Sid Meiers Railroads Forums.

So heres my question. I put bigboy in the America SO 2 map. I got it and its tender working. With regular SMR train cars it works fine. When i put the SF2 train cars in. it works fine. now heres where im running into some problems. If im running the big boy with the custom passenger cars and mail cars and i add a train car to the train's consist that is a SMR train car unmodded the game crashes. now also when i restart the game and get the big boy back up and i still have SF2 in the xml files and i load the big boy with SMR cars the game crashes. is there something that i have to add to the XML or if i give a custom loco a certain train car can it not pull others? ( no train cars are grayed out btw)
Is there also a way to make the train cars non engine specific?

I hope my post makes sense.

What are the SF2 train cars?

What are the 'the custom passenger cars and mail cars' that you added?

What train cars are you trying to add to it?

Zip the America s02 map as you have it modified and lets take a look at it. Include all the Assets so I can run it on my system.

Im sorry i meant to say SF the silver passenger and mail cars in this thread. I figured out how to make the train cars global to all(kinda). the other thing im running into now is... how do i for instance.. have 2 train cars that run manufactured goods as in. example given.

10 Wheeler ( nonmod train) runs the brown box car (modded car) as my manufactured goods and this is a global train car to run.
BIg boy pulls the SF passenger cars(custom). but as it cant pull standard global cars( in this case the brown box car running as my global manufactured goods car) So if I'm reading the instructions right I have to have a train car special to the big boy to pull manufactured goods with out a CTD? If so i was wondering how to do that. Been going back and forth trial and error for quite a many hours. um..

Only way i figured out how to add the SF was by the second post's example for a specific loco.

my confusions are- what would i have to add to create a modded train car in addition to the SF car to big boy (or any future engine i add)to run a car that is for manufactured goods while the other trains run the global manufactured goods car. I had BRAN 2132 DSC Car the stack car for my specific manufactured goods car( or any other goods car)

Also.. i see all the different cars i can choose from.. i guess i got lucky on a couple.. but they confuse me as how to add them globally.. i think im just getting lucky by changing a couple names or good type in the RRT train cars XML.. because the brown box car already had manufactured goods.. the double stack did not. and this other double stack did not.. i used the first double stack (BRAN) and put manufactured goods into the name.. and it finally appeared.. but the other double stack i have i did the same.. and it did not appear.

YOu mean like a mad scientist? bwahahahah! =) thank you!

Big boy and the SOO engine were only test engines, i was going to add a bunch more.. pulling a couple from the Florida gold map since i cant get that map to run.

An engine can only haul one 'version' of car.
You cannot give an engine two versions of car to haul. The game was not written to allow it.

But, a car can be hauled by multiple 'versions' of engines.

All TrainCars REQUIRE a v1 and v2, that is how the game was written. Most of the time different versions of cars look different, but that is not always the case. A v1 or v2 car can be made into as many versions as you want, tho it is best not to get to carried away with it, the more you have the more memory the game sucks.

To add a new version to a car you must do two things. First, copy the v2 KFM of the car to a different folder. Change the 'v2' part to match the version of the engine you want to pull it, in your case, 'sf'. Then move the renamed file back into the cars folder. Second, copy the v2 dummie from the same folder to another one and change that 'v2' to the version of the engine you want to pull it, again, 'sf'.

Doing that will simply add a third version of the same car. You, however, are trying something a bit different. You want the Brown Boxcar to run with the '_sf' engine. To do this you must dig a little deeper, going as far as the TrainCars0.FPK. In there you will find the Goods Car, which handles the Manufactured Goods. The car goes by the name 'goods_car_v2.kfm'. Go into the BB folder for the Brn_Box_Car and change 'brn_box_car_v2.kfm' to 'goods_car_sf.kfm' and 'box_car_dummies_v2.nif' to 'box_car_dummies_sf.nif'. The BB folder for the Brn_Box_Car must be included with the map you wish to play.

Now, after putting the BigBoy into the XMLs, change <szCar>_v2</szCar> to <szCar>_sf</szCar>. With the Passenger and Mail cars for the SF, you will have to do the above change to the cars you wish your BigBoy to pull.

Now, the next minor thing that I tell everyone experimenting with things on this game..... Do not try multiple thing at the same time. Even after 7 years fighting this game I still make one change at a time and test it. When it is working, I go on to the next item.

Let me know if this helps and of any problems you may have.

woah.. thats getting deep oh man..

so as i understand.. in my following example.

Bigboy has V2 under its RRT Trains. .. so all the cars it pulls is V2.. but if i put the SF under its RRT Train. ( its a V3 car) it can only pull V3 cars? Then if thats the case I would have to find cars that are V3 for goods cars just for that single loco?
There is no possible way to have a custom loco just pull all the regular cars via time period?

Now if I have to have that train carry V3 cars.. could i theortically Download V 3 train cars. give it the same name as needed per goods and have the big boy pull V3 SF cars and V3 (random car)? and still have other cars that are V1 and V2 that are custom for the other engines?

If the thought above is doable.. how do you know how to name the RRT train? as in <szCar>_(name)</sz>
<Train>
<szName>TAG_NAME_BIGBOY</szName>
<Year>1800</Year>
<szManufacturerName>ALCO</szManufacturerName>
<szModel>4-8-8-4_Bigboy.kfm</szModel>
<szDummyModel>4-8-8-4_BigBoy_dummies.nif</szDummyModel>
<szTenderCar>25-C Centipede Coal</szTenderCar>
<szCar>_sf</szCar> (custom passenger/ mail car)
<szCar>_(add name which i dont know how to add right for other train cars)</szCars> say my steel car
<szCar>_(add name which i dont know how to add right for other train cars)</szCars> say my Gold Car
ETC
ETC
<szCar>_v2</szCar>

<szName>TAG_NAME_EMD_SD40_2_SOO_6623</szName>
<Year>1800</Year>
<szManufacturerName>Ilsya Engineering</szManufacturerName>
<szModel>SOO_SD40-2.kfm</szModel>
<szDummyModel>SOO_SD40-2_dummies.nif</szDummyModel>
<szTenderCar>SOO SD40-2 BUNIT</szTenderCar>
<szCar>_v2</szCar>

NO <szCar> beyond the V2 so it can use other custom or standard custom cars. that would also be the passenger/mail/steel/gold etc


So if it was able to be done.. it would look like this

Bigboy pulls V3 SF car, V3 goods car..
Vanilla train pulls the V(insert car per the time period)
SOO sd40 is a V2 engine so it would pull V2 cars

Is there anyway to make a train ONLY able to pull certain loads? such as if i played online would i be able to have the daylight express only pull passenger/mail trains and have the other cars grayed out to prevent anyone crashing a game by accidentally clicking another car?

Or would i just put under the train <szCar>_v3</szCar> have V 3 custom cars along with V1/2 custom cars and it would only pull V3 cars without having to name a train specifically to pull it?

are there any extended passanger cars that are V 1/2 that are extended like these custom V3 cars?

Also.. I have this car that i want to run for my auto transport car..

<TrainCar>
<szName>BN Autorack Auto Car</szName>
<szGood>Automobiles</szGood>
<szModel>Autorack_Car_bn.kfm</szModel>
<szDummyModel>Autorack_Car_dummies_bn.nif</szDummyModel>
<szGroundClackSound>AS3D_CLACK_PLANET_GROUND</szGroundClackSound>
<szBridgeClackSound>AS3D_CLACK_PLANET_BRIDGE</szBridgeClackSound>
<RunLength>30</RunLength>
</TrainCar>

but it wont show up ingame.. just goes to the default model.. what am i naming wrong?

As to getting deep, you brought out the excavator.

There is a song I know that fits this.....

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.

For the Big Boy part of your question, read the first line of my previous post.

I think you need to take some time and read that post. As far as Engines, Cars, Industries and Goods, and almost everything else, we have made this game jump thru all the hoops it can. About all that is left to do now is NEW engines, cars, industries, buildings and goods.

You need to dump all those maps you got from the other site. If any problems were found with those they have most likely not been updated. We have 137 tested maps here: viewforum.php?f=14 . We have a dozen or two more to add to that when I and a couple of others find the time to test them out and post them. We here can not assist you on those from that forum, and that forum will give off an echo if you yell......

I don't know what else to tell you right now, except that you have to learn how to make a simple map before you can start converting other maps.

Neighbor Kid wrote:
Also.. I have this car that i want to run for my auto transport car..

<TrainCar>
<szName>BN Autorack Auto Car</szName>
<szGood>Automobiles</szGood>
<szModel>Autorack_Car_bn.kfm</szModel>
<szDummyModel>Autorack_Car_dummies_bn.nif</szDummyModel>
<szGroundClackSound>AS3D_CLACK_PLANET_GROUND</szGroundClackSound>
<szBridgeClackSound>AS3D_CLACK_PLANET_BRIDGE</szBridgeClackSound>
<RunLength>30</RunLength>
</TrainCar>

but it wont show up ingame.. just goes to the default model.. what am i naming wrong?

If you want BN Autorack Auto Car pull by engine up to V3 and show ingame then you need 3 KFM file in your CustomAsset Folder they are 1. Autorack_Car_bn_v1.Kfm, 2. Autorack_Car_bn_v2.kfm, 3. Autorack_Car_bn_v3.Kfm, check it in your CustomAsset Folder, just my suggestion if you want to play this game with your friend as multiplayer online use standard Game, because if your friends do not have v3 cars in their Computer then they can not play the map with v3 cars

Neighbor Kid wrote:Bigboy has V2 under its RRT Trains. .. so all the cars it pulls is V2.. but if i put the SF under its RRT Train. ( its a V3 car) it can only pull V3 cars? Then if thats the case I would have to find cars that are V3 for goods cars just for that single loco?

Youre getting there, but this is just wrong. If youre using the _sf Tag, then this engine can haul ONLY cars with _sf tag too...trying any other, including _V3, will cause a crash. That is not the same thing^^

And if you want a specific engine to haul just passenger/mail only you have to add the line (if its not already in there, change it otherwise)

Code: Select all

<PassengersAndMailOnly>1</PassengersAndMailOnly>

to its RRT_Trains.XML entry.

Or you can use custom passenger/mail cars as standard for say v2 engines, by renaming their xxx_sf.KFM to xxx_v2.KFM, for example

So where in the list would i place the passenger mail 1 code? right under the tender?

@ snoopy.. im dling a version of the game a crack.. and trying to see if the maps will work.. then i guess id go buy a cd copy.. it just makes me sad that im doing everything you guys say for the maps to work but they still keep crashing to no avail.. I just dont know what else to do.. =( just makes no sense that some maps work and others dont =(

As to the multiplayer aspect.. for my friend id just upload the whole file for him to put in his game so we can play together..
my question to that though how do i get custom cars to work for what ever goods i want it to pull? do i just leave the name and only put in the good it hauls?

Neighbor Kid wrote:<szTenderCar>25-C Centipede Coal</szTenderCar>
<szCar>_sf</szCar> (custom passenger/ mail car)
<szCar>_(add name which i dont know how to add right for other train cars)</szCars> say my steel car
<szCar>_(add name which i dont know how to add right for other train cars)</szCars> say my Gold Car
ETC
ETC
<szCar>_v2</szCar>

If youre asking about this...no that will never work. <szCar>xxx</szCar> is not meant for defining, which type of cars it can haul...just for the version of any cars. Thats _v1, _v2 and _tgv for vanilla car versions, and all the custom ones like _sf, _v3, _up... and so on. Only one line with one of these strings is allowed, and the game will look for any traincar model with this string tag in its KFM file name for use. Thats why you need a matching KFM file for each traincar on a map (and also a _v1 and _v2 version, even if not used) to make this version check work and not crashing the game, because one is missing.

The PassengersAndMailOnly line can be placed anywhere between the <Train>...</Train> of an engine, I prefer the line below the <Diesel>...</Diesel> line, but thats just me
And that is the only cartype filter possible in this game.

(hilighted by snoopy55)

For every custom KFM you add you also have to have a matching Dummie NIF : FXE_874399_Box_Car_sf.kfm and FXE_874399_Box_Car_dummies_sf.nif

If you do not find a Dummie in the BB for a car that means that the car is using an Original Dummie and you must secure a _v2 copy of that and rename it.

Ok. The guys who have responded to your inquiries are more knowledgeable about this game than I am. However, I've been in your shoes and sometimes a few basics need to be broken down a bit for us new guys. I've been working on this game for a while now and I know how confusing this goofy game can be. Let's try a few simple steps for adding engines and cars to this game.

I had not looked at the Bigboy until this morning. I have a test map and I'm working on a new map - for a year plus now. Anyway, I downloaded the bigboy and the Santa Fe v3 passenger car for a little test. Here's how it went:

First, the game takes its direction from the xml files. As long as it finds the files you tell it you're using, all will be well. If not - CTD! I started my test by adding the SF passenger car. In my case I had a passenger car that I had repainted for my map.





The passenger car kfm I've been working on is named LASL_Passenger_Car.kfm. There is a version 1 and a version 2 in existence. In order to test the SF v3 passenger car, I added the sf files that I downloaded this morning and just renamed the kfm - LASL_Passenger_car_v3.kfm. The downloaded files already contained a file called passenger_car_dummies_v3.nif, so I did not need to do anything to that file. The map I am working on just uses v1 and v2 files and the passenger_car_dummies.nif files are standard game files so I didn't need to do anything to those - the v1 and v2 files exist within the game as installed. If I had taken the standard dummies nif files and renamed them to say LASL_pass_car_dummies_v1.nif and a v2, then I would have to have a LASL_pass_car_dummies_v3.nif in order to use the new SF passenger car. You must have a version 1 and 2 kfm model and dummies file, plus whatever you are adding be it v3, vsf, etc. So much for the passenger car.



Here's a shot of my test map files. I just added a folder under user maps titled V3 Passenger test and dumped the passenger files in it and renamed the kfm file LASL_Passenger_car_v3.kfm.

On to the engine. I created another folder under usermaps called Bigboy test and dumped the bigboy files I downloaded into it. I opened my RRT_trains xml file and added the xml for the Bigboy engine.



There are number of things you can adjust in here - speed, power, year, etc. As far as getting the thing running, there are only a couple of things to worry about. I changed the <szCar> line to _v3. I added the <PassengersAndMailOnly> line, though I left it with a value of 0 (false), so it can pull any type of car. Change it to a 1 (true) if you want it to only be able to pull passengers and mail. You should have a routing image and an event_newtrain image. The game does not care if the image name matches the actual engine name, but the file you list must actually exist. Those image files are typically the last thing I do when I am working on a new engine. For testing I'll just list the name of some game engine or the name of one I've already tested, but whatever file name I put in those slots, the file must actually exist. In the case of the Bigboy, there is a tender to worry about. The image above lists the tender on the line below the dummies file. I like to put mine on the last line of the train listing, but the game doesn't care where you put it. The name listed must match the name given in the tenders section of the RRT_Traincars.xml. If it can't find it, it won't crash the game but the tender will not show up.

Ok. I made the adjustments to the xml files, which for me, only amounted to a few things - added the tender to the RRT_Traincars.xml, added the Bigboy to the RRT_Trains.xml file and changed the version from v2 to v3. I went into my RRT_Scenario_User_Practice_Run.xml (Practice Run is the name of my test map) and adjusted the eras dates so the Bigboy would come up right away. (I could have adjusted the <Year> in the Bigboy's xml listing and accomplished the same thing). I created a couple of folders under my Usermaps folder and put the bigboy files in one and the SF passenger car files in the other. Then I renamed the SF passenger car kfm to LASL_Passenger_Car_v3.kfm for testing.
That's all I needed, so I tried it.

First just the engine:



Then I told it to pickup passengers:



It worked! That's all well and good, but then I asked to to pickup another good at the next stop for which there is no v3 traincar - CTD! If you are going to use v3 cars, create a v3.kfm for everything on the map, as well as a v3 dummies file. You don't have to have v3 traincars, but you have to have v3 kfm and dummy files. You can take a v2 kfm and copy it and rename it v3 kfm so that the version 2 and version 3 traincars are identical. Do the same with the dummies.nif files and you're good to go. Or you can use v3 cars downloaded from this site, but you must be sure that the names of the v1, v2 and v3 files are all the same. If you are using the game standard v1 and v2 files for say manufactured goods, the v1 and v2 files are named Goods_car_v1.kfm and Goods_car_v2.kfm. Your v3 car for carrying manufactured goods must be named Goods_car_v3.kfm. It doesn't matter what the car looks like as long as it has that name. Likewise, the dummies file used for your v3 goods car must match the name of the v1 and v2 dummies.nif files.

I've never tried to do anything with a car version that wasn't numbered so I went in and changed the Bigboy xml <szCar> to _vsf, just to see what happened. I went into the traincar folder and changed the name of the passenger car kfm to LASL_Passenger_Car_vsf.kfm and gave it a try.



However, I forgot to rename the dummies file from v3 to vsf. Interesting that it still ran. I assume that it is using some generic passenger car dummies nif file. It didn't crash the game, but it wasn't happy with me. Anyway, you are bound to run into all kinds of errors. Some crash the game and some just cause errors or strange looking results. Some are obvious and some are just the devil to find. Usually, I have found that crashes during the "Building up Steam" portion of the intro, are caused by missing files. That may also be a case of a misspelled file name. As far as the game is concerned, if the file name does not match what it is looking for, the file is missing. It must be able to find the name as listed the the various xml files be they kfm files, nif files, etc. Capitalization does not seem to make any difference, but if your file name contains a space instead of an underline, the game will crash while building up steam.

Back to a few generalities. While I have not tested this, I see no reason why you could not run both v3 traincars and vsf traincars on the same map - but I'm not sure why you would want to. Each engine must be told in the xml what version of cars it will be running - v, v2, v3 or sf. Now you could have one engine pulling v3 passenger cars and another engine pulling vsf passenger cars and they might both be long cars. Heck, they could be the same car. You would just have to have both v3 and vsf kfm files calling the same nif file. The game just has a number of limitations built into it.

I know this is a lot to go through, but once you get a few basic ideas firmly planted between your ears, it's not too bad. The devil is in the details :>)

To get a _V3 type working properly in your map, you must have to do alot of _v2 to _v3 conversions.
Isn't it much easier to make the _V3 a _V2 model ? So that it works, even for mixed/freight trains whatever.

Jediron, you can do that. On one map I made my version 2 traincars into version 1s and the v3 into v2s. It just depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you want a map that covers a long period, say 1880 to 2000 or something, you may want 3 different versions of traincars to cover the time period. Heck, the map I am currently working on is going to cover a relatively short time period and I am only going to have 1 version of traincar. I will slow time down and probably only cover 50 years, maybe less.

Oke, that is clear. Still hassling with the (custom) traincars i made (see other topic).

My idea is to make a "tourist train" who take tourist from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to a Airport Annex, for my map. First have to do the regular triancars, modded to Dutch NS Colors (like you see on my loc, the GG1/ that is the exact color scheme).

ps: Come to think of it, maybe my _v3 mailcar failed the last time (the one from the pictures) while i have no default _v3 passengercar. Will fail only when you test and want to haul both at the same time i asume. So when you only test the mailcar, it works. With a passenger/mail train > ctd. If so, how do you make a default _v3 passengercar ? (or vice-verca/ a _v3 mailcar, to test your new traincar).