De-railing on junctions
- Thread starter LadyWind
- Start date
Hello, friends. Is there some rule or setting that I can change so that my 3yr. old can drive trains without derailing on junctions that merge?
Before you let your 3 year old play Trainz, why not get him or her a toy train set? It gives the child more control and allows them to be much more imaginative in their play, plus they're real physical objects that the child can see and manipulate. All these things are beneficial for the child's psychological development, much more so than a high-level computer simulation.
Hm, I didnt mean to imply that we got the Trainz game for him. Its actually my game, and since I play, he is fascinated with driving the trains. I would just like to be able to walk away and let him drive them on his own. But, they de-rail if I leave. Incidentally, he has an HO train set already, and a whole gamut of Thomas wooden trains. The Tainz computer game just adds to his fascination of trains...
It does sound as though he isn't setting the points (switches) in front of the trains. I taught a young lad to run Trainz recently and they tend not to think about setting routes up because they are excited about getting the train moving under their control, a natural thing I suppose.
This lad concentrated on the train only but eventually after sitting with him for a few hours he got the hang of looking ahead.
The other option is to teach him to use AI and that will set up the points for the whole route but does take the fun of running the train yourself out of the equation.
You don't mention the age of your child but I am assuming about 10 or maybe a little more. The one I spent time with is only 8 and picked up running Trainz very quickly, the only problem was getting him to set up a route.
In Cab Mode it is possible to change the trigger arms on a point either way as the train travells along and in that mode you are looking ahead anyway so perhaps you could try that. My lad likes seeing all around the countryside and the whole train so Chase Mode is his choice which means he is often looking back along the train as it approaches a point so if it is incorrectly set then a derailment follows. Usually okay if not going at a high speed and a trailing point as the 'weight' of the train pushes the point blades over but at high speed it will come off. A facing point incorrectly set only means the train will go the wrong way of course.
It just took me time and constant reminding to get him to think about setting the route up.
Be patient...
Angela
This lad concentrated on the train only but eventually after sitting with him for a few hours he got the hang of looking ahead.
The other option is to teach him to use AI and that will set up the points for the whole route but does take the fun of running the train yourself out of the equation.
You don't mention the age of your child but I am assuming about 10 or maybe a little more. The one I spent time with is only 8 and picked up running Trainz very quickly, the only problem was getting him to set up a route.
In Cab Mode it is possible to change the trigger arms on a point either way as the train travells along and in that mode you are looking ahead anyway so perhaps you could try that. My lad likes seeing all around the countryside and the whole train so Chase Mode is his choice which means he is often looking back along the train as it approaches a point so if it is incorrectly set then a derailment follows. Usually okay if not going at a high speed and a trailing point as the 'weight' of the train pushes the point blades over but at high speed it will come off. A facing point incorrectly set only means the train will go the wrong way of course.
It just took me time and constant reminding to get him to think about setting the route up.
Be patient...
Angela
;-)
I think we can not expect a 3 year old to be able to learn how to look ahead and set those switches.
It is probably a lot easier to set triggers before every junction and make those triggers set the juntion into the right direction. It might be a lot of work, but I cant see a different solution so quick.
shaneturner12
Tutorial Creator
Perhaps using the Path rule by _mutton_ may help here. This can set switches in particular directions.
KUID is <kuid2:71155:60006:3>.
Shane
KUID is <kuid2:71155:60006:3>.
Shane
jjanmarine3
Active member
It might help too if you show the the youngster the specific route forward in free roam view and let him set a few sets of points wrong himself, assign him a driver and let him put up a command for the driver himself, and then go and show him how the points have changed automatically to the correct position.
Okay, this sounds like what I want to do. But, I do not know how to place triggers. Is there a tutorial somewhere?
captainkman
You are reading this.
Hi,
Triggers can be found in the Tracks tab in Surveyor. Click on the 3rd circle from the left to open the Trackmarks and Triggers menu. Then click on the track to place trackmarks.
Triggers can be found in the Tracks tab in Surveyor. Click on the 3rd circle from the left to open the Trackmarks and Triggers menu. Then click on the track to place trackmarks.
3 is a bit young, I had not realised, sorry about that. Your best option is to create a route specifically for him to run trains on or change an existing/built-in one. If there must be points then set them all for the main line as try to make them trailing rather than facing.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately..!) youngsters have a tendancy to investigate things and want to work them or just simply have an urge to click on the screen so points may well get changed accidentally.
Good luck and I do hope you get this working for your child.
Angela
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately..!) youngsters have a tendancy to investigate things and want to work them or just simply have an urge to click on the screen so points may well get changed accidentally.
Good luck and I do hope you get this working for your child.
Angela
The answer is: Probably. But I can probably try to explain it quicker then trying to find that.
As captainkman wrote: You can find triggers under the Track tab in surveyor and then go to the Trigger subtab. You will get a list of 4 items; hard to go wrong.
Your first challange will be to put those near every junction at such a distance that the game did not lock the junction yet; trail-and-error I say.
But I fear that was the easy part.
The next part is to edit the session.
Go to Main Menu and then to Edit session or click on the Edit Session Rules button in the top left.
You now see a list of rules in the session.
1) Click Add. Select "Trigger rule". Look it up in the list (green circle thingie) and click edit. Add a trigger to it.
2) Click Add. Select "Set junctions". Look it up; it is most probably directly under your previous, if not make sure it is. Move it "out" (indent) so points out from underneath your trigger rule. Click edit and add the needed junction and settings. Dont lock it.
Repeat 1 and 2 till you are either finished or running around the house screaming.
Make sure all trigger rules are at the lowest level, else they wont work unless the previous rule in the list has happend.
3) Save and test.
Good luck.