Another MSTSbin 1.6 Issue I think

[kvr fan]

When I run a Russel wedge plow coupled to the front of my H1 steam engine and I have MSTSBin 1.6 installed and I try to turn on the headlites the program freezes and most times I have to hit the reset button to reboot and get back to desktop. If I uninstall MSTSBin1.6 everything works ok. I can run the plow with the headlites on,no problem. I have read the MSTS docs on headlites and everything seems to be good. I haven't made any chenges to the original .wag file.
Anybody with any suggestions.

[kvr fan]

I was running with MTSBin 1.6.1. I went back to MSTBin 1.6.0 and all the lights work now without crashing the game.
Must be something in 1.6.1 that doesn't like the lites or the lites don't like 1.6.1

[OTTODAD]

When George fixed the incorrectly turning bogies of "Flipped" rear engines and when driving from rear cabs, his 1.6.1 code changes found some anomalities in a number of files which did not bother previous versions of the train.exe !

You pushing the snow plow wagon with the front coupler found another combination MSTSBin 1.6.1 seems to unhappy with. ;-)

Where can I get this unit from so that I can test it and report back to George ?

O t t o

[kvr fan]

Hi Otto
The plow I am using is in the file library Russelsp.zip and one of the engines I was using with it is a Train Artisian 4-8-2 USRA Light Mountain
I hope this helps..

[OTTODAD]

Yes it helps, Cecil !

Will test it with one of my diesels and a UK steamer of similar type !

More later ! ;-)

O t t o

P.S.: O.K. here is what I found.

First of all the snow plow would not couple because once again it's bounding box covers the coupler knuckle:

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/112347.jpg

WORDPAD / NOTEPAD edit it's *.sd file like shown here:

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/112349.jpg

Then I coupled this Northern Pacific onto it, US steamer rather than a UK one and started pushing it forward:

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/112352.jpg

the moment I switched on the lights MSTS froze and I got Send.... ! Using my DASH-9 did exactly the same.

Repeated the exercise with a 4 freight wagons consist and switching on the lights had no problems !

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/112354.jpg

Indicates that the problem is caused by this snow plow, I don't think I will bother George with, this unit being an odd-ball for some reason ! ;-)

Take care, O t t o.

[OTTODAD]

Just about ready to go to bed I had a thought and checked the snow plow's *.wag file and saw some Lights ( ... parameters in it.

Removed them all and no more problems ! ;-)

O t t o

[kvr fan]

Hi Otto
Did you remove all the lights from the .wag file? Or am I missing something,because this plow requires a headlite as well as rear red lights..

[tpilot]

Sounds like Bin has a problem when you couple to a car containing lights, which should probably be submitted to George for evaluation.

[OTTODAD]

I tested this replacing the snow plow with a SD-402 facing the same way and switching on the lights of the DASH-9 pushing it caused no problems.

So what is required is to convert this wagon into an "engine", which I did for you and then new *.eng & *.con files are in this attached *.zip

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/112381.zip[/url]

The *.wag file had an odd ) bracket and so has the new *.eng file, but as it seems to be one at the end causes no problems !

Here we go coupled and pushing the snow plow:

[url]http://forums.flightsim.com/ts/user_files/112382.jpg

and all lights are working ! :7

Have FUN, O t t o.

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/112383.jpg

[tpilot]

Hi Otto,

Nice job figuring that out. I don't think I would have thought of that. (I think you also want to change the max power of the plow of O hp (or 0 Kw), don't you? Otherwise, don't you effectively end up with a MU with the plow helping to pull the train?)

I could be wrong, though.

[OTTODAD]

You are probably right, Marshall, but me not being a Bob Boudoin simply copied the values from my DASH-9 ! ;-)

O t t o.

[kvr fan]

Hi Otto
Thanks for the file. I figured I had to do something like that to get it to work. By the way I changed Max hp to 0
check it out..

[jovet]

You should avoid pressing Reset in this circumstance at all costs. Windows and other running programs don't like it, which is why it's always discouraged.

If MSTS freezes full-screen and you can't get out of it, try these steps:

1. Press a Win key (or Ctrl+Esc) to bring up the Start Menu. You won't see it on the screen, but it will get the keyboard focus.

(If your normal Windows screen settings match that of what you use in MSTS, you may sometimes be able to skip directly to Step #6 at this point.)

2. Press "R" to open the Run dialog box. Again, you won't see it on screen.

3. For Windows 2000 and XP: Type "cmd" and press Enter.
For Windows 95, 98, and ME: Type "command" and press Enter.

A DOS Command Prompt will open. (For most systems, off screen.)

4. If you're not already taken to a DOS screen, press Alt+Enter to make the now active one full-screen. This will boot MSTS off the screen.

5. Press Alt+Enter (again) to re-window the DOS screen. You now have access to the desktop.

6. Right click the MSTS icon on the taskbar and choose Close. If on Windows 9X/ME, you may need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del.


Hope that helps... Practice this a few times and it becomes second-nature. :)

[ianmacmillan]

My method is to use the close button on the taskbar.

Right click on the "trainsim discussion forum" box on the taskbar to see what it looks like. (don't click it!)

Memorise where this is so you can click it blind.


When the MSTS screen freezes, press the windows key.
Right click where the taskbar box should be.
Move your curser up to where the close line should be. The curser will dissappear when you leave the hidden taskbar. Click.

A window will appear asking you to confirm but it will be hidden.

Press Tab and then Enter.

MSTS will close and the frozen screen will be gone.

If you want to practice try starting an Explore route with the loco box blank.

[kvr fan]

Thanks for the tip on how to get out of Train Sim when it freezes.. I will definately keep my finger off the reset button as I did have some issues with the computer yesterday...

[bwbrgb]

I had the same problem with lights freezing the sim after installing the latest bin upgrade and found it to be an improper uninstall of the previous bin version .
The second time , I made sure that all traces of the older version were gone , then reinstalled 6.102213 and have had no more problems .
I now can run an upscaled Sumpter 250 - multipart steamer , bigboy etc and also push a Russel Plow with headlite and flashing lite on the Niagara Route - no prob .
I d/l the free plow from Diesels West and it works fine .
Just my experience .
Rod Berger