ORTS / Passing Routes?

[CNW 5099]

This is fair actually but you have to remember access to Diesels West stuff is limited, even for those of us in the members area.

[CNW 5099]

If I remember, it was released on a discretionary basis to those whom I knew to be 100% payware patrons only. Kind of a bonus to those who fully support the payware economy by purchasing every release. If you are someone who chases ancient Danny Beck freeware from file libraries, or someone who only shows beautified freeware routes in their screenies and never shows beautified payware routes, then you probably didn't make the cut. If you are someone who buys the Mullan expansion just for the ES44C4s but bypassed purchasing the route, then yea you likely didn't make the cut either. Some people never show payware screenies/vids at all because they are afraid of being unable to reliably sort out on the fly their legitimate payware from illegitimate payware on their hard drives, so they kinda live forever in the forum shadows. Yea, they likely didn't make the cut either.

Also would you be willing to take paid commissions for activities? If not I'd like to buy whatever you've already made.

[R. Steele]

Also would you be willing to take paid commissions for activities? If not I'd like to buy whatever you've already made.

You know, this may have been proposed by in the early MSTS days....my experience does not go back that far....but payware activities...not a bad idea. Although there may be pitfalls I'm not aware of.

I am fortunate enough to have a couple of geepster's creations....they are superior in my estimation.

[SD40-2]

You know, this may have been proposed by in the early MSTS days....my experience does not go back that far....but payware activities...not a bad idea. Although there may be pitfalls I'm not aware of.

I can recall two sets of activity-only payware addons. The first was a TS Activity Pack that only worked with the default stuff, that is no longer available.

The second one that is still on sale is 3DTrainStuff's End of An Era addon that was for their Donner Pass route with the Storm of 1952 expansion pack.

http://www.3dtrainstuff.com/products..._pass_ao2.html

There's also various activity packs for TSC that are tied to specific routes.

As to me, I have some mixed feelings about them. One the one hand, they're probably going to be very good, and will let you get a little more value out of a route.

On the other hand, I'd prefer any activity packs come with at least some new stock, or vise-versa. Example being the original release of the SLI, now TS, 1990s Southwest Chief pack, which came with a new activity for V1 of Seligman. I kinda wished they'd updated that act for Seligman 2.0.

Regardless, people will probably be receptive to activity packs, especially if they're good, and require only a small selection of addons, say combining Green River with one of the UP Packs, or in theory, Shasta could have an activity pack that uses the SP GP40-2 Trainset, and possibly another route addon, say ATSF Seligman or Green River. That's one I might actually pick up.

Just some thoughts on the matter.

Edit: Possible pitfall, but you've got to ensure your content has not be modified in a way that breaks compatibility, to ensure it works for all users of a addon. That, or incorporate your changes into the pack.

[niknak]

If we're stating an interest here then for what it's worth I would snap up any payware activity packs that came on the market. I already have the "Storm of 52" and "End of an Era" that were for Donner Pass.

[eolesen]

Commercial activity packs were popular early on. Free activities are still one of the most uploaded items in the File Library.

[spoony1999]

I need to really dive in and learn how to create activities. Especially for the routes I have downloaded from here that didn't come with many or any Acts at all. The routes I have currently, MILW Gap, Milw Coast part 1 and 2 are the ones I need to get done so I can fully enjoy them. I made paths for the routes on OR, but just need to learn how to set up the acts.

[niknak]

I need to really dive in and learn how to create activities. Especially for the routes I have downloaded from here that didn't come with many or any Acts at all. The routes I have currently, MILW Gap, Milw Coast part 1 and 2 are the ones I need to get done so I can fully enjoy them. I made paths for the routes on OR, but just need to learn how to set up the acts.

Take a look at Activity Generator. I have it but haven't yet fully investigated it.

[wwhall]

I need to really dive in and learn how to create activities. Especially for the routes I have downloaded from here that didn't come with many or any Acts at all. The routes I have currently, MILW Gap, Milw Coast part 1 and 2 are the ones I need to get done so I can fully enjoy them. I made paths for the routes on OR, but just need to learn how to set up the acts.

The answer is to learn to use the TSRE Activity Editor. Unfortunately, the TSRE AE was left as a work-in-progress, with some non or partly functioning features and some bugs. Once one figures out how to work around those, the TSRE is much more OR-friendly and powerful than the MSTS AE. Just expect some frustration and a learning curve. The Elvas Tower forum is another good place to look for help with the TSRE AE. Note that the TSRE AE does NOT have a path creating program--that must be done in the OR TrackViewer. For the record, I have not used the MSTS AE or Consist Editor for a number of years now. I still have ConBuilder, but I seldom use it now. The TSRE Consist Editor works quite well for me. A hint here: One can have the TSRE AE and TSRE Consist Editor open concurrently. Create or modify a consist in the TSRE Consist Editor, then toggle to the TSRE AE and hit the refresh consists button, and those new consists are ready to use in the TSRE AE.

[R. Steele]

... Note that the TSRE AE does NOT have a path creating program--that must be done in the OR TrackViewer. ....

OR Trackviewer is excellent for creating paths, and repairing paths/path nodes...I have not used anything else to make paths. I still use Activity Generator to populate an activity --- it is really an excellent short cut for this labor intensive task. Still learning TSRE-AE, it is quirky and frustrating at times, but if you are serious about making activities it's a must to learn. Along with OR Trackviewer and manual editing of activity files one can accomplish pretty much everything needed.

Goku made the TSRE code ( which includes the AE ) Open Source...so someone with the skills could work on the AE.