Post by Tom Constantine on Mar 3, 2014 13:53:12 GMT -5
Grab a coffee (or an adult beverage)
Building QD consists in TS2014 with the built in application is somewhat easier than using RW_Tools but it has advantages and disadvantages of its own.
The biggest advantage from my point of view is loaded freight cars. RW_Tools seems to have troubles with child objects in Quick Dive so all you get are empty hoppers. Not the case with the Custom button.
The biggest disadvantage for me is the naming convention. Railworks grabs the name of the engine from the engine bin file and that is not always a good idea. But it can be edited to bring order out of chaos.
Lets get started. Open TS2014 and go to Quick Drive. Click the Train button and have a look around at the naming conventions. Check out "Black5 4-6-0". If you click on the picture and click next, you will see a list of Quick Drives featuring the Black 5 Steam Locomotive. I have quite a few, you should have some to look at. Let's go make another.
Click the Back button, then the Train button and scrollup to the top of the Train page. In the upper left corner is the Custom icon. Click that and then Next. The top line should say Create New... and under that a heading that says My Trains. If you've been here before there may be consists listed under that heading. If not, don't worry... we are about to put one there.
Click Create New... and then the Confirm button. A screen will come up with a "Loading bar". You may have time for a coffee or a nap or perhaps a weekend in the Hamptons while it inventories your rolling stock. (Another disadvantage, it does this every time instead of storing a data file like RW_Tools)
When the inventory is finished you will have a Build Consist screen with a pulldown menu in the upper left to choose Wagon, Diesel, Electric or Steam. While you are looking at that choose Steam.
Just underneath that is a search window. Type in black5 (no space) Among the results you should find Black5 Engine BR Green. Click on that and a picture should appear in the big white box to the right. You can turn it around 360 degrees with the mouse. Click the Add To Front button. That will put the engine into the bottom strip which is where we will build the actual consist.
Now go to the pull down menu at the top and choose Wagon. Leave Black5 in the search window and just add a space at the end. That should bring up a list of Black 5 Tenders, Click on Black5 Tender BR Green and then the Add To End button.
Clear the Search window and enter Mk1. This will bring up a list of UK Mk1 passenger coaches. Take a look at what's available in the big window and choose 4-5, clicking Add To End for each. You can choose all the same or all different or try to build a logical passenger consist. It doesn't matter. for our purposes. I added 4 Mk1 Second SR Green. You may not have those. Note the bottom line in the window tells you the weight and length of the consist and indicates if there are problems. Also note that when you highlight a wagon in the consist, there are 4 buttons. Two at the top allow you to move a wagon along the consist to a different location. On the bottom is a delete button and a flip button. Both useful at times.
When you are happy with your consist, click Next in the lower right corner. That will open a Save window. Give the consist a name. I called this one "Black5 BR Green + Mk1 Coaches Test" and then chose Great Britain in the Country Code pulldown. Then click Save.
You will be returned to the Train page and you can click Custom and Next again. Now under My Trains you should find Black5 BR Green + Mk1 Coaches Test. When you select that you may get a generic steam loco picture. Fixing that is for another post. In the lower right click Confirm. You can choose a route or use whatever is in there. Click Go! and have a look at your consist. While you're looking, pose it nicely and take a screenshot if you had the generic steam loco picture. Save that for later.
Feel free to go for a drive or not, but when ready, hit Esc and Quit and say Yes to EXIT. Then click Back to Quick Drive. Click Train and scroll down to Black5 4-6-0. Along side (or close by) you will see Black 5 4-6-0 BR Green. You can find your new consist here too.
The next post will get down and dirty with editing XML to move your new consist into the Black5 4-6-0 collection and eliminate the extra icon. Doing this will keep you engine list from being over run with one-shot icons for every consist you make. Order out of potential chaos. Plus editing XML is fun
Back again soon... Must have coffee.
Questions/Comments always welcome.
Building QD consists in TS2014 with the built in application is somewhat easier than using RW_Tools but it has advantages and disadvantages of its own.
The biggest advantage from my point of view is loaded freight cars. RW_Tools seems to have troubles with child objects in Quick Dive so all you get are empty hoppers. Not the case with the Custom button.
The biggest disadvantage for me is the naming convention. Railworks grabs the name of the engine from the engine bin file and that is not always a good idea. But it can be edited to bring order out of chaos.
Lets get started. Open TS2014 and go to Quick Drive. Click the Train button and have a look around at the naming conventions. Check out "Black5 4-6-0". If you click on the picture and click next, you will see a list of Quick Drives featuring the Black 5 Steam Locomotive. I have quite a few, you should have some to look at. Let's go make another.
Click the Back button, then the Train button and scrollup to the top of the Train page. In the upper left corner is the Custom icon. Click that and then Next. The top line should say Create New... and under that a heading that says My Trains. If you've been here before there may be consists listed under that heading. If not, don't worry... we are about to put one there.
Click Create New... and then the Confirm button. A screen will come up with a "Loading bar". You may have time for a coffee or a nap or perhaps a weekend in the Hamptons while it inventories your rolling stock. (Another disadvantage, it does this every time instead of storing a data file like RW_Tools)
When the inventory is finished you will have a Build Consist screen with a pulldown menu in the upper left to choose Wagon, Diesel, Electric or Steam. While you are looking at that choose Steam.
Just underneath that is a search window. Type in black5 (no space) Among the results you should find Black5 Engine BR Green. Click on that and a picture should appear in the big white box to the right. You can turn it around 360 degrees with the mouse. Click the Add To Front button. That will put the engine into the bottom strip which is where we will build the actual consist.
Now go to the pull down menu at the top and choose Wagon. Leave Black5 in the search window and just add a space at the end. That should bring up a list of Black 5 Tenders, Click on Black5 Tender BR Green and then the Add To End button.
Clear the Search window and enter Mk1. This will bring up a list of UK Mk1 passenger coaches. Take a look at what's available in the big window and choose 4-5, clicking Add To End for each. You can choose all the same or all different or try to build a logical passenger consist. It doesn't matter. for our purposes. I added 4 Mk1 Second SR Green. You may not have those. Note the bottom line in the window tells you the weight and length of the consist and indicates if there are problems. Also note that when you highlight a wagon in the consist, there are 4 buttons. Two at the top allow you to move a wagon along the consist to a different location. On the bottom is a delete button and a flip button. Both useful at times.
When you are happy with your consist, click Next in the lower right corner. That will open a Save window. Give the consist a name. I called this one "Black5 BR Green + Mk1 Coaches Test" and then chose Great Britain in the Country Code pulldown. Then click Save.
You will be returned to the Train page and you can click Custom and Next again. Now under My Trains you should find Black5 BR Green + Mk1 Coaches Test. When you select that you may get a generic steam loco picture. Fixing that is for another post. In the lower right click Confirm. You can choose a route or use whatever is in there. Click Go! and have a look at your consist. While you're looking, pose it nicely and take a screenshot if you had the generic steam loco picture. Save that for later.
Feel free to go for a drive or not, but when ready, hit Esc and Quit and say Yes to EXIT. Then click Back to Quick Drive. Click Train and scroll down to Black5 4-6-0. Along side (or close by) you will see Black 5 4-6-0 BR Green. You can find your new consist here too.
The next post will get down and dirty with editing XML to move your new consist into the Black5 4-6-0 collection and eliminate the extra icon. Doing this will keep you engine list from being over run with one-shot icons for every consist you make. Order out of potential chaos. Plus editing XML is fun
Back again soon... Must have coffee.Questions/Comments always welcome.
