Hi all, I would advise against anyone purchasing the Missing Link (as well as other products) from ATS right now - there are a whole plethora of issues since the latest ATS Launcher was released, with a lot of people unable to access the content they've purchased. The devs are aware of this and presumably working on a solution, but there's been radio silence from them via Email for a couple of weeks now. This has been my experience as well as that of others - see the recent reviews on the ATS Launcher/Missing Link pages if you want some more info. I'm not a fan of these type of posts, but there has been no candor or acknowledgement from them on their website, despite a huge number of recent reviews testifying to the above. Bugs with new releases are to be expected, but their standard of customer service/feedback has been, frankly, shocking. The products are incredible, and the work that's gone into providing the community with some of the best immersive addons is not to be trifled with, but there are clearly some issues that are proving more than a little tricky to solve and when that is at the expense of people's hard earned money, it's only right to make them aware of it.
I’ve had some issues with the installer as well. However my experience has been different. I contacted ATS Support and have always been provided with a solution within a couple of hours. If I’ve posted on the facebook group, the response has been even quicker. For me it is stable now. I’ve been able to reinstall all my DLC. When waiting for a fix they’ve provided a copy of the old installer so I’ve been able to continue. I’d argue that they should have left the old installer’s available while having issue with the new, but I can’t fault their response to issues.
Hi There Sorry about issues you have spoken about. We may have not recieved your email so could you please email support at contact@alanthomsonsim.com with issues you have encountered. All post release bugs have now been rectified and can install using latest version 1.4.6 so please ensure you have that version. Apologies again and please resend your email. Thanks Hayden
Hi mate sorry to hear this has been your experience I have just personally checked the support emails and there are zero outstanding you are correct we did have a plethora of issues to start with that's why we went for a soft launch kinda like early access the biggest mistake we made was not being able to have both the new and old installers available at the same time as we had to manually allow access we had to do this via the support system so the old installers have always been available just on request we now know this wasn't the best idea we have been constantly reporting updates and fixes on our facebook page and the change log on the website so I am unsure why you haven't been able to see these as the updates and posts have been daily so I am sorry you seem to have missed these I am aware some people don't like facebook but its where our largest audience is so it it where we provide the most information regarding our products nobody is losing out if you are struggling with the latest launcher we will still supply the old installers even though you will be pleased to hear we are at around a 98% happy with the launcher and the update due in the next few days will solve the last few niggles with font size and some route images not showing there is currently no game braking issues with 1.4.6 if you have any issues at all or wish to discuss your experience further please either email contact@alanthomsonsim.com or just reply on here sorry again for your experience all the best Alan Thomson
Fair play for responding on here Alan and from my own perspective I love the content and dedication that the ATS team provide for TS. However I would urge you to reconsider your policy to use Facebook as your main way of keeping people updated- I do not use Facebook for very good reasons as do many other people i suspect and as a paying subscriber to ATS it is disappointing that I am unable to receive regular updates from the team on what is being worked on. Pretty much the only way is to find out on here secondhand. Perhaps a AP style blog or even a regular email comms could be considered for us non social media connected folks. Thank you.
Hi mate and cheers for the kind words Facebook is by far are largest market but you can also keep up to date via the twitch streams and the change log on the site There just isn’t the demand or time within the team to be organising email Drops and currently the site doesn’t support it nor do your account settings but it is something we are looking into with the site upgrade and automation. I do feel your pain I have accounts on social media’s I don’t like just to keep up with one or two games or companies etc but I do think it’s part of the modern way But that said it is something we are looking into but u am unable to make any promises Cheers And all the best
A few things I'd recommend at least thinking about Alan. 1) Not to use/rely on social media as a support and contact system (yes I know you have a support e-mail contact but that is often regarded a too clinical and impersonal way of reporting and solving issues, though I can't deny it is effective and focused, many will have an "oh I'll just wait and not bother them with an e-mail" attitude), there are many that either don't use FB or will not link their personal accounts with things like gaming or hobbies (you realise awkward questions about the 1000's of pounds spent on pixels could be life endangering to some Husbands right? ). Don't even get me started with Discord I'm quite Social media tolerant (Not you X) but I just really dislike that platform as do many others I've noticed over the years, Twitch is great if you can endure all the fanboy gushiness that is Twitch chat and getting your question across could easily be missed (and assumed ignored) or just met with the "check our Facebook mate or drop us a support e-mail".. 2) Both you and Hayden have an account here, set up a thread and copy and paste relevant update info, I get you're all busy (aren't we bloody all) but what would it take 1/2 a minute max to update a forum thread? 3) Your website home page takes a bit of navigating, especially for the not so web savvy amongst us, you and Hayden won't see or appreciate this so much because you see it all the time and know it well but even for a veteran (aka old git) like me who's been surfing (mental images of Patrick Swayze flicking his hair to the side in Point Break if you please, no, oh well) the web since pre Millennium finds it a bit unintuitive, but I will say (after just looking and trying to pinpoint my point so I can try to better textualize what I mean here) it's improved considerably of late so I can see this might be something you and the guys were already aware of and are actively working on. Anyway just a few thoughts mate, but please seriously consider point 2 the TSC forum is mostly sensible and friendly please don't confuse it with our "special" forum and inbred cousin called TSW, avoid eye contact with him/Her/They/Them/It altogether is my best advice there, seriously avoid it, we do.
It seems there are constant posts in the ATS Facebook group about issues with that launcher. Unfortunately it seems it is obligatory with everything you purchase from them now, so I guess I'll never download any updates for the Gold Star tamper i purchased from them...
Some great points mate as usual But pushing people to the Facebook group is the kind of the point it increases engagement and gives house that use the group a bit more of a personal service we don’t use Facebook for support unless it’s very minor the website upgrade will put a lot of this to bed so don’t worry to much We needed the launcher out so we can move away from the old installers that have been holding up the website update cheers man
The launcher has had its issues but it’s now working fine mate You can choose not to update the tamper if you want but thats a bit drastic the launcher hasn’t damaged anyone’s property or installs it only affected the ATS products and again I must stress only effected the minority of people There where 1000s using the launcher with no issues and sadly a few 100 that did have issues We have worked non stop for 5 weeks fixing issues we have found I hope this helps change your mind Cheers
Hi Hayden, It was yourself I spoke to initially and couldn't fault your response time and updates, but after you passed me over to the dev team (no names) they requested the console log, which I provided, and then there was no further response. This was despite a gentle chaser Email reply, and another fresh Email to the contact Email yesterday. Thank you for taking the time to check personally, I appreciate it. I am running the latest version and tried again yesterday but am encountering the same '300 - Installation failed' error on every occasion, usually when there is a few % remaining on the download. There are comments on the page from the last few days also mentioning similar issues, so I'm not sure if it's still an unironed gremlin or what? The relevant line from the console is reporting the error as - "Axios Error: ECONNRESET"... I apologise if this thread is unfair in any way and if I've misread the situation, but the combination of a (perceived?) lack of response, as well as the many recent messages on the downloads pages of ATS really feels like there is an issue not being communicated. I didn't even know about the Facebook page, that could explain some of the confusion...
Great to see you here Alan Hope you continue to venture here and update us. I did start a thread a few weeks back to post updates on your content so those here whom dont use facebook would notice information.
Dont´know what has changed in that Installer since I used it last (and thats some time) For me personally I´m never was a friend of this ATS installer because: 1) had several times problems with starting installer, login data that seems incorrect, download problems, failed installation procress, and so on. And in last case you can restart it with leads to: 2) it downloads and installs directly the stuff via internet and afterthen deleting the downloads. Everytime. No addon you can save, execpt you do some copy/paste from the TSxx directory. I have several installers from 3rd party, and with any of these I don´t have had any problems. Only the ATS installer is quite horror for me. I´m a friend of: download and save the product you buyed. Simple click on the installer, select directory and let it install. Perhaps some serial number to start process. Or give in login data and the installer checks it like at JustTrains installers. But in all cases you have a exe.file of the whole addon on your hard drive so you can it install at any time and you can go (for any reasons) back to an older version if update versions are existing. And you can restart it without any re-downloading. An installer of an product in one single version, without a separate installer that becomes over time several new versions. That´s for me not user-friendly. So then additional I have a question: some addons can only be "purchased" with a subscription. They use this installer too? What if the subscription is expired? I assume you can not install it after you make a new subscription? For example if someone have/want to be reinstall the whole TSC, someone must "rebuy" the product? Sound not much great. This leads me to: I´m not a friend of those subscriptions too. I can understand if developer want some effort for the creating of addons. But that can be done by regular single buying or not? Even for further greater updates/phases (like some extensions by DTG). And by the way: I´m one of these guys, who dont use facebook too, or other social media stuff like X (Twitter), Discord,... Why? 1) data security. Meta group (and others) are known that personal data lands not only on that platform you registered, they flow to somehwere you dont want (those who dont believe it, are naive). 2) Most of this platforms I just find it absolutely confusing visually and in navigation 3) and then, logn time ago as I was looking, the facebook page seems some private group. Don´t know if its so today. Thats the next thing I dont understand why. Especially If some support or update news mainly only there are posted - for products that can be buyed by any - So I think myself: seems strange
Hi mate really sorry to hear this Have you tried the latest version of the launcher we have just launched a ne w product using it as well and we have had very very few issues I am really disappointed that tour email got lost our end that’s just not good enough and I am truly sorry for that could I offer you my personal email address alan@alanthomsonsim.com and I will ensure your query is dealt with asap cheers Alan Thomson
Hi mate Yes some of our products are on a a subscription model If you still have the product installed after your subscription runs out you will not be able to update or to install those products without a active subscription your question around internet security and meta are for yourself to judge weather you trust them or not I personally do that’s why we use them It’s is also our largest platform Yes it’s a private group that make sure we keep spam to a minimum and can create a better engaged community if that doesn’t suit your there is the change log on the website to keep up to date with the launcher is totally new and doesn’t use anything to do with the old installers I hope you fine it Easier and more reliable to use that the older system. I hope this helps. Cheers Alan Thomson
hi mate, thank you for that that sounds like a great idea. I will check out that thread as soon as I get a chance. Thank you for the kind help and support. Much appreciated Cheers Alan Thomson
Hi mate, Thanks for that very kind response - I've tried with the most recent version and still encountering the same issue. Have also tried using the old launcher and it doesn't recognise my login details strangely. Currently awaiting a response from one of your team on how best to proceed. Hopefully I'll get a workable solution but if it doesn't look that way I'll be sure to drop you an Email. Once again, thank you for your helpful replies!
Update for anybody else who winds up searching for this issue - it was resolved by running Proton VPN (as advised by ATS) in the background, but this did require me purchasing a £9.99 month's subscription. Not sure if it's Proton specific or if any VPN would do the job, still awaiting a response with the details.
I don't have a subscription to ATS, but in the past I have downloaded a couple of free items from the ATS site with no issues and installed them like any other TSC addons. Its only by reading frank351981 message that I have become aware that an installer was required to directly install subscription items into the Railworks folder, and that you don't actually obtain the "exc" file for the addon. What with all the issues with the installer and suggestions of VPNs , will probably give this one a miss.
I agree. It was a price I was prepared to pay to get this working again, but with the caveat that I'd be making people aware of the issue on here.
It also is stuff purchased from ATS even if you don't have a sub, i.e. the Gold Star Tamper that I purchased when it was on sale some time back. I still have the original download with the .exe but if I want to update it to the latest version I have to download the launcher thing....
It is rather poor of ATS that they don't provide an Installer "exe" for something you have Purchased from them. I was installing a number of Third Party DLC on my secondary Railworks Installation. As a couple of the routes have Freeware upgrades. It was a simple matter of going on the RSSLO website and downloading the latest versions. If I was to obtain a route from ATS, paying a similar price to RSSLO, I would not be able to download another copy if my installation was corrupt. And I believe if I wished to reinstall the original version it would not work if my Sub had expired.
Payware will still download you OWN it. You don’t need an active sub to download PAYWARE you purchased. The sub only content requires an active sub
I too am having issues with the launcher, v2.0.2 as it has now upgraded to. Can login to ATS website perfectly but cannot get ATS Launcher to accept this username and password. Thus rendering my Class 185 and the announcements pack inoperative. Tried everything ATS has suggested apart from paying 119 euro for Proton VPN, even with all antivirus and firewall + Windows Defender and Malwarebytes fully switched off still will not accept my account user and password. Anybody got a solution to this please.
They don't suggest using the paid version of Proton VPN - They suggest the free version. I'd suggest getting back onto ATS if you're having problems. In the past they've offered to use Team Viewer to log into my PC and fix it.
Update: Managed to get Proton VPN (free) installed and connected, run ATS Launcher and still the same, invalid username or password. Any further ideas to try, losing patience now.
Get back on to ATS - It's their login system not working. They are the only ones that can help. I have a load of their products and it's working fine for me, so I'm guessing it's something related to your account that they will need to fix.
Hello i just tried to download the Full ECML Merge edinburgh to london route and what happened was i typed my Username and password selected the railworks folder as the file to download it to and after a few seconds a error message came up saying 'Failed to execute script ATS-ECMLmerge-v2.02 so does anyone know how i can fix it.
Contact ATS customer support. A script can fail for various reasons (depending on its error checking). For example if it needs to copy Geo files for repaints, but you have unpacked .ap files, its command that extracts the Geo from the .ap will fail.
Even though people say Contact ATS directly you instead post here. Not sure why as this forum is nothing to do with ATS?
In my experience, yes, if you let them help. Always contacted me within 24hours. They’ve always offered to do Team Viewer sessions to get me sorted. Better than DTG’s we’ll add it to our list.response.
A word of warning. The ATS launcher stores your credentials (ATS username/password) in plain text format. This data could easily be read by websites and be used to hijack your account. If you don't believe me, check the .log files in %APPDATA%\Roaming\ats-launcher-js\Local Storage\leveldb In my case, I found a logfile looking like that (username/password changed here) Code: jþpà VERSION1META:file://éÂѼÊÒÝŠ_file:// has_subscriptionfalse_file:// temp_user2{"username":"USERNAME","password":"PASSWORD"}_file:// user2{"username":"USERNAME","password":"PASSWORD"}Ù×R META:file://“»ã˜ËÒÝ< _file:// has_subscription _file:// userɳ`¦ META:file://™¤Ñ•ÖëÝŠ_file:// has_subscriptionfalse_file:// user2{"username":"USERNAME","password":"PASSWORD"}”"\úR META:file://Õó²¾ÚëÝ< _file:// has_subscription _file:// user§ÄTÿ META:file://ï‡ÜÍ×íÝŠ_file:// has_subscriptionfalse_file:// user2{"username":"USERNAME","password":"PASSWORD"} \¾R META:file://Œäü´ØíÝ< _file:// has_subscription _file:// user
I'm frankly shocked about this attitude. Storing unencrypted passwords is an absolute no-go, no need to explain why. But if you just think about personal data stored with the account, and the fact that many people use the same password for multiple sites, then think again. This data gets collected automatically by scripts, there's no scammer doing this manually.
I really don’t like the ATS Launcher. It’s also really bad what Spikee has found this is just poor coding. However, in this case, I’m not terribly worried. The ATS website doesn’t hold any personal details or credit cards (at least not for me). As I’ve said elsewhere there is no need to keep the installer installed. There is a new version released every time something new is added, so you would have to download it again anyway. I just install what I want and delete the installer again. Does make you wonder how good their site security is though if they don’t even try to encrypt passwords in their own software. Worth making sure that your ATS password is unique and any payment method you use has 2 factor authentication. It doesn’t even need to use this file. It’s just a log of each time you log in by the look of it. Deleting it has no effect.
Be sure to delete your AppData\Roaming\ats-launcher-js folder. I am just pointing out a security risk with evidence. Make of that what you want.
A password, if shared with other accounts, is very valuable to a hacker. Could be a shared Discord, e-mail, forums, even banking password. Could screw someone up completely. I already learned ATS doesn’t really care for its devs (unless making Alan fistfuls of money). I always wondered if ATS really cares for its users. The answer appears to be “no”. I would like to be proven wrong. Locking purchased content behind a malware app and not allowing the user to download standard EXE and RWP files is enough evidence of that. Stealing is actually preferable to buying through ATS, And that is saying something. Not good for reputation to encourage piracy, I would suggest. Devs need to find other sales channels for their products; I am no lawyer, but this might be an out to the contracts forbidding that. But that said, I have been looking into the German community. All their stuff is free. Look at the recent Mittenealdbahn revamp. Yes, you need the original DLC. And another route for some assets. The rest is free. If Missing Link was on rail-sim.de they would not charge for access. Hell, the OHLE wires would be free, too. And honestly should be. Look at what people do, not what they say.
Could you elaborate on what the risk is here please? I understand that storing sensitive info in plain text is a no-no, but this is in a file on the end-user PC, so how is it accessible to anyone else who doesn't physically have access to that PC?
I'm no expert on that, I can't tell you how exactly, but it is possible and depending on exploits used and how the users protect their system, browser, cookies etc. I'm sure there's experts on IT security here. And storing/logging a password in plain text raises questions on how ATS manage their data. And I am not sure what data is collected when the launcher scans your system. It's not something I'd trust these days. That's what I'm using Steam for, because it's certified and trustworthy. Not that amateurish and vulnerable code ATS is forcing on you. DRM done wrong will always backfire. See SecuROM (that was blocked with the introduction of Windows7 due to security risks - remember when you had to start it manually using "sc start secdrv" to play CoD?), SafeDisc, Denuvo etc. I have reported my findings here, what happens now is not my business. I've drawn my conclusions, draw your own.
Articles like this might help. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/data-breach In citing technology and user behaviour as potential weaknesses, the article states, "Anyone can be at risk of a data breach — from individuals to high-level enterprises and governments. More importantly, anyone can put others at risk if they are not protected." In fact, the local hospital here was part of a major data breach that affected several major cities. Now, I don't recommend their product, but the information I'm quoting is all the same very accurate.
I appreciate this is definitely not a good situation but I think this bit is more than a touch disingenous: "This data could easily be read by websites" Honestly, if a website is able to read random files off your PC then you have much bigger issues to worry about. Situations like this could likely only happen if an insanely serious zero day exploit for your browser of choice is out in the wild.
You forget that the launcher running is a risk itself as it has full access to your system and outgoing connections - not only the browser. There's more connections apart from http/https ports open if you check. If I see a flawed basement I won't trust the whole building. And again - unencrypted passwords are one one the biggest red flags in IT security. You fix that and don't start arguing and weighing pros and cons. You just don't. Let me download an installer like AP's. Simple as that. ATS' DRM does not work anyway as it's rubbish - all is available from the known sources. You start mistrusting your customers, they will mistrust you. Such crude, intrusive and insecure DRM software has never ever solved any issues, instead fuelled piracy.
I'm not disputing anything else, just clarifying that there is virtually no risk of a website reading the file.
As soon as you take away the easiest and most convenient way to install products in a game, and try to replace it with something buggy and unsecure that can put the user's data at risk, the motives of the company behind it become clear. Look at what they do. Not what they say. Are you familiar with the term "phishing"?
phishing has nothing to do with a website being able to read files off your computer. it is the act of someone fooling you into giving them your credentials (no amount of encrypting the ATS password in a file on your computer is going to help there.) or installing something that then basically gives someone full access to your device (the phisher is probably more interested in your bank account than downloading the Chat Moss line)
