Continuous dynamic operation

[YDydmaster]

Anyone interested in operating Trainz routes in continuous, dynamic operation sessions that can be saved and then be modified in Surveyor to provide real life dynamic continuous operations of a railroad? If this were to be possible, crashes and derailments would be fixable in Surveyor.

 

[valishara]

Yes. (auto-fill)

 

[PatrickTaylor89]

Anyone interested in operating Trainz routes in continuous, dynamic operation sessions that can be saved and then be modified in Surveyor to provide real life dynamic continuous operations of a railroad? If this were to be possible, crashes and derailments would be fixable in Surveyor.

I operate continuous sessions right now, and I know there are at least several others who do as well. It's the main reason why I prefer Trainz over the other sims, all of which are very scenario-based. I'd love it if Trainz evolved to the point where you could modify things in a dynamic fashion. In fact, that would make Trainz just about perfect in my opinion.

However, as far as derailments are concerned, there are work-arounds that make this pretty much possible now. Depending on what version you are using, there is a "re-rail portal" as well as at least one "erase derailed consist" rule that can eliminate derailed trains without the need to end a session. Thanks to the I-Portal or "Emit Train Now" rule, you can also re-add those derailed consists back into the session. There's an element of imagination involved there, since you can't litereally re-rail the cars, but with a little creativity, it's pretty close to realistic operation.

I hope to see Trainz continue to evolve in this fashion. However, I'm not sure that it will, because I think we're in the minority here and that these kinds of features would not be of interest to the majority of users who seem to prefer scenarios and sessions with a fixed end point.

Patrick

 

[corey9212]

I would love to do that, but I have no idea on how run it. Give me waybills and engines and I would do whats needed to get it done. But I am clueless on making waybills and industries (with AI locomotives) for a dynamic continuous operation. Also yes I read the instructions and did tutorials but still can't figure it out.

 

[crohakon]

I would like to set up my little route with waybills and such... but I have no idea how to do it. I also have no idea who to script or anything like that for this game. Where can I read more on the waybill stuff and setting up industries. I feel like I am limited in what I can do without learning more of this knowledge.

 

[PatrickTaylor89]

I would like to set up my little route with waybills and such... but I have no idea how to do it. I also have no idea who to script or anything like that for this game. Where can I read more on the waybill stuff and setting up industries. I feel like I am limited in what I can do without learning more of this knowledge.

I'm not trying to talk you out of learning and using the built-in waybill system, but I know that several of us who prefer dynamic operations have created our own freight movement system using outside tools such as car cards and other software. In fact, I believe that some of the software intended for such use with physical model railroads can also be used to "direct traffic" in Trainz just as easily. Obviously, none of this software directly interacts with Trainz, but can still be used to plan sessions etc.

Like I said, it's totally up to you, and I guess it all depends on how deeply you want to get into that side of operations. Trainz is very flexible!

Patrick

 

[YDydmaster]

I too have been setting up my TRS2006 into routes that are continuous running sessions, all the way back to November 2006. I use iPortals in most cases but am in the process of building a complete division of CSX in southwestern Indiana. I use a group of Word documents in table form that emulates the car card system I have used in model railroading for years. All this is working fairly well and I use re-rail ports. However, as in real life, scenery and businesses change and are added, making such mods cause a complete restart of my operations or try to use Surveyor to set up the entire system as was at the time of the mod. The dynamic feature would as is stated here, make Trainz truly the best on the market and probably attract many more operators that stay away now because these sessions are like being in the movie 'Groundhog Day'!
I am glad to see that several operators are interested and have answered.
Chuck

 

[Lots_Trains]

Hi :wave:

Oh Yes, I do its the only way to play trainz in my humble opinion, just keep saving the never ending game and with 09 just love watching the kms build up on those locos as I try and work them into the ground. I play accross several maps as well

Cheers

Lots :wave:

 

[mikeaust]

Hi All,
I run Trainz most of the time in a dynamic mode, I get frustrated when I have to go back to the beginning when I find a problem with the system. I have a number of routes joined together so I am able work around these but to be able to restart the game without returning to the start again would be a very good idea.

mike

 

[PatrickTaylor89]

This is a very interesting thread because I'm not sure the idea of dynamic operation has ever been seriously discussed here before, although it was brought up at TrainzDev a while back. I hope the folks at Auran are aware that this kind of thing is of interest to at least some of us.

I'd love to see changes to Surveyor that better suit this kind of operation. The neat part about implementing such features is that it would make Trainz far better for those of us who like dynamic operations, but I also don't think it would ruin anything for those who don't. They could still continue to play Trainz however they did in the past.

That said, I wonder how big of a deal it would be to implement such changes. All we really need is for Surveyor to keep up with whatever consist movements take place in Driver. Is it possible that a script could be written to make this possible now?

Hi :wave:

Oh Yes, I do its the only way to play trainz in my humble opinion, just keep saving the never ending game and with 09 just love watching the kms build up on those locos as I try and work them into the ground. I play accross several maps as well

Cheers

Lots :wave:

Lots, I remember you mentioning on TrainzDev that '09 had several bugs that were causing issues with saved sessions. Based on what you've written above, can I assume that these issues have been resolved? I hope they have. I was a little worried that Auran wouldn't consider them to be priority issues.

Patrick

 

[MountE]

Would be great if you could open a saved game in surveyor and make whatever changes you wanted and save the reworked saved game.
Don't know how you get high mileage figures, my experience is the mileage goes back to zero when you restart a saved game.
I tried using the iportal to move a train between a series of maps with limited success. I tried to use sessions so after the train would leave the 1st map from the iportal I start a new session on a different map and have the train enter by the iportal.

Rob