Ultramegaroute soon to be released

[azathoth92]

Not so fast

Well, upon further testing. What I said about the signals does not apear to be exactly the case. The 03's and 05's do what they are supposed to do, if you place them correctly. However, the 02's and 04's fail to recognize that they are the start, or finish, of the block and don't protect it correctly. Oddly, the AI kind-of produces the correct behavior because a train will try to grab control of the next switch as soon as it passes the one that leads into the block, and so the opposing train will be held up, not at the signal, but at the switch (at least for the length of single track that I made, ~1000 meters). But you do get trains physically passing through one another - looks bad - and I don't think that this will work for human - AI interaction, without additional aids.

So, I guess, being a software engineer, my first trainz contribution may be fixing the scripts for the 01, 02, and 04 signals so that they actually protect a single track section for oncoming traffic correctly.

I'll also be checking some of the other signal sets to see if they behave any differently. norfolksouthern37 just did some new signals recently. Maybe he scripted them too.

Neil,

The route is very nice. I'll start posting some screenshots here.

The 03 and 05 signals are for the purpose that you mention here. They allow for following movements while protecting the block for opposing traffic to the next 01, 02, or 04 signal.

For example: for a train moving left to right accross these signals...

02 05 05 05 03 02
04

The block for opposing traffic is considered from 02 to 02, but the 05 and and 03 signals would allow for as many as 5 trains to follow in succession within that block.

 

[neilsmith749]

Hi Neil

It seems, once again, I don't understand how to use a command. Portals have gotten me confused for a long time now. I tried, doing a passenger run with CN TurboTrain PDC and ran from Gilby to Gladston. It worked great for the Blainseville and Halden reversing. So I figured instead of running a session in reverse, I'd go into Gladston Portal IN and use Gilby Portal OUT and keep the session going and going and going. It didn't work.
I got a stack dump, because the portal command couldn't find Gladston OUT. Go figure, as I wanted it to come outa Gilby Portal OUT. Help, please

Jack

Jack

I only started using portals on this route so I'm pretty new at it as well. The way I have them set up is as follows.

There are 3 "sets" of portals - one set at Gladston, one near the Ghoo Jct., and the last one is at Gilby.

The portal on the right is the "in" portal. If you go into the "in" portal, you should exit the adjacent "out" portal which is right beside it. And as well, if the train enters full, it should exit empty, and vice versa.

If you enter the "out" portals, they shoot you to one of the other "out" portals, so you end up at a totally different part of the route. Also, empty-full, and vice versa.

The way the portals are named is under "P" in the "drive to" command list.

eg - "Portal at Gladston in" or "Portal at Ghoo jct out".

All you need to do is to tell the AI driver to "drive to" (as an example) "portal at Gilby in" and the train should enter the portal, and, if full, will reappear in a minute or two at the "portal at gilby out", as an empty consist.

Hope this helps a bit.

n

 

[neilsmith749]

grass splines

 

[jas4528]

Portals and Wallace

Thanks for the portal info. I've set that part aside for awhile

On Wallace. It seems that Capitol MFG cannot be seen by Drive To commands as there are Trigger Directional Markers at each end of the siding. Don't know if they are backwards or what as they are foreign to me as much as portals. You might want to look and see though. Spent most of the day around Wallace, moving this and that. Quite a joyful days event.

I look forward in spending alot of time in your layout on each and every town/city like stated above. I will be working to make it fully functual or as much as my computer will let me

Jack

P.s. Like the grass works above. Will you be adding to your updated layout? More later.

 

[neilsmith749]

Thanks for the portal info. I've set that part aside for awhile

On Wallace. It seems that Capitol MFG cannot be seen by Drive To commands as there are Trigger Directional Markers at each end of the siding. Don't know if they are backwards or what as they are foreign to me as much as portals. You might want to look and see though. Spent most of the day around Wallace, moving this and that. Quite a joyful days event.

I look forward in spending alot of time in your layout on each and every town/city like stated above. I will be working to make it fully functual or as much as my computer will let me

Jack

P.s. Like the grass works above. Will you be adding to your updated layout? More later.

Hey Jack

With respect to that siding you're speaking of, believe it or not, that was intentional. There are a few other sidings with the same situation.

The reason being really comes down to the "lesser of two evils". AI drivers, when given a command, will take the shortest route possible to a destination. In this case, the shortest route is through that siding. Those markers basically say "do not enter", and thus telling the driver to take the proper route. The downside of this is that you cannot send a driver to that siding, so it must be taken in manually. The reason I did it like this is that for me, anyway, it was a siding that was not used all that frequently so I wouldn't have to deal with it as much.

Another option which could be used is to to put a trackmark on the main track beside the siding and tell the driver to drive via that mark. Incidentally, that is what happens at Lang West. Because those industries are on the inside of a curve, drivers will instinctively take the sidings instead of the mainline. That was addressed by using the "drive via trackmark" "Lang west bypass". With it set up this way, AI trains can be set to take the proper mainline route, and to enter those industries.

With respect to the portals, I was totally confused by them as well, until I started fiddling with them a bit. As it turns out, they're remarkably simple to use. Think of it as simply a tunnel that tells the train to do something.

They can be set up to turn the train around and come out the same portal, or to emerge from a different portal, as well as loading or unloading trains.

It's a pretty simplistic explanation, but that's pretty much all they do.

Hope that helps a bit.

Oh yeah, the grass splines have been used fairly extensively now throughout (mostly in the towns), and I've removed most of the chunky grasses. I think it's helped the frame rate a bit, which was the goal, but admittedly, some of the swamps (Millhurst, Oakwood) may not look as "thick" and overgrown. - the continuous tradeoffs between pretty and performance!

n

 

[neilsmith749]

Progress report

Wow - discovering these grass splines has really been great! Unfortunately, now I want to re-grass much of the route - will this thing ever be done?

I'm pretty sure that the frame-rates have been improved a bit in the towns.

A note, though - the splines are designed to be very easy on the frame-rates, with the tradeoff being that they would only show up for about 30 meters ahead. With some help from the community, I've found out how to make them visible for the entire length, and it hasn't seemed to affect the frame-rates very much, and I think it looks better.

If interested, I started a thread in the surveyor section - but I can't remember right now what it was called - something like "spline question". That is where the information on how to edit these splines is located.

The cement run:

Local freight:

 

[jas4528]

Can't find you

Did a search for your screen name and came up empty on the grass splines....Oh, well! If you every find your post, maybe you can give us a link....

Jack

P.s. Been putting content all over the place. Just finished today, but haven't started any runs.

More later. My puter didn't get upset yet, but have found a couple of openGL stack dumps when I came outa Trainz. Could be all that "saving" i did.

P.s.s. Thanks for the link on the Grass splines.

 

[neilsmith749]

This should be the post.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=8595

n

 

[azathoth92]

Container Run day after first snow

I took a camera along to chase a container run the day after the first snow this year.

First, the power. Being a high priority train it had 2 CN SD50's, a Dash-9, and a KCS Dash-9. It was a good lash up, and they could make good speed, but they still had a long day ahead of them.

Behind it to start the day, were 85 empty wellcars.

We make the Gilby Container facility by 7:20 AM.

The crew there makes fast work of it, and just a little over 30 minutes later we are on our way with about 140 containers, and over 4500 tons in tow.

 

[azathoth92]

container run continued

passing Joiliet manufacturing

Drawbridge in the steep grade section. This area is quite an aviary.

East of Palmer. I love the wide open spaces here. With the blanket of snow stretching out as far as you can see, and the wistling wind, there is something wonderful in this solitary scene.

Marsden Trestle (?)

 

[azathoth92]

container run continued

This is one of my favorite spots on the G&W - don't know why - the bend to the south Between Forestry and Emerald Lake.

...and about 9:30 AM, they pull into the container dock near Emerald Lake.

The train is broken up in the yard and 20 car cuts are taken onto the pier.

 

[azathoth92]

container run continued

I was fortunate enough to get some allowances from the container dock workers and one of the ship captains to get some good shots of the activities on the dock.

This was a time consuming processes. I guess the G&W switcher crew had some mechanical problems today. Normally there would be a switcher to do this work, but today the CN road crew had to switch the container pier themselves. Must not be a union job.

Working in the container pier yard. The road crew cut their lash-up in two, and got some help from the usual Wallace switcher crew, to make things go faster.

Almost done. It was after noon before they finally got out of there.

Passing Wallace, and heading for the GHOO.

Backing into the Container facility at Oakwood. Damn it is cold up here in Ontario. It's probably 85 today back in Texas!! (actually it snowed in Dallas this past weekend - it's Easter for goodness sake!! Albert must be coming to Grand Prairie soon to tell us about global warming)

 

[azathoth92]

container run continued

They cut the train in half here to stay off the main line while loading. Not sure why this facility only loaded single stacks, but that is what they did for the whole train. Maybe because they were running a little late from the extra work at Emerald Lake?

85 wells full and running.

A pond in Oakwood. Those birds better think about flying south.

An interesting little bridge somewhere between Oakwood and Sherwood

The Container train meets the Caldwell Power Station Turn east of Sherwood

 

[azathoth92]

A trestle near Caldwell

Through the pleasant Village of Ogden. I stopped at the McDonalds for dinner on the way back through town.

Pulling into the Ogden Container Dock.

Though facilities are smaller here than at Emerald Lake, they have a large loop lead, and so it is a run through for the crew rather than having to cut the train up and do a lot of switching. Unloading takes a mere 45 minutes or so. And by 4:20 PM the CN crew is on the homeward run.

I grab this shot of the well cars while the crew checks the train after offloading.

 

[azathoth92]

East of the Caldwell trestle, the container train holds up for a red signal guarding the single track section across the ravine. The crew has seen me following them all day, and is nice enough to let me up into the cab while they are stopped. The SD50 cab looks surprisingly like an older SD40 cab from the inside. I guess its just the light at higher latitude. Soon we see another coal train crossing the bridge in front of us, no doubt headed for the power station on the east side of town.

One of the the G&H switchers provides power for the coal run meeting us.

A view out the back window

I thank the crew, jump down from the cab and scramble up a nearby embankment as they get the highball. Did I mention it is @#$ing cold up here?

A study in parallel and perpendicular for the artistically minded. Note the sun creeping towards the horizon. It's already dark by this time back home, down south.

 

[azathoth92]

container run continued

Another little spot on the G&W that I like, I'll have to bring my fly fishing gear when I come back in the spring.

Twenty minutes to six and the CN crew passes the Emerald Lake Container Facility that they first arrived at 8 hours ago, and will see them home late for diner tonight.

Can't resist a picture here on the way back, and the light and shadow on the train was great.

Back across the Marsden Trestle - breathtaking.

 

[azathoth92]

container run continued

Chasing the sun.

Crossing the Drawbridge.

Remains of the day.

This interesting set of bridges is east of Lakeridge.

6:25 PM and the sun has set. The temperature is falling fast now. I'm sure that this crew is anxious to get home; wherever, west of Gilby, home is for them.

 

[neilsmith749]

Wow!!!!

Geez - how long did it take you to do that post? Probably as long as it did to do the actual run!!!!

What a great commentary - and some awesome shots! Thanks again - I really appreciate the photos!

neil

 

[azathoth92]

Conainer run bloopers and out-takes

And here are the problems that I found. These are in no way meant to impinge anyone's impression of the high quality of this fantastic route. This was provided to me as a Beta test. Some of them are silly, and nothing I found was terribly detrimental. The route is magnificient even with these small flaws.

The Continuous Welded rail has popped a few clips here. Fortunately it stays in gauge and doesn't cause a problem for passing trains. Just a little swaying motion. These two are westbound... The HUD will help you locate the problem spots.

Happened to catch this one going west (first picture) and earlier going east (second picture)

This is eastbound (earlier), somewhere in the same vicinity on the GHOO.

 

[azathoth92]

Container run bloopers and out-takes

Continued:

I saw one of these out of the corner of my eye, running by on the main, and didn't think much of it, but when the second one went by, I chased it down to see what it was.

I guess there was a derail of the chair lift at Emerald Lake, and the rerail portal sent a bunch of these scurrying about on the main line!!
I wouldn't exactly call them runaways, because each one had a driver assigned to it.

My stack train being higher priority than a chair lift, I decided to overtake him.

But two of 'em ganged up and suckered me in!
Watch out for the those lift rollers! You betcha!!
They'll throw a switch on ya' when you're not lookin'!!