1.56 findings

[idlemarvel]

Thank you for the advice but my netbook runs RM very well and is adequate for my needs. :-)

[idlemarvel]

In general I will say good job Hornby overall.

Most of thenew features are in propack, but what there are in the basic product are most welcome.

The elink firmware update to 1.06 worked well with any intervention

The start-up time to connect to elink is much reduced

I like the new metal skin

Being able to merge programs is a useful feature

The video tutorials are a nice touch (although I haven't taken the time to watch it yet)

I don't really need the many additional features with propack at the moment, maybe there should be a new thread for those.

News over, back to the trains!

[RB51]

It has taken me four or five log-in's to RM to realise that you have to select the video you want to see from the drop down box below the "screen". There is only one on mine (English) which is an introduction to RM which is fine. Must get a little hand put on these glasses! Great video by the way Hornby. Thanks, R-

[Augustus Caesar]

Hi Jailor...

I am a natural night owl and work for myself from home and don't have set hours. My business is IT Consultant and I carry out repairs, network construction and web design to name a few and can be called upon at all hours of the day.

Trouble is sometimes the wife is woken up through the night and I feel guilty about that coz she does work during the day!

[Augustus Caesar]

It's good to see HRMS jumping in to sort any small issues here and then offer up fixes for the next update. Things are certainly looking up and hopefully this communication will not be lost over time. :-)

[Montywb]

My Railmaster doesn't set the points on start-up even though the box is ticked in system settings. Has anyone else noticed this?

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

If you send us a Help Request from within RailMaster we can see your settings and look at your track plan to see what may be going wrong.

[Montywb]

OK - will do. Thanks

[RB51]

When printing a track plan (mine or one of the sample ones) you only get the point positions with their ID and start up direction. There is no track. R-

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

We have been investigating the problem of pinch-to-zoom on the track plan on Android devices and it seems that the latest version of Google Chrome (37) issued a week or so ago by Google has broken the ability to pinch and zoom on the track plan in both landscape and portrait mode.

Uninstalling updates to Chrome within settings recitifies this however on the Nexus 7, it reverts back to version 30 (factory version), which is quite old and has the effect of losing the ability to show RailMaster in full screen mode.  This is most frustrating and we just can't win.  If it was possible to roll back version by version that would be fine but Android does not allow this.

We are looking at a way of allowing you to download and over-install version 35 of Chrome however this is problematic in itself due to the way Chrome is installed and updated.

Ironically, Chrome 37 on Apple devices is fine!  This is because there are two separate development teams.  The Android lot have broken Chrome and the Apple lot haven't.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Would you send us a Help Request with your track plan so that we can try and replicate what you are seeing when printing the plan.

[RB51]

Sure - I assume you mean send the request when the track plan normally in use "open"? It happens with the samples as well. R-

P.s. well that's what I have done.

[GWR Greg]

In the pro version you need to go into each point setting drop down and put a number in the blank box next to the "Left/Right" box. I used the point number and then it sets points from 1 upwards.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Regarding the issue of not firing points on start-up if you are using the Pro-Pack, this is because you need to now tell RailMaster, in the track plan designer, the order of firing of all points.

We are building in a default system of firing so that it works without you having to set the firing order and this update will be available later today, although you will find it useful to be able to tell RailMaster in what order you would like the points fired (or not at all).

[PJ_model_trains]

Thank you RM Support.

This is an issue you were looking in to for me. Update.

As discussed by email, due to the problems experienced, I rebuilt my layout in the schematic layout section again from scratch including just track, points and point contoller dots with decoder code in them. With this the grey directional bar of the points was visible when RM Pro is started. I have numbered all the points for set to default on start up and this works also.

I then reverted back to my original layout design in the schematic system, this included signals which were imported from the RM v1.55 via v1.56 to RM Pro. I opened each point as I have in the above new layout design and set the order for setting them on start up.  When I restarted RM Pro all points were set on start up but the grey direction bars for the points still do not show so it has not solved this issue for me.

I probably won't be around tomorrow, so it will probably be Saturday before I can test more and pick up on any updates. I therefore wait guidance from you as to what to try next. Another option may be to take the new layout created in the schemeatic design section and try adding signals to that as a new design as we know the points set on start up and that the grey direction bar in the points shows on that one.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

[PJ_model_trains]

As I am not available tomorrow, having posted the last message, I decided to give the above a quick test tonight.

I took the new layout design with just track, points and point controls set to decoder codes and start up order.

RM Pro loads, points are set in order and grey direction bars on points show.

NEXT I put just 2 signals on the new layout, away from the points. I set to 3 aspect/home/left and 3 aspect distance/right. I gave each a start up sequence and a decoder number different to the points codes. I saved and closed RM Pro.

RESULT I opened RM Pro, it checked the points in the sequence set, it showed a screen with points and grey direction bar but then refreshed and showed a screen with no point direction lines in the track???

I know you are testing and looking for a cure, I can only tell you what I have tried in case it helps you in some way.

Thank you for your help which I am grateful for and look forward to a cure being found soon.

PJ

[St1ngr4y]

Here's a weird finding which I am posting here to see if anyone else has had it before I submit it through the system....
I've implemented the new diagonal points where needed on my layout and in some cases changed the decoder to ADS8 from R8247, even though the latter I don't think is necessary. I've got one of these diagonal points which is behaving in a weird way. When I click on the red/green buttons on the schematic, the point doesn't throw in either direction, and I end up with one of the buttons having a blue pulsing circle around it. The point works ok directly operated from the Elite, AND it works ok from a program run in Railmaster, but after the program (which switches it left and right 3 times), the green button retains a pulsing blue circle around it. Then if I click on other points on the schematic, occasionally I can transfer the pulsing circle to that point. If I time it so that the second point is clicked when the first point's circle is visible, it remains there visible and steady (not pulsing on and off).
I don't think it is because I changed it to ADS8 because it was doing this when still configured as R8247.
Has anyone seen a blue circle around any of the red/green point buttons at all, or should I have my eyes tested? :-)
Ray

[RB51]

Hi - Yes I posted about this a couple of days ago. I have exactly the same behaviour from a pair of points that share a single decoder port. I have several others that share in the same way but they all behave correctly. Wierd isn't it? I couldn't find anything in the manual about the blue pulsing circle and no-one came back to me on here. If you get a fix please let me know, I was about to scramble around under the board.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

The blue pulsing circle appears where a single or double slip point has been set up and you are using the Pro-Pack.  RailMaster is waiting for you to press the second point control button in the slip pair before it can take a decision on how to fire the point motors based on the slip path you have chosen.

If this is appearing unintentionally then please check your points configuration in the track plan designer to ensure you have not linked two points together to create a slip inadvertantly.

If you have any doubts please send us a Help Request from within RailMaster with the plan you are having the issue with as the currently loaded plan and let us know which point(s) are being affected and we will take a look and explain.

[St1ngr4y]

Cracked it. I looked at the configuration of the point, and the point type field contained ~1 (that's a squiggle one, not minus one). I deleted the squiggle one, saved my diagram, and now that point works fine.

I have to ask this, however ,,, is this documented in the pdf guide?

Many thanks HRMS

Ray

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

This is more than likely a throwback to your pre-version 1.56 track plan, especially if it is the plan you sent us in your recent Help Request.

Generally, if you are using the Pro-Pack and your plan was designed with a previous version of RailMaster it would be prudent to check all points and signals to ensure all settings look right then save the plan.

This is not strictly necessary as safeguards have been built in to the version-matching of plans, but your squiggle and 1 must have slipped through.

[St1ngr4y]

Many thanks for that, HRMS. As you know from the diagram I sent you recently, I have a large numbers of points and signals. Would it be possible as a future enhancement, to obtain a printout from the track diagram of all point, signals, and any other configurable objects, of each object's configuration parameter values? Should I include this in the Desirable Features thread?

Ray

[RB51]

I think I may have something a little different. Sometimes the points fire as planned i.e. as a paired crossover with one button of the four being pushed. Sometimes they require both sides of the crossover to have their points selelcted (so opposing colours) and one pair just has one icon working (red) which throws the point over to the other side to the one it was on when it gets the command, so it switches left or right, (this is just the red button still) with the correct alteration to the blue direction line. Does that make sense? I will send it as a help request with the track plane so you can try it. R-

[RB51]

Further to this issue - and connected with Stingrays post above - I have the track plan printing issue still to be resolved. I know you are busy so no great rush, for me, on that one. Thanks, R

[RB51]

Hi - again, what happens if you click the print icon next to the track name at the bottom of the track design page? I only get the point locations with their ID number and set-up position, no track. This has been notified to Hornby, just wondered what you get? R-