Track Side Objects Interfering With Jointed Rail Signals?

[train1922]

Hello all. I've recently installed Jointed Rail signals on a newer part of my route and they don't seem to be working right. Within a roughly 5-8 mile stretch there are 4 signals and they are not interacting with each other correctly. All signals are setup correctly as per JR's settings. I've posted pics of the problem.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r-qlEFG54B2SDjc167uiyb5wJOtjpRis/view?usp=sharing
In this first one the train is sitting in front of the first signal and is displaying an advance approach aspect. All the signals are within 2.5 miles of each other so they should all 4 should go green (there are more signals after the 4 problematic ones).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DBSivOm81H4iTz3kS85omG2d91Hh_xJv/view?usp=sharing
At the second one, the train is still parked at the first signal and this one displays an approach.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13Q9j9NuevbJu1DEOK-ebAkZlavgnq4Ct/view?usp=sharing
Now here's where somethings weird. The third signal is red. However, it does recognize the presence of a train because this one is approach lit but it does not chose to go green or at least yellow. In addition, it will not change until the train is about halfway inside the block in front of it. Once the third signal finally gives an aspect, the FOURTH suffers the same problem only it gives the aspect a little sooner.

HOWEVER, here's where I noticed something with that. I have a few TRC grade crossings in between the second and fourth signal which include standard TRC stuff, JR concrete crossing panels and BNSF50's whistle post.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OkgdN1ALkNA5wS_1zSxCq-S4t_0aYnTn/view?usp=sharing
If you look closely in this picture you can see the engine facing the third signal and it is showing an approach. The fourth signal (out of render distance) is aware of the train but is stuck on red, it should be showing a diverging clear leaving the third to show an approach diverging. The key thing in this image is the fact that the engine is behind the whistle post for one of the crossings.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10f7vCw5lxmnBwLs-WJKFlBAeTtViSowI/view?usp=sharing
Now, if I move the engine past the whistle post, all signals go clear. Weird... I even tried putting some block signals in between the second and third signals but they did nothing.

After further investigation at another spot on the route, I found that the JR crossing panels also cause the same issue. I had a train in front of a signal with two crossings in between them. The signal was showing an advanced approach but once I deleted a few (not all) crossing panels, the signal went green. Has any one else had this issue with track side objects messing with signals and is there a way to fix this? I really am not sure what else to do here. Any help is appreciated, Thanks!

 

[JCitron]

Try a different whistle post. Some of the older ones are scripted assets and they may have issues that interfere with other assets. I have actually had crashes after using a similar whistle post in the past while running TS12. I replaced them with a simple X-crossing sign, also a track-object, and everything worked fine afterwards.

 

[train1922]

I've tried even tried deleting them but nothing happens at all. The JR concrete crossing panels are also causing the problem, they are not scripted.

 

[train1922]

Actually, here's a little update. I've set all the signals to automatic and they will all go green until I place a train on the track. The third signal will go RED until the train enters the block. It will go yellow until it is at the whistle post previously mentioned. I've changed the post and it did nothing. I removed it and now it will only go green when the train is just past the crossing before the post. If I remove the JR concrete crossing panels AND the TRC triggers, it will go green. This is so stupid and should not be happening. Might as well email Jointed Rail...

Signals in Automatic mode, all green. (Sig. 2 in pic)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SYSNKozSBmutjDKJ0Zj0ciRDWpAD1Joz/view?usp=sharing

When a train is present, Signal 2 changes to approach, Signal 3 goes completely red.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a3KLZyUF5Msar2t6x0cfZC2T7d24ByHJ/view?usp=sharing

Signal 3 Goes yellow only when the train is well into the block, it should be green.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14VFYxHyQ3WV-MuWpcr8vFdsglGbT3L3Y/view?usp=sharing

When the crossing panels and TRC triggers are removed (which are totally unrelated to the signals), everything goes green.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10qyaxNE5zYe8BZGL2GnyRjRZ5n22m3sh/view?usp=sharing

 

[norfolksouthern37]

It appears the problem is there are too many objects on the track spline between the signals or between the signals and your train, or any combination of those things. It is not the cause of any one of the trackside assets alone, but the "gstracksearch" can only cover so many objects before it terminates and that is the function signals use to "see" along the track. Any item you snap to the track ups the count so check that there havent been any accidents - when I first encountered this on a route it was because a single item had been placed hundreds of times in the same spot. Pretty much any object that uses a gstracksearch graph will experience problems in that situation as the returned graph has a max distance or a max number of objects whichever is reached first.

It is also worth noting that automatic mode simply changes the light from red when idle to green when idle, and is only a visual as some railroads do operate this way. when a signal is idle in trainz it does no work ahead or behind other than checking that a train is not looking to it because - well it is idle.

 

[train1922]

Ah yes this all makes sense now, thank you. I went into another route and counted roughly 30-40 items that gstracksearch can cover so I'm guessing this is a lot more common than I initially thought.

 

[RPearson]

The last info I had on this is the limit is 500 items per gstracksearch call. Items returned include track sections, rail vehicles on the track and industries (any scenery with track assets) in addition to what you would consider the usual trackside objects - triggers, junctions, crossings, signals and trackside scenery that snaps to the track. The number can add up quickly and vary from search to search on the same section of track. The search will also return fewer than the limit in many common cases even if there are substantially more objects available on the route. Goes without saying it can be challenging developing scripts to get all the required info you need using the track search methods provided by N3V.

Since TANE SP2 the route files have changed to allow asynchronous streaming in of data to the game engine. Scripts need to employ asynchronous protocalls for wide ranging searches since not all items are guaranteed to be loaded and known to the game engine at the time the search is initiated. I'm not a big user of track searches so I can't say for certain how it works in all cases but it affects searches since the search will terminate when the current group of loaded assets is exhausted. Another search in the same direction on the route will cause additional objects to be loaded. But scripts have to account for the new behavior.

Bob Pearson