Railmaster update 1.72

[St1ngr4y]

Having tried various combinations of the INI parameters concerning controller communications on my system which uses an Elite as Controller A and an eLink as Controller B, I have the following observations to make based on the contents of the RM LOG.TXT file after each session.

 

a) If the Controller A is an Elite, the software generates an extra Check Controller=0 during startup, overriding whatever value the user has set in the INI file. It doesn't actually create a new entry in the INI file, but it does record a line in the log file. I would guess that the reason for this is that, according to the RM Guide, "Check controller=0    1=check for the presence of eLink controller every 5 secs. 0 turns this off". In other words, a value of 1 for this parameter is only applicable if Controller A is an eLink, and it may have a detrimental effect if a value of 1 is used for an Elite as Controller A, so it forces a zero value to be used if the Controller is an Elite.

 

b) The initialisation log messages for each controller are different depending on the value of Alternative comms i.e. the way the controllers are initialised is different depending on whether 0 or 1 is used as the parameter. HOWEVER, RM seems to be using the value of Alternative comms=n for both Controllers A and B, i.e. the value of Alternative comms2=n is being ignored completely.

 

Perhaps HRMS can confirm my findings ?

 

Ray

[St1ngr4y]

Further to my previous post, if Controller A is an eLink and Controller B is an Elite, there is a circumstance where an extra line is generated "Check Controller=1".

 

Now my head hurts...

 

I'm going back to my original setup which still works fine.

 

Ray

[BagEndJct]

I had a popup this morning asking if I wanted to see the News.

Part of which was this

 Multi aspect signals from the likes of Train-Tech are now fully supported with clever interlocking facilities. Control two, three and four aspect signals, including flashing main line signals and even direction feathers. You can also control an entire array of signals by just pressing one signal and of course full signals control is available within programs that you create. You can even now switch points and run programs as a result of touching a single signal.

Can any T-T signal users please confirm if this is so, in particular the direction feathers and single signal control. It does not mention sensor signals, only what I presume are the original digital signals.

 

Rob. I was very interested to read this. I use a number of TT signals, some with direction feathers, and if these now work properly within RM I will be a very happy bunny. Are you aware of any documentation on this? My layout is out of action at the moment for a Spring Clean so I cannot test this. I have dismantled everything and first need to clean the track. However, weather is cool and damp as is my enthusiasm to get going on this at the moment! As soon as we're up and running again, I'll test what I can and report back!

[96RAF]

BEJ

All I can find is that the signals are present in the various drop down menus and setup boxes. The words came from the ‘whats new‘ inclusion with the update.

I didn't trawl the manual page by page yet due to being busy on other things.

[tony_forward]

update 1.72? it says at the top of the forum that latest version is 1.71 ?

 RailMaster Current Version: v1.71 release 0 - Updated 09-07-19

[Chrissaf]

Tony,

The reason that explains your comment is documented in this thread:

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/forum-administration-update-30025/?p=1

.

Ignore what the text says, the link will always download the current latest version.....whatever that it is at that time.

 

[96RAF]

I have requested that the red link text be changed to say ‘...Latest version of RM download, or similar...’ as it would be self explanatory and would self manage, but to no avail.

[St1ngr4y]

BEJ

All I can find is that the signals are present in the various drop down menus and setup boxes. The words came from the ‘whats new‘ inclusion with the update.

I didn't trawl the manual page by page yet due to being busy on other things.

 

Hi Rob & BEJ,

 

I've just been having a look at the configuration of TrainTech signals in 1.72. On page 84 of the latest User Guide, it gives an example of a 4-aspect signal with flashing lights, and it states that 4 consecutive decoder addresses are used to achieve this.

/media/tinymce_upload/c8e0a01ccb0329e731851e708667cb1d.png

I tried this exact configuration, but I didn't see the same "sequence" as displayed in the guide...

/media/tinymce_upload/86530e8df2fd766fbb19334cba0b9db7.png

 

On my layout, I have a 2-aspect Home with l/h feather and a 4-aspect with l/h feather, but when I tried to re-configure these using 1.72, the extra address needed for the feather was just not present in the sequence.

 

Another general point - this sequence defines the order of display aspects which will be shown on the signal each time the icon on the layout diagram is clicked. So to take the most extreme example of a 4-aspect signal with a feather and flashing capability. I would guess that such a signal would require 4 addresses, as follows

Base address      red / green

Base address+1  single yellow / double yellow

Base Address+2 feather on / off

Base Address+3 flashing on/off

 

How can anyone possibly construct a sequence of (address & on/off) commands to cater for all of the possible combinations for such a signal? For example, if the signal is currently at Red and you want to switch it to double yellow flashing with feather on. Each click might lead to the following sequence of commands...

single yellow

double yellow

green

single yellow feather on

double yellow feather on

green feather on

single yellow feather on flashing

double yellow feather on flashing

 

A total of 8 clicks on the icon to step through to the required aspect. It seems crazy to me. IMO a better solution would be to have, for example, the feather as a separate icon which could snap into position to a colour light signal at design time, rather like the red/green buttons snap into position on a point. The feather would then be configurable in terms of allocating its address, and operationally could be clicked independently of the signal to change only the feather aspect.

 

Ray

[St1ngr4y]

The last post seems to have originated on Jan 1 but has just been approved. Do we have a new "Adam"?

 

Ray

[Scumcat 01]

Is this update safe to download yet? I've been putting it off because at the moment my system is running quite well. New updates tend to mess everything up:)

[RB51]

 Do we have a new "Adam"?

 

Looks as though someone has found the right buttons. Not aware of a new "Adam". R-

[Chrissaf]

The last post seems to have originated on Jan 1 but has just been approved. Do we have a new "Adam"?

.

No not yet.....the ComMods escalated the issue to SK........it appears he (SK) has tasked a senior manager (a name I can't reveal) to action the issue. This manager has put in place a temporary admin solution pending a final solution. Hence why there has been a flurry of image approvals today....it transpired that after Adam left, no one in Hornby was monitoring the forum mail inbox in his stead.

[phil_symonds]

The update to v1.72 caused my Railaster to stop working but the solution was simple for me.

Un register

Un-install railmaster.

Download the lastest version.

Install from the lastest version rather than updating.

Re register.

Hope that works for you, it did for me.

[96RAF]

Sounds like my printer software - their recommended immediate action for any problem is a reinstall. This should never be necessary as RM installs all updates over the existing installtion.

[Fishmanoz]

As Rob says, that uninstall process was likely almost completely unnecessary given installing the latest update over the top achieves exactly the same result.

 

But with one exception - an update does not change the Railmaster.ini file, a new install creates a new one.  Given your setup was all wired up and operating when the install was done, RM should have created the right details in the ini file and obviously has.

 

You could have achieved this far more simply in one of two ways:

 

-  Follow one of the multiple sets of instructions, usually from Chris on how to edit it to the correct contents for the latest update, or

 

-  Just renamed (or deleted but not recommended) the existing version then re-installed the latest update, and that would have created exactly the same new ini file that your whole rigmarole produced.

 

There's nothing particularly wrong with what you did, as long as you backed up all of your track plans, programs and loco roster first so you don't lose them, it's just not necessary.

[cowside]

I run v1.65 with ProPack and it works fine, even for Voice Control on a Windows 7 PC. Loco details not in 1.65 are easily added. Given the hassles that always come with an upgrade,is it worth upgrading to v1.72 or later? What is the gain?

[Chrissaf]

What is the gain?

.

For you....probably none.....if it ain't broke.....don't fix it....but it does mean a lot of extra hassle to keep preventing RM from auto updating ......I assume that you keep your RM PC disconnected from the Internet. Not an issue so much for you these days as Windows 7 is now unsupported and no new Win 7 updates are being provided by M.S.

.

I seem to recall that version 1.65 was one of the most stable RM releases to date so far. But there again, my memory may be corrupted just like so many other RM releases.

.

[96RAF]

If you manually download the latest update but don’t install it you can look in the release notes and review each update since v1.65 to assess whether it is worth updating to take advantage of any listed benefits.

[cowside]

Thanks to you both. Having seen too many buggy software 'upgrades' I'm going to stick with v1.65. It's bad enough now without self-inflicting more pain sorting out unnecessary issues!