It uses the Alan Thomson installer which IIRC just gets on with the installation after you enter your user name/PW to confirm with the installer I think that you are indeed a subscriber, can you simply copy your RW folder & save for future use post installation? Will that work?
Once you have the route in your RailWorks/Assets and RailWorks/Content/Routes folders then you have it for as long as you have that install, you can make a copy of the whole RailWorks folder if you have the space (best to keep a copy of a full working install anyway) or alternatively you can create the relevant folders and files by making a fake RailWorks folder and having the installer install it there too, that way you'll always have a clean backup of the route, then just simply copy and paste that backup over if you ever have to do a fresh TS install. However if your subscription expires you'll no longer get updates or patches i.e. bug fixes until you subscribe again.
It would be good to hear from ATS what the situation is at the end of a Subscription, re access to items purchased.
Sadly as stated above a subscription is just that, same as SKY, MS Office 365, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify etc. etc. It is the way of the world currently you are just allowed to borrow stuff not own it. At least with ATS you have the opportunity to download and keep forever. You don't lose what you have already downloaded just not allowed to update or gain new content unless you re-subscribe. Just make sure you subscribe, grab everything you need and make a back up yourself before your subscription runs out I have certainly grabbed a heck of a lot more than my £30 subs worth of content out of my 1st years subscription to ATS. Phase 4 of WCML missing link is in my book a heck of alot better than JT's Western Mainline Collection at £59.99 https://www.justtrains.net/product/western-mainlines-the-complete-collection at twice the price of an ATS sub Whether I continue next year will depend on what new offerings are in the pipeline. Who knows ????
I absolutely subscribe to this opinion ! When MS started the Office365 thing that was the moment I switched to LibreOffice and clean my system. I've replaced most proprietary software with fast and free open source stuff. Who needs the damn AdobeReader, totally overloaded garbage. Installed SumatraPDF which is lean and fast. Like Cyclone suggested, install to a blank folder, zip the contents and archive them to keep the stuff in case you need to reinstall.
The proper word is "opinion". While I might complain about some weird things, I'm fairly sure I'm not alone in that particular opinion. Also, my opinion does have validity. My hard drive failed a couple of weeks back. I had to redownload and reinstall everything. Imagine having that happen, then also losing your backup shortly before or after. You no longer have your subscriber routes and scenario packs. I'd say you'd be pretty upset too.
Late reply here, was long enough between so new post. The only reason I still have Office is because education (I went back to school for a second run) gave me a free copy of 2016 in the first year, then also 2019 in the second year. So after my hard drive failure, I redownloaded 2019 free of charge. No subscription, no nothing. You can still buy the software without subscription, too. That said, I am more likely to use Google Docs than anything else. Moreso now since all of that is safe and secure and my files on the hard drive are lost. So much for documenting Workshop collections by what scenarios require to plan what to play, I just download the entire set for a user and back that up now. Means I've also installed multiple WS routes and associated scenarios as well. Over 60 for South London to Brighton already.
You don't, that's why you would have to ensure you keep a copy of the download file either on a cloud server or an external backup drive
Not even that. The download file uses a subware installer, I would bet? You have to unpack it into a folder before the sub runs out, then keep a ZIP handy with multiple backups.
Possibly, not sure tbh, so yes you could unpack it to a fake RailWorks then rezip it if that's the case. Also if the Sun runs out accessing an ATS route would be the least of anyone's concern..
