RailMaster Version 1.70 now available on the download link

[96RAF]

This from HRMS this morning...

...It is possible that the comms issue with some users of the app is that they are not running the absolute latest versions of both the RailMaster software on the PC and the app.  On some devices, the app may not update immediately due to the way they cache so we would advise going into the settings screen on the app and cpressing on the Restart button to force and update check. It is also important that, even if they think they have done it, that they download and install the latest RM update from www.rail-master.com/rm_setup.exe as there is new handshaking between RM and the app for improved comms.  We do note, from the forum that some users say it is the best it has ever been, and that was our experience testing on at leasst 40 tablets, phones and so on....

[Chrissaf]

Note that the download link in Rob's post above IS the same link that is associated with the RM download link on the forum.

[train-domain]

Thanks RAF, I have reset the com port to Com3 and have rebooted the laptop around 10 times and its now finding the elink....for now at least.

 

Ive been giving some thought to the free start of 2 of my locos that I experienced on Saturday as I really need to understand what happened to avoid it happening again.

 

I realised that Ketley Hall and Flying Scotsman were the 2 locos at the top of my loco list and therefore the 2 locos available in the HH evaluation version that I am using and I wonder if there is anything in that.

 

 Although I wasnt using the HH at the time, I had been using V1.21 earlier before updating to RM v1.7 and cant be certain that I had closed the app down.

 

With regards the new HH version I've found it to be much better on my S8 than the previous version. This is mainly to do with the way the speed slider works which was a bit hit and miss but since sorting out the real time speed data issue this morning which resolved my earlier problems its now working as it should.

 

The speed slider now scrolls up from the bottom of the slider display smoothly which it didnt with the previous version. This meant controlling was a nightmare as locos were constantly speeding up and slowing down the instant I touched the screen. Maybe its just my phone but its a definite improvement and now that I can actually control a loco properly I think I will probably pay for the full version.

 

Only thing Ive noticed is a slight lag in the speed displayed on RM when controlling with the HH, although that may well be down to my wifi which appears to be terribly slow this morning.

Thanks Pietrarsa for the tip which I will try if I have further issues.

[train-domain]

Many thanks chrissaf. Im off to download it now.

[train-domain]

Downloaded the new revision as per link chrissafs post then powered everything down, unplugged the elink and went for a cuppa.

 

Restarted elink and laptop and happy to report that it found the elink & connected immediately.

 

Many thanks for you help gents.

[GWR Greg]

refering to my post on page 4, extract below:

"1) The throttle control on the android app is still not very smooth and does not always respond to touch. I am comparing it to Engine driver proper android app and JMRI. The throttle3 control on engine driver is very responsive and smooth.

2) F key operation should work one of the ways:

a) Latched - press key and function turns on, press again and function turns off.

b) Press and release key and function runs for preset time in decoder.

c) press and hold key and function runs until released."

I have received a very comprhensive reply from HRMS.

HRMS have tested the throttle control extensively and do not beleive there is an issue. They have asked me carry out a ping test and confirm that I am running the latest RM software on PC and Anmdroid device, which I am. They have responed that the ping is poor so I need to investigate further as is causing the unresponsive issue.

They confirm that 2a) and 2b) work with RM as I indicated but that 2c) is currently not suported by RM but will be considered for a future update.

[Pietrarsa]

Unlike traindomain, I was not successful installing the new revision version, restarting the computer and railmaster. I have the same communication error with the com2 port.

 

Checked into railmaster folder "log.txt" file I found these lines with errors:

...

11/03/19 13.53.56 Set Full Controllers to 111/03/19 13.53.56 Set Show Animations to 111/03/19 13.53.56 Set Elite Feedback to 111/03/19 13.53.56 Set Alternative Comms to 111/03/19 13.53.56 Set Check controller to 111/03/19 13.53.56 Finished setting INI parameters11/03/19 13.53.56 Couldn't get message number: 1156 -

 

...

 

and these:

...

11/03/19 13.53.59 Check need for: LANGUAGE.MDB (Size=589824 Date=18/02/2015)11/03/19 13.53.59 Installed size=655360 installed date=11/03/201911/03/19 13.53.59 No need to download LANGUAGE.MDB11/03/19 13.53.59 Nothing to do11/03/19 13.53.59 Status after opening port: 0 - Operazione completata.11/03/19 13.53.59 Loading message window11/03/19 13.54.12 Message displayed: Impossibile stretta di mano con il controller eLink DCC. Assicurarsi che si sta utilizzando un controller eLink e che è il firmware è stato aggiornato almeno alla versione 1.07. (1154) - Response=6

(translate: Failed handshake with the eLink DCC controller. Make sure that you are using an eLink controller and that the firmware has been updated to at least version 1.07)

...

 

then there is my system settings change (first com1 wanted error):

...

11/03/19 13.54.17 User pressed System Settings button11/03/19 13.54.17 Showing Settings window11/03/19 13.54.17 Loading Settings window11/03/19 13.54.17 Setting labels11/03/19 13.54.17 Removed 'Advanced' tab11/03/19 13.54.17 Enumerating available Com ports11/03/19 13.54.18 Loaded all available track plans11/03/19 13.54.18 Checking controllers11/03/19 13.54.18 Set Settings left=1695 top=150011/03/19 13.54.18 Loading settings window at 1695,150011/03/19 13.54.18 Loaded Settings window11/03/19 13.54.25 Status after opening port: 0 - Operazione completata.11/03/19 13.54.26 Loading message window11/03/19 13.54.28 Message displayed: Impossibile stretta di mano con il controller eLink DCC. Assicurarsi che si sta utilizzando un controller eLink e che è il firmware è stato aggiornato almeno alla versione 1.07. (1154) - Response=611/03/19 13.54.28 Set system specific phrases in Italiano11/03/19 13.54.28 Saved system settings

 

finally here my system settings again (with com2 port enumerated)

...

11/03/19 13.54.30 User pressed System Settings button11/03/19 13.54.30 Showing Settings window11/03/19 13.54.30 Loading Settings window11/03/19 13.54.30 Setting labels11/03/19 13.54.30 Removed 'Advanced' tab11/03/19 13.54.30 Enumerating available Com ports11/03/19 13.54.30 Loaded all available track plans11/03/19 13.54.30 Checking controllers11/03/19 13.54.30 Set Settings left=1695 top=150011/03/19 13.54.30 Loading settings window at 1695,150011/03/19 13.54.30 Loaded Settings window11/03/19 13.54.38 Status after opening port: 0 - Operazione completata.11/03/19 13.54.41 Type: Hornby eLink Version: 1.0711/03/19 13.54.41 Checking eLink firmware: 1.07 against: 1,0711/03/19 13.54.41 Set system specific phrases in Italiano11/03/19 13.54.41 Saved system settings

 

Maybe someone at HRMS will read it... because I'm still not able to make it work the help button in railmaster.

[RB51]

Hit a small problem with the latest revision of the RM software in that the update stopped twice with the following error report.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/f3ab5abb5f3ca0f9a87c64d8263d648b.JPG

 

As you can see it got stuck (both times) at one of the guides. All I did to resolve this was download the update again and omitted installing the two guides as I didn't know which was causing the problem.

 

R-

[WilliamDavid]

I am still having problems with my handheld phone and double operations. 

I have tried an Ipad, and get the same.

Support have advised me the check the PING time.

Can anyone tell me how? 

Win10 tablet with android phone.

[Chrissaf]

Can anyone tell me how?

.

You need to know the IP address of the Android phone.

Then on the Windows Tablet....open a 'Command Line' prompt dialogue box.

Then in the 'Command Line' box type:

.

ping nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn

where nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn is the IP address of your Android phone.

.

In computer terms the 'ping' command (as an analogy) is like the 'sonar' of old WW2 submarine hunters. You send a pulse (ping) and listen for the echo. The longer the time to reply gap was, the further away was the ship or sub being detected. Similarly, the computer 'ping' command should return a 'time measurement' which equates to the 'round trip delay' of the 'pinged' device to reply.

.

In the film "The Hunt for Red October", Saun Connery as the Russian Captain said something along the lines of 'send one ping only please' when trying to send a secret message to the CIA agent on the nearby American sub. The sound that Connery's sub sent, sounded like a musically electronic version of the word 'ping'. Which is how the word 'ping' originated in the WW2 sub era.

.

.

 

[GWR Greg]

I have checked the "Ping" which averages over 170ms. HRMS says this should be below 40ms so regretably I will use Railmaster for point and signal control and JMRI/Train driver for loco control, two bus circuits,  until either the app becomes a proper android app or works better.

[RB51]

Can anyone tell me how? 

 

On an iPhone you need to make sure the phone is connected to your Wi-Fi network then go to your settings page and click a blue info button which is at the end of the line the network ID (router name) is on.

 

Hopefully you’ll have something similar on your Android phone.

 

R-

[RB51]

I have checked the "Ping" which averages over 170ms. HRMS says this should be below 40ms 

 

That sounds quite good to me. I’ve just pinged my iPad (514ms) and that works RM perfectly well. 40ms sounds incredibly fast.

 

The iPhone (382ms) is not used for RM. 

 

R-

[St1ngr4y]

Hit a small problem with the latest revision of the RM software in that the update stopped twice with the following error report.

 

 

Did you have the guide open for reading while you were doing the install?

 

Ray

[RB51]

No Ray - nothing open as per advice prior to download. R-

[Pietrarsa]

I decided to revert to version 1.69 because for me it was stable and gave no communication error.

I will update when a more reliable version will be reported.

I did not change anything on the com ports and RM was valid for me as it was.

I think it's not fair to release a version that communicates with com ports worse than the previous one.

[train-domain]

Pietrarsa, try reassigning to com3 and then setting com3 in RM and then installing the update.

 

Someone , I think it was RAF advised earlier that com1 & 2 are best avoided.

 

Or another approach might be to plug into another available usb port and set this up in RM.

 

Totally agree with your comment about releasing updates with worse comms issues than the previous build. This update has basically taken my entire weekend to resolve the problems it caused.

 

On a positive note I have today paid for the full HH version and have been testing it all afternoon and am very happy with it. As I posted earlier, its working very well on Galaxy s8.

 

[96RAF]

Update on my situation. . .

I put the eLink back on and regained control but saw repeated coms loss.

 

Back to the Select/Link cable and now I have no control but no errors either.

 

Tried going back a version and that changed things, so there is definitely something awry in my setup due to the latest version.

 

HRMS reports they are not seeing the same problem which makes it difficult for them to reproduce and hence fix.

 

I have sent them log files of the various scenarios.

[Pietrarsa]

@train-domain

 

I have tried what Raf and you suggested, but with no results. Anyway now are years that RM is running fine on com2, always on the same usb port, same computer, so for me it's frustrating to pass the algorithm of changing the port to 1 then to 2 again.

It is clearly a bug in available coms enumerating at start of RM. If not, I would not see the com2 port in a second opening of RM settings window.

Plus I use a "/PROG:name" suffix when launching RM, to have the plan ready to view in a comfortable position and zoom to operate at start, obviously not running because of the comm error.

[WilliamDavid]

Cheers Chrissaf

I tried   

ping nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn

where nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn is the IP address of your Android phone.

on Run. 

Three lines of text appeared and vanished quickly.

I saw values from 16 up to 250 (ish), never consistant.

My devices are next  to each other, and about 15 feet from my Virgin router.

I can't believe this is the reason for my problems, as it was perfectly ok before the updates.

[Pietrarsa]

PLUS MORE: I noticed that zooming at 75% of my plan makes a new strange thing: it appears the number of point 1 (in my plan point 1 is a duplicate one, I mean there are 2 "points 1" on my layout as other points) in corrispondence of a track section near one of the two "point 1". So I tried to check/uncheck "show point numbers" in settings window with no results. The visualization resets to 100% zoom with no numbers, but the number 0001 reappears just zooming again at 75%.

Version 1.69 didn't have this behavior.

/media/tinymce_upload/f0b20b7aa759f7932ab620045e9044ea.jpg

[Pietrarsa]

I really hope people at HRMS are reading this thread, and reply soon in a way to fix things.

[Chrissaf]

William, try this command syntax instead when using the 'command prompt'.

cmd /k ping nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn

.

Preceding the ping command with cmd /k (meaning command keep) should keep the window open.

.

I think you must have used a more basic 'Command Prompt'. If you use the full 'Command Prompt' Window......to open the 'Command Prompt' window....run the file shown in the top status bar in the image below. The IP address in the image is just a demonstration one chosen at random. Then the command window doesn't normally close:

.

/media/tinymce_upload/a6dadaf8e483f0448d54120bd06eae0e.jpg

.

 

[96RAF]

Pietrarsa

You can type any number in the COM port drop down. It takes its list from any ports that are active when RM reads them.

[Chris Surrey]

For those with tablet PCs struggling with the HH app, I would suggest you give up trying and use Teamviewer instead. I am very happy using it on a 10" tablet. Everything works perfectly, no drop outs, no latency (in spite of ping results of over 100ms at times and rarely anywhere near as low as 40ms). I have a track plan with the blue arrows on the points which don't exist on the app together with all my hand crafted buttons for routes and programs which again the handheld cannot provide because Team viewer is simply mirroring the PC screen. And if that's not enough, it's free.