[Procopius]

I was hoping to install the activity c2c1 in Cajon Pass 1. It requires the Super Chief Set from 3D Trains, but I figure I can find substitutes for those without much trouble, but it also uses three steam locomotives, ATSF #3827, 3876, and 3940, by B&O Guy, available from Elvas Towers. The problem is, the cabviews are aliased to "the SPS_700, which is available from trainsim.com," except it isn't. I was able to find a sound upgrade for the SPS_700, but these locos don't use the sounds, just the cabview.Trainsim has other 2-10-2 locomotives. The B&O Steam Mega-Pack seems to have been quite popular, but I haven't downloaded it to see if in included the cabview. At least three of the others also alias to the SPS_700 cabview. Does that seem like a viable alternative, or is there a better?

[slipperman]

Hi Procopius,
The SPS 700, complete with three cabviews, is still available from trainsim.com as - sps_700a.zip

May I suggest that, if you've already got locos installed in your TRAINSET folder, but can't find a cabview or sounds, you run my utility MSTS_Check. It uses a user-maintained control file, but, in this case, would have given you the file name to look for on trainsim.com using the as-supplied control file.

Cheers,
Ged

[Procopius]

slipperman, on 30 October 2017 - 01:50 AM, said:

Hi Procopius,
The SPS 700, complete with three cabviews, is still available from trainsim.com as - sps_700a.zip

May I suggest that, if you've already got locos installed in your TRAINSET folder, but can't find a cabview or sounds, you run my utility MSTS_Check. It uses a user-maintained control file, but, in this case, would have given you the file name to look for on trainsim.com using the as-supplied control file.

Cheers,
Ged

Darn. Thank you very much, but I'm annoyed with myself for not thinking to try appending a wildcard character for a search. Well, next time. Thank you, too, for telling me about MSTS_Check. I hadn't seen any mention of it before. I'll download it now.

[R H Steele]

Hello Procopius,
Please see my post #2 in this thread >> http://www.elvastowe...where-to-begin/
A listing of some tools that will make all the tasks easier. Also search here and at TS for any utilities by Ged Saunders (slipperman) you can't go wrong with using them...very helpful programs.
Checking your trainset for errors with tools designed for that task ( some of Ged's programs, ConBuilders testing tools, or RouteRiter will reveal most errors.

[Procopius]

R H Steele, on 30 October 2017 - 10:29 AM, said:

Hello Procopius,
Please see my post #2 in this thread >> http://www.elvastowe...where-to-begin/
A listing of some tools that will make all the tasks easier. Also search here and at TS for any utilities by Ged Saunders (slipperman) you can't go wrong with using them...very helpful programs.
Checking your trainset for errors with tools designed for that task ( some of Ged's programs, ConBuilders testing tools, or RouteRiter will reveal most errors.

Oh, thanks. I don't know how I didn't follow that link to begin with. I've become pretty fond of Route Writer, but I think it re-writes some of my files, producing errors. Not every time, but at random it seems to delete .sms files and shape file, and the code at the top of the page for some .wag and .eng files. It just did it again for the Pe_717 and Pe_717nec engines and half a dozen other files. It's easy to repair, but tiresome. I'm really grateful for the help I'm getting from you all. I'm just so ignorant of railroading, and I shouldn't be. I grew up when kids were as fascinated by steam engines as we were by airplanes or cars. Do kids nowadays even try to recognize car makes and year of manufacture? Of course we had a lot fewer to keep track of.

[Procopius]

Well, I've added MSTS_Check to my arsenal, but it doesn't seem very helpful. It shows me missing cabview and .sound files, but it doesn't help find the zip files I need to get the sounds. It gives the names of the missing files, and it gives the names of the stock items and folders they are in, but those often don't have any relation to the name of the zip file the contents came in. In every case where it had an entry for a suggested source, it was, "Suggested Source/s : Unknown." In each case where there were more than one file missing there was no suggested source entry at all. I suppose there must be some file that I'm missing, but I didn't see it at the download directory.
ETA: OK, so the cabview SourceList file is 911 lines long. 511 of those lines start with "EMD" and another 228 start with "GP," and it doesn't seem to contain very many of the names of the locomotives in my trainset, which only has 450 entries.Well, given that it does show me the folder and file name, maybe I can find at least some of the missing files by checking them manually.

[slipperman]

Hi Procopius,
I'm sorry that MSTS_Check isn't useful for you. It would certainly have found the SPS_700 file for you, so long as the cvf name is as issued. I did check it and all seems OK. Don't forget that you need to set the program to check for UK or NA (North American) cabviews and sounds. I went through the trainsim.com library and included as many of the cabs and sounds I could find; the files are user editable, so you can always add new entries, following the details in the readme. I regret I'm not able to issue updates to the files, but as MSTS is nearing the end of its life, there probably won't be many new cabs and sounds issued!

If you could let me know of any cabview and/or sounds which are not included on the lists, please let me know and, if I ever have to re-issue the program, I'll include the updated files.

Cheers,
Ged