Version 1.61 Function buttons

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

RAF96 - We always test the software before it goes out, however as it is a very sophisticated system invariably small issues can arise.  This is not the end of the world and we do not understand your repeated hostility and, frankly, nasty comments on this.

We have now resolved the issue and an update will be made later today (Sunday).

We believe this issue has only been experienced by a handful of people as the update was suspended minutes after being released.  We were proactive and have resolved the issue, working both yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) rather than waiting until the next working day.

[96RAF]

@HRMS

Credit where credit is due HRMS - your support effort is worthy of champions.

Good for you for putting out such a quick fix - a timely response that should not have been necessary under ISO product ongoing quality control.

Plenty of people have been badly disrupted and confused by the your minor update glitch.

Lets hope the soon to be issued fix solves all of their current problems and resolves all those outstanding problems.

Re these problems - you may have noticed I have asked forum in another thread to list their noted faults as of up to v1.61 Rev2 for your info.  You may/may not wish to respond to each listed item in turn to reassure users that these have all been resolved

[Chrissaf]

Looks like the HRMS fix has been posted on PowerPos. The download link on the top of the RM page is working again. Still going to sit on the fence and monitor here for comments first. Still running 1.60 rev 1 at present.

.

Rob (RAF96), I thought you were going to be travelling to the UK this weekend, or have I got the weeks mixed up.

[96RAF]

 

Rob (RAF96), I thought you were going to be travelling to the UK this weekend, or have I got the weeks mixed up.

I need to be at the airport 0500 tomorrow after an hours drive, so early bed for me tonight. Then off air for a couple of days.

[HFM]

Just downloaded version 1.61 and all is back to normal thanks

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

RAF96 - We reject your assertion that RailMaster is not fit for purpose.  This accusation is wholly without foundation.  Your efforts to define what we have said about your hostile comments will hopefully be seen by other users for what they are.  We also reject your comments that "plenty of people have been badly disrupted ..." . Again, this is simply not true.  You have exagerrated a simple and innocent issue out of all proportion, which is unnecessary.

Whilst we acknowledge that there was a minor and short-lived issue regarding function buttons for some users (for a matter of minutes), once we had received responses to our queries from a handful of users, the issue was corrected for them today.  It is not necessary, as you have done, to make a mountain out of a molehill and one must ask whether you have a particular axe to grind.

[Yelrow]

Hornby Support, the fact that you have solved the problem, is commendable, but the lack of an apology, for releasing something less than perfect, and causing me among others, a considerable amount of stress, and time wasted, that could have been put tp better use, is surprising. It may not have been the end of the world to you, but it was your mistake to put right, and a little humility, would not go amiss. john

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

John

No software in the world can ever be "perfect".  Otherwise why would a $200billion company like Microsoft, with their resources, be issuing fixes on a regular basis.  This is the nature of software.  It works differently on all computers, and whilst we test our software before it goes out it is bound to do something odd on somebody else's PC at some point.  At least when this does happen we jump on it and fix it for them, once we have more details as to what is happening on their particular machines.

Yesterday afternoon was a case in point and we do not understand the hostile comments from a tiny fraction of the RailMaster user base (and those non-users who seem to want to score points).  You mention that users were caused "a considerable amount of stress".  We cannot find evidence of this on this forum, or other forums and have received nothing but polite emails from a handful of users who were affected.

This is not a case for humility.  We pull out all the stops to support users and fix any issues that may be occurring on their computers, that have not been apparent on ours or those of our testers.  This goes far beyond what others do.

Now that an update has been released we trust that this will finally put this matter to bed so that people can get on with enjoying what is regarded generally as a very good system by the vast majority of users.  Fortunately, the detractors are in the very small minority however, as with any company, there is a highly vocal minority who seem to grasp the smallest negative and shout about it from the rooftops when it is unnecessary.

[RB51]

And annoying as it might be to you HRMS, those detractors are forcing some very well known and respected contributors to this forum to leave which is annoying to folk like me. I am newly returned to model railways and need all the help I can get - it's all changed so much!!. Can I once again say, as a non IT expert - but one who in working life implemented new sytems at corporate level, none of this is an exact science. Stuff will always go wrong. It's not the problem that is the issue it is what you do about the "error" that counts. I for one have been very grateful for your attention and quick fixes. You cannot be beaten for that. Keep up the good work, keep calm (like most of us on here) and carry on. R-

[Tee1707818014]

I too downloaded the latest Rev & all is working again as it should be

thanks very much HRMS

Tee

[Yelrow]

 where did you download it from will it work from forum link and what are function changes john

[Chrissaf]

John,

Don't worry about the Forum RailMaster link saying Version 1.60 rev 2. Clicking that link will download the fixed 1.61 installation file. Adam isn't around on the weekend to update the download link text being displayed.

[Yelrow]

Chissaf, thanks, try again. john

[96RAF]

My critiscism of HRMS has at times been very serious and hard, but more often tongue in check in attempt to enlighten the fact that the software has serious issues, but OK they are fixing it.

I am not the only one to whinge at you for the problems you have caused, any more than praise you for the problems you have fixed.

I apologise if I get up your nose HRMS but I often find there is no smoke without fire.

[GWR Greg]

I really must jump to defend HRMS. Yes software was released that an issue then reared its head. The issue would not stop you running trains only not able operate certain functions. HMRS withdrew the update and fixed it. All is now well. I spent many months testing out new software for a an electrical wholesaler for whom I worked. My task was to find fault and "break" the system. Many of us spent months without finding any major problems. A small trial was carried out at a limited number of branches and any problems fixed and tested. However when the system went live across the whole group it very nearly brought the company to a stop. It took a further few weeks to sort the issues that arose, but all was resolved. I therefore understand that all the testing does not always find some of the bugs. Once again well done to HRMS.

[tony_forward]

 

I haven't tried running RM without Internet access being available before, anybody know of any issues I should look out for?

Chris - I always run mine without internet access. My intention is to use RM/E-link at exhibitions where there will likely be no internet access so I run it as I would at Exhibitions. It means I cant use my Ipad as I originally wanted to but heyho - 

 

i will however not do the update till I read on here that the bugs have been slain - probably a revision in the pipeline somewhere!

[AncientMariner]

Just downloaded version 1.61 and all is back to normal thanks

I downloaded and installed 1.61 Rev 1 - all is back to normal, including Handhelds. Thanks HRMS.

[Yelrow]

Do we know, what is in this update. What has changed in functions, please. john

[Chrissaf]

John,

It's been about an hour and a half since you asked your question above about what has changed, and I know you asked previously about where to download the new fixed 1.61 file. So, assuming that you have downloaded and installed the fixed file. Navigate to your RailMaster program folder [C:........Programs (X86)Railmaster] if I recall correctly and look for a file called "release.txt or release notes.txt" off-hand I can't remember what it is called exactly but it is something similar.

 

This text file should ideally document all the main changes (open it with notepad or just double click the .txt file to do same).

 

The two changes that we do know about is obviously the fix for the loss of synchonisation of the soft function buttons between the large and small throttle windows in RM (it is this fix that has been causing all these problems over this weekend), and secondly the issue relating to reading loco CVs where RM reports decoder not in database error message. There may be other changes, but hopefully these will be documented in the text file.

[GWR Greg]

Received an email from HRMS saying glad I no longer have a problem and apologising for inconvenience caused!.

[AncientMariner]

John,

It's been about an hour and a half since you asked your question above about what has changed, and I know you asked previously about where to download the new fixed 1.61 file. So, assuming that you have downloaded and installed the fixed file. Navigate to your RailMaster program folder [C:........Programs (X86)Railmaster] if I recall correctly and look for a file called "release.txt or release notes.txt" off-hand I can't remember what it is called exactly but it is something similar.

 

This text file should ideally document all the main changes (open it with notepad or just double click the .txt file to do same).

 

The two changes that we do know about is obviously the fix for the loss of synchonisation of the soft function buttons between the large and small throttle windows in RM (it is this fix that has been causing all these problems over this weekend), and secondly the issue relating to reading loco CVs where RM reports decoder not in database error message. There may be other changes, but hopefully these will be documented in the text file.

 

This is what it says:

Hornby RailMaster 1.61 Release Notes - March 2015

=============================================

The latest release of RailMaster is a maintenance release. This update continues to make RailMaster more robust and reliable.

● +Minor enhancements and bug fixes

● +Loco decoder added: Hattons Basic Decoder

● +Newly released Hornby locos added

[Yelrow]

AM, thanks, probably get round to sorting tomorrow. Tried twice, but each time it said, file corrupted, so did not load, in view of before. Think i will return to tail end charlie. john

[PJ_model_trains]

Wow - what a day I picked to be away from my layout. I don't dare power up Railmaster now until soemone on this Forum says its's ok again.... :-)

 

Ray

 

My thoughts also Ray.

I saw the number of pages and had to look at the first post to see when it was started. I must admit I was surprised.

I will check again tomorrow see if things have levelled out a bit.

PJ 

[Fishmanoz]

John, more likely your connection issues are leading to corruption than it is a problem in the download now, so do try again.  And every time there is an upgrade, not just a revision, you will find Release Notes as AM has just copied for us.  You don't find these for revisions I think as they are in general only bug fixes, including bugs introduced by the upgrade (think function buttons) so there is nothing meaningful to add to Release Notes.

 

Just on who HRMS might be, I think it is clear they are not Hornby as such (if connected to the Hornby servers from the inside, they would have a Hornby email address) and in retrospect, not Powerpos but Powerpos hosted also rings true else they would have a Powerpos email and they don't.  But all immaterial apart from our recognising that contacting Hornby about RM is not the most direct way to do things and introduces delays through HCC when we can go directly to the source.

 

Now might I put a personal perspective on the extensive exchange overnight my time on here and the related problems thread.  And can I start by saying given other recent exchanges, this is not intended to be a last word, just my view.  As a "highly trained" (he says tongue in cheek) sports' official, one of the things we are taught is to deal with the issue, not the emotion.  In fact, if I'm replying to an email or a forum post that has caused me an emotion such as anger, or frustration or the like, I will often leave a reply until the next day to ensure I extract the issue and leave the emotion behind.  Even then, language is important as I have been interpreted as being abrupt (ie. read emotional) in my replies when I think I am just being technically succinct.

 

Anyway, my point here - the exchanges here have been highly emotional, from both sides, and they have consequently been self-perpetuating.  One side sees their reputation being impugned and the other their customer rights being ignored.  Technical issues get buried in all of this and are perceived to be ignored or given less priority than they deserve.  And that is still the case in the thread intended to isolate the technical.

 

So from my perspective, a deep breath on both sides wouldn't go astray, and maybe we can get back to all of us contributing to making a very good product great.

[AusMod]

John, more likely your connection issues are leading to corruption than it is a problem in the download now, so do try again.  And every time there is an upgrade, not just a revision, you will find Release Notes as AM has just copied for us.  You don't find these for revisions I think as they are in general only bug fixes, including bugs introduced by the upgrade (think function buttons) so there is nothing meaningful to add to Release Notes.

 

Just on who HRMS might be, I think it is clear they are not Hornby as such (if connected to the Hornby servers from the inside, they would have a Hornby email address) and in retrospect, not Powerpos but Powerpos hosted also rings true else they would have a Powerpos email and they don't.  But all immaterial apart from our recognising that contacting Hornby about RM is not the most direct way to do things and introduces delays through HCC when we can go directly to the source.

 

Now might I put a personal perspective on the extensive exchange overnight my time on here and the related problems thread.  And can I start by saying given other recent exchanges, this is not intended to be a last word, just my view.  As a "highly trained" (he says tongue in cheek) sports' official, one of the things we are taught is to deal with the issue, not the emotion.  In fact, if I'm replying to an email or a forum post that has caused me an emotion such as anger, or frustration or the like, I will often leave a reply until the next day to ensure I extract the issue and leave the emotion behind.  Even then, language is important as I have been interpreted as being abrupt (ie. read emotional) in my replies when I think I am just being technically succinct.

 

Anyway, my point here - the exchanges here have been highly emotional, from both sides, and they have consequently been self-perpetuating.  One side sees their reputation being impugned and the other their customer rights being ignored.  Technical issues get buried in all of this and are perceived to be ignored or given less priority than they deserve.  And that is still the case in the thread intended to isolate the technical.

 

So from my perspective, a deep breath on both sides wouldn't go astray, and maybe we can get back to all of us contributing to making a very good product great.

Well said. Fishy. I agree with you 100%. I don't have a problem with Railmaster. I've always found them to give service that is excellent. Also, there is no such thing as perfect software, especially when it has to run on so many different computers, with different configerations. There are bound to be some problems from time to time.