Protolars documentation

[realm]

Hello fellow surveyors,

I have recently started to get an interest in Protolars, and have gone (successfully) through the tutorial that is linked in so many forum posts (thanks to all!!). What I have not managed to figure out, yet, is what all the various options are, and how they really operate.

For example, the tutorial mentioned to use the maximum value available for a few fields when setting up an industry, but I am assuming that there is a reason one would want to have a different value than the maximum.

So I guess what I'm looking for is for someone to point me to where I could find some more details on what the various options are, and how they actually interact with my trainz sessions.

Many thanks!!

 

[Dreadnought1]

I've varied those maximum numbers (and reset the original amounts) in variant industries I've created without any problems.

Specifically what options are you interested in?
Cheers,
Dreadnought1

 

[realm]

Specifically what options are you interested in?

Thanks for your response. Primarily, I'm trying to understand, for one thing, what the numbers represent (Tons? Gallons? Units?), as well, I'm trying to understand the correlation between the size, and the waybill quantities and percentage request. So, if say, I have a max size of 1 000 000, and have the waybill set at 50%, does that mean that a request will appear in the waybills once the total is less than 1/2 of the max?

thanks!!!

 

[danny5]

protolars

i just started with this waybill thing and here what i do. If your IND produces only then there no waybill. If i set my IND to comsume i set it to comsume as few products as it can and set the initial to 3/4 it max. set the waybill to 1/2 the max of the comsume rate.( my IND of general goods can comsume 256 general good so i set the comsume rate at 1 every minute and my initial at 200 my waybill at 100 that will give time to order and keep the IND working.)
clicking on the waybill will let me know when i need to order. I'm not sure about the 50% thing but i think if your product get to 50 % it will go to waybill for you to see. Coal,woodchips,gravel thing like is bulk,lumber,general goods,trailers,containers are units fuel and such are by gal. Hope this help.
Not all cars hold what they say.

 

[rweber95]

Part of your answer:
Containers and passengers are in units.
Bulk and Liquids are in liters.

Bob

 

[realm]

Thanks Bob, that makes perfect sense.

Danny, thanks for the explanation. It's a good starting point, and from that point on, I'll experiment and figure things out. I had a moment of intelligence that hit me today, and realized it'd be easier to just create a new track with one or 2 industries on it and experiment that way, instead of working of of my "regular" project (added a bunch of industries to Robe River, and redid the road/tracks) and try to fix 15-20 industries all at once LOL!

 

[jrockey]

Build yourself a little "test" layout for LARS and PROTOLARS - it really helps!

Although it seemed to me at first that there was plenty of documentation available for LARS and PROTOLARS, it still left me with lots and lots of questions. I had difficulties trying to implement either system onto my existing layouts.

So, I did exactly what realm suggested, and set up a "Test" board with simple, straight lengths of track, loading and unloading points located on each, and also a single loco coupled to appropriate freight cars on each. That allowed me to try out various products with simple trains to see what REALLY happens. Using the "Test" layout, made it quicker and easier to fiddle about with variables, etc.

I learned enough to be able to create my own custom product and get it working. The "Test' layout was extremely helpful, but I still feel like I don't really have a thorough understanding of LARS or PROTOLARS…