Railworks America

I had heard about AP files but had no interest at the time. I can't search for AP so I have some questions:

Where in the files structure are they? I can't find any.

If you are just "using" a route are they of any interest?

If I want to use the assets from a route in another route are they an issue?

Are AP files only for assets?

If there is a comprehensive explanation somewhere then skip the abve and let me know where it might be.
Thanks

> Where in the files structure are they? I can't find any.

They are found in the route folders, ie ..\Content\Routes\00000035-0000-0000-0000-000000002012\MainContent.ap

and in the product folder of assets, ie ..\Assets\GNTX\StevensPass\StevensPassAssets.ap


> If you are just "using" a route are they of any interest?

Not really. They become a concern if you want to substitute rolling stock, or use some of the development tools on the route.


> If I want to use the assets from a route in another route are they an issue?

Not an issue. All the assets in the .ap are available to your route once that asset folder is enabled using the normal method in the route editor.


> Are AP files only for assets?

No , see above.

Adding to that they are nothing but a sort of zipped up file making things easier for Steam supposedly. All you have to do to see what's in them is to un-zip them and all of the stuff will be there to see. They work in either form however some of the stuff won't be seen until they are un-zipped.

Anything can be in an .AP file. Assets, routes, scenarios. Not all routes have them though. Mostly the newer stuff. For instance in the Kuju/RailsimulatorUS folder is an .AP for all the assets that used to be in there. So they are located where the assets or routes or scenarios are usually located, if they exist for that item.

Use your windows explorer and go to your Railworks folder and search for *.ap and they will all show up.

You can also use RW Tools to find and extract the stuff from them.

To use them in another route you might have to extract them for doing work on the route then they should be fine afterwards. The way to find out is turn on that provider/product in your route and see if they are visible, if not, then you have to extract them out. And .AP file is just like a RAR or 7zip file and will open with winrar or 7zip. So you can look in them and extract stuff out of them.

When you do a verify cache or get an official update, the extracted files from an .AP will disappear, if you needed them you would have to extract them again.

Ok, thanks for the great synopsis.