"Session editor" wanted

[mjolnir]

It would be nice to have a "session editor". This software would open an exiting Trains session, perhaps in surveyor mode, and allow the user to make changes to the session, save the changes, and then re-open the session in driver. Examples of allowable changes: change a car from a load to an empty, or from an empty to a load; change loads, for example removing a 40 foot and two 20 foot containers from an intermodal car, and either leaving it empty, or adding two different containers (a 40 and a 53, for example). Another example, at an interchange point with another railroad, be able to remove the cars that were delivered to the foreign line, and replace them with other cars which were received from the foreign line. A third example, the mechanical department has ordered one of the switchers usually used to service the line to the shop for repairs, and has arranged for a replacement, so that instead of two SW-1500's, switching is now being done with a SW-1500 and a GP-9.

ns

 

[JCitron]

Have you checked some of the session rules such as the consist manager rules (The name is something like this; I'm not at my Trainz computer.), and the quick drive rule? They will do similar things to this.

I like your ideas though since this is more dynamic and more realistic.

John

 

[mjolnir]

I admit, John, that I have not. For one thing, some of the things I want to do with the proposed session editor I wouldn't know at the time I do the session. For example, take the idea of interchange. I'm not going to know before hand what cars from industries on the route are ready to interchange, and so don't have the information needed to write the rule. And I don't have the information on what cars the interchanging road is bringing, either.

ns

 

[Dap]

ns, I use maggs re-rail portal for interchanges. I can drop kick a string of cars into it and they disappear. Using pguy's QuickPortalManagerV3, I can have several different consists waiting in the wings as non-scheduled consists. In Driver, I can then schedule whichever one I want whenever I want it. Maggs portals will emit a string of cars without a locomotive - perfect for interchanges.

David

 

[mjolnir]

I know of products which can do part of what I want, but the one's I have looked at fall short of allowing me to do what I want to do. The five cent explanation, is that I'd like a tool which would allow me to open a session that has been opened in driver, make edits to certain of the assets used, save it, and then re-open it in driver.

With this tool, a load of farm equipment that was spotted during the session could have the equipment removed from the car, and change the designation of the car from a load to an empty. At an industry which represented a builder of railroad cars, I could place 10 new box cars on the outbound track for pick-up, and in parallel, on a yard track I could add a consist representing the cars dropped off during the night by a through freight, or on an interchange track. Similarly the cars left on an interchange track for pick up by a connecting road, the cars left for a through freight to pick up and take to another point on the railroad, or those cars spotted at an industry which bought obsolete railcars, and broke them up to salvage what was still usable, and to scrap what wasn't, could be removed from the layout. At an industry like a coal loader or grain elevator, where the a common method of operation is to place empty cars for loading at one end of the track, have them brought under the loading spout for loading, and then move them to the other end of the track when loaded, the tool I'm asking for would allow me to not only change the designation of the car from load to empty between sessions, it would also allow me to move the car from one end of the track to the other, and perhaps to change the size of the consist, so that the ten cars which were spotted as a single consist, are now five consists, 1, 2, 2, 3 and 2 cars in length, so that when the crew goes to pick them up, they will have to couple up the cars before they can depart.

And it would be a real big plus if the tool would also produce a list, in order, of the railcars present on any set of designated sidings, so that I could have a yard check, showing me exactly what cars are where.

Yes, I know there are tools which will do some of these things, and I've devised work arounds to accomplish others, but it would really be nice to have a single tool that would allow multi-part sessions.

ns

 

[shaneturner12]

There's a reason why the feature is not available in Trainz - at least not in multiplayer sessions.

Anyway, you would not get it in TS12, as the multiplayer feature requires that the route/session is untouched, otherwise you would have one user with a modified route/session, and the rest still having the original session - it would probably cause de-synchronisation.

Shane

 

[mjolnir]

I must confess that I hadn't cosideted the issue of multi-player sessions. I can understand why that would throw sand in the gears in that instance. But is that in and of itself a reason to bar everyone from having access to the tool?

ns

 

[shaneturner12]

The use of 'session editor' tools involving sessions in Driver is a risky idea at best. Trainz is not designed for on-the-fly editing of Driver sessions.

Shane

 

[haze_1]

I've often hoped for this type of editor as well. Say you are several hours or even days into a session and you just need to do an edit, but you don't want to start from the beginning on the session.