Can't start a session in TRS 2019

Hi, all!

I was perfectly at ease with TANE, but with TRS 2019 I have this problem, stupid as it sounds : I can't drive a session.
I have created a route with a train on it.
In the session editor I have assigned a driver to the train, and in Driver Setup I have created a single rule : "Auto drive past junction XX".

Now when I switch from Surveyor to Driver and select the session, nothing happens. I just get a message saying that no train is selected. If I select it with Ctrl+Right click I just get the Quick Drive menu. If I select it by manually sending the driver to the loco, nothing happens.

Can you help ? Thanks.

tfr.stmalo said:

Hi, all!

I was perfectly at ease with TANE, but with TRS 2019 I have this problem, stupid as it sounds : I can't drive a session.
I have created a route with a train on it.
In the session editor I have assigned a driver to the train, and in Driver Setup I have created a single rule : "Auto drive past junction XX".

Now when I switch from Surveyor to Driver and select the session, nothing happens. I just get a message saying that no train is selected. If I select it with Ctrl+Right click I just get the Quick Drive menu. If I select it by manually sending the driver to the loco, nothing happens.

Can you help ? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I think I know what might be the issue here.

If you created the session in the Session Editor, then the loco, and all the driver commands exist only in the Session you created and is disconnected from Surveyor. When you access Driver from within Surveyor, you are accessing Driver, but not in any way connected to your session you created in the Session Editor, therefore, you are not going to see any driver commands. While the new Universal Driver/Surveyor (UDS) works, it works well for development or quick-drive setups without all the commands, but for running a full route it is not.

With that said, if you had done the same from within your Session Editor, you would have seen your loco and all the commands as you created the session.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help.

As I keep getting the "No train selected message", it seems to me that there is no proper connection between the loco's driver and the one that appears in the session rules.
Of course I have checked and re-checked thet both have the same name ( sounds silly, but...)
I have also tried to re-create from scratch the Session Editor part.

It must be something so basic that it is very hard to find. A subtle difference between TANE and TRS2019 Session Editors, perhaps.

tfr.stmalo said:

Thanks for your help.

As I keep getting the "No train selected message", it seems to me that there is no proper connection between the loco's driver and the one that appears in the session rules.
Of course I have checked and re-checked thet both have the same name ( sounds silly, but...)
I have also tried to re-create from scratch the Session Editor part.

It must be something so basic that it is very hard to find. A subtle difference between TANE and TRS2019 Session Editors, perhaps.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's right. It's two different setups... confusing.

The Session (I deliberately made this capitalized) is the one you created in the Session Editor. These are connected to the Route as was in TANE and before. This mode hasn't changed at all. When you go right from Surveyor into Driver, there is no connection to your Session at all. This is what we've established.

Now you have another issue. There's a couple of checkboxes at the bottom of the Session editor you need to be aware of. One is to point the camera to the first driver in the list. I can't remember the exact words, but this is what it means. The other is to automatically assign a driver to the locomotives and that should be on by default.

If you are still not getting any driver assigned, you can add your own driver manually on the fly. Click on the empty driver image on the command bar at the bottom left, when in the Driver mode, and a list of assignable drivers will come up. You can then pick one then choose assign to locomotive. I can't remember the words here either, but that's the gist of it. It's also one of the buttons.

I know, breaking the basics to make something better isn't always better. The tried and true method you are accustomed to existed for 18 years before.

Hi, John

Still not making any progress. I'm using TRS2019 Platinum build 114800.

So - Would you recommend a simple route with a simple session that works and is suitable for my configuration that I could download to see what happens ?
Thanks.

Thierry

How are you moving from Surveyor to Driver?

The method that works in TRS19 Standard and TANE, and still works in TRS19 Platinum and Trainz Plus (both of which have the new UDS interface), is to save your edits, exit Surveyor back to the Surveyor/Driver menu, select the Session (or select the Route then click View Sessions and then select the Session) and click Drive Session. As I mentioned, this should work exactly the same as it does in TRS19 Standard and did in TANE, TRS12, 10, 09.

TRS19 Platinum and Trainz Plus have an alternative method. In Surveyor, after loading both the Route and the Session, open the Edit Menu and select Driver Mode. Driver will start with the Session paused (the word "Paused" will be large on the screen). This will start the Session in its current state (an important concept). By "unpausing" you can run the Session for as long as you like and then, using the same method, switch back to Surveyor Mode. You can then edit the Route and/or Session and then resume running the Session in Driver Mode. Each time you run the Session this way, you will change its current state - consists will have moved and some or all Session Rules would have changed their status (e.g. some would have been completed, others would have started). If you edit the Session by, for example, adding new consists, new driver commands, new drivers, adding/editing Session Rules - anything that alters the position of consists or the state of the Session Rules - then you will be changing the operating conditions of the Session. You then need to restart the Session Rules.

For example: When a Session starts in Driver Mode the Driver Setup Rule, with its drivers and their assigned commands, is immediately executed. If you drop back into Surveyor Mode, edit the drivers and/or their commands and then jump back into Driver Mode the Driver Setup Rule is not restarted so the new commands and/or drivers you have added will be ignored. In the Session Editor after making the jump back into Surveyor Mode the rules that have been completed will be marked as "(complete was-complete)". You need to restart these rules or, alternatively, Restart All Rules (button at the bottom).

See the Trainz Wiki page https://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Use_the_UDS_Interface for all the details of using the UDS.

As John has pointed out, the UDS is a Route and Session development tool but, provided you take some sensible steps, you can use it to run long Sessions from start to finish, with many pauses and edits along the way, without any problems.

My suggestions.

Thank you for your comments.

I will now prepare two screen shots which, I hope, will make clear what my problem is.

PS : Until now, I have your message's first method, which for me is rhe usual one.

Here you are :

https://www.mediafire.com/view/fcnrbgacifxclll/Trainz01.png/file

https://www.mediafire.com/view/6xjmij6taolmv9u/Trainz02.png/file

Two screen shots showing the same situation from Surveyor and from Driver. And the train doesn't move.

By the way, the second screen shot was actually taken from Driver. Quick Drive is where I find myself when I start driver. As I said the thing must be undescribably stupid. My sincere apologies.

Ok.

I now see the problem and I have managed to duplicate it myself on one route BUT not on another route.

In both routes the driver command "Drive to Trackmark XYZ" has been placed in the driver command list of the first loco in the Driver Setup rule. The Session is then saved and I exit from Surveyor and then load the route into Driver.

In Route 1 the first loco does not move and does not even have the "Drive to Trackmark XYZ" command in its driver command bar. Yet when I switch, via the UDS, to Surveyor Mode and open the Session Editor and the Driver Setup Rule the command is still there, waiting.

In Route 2 the first loco gets the "Drive to Trackmark XYZ" command in its driver command bar and moves off immediately.

Both routes are very simple, each with two locos and the second loco has no commands in its queue. The tick boxes in the Driver Setup Rule are exactly the same as shown in your first screen shot.

There must be some fundamental difference in the two routes or sessions that is probably causing this issue but I cannot see what. It is now approaching 11pm here so I will have another look tomorrow.

Peter.

The more I think of it... Why does my session start in Quick Drive Mode?

Hi Thierry,
try to avoid F2 quick drive, or UDS if you have it
save a session with a name that makes sense to you FI: <routename>ses1, save it go out of trainz
restart Trainz, select the route, then the session and drive it.

Untick the generate new drivers for empty trains.

pware said:

I now see the problem and I have managed to duplicate it myself on one route BUT not on another route.

<snip>

There must be some fundamental difference in the two routes or sessions that is probably causing this issue but I cannot see what.

Click to expand...

A brand new day, a good nights sleep and now I can see the very obvious difference. I was ignoring my own advice in post #5 above.

In route 1 the loco now starts obeying the command "Drive To Trackmark XYZ" immediately. The solution was to check the Session Editor in Surveyor and if the Driver Setup Rule has the text "(complete was-complete)" appearing after its name then right mouse click on the "(complete was-complete)", select "Reset", exit the Session Editor (ticking first) then save the Session, exit Surveyor and then reload the Session in Driver. On restarting the train moved.

EDIT: Upon some thought as to why this had happened, I can only think that I must have saved the Session (overwriting the original starting Session) after running the session very briefly and then using the UDS to jump into Surveyor to do some editing.

Sorry, pware, that's not the problem. Thanks all the same.

tfr.stmalo said:

Sorry, pware, that's not the problem. Thanks all the same.

Click to expand...

Also sorry to hear that. I never use Quick Drive so I cannot give an explanation using that feature.

The only remaining "last-stand" thought I have is the possibility of confusion over the Session being loaded. Have you given the Session with the driver command a distinctive name, not "Default"? Are you exiting Surveyor back to the main Surveyor/Driver menu, selecting the Route, then "View Sessions", then selecting the named Session and then selecting "Drive Session"?