[markus_GE]

Hi Guys,

in another thread a discussion has surface on how settings in ORTS are saved (registry or openrails.ini) and which kind of install will read which set of options (when NOT using openrails.ini). However, my "understanding" of how this works has been thoroughly messed up by Mervyn (copperpen) with this statement:

 copperpen, on 06 May 2020 - 02:12 PM, said:

Different versions can have different options. I have 4 versions, different stages of OR development from version 1 forwards. Each version has its own set of options. What you cannot do is have several different installs of the same version with different options, unless you use the openrails.ini file within each install.

I thought I knew that every install would read the same options from the registry (that experience was gathered way back in 2015ish, though), but obviously that is not the case. So, could anyone please give some insight on which kinds of ORTS installs (different version, different release channels, etc.) will share which sets of options?

Cheers, Markus

[R H Steele]

I thought I was well read when it concerned the manual...never had heard of "openrail.ini" until that other thread you referenced. Search in current manual turns up nothing. The earliest thread mentioning the portability of OR is by James Ross >>> http://www.elvastowe...30-portable-or/
So extending the theory it appears that if you keep separate installations of OR you can have an "openrails.ini" in each install that will save all the settings to the ini file instead of the registry for that specific installation.
I am currently running 4 separate installations, but do not use the "openrail.ini" file...looks like I should be doing that. Also as you suggested it would be convenient to have the settings available on a flash drive ( I'm thinking of getting a gaming laptop )
1. Last stable version: Ver1.3
2. Latest unstable version
3. Latest ( or when I can update ) Monogame version
4. Raildriver version

[copperpen]

 markus_GE, on 07 May 2020 - 01:36 PM, said:

Hi Guys,

in another thread a discussion has surface on how settings in ORTS are saved (registry or openrails.ini) and which kind of install will read which set of options (when NOT using openrails.ini). However, my "understanding" of how this works has been thoroughly messed up by Mervyn (copperpen) with this statement:


I thought I knew that every install would read the same options from the registry (that experience was gathered way back in 2015ish, though), but obviously that is not the case. So, could anyone please give some insight on which kinds of ORTS installs (different version, different release channels, etc.) will share which sets of options?

Cheers, Markus

All version of Open Rails will show items in Options that are common to all. What does not happen is an earlier version showing any options that it has not been coded to accept. A prime example is the difference between the current Testing and Unstable versions. Testing cannot use the simple Controls option, whereas the unstable one can. This will of course change as Testing catches up with Unstable.

[markus_GE]

 R H Steele, on 07 May 2020 - 02:55 PM, said:

I thought I was well read when it concerned the manual...never had heard of "openrail.ini" until that other thread you referenced. Search in current manual turns up nothing. The earliest thread mentioning the portability of OR is by James Ross >>> http://www.elvastowe...30-portable-or/
So extending the theory it appears that if you keep separate installations of OR you can have an "openrails.ini" in each install that will save all the settings to the ini file instead of the registry for that specific installation.
I am currently running 4 separate installations, but do not use the "openrail.ini" file...looks like I should be doing that. Also as you suggested it would be convenient to have the settings available on a flash drive ( I'm thinking of getting a gaming laptop )
1. Last stable version: Ver1.3
2. Latest unstable version
3. Latest ( or when I can update ) Monogame version
4. Raildriver version

That thread you linked was also how I learned about the feature ;)

And I think it's pretty neat, too, since it allows you to (a) put your ORTS on a USB thumb drive including settings, as you mentioned, and (B) allows you to have completely separate options for different installs.

 copperpen, on 08 May 2020 - 03:14 AM, said:

All version of Open Rails will show items in Options that are common to all. What does not happen is an earlier version showing any options that it has not been coded to accept. A prime example is the difference between the current Testing and Unstable versions. Testing cannot use the simple Controls option, whereas the unstable one can. This will of course change as Testing catches up with Unstable.

That goes to say, I actually did understand everything right - IE all options going to the same place in the registry (unless using openrails.ini) and are shared between all installs, that read their settings from the registry, to the extent possible... hm...

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sign_sorry.giffor making such a fuzz about this, then!

Cheers, Markus