Track markers being totally ignored ?

chopperaddict

Chopperaddict
On my "Bad Spiralz" layout, I have a large number of track markers to allow me to (hopefuly) automate it's operations. However, I am finding that several, but it seems not all of the consists running seem unable to identify some markers, while others find them normally ?

Not quite sure what is going there, does anyone have any input about this problem (TS12 61388)
Ian
 
This sounds like there's a lot going on and the AI are getting more than just a bit confused. If these drivers are being sent out from portals, you might want to try a bit more time between each consist being emitted. If not try some wait... commands and set 20 seconds or longer to delay them from all trying to move at once. I had to do this with a tram route I built. I found a 20 second to 30 second delay helped spread the load out a tiny bit.

John
 
Hi John
Thanks for the suggestion about a delay, but my trains are not being emitted from a portal, they all exist on the layout somewhere at startup, and then have their own session rules to allow them to go around the layout realistically. In addition, I have a (now and finally fully automated) 8 train fiddle yard where most of the other trains come through at some point on their travels, and this triggers the relevant consist ahead of it to go out and do its stuff, so that the consits running are changing regularly.

I could not sleep the other night, (not the fault of TS12 I don't think!) and got to thinking about the Priorities system in TS12, so decided to bite the bullet, take out a bunch of track marks, and then set up the two station up and down main lines with suitable priorities.

Guess what, so far it is working a treat !!!!!!!

Not quite sure about the whys and wherefores of it all, but trains seem to adapt very well if they cannot get their selected priority route, but mostly they seem to manage to get it all OK, and now they only need the stopping point for each platform as a track marker to achieve the long sought after and required results.

I hope this may help others trying to do what I have been fighting with. I would certainly advise playing with priorities, especially as you can change them on the fly using the provided "Priorities" rule in the sessions. It is just a shame you do not have more than 1,2 or 3, but hey, they are behaving well right now.
Cheers
Ian
 
I'm glad you got this to work. I too sleep on stuff like this as well, and I have had that occur as well. I call it too much of a good thing, which I find can confuse the AI drivers. Everything confuses them and this only makes matters worse! :)

Even with fiddle yards and on the route trains, I still use a delay when I have a bunch of AI drivers that are all starting up at once. It seems to give the program a chance to catch up on the internal threads. It's a bit complicated to explain, but it's like all the AI drivers are conversing with the main program parts a once and confusing everything. This can cause them to skip track marks, and SPAD all over the place so a tiny bit of a stagger seems to spread out the load a bit. This is something you might want to consider in the future should you have confused drivers again, though that's pretty easy to do anyway.

Getting the AI to stop at a particular spot every time is like trying to stop a rolling ball in a specific spot each time. You can come in close, but due to programmed variations, they tend to waver a bit and sometimes a bit too much. You can maybe get this to work by fiddling with their speed when approaching the station platform, but keep in mind that having too many speed boards, like junctions and track marks can get things confused.

John
 
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