

A couple of days later I ran the Steam file verify again and it downloaded some files. I checked the Railworks folder and found 109 new files in the Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Railvehicles\Diesel\ES 44AC and Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Railvehicles\Diesel\SD 40-2 folders, e.g. Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Railvehicles\Diesel\ES 44AC\BNSF\Cabview\es44ac_cab_bnsf.GeoPcDx

The next time I actually ran TS2014 and closed it and checked those folders, those files had disappeared again.

The next day I ran the Steam file verify again and this time it added 5 files to those folders, e.g. Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Railvehicles\Diesel\ES 44AC\BNSF\Engine\es44_bnsf.bin

After I had run TS2014, those files disappeared again.

A couple of hours later I repeated the process - this time 109 files appeared in those folders and they disappeared again after running TS2014.

There is a theory going the rounds that the Steam file verify will update only the .ap file (if an .ap file exists) and will not touch modified files that have been placed in the old folder structure and which take precedence when running TS2014 over the files inside the .ap file.

This behaviour tends to disprove that theory. An .ap file is present yet the Steam file verify is placing files in the old folder structure.

Does this behaviour indicate that there is a problem with the Steam file verify process?

Bob Latimer.