Merging Routes

[Valued_Customer]

After doing some forum searching,(key words, merge & route) I did find some mention of merging routes. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, since the old pros already knew what they were talking about. I've seen the feature in Route Riter but really got nowhere with it since there is no "Help" file I can find.

Is merging routes what I think it is, connecting the end route with one to another? How is this done? I'm just thinking out loud here with this where you could actually cover a couple of states or across an entire state if you had the proper downloads. I've taken passenger trains from Chicago to New Joisey (yes, I said Joisey) or like zipping through the state of Arizona, etc., and would like to try something like that with MSTS. To make the route at one time would be an incredible task and I'd probably throw it in the dumper after awhile.

So, can anyone enlighten me on merging routes and what it takes to do it?

[ronaldparkin]

Hi, Sounds simple but alot of factors need to be taken into account.
Different terrains,Track ie;you cannot mix different track sections in one route with different track in another route and seriously think about it if was possible don't you think that after 6 years that it would not already have been done many times.It has been talked about many times on different forums without much headway being made.

Regards

Ron P
ps bet i'm wrong.

[ckawahara]

Try here...



http://hawkdawg.com/MSTS/tuts/chuck/merge.htm

[rpicardi1]

Some friendly advice on merging routes, don't. Can it be done? yes. Is it easy? no.

The massive PRR Eastern route, which contains a merger of six routes, has some 3000 miles of trackage, a TDB of 32 meg, and a compressed file size that spans 3 CDs.

I don't know the details of how the merge was accomplished, but, track does have to be connected, a common start point established, and the four common track files merged smoothly. Make one mistake or have something that doesn't mesh and you have a mess.

The resulting merge, done some time ago, trashed all of the dyntrack on the NEC from Philly to DC. It also trashed dyntrack on other parts which have since been patched by laying X-Track over the affected areas. TDB rebuild is impossible no matter what utility is used. Most of the route does drive with working signals and AI traffic behaving as expected except for the NEC. The experts are working on the TDB issues and are slowly fixing the problem areas.

Keep in mind that a route of this size, just half of the distance you are interested in, from Long Island to Allatoona, has taken several people five years to reach the current beta testing state.

If you decide to tackle such a route, One person has to set up the route, one person has to be in charge of the tdb and anything that affects it such as laying track, roads, signals, mileposts, and any interactive. Several people can do scenery so long as each person is assigned an area so they don't step over each other's work and they send updates to each other on a regular bases.

Keeps lots of backups. Should the route w files get out of sync with the TDB, you will have major problems trying to find and fix the problem.

SRV Ron

[maiatcat]

Since I did the merge that Ron is talking about, I have a few comments.

1. It can make a difference what route is your target route.

2. If you have a fully operational signal system on each of the routes you intend to merge, delete every interactive on trackage that will be joined to your target route despite what Route-Riter says about being able to handle two discrete signal systems in each of the two (or more) route one merges (I merged 5 routes or was it 6).

3. If the two routes overlap as far as terrain tiles go, make sure only one route has track in that area. You can easily link it up later.


4. Decide what type of track you are going to use (default track, x-tracks, scale rail, or whatever).

5. Before doing a merge, backup every route involved.

6. Expect to have problems with dynamic track.


7. Make sure your computer is top of the line!!!!



BTW, though I agree with most of Ron's comments, you would be surprised what a beating a tdb can take and still be functional.



Maia

[Valued_Customer]

Not worth the effort. I just happened to see it as an option with Route Riter. Had me curious and I think you guys killed that cat. Thanks.

[Swissie]

After having fiddled with the feature three times so far (successfully, albeit not always in the first try, with merging Cajon & Tehachapi II, Marias 3.1. & Whitefish 4, and RMD-1 & RMD-2), may I add some comments as well:

> 2. If you have a fully operational signal system on each of the routes you intend to merge, delete every interactive on trackage that will be joined to your target route despite what Route-Riter says about being able to handle two discrete signal systems in each of the two (or more) route one merges (I merged 5 routes or was it 6).

Or do as advised in the help file for TSutils (which is the tool that actually merges routes, it is included in RouteRiter but has a help file of its own): Edit a new sigcfg.dat and sigscr.dat file that contains all relevant entries (signal types, signal shapes & scripts) from both routes. Then test the aggregate sigcfg.dat and sigscr.dat in each of the two routes to be merged, if it works in either unmerged route it will work with the merged route as well. For just two routes, that's ok, for six distinct routes it will be a monster of a task...

> 6. Expect to have problems with dynamic track.

TSutil also has a tool to update the local tsection.dat of the two routes so that each dynamic track entry is unique (works similar to Horace.exe). I did have only one bad dynamic track section after merging routes, and this was due to me messing with a nearby switch after the merge.

> 3. If the two routes overlap as far as terrain tiles go, make sure only one route has track in that area.

Yes, very important advice which I did not see in the TSutils documentation / help file. Crashed my first merged route big time as two identical track sections occupying the same spot is something the sim definitely doesn't like at all!

I think that it is important to have good knowledge of how the Route Editor works before trying to merge routes - chances are good that some things can go wrong, and some things need to be fixed manually...

Lukas a.k.a Swissie

[maiatcat]

A couple of more comments.


I will be charitable. The directions in tsutilities for merging routes could have been clearer.


We found that the biggest problems were caused by multiple signals systems. What we eventually did was clear of all the signals on one of the routes, though we left them in the route; we left them in place in the target route. The routes survived the merge.

[Swissie]

Hi

> I will be charitable. The directions in tsutilities for merging routes could have been clearer.

hm, I think they were translated from German to English - seemingly word by word with the help of a dictionary. Upon reading it first, I found the wording and grammar of the English help-file a bit peculiar, too, but with my native language background, I automatically started translating it back into German anyways - which suddenly gave me a comprehensive and grammatically correct text...

Lukas a.k.a Swissie

[NickF]

Lukas,

Would you be willing to translate it back into English so we English speakers can have a comprehensive and gramatically correct documentation?

Nick

[Swissie]

Hi Nick,

I must and will have another look at it - I'm not a native English speaker, so my translation skills would be challenged, too.

Lukas a.k.a Swissie

[NickF]

I'll be the first to admit that your English seems fluent to me. Mych better than my German or Japanese. I can almost make myself understood but that's about it.