WHEN ASKING FOR HELP

[DCRR1]

One purpose of these forums is to help each other when problems arise. We are here to help you when you have a problem. A number of recent posts for help have been extremely vague about the actual problem. Saying that the game freezes, you got an error message, you got the Send/Don't Send message, is not very much information to allow us to assist you properly.

Keep in mind that MSTS will only read files, it will not edit or change them by itself. So when a post states that MSTS "suddenly" started misbehaving and it worked fine last night, last week, etc, we know something has been added, deleted, or a file changed. So keep track of what you add, delete, or change. Also remember to:

MAKE A BACKUP OF ANY FOLDER OR FILE BEFORE YOU WORK ON IT!!

In order to help you, you must help us by providing as much information as possible. Below are suggestions that will go along way toward helping us to give you accurate answers to your problem.

Most important, tell us where you are in the sim and what you are doing when the problem arises. For example if the problem occurs during an activity, tell us what route, what activity, where in the activity, and what you are doing at the time.

If you receive an error message, note the exact text and post it. Or take a screenshot and post it. The error messages are usually pretty specific as to what is causing a problem.

If the sim acts up after you add something like an engine, wagon, activity, etc, let us know the name of the zip file you downloaded and where you got it from. This allows us to obtain the same item and try to duplicate your problem.

If you have deleted anything, let us know. In fact, never delete anything, move it to a seperate folder first and keep it there. Deleting one folder or file can have a ripple effect. For example, if you delete an engine or wagon from the TrainSet folder, you may receive database error messages. This would indicate that one or more consists are calling for the item that you deleted.

Generally, let us know:
Your computer specs; operating system, memory, graphic card, sound card specs.
If you have the Bin patch installed, and what version.
If you use TrainStore or RoutesOn/Off.
Whether or not you have run any diagnostics yourself and the results.

Please tell us your computer abilities. You are anonymous here, so don't be embarressed to say you know nothing about computers or MSTS file structure. If you don't tell us you know nothing about MSTS you may receive a technical response that will be useless to you.

We do want to help you. Please remember that these forums are used by men, women, and children of all ages and all around the world. So please be civil and tolerant.

I probably missed a few things above, but this should be enough to help us. If anyone can add anything, please do.

John

"BNSFLADY"
CYNDI RICHARDS
You will always
be here with us.

[OTTODAD]

Hi John !

Apologies for not thanking you before for explaining in detail what would help some of us to better identify what the cause of a reported problem could be, avoiding endless ding-dongs in monster threads trying to diagnose it.

Supporting such reports with JPGs would also help, showing problem locations in a route displaying clearly visible compass co-ordinates like shown below !

What would also help is that your suggestions are being read by those in need of help ! ;-)

Take care, O t t o.

[asmith46]

Totally uninformative Subject lines like "need help", "msts problem", etc. waste space. We already know that, that's why you are posting in the first place.Please try to be as specific as possible in the subject line like for instance: "Activity for Route xxx causes error yadda yadda". Then you can tell us more in the body of the message, and we have more info to evaluate from the start, which could lead to a quicker resolution of the problem.
-Al

[nicky9499]

It doesn't actually help if you come here and fire off an angry post crticizing some content creator or msts' lousy game engine.

While yes, you might be frustrated (I do sometimes, too), bear in mind that if you post and respond in a grouchy manner, one may not take the most pleasure in helping you solve your problem. I used to be an active member in the Trainz forums, but what really surprised me was when one of the members here actually went to install the same problematic file to diagnose the problem!

Try to be polite at all time,

n also rmb tt typin lyk tis srsly pisses ppl off.

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

[Daniel Odette]

Wow nice picture OTTODAD.

[Tailwheel]

RANT ON!:
OK this is one of my pet peeves and I know it is for others. I aim this squarely at those folks who come to the forum with a problem in MSTS post a summary of the problem that may or may not have sufficient information for somebody to help them. Be specific please.

NOW for the main reason for a RANT, you have a problem and then lucky for you the solution becomes apparent and you get everything running and come back to the forums and say I fixed it never mind my old post.????????

Believe it or not your not the only poor soul that might just experience this particular problem. Of course the best method when you have the problem is to use the search feature in the forums and see if the difficulty has been reported before. More importantly if it has been reported is the solution also provided. Sorry but "Nevermind I fixed it" ain't no solution. If you fix it tell us what fixed it and how you did it.

The above being said it seems obvious to me that coming to the forums and making a post with a title of 'Help'. 'I have a problem'. 'What do I do'. Ad nausem will not aid anybody trying to search for that problem. Make you post title clearly state the problem.
RANT OFF:
Like your momma used to say: "Don't make me come over there!"

[SurvivorSean]

Heck I'm in the mood to rant too even though Green Bay won, but it's the 1st football game I've watched all year so what the heck!

I hate subjects that say "I need help", or something that stupid. For one thing I don't check every message on the forum I don't have the time (bad enough I come over to this site 2 or 3 times a day when I should be coding - but between that and a stupid football game hey I have an excuse. Now my wife wants me to do dishes.

OK time to do something more useful before I have to do the dishes. Nascar is only 2 weeks away then I'll find another excuse to get off the computer.

Thanks

Sean

[apco25]

I simply ignore most of these posts as they are tiresome and droll to put it mildly.

[frankoburns]

This is something that has been bothering me over the last month....Why is it, when you give help to a noob, they come back with a post totally ignoring the info you gave them and ask the same question again? Why is it they ask to "PLZZ find my missing file!" (This is not a chatroom or your cellphone! Learn to spell!) and post no info on the filename, route, locomotive or whatever the "missing file" comes from? What happened to reading documentation, instructions and README files instead of just throwing the stuff into various directories and expecting it to work? Why is it when you tell the person asking for help that you need more info so you can provide an answer for them and they act like you just asked their mother's bra size?...Enough is enough....In my opinion, if you want help, you'll follow the common sense rules and courtesy of providing background info so we can tell what caused the error, If you have a missing file, Go to the readme and READ INSTRUCTIONS, and if you have an error, get off your lazy butt, & search the forums for a thread with answers instead of "thinking" you are smarter than me when it comes to MSTS..and if you are a new to MSTS person and have asked for help in one of the situations I described above and I pissed you off with this little rant, tough beans....remember you asked ME for help! I'll not be providing any more....Find your own answers!