Sessions

I have a question about Sessions on the Download Station. Do you have to know the Layout that is necessary in order to run the Session? If so how do you determine the proper Layout you use?
If not how do I use Sessions that I download? Thanks. Any help will be appreciated.

Near as I can tell, there is no way unless there is something in the name or the description, and most of the time there is not. If you download it, it should show up in the route if you happen to have that route, or if not, it should show up under the list of missing dependencies.

The problem is many route builders don't include anything in the description or name to say what the session belongs to. If they are kind enough to say what the session belongs to, they rarely say anything on how to run it. There are quite a few exceptions including the guys from Jointed Rail, Phil Skene, Dave Snow, and others, but those guys are fare and few between.

When I have, rarely downloaded a route with an accompanying session, I always setup a free roaming session, and always open up the route for edit to see what it looks like. By doing these two things, I can see what goes where and get an idea where things are so that when it comes time to drive around, I have an idea where stuff is before I start.

If you download a session without already having the route then CM should automatically download the route as one of the session dependencies.

On the question of route familiarity, it will depend on how the session or sessions were built. It is possible for the session creator to build a session with navigation points that show you where to drive to next and provide you with message popups that give you the necessary instructions for getting there and what to do when you arrive. This is a very "straight jacket" or "hand holding" approach that some users do not like and of course it is a lot of extra work for the creator so many do not go that far.

At the other extreme are the "Free Roam" sessions, as John has indicated above. Here the session simply provides you with the working industries, consists, starting time of day and weather conditions, etc. You are free to "drive around" and explore as you wish.

Between these two extremes there are a wide range of possible session levels and constraints. Philskene in his routes and sessions, for example, provides a minimalist approach where you are given all your session orders (where to go and what to do) in the session description.

In my sessions, I provide a mixture - total "hand holding", "free range" and minimal where you are given your orders together with a map in the session introduction web page.

Also do not assume that the sessions will be created by the same person who created the route. This can make it even harder to find a session for a particular route especially when the session title or description gives no indication as to the route it was created for. One of many "pet hate" threads in these forums.

Hi Vince --

I see that my name has been mentioned above. I generally start a thread about my routes and post details of the sessions. This, for example, is for the latest layout:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?151679-TRS19-layout-The-Hoofhearted-amp-Smelz-RRCo

To find others, do an Advanced Search with "philskene" in the "Find Threads Started By User" field.

Phil