Renaming .ace files causes UID error and send/don't sen

[USRailFan]

Does anyone know why renaming some locos and cars' .ace files and editing the .s-file to point to the new file names sometimes causes an UID error (failed to add car XXX etc) pop-up and then a send/don't send? The model shows up just fine in Shape Viewer.

It happens in particular with NALW models - is this some sort of copy protection?

[John_Reagon]

No it's not a "Copy Protection". It's your route I say to reinstall your route that is making this happen if it's Cascades Crossing reinstall it and put the Viewing thing at 1500 that should work for ya.

[USRailFan]

Huh?

[asamtrak911]

Did you re-compress the shape files after editing them? Also, make sure you listed the .ace filenames exactly, because it's possible they might be case-sensitive in the sim but not in Shape Viewer.

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[USRailFan]

Yes, I compressed the shape file after editing it, and the .ace filenames are listed just as they appear in Explorer. As I said, the loco shows up just fine in Shape Viewer, but when loading MSTS, Explore activity, and then choosing the locomotive to drive, the "can't add UID" error message pops up during loading, followed by the send/don't send

[asamtrak911]

OK, so I guess neither of those is the problem, but the point I was trying to make is that just because something works in Shape Viewer doesn't mean it will work in the sim. They are totally separate programs, and for example the lighting and textures and sometimes alpha sorting are handled slightly differently by SView, so what you see is not necessarily what you get. (Not that there's anything wrong with SView - I can't live without it now, but it's just a common misconception that what works in SView will always work in the sim.)

Back on topic, I honestly don't know what's causing your problem then. I've done the same thing many times, both on my own shape files and those created by others, with no problems at all. I would suggest deleting your modified shapes and starting over with the original versions again - just in case you changed something that you're not aware of. Also, make sure you didn't use spaces or any weird characters in your filenames, since that could be something else that Explorer and SView can handle, but that MSTS might not read correctly.

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[USRailFan]

Yeah I know the Shape Viewer ain't 100% reliable. We've got examples the other way too, e.g. Danny Beck's GP60M which crashes the Shape Viewer, but works just fine in the game..
Still, I've checked everything I can think of, spelling, capitalisation, spaces... Still won't work... I guess this particular shape file need to have the textures named in a particular way to show up... Maybe some sort of "copy protection" on NALW's side?

[buzzbenz]

What is the particular shape file?

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[USRailFan]

It is the SEPTA AEM-7 from the NEC pack v1

[buzzbenz]

A. You mentioned spaces - i wouldn't use spaces, i'd use an underscore instead (ie instead of My Texture.ace, i'd use My_Texture.ace). Don't know if that matters or not, just a practice from the old MS-DOS days :)

B. You could be having a problem in another file. I'm assuming that you are trying to create an additional engine (different road number?) - otherwise you'd have no need to modify the texture names. As such, i'm assuming then that you probably changed the name of the .s file? Have you verified that the .sd and .eng files are correctly named as well, and that they reference the correct .s file? That may be the 1st place i'd look (it would also present a situation where SFV can load it but the sim can't - i don't think SFV even looks at the .eng file... And there are a few places in the .eng file where you have to change the name). That may seem obvious, but sometimes the obvious is the 1st thing overlooked :)

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