Asking for Session Help Please!!

[Shlick88]

I've spent the last couple of weeks building a route and I'm finally at a point where I feel everything is how I'd like it for the most part. I have a "4 Session Series" I'd like to build for this route. An example would look like this:

Day 1: working in the yard to build your main consist.
Day 2: Running the mainline with your consist (additional railroad traffic etc...)
Day 3: Return Trip with a new consist and engine (additional railroad traffic etc...)
Day 4: Take the main consist and break up to certain sidings in the yard.

I'm ok with setting the AI as far as what traffic engines need to do and when/where they need to run. What I need help with is how to give the proper instructions to the "user". So for example when my brother attempts a session, it'll tell him what needs to be done, where rolling stock can be picked up/dropped off, and monitor his progress throughout.

I'm hoping this isn't too big of a task and I'm not in over my head. If anyone has some suggestions on how to get started or have a tutorial I should watch/read, I'd appreciate the input! Thank you in advance!

[pware]

The possible solutions here range from simple to quite sophisticated and complex, depending on your needs.

I would start at the simplest level with message popups (available in T:ANE only). For TS12 you would need to use HTML pages. These can be activated by track triggers (TS12 and T:ANE) and by navigation points (T:ANE only).

There is a set of video tutorials at https://www.twitch.tv/trainz_simulator and I would recommend tutorial 4 (part 1 and part 2) and tutorial 8

[Vostrail]

To take a step back, AI trains are controlled largely through Driver Commands. For a player train, you need to use Rules. Try editing your session rules and you'll see some there already, including the driver set-up rule. Now select the 'Add' button and you can browse a list of rules which you have installed currently (more are available to download if required).

Most of the rules are self-explanatory or have decent descriptions built in. As pware suggested, keep to the simpler ones to start with.

On the N3V YouTube channel, there is a video which covers a basic introduction to session creation in TANE. Another suggestion would be to open one of the built in sessions for editing and look at the rule structure that is included. Note that some nested rules may not be visible until you expand the parent rule by clicking on the left hand arrow.

The above should hopefully give you a decent starting point.

[philskene]

Well, as pointed out above, the instructions for a session can be either very basic or very complex. The complex includes pop-up that provide instructions as the session continues. But this assumes a very scripted session, where tasks are done in a prescribed order. And, as I found from experience, constructing the pop-ups is a damn time consuming and painful process.

I've probably uploaded as many if not more sessions to the Download Station as anyone else and my approach has always been very basic. The text for the session describes the task. How that task is completed depends on the locomotive crew. If you search the DLS you will find that invariably Chuck and Joe are the crew and the instructions come from the Dispatches, Yard Master or Load Master.

This is the text from one of my sessions for "Clear Lake Mining":

Chuck and Joe. An early morning start. And yesterdays weather is hanging around too.
The MoW team have erected two derrick cranes to unload freight cars at the unused spur line half way up the hill. The spur is to be rehabilitated. You need to supply the equipment to do this today.
At MoW you will find two cabooses. Spot these at the Freight Depot for the MoW crew to embark with their gear.
Over in the yard you will find a rake of empty flat cars and a loaded ballast car.
Load the flats as follows #1, 2 and 4 with sleepers at the MoW Depot, #3 with rails from the MoW Depot and #5 with a front end loader at Steamship.
Take the flats, ballast and cabooses up to the spur line.
Unload the flats as directed by the MoW Load Master. Spot and leave the loaded ballast car and cabooses in the spur.
Continue with the flats to the upper mine. Load the flats with empty drums as directed by the Yard Master.
Return to Clear Lake with the flats and leave the flats for unloading at the Steamship Wharf.
Contact me for your next turn. Dispatcher out.

I usually include some basic instructions too, like:

In the Map View (Ctrl-M in Driver to toggle on/off) all industries are indicated by Track Markers with the prefix “IND”.
To see the Track Markers, in the Map View open “Map Display Options” (top left) and make sure there is a tick against “Markers” and “Trackside Labels”. Other options can be turned on or off as required.
The only configurable interactive industries are the Rotary Ore Dumper and the Coal Dumper, both at Clear Lake Smelter. These are pre-configured to consume Gilpin Ore and Coal.
At other industries you will have to perform the task of Load Master to load and unload freight cars. This is shown in this video (full screen / 1080p):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjE0oOmXa7k

The switch stands have been configured so that a green light indicates the straight through setting; a yellow light and a yellow disk shows that the diverging route has been set.
In the sessions “Help”, the red/green arrows above the switches, is set to off. It can be toggled on/off with Ctrl-H.
In most sessions the tasks can be undertaken in any order. You have been told the outcome, it is up to you to do it most efficiently.
Speed limits --- on the main line, slow; on the switchback and in yard areas, slower.
My views about DCC / Easy Mode should, by now, be well known. DCC Mode is for quiche eating, latte sipping, Prius driving metrosexuals. Real men always drive pick-ups and always drive in Cab / Realistic Mode. So as as experienced locomotive engineers we will all be using Cab Mode, won't we?
In all my videos I use drive in Cab Mode. If I can zoom and pan making the video while driving in Cab Mode I am sure that you can do just the driving. Just remember that the independent (locomotive) brake is faster acting than the train brake. E toggles the independent brake on/off.

If you or your brother want to try this session, see here:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...ar+lake+mining

Phil

[pware]

I will echo Phil's comments and give a further example.

I am currently working on a route with 14 different sessions. All have an introductory HTML page that appears at the session start and gives the basic scenario.

Some sessions I have classified as "Expert Level" and, like "Chuck and Joe" in Phil's sessions, all the train orders and other needed information is in that introductory page. The user is then left on their own to complete the tasks. Ignoring the route creation time, these sessions have taken only a short time to construct.

Other sessions, which have identical scenarios and objectives as the "Expert Level" sessions, I have classified as "Basic Level" and these include many, many message popups, session rules, navigation points and HTML pages, and the graphics that go with them. These are very much hand holding versions of the "Expert Level" sessions and, as Phil has mentioned, have taken an enormous amount of time (about 12 months) to create test and perfect.

One session is a "Free Roam" with no session objectives and that took only a very short time to construct.

[RHKluckhohn]

There's good news here! Contra the advice by pware, MESSAGE POPUP (kuid:-25:167, build 3.6) works well in 12 Build 61388. Successive messages provide the equivalent of a string of HTML pages and allow you to scroll backward and forward. You can also set a message to pause the session!

I do notice when you put in a new message and click the check mark, sometimes the rule does not appear to take, but if you reopen it you'll find the message is there. A second submission clears that. MESSAGE POPUP provides for a message icon of your choice, and I have not (yet) seen this fault occur when an icon is included.

One curiosity is that sometimes you'll insert the new rule and open it for edit to find a previous message already there -- including ones from other sessions entirely(!). However, you just replace that with the current message and all is well.

Edit: When an HTML page is also used (lets say a switch list image) and is recalled with Toggle Session Instructions, the last Message Popup message will be displayed with it. So mixed use during the session is probably to be avoided. Since you can position the MESSAGE POPUP in one of the corners of the screen, you might be able to work around this issue.

:B~)