RW to CSV Conversion

With the advent of the csv-format file, and its increasing popularity, more BVE routes are being released in CSV format. Because of its increased flexibility and ease of use, it would be beneficial to convert existing RW files to CSV format. This guide walks through the process.

The Railway

This, in my opinion, is the easiest to change. It requires a text editor with Search & Replace capabilities (MS-DOS Editor, WordPad, and Microsoft Word are a few).

First, select everything below the [railway] section. Then, perform the following replacements IN THIS ORDER!

1. Convert all commas (,) to semicolons (;).
2. Convert each "at" sign (@) to a comma and period (,.)
3. Convert all parentheses to spaces
4. Convert all occurances of ".form X;9;Y" and ".form X;-9;Y" to ".form X;R;Y" and ".form X;L;Y" (You could abbreviate the strings to ";9;" and ";-9;" but if you do, other railway elements (like .rail or .freeobj) would be affected. If you don't have anything ±9 meters away from track 0, then go for it.)
5. Manually replace the text "[railway]" with "With Track"

Objects

In this section, replace any equals signs (=) with spaces, insert periods (.) at the beginning of each command (i.e. "Freeobj(x)=x.b3d" becomes ".Freeobj(x) x.b3d") and replace [object] with "With Structure."

Also, replace any "back(x)=x.bmp" with "texture.background (x) x.bmp"

Other Manual Conversions

Separate Gauge=x and Interval=x from the [train] section and put them on the section below the route comments. Replace "[train]" with "with train" and insert periods before each command (like in the previous section). Also, change ".Interval" to ".RunInterval"

Also in the [cycle] section, convert each cycle from the format "0=0,1,2,3,...,n" to "Cycle.cytype(0) 0;1;2;3;...;n" and delete the "[cycle]" text. Or, if you have many cycles, you can replace "[cycle]" with "with cycle" and use ".cyType(n)" for each cycle.

Comments, etc.

All that's left is to format the route comments. The first line in the file should be "With Route." Take the text that you would like to appear in the timetable, and make the following replacements:

1. Line breaks with $chr(13)
2. Quote marks (") with $chr(34)
3. Dollar signs ($) with $chr(36)
4. Commas (,) with $chr(44)
5. Semicolons (;) with $chr(59)
6. At signs (@) with $chr(64)

Insert ".timetable "* before the string you wish to have as the timetable. Then, repeat the process for the comment, but put ".comment "* before the comment (*: Spaces included).

Finally, save the file with a .csv extension, and open it in your favorite spreadsheet program (like Microsoft® Excel) for more editing.

Enjoy!