[R H Steele]

Now that Open Rails is utilizing passing path information in activities I have a question - actually a couple. Attached diagram for Illustration (and just finished reading Richard Garber's Activity Guide)
1. Should the passing paths be on the traffic (AI) path, NOT on the player path?
2. Should the passing paths be picked in the direction of travel of the traffic?
3. In place of passing paths why not route the traffic path through all the sidings instead.
4. What are the advantages of passing paths?

Will understanding all this be of any use when Open Rails implements its own Activity Editor/Toolset?

{Having taught at college level I know there are no dumb questions (that's the theory) but these must appear simple to those with much more experience, so bear with me. Making activities work, creating activities and understanding the differences between Open Rails and MSTS activity interpretation is somewhat confusing to many ( :unknw: myself included). I can appreciate that many times what appears as faulty performance by Open Rails is not at all the case. Comparing a ten+ year old gaming platform (that was never really finished or completely implemented) to a contemporary simulator is difficult and one should be wary of such comparisons. Actually those type of comparisons are not fair to either MSTS or Open Rails. Okay I'm stopping now before this turns into Oliver Twist}

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[Buttercup]

This may help: http://www.elvastowe...post__p__139918

[R H Steele]

Buttercup, on 27 March 2014 - 07:24 PM, said:

This may help: http://www.elvastowe...post__p__139918

Perfect, :sign_thanks: , just what I was looking for. Don't know how I missed that thread. If only I had searched "passing paths" Duh

[R H Steele]

I started this thread because I'm working on an activity for Clinch Valley. Starts with player and 3 AI's meet at Wye. All works fine, no deadlocks. Rest of activity did not use passing paths, ran traffic paths through sidings, Player path on mainline. This ran fine, only needed AI start time adjustments to make meets work. Sometimes trains passed, sometimes player waited, others AI waited - no problems. Added "begin passing paths" to player path and this resulted in a deadlock, with a train that player had waited for previously. I'm going to work with it some more. Attached log if it can be of benefit.

Edit - you know what, after I picked "begin passing path" for the player path at all the siding points I neglected to change the main traffic path from going through all the sidings back to the mainline. Would this have caused this particular problem? All consists fit on the sidings, activity designed with that in mind.

(i noticed from the log that the route is missing some sound files, thought it checked ok in RouteRiter?)

Attached File(s)

•  OpenRailsLog.txt (16.52K)
  Number of downloads: 241

[roeter]

The answer to this depends on the selection of the experimental option "Use location-linked passing path processing".

• If this option is set:
  It does not matter what has been defined as main path or passing path for either player or AI train. This system creates a 'set' of available routes between the start and end nodes. If one train has a choice of routes through the area and the other has not, the system will select a route for the train which has a choice such that there is no conflict. If both trains have a choice of routes, the selection depends on the way the routes were defined (i.e. which was set as 'main' and which as 'passing' for each of the trains), but the system will always select a different route for each of the trains (if this is not possible, e.g. because of a third train or too short sections, the area is not marked as a possible passing location even if passing paths have been defined).
  
  
• If option is not set :
  The 'main' routes for both player and AI must be the same route through the area (in reverse, obviously).
  In this situation, the system only checks for an 'alternative' route for the first train to arrive at the location. If this first train is to pass the second train at this location, it is assigned to the alternative route. The other train is always assigned to the main route. If the main route for one train is the alternative route for the other, the first train is assigned this alternative route which puts is right in the path of the other train.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[R H Steele]

roeter, on 28 March 2014 - 01:14 AM, said:

The answer to this depends on the selection of the experimental option "Use location-linked passing path processing".

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

Thanks for the information. Read Mr Garbers manual mainly to get acquainted with the terminology. Realize this is evolving so the activity may not function properly the first time, work in progress.

[R H Steele]

roeter, on 28 March 2014 - 01:14 AM, said:

The answer to this depends on the selection of the experimental option "Use location-linked passing path processing".

• If this option is set:
  It does not matter what has been defined as main path or passing path for either player or AI train. This system creates a 'set' of available routes between the start and end nodes. If one train has a choice of routes through the area and the other has not, the system will select a route for the train which has a choice such that there is no conflict. If both trains have a choice of routes, the selection depends on the way the routes were defined (i.e. which was set as 'main' and which as 'passing' for each of the trains), but the system will always select a different route for each of the trains (if this is not possible, e.g. because of a third train or too short sections, the area is not marked as a possible passing location even if passing paths have been defined).
• If option is not set :
  The 'main' routes for both player and AI must be the same route through the area (in reverse, obviously).
  In this situation, the system only checks for an 'alternative' route for the first train to arrive at the location. If this first train is to pass the second train at this location, it is assigned to the alternative route. The other train is always assigned to the main route. If the main route for one train is the alternative route for the other, the first train is assigned this alternative route which puts is right in the path of the other train.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

Do you foresee keeping the user option to set or not set "Use location-linked passing path processing" ?