Can't find the Rules Window to enter things into in TANE

crisger

RR Mod Maker
I have researched and figured out a lot about session making but cannot find how to work with the rules window to set down the rules for a route.

{UPDATE: Actually i was IN the window but didnt understand how to connect the rules indicted by icons added here to the sequence of events in the session itself.

Train A (player train heads for Station A. They get a pop up message that tells them to do this. they can then drive or i can set the train to drive Automatic and the player can just ride along train navigates to Station A, loads, navigaes to Station B, etc. or the player does directed by pop up messages and alerts to slow down and then stop...allow the automatic platform to load and then proceed.

that is ALL i need to do, i may add some AI but need to know HOW to relate these rules (strange way to set it up for sure but i get it...these icons that are configured to give commands) how to we tie them to the actual train in the session. I get it this is done by telling the Drivers what to do....or the player.. but how do we make the link between a "rule" in my example below...a pop up mesage for the player driver....do we have to give each rule like that a Name and then tie that name to a marker on the track?

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i am NOT a computer programmer and grew up before they were even dreamed of...but i do admire and love what T:ANE can do just wish i were smarter to get how to get to do it.

thanks in advance. and sorry if i sound like i am complaining, just impatient with my own denseness.

Chris
 
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Chris,

I have already posted this as a reply to your PM on this topic but I will post it again in this thread in case anyone else has the same issue.

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Originally Posted by crisger
i am stuck..tho, i cannot find how to physically access the Rules window where we tell the route what to do..with the indenting of child rules etc.

This can only be done on a Session or a Route, not on a saved Driver Game - a common mistake people make.

Load a session into Surveyor. From the Main Menu select the option Edit Session. There will be 6 or 7 default rules already present in the window. You can Edit any one of them, Delete any you do not need or Add needed new rules.

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Originally Posted by crisger
i am also finding it is impossible to change the player train in a session .

When a session is running in Driver mode, you can click the driver icon (bottom left of screen - but this can be hidden/displayed by the F6 key) and then select a new driver from the popup list that will appear. Click the bottom left icon again to make the list drop back down again. The available drivers will be assigned to trains by the steps below.

In Surveyor, one of the Session Rules (described above) is the Driver Setup. Select this rule and click Edit. It will allow you to:-

1. assign drivers to locomotives
2. add/delete locos from the command list (but not from the session/route)
3. give commands to the drivers (e.g. Navigate To..) that they will execute under the AI in Driver

Trainz is a learning curve especially when you start getting into programing the operations of trains through the rules and commands.
 
PS: You will find a very comprehensive manual in the Trainz Launcher. Click the File Menu and select "View PDF Manual". There is also a Trainz Wiki found in the "View Online Documentation" option in the same place.
 
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thank you Pware...i appreciate your reply very much and I have the wiki AND the Manual both but none of them cover HOW to actually DO what is described ...

i understand that a driver session save is just a save game.

what i need to know and am stopped by is....

WHERE IS THE RULES WINDOW TO ACTUALLY ADD COMMANDS? The Edit Session window has no where to enter text..

This can only be done on a Session or a Route, not on a saved Driver Game - a common mistake people make.

Load a session into Surveyor. From the Main Menu select the option Edit Session. There will be 6 or 7 default rules already present in the window. You can Edit any one of them, Delete any you do not need or Add needed new rules.

what i need to know is HOW to add for instance a "Check Trackside" rule to cause something to happen.

In that edit window there is no where to set up a new rule to relate to something set onto the track to activate it...

for instance here i have added a pop up message to drive to a certain place..

how can i connect from the rules window to a marker on the track?

kifFXZ.jpg



so if this is the rules window how to i set things up to fire in sequence, in other words, oriented to the specific spot on the track it needs to happen.... and you can then use the > mark to set a child command to a check lineside rule etc.


It is the sequence and how it relates to events i need to understand... i know WHAT to do have studied and collected info but not HOW to actually physically Make the comands enter into the session.

PLAYER TRAIN ASSIGNMENT
as for the driver assignment yes i see that but HOW do i set which Train is present when the session opens for the player to DRIVE? that is what i need to know. I have a default session prepared with 20 trains on it and hoped to move to each one, save it as a new session with that train assigned as the Player train. can anyone help me with these two things?

without knowing these basic tools of use of the Surveyor Edit Session process a new session maker has literally no access to the actual workings of the process and is powerless. What i have been told is that the first train placed in a session is automatically the Driver train. If this is so then my idea of a default sesssoin to build on is worthless.

And once that player train is placed HOW does one setup physically add the connection between markers placed on the track for events, such as pop up message, drive to for AI, emergence of AI trains in portals, etc. .....and make those commands apply to specific drivers especially to the player train? it appears the entire process hinges on knowing which driver is driving which train..so literally we are talking to individual drives, including the player as a driver.

If i can figure this out, then i am fine doing the actual complex work of ordering the events. But at this point, i am powerless. that is what my questions are about. thanks for any help on this specific issue. None of the tutorials or the Manual cover a simple HOW TO engage in the entire process they all assume skills in Trainz that do not apply to a new session maker, they all focus on the processes which are remarkable and effective many of them but they appear when implimented in that little horizontal window when running a session but no clue yet how to actually GET those commands indicated by the ICONS set up IN the session.

Chris
 
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OK i got some help finally on the basics.

here is what he said:

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the player train is the very first train you put on the tracks.

(this tells me my default session will not work as a basis for further sessions, have to start over each time from scratch. )

To gain access to the window that allows you entering new rules, just click on the "Edit Session" button,

(Yep we know that one well but this may help another newcomer like me)



Once you have accessed the rule window, use the three buttons at the bottom:

"Add" will add a new rule: a menu listing all the rules installed in your Trainz will appear at mid-screen. Select the rule you want to add an click on the mark button.

"Edit" will allow setting the rule parameters (e.g. for a "Play Sound" rule, you can specify the audio file to play)

"Remove" will remove
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a previously selected rule.

there that is what i needed most of all, that vertical page IS the Rules Window plain and simple.

The four little buttons with the arrows will allow moving the rule up and down along the list, or left or right (the latter will make it a "child" of a less-indented rule, making its execution dependant on the execution of the "parent" rule).

and bingo that is the final very simple step i needed.

I do appreciate the help from all, Pware etc all, when i get done with all of this i will write a Start Up Session Maker Manual like I just completed for T:ANE itself for our project for new users some of whom will never have had to operate Trainz before.

on with work. after a short break.

Chris
 
Regarding linking rules to events that occur on the layout, here is a screenshot I posted for a similar question in these forums s few months back. It is a snippit from a much larger set of rules controlling a session.

Message_Popup.jpg


  1. The Trigger Check rule is configured (via the Edit button) to wait for a particular locomotive to activate a particular Trigger placed on the track. When triggered it executed the following child rule(s) - there is in this case only a single child rule which has its own child rules.
    1. The Simultaneous List rule is to make sure that all the following child rules are executed simultaneously - this is to allow the Wait rule to act as a timer. The Trigger Check rule runs its child rules in their set sequence (the number "1" on the bright green background indicates the first child rule to be executed) so the Simultaneous List rule is used to override this.
      1. The Message Popup rule places a small browser window on the top right of the screen with an information icon and the message that you have reached the summit.
      2. The Wait rule, which starts at the same time as the Message Popup rule (the "=" symbols on the bright green background), sets a 20 second timer countdown before it executes its child rule(s).
        1. The Close Message Popups rule closes the browser message after the 20 seconds have elapsed.

If these rules had been placed into the list without the Trigger Check rule first, so that the Simultaneous List rule was the Parent rule, then they would have been executed as soon as the session was started since there will be no trigger event for them to wait for.

All of this will be as clear as mud until you get some experience. The way that I learned this "black magic" was to look at the sessions that others had created. One thing you will find is that in many cases there is no "just one way" to do things.
 
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A quick test in TANE SP2 HF1 showed the Focus Camera rule <kuid2:122381:10014:1> working. Another working rule was the builtin Cinematic Camera rule <kuid2:401543:1166:3>.

Peter
 
Hi and thanks Pware and Peter, both of you have helped add detail to my understanding. Since i am setting up a pretty simple session format you have given me what i need i believe and i thank you.

the Black magic will gradually lighten i am sure. it was that first breaking into it to understand how the vertical icon list of rules (they could have been called just about anything and still been opaque) fires off to affect the session. thank you both very much
Chris
 
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