How do iportals work?

[Approach_Medium]

Hi;
I am just trying out the iportal in TS2009. I have seen them swallow trains, but is there a way to have trains return from the iportals after some time, or from another part of the same route?

It seems that the main purpose of the iportal is to exchange trains between users via the internet.
This seems kind of complicated, and my route isn't even finished yet, so I don't think I want to have trains appearing from other users just yet.

For now, I'm just using them at the end of the track so trains don't fall off the edge of the Earth!

What else can I do with iportals?
Do they always look like plain white tubes? Can't I make them look like real tunnels?

Thanks

FW

 

[fuzzies]

I dont have an answer myself, but this link might be worth reading till you get something better

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/archive/index.php/t-9079.html

Hope this helps,
Lenny

 

[cascaderailroad]

Basic Portals

You want basic portals. Where you name each portal, and specify where trains are returned at, and what portal, and how oten they are returned to a portal. I will be glad to go into the process in detail in my next reply.

 

[quicksilver1983]

quick question about portals - can you send trainz from one map to another on your computer via the portals?

ie, taking the Electric Commuter and the UK Midland map from TRS2006, could I send a train from Electric to Midland and would I have to switch maps to see the train?

 

[palmer]

short q where do you get them ?!!?:wave:

 

[Approach_Medium]

short q where do you get them ?!!?:wave:

Get iportals? They're built-in content with TS2006 and TS2009.
They are objects, not track.

FW

 

[Approach_Medium]

quick question about portals - can you send trainz from one map to another on your computer via the portals?

ie, taking the Electric Commuter and the UK Midland map from TRS2006, could I send a train from Electric to Midland and would I have to switch maps to see the train?

As far as I know, you cannot send trains to or receive trains from iportals on the same machine, since more than one instance of Trainz would need to be running simultaneously.

If you have two or more computers networked, and are running Trainz, then you can do it.
Just supply the ip address for the other computer.

FW

 

[cascaderailroad]

Portals

I believe iportals send trainz to another PC via the internet, either a second PC of your own, or someone elses PC far away. There's a iportal club I hear.

I prefer portals myself, as I don't know exactly how iportals work in detail.

 

[Mouse84]

iPortals can be used both ways, either to send trains to another computer or to another iPortal on the same computer,

 

[edion2]

Please correct me if my understanding is wrong.

I recently "chopped up" my large into 3 piece. My main yard being the common area with all three pieces. I have been wanting to move a train from one to one of the other parts. I've been busy for the last 18 months just building. I am now finally getting into the intricacies of AI operations, rules, and other more complex operations.

So far I've used only "portals". Now I want to move trains from one route to another on my own computer. I was previously misinformed that you NEED two computers so I dismissed the possible use of "i-portals". It seem I need to re-think this. I am mainly interested in sending trains WITHIN my own computer.

Assumption -
To send a train from one route to another within the SAME Computer :
1. The sent train consist will appear EXACTLY as it was sent, including the order, engineer, train running number etc. when it comes out of the "i-portal" on the new route.

2. For this to happen, the computer would have to create a file for each train that gets stored so that the new route you just loaded can retrieve it.

Questions -
Assuming that you just sent a train from "i-portal A" on route #1 to "i-portal B" on route #2.

When you start your DRIVER session on route #2, the route that is receiving the train . . .

-- Will the train show up "AS A SESSION" on the new route?
-- Which session do you open?
-- Is there a dialog box that you open with the "i-portal" to select which train to receive? If you can, that means you can store numerous trains to to "continue" operating on route #2, and visa-versa.
-- OR, could it be that the new train needs to be TURNED INTO a session in Surveyor before you can run the train?

Now that I realize IT CAN BE DONE . . . someone must have already done it. There must be someone out there that routinely sends himself trains.

I just don't want replace my portals just on a whim, cause it takes some time to set up your consists. I was just hoping for a quick "this is how" answer so each of us don't have to take the time experimenting.

A little help from anyone who knows ?? :wave:

 

[Approach_Medium]

iPortals can be used both ways, either to send trains to another computer or to another iPortal on the same computer,

That's right. I remember now. You can send trains to another iportal on the same route. Can you also send trains to other routes that are not running?
If that is possible, the trainz would be in files on the HDD, and when you open the other route, they would come through the portals according to time and location I guess.
I've never played with that, but it would be a great way to break up a huge route into smaller, manageable sections.

FW

 

[Mouse84]

You can send trains to a route not being used using iportals. When you start the route, the trains "should" appear, if it's going to a iportal that is unique to that route. You can't have that iportal id used on different routes, or the first route that is fired up using that id is where the train will appear.

One disadvantage in using iportals to send trains to the same route is that you can't transfer commands for use after it exits the iportal.

Example:

With portals, you can set up AI commands and it will enter one portal and then exit the next and keep following the commands.

With iportals, once it enters one iportal and exit's the next, the commands are lost.

I use regular portals and use the "Portal Timetable Rule" to put out the trains that I want, from the portal that I want, with the commands that I want, at the time that I want. It is a great tool and it's on the DLS.

 

[edion2]

Hmmm . . .

That is interesting that the commands are lost . . . that means you can't send AI trains because as soon as the exit the i-portal . . . they are lost, not knowing what to do next. What do ya expect . . . they are AI drivers (Artificial Idiots), they excel at being lost ! :hehe::hehe:

But, AI bashing aside, I am most interested in being able to CONTINUE driving my own train on the next route. The commands, if you are driving your own train, should not be a problem . . . since WE WOULD know what we need to do next, and there should be NO COMMANDS NEEDED.

What I would like to do is finish a session on one route and end that session by driving into an "i-portal" disguised as a regular tunnel, end the session, exit Driver, load the next route and session and when it starts up, I will be driving MY TRAIN when I exit the "i-portal" on the next route.

The portal ID should not be a problem because it will always be the same. All trains that I AM DRIVING on that route, in that direction, from a certain route, will always exit that "i-portal".

Therefore:
The trains I am driving from route "A" to route "B" that is North bound will always appear from "North bound on i-portal XX on route B".

As far as AI, you can set up their own schedule and commands on the newly loaded route "B".

The Nagging Questions :
For those of us already using the regular portals, does the "i-portals" have the same capability as the regular "portals"??
Are "i-portals" capable of sending and receiving trains just like the regular "portals"??
OR . . . hopefully not . . . Do we need both portals at the "edge-of-the-world", one for AI trains and a SEPARATE one for US to drive through to the next route ??

I'm really surprised how little information is readily available in the manual. Sending trains over the internet must be full of compatibility issues from one user to another. It would seem a far simpler solution to just provide a good "train transfer" just from one route to another on the SAME computer.

I stayed away from "i-portals" because it just seemed to be a lot of trouble and issues to deal with, just to be able to receive trains from someone . . . without any commands. I get the train but nothing shows up . . . cause I don't have the the same Engines or rolling stock on my computer. Forget that problem. It seems to be a feature that is not very popular, not very well thought out for its practicality and not very useful for single computer use.

I guess I'll have to spend the time to experiment. I hope its not a waste of time.

 

[Approach_Medium]

I did some experimentation with portals today.
I set up two to consume (I like that term... consume; it gets hungry, and feasts on trains) and produce trains.
I had some problems. First, the one that would produce a train, always produced the same exact train every time, despite the fact that I had three consists in it's list.
I think the problem was that I never added any locos to two of the three consists.

The other portal I set up on the same test route produced only trains that would back out of the portal part way, then go back into it.
Do I have to set the direction different than forward for any of the portals?

One thing I found interesting is that after I set up signals, the signal just outside the portal would be green until about a minute before a train came out. I like that indication. I was wondering what might happen if I send a train into a portal and it just happens to be due to produce a train while the train is still entering the portal.

What I think I may do in my route is put portals at the far ends, both of which have yards, and enter various consists into each, so that trains will come into the yards at regular intervals, as well as have a place for trains to leave the route.

I'm getting to feel a bit overwhelmed by Trainz. I am discovering new things I can do with the "game" almost daily now.
I have been a Trainz player since the 2004 edition, but never got involved with portals, iportals, or even AI.

I have a difficult time thinking of Trainz as a game. It's more serious than any game I've ever played. I guess simulator is a better word than game.

Edit:
Played some more with portals, and found that indeed my problem was that I didn't have power on the consists.
I had two of the portals set to produce trains every 5min.
I was "railfanning" just outside one portal, waiting for the signal to turn red, indicating an approaching train, but instead a train came out of the tunnel behind me, and I wouldn't have noticed it at all except that I saw the driver's face pop up on the bottom of the screen. He was kind of pissed because he was sitting there waiting for me to give him permission to move.

Is there any way to have trains come out of the portals, and run at a specified speed, obeying all signals of course?
I believe there is a setting for the iportals; automatic. But I haven't seen that setting for the protals.

FW

 

[Mouse84]

Try the Portal Timetable Rule found on the DLS.

You can set which portal you want it to come out of with "Emitting Portal

You can set what time it comes out with "Add New Timetable"

You can set what train comes out with "Add an existing saved consist"

You can select a driver with "Add Driver to Consist"

You can use the command bar to add and save commands for the AI to follow.

To add another train just click on the "I" box at the bottom.


I have a route that has about 25 trains set up using the "PTR"

 

[edion2]

"I-PORTAL" EXPERIMENT

This is an experiment on how to use "i-portals" for something OTHER than its intended use. It was not mainly designed for sending trains to OTHER routes on the SAME COMPUTER.

I have no interest at the moment about sending trains to other users over the internet. I only want to send the train that I am driving over to another route and continue driving on that route. The intent is to have smaller manageable "pieces" of routes without hitting the 2GB size limit imposed on Trainz software by the MS O/S.

So, this is the result of quick experimenting for the end result of being able to to drive your own train on to the next route. I did not try any AI experiments. I have enough problems setting up AI trains on regular portals.

I created two 3 baseboard sized routes. One as route "A" and the other as route "B". Placed an "i-portal" on each one with a short pass track and a return loop at the end. One portal was "IP 1 A" and the other as "IP 1 B". There are 2 flavors, "iportal" and "iportal basic". The "basic" is just a straight track where as the "iportal" has this ugly white tube. They are identical in operation, except one is just ugly as sin . . . yuck. What were they smoking . . . So that is the set up.

The train started on "route A", through "IP 1 A" and the train was sent to "route B" exiting through "IP 1 B".

The good news is . . . YES, you can drive your train on to another route. BUT there are few issues.

1. Volatile trains :
When you send a train to yourself, it seems you get only 1 chance at it. The first time I tried, I accidentally de-railed the train. I tried again by restarting Driver . . . Na Da . . . nothing. The train never came through.

It is a ONE SHOT deal. The memory location that held the information about the "sent" train was lost AFTER the train has appeared on the other side of the destination "i-portal". I had to re-send the train again. This is something to keep in mind.

I strongly suspect . . . that once you "QUIT" Trainz, all trains sent to yourself are now gone. Otherwise you will end up accumulating "trains in limbo" waiting for an "i-portal" to come out of. It can get sizeable if it wasn't cleared out when you Quit.

2. You lose your "assigned" engineer :
When you send a train through "i-portal", the engineer coming out the other side is not the engineer you sent in. Its a random driver. As for sending your own train to continue driving, its just a different face. No problem really.

3. The train MUST stop after exiting :
I was hoping to just keep driving my train after exiting . . . no such luck. There are 2 setting for the train after it exits the "i-portal", "MANUAL" or "AUTO".

"Manual" stops the train after exiting. Here is the catch. The train WILL NOT BRAKE and STOP until ALL the train has appeared. ALSO you can not control the train untill ALL the train has appeared. If you run long trains like I do, you will need a good length of space to stop the train.

"Auto" will keep the train running and obey speed limits and signals . . . BUT its under AI control with no commands. You want to take control of your train. To do that, you have to issue an ABANDON SCHEDULE command. Then you can get the HUD back up so you can start driving . . . unfortunately, the train MUST STOP.

In either mode, the train must stop so you can take over. I will need to experiment more to see which method suits me best.

4. A STAGING AREA is necessary :
I was hoping to avoid this but a staging area for trains just outside "i-portals" is looking like a necessity. Since a lot of my "end of track" happens on a 1.5% grade, stopping a long heavy train can take for ever to get it up to speed.

You will need to leave a locomotive at the staging area where the driver view will be looking when you sart Driver. You have 1 minute for your train to start exiting the "i-portal". You'd want to be there when it shows up.

The staging area won't look quite so prototypical once you have to add another tunnel for each track. One for regular portals for your AI drivers to keep working the way they used to, and one for "i-portal" for YOU to drive through. The "i-portal" wil not generate trains like the regular portal.

5. Don't forget to leave the "USER" as NO USER. This refers to SOMEONE ELSE or another computer on the internet. NO USER = send train to THIS computer.

These are the VERY basics for sending YOUR OWN TRAIN only on the same computer to another route.

I hope I cleared up a few thing.

 

[edion2]

Supplamental NOTE

I just installed a staging area and "i-portal" on one end of my route. I decided to use two double track tunnel instead of the ugly looking "portal tunnels".

A NEW ISSUE with "i-portals" is that the height IS NOT anchored at the entry end. The regular portal are anchored at the entry end, meaning once placed it will stay there no matter what you do to the ground behind the entry point. This allows you to bury the "portal tunnel" into a hill or a mountain.

Since the anchor point is in the MIDDLE, trying to cover up the tunnel is a total pain in the u-kno-what.

Since you MUST attach your track to the "basic portal/i-portal", and not the tunnel track itself, trying to get the "i-portal" track to just cover the tunnel track can take some very careful moves to get them to look right.

Just wanted to add this little information I just found out.

 

[cascaderailroad]

There is a Tunnel Portal on DLS that can be positioned at any angle and it has no spline or track, it is just an object...Trees of a factory can hide an unsightly Portal too.

 

[JCitron]

Regarding setting up the driver commands:

I have found using the Schedule Library rule and the Copy Schedule command very helpful. This is a perfect pair of tools for setting up multiple trains that will use the same commands.

Regarding the long leads to the portals:

I have numerous portals, and I have found it's best to have a substantial amount of track in front of he portal so that the AI drivers can become "accustomed" to the route. This in some cases is nearly a full baseboard because of the length of my freight trains. I have even placed portals at an angle to gain more length, and buried them into the hills so they aren't obvious when looking. I also have two portals for each area; and inbound (to) and an outbound (from). They are also protected, on the long leads, by direction markers so the AI drivers don't get stupid and take the wrong track. I found out the hard way with this as AI drivers would sit and block the wrong portal while trying to enter while someone one else was exiting.

Regarding the i-portals. I've been thinking about this for awhile myself, and I'm glad to read that they can be used, but sadly with those caveats. I think that this is where the schedule library rule and copy schedule commands will work. The i-portal train comes into the new layout and allowed to stop instead of continuing to drive. When the train arrives, the user needs to place the copy schedule command (preceeded by a wait for...), that was setup prior in the schedule library. This will save time when setting up the new driver since there is no need to keep adding and editing the command queue once it's been configured once.

John

 

[xero]

Hey fwassner!!! I read your question on the iportals and I just wanna say that all the things that you said totally cracked me up! Thanks I needed a good laugh and now I understand the iportal situation... Sort of...