Stevens Pass, Fail to Load Shape Options

[nbeveridge]

AJ STephany had this question:


I need help with your template for Stevens Pass. I keep getting an error message after the activity runs about 5 minutes which states "No extended shape data for at? (with 2 small cubes following the at?). I then get an error message about being unable to open shape at?(with 2 small cubes). The fianl message states about being unable to load the "piggyback1_02, then system crashes. Can you or Steve help me out?


Here is my reply, which I hope will be useful to other users:


This error usually occurs when a PC is overloaded, and it is not associated with the template except that the template can add a large number of rail cars in loose consists to the activity as "eye candy". Stevens Pass and its rolling stock are very heavy with lots of fine detail. Are you running with the 1024 shapes, or the 512 shapes? You might try the 512 shapes to see if it helps. You can reduce your sliders in MSTS, which will help. Are you running the MSTS bin patch? This patch increases the memory management capability of MSTS, which helps with this error to some extent. Also, you can try generating an activity with a reduced number of rail cars in the world fill. Another possibility, especially if you have a low end PC, is to generate an activity without AI traffic. I have seen that AI traffic on this route is frequently the cause of an MSTS crash of this sort. As an alternate, you could use ConBuilder to reduce the size of the AI consists (i.e. take a number of cars out of the AI train) in order to help with the load on the PC.

[dgionet]

AJ STephany had this question:
I need help with your template for Stevens Pass. I keep getting an error message after the activity runs about 5 minutes which states "No extended shape data for at? (with 2 small cubes following the at?). I then get an error message about being unable to open shape at?(with 2 small cubes). The fianl message states about being unable to load the "piggyback1_02, then system crashes. Can you or Steve help me out?
Here is my reply, which I hope will be useful to other users:
This error usually occurs when a PC is overloaded, and it is not associated with the template except that the template can add a large number of rail cars in loose consists to the activity as "eye candy". Stevens Pass and its rolling stock are very heavy with lots of fine detail. Are you running with the 1024 shapes, or the 512 shapes? You might try the 512 shapes to see if it helps. You can reduce your sliders in MSTS, which will help. Are you running the MSTS bin patch? This patch increases the memory management capability of MSTS, which helps with this error to some extent. Also, you can try generating an activity with a reduced number of rail cars in the world fill. Another possibility, especially if you have a low end PC, is to generate an activity without AI traffic. I have seen that AI traffic on this route is frequently the cause of an MSTS crash of this sort. As an alternate, you could use ConBuilder to reduce the size of the AI consists (i.e. take a number of cars out of the AI train) in order to help with the load on the PC.

Hi to all,

What Norm says is quite true about PC limitations. It had been occuring to me more than once during testing of the oncoming Burton-Derby (BD) project. I have a 2Ghz processor, which is considered old compared to the more recent 3Ghz+ computers. With such a massive route like the BD one thing which also made a difference in handling such route and AG is lowering the railcar fill. If your railcar fill is too high (and here you have plenty of space to add up to 700 cars) you may end up with the exact message. That's what happened to me the same way as AJ experienced. I am able so far to have my railcar fill level as high as three, over it causes the shape messages and ends there. Also in the same screen you may have to uncheck other functions such as having railcar fill in regions not used, etc. That may do the trick also in improving performance and ensure the act to reach the end.