--- In SIAMulations@..., Tim Bourne <yahoogroups@...> wrote:
>
> > I cannot find Weymouth(E).It is required for the 1210.
>
> Where there is a letter after a dash following the destination or origin
> of a train, it indicates the type of train. E means empty stock. There
> are several arrivals where part of the train continues as empty stock
> with the train engine to the station, while the main portion goes to the
> docks.
>
> Best wishes,
> Tim Bourne (SIAM)
>
Thanks Tim

> I cannot find Weymouth(E).It is required for the 1210.

Where there is a letter after a dash following the destination or origin
of a train, it indicates the type of train. E means empty stock. There
are several arrivals where part of the train continues as empty stock
with the train engine to the station, while the main portion goes to the
docks.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

I cannot find Weymouth(E).It is required for the 1210.
             Thanks

Tim, re your remark about (Bath S&D and) Plymouth: I like Plymouth the size it
is.
Regards, Richard

> Cardiff General would be a suitable focal point as during the late
> 1950s/early 1960s the traffic through this point was very heavy (both
> passenger and freight) and Canton shed would add further interest with light
> engine movements between there and the various yards.

Yes, I'd love to do that one, though I have no personal knowledge of the
area in steam days.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

Tim,

So far people have been talking about the DOS games that they would like to
see in Windows versions, with or without any modifications such as freight
traffic, etc.  However, if the opportunity to develop new games in Windows
was to arise then can I make a plea for something from South Wales please?
When looking at the current Siam catalogue there is a very heavy bias
towards the London Midland Region and the Western Region, but the latter are
all east of the Severn and focused on the West of England route.

South Wales is an area that has been woefully neglected up until now with
just three games for the South Wales area (Shed Master Canton; Freight
Manager South Wales Coal; and Cardiff 1992), all of them "modern image"
although the most recent covers a period now over ten years past.  How about
at least one South Wales steam era simulation, please?

Cardiff General would be a suitable focal point as during the late
1950s/early 1960s the traffic through this point was very heavy (both
passenger and freight) and Canton shed would add further interest with light
engine movements between there and the various yards.

Steve

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Bourne" <yahoogroups@...>
To: <SIAMulations@...>
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: [SIAMulations] RE: News, new simulations ?


>> I think both of these,
>> and possibly Shrewsbury would still make very interesting simulations
>> if their was a weekday option and freight yards etc were included.
>
> Yes, I think the ones where we did only a Saturday schedule are the most
> likely.
>
> Best wishes,
> Tim Bourne (SIAM)
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

> I think both of these,
> and possibly Shrewsbury would still make very interesting simulations
> if their was a weekday option and freight yards etc were included.

Yes, I think the ones where we did only a Saturday schedule are the most
likely.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

> In the case of say Exeter 1955  and Carlisle
> 1957 perhaps that's a pity if they don't appear in a Windows  version.

I would think the exceptions might be some that would benefit from a
major upgrade, or replacement with an enlarged scope. These might
include Bath S&D and Plymouth, for example. Yes, it would be nice to get
Windows version of the bigger steam ones, but we'll have to see how the
priorities turn out. I think I have more than enough potential projects
to keep me busy for my lifetime!

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

----- Original Message -----

From: Tim Bourne

To: SIAMulations@...

Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 1:59 PM

Subject: Re: [SIAMulations] RE: News, new simulations ?

 

> Can we take it there will be no new non Windows simulations?

Yes, I think that's a safe assumption.

> Can we expect
> that in time all the present simulations will be upgraded to the Windows
> OS?

No, I can't promise that; it's a lot of work, and I suspect customers
would prefer us to spend our limited resources on new ones.

> Last but by no means least is Brian doing the other part of the Isle of
> Wight?

Not at present. It's not as interesting, so I doubt whether it's high on
his list.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

> Can we take it there will be no new non Windows simulations?

Yes, I think that's a safe assumption.

> Can we expect
> that in time all the present simulations will be upgraded to the  Windows
> OS?

No, I can't promise that; it's a lot of work, and I suspect customers
would prefer us to spend our limited resources on new ones.

> Last but by no means least is Brian doing the other part of the Isle  of
> Wight?

Not at present. It's not as interesting, so I doubt whether it's high on
his list.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

> I will have to get a new computer in a few weeks.  Windows 7 seems to
> work, minus sound, will macs. Are they worth bothering with? Grateful
> for any replies but dont get too complicated as I'm no expert.

I understand that most of our simulations (but NOT Driver or Signal Box)
work on Windows 7 without sound (as on Vista); I don't know how well
they work with the PC software now available with a Mac.

On any version of Windows, also Linux and Mac, they all work well with a
PC DOS emulator such as DOSBox; on Windows, there is a user-friendly
front end to DOSBox called D-Fend that some users have recommended.

We will shortly, possibly in time for Christmas, be releasing our first
Windows simulation.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

Works great on Macs. Just download Boxer. http://boxer.washboardabs.net/

I don't use this simulation software but my friend who has an iMac has no
problems at all after using Boxer.

--- In SIAMulations@..., "bty53665244" <vause23@...> wrote:
>
> I will have to get a new computer in a few weeks.  Windows 7 seems to work,
minus sound, will macs. Are they worth bothering with?
> Grateful for any replies but dont get too complicated as I'm no expert.
> I run traffic control, Shrewsbury, Reading Exeter and so on.
>

I will have to get a new computer in a few weeks.  Windows 7 seems to work,
minus sound, will macs. Are they worth bothering with?
Grateful for any replies but dont get too complicated as I'm no expert.
I run traffic control, Shrewsbury, Reading Exeter and so on.

> The 6a40 trip from Canal to Denton Holme shows the portions as having
>
arrived, they aren't lying anywhere I've missed and yet the sim won't
allow the train to leave in any direction, or no matter which end the
loco is at.
>
I think I've successfully routed trains from Canal Yard to Dentonholme
both by reversing to CJH, then proceeding via UN2, also by proceeding to
Rome Junction (UJ5 or possibly B3), then reversing to Dentonholme.

> Departured from Canal Yard at 7.00 (Hawick), 7.30 (Blackbank) and
> 8.00
(Perth) also show on the departure screens as 'incomplete', yet all
portions have arrived and I'm allowed to depart the trains.
>
I've never come across this problem.

> I did have a computer registry problem last year, which required a
> bit
of work on the PC, could this have some bearing on these problems?

I don't think so, but I wonder if a saved game could have been
corrupted?

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

Decided to have a go at a Saturday and all was going reasonably well, until
around 7am.

The 6a40 trip from Canal to Denton Holme shows the portions as having arrived,
they aren't lying anywhere I've missed and yet the sim won't allow the train to
leave in any direction, or no matter which end the loco is at.

Departured from Canal Yard at 7.00 (Hawick), 7.30 (Blackbank) and 8.00 (Perth)
also show on the departure screens as 'incomplete', yet all portions have
arrived and I'm allowed to depart the trains.

I did have a computer registry problem last year, which required a bit of work
on the PC, could this have some bearing on these problems?

BTW, thanks for the replies regarding screen size, it turns out that if I press
Alt + Enter, before responding to the 'Do you want to continue a saved game?'
question, I get the full screen without anything missing........

> Since changing my monitor and playing a sim for the first time since,
> I have discovered that the left hand side of my screen (in full
> screen mode) is one column short - in other words, I can't see the
> arrow to tell me which way my steam loco is pointing!


If you're running in XP without DOSBox, this is presumably because the
window is too wide for the monitor. In XP you can change the window size
by changing the font, in the System menu - right-click on the icon in
the top left corner of the window surround and use Properties|Font.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

Since changing my monitor and playing a sim for the first time since, I have
discovered that the left hand side of my screen (in full screen mode) is one
column short - in other words, I can't see the arrow to tell me which way my
steam loco is pointing!

This is a bit frustrating, especially as I'm toiling through Carlisle 57 and
points are at a premium. I don't want to send locos out tender first.

Any suggestions folks? (I'm using Windows XP)

Thanks,

Richard

> Double clicking on the CA52.EXE program opens up
> a command window as  usual and the program runs ok with full mouse
> functionality but no sound – no fiddling required.

I think that's what I would have expected, the same as with Vista.

> There is the advantage
> that you can adjust the size of the window by right-clicking the icon in the
> top left hand corner of the title bar, selecting Properties and changing the
> size on the Font tab – 12 x 16 gives a very usable and clear sized window.

Yes, that works with XP and Vista too.
>
> DosBox 0.73 also works well on Windows 7 – it will give you sound, but at
> the expense of having to set up the additional DOS commands to mount a drive
> and then execute the program. I also find getting a window the right size a
> bit fiddly. You can use full screen but it doesn't look too good on a large
> (say 20" monitor with high resolution) monitor.
>
I agree. I run it with Linux, in fact, but the setup is more fiddly than
I'd like. There are various front ends available, but I haven't tried
any of them. The settings I use to get a usable window size are

windowresolution=1024x768
output=overlay

both in the [SDL} section.

> NB You will also have to either turn off UAC (which is easy in Win 7), or
> use the ESCAPE key command to set the directories to which files can be
> written to one of the USER's liberaries (e.g. somewhere in the Documents
> folder) if you want to save a position, or create LOG files.
>
That's a complication I hadn't thought of.

>
> It does strike me, however, that the programs might easily be adapted by
> adding a substitute sound module which plays an appropriate *.WAV file via
> the windows OS instead of the DOS Beep() or SB16 calls. This would make the
> programs compatible on all Windows OS from 95 to Win 7. It should work well
> with existing code and a recompilation.

In the Windows versions we have experimented with two different methods.
It is possible to detect the version of Windows and use a form of beep
in each case that should work. Alternatively, as you say it is possible
to use .wav files.

The Windows versions use standard Windows file open/save dialogues, so
there should be no access problems there.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)

--- In SIAMulations@..., "weir844@..." <weir844@...> wrote:
>
> After a house move, I'm struggling to find my instruction sheets for the above
simulations. Whilst I'm happy with most of the movements, I just wanted to check
the correct positioning for the motorail vehicles to be loaded and unloaded at
Newton Abbot - do they go in B1/B2 and, if so, in any particular order?
>
> EX90 - Arrivals at Riverside Yard - do they need to go into RA, rather than
just roads 1,2, or 3 ?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Richard Weir
>


Hi Richard,

Yes, the motorail vehicles are loaded and unloaded in B1 and B2 and you do have
to be careful in the order they are loaded.  You need to ensure they are in the
order of departure, unfortunately I don't have the instructions to hand, buried
somewhere in the loft, but seem to remember not doing this the first time I
played the sim, and that was some years ago now.

You may also have to be careful how the motorail ecs are stored in S1-4, can't
remember if this may cause a problem as well.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Bernie

> will you be able to run the dos based porgrames Shrewsbury Reading etc on
windows 7, so not needing  a dos box?

I don't know, as we haven't yet seen Windows 7, but I imagine it will be
no better than Vista in this respect, so I expect DOSBox will be needed.

To the best of our knowledge, our forthcoming Windows simulations will
run on any version of Windows from 98 onwards (and probably also on 3.1
and 95).

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)