[Genma Saotome]

I don't create many real activities as usually a path is good enough to check out the route I'm working on and so there are many basics about AI trains I've never learned. One of which is what happens before and after the run of the AI train: Does it just sit there in plain sight or does it "magically" appear (and disappear) according to the defined run time set up in AE?

If perchance that AI train is always present would it be advantageous for Open Rails to change that, to enable some means whereby the AI consists are present only during their defined run times (i.e., not sitting around outside that window of time)? Just curious... nothing more.

[Lindsayts]

 Genma Saotome, on 19 February 2013 - 09:40 PM, said:

I don't create many real activities as usually a path is good enough to check out the route I'm working on and so there are many basics about AI trains I've never learned. One of which is what happens before and after the run of the AI train: Does it just sit there in plain sight or does it "magically" appear (and disappear) according to the defined run time set up in AE?

If perchance that AI train is always present would it be advantageous for Open Rails to change that, to enable some means whereby the AI consists are present only during their defined run times (i.e., not sitting around outside that window of time)? Just curious... nothing more.

From my experience AI trains just appear at the start time it has been set up for. The problem with it just appearing is its not real life. I have run one activity (MAC to Port Hedland, in the BHP Pibara route, Note 1) where I managed by some very carefull and thoughtfull driving to arrive at particular section well early to find an AI train appear in front of me on a collision course. The signalling system simply not set up to deal with a train suddenly appearing.

On the few activities with AI traffic I have done I like to set up the AI trains to exist all the time as in real life. This does make a great deal of work particularly one a long activty like the MT Gambier express in the Adelaide hills and SE route, where the activity is 5 to 6 hours in length. It being 305 miles from Mt Gambier to Adeliade.
Its not always possible to do this of course, currently it appears one can create a train at any time so in reality OR does not need to do anything different, flexibilty in what one can do will allways be a major advantage though.

Note 1: One the activity concerned once one has climbed the grade from the mine, you hold the speed down to around 55 kph. At this speed one arrives at the first cross with an AI train just as said train clears the up end points of the loop, It means one does not have to stop or even slow down if one has timed it right. Getting a 30,000 ton train up to speed take __ages__. In real life on this line the controlers usually give the loaded trains priority something OR currently cannot do, so the drivers do not run into this problem.

Lindsay

[roeter]

At present, AI trains just appear 'by magic' at the start-time, and are removed when they have reached the end.
For passenger trains, it is possible to overrule this using station stops - AI trains will adhere to the timetable defined in the traffic details, so you can start an AI train early and then set the departure to the required time. You can also set a very late departure time for the last stop so the train will remain in the last station. Obviously, you cannot do so if more trains start from the same position or end at the same position.
The idea is to make this optional, but to do so requires an addition to the present activity files as this option is not available in the MSTS Activity Editor.
It must be available as an option - it cannot be set as fixed way to do things. If you have many trains starting at the same position they clearly cannot all be there when the activity starts. Similar for multiple trains ending at the same location - if these are not removed there will simply be a queue bulding up of trains stranded after the first one. A good example of this is, for instance, the London and South East route. Trains start at and terminate at the London end every few minutes - if you build traffic for a run lasting an hour and want to run 'real life' traffic, you're looking at over 50 trains starting or ending at the same location.

Regards,

Rob Roeterdink

[rfranzosa]

Hi Dave,

Another option (made viable by MSTS-Bin) is setting a 'wait' time. If I want an AI train to be visible, then head out at a later time, that does the trick, I have it appear at the activity start time and then wait for a predetermined amount. I've also done the opposite to insure that the train does not disappear, setting a wait time that ends at or near the end of the activity.

The most complex activity I ever did was a TOFC freight on the MountE, where the player train sits for 10 minutes or so while activity happens all around, including a set of AI 'trains' that simulated an Alco S2 dropping and picking up freight cars in the yard adjacent to the player train:

AI #1 S2 appears from behind the player train, disappears into the yard behind a string of freight cars (and vanishes)
AI #2 S2 reappears from yard with a string of cars, disappears behind the player train (and vanishes)

etc.

You can get fairly creative with AI if you take a 'stage manager' approach.

Rick

[Bernie]

I have often used the wait time method, and I have noticed that there are a few things you must be careful of. First, placing a wait point (or reversing point, for that matter) too near the consist spawn point will result in a "broken path". Second, the sim can sometimes have trouble with wait points that are longer than six or seven minutes; the trains will jump the gun and run off before then. This seems to happen only about 40% of the time in my experience, but the longer the wait time, the more likely the AI gets "impatient". :oldstry: This can make activities with precise timetables very difficult to set up. :good: However, BIN seems to have smoothed this out, in the old days, you could be sure that a waiting point would almost always give you trouble.

AI trains also respond a bit oddly when two train are set to spawn on different tracks and then proceed on the same one, such as a main line train and a train on a siding. Trains will crawl at slow speeds, come to loggerheads and both stop, or pull other strange tricks. As for appearing like magic, trains will make blocks register as clear when they vanish, but it seems to take a moment for the next train to accept this; often a second AI will wait a few minutes longer after the block ahead has cleared.

AI's are funny critters. :D