Moving Railmaster Pro to another computer

[Exetersteam]

Oh dear! A massive IT fail on my behalf.

Having successfully got Railmaster Pro running on my ancient Windows XP Dell laptop I decided to update and get a new PC to run the railway stuff. I now have a Dell Optiplex 7010 running Windows 10 and can't seem to swap Railmaster to it. I copied Railmaster from the old laptop to an SD card (the CD drive is dead) and transferred the files from the SD card to the C drive of the new PC. Of course I now cannot open railmaster on the new PC and have no idea what to do next.

Any suggestions?

[Chrissaf]

You cannot transfer any application (including RailMaster) from one PC to another just by copying all the files in the 'Program' folder. The only exception to this is if the application is a 'portable' one.

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The correct procedure is on the the old Dell laptop, You deactivate the Pro Key, and the RM key from within the RailMaster application. See RM manual Page 131.

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You then do a clean installation of RailMaster on the new PC using either the original CD or better still the RailMaster Installation file downloadable from the top of the RailMaster forum index. You right click the downloaded file and choose 'Run as administrator'....this is a very important step.

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Once installed as a new installation, you re-activate the RM & Pro keys that have previously been deactivated on the Dell.

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Then and only then, you copy over the specific files named on Page 132 of the RailMaster manual. These files contain your track and loco roster data.

[Exetersteam]

Thanks for this. My problem is that the old laptop internet connection is duff whcih makes de-activation of Railmaster difficult and hence to follow the procedure you have outlined. However, I have traced the fault to a dodgy LAN socket so I will attempt to sort that and try again (no wifi on this laptop!).

[96RAF]

I have an old Netgear wireless USB adaptor that I keep for emergencies such as this. My 20 year old Quosmio laptop has a duff wireless internet gubbins, although the ethernet port is good, but awkward to use with my existing cable locations all in use, so I pop in the Netgear dongle and it connects to my router no problem.

[Exetersteam]

This has turned into a bit of a disaster. I have managed to de-register Railmaster on the laptop and register it on the new PC. The problem is that despite trying to follow the RM guide on page 132 I seem to have lost all my track plans and loco data. I could not find any files named *.pln or *.prg or a file called Groups.dat. There are lots of pln, prg and dat files but none with the prefix * or Groups. When I look into the files on the C drive my track plans are there but they do not come up when I open Railmaster. Not sure where I go from here!

[Chrissaf]

In computer speak and file naming conventions. The * is a wild card. There are no actual files named *.pln or *.prg etc for you to find.

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The wild card * means the text string that you yourself have used to name your track plan or used to name a program. When HRMS wrote the manual, they would have absolutely no idea what you were going to call your plans or programs....so they just represent those unknown names in the manual with a *. This is a 'bog standard' file naming convention for PCs.

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Say for example when you created your track plan you named it "MyTrackPlan". Then the file you are looking for is "MyTrackPlan.pln" where * means "MyTrackPlan".

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Note that RailMaster files do not support the inclusion of "spaces" in the file names, so if you named your track plan "My Track Plan". Then the file will be named "My_Track_Plan.pln". The spaces will be represented by underscore _.

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So you are looking for the following files:

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*.pln [where * is the name you have given your plan as described above]

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resource.mdb [this is the file that contains all your locos that you have configured.]

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With regards Group.dat this file will only exist if you have actually configured some Groups. If you have not configured any Groups (which by the sound of it you haven't) then this file will not exist and you can ignore it.

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With regards *.prg [again the * is a 'wild card'. If you have never created and named any programs, then these files will not exist either.]

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So the absolute minimum you need to find and transfer is:

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resource.mdb [which is your configured loco roster database]

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*.pln where * is the name of your track plan.

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To load your track plan when you start RailMaster. First the relevant *.pln file(s) have to be in your railmaster program folder. Then the plan you want to load at RailMaster startup has to be selected in the pull-down box in the RailMaster 'System Settings' screen......example below where the plan is named SAMPLE. So in this example the track plan file would be named "SAMPLE.pln". Once you selected the correct named plan in your pull-down box...close and reopen RailMaster to load and display it.

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Only plans with a corresponding "name.pln" file located in the correct RailMaster program folder [C://Programs (x86)/railmaster] will show up in the 'pull-down' list and be selectable.

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This is an example of the vague documentation that Hornby and their agents produce. The author of the RM manual assumes that everyone using a software application and a PC actually understands computer file naming conventions, hence the use of the * symbol without any explanation of what it means.

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[Exetersteam]

Sorted! By fair means or foul I had managed to copy the right files. The problem was I copied them to the wrong Railmaster folder on the C drive. They were in cprogramme filesrailmaster when they needed to be in cprogramme files(x86)railmaster. It seems I have a Windows 64 bit system and did not know it! In my defence I usually use my Mac.

Thanks for all the help.

[Chrissaf]

07gashbridge wrote as his very first post (original post it was in, removed for inappropriate use of the 'Blue Button')

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"Hi Chris, quick query,

My computer has flat out died and fried itself which used to run RailMaster and is non-recoverable/bootable any-more sadly. I am getting my hands on a new computer but I cannot ever get back on the computer that had my RailMaster licence registered to it. Is there a way to simply be able to reassign my licence when my new computer arrives?"

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You will have to email HRMS (Hornby RailMaster Support) support@rail-master.com

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Explain in the email what you have written above about the original PC being completely dead and unbootable.

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In the mail you will have to also include your RailMaster [& if applicable Pro] Key Codes plus in order to prove that you were the original purchaser and not some new acquirer trying it on. You will have to include in the mail, all the details you originally gave when you activated RailMaster the very first time. For example, Name, Address, Email address etc. These must match what you gave originally.

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If they are satisfied that you are who you say you are, they will reset your original key on their servers so you can activate RailMaster again on the new replacement PC.

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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