Can you replace a scenario's consist with another consist?

[Smectymnuus]

I know how to use RW_Tools to replace locos and wagons in consists, and I've successfully used the in-game consist editor to create new consists. But what I'm asking here is how can I replace a consist listed in a scenario with another consist that I have?

I've opened the scenario.bin file and looked around, but it's not clear to me what to do and how to do it.

[Darloman]

In the scenario editor, place the new consist on a track alongside the original consist. Now select the driver icon on the original consist's loco and drag it to the replacement consist's loco to transfer the icon. Delete the original consist (e.g. you can just drag it off the track). Now drag the replacement onto the track where the original was. Save.

If you don't need to replace the loco, just place the new consist items alongside in the same way, drag the original consist items off the track to delete them and drag the replacement items onto the back of the loco, making sure you link them to the loco. .

[Smectymnuus]

Thanks, Darloman. This is going to require me to get to grips with the scenario editor, something I've put off because I'm more comfortable editing text files and lists than a 3D editor. But no time like the present to get on with it!

[Darloman]

Glad to help. I meant to add; it's a good idea to clone the scenario before editing it, so if anything goes wrong you can go back and make another clone to work on.

P.S. to make sure your consist is linked to the loco and to each other, shift-click on it and check that the entire length is highlighted.

When you do this, you'll also see a 3D double-ended arrow floating above it, one end larger than the other. This allows you to change the direction it is facing. Sometimes when you change a consist in the way I have described, it will swap direction when you move the new one onto the original track. If it does so, just click on the arrow when you have the whole length highlighted and it will change again.

[Smectymnuus]

Darloman, one more quick question if I might ask. The consists I want to replace are formed of an EMU that I don't own; i.e. I want to replace those consists (some are active while others are simply loose consists) with others that I do own. So how will I know where these consists are in the 3D world if there is nothing there to replace? Will the driver icon be hovering over a blank space where the loco should be?

Again, thank you for the time you took to assist this newbie!

[Darloman]

I'm not sure what you mean by consists that you don't own.

The driver icon will only be floating above a loco that is present. You can't have a driver icon without a loco present.

If there is nothing there to replace and you want to add a new train to the scenario, you will need to create one. As you say you have created consists, what follows may not be new to you, but you may not mind if I say it anyway. Without going into detail, you add at least a loco on the part of the route where you need it to start, then use the editor tools to select a driver icon and click on the loco to add the icon to it. This will add it to the list of trains the editor displays in the scenario. You then follow by setting up and naming the train and setting its destination and any intermediate points along its route.

The player's train is marked with a (P) in the list of trains in the editor. The rest (with driver icons) are all AI trains. If you don't add a driver icon to a loco, it will be a static item instead.

'Loose' consists are static items such as wagons parked in a siding.

That's just a very brief outline. If you want to get to grips with the scenario editor I suggest spending a little time practising with it and studying tutorials. Once you get the hang of it, creating and/or editing scenarios isn't difficult, but it does take some familiarisation at first.

P.S. As always, respect other author's work. It's fine altering something for your own use, but it is good manners not to publish it without the original author's permission.

[Smectymnuus]

Hello again, Darloman. What I was doing was trying to play a workshop scenario that required a fair amount of DLC, one of which I didn't own. So naturally although there would be a consist listed in the scenario.bin file, when you went into the 3D editor there would be nothing there ... the DLC would not be in my inventory. Hence I thought that perhaps the driver icon would be floating above where the loco would have been in the consist .... but as you said, this would not be possible.

So that in turn made me wonder where I could find the consist in the 3D editor when no stock for that consist and no icons would be present. I hope this makes the situation clearer. In the end I broke down and bought the DLC simply to see where the consists were located (some were AI trains and some were loose consists).

But at any rate, I think I was putting the cart before the horse: before you can do what I wanted to do you really need to come to grips with the scenario editor. I'm a 10+ year veteran of MSTS/ORTS, so know how to do those things almost blindfolded, but this is a new game to me. I think you are right, I need some tutorials and need to watch a few videos before I poke around.

Again, thank you for your concise responses!

[mattj]

If you don't own the stock required, you have to do the RW_Tools workaround for it.

[Smectymnuus]

Hello Railfan722,
Yes, I know how to do the RW_Tools substitution tango, but unfortunately Mike's utility will only allow you to swap like for like. You can't swap, say, an engine for a wagon. Hence my desire to simply swap an entire consist for another, the way that you can easily do in MSTS.

[mattj]

I see. If you don't have one of the requirements, the game will just give an error that you can bypass by pressing F2 and then cancel in the box that pops up - sadly, the only way I've found to get around this is doing the RW_Tools bit. Bit of a pain for a 200 car US freight, but oh well.

[Smectymnuus]

Yup, I know about the F2 and cancel routine as well. But in this case I was working on a commuter scenario, and I didn't know if the missing consist would affect the player train or not by, say, blocking it at a junction, or whatever. So I might be able to cancel out and then run the scenario, but not know if my completion of same was legitimate or not.

In the end, it turned out that the missing DLC only was eye candy; the trains never interacted at all with the player train. So I really bought that DLC for nothing! (Well, not really, the train is actually quite nice and comes with some scenarios for the London/Brighton route. But you know what I mean ;-) I can see the scenario author laughing right now

Thanks for your input, btw, the folks here on this forum seem pretty helpful, always a plus.