Disaster with UDS system

[Yorkshire]

Well, another disaster after using UDS Mode! So, I have paid up and got TS22 and obviously it changed my existing 2019 to Platinum. I have lost Edit trains and instead must go into Surveyor to deal with any driver situation using the new UDS. I did this but did not 'save' it because Mr Hilliam in response to an earlier post of mine said there was no requirement to save. However, I did press Reset rules as I wanted the messages to continue in the session. Return to driver mode and some train positions had unexplainably changed position. Anyway, when I came out of the route and later returned, I discovered that when in Driver Commands, the three Enhanced Towers I use were not showing, only one signal belonging to one tower showed. Nothing I could do would show all three towers. Worked out that if I deleted that particular tower which had that signal (it only had 4 paths) and recreated it all would be well. Carried out the operation and indeed, in Driver mode, the three towers appeared under Driver Commands.


However, when I restarted the session, having saved it, I discover that none of my consists that have schedule library commands attached to them automatically set off on their journeys. Investigation shows that their commands have been wiped out, though they are showing in Edit Session/Driver Setup. Not only that, when I go into Driver Commands, the IT Path setup says, 'No Tower Available'. I just don't understand what is going on - despite watching a Utube on the new UDS system. Looks like I am going to have to completely create a new session from scratch, hours of work.


A plea, please make Edit trains available again as an additional menu option in Driver mode. It has three essential qualities: -


1) It works


2) It doesn't require a reset of the rules the session has been using


3) It doesn't screw up the session!

 

[G.M.]

That is sad to hear Yorkshire


your original session will still be in the local/backup directory
make sure you copy the good one to a save location outside the directory
after a few days it will be gone forever
then search on forum how to restore a backup


what I do here is not update over my main install, but make a clone install and update that
have a rule here for myself, I edit route and session strictly seperate, no UDS no F2


Currently installed:
-build 100240, the original TRS19, here I do most work on content and older routes,
still my fav. and most used by far
-TRS19SP4, just test and drive here
-TRS19SP5beta, a clean install, pure to betatest SP5
-TRS22beta, (a full clone of TRS19SP4, updated to betaTRS22)this is the only one with UDS and S2

 

[1611mac]

Hello,
yes, UDS is confusing but it's a great help to route builders especially. If you never do any route building "standard" trs19 could be a better choice. Regardless, UDS works as expected and is fine. It's just that it's totally different, it't not intuitive/apparent as to what's going on, and the user needs to take the time to understand it in some detail.

 

[JCitron]

I always keep a backup of my sessions just in case I mess something up. I learned the hard way as you did and now tread carefully.

I will say that the reset rules thing wrecks things!

What good is it if the AI drivers are all out of starting position?

If the drivers are on the wrong track miles away from their start, the mess will get bigger and worse. I found out this the hard way as well and ended up quitting the session anyway and restarting because it was easier than trying to adjust the AI.

I have suggested but have been duly ignored more than once on this, how about a restart session instead. The restart session will put everything back to as it was when the session was started in the first place without having to reload from scratch. This will put the AI back to home position plus restart the rules at the same time. This could be optionally disabled for those session-writers who build complex scripted scenarios with points and awards, but for the rest of us this would make things a lot less painful.

UDS as it is, is indeed quite helpful for route building. Many times, I have used it to test ATLS and TRC crossings, signals, and other complex junctions. With only a single consist or two placed down in Surveyor, I switch to driver and have the drivers traverse the route in that area. I watch for glitches and jump back to Surveyor to make adjustments before saving. This doesn't affect the running session I have created since this is only within the route-building part.

Editing a session on the fly, however, is a different matter. There can be a disconnect between the route and the session with somethings in the session not falling on the route side of things. I ran into this early on when I found some track I placed in the session, while making adjustments on the fly, missing on the route after making the changes! When I noticed this, I was initially confused, but then I realized that the layers got in the way. Since the changes weren't extensive, I deleted them from the session and placed them in the route. From now on, being a bit gun shy, now do my route editing in the route the old fashion way and use UDS only for route building.

In some ways, I see UDS as a transition between how we used to build routes and sessions and a future way. I have a feeling that in the future, we won't have a separate mode for editing the session and one for the route and instead will be one in the same.

 

[Yorkshire]

Many thanks for your comments, commiserations and kind suggestions. will follow up. You just feel so frustrated with not being able to work out what's going on! Will try to sort out tomorrow.

 

[pware]

There is a Wiki page devoted entirely to the UDS and unraveling its mysteries and confusions. See at https://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Use_the_UDS_Interface.

A bug has been reported in EITs and ITs where the path and settings are initially saved in the Route but any later edits and changes are then saved in the Session. The workaround for this is to always load the Session when working with ITs and EITs. The last time I used EITs was in TRS19 SP2 and the issue had not been fixed there. I have not had the opportunity to test them in later builds.