Unwanted driver characters in Driver Control Center

[ElStoko]

In developing a long session for DLS release I find that there has been an accumulation of 35 unassigned driver characters listed in the Driver Control Center. This makes location of the 9 assigned driver characters difficult. The unassigned driver characters are listed as "No assigned location" and "Not in a train". Once DRIVER mode is launched, I can open the Driver Control Center and delete each of the unassigned characters using the 'X" delete button. However, I don't want to trouble session players with this task.
How can the unwanted unassigned driver characters be prevented from creation at session launch?
I am using the DRIVER SETUP rule with the session. Its options 1) Remove all existing Drivers first and 2) Generate new Drivers for empty trains, have been unticked. I can't tick option 1 because this would affect the valid assigned driver characters.

 

[pware]

How can the unwanted unassigned driver characters be prevented from creation at session launch?

I did have that same issue. My solution (which worked nearly all the time) was to deleted all the unwanted drivers (as you described above), click Save Changes then click the Edit Session TICK icon and then Save the Session. Exit Trainz and then reload the session and check the Driver Setup rule again.

I have not been troubled by this issue from some time now, at least not since the SP6 update (touch wood!).

 

[ElStoko]

Peter, thank you for your advice. To delete the unwanted drivers (as I described in my opening post) I must be in DRIVER, not SURVEYOR, mode. Once I have deleted the unwanted drivers, there is no Save Changes button within the Driver Control Center browser. There is the Save option within the System Menu, but this only saves the session progress (so that the player can re-enter the session where he left off), and not the session asset. Can you describe in more detail what you mean by Save Changes?

 

[pware]

Can you describe in more detail what you mean by Save Changes?

My method is done in Surveyor using the Session Editor and Driver Setup Rule, not in Driver using the Driver Control Centre.

Which build of Trainz are you using?

 

[ElStoko]

Build 132285 (TRS22 PE with latest service pack).
Yes, I was misled by your statement "My solution (which worked nearly all the time) was to delete all the unwanted drivers (as you described above)". I see now that you refer to opening the rule for editing in Surveyor, and will try that out.

 

[ElStoko]

Peter, the unwanted driver characters are not listed in the Driver Setup rule. As reported in my opening post, the unwanted drivers have ""No assigned location" and are "Not in a train". These drivers only appear within the Driver Control Center accessible in DRIVER mode.

Here are the allocated drivers in the Driver Setup rule:

And here are the first 4 of many unallocated drivers in the Driver Control Center:

 

[PortLineParker]

What happens if you check 'remove all existing drivers first' in the driver setup rule?

Cheers,

PLP

 

[pware]

Peter, the unwanted driver characters are not listed in the Driver Setup rule.

Try the following.

1. In Surveyor add each of the missing drivers to the Driver Setup Rule but do not assign them to a train.
2. Click Save Changes and then exit the Session Editor
3. Save the Session and exit Trainz
4. Reload the Session into Driver and check that the "freeloading" drivers are still there (they should be).
5. Switch to Surveyor
6. Open the Session Editor and the Driver Setup Rule
7. Delete the added drivers
8. Click Save Changes
9. In the Session Editor click Restart all Rules then exit the Session Editor
10. Save the Session
11. Switch back to Driver
12. Open the Driver Control Centre, are those extra drivers still present?

What happens if you check 'remove all existing drivers first' in the driver setup rule?

I have not seen any examples, at least not in my experience, where that option seems to have any effect.

 

[JCitron]

1) Edit the session UDS paused so that the drivers aren't out of their starting positions.
2) Start the session in Driver and pause it immediately to prevent the drivers from going places.
3) Click on the tools and edit the session. The menu Surveyor but it is the session.
4) Edit the session here just as you would if you opened the session editor.
5) Remove the drivers as described above and save the session.

I recommend saving the session under a new name just in case something else goes tits up.

This should work...

 

[ElStoko]

PortLineParker, I had not ticked the 'Remove all existing drivers first' box because I assumed this would remove both wanted and unwanted drivers. Upon ticking this box and saving the session, I exited SURVEYOR and launched DRIVER. All the unwanted drivers have been removed and the wanted drivers have been retained, correctly allocated to their respective locos. Success!

Peter, I followed your suggested procedure, but found the unwanted drivers were still present at its conclusion.

John, I would need to clarify a couple of things concerning your procedure before trying it out. Since I have a simpler solution, it's not worthwhile pursuing this. Thanks, anyway, for taking the time to respond.

 

[pware]

It may, or may not be related, but I have noticed on the odd occasion that when listing the dependencies of a session in CM that unexpected driver names have appeared. In the most recent case, for example, "Jan" appeared as a dependency when she was not listed in the Driver Setup Rule nor did she appear in the Driver Command Centre of that Session. She had not previously been present in any CM dependency list.

I used CM to disable her, loaded the Session into Surveyor, ran the deleted missing assets command and saved the Session. A check in CM revealed that she had departed from the Session dependencies list with no errors or missing dependencies.

Might be worth a try.

 

[ElStoko]

Yes, disabling the unwanted driver character assets then applying 'Delete missing assets' in SURVEYOR is likely to be an alternative method to remove them. Good suggestion, but ticking the 'Remove all existing drivers first' box is still simpler.

 

[pware]

but ticking the 'Remove all existing drivers first' box is still simpler.

It probably would be. In any case, I have created my own driver icons and names which match the loco names, making them easier to identify and find. Using the "Remove all existing drivers" option would mean going through about 40 entries in the Driver Setup Rule to reassign all my drivers to their locos.

 

[ElStoko]

My experience begs to differ. I reported above that my assigned drivers in the Driver Setup rule were unaffected by the application of the "Remove all existing drivers first" option within that rule. Only the unassigned drivers that did not appear in the Driver Setup rule were removed by the option.

 

[pware]

Then there is some confusion over the meaning of remove all "existing drivers" first. Where your originally assigned drivers replaced by new drivers (with different names)? If so then that would be a major issue for me.

 

[p-dehnert]

Probably "remove existing drivers" means:
- first remove all existing drivers
- then add the drivers assigned in the rule

Using the rule twice in the session rules (to avoid the timeout error with large driver lists) might be a problem. You have to force the second instance of the rule to start after the first one finishing (ordered list ?), and the second instance shouldn't have "remove existing drivers" enabled.

Peter

 

[ElStoko]

Then there is some confusion over the meaning of remove all "existing drivers" first. Were your originally assigned drivers replaced by new drivers (with different names)?

No, the originally-assigned drivers were retained, not replaced. Why don't you create a clone of your session and try it for yourself?
I think Peter D's comment is "on the money".