Tutorial: Understanding BI3 Industry Tracks

MSGSapper

Trainz route developer
I created BI3 Industry Tracks for TRS19 to replace older generation BI2 Industry tracks, Proto-LARS and Multiple Industry Track New (M.I.N.) industry tracks. A lot of people don’t seem to understand what these tracks are for and how to use them, so I decided to create a tutorial to help those folks understand them and to get the most from them.

What is a BI3 Industry Track and what is its purpose?

A BI3 Industry track is a single 21-1/2 meter long track that makes any structure into an interactive rail industry that can produce and/or consume a wide variety of specific industry related products. This track will load and/or unload a variety of rail cars when either stopped or moving over the track at 5MPH/8KPH or less. Rail cars that are configured for the chosen product will load or unload at the single short red and white striped marker pole, which indicates where the load or unload point is located. For best results with AI locomotives use this track with my kuid:439337:101618 SAP_Sign_Speed_5 trackside speed sign placed 85 feet (26 meters) or more from the center post of the industry track on the track approaches to this industry. The tracks are height adjustable and the default track will be replaced by whatever track you attach to it. The red placement arrows will only show up in Surveyor mode.

Where did the script code for the BI3 Industry track come from?

The script used is a modified by me version of the Multiple Industry New (M.I.N.) script used in the M.I.N. track <kuid:-25:1224> Multiple_Industry_New, which came built into TRS19. The script code has been modified to allow for pre-stocked product queues and loading and/or unloading of both stopped and moving rail cars of all types.

Why are there so many different BI3 Industry tracks on the DLS?

M.I.N. tracks are not targeted toward any specific industry and as a result have no pre-stocked product queues which means you are totally on your own with adding products queues to those M.I.N. tracks. I like to make things easier for the novice user so each one of the available BI3 Industry tracks is targeted toward a specific industry type and comes pre-stocked with a variety of products associated with that industry type. An as example <kuid:439337:105663> SAP_BI3_Automotive is targeted toward the automotive industry and contains pre-stocked queues for a variety of automotive industry specific products that are either consumed or produced by that type of industry. Does this mean you cannot customize the BI3 product queues to meet your own needs? Of course not! Even though the BI3 track is pre-stocked I still provide for 3-5 empty queues in each BI3 track to allow you to add additional products of your own choice, if desired.

How do BI3 tracks differ functionally in the interface from M.I.N. tracks?

If you know how to use the M.I.N. track interface, then you will find no functional differences in using the BI3 track interface. Other than pre-stocked queues, the interface is functionally exactly the same.

I don't know how to use the original M.I.N. interface. Can you help me?

If you don't know how to use the original M.I.N. interface, which is the same one used in my BI3 tracks, here are some resources that will help you:

Tutorial: Set up a BI3 to load a product YouTube video with audio:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ing-BI3-Industry-Tracks&p=1785050#post1785050

Tutorial: Set up a BI3 to unload a product YouTube video with audio:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ing-BI3-Industry-Tracks&p=1785051#post1785051

BI3 Configuration Quick Start Tutorial:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?155280-BI3-Configuration-Quick-Start-Tutorial

Trainz - Configuring Multiple Industry New YouTube video by philskene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1JPhjKnciI

Trainz TS12 - oversize steel plate carrier YouTube video by philskene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-vDhLB4YaI

Trainz TS12 -- animated side dumping hoppers by philskene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Wkw4DfzMU

Multiple Industry New (M.I.N) Tutorial - Part A:
http://members.westnet.com.au/nightcrawler/trainz/tut-mina.htm

Multiple Industry New (M.I.N) Tutorial - Part B:
http://members.westnet.com.au/nightcrawler/trainz/tut-minb.htm

Multiple Industry New (M.I.N) Tutorial - Part C:
http://members.westnet.com.au/nightcrawler/trainz/tut-minc.htm

How can I use these BI3 industry tracks?

These BI3 industry tracks can turn any structure or building into an industry which can produce or consume a variety of visible or non-visible products. You can also use these tracks to add additional product handling capability to an industry that already has built-in product handling capability.

My rails cars are not being loaded or unloaded by the BI3

Assuming you have configured the BI3 industry track correctly, chances are you do not have a matching product queue in the rail car. The product you configured in the BI3 for loading or unloading must have an exact matching product listed in the rail car for the loading or unloading process to be successful. Example: Your SAP_BI3_Fuel industry track is configured to unload Coal Bulk SAP from your open hopper rail cars. For this to work you must have Coal Bulk SAP listed in the load section of that car. Many open hoppers may not have this more recent product listed in their default product list. You can however add it yourself to that list as an additional product. For more on how to do that see this forum based tutorial:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...dd-a-product-of-your-own-choice-to-a-rail-car

How can I create my own BI3 Basic Industry track?

I have not covered every possible industry type so I know there will be those out there who will want to create their own BI3 Basic Industry tracks, and I encourage you to do so. Click the following link for instructions on how to this:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ing-BI3-Industry-Tracks&p=1785533#post1785533

Can you give me a list of the BI3 Basic Industry Tracks that are available on the DLS that you have created?

Certainly! Just click the following link to see that list:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ing-BI3-Industry-Tracks&p=1785058#post1785058

Summary of BI3 differences from M.I.N and BI2 tracks:

1. BI3 tracks are much shorter in length then a M.I.N. track or BI2 track.
2. BI3 trigger radius is much smaller so BI3 tracks can be very close together compared to M.I.N. tracks and BI2 tracks.
3. BI3 track can load either stopped or moving rail cars. M.I.N and BI2 tracks can only load stopped rail cars.
4. BI3 tracks come pre-stocked with a variety of products compatible with the industry the BI3 tracks has been targeted toward. M.I.N. tracks come with no pre-stocked product queues at all.
5. BI3 tracks come with a with a center pole which marks the loading or unloading point. M.I.N. tracks and BI2 tracks do not have any such center marker.
6. BI3 tracks load only at the center point for precise loading or unloading operations. M.I.N. tracks load or unload as soon as the rail car enters the track which can be awkward for precise loading and unloading operations.
7. BI3 tracks use an open source un-encrypted script file. BI2 tracks use an encrypted script which cannot be accessed and to which the original author (Lars Ljungberg) has lost the original code.

Here is a screenshot of BI3, M.I.N. and BI2 industry tracks. BI3 is at the top, M.I.N. at the middle and BI2 at the bottom:

BI3-Tutorial-SS-1.jpg


I hope this helps everyone understand these tracks better and get the most out of them.

BTW I currently have 32 BI3 industry tracks and 288 products of all types, visible and non-visible, for TRS19 on the DLS. You can find these listed under the username of MSGSapper. FYI 99% of these products are build 4.6 items and have been tested and work well with TRS19. My BI3 industry tracks are all build 4.6 and begin with the title SAP_BI3.

Bob
 
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Great tutorial!

RE: Orignal M.I.N. Interface:
Those who are using Trainz Plus (and thus, Unified Driver Surveyor) will have a slightly different procedure than those shown in existing videos. Make sure "Limited Contextual Info" is checked "On" on "Interface Settings." (This will prevent splines from showing when loading/unloading.) Then, to get to the Trains Tab from Driver simply go to "Surveyor" first (Ctrl F2 or Surveyor on Tools menu). You'll have the full surveyor tools available, including the "Trains" "Edit Properties" tools you need.
 
BI3 YouTube Video Tutorials with audio

Here is a short and to the point YouTube video tutorials with audio by me that show you how to use my BI3 Industry tracks.

Tutorial: Set up a BI3 to load a product YouTube video by MSGSapper:

I suggest you subscribe to this thread as I intend to add more video tutorials in the coming days.

Bob
 
For those who want to know, here is a complete list of all my BI3 industry tracks currently available for download on the DLS:

<kuid2:439337:105548:1> SAP_BI3_Equipment
<kuid:439337:105694> SAP_BI3_Farm_Supplies
<kuid:439337:105626> SAP_BI3_Meat_Packing
<kuid:439337:105690> SAP_BI3_Paper
<kuid:439337:105645> SAP_BI3_Bakery
<kuid:439337:105653> SAP_BI3_Brewery
<kuid:439337:105685> SAP_BI3_Chemicals
<kuid2:439337:105409:2> SAP_BI3_Fuel
<kuid:439337:105665> SAP_BI3_Container_and_Intermodal
<kuid:439337:105663> SAP_BI3_Automotive
<kuid:439337:105656> SAP_BI3_Ethanol_and_Biodiesel
<kuid:439337:105578> SAP_BI3_Leather
<kuid:439337:105642> SAP_BI3_Iron_and_Steel_Smelting
<kuid:439337:105503> SAP_BI3_Bulk_Flours_Meals_Oils
<kuid:439337:105631> SAP_BI3_Copper_Smelting
<kuid2:439337:105552:1> SAP_BI3_Railroad
<kuid:439337:105629> SAP_BI3_Bricks_and_Blocks
<kuid:439337:105613> SAP_BI3_Pickles
<kuid:439337:105605> SAP_BI3_Wood_and_Lumber
<kuid:439337:105602> SAP_BI3_Logging
<kuid:439337:105593> SAP_BI3_Mining_and_Quarrying
<kuid:439337:105580> SAP_BI3_Cotton
<kuid:439337:105575> SAP_BI3_Cannery
<kuid:439337:105571> SAP_BI3_Plastics
<kuid:439337:105563> SAP_BI3_Consumer_Electronics
<kuid:439337:105559> SAP_BI3_Dairy
<kuid2:439337:105539:1> SAP_BI3_Orchard
<kuid:439337:105543> SAP_BI3_Produce
<kuid:439337:105536> SAP_BI3_Frozen_Foods
<kuid:439337:105531> SAP_BI3_Recycling_and_Scrap
<kuid:439337:105521> SAP_BI3_Appliances
<kuid:439337:105496> SAP_BI3_Dry_Bulk_Farm_Products

Bob
 
I added a new paragraph to the tutorial in the original post titled: My rails cars are not being loaded or unloaded by the BI3

This will help you to understand why your rail cars are not being loaded or unloaded by the BI3 industry track and how to fix the problem.

Bob
 
While the BI3 works well, and is very well documented, is there a way to see the animated coal loading process from a coal tipple adjacent to the BI3?
 
As I understand, this is a feature of a dedicated industry that has been made to show that pile (animated as per the amount loaded or holding). A regular B13 or M.I.N. does not have that extra, so you will not see it. Having said that, there a many "industries" at DLS that will show coal, perhaps sand and others next to track, but it is a whole asset with the feature incorporated and dedicated to a specific commodity.

A note for this thread: It should be keep and made easy to identify at this forum. I am sure that sometime in the future someone is going to ask the same questions over again (based on what I have seen over the years), so at that juncture, it would be easy to direct the questioner to the proper thread for quick reference. I can vouch that everything I have seen here is true, to the point and accurate.
 
As I understand, this is a feature of a dedicated industry that has been made to show that pile (animated as per the amount loaded or holding). A regular B13 or M.I.N. does not have that extra, so you will not see it. Having said that, there a many "industries" at DLS that will show coal, perhaps sand and others next to track, but it is a whole asset with the feature incorporated and dedicated to a specific commodity.

A note for this thread: It should be keep and made easy to identify at this forum. I am sure that sometime in the future someone is going to ask the same questions over again (based on what I have seen over the years), so at that juncture, it would be easy to direct the questioner to the proper thread for quick reference. I can vouch that everything I have seen here is true, to the point and accurate.

For the most part you are correct. BI3, BI2 and M.I.N. will not show such animated effects as there are multiple possible queues involved. Usually you will only see this in an industry that has a single built-in product handling capability, such as a coal mine. For situations where you have a building or structure you intend to handle some type of visible visible bulk products, but doesn't have that capability already built into it, you can use my loader or unloader tracks which have animation effects involved. Here are the build 4.6 ones I have done:

<kuid2:439337:104633:1> Woodchips_Loader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid:439337:104401> Corn_Unloader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid2:439337:101033:3> Coal_Loader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid2:439337:101008:3> Coal_Unloader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid:439337:105360> Log_Loader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid:439337:104635> Woodchips_Unloader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid2:439337:104403:1> Corn_Loader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid2:439337:104404:1> Wheat_Loader_Interactive_with_effects
<kuid:439337:104405> Wheat_Unloader_Interactive_with_effects

Before using one of my loader or unloader industry tracks be sure to first see this forum post I made which will help you to fully understand my loader and unloader tracks and their limitations, strengths and weaknesses:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?83363-Content-by-MSGSapper&p=1774333#post1774333

BTW thanks for the feedback and kind comments about my tutorial!

Bob
 
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Box cars able to load, should show the particular commodity you select. When the door open, you can see what is inside. Treat them as flat cars: when you load a commodity you see it. But I have no clue as to why some commodities show and why others don't no matter what car you have. Remember there are different kinds of commodities, such as liquids (you never see them), boxes (visible), bulk, etc. When you load a box car, it will use the box type. (crates, pallets and containers are box type). Long ago, I had an industry thay would show the level of commodity, and you could see them such as bulk and boxes, but it ceased to work after TR09.

While on this subject, note that there are industries that would show fluid level in the form of a vertical level indicator attached to a big storage tank. Notably there is the Oil Refinery. It shows levels at each big tank. Now, if you operate it, it shows, but upon saving, and returning to the session, some of the level bars are grayed and even if you are full, it shows nothing. (I am sure it is a bug).

Load a box car with your selected commodity. Run your train into a portal, and what comes out may be not what went in. But you knew that already, yes?
 
What about "box cars" that have animated sliding doors (are not industry/commodity specific)?

Animation that is part of the rail car design, such as with box car doors, is different then the product itself. If it helps, think of this actually as three totally different items involved here. These are:

1. The industry/M.I.N./BI2/BI3/Loading/Unloading tracks. These handle the loading or unloading process for any rail cars that use them. Only the loading and unloading tracks have any animation effects and those are usually involving particle dust effects and sound.

2. The product itself such as coal. Products can be visible or invisible and in 99.99% of the cases have no animation, at least none that I have ever seen or at least remember off hand. Many box car, covered hoppers and all tank car and covered hopper car products are not visible. Almost all open hopper, flat car, stock car and gondola, and other similar cars where everything is exposed, usually have visible products. Note: In the case of my own 288 products they are clearly marked in the description as being either visible or not visible.

3. The rail car, which may or may not have animation of doors, hatches, etc. Dust particle and sound effects could be part of this in some cases if the designer has included it.

Bob
 
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While I have created 32 BI3 basic industry types I certainly have not covered all possible industry types. I am sure there will be those out there who will want to create their own specific BI3 basic industry tracks to cover industries types that I have not. In this post I am going to show you how to do that.

Basically all you have to do is:

1. Clone one of my SAP_BI3 basic industry tracks.

2. Change the username, description, license,author, contact email, category-keyword fields in the config.txt file to fit your industry.

3. Edit the Queues code section in the config.txt file. Example:

Code:
queues
{
  queue1
  {
    size                                1000000
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101470:1>
    initial-count                       50000
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue2
  {
    size                                256
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101469:1>
    initial-count                       10
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue3
  {
    size                                256
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101475:1>
    initial-count                       10
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue4
  {
    size                                256
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101472:1>
    initial-count                       10
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue5
  {
    size                                256
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101473:1>
    initial-count                       10
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue6
  {
    size                                256
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101476:1>
    initial-count                       10
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue7
  {
    size                                256
    product-kuid                        <kuid2:439337:101471:1>
    initial-count                       10
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue8
  {
    size                                1000000
    product-kuid                        <kuid:439337:105577>
    initial-count                       50000
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue9
  {
    size                                100000
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue10
  {
    size                                100000
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
  
  queue11
  {
    size                                100000
    
    allowed-products
    {
    }
  }
}

Notes on the queues section: Queues must be numbered consecutively. Example: queue1, queue2, queue3, etc. You can have as many queues as you like, although I would keep it to no more then 30 or so, and fewer is much better. The queues come in two different types. Either bulk/liquid or individual items. For bulk/liquid products you will want to set the size field to a large number like 1000000. For products which come as individuals, like equipment or pallets, you will want to set the size to no larger then 256, which is the maximum. You can set the initial-count field to whatever you want. The product-kuid field needs to list a kuid for an existing build 3.5 or above product located on the DLS. I always add at least three blank queues so that users can add products of their own to the industry track as desired, and I recommend you do the same.

4. Change the kuid-table code section of in the config.txt file. Example:

Code:
kuid-table
{
  prod0                                 <kuid2:439337:101470:1>
  prod1                                 <kuid2:439337:101469:1>
  prod2                                 <kuid2:439337:101475:1>
  prod3                                 <kuid2:439337:101472:1>
  prod4                                 <kuid2:439337:101473:1>
  prod5                                 <kuid2:439337:101476:1>
  prod6                                 <kuid2:439337:101471:1>
  prod7                                 <kuid:439337:105577>
  0                                     <kuid:-3:10154>
  1                                     <kuid:-3:10092>
  2                                     <kuid2:439337:102580:1>
  3                                     <kuid:-3:10164>
  4                                     <kuid:439337:104326>
}

Notes: You need to have a prod entry in the kuid-table for each product queue you have in the queues section and these should be numbered consecutively (ie; prod0, prod1, prod2, etc.....). The prod entry must contain the KUID you showed in the product-kuid entry for that queue.

5. Change the icon_multiple.tga and thumbnail.jpg files to match what you are doing. Here is a my basic image I use on all my BI3's that you can modify for your own use as the 240x180 thumbnail and 64x64 icon, if desired. FYI the font used is Arial Black 14. BTW the icon is simply a scaled (64x64) version of the thumbnail in my BI3.

BI3-Industry-Track-Image.jpg


Change nothing else in either the config.txt file, script or the other various support files.

That's pretty much all there is to it.

Bob
 
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Good Afternoon Bob,
First, I consider myself "reasonably intelligent".
However, Iam trying to unload a couple of tanks of Corn Oil at "SAP_BI3_Ethanol_and_ Biodiesel".
This is using UMR2020 at the town of Edison using TRS19PLUS 105100.

I just manually stopped the tanker (centered on the pole) and the sim took away my control of the train (expected).
The unloader is set up correctly to the best of my knowledge. SO far it has been 15 minutes and the tanker still shows FULL and I have no train control.
At this point, Iam beginning to question my "intelligence"!!
Any assistance would be gratefully received, even a Wap-on-the-Head with a 2x4.

Thanks,
Dave
 
Good Afternoon Bob,
First, I consider myself "reasonably intelligent".
However, Iam trying to unload a couple of tanks of Corn Oil at "SAP_BI3_Ethanol_and_ Biodiesel".
This is using UMR2020 at the town of Edison using TRS19PLUS 105100.

I just manually stopped the tanker (centered on the pole) and the sim took away my control of the train (expected).
The unloader is set up correctly to the best of my knowledge. SO far it has been 15 minutes and the tanker still shows FULL and I have no train control.
At this point, Iam beginning to question my "intelligence"!!
Any assistance would be gratefully received, even a Wap-on-the-Head with a 2x4.

Thanks,
Dave

Dave:

I decided to run a test in my TRS19 (Build105096).

Here is my test and how it was set up. I used the following as part of the test:

The tank car
<kuid2:439337:1061:2> 3DT Mazola Corn Oil

The product
<kuid:439337:105506> Corn Oil Tankload

The SAP BI3 track
<kuid:439337:105656> SAP_BI3_Ethanol_and_Biodiesel

First of all I loaded the tank cars as shown below:

corn_oil_test1.jpg


Next I ensured that the Queues tab in the SAP_BI3 track was set up as shown below:

corn_oil_test2.jpg


Next I ensured that the Product tab in the SAP_BI3 track was set up as shown below:

corn_oil_test3.jpg


Next I ensured that the Tracks tab in the SAP_BI3 track was set up as shown below:

corn_oil_test4.jpg


I ran a driver session and moved the tank cars through the SAP_BI3 at 3MPH. Results: Both tank cars loaded successfully each time I ran the test with no problems.

Questions:

1. Are you using the right corn oil product? There is more then one available. The one in the tank cars must match the one in the SAP_BI3 track. See my kuid number above for the right product.

2. Have you configured the tank cars for that product, and made sure they were loaded with the corn oil product?

3. Have you configured the SAP_BI3 as shown in my screenshots?

4. Have you moved the tank cars through the SAP_BI3 track at about 3MPH or less? Stopping is alright as well.

Bob
 
One small question: For years I have been configuring Industry tracks with no problems. But in the example you give above, you set first Queues, then Products and then Tracks. Is this the proper way? Normally I set Queues, then Tracks and then if needed Process. Product I leave as a default or set as needed. The only problem I have with M.I.N.'s is that some of these (with green arrows) can't accept more than 4 commodities. I know yours is a new asset, but with your in-depth knowledge you may be able to clarify these matters.
 
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