Karaokekid

Hi all. I am happy to inform I have an update about networking in RailMaster. RM Support finally logged into both my Master and Slave PCs today. my PC was set up fine thanks to advice and support from this forum. they have now acknowledged there are two problems with the current RM system. 1) F keys being out of sync 2) Only first six programmed F key functions will work. They have officially logged this now and identified December as the time they can work on a fix. They have invited me to test the beta fix programming at that point. they also said that further improvements will be in the fix I.e. if you update your loco list in Master PC then your Slave PC will be automatically updated too rather than the manual work you have to do now transferring files across. They have a valid reason for the December diary which is very exciting news but not for discussion on this particular networking topic.

Hi everyone. I too have ongoing issues waiting review by Railmaster Support. Putting RM setup 101 to the side for the moment, I have not seen anyone discuss the windows version “compatibility” programming in Windows 11 within the forum. if I have a program that I bought ages ago when XP was out, I can run it in compatibility mode in windows 11. It’s in the same place where the box “run as administrator” should be ticked. as I’m waiting for Railmaster support to log into my PC’s, I don’t want to play around with this at the moment but would be interested in feedback ie on windows 11, run RM in XP compatibility mode? Getting back to 101, I find having the ini. rules tweaked just right makes a big difference to eLink running first time every time in windows 11. Brian

Hi everyone, I've today chased up Railmaster support for a reply as its now two weeks since I submitted this networking issue to them. Hopefully they will get back soon (I did get an initial one line reply but no follow up). I'll keep you posted.

Hi P-Henry. thank you for your input. Again, I thought the same. I heard loading database locos from Hornby had issues with speed setting. I have used both Hornby database and manual programming and neither made a difference. However, I didn’t know about the RM FAQ so will look at that to see if I have followed process. I also thought it may have been a decoder issue so have tested both 3x Hornby TTS and 2 x Backmann Loksound v4. Also used Long address v short address on CV. Also set cv8 to 8 to ensure they were all reset and not contaminated with previous cv programming or influenced by Hornby database. Nothing has made any difference but please keep suggesting things. btw I’ve also removed RM and reinstalled to ensure I hadn’t made a mistake with process. the only other thing I can think of that maybe effecting things is: master pc = RM Pro slave pc = RM Standard If they network, do they have to be at same level so they don’t conflict with each other?

Hi P-Henry. That's a yes to everything. Master PC working as normal and Slave PC does not although network connection is near immediate and F keys used on Slave PC work immediate. Shame! I think I will look at your suggestion to use remote access software to view my Master PC screen remotely as an alternative.

Hi P-Henry. I have experimented with your first suggestion and its now moved me away from the "Not Used" hypothesis. I ticked F0-F2 in the master and F0-F2 in the slave and it only let me use lights and 2 x sounds. 3 x F keys. So as the ticks were changed after copy over, it is now a "tick box" thing and not a copy over issue. I then ticked F6-F11 in master and the same F6-F11 in slave. I got my F6 to F11 sounds to play BUT they played through F0-F5 boxes in Slave (in the wrong place. Regarding your second suggestion, great minds think alike. I had already experimented with inserting a "cuckoo" command where "not used" was. This synced both PC's but no sounds after F5. Where F0 was "not used" in my master Steam loco setting, I introduced "Lights on/off" to F0 in slave. This synced F1-F5 sounds, but no sounds after F5. What I need is a German Enigma machine to unscramble coding coming from the master PC and put it in the correct place in my slave PC LOL Even if things were in the correct place, you are not allowed to tick more than 6 F Key commands at any given time, so I may have gained 6 lost sounds in slave PC F6-F11, but I've now lost the first 6 in F0 to F5 and those after F11. I don't think this is going to get fixed unless RailMaster agree it is a coding error and update 1.75.5 at some point?

Thanks P-Henry. Will look at that today and report back. BTW, I have a Bachmann loco that is not out of sync because it does’t have “not used” within the first six F keys programmed. It has lights at F0. Still doesn’t play anything after F5. I think I will use this loco as test and start with 3 x ticks each first. I know I’m having issues networking 2 x PC’s but thinking of paying the tablet licence fee to network my iPad, do they work ok?

Hi, I have a bit of an update regarding PC's networking within Railmaster. Firstly, I've been able to tidy up my private home network thanks to the incredible support I've received "off forum" by Augustus Caesar. Cannot thank him enough. However, this made no difference to the F key situation where Slave PC F Key sounds play out of sync, but I have made a discovery: When I copy over files from Master PC to Slave PC, even though both RailMaster programs look identical and are networked as instructed, the F Key sounds on the slave PC misalign. I can definitely now say with some assurance that when you copy over loco F key programming from Master PC to Slave PC, the F keys labelled “not used” somehow get taken out/lost in the copy over (coding?). Also any sounds after the first 6 viable sounds copied over are also taken out/lost. See below as example: Master PC Loco F0 = not used F! = Sound on/off F2 = Horn F3 = Horn F4 = Not used F5 = Wheel Slip F6 = Not used F7 = Guard Whistle F8 = Firemans Breakfast F9 = Bird Whistle F 10 etc. Etc. The above is out of Sync when copied over to Slave PC and you have to adjust Slave PC loco programming by removing “not used” and moving up sounds in the F key list appropriately to sync sounds, but nothing after first 6 sounds will play in Slave PC. Example of above to play correctly in Slave PC: Slave PC Loco F0 = Sound on/off F1 = Horn F2 = Horn F3 = Wheel Slip F4 = Guard Whistle F5 = Fireman's Breakfast F6 = Bird Whistle (will not play as not first 6 sounds copied over)) F7 etc.etc. (will not play as not part of first 6 sounds copied over) I have asked RailMaster Support to look at this and will update with the above but I still await a reply. I'll keep you posted with any reply from them. Kindest regards, Brian

Hi AC. Working through your helpful networking advice. I will feedback to you and the forum soon. P-Henry, I have previously utilised a program that let my Slave PC take control of my Master PC. However, there was some lag. As I want to use my iPad as well as Slave pc, I need this to work first but thank you for your suggestion. I’ll keep it as a backup. thanks Brian

You say you have a new laptop with Windows 11? are you using usb 3.0 (blue) or 2.0 (white). I have windows 11 but use older USB’s to connect. This is advisable. also make sure you are using decent USB lead. 👍

Hi Fishmanoz. yes, I submitted through Railmaster program itself and have the acknowledgement you mention. Request describes my setup and that both programs have been setup as per Railmaster instructions. That I use eLink and all the testing with all three locos. I was ultimately wanting to network via my iPad, but as there is a fee involved, I need to know this works first. I’d still like feedback from anyone else who has similar set up in case I have missed something. many thanks Brian

Hi. Thought I would give you all a bit of an update. Both my PC’s have now been set up with Static IP’s. I’ve been using three locos in the two systems for the sake of testing. 1) Hornby Railroad Mallard TTS 2) Hornby Merchant Navy Holland-Afrika TTS 3) Bachmann Class 47/4 with loksound v4 none of these will play anythingafter the first 6 F keys using the Slave PC. All working fully on Master PC. the TTS locos are also out of sync as described. the loksound loco is in sync. Augustus Caesar is looking at any PC set up/networking issues on my system.. I’ve now submitted support request to Railmaster and I am currently waiting a reply. thanks Brian

Thank you. I think I've found it and dropped him an email.

Hi everyone. I have the master to slave pc networking application working but the F key out of sync between Master and Slave PC issue remains. I run Windows 11 Home on both PC's I've given Static IP addressees to both PC' I run RM Pro on master PC and run RM on Slave PC I have copied relevant RM files from Master PC into Slave PC so they look identical (after I first started getting F key issue) I have tested using 2 x Hornby TTS locos, Mallard and Merchant Navy class. Both have the F key anomaly. My workaround that works for locos with no lighting systems is: Program Loco sounds in Master PC as normal (F1 to Fxx) Program Loco sounds in Slave PC as (F0 to Fxx-1) So example of Mallard is F1-F16 (master) F0-F15 (slave) When you say, drop me an email at the help site, do you mean through the RM program help portal itself? Thanks

Thank you guys. Worked a treat. Went for 270 view and gets all my track in view at 75%. Used the realign program which helped a lot too. Labels look fine to me. I've copied same 270 plan into my slave PC. Thanks for all your help. Saved a lot of time and effort.

Hi Ray, Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I've just downloaded the zip package and will go through it. I'll feedback tomorrow. Thanks again. Brian

Hi everyone. Thank you all for your speedy replies. I'm with YouFibre that utilises Amazon Eeros wired/wireless mesh system. It's app based on my ipad rather than the web based access routers I'm used to. It looks like I have a choice of dynamic or static IP's, not a mixture, so I've picked static moving forward as I have a lot of internet based hardware in the house apart from my rail setup. I've just seen articles about setting up servers on my computer whilst trying to find a reason for why YouFibre won't allow registration/deregistration. (thats ongoing and I'm getting off the point). I've added the SMB option and just about to reboot. I'll test everything I've done so far and feedback tomorrow. Thanks again.

Thank you 96RAF for getting back to me so quickly. I have indeed read this excellent piece of work and that gave me the idea to set it up. I think I will set up static IP's on both PC's and use a different loco and wait to see if anyone answers before I contact HRMS. I have a feeling it maybe a bug but want to ensure I've tried everything first. This also begs another question brought up in this great piece of work. I need to make the SLAVE PC railmaster program basically a duplicate of my MASTER PC railmaster program. I was wondering if I could quicken that process by using the backup process in PRO on my master and pushing those files into my SLAVE PC railmaster files to make it look the same or would this break my SLAVE PC railmaster program?

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I'll see if St1ng4ay gets back to me soon.

I have taken a considerable time setting up my extensive loft track plan in Railmaster and it works fine clicking on points etc. I've also used backup my data in Pro just in case of any issues and I don't lose all my hard work. Since configuring my track plan, I've moved my PC TV screen to the opposite wall and now my plan is viewed on my screen in the opposite direction to my actual track set up. What I'd like to do is somehow, turn my railmaster track plan through 180 degrees so it faces the same way as my actual track. Makes life much easier. I'm hoping I can go into some picture file in Railmaster, edit it so it is turned through 180 degrees and then place edited file back into railmaster. I'm hoping it is that easy and look forward to your response.

Hi everyone. So, I have a Loft Configuration using Railmaster Pro and eLink. After a bit of tweaking of INI rules etc., I have Railmaster running my locos as well as 22 points using 4amp power supply. I was hoping my next project would be to network my downstairs PC with my Loft PC. I have fully activated the Railmaster program on the downstairs PC and notice there is a networking facility in the Settings. I've input my loft PC ip address into my downstairs (slave) PC as instructed and was hoping to run my locos in the loft from my downstairs PC when testing, programming, cold days etc. I have set up my TTS Mallard on both master and slave PC's word for word and it seems to make the Mallard run in the loft whilst I'm on my downstairs PC. There is only one problem. Pushing F1 on my loft (master) PC turns on the TTS sound. Pushing F1 on my downstairs PC makes the trains whistle blow (F2 on my master PC) so the F keys configuration in my slave PC seems to be one step out from F keys on my master PC, although both PC locos have been identically set up in their master and slave PC's. My workaround is that I set up Mallard F keys in Master PC using F1 to F16 and my Slave PC using F0 to F15. So when I press F0 (sound on) in slave PC, it makes my Master PC think I've pressed F1 downstairs and hey presto, my Mallard sound activates whilst I'm looking at my layout through a camera whilst sitting at my downstairs PC. Is there anyway I can get the F keys in both the master and slave PC's to sync with each other or am I using the networking functionality incorrectly? I look forward to your feedback. P.S. the only thing I haven't done yet is set both my PC's with static IP addresses instead of dynamic addresses. Not sure that should give me the issue of the F keys being 1 step out of sync between PC's.