Maine Maritime

[ChrisOnline]

Well, I managed to get a clean Tracks.bin file (wow, many Turntable references to delete!), with everything else working fine.

I reinstalled the turntable and the good news is that running directly from a track onto the turntable, it is smooth, and no problem with nose diving or derailing. But unfortunately I can't get the turntable to turn at all, under any circumstances. The icon appears on the screen when hovering over the turntable or control cabin, but no joy with clicking on tracks, or with Key G or Shift+G

I'm afraid at this stage it's beyond my scope, so I have to pass. Let's hope that Rick or someone else will see this and be able to restore a fully working turntable

[ricksan]

I tried some things to fix the turntable, all to no avail. Early on in this project I was using the new, improved 64-bit version of the software--that is until the red flags began to be raised. You may recall I was having problems with dancing tracks and so on, even after reverting to the 32-bit version.

Today I rebuilt the turntable intermediates, re-exported it and its animation. No luck. It's not possible to install a turntable into an existing track network--you have to do it the other way around. And that, as a last resort, may be what has to be done. Another option might be to once again revert to the original TDB from the pre-release version, along with all its lousy turnouts. That actually works.

Incidentally, all those instances of the turntable in TDB are related to the number of tracks connected to it. In any case, TDB looks OK though something is obviously different in this latest version. This makes no sense at all. Will continue to work on it.

Gotta wonder if this long-neglected software has simply gone FUBAR!

[buzz456]

Your turntable on the GN Cascadian works just fine. FYI.

[ChrisOnline]

Hi Rick

A combination of your comments above, and an email from my friend in Canada saying that his turntable works fine, got me thinking, then a light came on in my head. So I have gone back to square one and reinstalled the route progressively from the original download (fortunately I keep daily incremental backups of my whole system, so I could go back to the original files)

1. Original download .rwp (without the patch01.rwp included in the same download): everything works fine, turntable is good, no random or duplicate buffers, turnouts look fine to me, no broken rail at Rigby.

2. Installing patch01.rwp (just a revised Tracks.bin file) that came with the original download: not sure what the patch intentionally addressed, but the turntable still works fine, however it causes the buffer problems that I referred to earlier in this thread.

3. Installing v.02: solves the buffer problem, but breaks the turntable

So I have now reverted to the original download without the patch01 Tracks.bin update, and then made a couple of broken rail adjustments already discussed. Everything is good for me as per (1) above, and I personally am very happy with the Rigby yard turnouts

Chris

[dphorton]

Hi Chris, reminds me of working on Fighter Aircraft. Fix one thing and another thing breaks. Looks like you found the problem. Thank you for taking the time to Troubleshoot the problem or problems.

[mindenjohn]

Chris-online is spot on. The original route turntable works as it should. Its easier to sort the track bumpers out individually rather than the turntable. I'd rather do a bit of track (re)laying than a turntable with more than 2 roads!!

[ricksan]

Do the scenarios all still load?

I ask because the fixes described by Chris may be beyond the capabilities of some users, necessitating an all-in-one fix (if there is such a thing).

[mindenjohn]

The scenarios work, I haven't tried them all, but those I have do e.g. "Track Improvements" I tried because of the turntable. The buffers can be removed by cutting a short piece out in front and removing the track behind then relaying. It seems to me that they have appeared because the track has been extended later in the build and may have used a slightly different track eg. Y rather than X 130S just an observation, could just as easily be wrong.
Still a great piece of work.

[ChrisOnline]

The buffer problem appeared when installing patch01 which came WITH the original download. Installing the original .rwp but NOT the patch01 file avoids the buffer problem

Fixing the buffers the way you describe, when I first noticed the problem led to double buffers at the end of the siding (I covered this earlier in the thread), but NOT installing patch 01 provides a clean install as I described in my summary

I haven't run scenarios through yet, but I have loaded several and they have all loaded without errors. That includes conversions of a 10-scenario pack from BLXT for the old Portland Terminal route (still in the UKTS library, file ID UKTS 37377)

I guess what is missing, Rick, is your "improvement" of the turnouts at Rigby, I believe, but I honestly didn't see much difference and am quite happy with those in the original download (again, WITHOUT patch01 in that same download). You will know if there are any other tweaks you addressed other than those mentioned in the thread, that could be re-visited, but I've not noticed anything wrong.

[ChrisOnline]

OK, I spoke to soon

When I did the reinstall, I did a complete flyover of the whole route, plus testing the turntable etc. But the helicopter view didn't show me the "flying track" which runs progressively higher from south of Rigby Yard, down to the Portal at the south end of the route.

Maybe that is what patch01 had addressed when released, but in doing so caused the buffer problems etc, with further knock-on effects afterwards

I don't know what to do to fix the track, happy to try if I have guidance, checking carefully as I go along that buffers, turntable, or other things are not affected.

Any ideas?

[mindenjohn]

I have no track problem south to the portal. South of the South portal the track is suspended but that is not an issue to me and if it became one then can be solved using the scenery/groundwork tool (paintbrush then magnet icons at top left), just did it for about 100 yards.

[ChrisOnline]

In my case it starts as a gradual gradient starting just south of Rigby Yard, at the crossover which is immediately south of the turnout leading to Turner Island. It is only the left hand track (traveling south), the other track is fine. So several turnouts are then broken, then the ties start disappearing as well, and eventually the whole track and ballast is floating in the air. When the double track merges into single teack, the junction is completely broken, and then also the passing loop and Snow's Products siding, with just the one track floating all the way down to the portal.

You appear to have also gone back to the original download, but did you then install patch01 (with the same original download)? I'm thinking so, as you appear to have the buffer problem, but at the same time have a much less significant floating track issue (which is what Rick then fixed with a later patch, leading to the turntable breaking.

Unfortunately I have no clue about fixing the floating track, bearing in mind it also covers quite a few turnouts and sidings en route. But I still think the optimum way forward would be to start again with the original download and rebuild from there

[mindenjohn]

I don't know to be honest. With the original download I didn't venture south of the wye as the first scenario I tried was the tank run. The first fix was then released while I was messing with that scenario and it was only then that I went south. My usual practice is to download any new route and then clone it so that in the event I fancy extending/changing anything I do it on the clone. In this case (so as to maybe fool some assets ) I cloned it as Portland Terminal.it was this clone that I in effect renamed as Maine Maritime and found it all worked and is the version I am using now. Whether it has the first fix I cannot recall, it is all very confusing anyway! Sorry I can't be of more help.

[ricksan]

The history of the tracks on Maine Maritime went something like this...

v.0.1 Among other things, the original release replaced all the **_B (for bumper) tracks with **_X tracks. That eliminated all the "automatic" bumpers, which I replaced with manually installed bumpers which are pure scenery elements. I also repaired some turnouts that had mismatched frog rails, working south to north over the whole route. Unbeknownst to me, one of those repairs, most probably at one of the crossovers at the south end of Rigby yard, had caused the flying track south of where I was working. After release, users immediately noticed the flying track.

patch 0.1 Trying to fix a flying track can be a losing battle, so as a quick fix, this patch was simply the beta version of the track layout as it existed a week or so prior to the initial release. That brought back the "bumper" tracks, which with the addition of scenery bumpers, caused the double-bumper effect.

v.0.2 This release was another full-route build that fixed the flying tracks and all the nasty switches except one near the north end of Rigby yard, which I hadn't noticed. You could actually run a train slowly over that switch, but the train would still leap up rather comically.

patch 0.2.1 Fixed the aforementioned switch along with another frogless switch in the yard ladder nobody had noticed, or at least had reported. Also added text to the Route Information blueprint.

The turntable problem then came to light. That problem probably found its way into release v.0.2. I have no idea how to fix it other than to start over. And here we are today.

So once again I did start over. I have gone through the route and fixed all known track-related issues. It took three tries because tracks kept leaping up, this time including ones north of the yard. I had to break many tracks at node junctions to isolate the sections I was working on. In effect I isolated all the tracks leading into the yard and those leading into the turntable. After making the repairs (and after fixing leaping tracks within the yard itself) I re-welded all the breaks. I also welded the breaks in Yard 8, the one with the "abandoned" tracks, and fixed a switch there. I began preparations for another, hopefully final, patch.

Oh, but wait! No fewer than six scenarios now refuse to load. On the "Trip South" one, there's actually a missing track section near the oil depot. It appears that way only in the scenario. To fix this, the scenario will probably have to be rebuilt from scratch. Fearing the worst, I didn't investigate what's wrong with the other broken scenarios let alone try to fix them. It's likely that some of third-party scenarios will be similarly broken.

I don't know what to do with this. I built all the yards for Sacramento Northern and the B&LE ones at Conneaut and Greenville, and never once had these kinds of problems. It's like I said about herding cats or what Dave said about fighter jets. I can release a new patch, with a caveat about the scenarios, then try to repair the scenarios afterwards, or wait until maybe this Humpty-Dumpty of a route can be put back together again. Any opinions?

[cnwfan]

I'd say fix and release the route first, and worry about the scenarios once the route is stabilized. In regards to the turntable... and my opinion only... but I'm ok with writing out the turntable from the scenarios, and just leaving it there as a "scenery" item. The rest of the route offers great scenario potential. For example, write into a scenario that the turntable is out of service, and turn your engine on the wye. Thank you again for your work on this route Rick. I know it's frustrating at times... and while I can't speak for the rest of the community... I do appreciate all the effort going into fixing the issues.