Hi Steve and Norm,

The Northwest Line 3 template is now in the testing mode. Two testers are working on the route and Benny, one of them has pointed out a problem when making the conversion to Permissive signalling mode. The first window backing up the original TDB file has shown but not the second confirming the change.

I have tried myself, with all files unstored and waited two minutes without any results. Remember that one of the biggest TDB files in MSTS, the Wupper route (15MB), took about a minute to change and could see the second window. The NWL 3 is about 2.5MB.

Any help will be appreciated and will continue investigation.

Thanks.

Denis

Denis,

Please try waiting longer than two minutes. I have seen the Pokey take much longer than two minutes, and NWL is larger than that. Steve is considering adding an indicator that would show that AG is still working on it, so that the user will not lose patience and quit before the program finishes.

Hi Norm,

Thanks for your reply. First I want to correct myself as I wanted to refer to the sigscr file and not the TDB file, the latter which is backed up for the manual switch feature of AG.

As recommended, I have tried again and waited 10 minutes without any changes. I have compared in the route's folder the sigscr.dat and sigscr.sbk files and found no changes in the dates of the last change. I have tried on other sigscr files, like the PO&N file , successfully and could see the change of date.

The PO&N sigscr file (50KB) is about 2½ the size of the NWL3 (21KB) and changed in only seconds afted the backup. I have also looked inside the sigscr files of some other routes, like the NEC, PO&N and compared to the NWL files( both v2 and v3) and seen some differences in the heading of the NWL files compared to the other route sigscr files.

Here's an example of what is regularily seen in substance in all of the sigscr files heading I have looked into.

/*//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//Scripts for Searchlight Signals, version 3.0
// Logic Scripts
// Copyright © 2002, Hank Sundermeyer
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////*/
SCRIPT SL3Color

Such header is absent in both v2 and v3 sigscr files. Could it be the reason behind the problem in changing the signalling mode?

I guess that will be up to Steve to look up into the problem. I have also pointed out the problem in the Mophouse forum, in addition to another user comment having signalling concerns too. That is why i have added my reply.

Will be on the lookout for Steve's reply about this.

Same here,I waited a good 5 minutes.On the other process changing switches,the arrow turns to an hourglass,it didn't for the signal change.

I am sure that Steve will assist in finding what is causing this. But don't hold your breath -- he is in the middle of moving right now, and it could be several weeks before he has a break so that he can get back to AG.

Let me ask: Did the signals in v.2 of this route convert? Or was this problem in that route too, but no one reported it?

Hi Norm,

Thanks for the info about Steve. As I can remember, I don't remember any complaints about the present issue in v2, although both sigscr.dat files are quite similar. I believe they converted under AG3. also remember the route template has been updated only a few months ago to AG4 and maybe the template has never been downloaded since, so maybe no formal complaints.

Thanks Norm and Denis. I apologize for the delay, I am now moved into my new house and have Internet service again etc.! I will download this route and check the signal conversion script against it and see if I can figure out what is going on here.

Thanks,

Steve

Hi to all,

Steve has given me a reply to this issue and the problem was found. The sigscr.dat file inside the NWL3 package has been defined by mistake as a read-only file.That is why AG couldn't change it. To resolve the problem, simply remove the read-only property of the file and AG will make the change. It worked for me and was done instantly.

Thanks Steve for great detective work!

Thanks Denis! For those who may not know how to do this, simply use Windows Explorer or My Computer, find the file sigscr.dat in the NWL3 route folder, and click your right mouse button on it. A menu will pop up, select "Properties". Then, notice the checked box next to "Read Only" (near the bottom). Uncheck it, click "OK" and voila! You've fixed it. This won't have any impact on the route or how it runs.

Thanks,

Steve

Hi again,

Just to reassure our users that in the Northwest Line 3 readme file included with the route, you will find additional details how to proceed by using the Windows Explorer application including a screenshot of the properties window to uncheck the read-only attribute of the sigscr.dat file.

Thanks again Steve for your help