What are the white lines on a route map?

In Surveyor or even in a map view in Driver, I see tracks that are white lines instead of the expected blue lines.

Does that have something to do with the interlocking tower routings?


Thanks

Wild Willy the Wacko

Not exactly sure what you are referring to here - a screenshot would be a great help.

In Surveyor are the actual rail tracks replaced by a white line? This would mean that the track is missing (i.e. not installed). CM should indicate that the route has unknown asset(s).

It could be a track priority. I believe when a track is set to a priority other than 2 it appears as a different color on the map.

This feature is almost never used.

soap__ said:

It could be a track priority. I believe when a track is set to a priority other than 2 it appears as a different color on the map.

This feature is almost never used.

Click to expand...

White = Track Priority 1
Blue (normal) = Track Priority 2
Light Blue = Track Priority 3

Useful when routing multiple AI consists on your route, like hey dummy, stay off the siding.

Christopher824 said:

White = Track Priority 1
Blue (normal) = Track Priority 2
Light Blue = Track Priority 3

Useful when routing multiple AI consists on your route, like hey dummy, stay off the siding.

Click to expand...

I remember seeing priority markers but don't know how they work and did not see the correlation between the markers and the different colors and, as soap said, the feature is almost never used.

Thanks

Willy

I did a test with priority markers some time ago just to learn about them. I made a good sized loop with two passing sidings. Signaling was setup properly. The Priority One train ran the main loop which was set as Priority One. Priority 2 train always used the Priority 2 siding, and ditto with Priority 3 train using priority 3 siding. This kept the train running on the main and the locals running on the passing sidings without any "dispatching". The same thing could have been done with Track Marks and Driver commands. I suspose the initial concept was to be able to have some control over trains just by assigning a "priority" and not having to set any Driver Commands. But that's just a guess.

The colors are just to indicate on the map any track has priority assigned. Thus, a Driver or "Dispatcher" can look at a map and assume that a Priority 1 Train won't turn onto a priority 2 path if the priority 1 route is available.

Also, "Priority 1, 2, and 3" and not really priorities. A priority 1 does not have any priority over 2 or 3. The 1, 2, 3 are just "assignment numbers" to assign a loco to a matching "priority" track.

It's all in Wiki (read all the "fine print")
http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Use_Track_Priority_Markers

As a follow-up...How do you assign a priority to an AI train?

On the route I'm trying to tune to my own specs., I see that priority markers have been placed so if I would want my AI traffic to take advantage of that how do I set a priority to other than default? I just looked in my Portal at the traffic I set up and I don't see priority as a parameter that I can change. Is that something I would do in the engine config file?

Thanks

Willy

Priority level is not something that can be set in the config.txt file. It is set in the object properties window (e.g. a loco or a priority marker) in Surveyor. The priority level of a loco can also be changed in Driver.

All the details can be found in the Trainz Wiki page http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/i...iority_Markers

1611mac said:

The Priority One train ran the main loop which was set as Priority One. Priority 2 train always used the Priority 2 siding, and ditto with Priority 3 train using priority 3 siding.
<snip>
Also, "Priority 1, 2, and 3" and not really priorities. A priority 1 does not have any priority over 2 or 3. The 1, 2, 3 are just "assignment numbers" to assign a loco to a matching "priority" track.

Click to expand...

Also of note, a train will not exclusively drive on only matching priority track. If there is no other path available it will go onto non-matching track. Just something to add. But yes, it's a good way to keep trains on express or non-express track, as an example.

Also, just because I'm on the topic now and feel the need to say this, if you use train priorities for some of the multi-speed triggers available, and also try using priorities to keep them on certain tracks, things get very confusing very quickly. This is one of the reasons I think the speed limit system needs a major overhaul, but my suggestions for that tend to fall on deaf ears, because there is no easy way to handle Freight/Passenger speed differences, which are not only common in the US, they're practically a requirement.

Each train can have a max permitted speed driver command added in the driver setup. There is also a tag that can be added to a wagon or any other rolling stock that sets the max speed that the asset can run at. If you have multiple wagons with different speeds the train will run at the lowest max speed set by any one of the wagons in its consist.
Use the priorityz driver command to set priority in the consists driver setup rule.

stagecoach said:

Each train can have a max permitted speed driver command added in the driver setup. There is also a tag that can be added to a wagon or any other rolling stock that sets the max speed that the asset can run at. If you have multiple wagons with different speeds the train will run at the lowest max speed set by any one of the wagons in its consist.
Use the priorityz driver command to set priority in the consists driver setup rule.

Click to expand...

The priorityz command suggestion is the smartest recommendation given on this thread. However, you set it at the start of an AI run, it does what is supposed to do, the consist goes into a portal, and when it comes back, you have to insert the command again: What goes in a portal, is not what comes out of it, but rather a default. That goes also for loaded cars and other things too.