General Goods Problem

[DeRiCo]

I'm having a problem with setting up loading & unloading of general goods.

I am using Natvander's G2 Goods Shed with his NODY wagons, and the product AUS General Goods.

Both goods shed & the wagon have his AUS General Goods set in them.

Problem is that the wagons do not load.

I did get it to work once, but cannot repeat it now.

I have tried AI control and manually driving to the loader but the wagons will not load.

Can Nat or someone please explain what needs to be done. I've tried all I can think of with no success.

By the way I really like how a tarpaulin covers the load when the wagon is full, nice touch Nat.

Dennis

 

[Natvander]

Are you waiting for the train crew to get out of the loco/van, walk to the shed, open doors etc etc?

Loading/unloading on that series of sheds commences 1 minute after the train has stopped at the shed (to allow for the crew to do their work). The latest version is down to a minimum 5 seconds.

 

[DeRiCo]

Hi Nat.

I've had the train sit at the shed for 5 minutes and nothing happened.

The shed doors do open and close but nothing goes into the wagons.

I'll try again on a new test board.

Dennis

 

[DeRiCo]

Ok, tried setting it up on a new board.

Drove to the shed using AI:

Drive To
Load

nothing loaded.

Tried just using:

Drive To

Nothing loaded.

Tried manually driving train to shed and stopped wagon in front of shed.
Doors opened, then closed after 1 minute.
Nothing loaded into wagons again.

In all these tests I waited at the shed for 6 minutes.

What am I missing here?

Dennis

 

[lewisner]

Have you set up whatever Industry you are using so that the "Consume" values are set to Zero? It may be trying to both Produce and Consume.

 

[DeRiCo]

Hi lewisner.

The goods shed is set to produce only.
I have not touched any other settings.

Dennis

 

[Natvander]

Lets see if this helps...

There's a good tutorial too

http://rs223.rapidshare.com/files/79332409/LARS_ProtoLARS_Tutorial.pdf

 

[DeRiCo]

Thanks Nat, I'll give it another go.

Dennis

 

[Natvander]

Try taking out the 'load' command if it still doesn't work. The protolars script doesn't function in the same way as normal industries which does create a few issues for AI controlled trains.

 

[DeRiCo]

Found that out Nat. It turned out I had not set the Load/Unload at the bottom of the settings. Got it working, But.

As you state, it is not much good with AI operation. I can see where you were going with this as it does try to emulate the actual time it would take to load wagons.

Problem now is that using AI and the Drive To command will stop the loco at the shed. If I also use the Load Command, the train will move forward till the last wagon is at the shed. But, it will then carry on with whatever the next command is without stopping long enough to load.

If I place a Wait command after the Load one, the shed will not operate while the train is in the wait state.

Conclusion is that this is no good for me as I want to use the AI for control. Looks like I'll have to go back to using just general goods instead. Trouble is I cannot find a short loading track that handles general goods.

Ah well put the thinking cap on again.

Dennis

 

[Natvander]

You could place a trackmark where you want the train to stop at and use "drive to trackmark - wait xx - drive to......"

 

[DeRiCo]

That doesn't work Nat.

If the train is under AI commands the goods shed will not operate.

I got it working ok now in manual driving, but I need AI so it's back to the drawing board.

What I need is a short load/unload track that will use the same general goods as the S truck Mixed.

Most loading tracks are too long for where I need to place them, and I cannot find a short one that handles the same goods as the S truck.

Dennis

 

[Natvander]

It should work - I've had AI trains stop at trackmarks, stop for a designated time and then load/unload. I'll run some tests and get back to you. Watch this space...

 

[Natvander]

OK here's how...

You'll need to have the "Driver Schedule Rule".

In that rule, send the driver to the required trackmark, but don't add any rules after that. For the shed to load/unload the train can't be under AI control.

Using either the "Wait" rule or a commodity check rule, add the "Driver Schedule Rule" to continue the schedule.

 

[Dreadnought1]

Another option is to just uncouple the loco, move it away while loading and couple up again when finished. The AI can handle that! ("Couple at Trackmark" will become your new friend...)

So, run the loco to the end of the siding away from the noise and bustle so the crew can have a cuppa...

Cheers,
Dreadnought1

 

[Conductorphil]

Another Idea

Instead, you could try to use the RULES, so like this

DRIVER COMMANDS

Drive To (industry)

then...

SESSION RULES

Check Consist has certain amount of a Specific Cargo

If yes, then add command: Drive to (Industry or station ETC)

If No, wait for certain amount

Make the amount something like half of what your train requires

Hope this helps

 

[DeRiCo]

Thank you to everyone who offered assistance, but I have found a work around that solved it.

Mainly I used a short industry track and edited some configs to allow the product I wanted to match the industry and wagons.

Dennis