Australian MSTS @ steam4me Making up a consist in MSTS

Making up a Consist

by Yuri Sos

A consist is a train made up of locomotives and rolling stock: using the steps I'm about to show you, you can make up any combination of  vehicles (you can combine a Japanese railcar with a Orient Express dining car if the whim takes you).  Once you have defined a consist, you will find that consist in the list of trains available when you "Explore a Route" and select a given locomotive; in the case of multiple units, the consist is always found under the lead locomotive.

Ok, let's start.

Make sure your monitor is set to at least 1024x768 pixels (this does make reading the screen difficult if you've only a 15" monitor, but MS Train Simulator Editors & Tools doesn't work at a lower resolution).

Click
Start |
         Programs
         |    Microsoft Games
               |    Train Simulator
                     | Train Simulator Editors and Tools.

You will be presented with this window in the middle of your desktop.

Click on "Activity Editor".

When the Activity Editor has fully loaded, you will have the starting screen open in front of you, like this:


 

Click on menu option: File | New.

A dialogue box, entitled "Select a Route",  will open in the centre of the screen.

Don't worry about which route is shown, just press "Ok".

A dialogue box will open, entitled "Activity Display Name", will open in the centre of the screen.

Don't worry about which activity is shown, just press "Ok".  Once we've defined a consist, we'll be cancelling out of here.  After a few seconds, a new screen will be presented, looking like this below:

On the right side of the screen, you will see a section entitled "Player" with a blank field entitled "Player Service" and a "New" button beneath it (follow the arrow!).

Press "New".  A new window, entitled "Service Editor"  will open at left (convoluted, isn't it?).

You will note a blank field labelled "Consist" with a "New" button underneath it (arrow points to button in image above).

Click on "New".

Finally, we're at the Consist Editor's main screen (below):

Let's look at the various parts of the Consist Editor's screen:

Name:  the name of the model as defined in the .ENG or .WAG file:  if a name hasn't been defined (usually due to a slack model designer!), the name of the .ENG or .WAG file will be used;

Braking system:  the symbol that looks like a hungry Pacman:  braking systems are self-explanatory once you understand the symbols:
 
Single air pipe
twin air pipe
electro-pneumatic

Coupler type: coupler types are again self-explanatory once you understand the symbols: you may have more than one coupler-type defined for a given model (eg steam locomotives and tenders may have both a drawbar and an auto- or chain-coupler defined;
 
Drawbar
Chain-type coupler
Automatic coupler

"Delete from consist" icon:  supposedly a stylised car-crusher, you click and drag a model from the consist to this icon to delet it from the consist (don't worry, it's not deleted from your system).

Just a couple more things while we're orienting ourselves at this screen:

1.    notice the symbol to the left of the model name on two of the models in the image below: it's a throttle symbol and it indicates that tht particular model is a driveable locomotive:  locos without handles are used for the so-called "AI trains" (ie trains that are driven by the game in various activities).  You can also use these locos as trailing engines in an otherwise driveable consist.

2.    you can click and drag the vertical line between name and braking system to make the model names more readable, thus........


3.   One last thing, clicking on a field-name the title bar in the window above will sort the contents of that field (somehat imperfectly, but it's better than nothing).

You need to name your new consist:  get used to the fact that in MS Train Sim, you'll name everything twice, once with a filename, then again with a name that will appear whenever you select the locomotive when "Exploring the Route".

For the purposes of this tutorial, I'm going to create a consist of a two diesel locomotives and  three wagons.   The "Name" (filename) I've used is "tutorial" and the "Display Name" is "Short goods (X49)".   Make sure the Display Name is unique or you may have difficulty in finding it later on (note I've identified Light Engines with the loco number, otherwise you'd have many identical-appearing consists in the consist list)........

The drop-down box marked "Rolling Stock Types" has the following categories:

Select Engines (Diesel) and a list of diesel locomotives will be presented in the "Rolling Stock" window below.

Using the vertical slider bar, scroll down the list until you find the locomotive you want.  Note I've clicked the Name field to sort the locos by name and widened the field to make it easier to read the title of the locomotive.  A single click on the loco name will bring up a thumbnail view of the loco, thus......

... and a double-click on the name will place the locomotive in the lower window.  This is where you will build up your consist.

For more than one loco of the same type, double-click on the name again.  Or choose another locomotive - here we've chosen "AU FA X47 (no crew)" as the second locomotive.  To reverse the direction of a loco, right click on the loco in the lower window (image below).


 

Now move up and select "Cars(Freight)"  from the drop-down box.

Once again, scroll down, find the car you want (using the thumbnails if you need), double-click to add the car to your growing consist and continue.  When you're building up passenger trains please note that there's a (non-fatal) bug in the Consist Editor that tips you out of the Cars (Passenger) List into the Cars (Freight) list if you click on a steam loco tender while browsing or selecting.


 
To delete a car or loco from the consist, click and hold on the unwanted vehicle and drag the cursor over to the coupler symbol that looks like  this:  release the mouse button and the wagon is removed from the consist.

To move a vehicle up or down the consist, click and drag the vehicle left or right.  A vertical red line will appear indicating where the vehicle will be placed when you release the mouse button.

Once you've finished, press "Save and Exit".  The Consist Editor window will close.

Press "Cancel" on the Service Editor window, then the "Close" [X] box to exit MSTS Editors and Tools (image below).



Just before we conclude, let's look at the three other buttons below the Consists drop down box in the image above.

We've addressed "New".

To modify an existing consist, select the consist from the drop-down box and press "Edit".  Warning: do not edit the default consists that came with MSTS: if you do, you may find activities using those consists operate erratically or not at all.
Modify your consist as required.  You will not be permitted to change the name (filename), but you can change the display name; when you've finished, press "Save & Exit" as above.

If you want to modify an existing consist and save it as another consist, press "Use as template".  This loads your selected existing consist into the Consist Editor and allows you to change the name (filename) and the display name.  Likewise, press "Save & Edit" when you've finished.

"Delete" is self-explanatory.  Don't delete a default consist.


Start Train Simulator.
Select "Drive a Train".
Select "Route".
Select "Explore the Route".
Select the locomotive at the head of your consist from the drop down box.
Select the consist you've created from the drop down box.
Select start/end points, time, weather.

Press "Start".

Enjoy.
 
 

20 Mar 2004