Smr Simple!

Choobacca, with the assistance of comments and notes from myself and several other people, has come up with a system of files to help simplify map creation and installation. At this point I'll try to give an explanation.

First, some definitions:

Base XML files. These are found in the "\Sid Meier's Railroads!\Assets\XML" folder.

Global XML files. These are any copies of the Base XML files and are placed in the "C:\Documents and Settings\ (logged in users name) \My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Railroads!\CustomAssets\XML" folder. When we refer to this area we will start with the "Sid Meier's Railroads!" folder and call it "SMR". The term "Global" simply refers to the fact that once updated, all the maps stored in "SMR\UserMaps" and "SMR\CustomAssets\XML\_SCENARIOS_" will access these files for all information in the Creaters Maps

Maps XML files. These are the XML files in each Map folder.

Master XML files. A set of XML files for map creaters used to simplify map making and keep them low in memory usage.

FPK files. These are custom graphics created by people for their maps and packed into a single file. They go into "SMR\CustomAssets".

FPK Folders. These are custom made graphics created by Firaxis and others for their maps and placed into folders. They also go into "SMR\CustomAssets".



The first thing you need to do is download the 3 Zip files attached to this thread. The 'Global XML Instructions.zip' is a copy of what you are reading so you can print it out.

Since I don't know how your environment looks now or what you've tried in your installation, I would suggest uninstalling the game and starting fresh.

Install Railroads!

Install 1.10 patch.

Play and make sure the base scenarios work.

NOTE!!!:(((Install Holiday Scenario (this will create the "SMR\CustomAssets" directory structure where all custom stuff goes) Make sure this is where you point the installer to install. )))DO NOT LOAD THIS MAP!! It has been found to cause problems when using GLOBALS. A GLOBAL version has been written and made available below.

Play and make sure the base scenarios work.

Now you are ready to download and play custom maps.

Unzip the choobaccaPak.zip file. This .zip contains 8 files and 2 folders. We will get this working first as it doesn't require any XML file editing. Just open SMR\CustomAssets and copy the 3 FPK files into it. Now open the XML folder and copy the 5 XML files into it. Finally, open the _SCENARIOS_ folder and place the 2 map folders into it. This will also start your "Global XML file system".

Run these two maps to make sure they are working OK.

The next map we will do is the reworked Holiday Scenario. Unzip the SantaChanged.zip file. Go into "SMR\\CustomAssets\XML\_SCENARIOS_" and delete the "Santa" folder. In this Zip you will find a Santa map folder. Place the "Santa" folder into "SMR\\CustomAssets\XML\_SCENARIOS_".

Now open the TXT file. Here you will find an instruction sheet created by choobacca to assist in loading maps under this new system which will be referred to as SRR. The 5th line is the 1st one we want to look at. This gives us the Mods that are needed for this map to run. Any Mods should be listed here even if they have been listed for other maps since it is not known what you have or have not loaded before. Here we see the listing of 5 folders in CustomAssets, one folder in XML and one folder in _SCENARIOS_. At this time these have already been installed.

Now, let's start editing. Left click on RRT_Trains.xml and go all the way to the bottom until you see </RRTTrains>. Go into the SRR and go down to the "New Trains" section. Highlight everything from <Train> to </Train>, right click on it and click on Copy. Now go into the RRT_Trains.XML window and place the pointer to the left of </RRTTrains>, right click and left click on paste. You have now added the Holiday Special to the RRT_Trains.xml file. Click on the Save button and close the window.

Left click on RRT_TrainCars.xml and go down until you see </RRTGoodCars>. Go into the SRR and go down to the "New Train Cars" section. Highlight everything from <TrainCar> at the top to </TrainCar> at the bottom, right click on it and click on Copy. Now go into the RRT_TrainCars.XML window and place the pointer to the left of </RRTGoodCars>, right click and left click on paste. You have now added the Holiday Special to the RRT_TrainCars.xml file. Click on the Save button and close the window.

Left click on RRT_Goods.xml and go down until you see </RRTGoods>. Go into the SRR and go down to the "New Goods" section. Highlight everything from <Good> at the top to </Good> at the bottom, right click on it and click on Copy. Now go into the RRT_Goods.XML window and place the pointer to the left of </RRTGoods>, right click and left click on paste. You have now added the Holiday Special to the RRT_Goods.xml file. Click on the Save button and close the window.

Left click on RRT_Industries.xml and go down until you see </Industries> at the bottom. Go into the SRR and go down to the "New Industries" section. Highlight everything from <RRTIndustry> at the top to </RRTIndustry> at the bottom, right click on it and click on Copy. Now go into the RRT_Industries.XML window and place the pointer to the left of </Industries>, right click and left click on paste. You have now added the Holiday Special to the RRT_Industries.xml file. Click on the Save button and close the window.


Try out your Holiday Scenario and check to see that it's working correctly.

From here you need to go into some testing of your own. To do this, add maps that you want to play one at a time to your _SCENARIO_ folder. If you have no problem playing it, then there is really no changes needed at this time. This is not to say that problems may not come up later. I plan to download, test, rewrite, if needed, and upload the maps currently on the forum. I'll not be changing how they play, just cutting back on un-needed files and data in the XML files.

If there is any questions or anything you don't understand, ask and I'll try to answer and update the above information.


02/17/07 Couple of unexpected errors corrected.
02/18/07 2nd Food Plant removed from Industries.xml

Maps checked -
02/21/07 - Alaska, Chicago to the Rockies, Orient Express, America, Superbowl Express, Liverpool and Manchester V1.0, Holiday Scenario, Italia, Hill ValleySteaks, Hill Valley Mess, Mesa Madness 2 and UKlargeMP
03/01/07 - Mid East, Wisconsin, Lama's Germany, New England, Scrooge Holiday v1.3 and Spain

OK guys

Heres where I am now. I have followed the instruction up to the point of editing the xml files. I have edited Trains, New Train Cars, & Goods. I dont have a file called industries. What now ?

PS
I dont have a problem with computers Ive just never worked with wordprocessing files before.

Thanx again for your help
Slappy Da Clown

Yup, it's missing RRT_Industries.xml

everything was rolling along so nicely too

In your previous instructions for ChicagoToRockies Scenario you mentioned that the "Tender Mod" is a must.
Is this still the case?
I am starting from scrach as you suggested
J.B.

Well, I gave it a try.
Afterward, I could only load the generic scenerios. No add on maps.
After 2 reinstalls, It's still the same.
I can't even get santa to load.
It just trys to load and then drops to desktop. No message.

I've reinstalled twice......put in the patch, and with nothing else,and
the add on maps I have been playing for weeks now won't load.

Wish I'd left the damn thing alone.

Thanks fo trying though.
If Fraxis cant do any more, then it's back to RR2.

Pete

If he can't get it to load after two times of reinstalling dose the game make changes in the regestry?? Firaxis really needs to fix this game, and I hope soon!

I apoligize. Something I overlooked in the files I was working with.

OK

Got the industries file. Copied new info into it. Now when I play any map ( holiday or stock ). When I get to a resource the item is grayed out & cant be picked up. Which file did I make a mistake in industries or goods ?

Slappy

Sorry!
I just discovered that you have included a"New Tenders" file with your setup. I should read all of it before open my big mouth.
Mea culpa! Mea maxima culpa!
Jancsika

Slappy Da Clown - there are two ways we can handle this. One, you can upload the Goods and Industries files and I can try to locate and tell you where the problem(s) is. Two, you can download the attached ZIP which has Notepad++ and XML Marker. Xml marker will show you any errors in the XML, right down to what and where it is. Now I warn you, I had one using this that buggered me until I carfully read it. It said I had an unmatched open and close. The close looked fine and the open looked fine. Then I noticed it showed in the error szName. I searched for szName and found that I had forgot a /. If you read the errors carfully, it WILL tell you what is wrong.

Let me know what you want to do.

Others - The XML marker I found, Dr Frag pointed out the Notepad++, and I think it's great. See this Thread:
Maps - Help Me Get it Right.

OK Snoop

I have attached the 4 files that I edited. Maybe if you have time you could look at em. I have also downloaded the notepad++ zip you provided. I will attempt to find the problem myself, but Im doubtful of my abilities. Just for more info. In the process of all this the game & maps played fine up to the point where I started editing the files, so Im sure its a mistake I made. I will advise if I can fix it before you get to look at the files. I hope notepad++ is usable by the terminally stupid.

from behind the bar at clown college
Slappy Da Clown

Slappy - I slipped on the instructions,(forgot about the Tenders) and didn't dissect all the XMLs I was working with. Here are the correct XMLs.

Now, one thing to remember, check all the maps you have listed one at a time and move any XMLs matching these in name to a different drive in a Temp folder. Try each map you edit to make sure it still works. If it does, you can delete the files you moved. If it doesn't, post here and I or someone else will look into it.

Well...I did a third reinstall.
Applied the patch.
Installed Santa.

Now Santa works with the proper names, (didn't before) But still cant get add ons to load.
Germany deluxe, or Great Britain large map.
Both were perfect before I started reinstalling.
Now they just load and load and finally drop to desktop.
Driving me nuts.

Pete

The main instructions stated that there would probally be problems. The maps I have I made changes in long ago and may not be the same asthe original, so I cannot upload everything I have. I still have to go thru them one at a time, downloading each and running each. It would be helpful if when each of you play a map, if it runs fine as downloaded, leave a note here. If I download and test 1 a day, it will take me over a month, plus whatever maps are uploaded in the meantime. I still have to write the mappers instructions.

The repair:

Open RRT_Industries.xml. Go down to the first 'Food Plant'. This one lists 'Grain' as input. Now drop down to the next <RRTIndustry>. Hightlight and delete from <RRTIndustry> to </RRTIndustry>. This will remove the 2nd 'Food Plant' which takes in 'Cornmeal'. I saw this but wasn't sure if the game would see both or not. It doesn't, it sees the first, records it, then sees the second and records it over the first. No 'Grain' input.

Thank-you for finding those Pete.