Hi Pierre
Many thanks for your quick response.
By construction, an invisible object cannot be seen under driver mode, and so it is not possible to check at run time by clicking an invisible object state. To obtain this information, you need to have some rule or some other visible object that when clicked will search and retrieve the invisible object state, and will display an information window about what is happening behind the scene ...
Thank you for the explanation. I assume I was not clear in my query. I understood that your TRC 3 is invisible in a session and can therefore not be directly assessed. That was part of the reason for my query about an IT control manager.
For IT, we don't have this currently published on DLS. I have a rule IT Manager, currently under construction and quite far from being released soon, that should enable to monitor at run time IT and display path status, and in some cases the train having requested the path. For more information about path requests queued, you need to use some enhanced interlocking tower, as the information exist in standard N3V IT but is not publicly available. You need at least an enhanced IT to make public some currently private state information about the queues to be able to monitor an IT path and list both the trains using the path and the trains waiting for the path activation ...
So sorry, there will be something in the future giving these informations, but not too soon, may be at the end of current year or at the beginning of next year.
Good to hear that you are working on a control manager. I understand from your explanation that in order to obtain all the relevant information for such manager (and perhaps other functions too) it is necessary not to use a N3V IT but a special one providing such information, i.e. your TRC3 IT.
As said, I am currently working to fill a larger route with ITs and paths. The route is on the DLS, named "City Layout Extended". In case of interest, I could also provide you with the current version with ITs. Initially, I used your TRC3 ITs but from time to time, certain paths didn't work in a session and I wanted to have the ability to see in a session whether the IT has got the order to activate a path, if the path is stuck while activating or when it falls back to being clear. To do proper bug searching, I need to see what is going on in the IT. Since I could only do this with the N3V ITs, I started to use those. However, I now understand that this might have been a bad idea since those N3V ITs won't be compatible with your future rules.
Would it be a solution, to provide a visible version of your TRC3 IT? I am not thinking of a full interlocking tower building but more of small item which can be placed everywhere without standing out, e.g. an electrical control cabinet. Session users won't notice it but the route creator (I so to say) has an asset to click on during a session. I would of course also be happy to use your path control manager in development if you think that makes sense and if you are willing to share this at this status of development. Would any of these options be fine for you? I really would like to be able to use your TRC3 ITs instead of the N3V ITs.
For cancelling paths, the problem is more complex. N3V has implemented at the script level an IT interface to cancel paths, but the request will only work if the train having initially requested the path has not entered it (has not passed the entry signal). If the initial train has entered the path, you are not authorized to cancel the path until the train has left the path at the exit signal ... The problem underneath is that N3V IT implementation will reset all path junctions to their initial state when a path is cancelled, and if a train is on the path you can't be sure you will not change junctions currently occupied by the train, which would cause a derailment ... So I don't expect any changes from N3V in the future about this problem.
Including in a future IT monitor to be able by clicking to cancel a path not already entered by the train having requested it is not a problem. But we also need to take care that the entry signal will return to the EX_STOP state and this should only be done if no train is currently arriving at this entry signal
Thank you for the explanation. This does indeed not sound to be trivial. I also see N3V's reason not enabling cancelling a path after it has been reached by a train. However, at least before such time, we need a possibility to get rid of an activated path. To be fair, I was disappointed that N3V did not implement such an option in the first place in there ITs.
As a general offer from my side: If you are interested in, I could test your ITs and path rules or specific scenarios you are interested in on my route. The route has some larger and complex stations with a lot of and complex paths. As said, if you are interested, I can send you the current version of the route. ITs have been implemented on about 30% of the route already. I have found a few bugs in the N3V ITs during such time and submitted bug reports to N3V on this. Happy to help you on the future development of ITs and paths. In my opinion, this is one of the best features of Trainz in a long time and once we have proper rules for it (e.g. from you) it can really make a difference.
Kind regards
Odilo Wallner