Known Problems • Help
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The usual symptom is that you try to start Rails, you see the CD spin up, you get an hour glass for 5-10 seconds, and then nothing happens. First, check for viruses. A virus will modify RAILS.EXE which, because of the way the CD copy protection system works, would not recognize the modified file as being valid and cause it not to startup. A virus is the most likely culprit if the game used to work and now it doesn’t or if the patch installation fails.
If you appear to be virus-free, it's possible there is a compatibility problem between our copy protection system (Secure-ROM by Sony) and older CD-ROM drives. Some of these drivers aren't 100% compliant with the CD-ROM standard and, as such, do not work with the Secure-ROM system. The good news is that this problem was found quite some time ago (with the Macrovision copy protection system), and CD-ROM manufacturers have since provided firmware updates that solve the problem. Go to the manufacturer's support page for your CD-ROM, get the firmware, update your CD-ROM drive, and you should be fine.
If your CD-ROM drive is very new and/or upgrading it doesn't help, you may be experiencing a problem with ZoneAlarm or some other firewall program. Either turn off the program or see below for information on how to bypass the problem.
At least one customer had a conflict with Intel's IDE ATA drivers for his motherboard. He didn't actually need them to run, but when they were installed they were screwing up the interface to his CD-ROM (it of course being another ATA device). Uninstalling them did the trick for him.
Another user with an Asus CUSL2 motherboard, bios version 1003, needed a BIOS upgrade to enable his CD-ROM drive to work correctly.
A number of customers have found that CyberMedia's Oil Change and Help Spot can cause similar symptoms. Uninstalling those programs fixed the problem for those users.
On some motherboards, there is a problem with an erroneously detected joystick that causes problems for the CD drive. Disable any joysticks that you might have in Device Manager and see if that fixes the problem.
Rails is finally available in the UK! Unfortunately, what shipped is the Vision Park version and it shipped without a manual. To download the manual in Word format, click here. To download the manual in HTML format, click here. To download the patch that brings the Vision Park release up to date, click here.
What changed in the patch?
1.0.0.75 Patch
New Features
Bug Fixes:
1.0.0.27 Patch
New Features
Bug Fixes:
1.0.03 Patch
We removed an Influence card called "Foreign Terrorists" we felt was inappropriate considering recent events.
Fixed a bug that rarely caused out of sync errors during auctions in multiplayer.
You should automatically be prompted to download and install the correct patch the first time you run Rails while connected to the Internet. However, if you're not prompted or if you have difficulties, you can try downloading the patch from us. Select the appropriate file to download below and then run it from your machine.
Click to download the 1.0.0.1 to 1.75 patch
Click to download the 1.0.0.27 to 1.75 patch
IF THE NEW PATCH WON'T INSTALL BECAUSE OF A PROBLEM WITH RAILS.INI
This will happen if you have modified your rails.ini file. Click here to download an unmodified rails.ini file. Copy it to your GAMEDATA directory, overwriting the modified one, and then run the patch again.
IF THE NEW PATCH HANGS AT 75% OF THE WAY THROUGH WHILE UPDATING MARSUI24.GIZ
This is normal behavior. MARSUI24.GIZ is a HUGE file, and so it takes a long time to read it in, modify it, and write it back out while comparing it. As a result, it looks like the patch has hung, even though it's still updating. Just keep letting it go and it should finish ok. If an hour goes by without completing, then you should get in contact with us!
IF THE PATCH FAILS WHILE UPDATING RAILS.HTM
There is a known problem with the VisionPark release overseas which breaks our patching system. We have a patch available for manual download here.
IF THE GAME WON'T RUN BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE 64 MEGS OF RAM
Rails requires 64 megs of RAM to run, otherwise it tells you there is a problem and it quits. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE 64 MEGS, and Rails still reports a problem, it may be because you have a video card on your motherboard that is using your system RAM. Manufacturers used to do this a lot to save money. This makes the video very slow, but it does save money. However, that RAM is taken away from the system. Here's how to check this: If you're running Windows 95, 98, or ME, open Control Panel and then the System item. Click on Performance, and it will show you how much memory you have. If it says 60, then you're losing that 4 megs to the video card. If you do have only 60 megs, then you can buy a cheap video card (the TNT2s are less than 50 bucks) and you'll get your 4 megs of RAM back, plus your overall video performance will be much better.
THE GAMESPY FORUM SAYS THAT IT'S ONLY FOR BETA USERS
This is a bug with the Gamespy software, and Gamespy is currently investigating it. However, there is an easy fix. If you close Gamespy Arcade and re-open it, the problem will be corrected.
Rails requires the following ports to be open: 47624, and 2300-2400 for both UDP and TCP. If you are running a software firewall such as ZoneAlarm, Norton Internet Security, etc., we have provided instructions below for some of the most popular firewall programs to enable Rails to both play multiplayer games and receive patches.
ZoneAlarm
If you use ZoneAlarm, you will need to add Rails to your list of programs and allow it to be a server for multi-player games. When hosting a game, you may need to add DirectPlay Server to your list of programs. Since Rails is a full-screen game, you will need to use Alt-Tab to switch out of Rails so that you can respond to the ZoneAlarm prompts to add programs. Rails Across America can successfully be played through GameSpy with the ZoneAlarm's Local and Internet Security settings at medium once the programs have been added.
BlackIce
If you use BlackIce Defender, you should be able to play Rails through GameSpy with the Protection Level set at "Cautious". If you use the Protection Level "Nervous", you will need to use the Advanced Firewall Settings to Accept ports 2300-2400 for both UDP and TCP (other GameSpy and Rails ports should already be allowed).
McAfee Personal Firewall
Rails Across America should be a Trusted Application. If you wish to play multiplayer games, you may need to add GameSpy and DirectPlay Server to your list of Trusted Applications.
Norton Internet Security
Rails Across America needs to be in the Internet Access Control list of applications. If you wish to play multiplayer games, you may also need to add GameSpy and DirectPlay Server.
For Other Firewalls
For more information about GameSpy and firewalls, including what ports GameSpy uses, please read http://www.gamespyarcade.com/support/firewalls.shtml. If you need more information about your router or firewall, most companies have online manuals that you can use to learn how to change your settings.
If you see black boxes where you should see trains, and other black streaks around some of the images, try turning off your video card hardware accelaration. Failing that, please update your video drivers if you see this problem. We are continuing to test on Win9x and Win2000 with many video cards, and to date we have found that all cards work if you have the most current drivers and have turned off hardware acceleration.
Download this file and place it into your Rails demo directory.
Visit our FORUMS or email INFO AT FLYINGLAB.COM.