Assistance with the SCS2006

[jamal17]

Can someone show me how to use the SCS2006 im trying to get my 8 line commuter rail system off the ground

 

[Euphod]

Have you been through the TPR forum on SCS?

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

Have you downloaded the manual as well as the rule? This is quite comprehensive and will answer many of your questions. As Euphod has mentioned there is a section of the forum at TPR dealing with SCS2006 which has more information on it. When you have read through the manual and the forum, if you still require help with it, please post back.

While you have given a little bit of information (8 line commuter rail system) it would be easier to answer questions if you can be a little more specific about what you are wanting to achieve with the route.

Please note that the rule will not work with TS2012 or with TS2010 above build 44088. The multiplayer versions have finally broken it.

Regards

Brian

 

[jamal17]

Ok I'll give you a little description about the system and how i want to run it, the system consist of R1 Larchmont line, R2 Hempstead/Fort mill ext(ft mill non electric), R3 Greenwich Line, R4 Norton line(shortest line), R5 Malvern/North wale ext non electric(main line), R6 Stamford line(longest line), R7 Newport line, R8 Hunton line. The fort Mill and the north wale lines are non electric meaning they run off of deisel motor and they run every hour or few hours similar to the LIRR's Greenport and Port Jefferson lines. the main terminal for all trains is central terminal where at certain times like roush hour you can catch every single rail line. the Riverfront Terminal(spin off of the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, NY for the LIRR) is for every train that goes to the Freeport station(spin off from the LIRR's Jamaica station in queens) there you can catch the R2, R4, R5, R7, and R8 lines, but mainly the R2(electric), R5(electric) and sometimes R7 trains will be running from central but you can take them to Freeport and connect with the R2(Diesel), R4, R5(diesel), R7 and R8 lines at freeport. all other trains like the R1, R3 and R6 will always depart form Central. I want to run a scenario of this system that's why i need some assistance, if you live in NYC or Long Island and take the Long island Rail Road most of your life you'll understand how I want my system to run. I want to make two scenarios where you can play and the scenario starts at night and if you play long enough you'll wind up in the morning and one where you play in the day and if you play for hours you'll wind up in the night. you can ride the train and let it do the work or you can control it, the scenarios would only end if you brake a rule, derail or don't follow given directions. other than that they are everlasting scenarios and you will see service changes as time goes by. If you decide to leave a train for another one make sure that the train your controlling is stopped at a station why? so it can continue on its own like in real life as if a engineer decides to leave a train and another engineer is at that station and takes over, or else the scenario will end on you for letting a train run loose on a occupied rail line. and their will be times where your service is up and you have to take a train to a yard or portal and pick a different train to drive. Well this is how I plan on running my scenario now all I want to know is how can I make that happen with SCS2006 why? because I heard it was a good tool for running scenarios.

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi again Jamal17

SCS2006 is a good system for writing scenarios but like most things in life it does have its limitations. It works by using one thread for each train and I think that there are 64 threads of which 8 are used internally. This leaves 56 for use in the scenario and one of these is required to set everything up. The maximum number of train threads available for consists is therefore 55.

As you have 8 lines on your route this means that each of the lines can have 7 trains on it. Will this be enough to run your service? As I have never been to the USA I have no idea of how the actual service runs so I have to go by your description of it.

I feel that the best way to write this type of scenario is to have each train running exactly to time. This helps to prevent conflicts between trains and keeps the scenario running fairly well. Unfortunately it can soon get boring as you will pass the same train at exactly the same point every time. It is possible to introduce randomness into a scenario but I wouldn't recomend it with a scenario such as you have described. In real life there are people in control who can make decisions about how to route late running trains once they have lost their path through the system. They aren't available in trainz so it is best to avoid getting into that situation in the first place.

If you have read through the manual as recommended you will now have an idea about what SCS2006 can and can't do. Do you still feel that it is the solution to your problems? I have written scenarios that involve busy terminus stations but they have not been designed to run for as long as you envisage due to the limited number of threads and the difficulties of testing them properly.

I have found that the longest scenario that I feel comfortable writing is about 3 hours mainly because of the length of time that testing takes. The scenario may run well for two and a half hours and then stop for some reason. You have to find the problem and then sit through the scenario again for two and a half hours to see if you have solved it. This can be very frustrating if it takes you two or three attempts to get it right. Imagine getting fourteen hours into the scenario and it all breaks down because you have made a minor error in the programming!

I have written scenarios that run longer by writing them in such a way that everything is back where it started after 2 or 3 hours and then repeating it as many times as you want. Unfortunately this method won't allow you to increase traffic at peak periods and so isn't really useful for you.

If you still feel that this is the way to go then I would advise making a very simple route to learn SCS2006 on. With this rule you need to walk before you run so create a 4 track terminus with a storage yard at the other end and program trains to run between them. It will teach you some of the techniques that you will need to program your route and will probably save you a lot of the frustration that you will get by starting too big too soon.

Regards

Brian

 

[jamal17]

so basically i can make a demo route and use scs2006 with that to see how it plays out then when i get a hand of it I can use it for my route? how can i find the scs2006 manual i downloaded the scs2006, scs2006 html pages library, scs2006 library call demo, scs2006 signalling and scs2006 sound demo.

 

[wreeder]

It is available at the TPR forums.

http://www.trainzproroutes.org/forum/

You have to register to download the documentation in the SCS2006 forum.

William

 

[jamal17]

How can i make a scenario endless or how can i set up a time for it to end

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

You can make a scenario endless by programming each thread so that it can be repeated. For example train A runs from station 1 to station 2 then waits for a short time and returns to station 1. At the point where you want the thread to repeat from, you put in a Label command with a name such as "Start". At the end of the thread you will put in a Goto command and enter "Start" as the name. The thread will keep repeating the commands between the Goto and Label commands until you stop it.

If you want the scenario to run until a certain time, the last two commands in the setup thread would be Wait Until with the time entered into it and follow that with a Scenario End command.

Regards

Brian

 

[jamal17]

Ok thanks ill give it a try and come back if I have any issues I'm starting to get a hand of it i just printed out the "user control demo" and "path set demo" from TPR and i used the same commands in the path set demo in a demo route that i made and everything worked except that the scenario shut down and i went back to surveyor.

 

[jamal17]

where is the setup thread i only see the scenario and train thread

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

Sorry, it is the scenario thread that I was refering to.

Regards

Brian

 

[jamal17]

How do I make every train in my scenario repeat all of their commands, I think this way the scenario wont end because different trains will have different tasks repeating and that will keep the scenario from ending

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

Just get each thread to repeat as I mentioned above. I try to get them all to repeat over a set period which is short enough to be tested easily. As an example say the longest thread takes 3 hours to complete I would make this the repeat point. Some threads may repeat sooner in which case they would repeat 2 or more times during the 3 hour period.

The point of this though is that all your consists should be back at their start points after the 3 hour period has elapsed. They should then be ok to repeat indefinately.

Regards

Brian

 

[jamal17]

I want to set a path with the path set command for my trains but the path set command only lets me set two junctions and some of my trains will be leaving stations and entering 5 to 10 junctions how can i set more junctions for a train

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

First of all try setting the whole path at one go and see if the train follows the correct route. If it doesn't then you will need to break the path down into a number of smaller sections to make sure that it takes the route that you want it to. I have found that I can use the same signal name for each of the shorter paths if there aren't any other signals along the full path.

Regards

Brian