R3459TTS decoder not recognized.

[Chrissaf]

Can somebody explain how I shall go about it?

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There are more than one way to do this. Other's may have alternatives ways of doing this. This is my way. This way works for NON Hornby locos as well as for ones not currently in the Hornby database.

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The first thing I do is find on the Internet a suitable picture of the loco in question. The image needs to be cropped into an oblong that is just slightly larger than the loco itself and preferably on a blank white background. I have found a suitable image of the R3459TTS for you and have posted it below. Right click the image and choose the 'save image to your hard drive' option. Once saved, move it to the RailMaster loco picture folder** or any other folder that you would prefer instead.

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Note**  The RailMaster Loco images folder is usually

C:Program FilesRailMasterLocos

 

or C:Program Files(x86)RailMasterLocos on 64-bit Windows systems.

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Anyway, here is a suitable cropped image for the Hornby R3459TTS loco:

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/media/tinymce_upload/8c5be0f3197c315beb6d618f16f06e8b.jpg

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Now that you have the image. The other information you need is the Function list. That is to say, what TTS features & sounds relate to which Function number. This list will be on the loco documentation included in the box.

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You now have all the information you need to manually add this loco into RailMaster in its most basic configuration.

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Open the 'Loco Settings' window.....by clicking the steam loco icon.

/media/tinymce_upload/6c755f7d8a202754554a42e88d4682c9.JPG

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1. Enter the DCC Loco address you want to use for this loco. Entering the loco address ID number here DOES NOT actually program the address in the loco....that is done later. Purely for the sake of this tutorial I will use the address 015, but you will need to choose an address of your own that does not clash with any address currently in use. If you wish, you can initially make this the default 003 address so that you can test the loco once it is entered into the database before making any changes to the actual loco decoder itself, then come back to change it to something different at a later time. If you change it later, then follow the second stage (2nd image below) at that time.
2. Type in the name you want to give this Loco. For example R3459TTS Early BR Fowler Class 
3. Click the magnifying glass icon and navigate to the image that you saved earlier, follow on screen prompts to add it to this RM box.
4. Enter the 'Cruising' & 'Shunting' speed you want for this loco.
5. In the Function list, type in the features & sounds for each function as listed on your loco documentation. The list is scrollable to see Functions above 16. If the sound needs to 'latch on' you must add the words "on/off" at the end of the label text, else the sound will stop after 4 seconds. Do not include the " " marks. There is a character limit, so use short names and abbreviations where possible.
6. Six of the total number of Functions can be allocated to appear on the small RM loco throttle. Tick the check box of the six (SIX ONLY) functions you want on the small throttle. Note: All the functions, ticked or not, will still be seen on the large RM throttle.
7. Click the Green Arrow to save the loco in the database.
8. Close and re-open the 'Loco Settings' window. Your newly added loco should now appear in the list. Select it for the next stage. All the previously entered information should populate the window if it has been entered and saved correctly.

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Now you need to program the loco DCC address ID into the loco. In the example above, I used address ID 015

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The loco must now be placed on the 'Programming Track' if not already on it.

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Click the ( i ) icon at the bottom of the 'Loco Settings' window (once the newly added loco is highlighted and populated into the window boxes as per step 8 above).

/media/tinymce_upload/27f712360c293e7f84f0dd320c1047f1.jpg

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Optionally before performing steps 1 to 3 below, you can read the existing CV's by clicking the Green Tick (arrow #3 location) in the drawing. There is some anecdotal evidence (a possible bug) to suggest that this is a useful exercise to do anyway to prevent some of the other CVs from being changed by accident. In theory it shouldn't be a mandatory necessity, hence I have annotated it as an optional action to perform, but it is recommended. If the 'read CV' function fails, just go ahead and follow the write function documented below anyway. Many times writing CVs works, even if reading CVs fails. Note: reading CVs can take several minutes, please be patient. If you start getting lots of reading errors or all the values read as 255 (all 255 values indicates that RM cannot see the decoder in the loco), then the reading CVs function is failing. Click the ( II ) button to cancel - shown in Grey near the #2 arrow.

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To write the new loco address to the decoder.

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1. Over type the CV1 Primary 003 address with the new address you require. The address should match the one used in step 1 above. In this example tutorial I used address 015.
2. Click the write icon (pencil). The new address should be written to the loco. The RM application will read it back to confirm. If it does not read back correctly the writing process has probably failed. There may be a lot of clicking heard during this process and it may take a couple of minutes so do be patient.
3. If the read back shows the correct address, click the Red Cross (arrow #3 location) and exit the CV setting up window.

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If all has gone well, you should now be able to put your loco back onto the main track and test it with the new settings. All of this that I have documented above is actually in the manual, but not particularly well enough written in a manner that is easy to follow. I have only documented the absolute basics of the process.

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And why does the list not get up-dated?

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It does get updated, but not necessarily in a timely manner that coincides with new Hornby loco releases. The TTS locos seem to be particularly slow at appearing in the database. This may be because more work is involved due to the additional Functions supported. Updates can happen without your knowledge at start-up. At start-up, RM accesses the Internet and downloads loco database updates silently in the background. You the user are none the wiser as no message is prominently shown. You never know, if you were to search again for your R3459TTS loco today, tomorrow or next week, it may just suddenly be found OK.

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PS - I have added this thread to my forum boilerplate, so that I can just refer to the URL link in the future. It was for that reason, I have gone into the excessive detail on this occasion.

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PPS - For anybody else following this post who is trying to configure a completely different loco. The principle and steps are just the same. You just need to find a suitable image on the Internet of your particular loco model. Or use one already located in the RM loco image folder. Remember that the importation of an Internet image into the RM database works best with an image that has the width and height proportions of a 'letter box'.

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This is a long detailed post. If you want to reply to it. Please DO NOT use the 'White Arrow in the Blue Box'. This is not a 'Reply to this Post' button, it is a 'Quote this Post' button. Place any reply you want to make in the 'Reply' box at the BOTTOM of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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[Jack Spratt]

Thank you Crissaf, for a fast reply and taking time to make an understandable explanation on a saturday evening. I am looking forward to play with the trains tomorrow after all the gardening today...

[Fishmanoz]

No problem with Chris's detailed starting from scratch option but in such a case I think there are a couple of shortcuts.  First, click on the RM link at the top of the RM forum and download and install the absolute latest version of RM and check whether the loco has been added to the database. 

 

If still not added, start by calling up any other steam TTS loco from the RM database by its R number.  This will populate all of the sound functions for you correctly, saving a lot of work.   Now just edit the loco description and update the image as per Chris's above, enter the address you want and go through the saving routine and you should be done.  Then when the real loco is added to the database, delete this one and install the real one. 

[Chrissaf]

My rationale for my post.

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I went for the starting from scratch option to also cover people who want to add NON Hornby locos as well. As I stated in opening para, this is just one way of many. Fishy has outlined one other alternative. I could add another, like using the inbuilt Bachmann diesel / steam loco defaults for example. I wanted this post to be flexible enough to be referred to as a future information resource. The question about adding locos manually to RM has come up a few times before.

[Fishmanoz]

Agreed Chris.

[Chrissaf]

Amendment to my tutorial:

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In the second stage (write new address to decoder), step 1, I used the phrase "Over type the CV1 Primary 003 address..................". This action works more reliably if the 'backspace' is used first to delete the previous entry to make it blank before typing in the new value, instead of over typing.

[Peter Ruifrok]

Should it be added for reasons of completeness that all loco's (Hornby or not, additional functions or not) use F0 for lights on/off and this function must be programmed for lights to function at all?

[Fishmanoz]

That's because it's part of the NMRA DCC standard Peter, and also part of the standard that the now default 128 speed steps must be selected for the ligths to work correctly.

[Chrissaf]

Addendum to my tutorial post further above: (the one posted @ 18:19 hours on Sat 22nd Oct 2016).

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After adding the loco to the loco roster in RM and you want to change the default address from 003 to your new unique DCC address. In my tutorial I used the full CV reading / writing screen and advised over-writing CV1.

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There is a simpler short-cut if all you want to do is change the DCC address and leave all the other CVs as factory default. Instead of opening the CV screen using the " i " icon. Click the 'Steam Loco' icon to the left of the " i " icon instead. This will open a dialogue box for just changing the loco DCC address. Note that the loco still needs to be on the 'programming track' to use this addressing box.

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[Chrissaf]

How do I programme my new locos that are not on the list of locomotives? And why does the list not get up-dated? I can not find my new R3459TTS Early BR Fowler Class 2Pand it´s CV and no "default settings" for it. Do I have to fill in the CV manually? I have a separate programming track, and 1.64 v of RM. Programming other TTS loco´s that are on the list have worked for me. Can somebody explain how I shall go about it? 

[96RAF]

If you really are at v1.64 of RM the very first thing you need to do is update it to v1.73 via the link at top of page.

I am surprised auto-update hasn’t kicked in.