Drive to Trackmark No Longer Working

Hi all,

I have a session I copied into Trainz 2019 from Trainz a New Era - exported to CDP, then imported.

In TANE, I could right-click on a locomotive or driver and issue the 'Drive to Trackmark' command, and the train would drive to the trackmark. I do the exact same thing in TRS2019, and nothing happens. There's no reaction, and the train doesn't move at all. Literally nothing has changed in the session itself.

Is there something missing that I need to do to enable the AI drivers in TRS2019? Or is it just broken?

Drive to Trackmark is working fine in my copy of TRS19.

Some obvious (and probably stupid) questions to ask but they need to be asked

• is Driver in Pause mode?
• are there any broken tracks or missing levers between your consist and its destination?
• can you drive the train manually (using the W, X and S keys)?

Hi,

To answer your questions:

• Driver is not paused.
• There are no broken tracks or missing levers. Literally nothing has changed between the two versions of Trainz.
• I can drive the train normally.

I've found something else since posting. If I Ctrl + Right click the train and issue the 'stop train' command, the interface down by the control dial changes to an interface to control the AI drivers. When I issue commands from there they work, even when they don't work while Ctrl + Right Clicking on the loco. So it's possibly some sort of interface thing?

Hmmm,

I have always used the Drive To Trackmark command from the Driver Command Bar, never from the Ctrl + Right Mouse Click. I fact I never actually noticed that it was in that popup menu before. When I tried it from the popup menu it did not work, as you described. The control option normally does change to the Driver Command Bar when you select a driver command from the popup menu - I often use the SetITPath driver command from that menu.

I will have another look tomorrow as it is now 11pm here.

You can't do that by CTRL+Right-clicking on the driver image anymore. This does work, however, by doing the same on the locomotive its self.

wildnorwester said:

I've found something else since posting. If I Ctrl + Right click the train and issue the 'stop train' command, the interface down by the control dial changes to an interface to control the AI drivers. When I issue commands from there they work, even when they don't work while Ctrl + Right Clicking on the loco. So it's possibly some sort of interface thing?

Click to expand...

This may be the reason for the initial failure to follow commands. Does this train have the command(s) already set to run, or did you put the command(s) AFTER you jump into driver.

IIRC, a train that has no commands loaded, defaults to DCC/cab mode (depending on the start up rule settings).

I don't usually set commands at the start of a session. So all the trains start in DCC/Cab mode.

Is there a keyboard shortcut to change to the AI driver control mode?

there are 3 dots in the lower right side of the screen near the controller, by clicking them, it cycles through DCC>Cab control>AI command bar>DCC....

In TRS2019 I have had issues with the AI recognizing when a train passes a trackmark (drive via TM). The source of the misery is if you copied/pasted a section of the route (containing the trackmark in question) to a new location. Maybe a similar problem when importing route from older version.

My fix was: Delete the TM, Save, Add a new TM in the same place with a new name, Save, Exit game, Reload game, Reload route, Modify the driver schedule by deleting the old, adding the new, Save, and Run. Some of these steps may seem unnecessary but I have found that new trackmarks are not always updated and recognized immediately.

Trackmarks are definitely not broken in TRS2019 but they can misbehave at times.

schweitzerdude said:

In TRS2019 I have had issues with the AI recognizing when a train passes a trackmark (drive via TM). The source of the misery is if you copied/pasted a section of the route (containing the trackmark in question) to a new location. Maybe a similar problem when importing route from older version.

My fix was: Delete the TM, Save, Add a new TM in the same place with a new name, Save, Exit game, Reload game, Reload route, Modify the driver schedule by deleting the old, adding the new, Save, and Run. Some of these steps may seem unnecessary but I have found that new trackmarks are not always updated and recognized immediately.

Trackmarks are definitely not broken in TRS2019 but they can misbehave at times.

Click to expand...

This has always been an issue. The program seems to use xy or perhaps world cöordinates to track where track marks are located within the session. If a track marks is moved, the program can't find it so the driver ignores it. By replacing the track mark, even with the same name, the name-table is updated, and the driver can now find the track mark.

This has always been the problem for me and I haven't encountered anything new regarding the marks in the current version, or in the current beta version for SP2 for that matter.

I have been studying the use of Trackmarks and discovered the following. But, before I state what I have found, let me set my conditions.
I converted an ore car into a locomotive that I now call a Cable pulled ore car. I had to create a piece of track with a cable to simulate this condition. The Cable pulled ore car is loaded at the lime crusher plant and delivered to a Lime Kiln, where the ore is dumped. This simulates an actual operation along the Everett & Monte Cristo Ry in 1900. The car/locomotive is constantly moving backward and forward. OK, now for what I have found.
1. The car/locomotive will not repeat the movement (forward and backward) unless the radius of the Trackmark is set to 20. Anything less and the car/locomotive stops after one cycle. In fact, if I set the radius to 5, the car/locomotive goes in one direction and stops.
2. The car/locomotive stops at the outer edge of the Trackmark radius, not the center of the Trackmark. I order to make the car/locomotive stop on top of the Lime Kiln, I have to extend the track with invisible track that is flying in the air about 40 feet above the ground.
2. I can only load the car/locomotive with the command "InstantLoadLocos". The other load/unload commands will not load or unload a locomotive.
3. There is no equivalent "InstantUnloadLocos" command that I can use to unload the Lime at the Lime Kiln. If anyone has a suggestion on how I can unload the car/locomotive, I would appreciate it.

Didrik

Didrik,

Use a 'normal' ore car connected to an invisible locomotive. This will allow you to load and unload as if you were driving a regular train. With the invisible locomotive, the operation will appear as if there ore car is being pulled back and forth.

Here's one that's marked as built-in on my install. <kuid:69593:2065> Invisible loco. Hopefully it works for you.

The track mark may work better for you with the invisible loco. AI driving to track marks has never been accurate and always about here, or about there, but never quite where you want them to be. The alternative to the really long invisible track, is to place an invisible signal, there's one built-in too, just at the bumper.

The reason why the driver doesn't go all the way to the end is because there's a safe stopping distance built-in from the end of the track, meaning the bumper. Bumpers, according to the AI drivers are red signals. By placing the invisible signal just before the bumper, the signal is yellow, therefore, the AI will continue further up the track. You may need a piece of invisible track, but it won't be as long as you are using now.