1.56 findings

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Don't worry, we are looking at this.

We read every post on the RailMaster thread and take into account all comments.  We may not always reply to specific things being mentioned but where there is a perceived anomally or bug, or even minor improvement to be made we look at this and build in a solution.

[idlemarvel]

Excellent,thanks!

[St1ngr4y]

I have just tried to print my layout diagram on A3 paper, but it just came out as A4 size, it didn't scale it up to A3 size.

Ray

[RB51]

Are the signal icons there though Ray? R-

[Montywb]

I came on to report the same thing, Ray. I print to a remote A3 printer on my network but my trackplan comes out on A4 paper from Tray 1 and not A3 from Tray 2 as I had specified.

[GWR Greg]

I have checked several loco cv's 1-255. One took just over three minutes missing most CVS correctly. All the others took over 40 minutes reading every CV. Only difference I could find was the short run has a name in both CV 7&8. All the others only had name in CV 8, actually one had numbers only in both. 

Another bug?

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

When reading loco CVs, RailMaster looks up the manufacturer ID and model number against an internal database.  This is how the program then makes the decision which CVs to read and which ones you can write to, including the range of values allowed.  This avoids you having to refer the decoder chip's manual, which in some cases can be 50 pages+.

Although we have built in many popular loco decoders into the database there will inevitibly be decoders that have not yet been profiled, thus RailMaster will read all CVs (which takes a lot longer) and apply the common NMRA specified descriptions for each CV.

If you let us have the make and precise model number of the decoder you have then we can look into this.  The slightest difference in model number will give rise to a different profile for that chip ... and there are many of them.

If the chip is already known to RailMaster it is also possible for RailMaster to mis-read CVs from a chip if the chip is faulty (even subtly so) or there isn't a reliable connection from your DCC controller to the track and loco.

You will probably have gathered, from RailMaster, that what we are trying to achieve is to avoid you having to read through pages and pages of manuals for loco decoders, accessory decoders and how to use DCC, by building knowledge of the most commonly available hardware from all manufacturers.  This is a never-ending task, as you will appreciate.

[St1ngr4y]

My printer has only one tray, so I have to change the paper between A4 & A3, depending on what I want to print. The print dialogue which appears when you ask RM to print a layout, was specific to my printer, but even though I specified A3 landscape in there, it printed on the A3 paper at A4 size.

Ray

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

RailMaster will work out the landscape or portrait aspect of your paper to best fit the track plan, so you shouldn't have to do anything in that respect.

Selecting A3 will give RailMaster the total printable area and it should zoom to fit for any chosen paper size.

If that doesn't work, can you try setting A3 on your printer as default size (in Printer settings in Windows) and see if the plan fits to the larger page.  If you have a fancy printer with LCD and program buttons on it you could also try setting it to A3 by default.

Some printers (although rarely) do not report back to Windows, their current printable area, so this may be an issue.  RailMaster doesn't know what A4 or A3 are and relies on the printer to tell it the paper dimensions (printable area) before printing.

[gilbo2]

I've managed to find a work around to the loco control / function delays I've been experiencing with 1.56.

I have let HRMS know, but basically the issue for me seems to be around the eLink initialisation routine that happens when first starting RailMaster. When this has run, I see quite noticeably loco control delays. The work around is to press the small red Reset DCC Controller button in the “All Stop” button. This seems to initiate the old style eLink reset, well that's what it looks like as the DCC power is killed for a few seconds. When this has finished the delays have gone, happy days, and back to the normal high standard of control that I have come to expect.

Hopefully we'll see an update soon to fix this without having to press the small red button at each start-up.

[Montywb]

I have just swapped the A3 paper in my printer from Tray 2 to Tray 1. It still comes out as an A4 image. I have a layout design program on my Railmaster computer, (A*yrail), which does print at A3 when asked to.

[PJ_model_trains]

The layout print is a big improvement. ID codes and point direction very clear. Thank you

Up to now I have been doing screen grabs and using gallons of black ink  ;-)

I can't wait to get involved with signals.

[GWR Greg]

HRMS

I have number of loco decoder from Bachmann 36-553. CV 8 correctly shows ESU as manu but all cv's are read.

I have one Lens 10231-01. CV 8 shows Lens as manu but reads all cv's.

I have one Hattons DCR-8PIN-DIRECT this has only numbers in. CV 8 and all cv's are read.

Hope this helps.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Would you please email us the values of CVs 7 and 8 for each of those decoders.  Thanks.

[PJ_model_trains]

PRINT OUT OF LAYOUTS

I have looked at my printed layout plan showing points which are very good, they including ID and Start-up right or left, as mentioned previously, they are very neat.

I then looked at the layout with signals on it and printed that also. I notice on this print out, signals are all shown as 2 aspect, there are no 3 or 4 aspect or feathers and no ID or other information. 

Should the multi aspect signals and feathers plus ID and settings information show, I would have thought so?  

I notice that the loco detection boxes show already but do not expect any setting data or ID for these at this stage.

I/we welcome comments from HRMS.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Printing of signal details can be found in the latest setup file at www.powerpos.com/rail-master/rm_setup.exe.

At present all colour light signals are shown as generic 2-aspect signals (in terms of image) however we are building in support for printing multi-aspect signals.

As Loco Detection is not yet available, the program will be updated in certain areas when the hardware is finally available.

[St1ngr4y]

I managed to print my layout on A3 paper at the correct scaled size by making A3 the default preference in the printer properties on my RM pc. However, it still did not print signal id's.

Many thanks HRMS

Ray

[chris_bugby]

Hi

I have registered my nexus 5 to use with railmaster now that it (finally) works. But it crashes after a couple of minutes saying it needs chrome version 35. Now thats not an easy thing to go and download anywhere safely. And the link to your copy of it doesnt work either!

Help!

Regards

Chris

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

We can assure you that the link does work and if you follow the instructions carefully you will get it to work on your device.

[PJ_model_trains]

Many thanks HRMS

I will download the newest file later.

Printing of multi aspect signals is not a priority I am sure. There are more urgent tasks you are working on, one is mine ;-)  we know they will come.

Loco detection was just a comment for others reading, the blocks show on the layout now, we wouldn't expect anything else until LD is available.

Thanks again for your help and support and keeping watch over the forum.

[Mousehole]

I have just acquired 1.56 and find that it works well and seems more stable with fewer start-up problems than the earlier version.  However, I have encountered one problem.  Although the manual says quite clearly on page 27 that accessory port decode numbers will only appear on the track plan at 100%, they do in fact appear at all zoom levels.  This is generally a good thing except that, at 50% zoom, some point buttons are not visible and clicking on them is not possible.  On the track plan, the label with the number is to the right of the green button so that at 50% on vertical points the label completely overlays the red button making it inaccessible - with horizontal points there is no problem.  At 75% zoom or higher enough of the red button is visible to make it usable.  Having just loaded ProPack, the same problem appears there too.

[gilbo2]

1.56 was changed to show point numbers at every zoom level. I don't recall seeing anyway to revert it to just 100% though?

[gilbo2]

To let you know that the rm-setup.exe download file looks to have been updated today, not sure what the changes are though.

[gilbo2]

Since I  raised this, HRMS have been working hard to resolve the loco control delays that I mentioned in the very first post. This has now been fixed in the latest rm-setup download by changing an entry in the railmaster.ini file from;

Reset eLink on start=1

TO

Reset eLink on start=2

This essentially seems to trigger the older eLink initialisation routine that we saw pre-1.56

I would be interested if anyone who is confident changing their .ini file to try;

1) Without making any changes, pick a loco with function controlled lights and switch the lights on/off a few times so you get a feel for how quick they respond.

Then;

2) Make the .ini file change above and see if you can tell any difference when operating the loco lights?

[Fishmanoz]

Are you saying you aren't confident to change it dg. Can give simple instructions if you need them.