Hello From A Rookie

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself!' started by lochgairloch, Aug 31, 2020.

  1. lochgairloch

    lochgairloch New Member

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    Hi folks. Nice to meet you all. Feels like a nice place to be, reading some other posts. I had dived straight in at the deep end here as I have never used games on a PC before and never used TS at all (obviously from the first bit). I love the railway and trains, so I thought it would be great to give this a go. I particularly like Class 37s so what I have done so far is got TS2020 up and running in Steam and also installed Armstrong Powerhouse Class 37 packs 1 and 2. After mucking about I finally got a 37 running in Quick Drive but I have a lot to learn. Great fun though and the graphics are amazing.

    I know the packs come with scenarios but don’t know where to find them or what to do when I do find them. There seem to be other scenarios to run. I need a crash course in the keyboard shortcuts. As I say lots! Can anyone recommend some place to start, maybe some tutorials or such like but from the ground up?
     
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  2. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    Welcome aboard.

    It's quite well hidden but there is a manual installed with TS and usually each separate DLC (route, loco' or WHY) will include a manual too. I'd suggest if you have a separate device you copy it/them over to that because trying to read instructions and drive a train on the same PC would be irksome- not to mention that TS is feeling its age and can fall over if you Alt-Tab to do something else. Hell on a bad day it can fall over if you look at it the wrong way. A tablet would be ideal but they should be legible if a little small on a smart 'phone. Unless you specified a different location when you installed you should find manuals on your Windows drive here:
    ProgramFiles(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RailWorks\Manuals

    I'm not sure from this if you can't find any scenarios at all or can find the ones included with the game but want to know where to get more. The former seems unlikely but just in case... you've found QuickDrive- next to it are other tabs labelled Career, Standard, FreeRoam (types of scenario the differences being explained in the manual which you know where to find now) and Workshop which is all but useless at the moment- avoid. A list of installed scenarios of each type appears in each tab. Note that a DLC will probably come with scenarios of one type or another- there is unlikely to be entries for each DLC you have under every tab.

    More scenarios can be found in the Steam Workshop. In your Steam application click on Train Simulator in the Library then Workshop on the right of the row of choices below the Play button. This will list tens of thousands of scenarios created and uploaded by TS users. Sorry to report that the Workshop search function is better than nothing but not much. Inevitably quality varies but most are at least worth a look and many are excellent. Installing a scenario is a simple as clicking its subscribe button but check the description and tags first to be sure you have the DLC needed to run it. Don't go click happy and subscribe to loads at a time because the process can be a bit flakey and if it does go wrong it's easier to hunt down one broken scenario file in two or three that you just subbed to than one in twenty.

    As you will be aware there is a tutorial (Academy) section in the game but it is pretty basic. In the Steam Library you can find a guides page (next to Workshop) and there is no shortage of helpful videos on YouTube.
     
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  3. lochgairloch

    lochgairloch New Member

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    Thanks so much JJTimothy for taking the time to write that detailed intro for me. It all makes sense and I will take a look at all the things you highlight. I’m really looking forward to getting to grips with it because what I have seen so far I have greatly enjoyed. Thanks once again!
     
  4. Ardaeshir

    Ardaeshir Well-Known Member

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    Hello,

    About scenarios:
    There are zounds of scenarios to be found, especially on steam workshop.

    The one confusing thing is that some of them would require another dlc or 3rd party content to work. In most cases, the scenario designer will in the description make a list of the required dlcs/content that is needed to run that specific scenario.

    About tutorials:
    Most content comes with a pdf manual. Most of the ones I encountered are pretty well written and self-explanatory. However in a few instances the manual was vague, or was missing some vital operating step or was misisng the description of a specific valve's function (especially with steam engines).

    My recommendation is that whenever you find yourself driving a loco according to the manual, but still something appears to be strange, then it might be good to visit youtube and see other people's live tutorials.

    I would personally recommend this channel for instance:


    I'm not in any way affiliated with that channel btw. I just think its good becaus ethe person is friendly and he drives and shows a lot of different engines on many different routes.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2020
  5. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    You're welcome. Perhaps I should add that Steam is not the only source of scenarios just as there is third-party DLC both paid for and free. Scenarios in the Workshop will only use DLC that is available through Steam- for anything that uses any third-party assets you will have to look elsewhere. I haven't installed a scenario from any other source but although the process will not be as simple as just clicking Subscribe it should be pretty straight forward.

    To clarify although the vast majority of items in the Workshop are scenarios there are some routes too. These are built by users either modifying an existing route or from scratch but using assets from other routes meaning you need those source routes ("dependencies" which should be listed) to make proper use of of it. You can install a route if you don't have the dependencies but there will be gaps in the scenery- missing buildings perhaps or track... or ground... or sky so driving it can be surreal! Again all assets used to make Workshop routes have to be available through Steam.
     
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  6. lochgairloch

    lochgairloch New Member

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    Thanks all for your input and much appreciated. I’m finding my way around bit by bit. I found all the manuals so a bit of bedtime reading there! But strange things seem to be happening, or not happening! When I click on the Career tab my Armstrong Powerhouse Class 37 add on pack locos are nowhere to be seen (and the AP adding are not listed under manage DLCS in the library) but they do appear in the Quick Drive tab so must be installed. No locos except something called Railfan under select loco in the Standard tab, and there is nothing at all visible under the headings select loco and select route in the Free Roam tab - just blank space. It feels like things are missing and I’m not sure what to do about it, and no manual to find. Any ideas? Am I doing something fundamentally wrong?
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2020
  7. lochgairloch

    lochgairloch New Member

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    Actually folks, I think I might have answered my own question in my head. I’ll bet it’s because I have not yet installed something the scenarios depend on so won’t show up until I do. I’ll read the manuals!!
     
  8. Ardaeshir

    Ardaeshir Well-Known Member

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    That's probably it, if it shows up under quickdrive.

    If you know you installed a loco, but can't seem to find it anywhere, then perhaps there is no "consist" (a preset combination of a loco and wagons) created that includes this loco. To see if this is the problem, go to quickdrive, click on the engine slect and then click on the "custom" button (see image below):
    [​IMG]

    This "custom" will bring you to a menu which lists all the engines and trucks/coaches that you have installed. From this menu you can mix and match to create your own trian set for quick drive.

    If the loco you are looking for is still not on that engine list under "custom", then there must have been something wrong with its installation and you should try to re-install it.
     
  9. lochgairloch

    lochgairloch New Member

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    Thanks for that too and I’ll try that out as well. I had wondered what that was for and that is a useful tip. I have also been reading the TS2020 manual which is bringing me up to speed on a few things. It seems that in’ Free Roam’ you probably don’t see locos and routes as you do that when you launch it from what you see available. It’s proving to be great fun. The trouble is tearing myself away from the PC!
     
  10. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    You're nearly there. A scenario is set in a particular route- without the route you can't run the scenario so, although you may well have scenarios installed for those Class 37s (haven't got them so wouldn't know) if you don't have the route you won't see them listed under the Standard or Career tabs. QuickDrive is a free for all where you can drive anything on any route with little restriction (it must be QD compatible and an electric loco' has to be driven on an electrified route) so they do show up there.

    As long as you do have the route for a scenario it will appear under the appropriate tab (Career, Standard or FreeRoam) even if you lack some or all of the other dependencies. TS will even attempt to run it if you try but it will start with an error message if it can't find some rolling stock- there's a dodge (press F2 for save then cancel and the message will be gone) though of course you may run into problems if you don't have the train you're expected to drive for one obvious example.

    Hope this is helpful. Looks like Ardaeshir has you covered on the rest.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2020
  11. samsonbo

    samsonbo Member

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    Just to add, Career scenarios are nearly all a DTG product. 3rd party devs(like AP, JT etc.) can create Standard scenario s only(plus Quickdrive/Free Roam)
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2020
  12. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    You can find Career scenarios in the Workshop (and elsewhere presumably) but the points don't count towards your career total.
     
  13. lochgairloch

    lochgairloch New Member

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    Thank you all so much. This has all got me well and truly started. I’m beginning to see how it all fits together. Lots to explore!
     

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