Stuck!

There is probably a blindingly obvious answer so forgive me, but....
In a session some of my drivers get stuck waiting for clearance (not sure why). Is there any way to get the train moving without losing the list of commande? I usually prod thr manual control and if I can move the engine a few feet the AI kicks back in. But the controls on appear for a fraction of a second at seemingly random intervals. Any suggestions? I don't really want to rebuild the schedule every time.
Cheers, Jeff.

You can select STOP THE TRain then do your shunt the select CONTINUE PROGRAM
but realy you should try to find what is causing the blockage
dont forget sometimes the unit will stop and the red ! will appear, just wait a few mins maybe another unit has grabed the next block and you driver will have to wait until its clear, also sometimes on long routes of complicated ones the unit may just have stopped to have a look at the system and find the way to go, this can happen if there are various ways to get to the next point

Thanks for that! I said it would be blindingly obvious. Doh! Have to say though that the AI is doing my head in. Had a perfectly servicable passenger service running, change the DMUs and now the drivers go beserk. Picture stations A-B-C-D on double track. Stopping train leaves A via B & C. Arrives at D, unloads and changes platforms before returning to A via C & B. Same time train leaves D and does the same in the oppossite direction. Worked well until chage of stock. Now the logic goes completely. Seems to be random. As an example next command for train might be 'drive to D' but driver heads from C to B on wrong track. No other trains interfering, second train is approaching A at this point. Ho Hum, I'll keep trying.

Jeff.

I hate that, sometimes no matter what I do they always want to take the wierd route through lots of switches instead of the mainline.
Usually after direction, priority markers this can be fixed but Ive had to eliminate junctions in certainn areas to stop the Nicole Ritchie driving against traffic style.

You have to be careful with the AI ( Consider it to be completly stupid)
1: It will always take the shortest route
2: It will always take the left line first unless there is something to stop it
3: Alister is stupid ( sack him )
4: It needs 3 clear blocks ahead of it otherwise it will take an ilogical
route to arrive at the destination
5: Try to make sure that switch levers are just outside the yellow circle spline points
6: Try to leave 1 engine length between the signal and the switch lever
7: On a switch both lines need a signal even if there normaly would not be one ( use an invisible signal at the end of sidings )
8: Do use the yellow direction markers if possible
9: Put a track marker after the switch and give the AI directions to go through it
10: use speed controlers before switches far enough away to give units time to decrease speed ( gives the AI time to think)
11: Keep smileing/make a coffee / dont give up it will come right in the end ( I have spent days sometimes just to get a section right )

The "Waiting for Clearance" message is a bit confusing, however. I've noticed that the AI will say that when they pass trackmarks, or stop at certain passenger-enabled stations. This is confusing because I don't know what they're waiting for, and I've wandered off to hunt down Alister, or Moira (the female Alister) who also causes a few problems, only to find there wasn't any issue in the first place.

One of the things that I do, that seems to help most of the time, is to place periodic signals even in the middle of double-track sections. I use the US-Coal 3000T consist as my ruler, and place signals every consist-length plus a little smidge. I find that after doing this, I can keep the AI moving along pretty well without snarling junctions most of the time because this spaces out the AI and slows them down enough so that one train will run on the "yellows" behind another.

I too have reworked junctions, stations, and whole sections not because they didn't look right, but only because the AI didn't like them! In my more recent case, I completely renovated my Eastport passenger terminal by moving it nearly a mile or so into the city. This gave me longer leads into the station, and therefore more time for the AI to sort things out before they ganged up on the junctions.

One of the things I noticed recently, is that the AI will become brain-farty when the system memory gets low. After being in Surveyor for nearly 5 hours, then in Driver for nearly 3, the AI drivers will start to randomly take the wrong paths when they reach junctions that they otherwise didn't have problems at a previous time.

John

Ive definatly seen graphics stutter when the AI were confused.
Any more than 5 AI in motion on a complicated track will bring you to a slide show if 3 of them are fighting for the same switches.


Good tips you listed there.