Approach_Medium
Trainz Addict
Hi;
I had this one grade crossing on my TS2010, (SP3 + hot fix) route that would not work properly with the ATLS 4 trigger system. All of the other 25+ crossings also using ATLS system seem to be working properly.
I had multiple sets of triggers for different priority trains, but always 4 triggers would be activated by any train. The system works very well, except for this one crossing.
What was happening is this:
The train would hit the first trigger, and the gates would close.
As the train was passing over the crossing, at about the 3rd car the gates would open.
I also need to mention that this problem occurred when the train was traveling across the triggers in one direction, but not the other.
Depending on the length of the train, the gates would either stay open, or would close and open several more times. If the gates were closed after the last car cleared the crossing, they would remain closed.
Now, reading the tutorials on the ATLS system, I understand that if a train is parked on top of triggers when a session is started, unpredictable things would happen. So, I deleted all of the other triggers (used for other channels) in the area, so that my train would never be over any trigger when the session started. I even deleted the extra triggers I had set up for this crossing, leaving only 4 triggers for 2-way running.
But this did not correct the situation.
I spent a lot of time with this, trying everything I could think of. I completely removed the ATLS triggers, the Traffic Controller, and the Slave, then replaced them anew. I tried setting to a different channel.
I tried saving to the map, and saving in the normal way to the session.
Nothing seemed to make a difference.
Eventually, I added a line to the Traffic Controller's script file (trafficcontroller.gs) that would print a message to the interface every time a trigger was entered or left.
I learned that I was getting a total of 10 trigger events (5 entering, and 5 leaving) each time the train crossed this set of 4 triggers. This was the problem. You are supposed to get only 8 events (4 enter and 4 leave) for the set of 4 triggers. It appeared that the extra trigger was located just past the crossing.
I really thought I had a "ghost in the machine". Where were these extra trigger events coming from?
I checked and re-checked that I didn't have any triggers on a hidden layer. Nothing.
Finally, I decided to delete the track (and all of the triggers that were attached to it) in the area where these triggers were located.
In the process of replacing the track, I also thought that perhaps the fact that I had a track spline on either side of the problem crossing was fouling things up, so this time I did not place any splines in this new section of track.
I placed all of the ATLS triggers at exactly the same locations they had been previously, set everything up, and ran the session with the exact same train starting in the exact spot where it had been for all of the previous sessions.
The result was success! The crossing now works properly, and there are only 8 events (4 enter, 4 leave) for the set of 4 triggers.
The funny thing about all of this, is that I had always had track splines near each side of most crossings, and had even placed ATLS triggers right on the splines, without any problems. Why it happened at this one crossing remains a mystery to me.
I am going to work with a simple route I have created to test this scenario, in an attempt to reproduce the problem.
Has anyone had any trouble like this? I would be very interested to hear.
Thanks
FW
p.s.
There is a reason some have not been able to get the ATLS assets to save to map.
I have found that when you type in the name of the asset according to the instructions in the tutorial, you need to do the following:
Click the checkmark to close the dialog and accept the new settings.
Re-open the same dialog by clicking it again (still in the object properties (?) mode). You will notice that the object is still not saved to map.
Click the checkmark again to close the dialog, then re-open once more. Now you will see that the object is saved to MAP.
Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens to me with TS2010 every time I want to save to MAP.
I had this one grade crossing on my TS2010, (SP3 + hot fix) route that would not work properly with the ATLS 4 trigger system. All of the other 25+ crossings also using ATLS system seem to be working properly.
I had multiple sets of triggers for different priority trains, but always 4 triggers would be activated by any train. The system works very well, except for this one crossing.
What was happening is this:
The train would hit the first trigger, and the gates would close.
As the train was passing over the crossing, at about the 3rd car the gates would open.
I also need to mention that this problem occurred when the train was traveling across the triggers in one direction, but not the other.
Depending on the length of the train, the gates would either stay open, or would close and open several more times. If the gates were closed after the last car cleared the crossing, they would remain closed.
Now, reading the tutorials on the ATLS system, I understand that if a train is parked on top of triggers when a session is started, unpredictable things would happen. So, I deleted all of the other triggers (used for other channels) in the area, so that my train would never be over any trigger when the session started. I even deleted the extra triggers I had set up for this crossing, leaving only 4 triggers for 2-way running.
But this did not correct the situation.
I spent a lot of time with this, trying everything I could think of. I completely removed the ATLS triggers, the Traffic Controller, and the Slave, then replaced them anew. I tried setting to a different channel.
I tried saving to the map, and saving in the normal way to the session.
Nothing seemed to make a difference.
Eventually, I added a line to the Traffic Controller's script file (trafficcontroller.gs) that would print a message to the interface every time a trigger was entered or left.
I learned that I was getting a total of 10 trigger events (5 entering, and 5 leaving) each time the train crossed this set of 4 triggers. This was the problem. You are supposed to get only 8 events (4 enter and 4 leave) for the set of 4 triggers. It appeared that the extra trigger was located just past the crossing.
I really thought I had a "ghost in the machine". Where were these extra trigger events coming from?
I checked and re-checked that I didn't have any triggers on a hidden layer. Nothing.
Finally, I decided to delete the track (and all of the triggers that were attached to it) in the area where these triggers were located.
In the process of replacing the track, I also thought that perhaps the fact that I had a track spline on either side of the problem crossing was fouling things up, so this time I did not place any splines in this new section of track.
I placed all of the ATLS triggers at exactly the same locations they had been previously, set everything up, and ran the session with the exact same train starting in the exact spot where it had been for all of the previous sessions.
The result was success! The crossing now works properly, and there are only 8 events (4 enter, 4 leave) for the set of 4 triggers.
The funny thing about all of this, is that I had always had track splines near each side of most crossings, and had even placed ATLS triggers right on the splines, without any problems. Why it happened at this one crossing remains a mystery to me.
I am going to work with a simple route I have created to test this scenario, in an attempt to reproduce the problem.
Has anyone had any trouble like this? I would be very interested to hear.
Thanks
FW
p.s.
There is a reason some have not been able to get the ATLS assets to save to map.
I have found that when you type in the name of the asset according to the instructions in the tutorial, you need to do the following:
Click the checkmark to close the dialog and accept the new settings.
Re-open the same dialog by clicking it again (still in the object properties (?) mode). You will notice that the object is still not saved to map.
Click the checkmark again to close the dialog, then re-open once more. Now you will see that the object is saved to MAP.
Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens to me with TS2010 every time I want to save to MAP.