Portal Emitting Every Minute

[boleyd]

Portal Issues continue. Every minute a train is emitted from the portal. The settings are:
Time between trains: 15 Minutes
Timer Fluctuation" 5 minutes
Effective immediate: YES
Order to Emit Trains: Sequential

First train emits ok and goes toward destination. However, 1 minute later the same train emits again and this messes things up. I have charged train types and varied settings to no avail. Also, re-powered the system. Varied the above values. Different trains. And, probably other things as well.
The objective is trains from other railroads dropping cars and retrieving them on a schedule.

This worked fine for several days but...Then I went off and made scenery change. Later returned to this problem.

An identical setup in 2019 works perfectly!

 

[mtldrm38]

I gave up using portals because of script issues like this....

 

[KotangaGirl]

Portals are one of those things that N3V are going to fix soon(tm) and are a source of frustration in TRS22. I'm using them in retail build 119451, but I've found that setting them for any time period closer than about 45 minutes ends up going out of synch fairly quickly so it's no good using them for anything that requires any kind of accuracy. I gave up on trying to get portals to accept trains due to it being so unreliable and I now use the 'remove train' command instead.

 

[boleyd]

I have Reverted to 2019 117009. Portals were not working there last week but now they are working and 2022 is not working. There is some variable that is driving the software nuts. Will do development on 2019 until Portals fail there, once again, Then through the magic of CDP copies I will go to 2022 to run the route and enjoy whatever it is that is different about running trains there.

I could simply stack up trains, behind a hill, for release by schedule into the route and then delete them when they "leave" my railroad. That seems very unrealistic to me where portals has a more realistic approach. The eye of the beholder.

 

[KotangaGirl]

I could simply stack up trains, behind a hill, for release by schedule into the route and then delete them when they "leave" my railroad. That seems very unrealistic to me where portals has a more realistic approach. The eye of the beholder.

On some of my routes I removed the portals and replaced them with hidden in the scenery loop sidings. Trains enter the hidden sidings, they stop in their designated loop siding, their schedule counts down the time they need to wait and then they head out again. This works best with passenger train services, but the one thing about it is that it's completely reliable.

 

[fjbicrf]

Does this problem also apply to what I believe are called iPortals? Or do the iPortals operate on a separate script / process?

Fred Bray

 

[JCitron]

On some of my routes I removed the portals and replaced them with hidden in the scenery loop sidings. Trains enter the hidden sidings, they stop in their designated loop siding, their schedule counts down the time they need to wait and then they head out again. This works best with passenger train services, but the one thing about it is that it's completely reliable.

I've done the same. This I agree works well with trams and other continuous operations such as commuter trains. For freight trains though this doesn't work because if the freights are used for delivering freight to on-route industries, then there's no longer another freight train to dispatch around the route.

 

[JCitron]

Does this problem also apply to what I believe are called iPortals? Or do the iPortals operate on a separate script / process?

Fred Bray

I think iPortals work differently. I've had very few problems with those. For me, regular portals get bogged down and the route gets slower and slower then, the AI gets stupider.

 

[KotangaGirl]

For freight trains though this doesn't work because if the freights are used for delivering freight to on-route industries, then there's no longer another freight train to dispatch around the route.

I suppose it works for me John as I like to do my own shunting and trip working using the 'advanced' steam controls while the passenger service schedules are under the control of the AI robot drivers. It's the kind of thing that suits the pre-grouping Uk secondary line and branchline railways I like to build, but wouldn't really work so well on a larger route.
In TS12 I used to use portals a lot and with great success, - but we all know what happened to them in the more recent versions of Trainz.

 

[JCitron]

I suppose it works for me John as I like to do my own shunting and trip working using the 'advanced' steam controls while the passenger service schedules are under the control of the AI robot drivers. It's the kind of thing that suits the pre-grouping Uk secondary line and branchline railways I like to build, but wouldn't really work so well on a larger route.
In TS12 I used to use portals a lot and with great success, - but we all know what happened to them in the more recent versions of Trainz.

I run my routes, such as my smallish Gloucester Terminal Electric similarly. There are only three portals on the route. Two are dedicated to through traffic between Boston and Rockport with trains every 45 minutes traipsing through on the mainline. The commuter trains between Rockport and Boston with stops in Gloucester and West Gloucester make periodic appearances with an occasional freight while another is an iPortal I use to connect to my big Enfield and Eastern route that I'm finally finishing up. I have one or two trains from Rockport head that way but they're far and few between compared to the majority of the Boston bound trains.

In the meantime, ...

I have AI driving trams on the electric lines. The route from Eastern Point to West Gloucester - a shared passenger terminal, is about 7.5 real miles. At Rogers Street, a mid-point station and junction point, the line from Gloucester joins the West Gloucester line. Just passed the station, there's a small balloon loop to turn the trams around so they can head from West Gloucester to Gloucester. They stop at Rogers Street inbound and pass through the station on the outbound to Gloucester. There are a couple of other branches further east up the line. One heads to a shopping center with a turn loop there and another heads to Smith Cove and Rocky Point. Smith Cove is an in and out station with two tracks and a crossover at the throat.

All the while this is going on...

I'm switching freight cars in the big yard at Gloucester. The trams head from Gloucester station down into a tunnel under the yard and they can be heard while I'm switching. Once a freight is made up, I'll take the freight out on the branch to switch various warehouses and industries.

This all worked excellently in TS12 through TRS19 without too much of an issue. Now, the portals are inconsistent. Periodically, a train derails, or the portal spits out an untamed consist that goes on its journey blindly. With the route on the Boston to Rockport line being double tracked with switches set for the main, there's nothing much to worry about, but it's annoying that this happens. Other times, the trains don't arrive, and then sometime later, everything grinds to a halt.

At one point, I used loops. They worked a bit better but the consists weren't random, which to me is a problem with this kind of operating session.

 

[boleyd]

This quote from Citron exactly describes what I see - Worked yesterday but not today.
This all worked excellently in TS12 through TRS19 without too much of an issue. Now, the portals are inconsistent. Periodically, a train derails, or the portal spits out an untamed consist that goes on its journey blindly.

I have reverted to TS2019 for development and running scenarios. I periodically check the stuff in TS2022 Beta. The released version of TS 2022 is a big problem for me due to the portal issue and I never use it.. As above the random nature of the portal is a big feature. Other railroads "call and schedule" a delivery of some cars for fill or distribution". Or I in turn notify them when to pickup the filled or empties. It is a nice dynamic - when it works?? It avoids the model railroad running the same old routine forever.

 

[1611mac]

I've not thought this through and I probably should not even post but could trains be placed in a fiddle yard and then moved to the desired location with InstantMoveTrain2 and then at end of run moved back to fiddle yard to await the next InstantMoveTrain2 command? Wouldn't the InstantMove command be more flexible controlling things?

 

[KotangaGirl]

I've not thought this through and I probably should not even post but could trains be placed in a fiddle yard and then moved to the desired location with InstantMoveTrain2 and then at end of run moved back to fiddle yard to await the next InstantMoveTrain2 command? Wouldn't the InstantMove command be more flexible controlling things?

I've experimented a little with using the InstantMoveTrain2 command as you suggest and I would have to say that it would be quite possible to move trains from a storage yard to wherever you want them to be on a route.

 

[boleyd]

Agree, that would work and the fiddle yard/"fiddle portal" could be anywhere out of sight. Setup a schedule of moves which is really customer trains arriving to either get consists or place them. However, in TR2019 things are working 100% with the portals. Eventually I will probably move to TRS2022. If the portals have not been fixed, then off to the fiddle yard to fiddle with Trainz.

 

[mtldrm38]

I agree I just use loop yards now and alter the train from there as I do adding them... Now at least I am not getting random derails when coupling to cars lately...

 

[boleyd]

Well Central Portal Control Manager broke again. Rather than waste time I will just use a loop or two to feed the route. More control without the overhead and fuss. How does that old song go - Will they ever learn?

 

[JCitron]

I always had issues with CPC. For some reason or another, I only got it working once and that was way back in TS12. After that, I could never get CPC to work consistently or more often than not, not at all.

 

[Jayco-man]

Also, why can't you add to the portal where the trains are coming from or where there going. It worked before they messed everything ease up.