[R H Steele]

GTADon, on 13 January 2014 - 09:50 AM, said:

Thank you for the suggestions. I will revert back to the experimental X1931 and see if I can find a tutorial on Changing the Activity's routing.

Thank you all.

Don

Here's two links for activity tutorials:

Steam4me Tutorials: http://msts.steam4me...html#activities
Rich Garber's Activity Manual: http://www.allaboardrails.com/at.htm

[GTADon]

I have looked at the route and this activity in RE without success. I see all kinds of things in there. I looked for the "passing path" at various locations where the trains meet in RE, what I saw were some solid black circles on both the green path (player?) and the other path was black, sometimes with a green "/" through the path line. The signals are self explanatory, they look correct, red for the player and green for the AI.

Now with this particular activity all the trains, all seven start their trips at the same time it would seem. What does not make sense is that the first AI meets correctly. The second one at MP55 does not even though the AI left earlier than the player train. Is this what could be tripping up OR? How does the player train leave at 7:50 and the AI train leave at 6:45:0, second AI at 7:51:0???? Way before the Sim even starts??

I have been reading a few message boards on this subject and it seems that the timing can be a problem between OR and MSTS for the AIs.

Thanks again
Don

[R H Steele]

GTADon (or Don, if I can presume) I have the Bala Sub on order, for some reason decided to get it on disk, not download. If you can wait a bit until I receive and get it installed, I'll message you and see if we can fix it. Sounds interesting. Is this the activity you mentioned in earlier posts --- cn Westbound m30131?

[GTADon]

R H Steele, on 13 January 2014 - 03:20 PM, said:

GTADon (or Don, if I can presume) I have the Bala Sub on order, for some reason decided to get it on disk, not download. If you can wait a bit until I receive and get it installed, I'll message you and see if we can fix it. Sounds interesting. Is this the activity you mentioned in earlier posts --- cn Westbound m30131?

Yes that is the Act in question at this time. I have the route on disc, learned from the beginning that it is better to have the disc than depend upon the download.

I have altered the start times for the AI trains to all start one minute after the start of the activity (player train), right now I am just arriving at the second meet. This is what bothers me, the first meet happens properly and among a whole series of crossovers and other switches with the player train crossing over from West to Northbound.

Sounds like a plan to work together to get this activity thing solved. I know there are many nay sayers about OR, but I do think OR is the future, unless someone totally rewrites MSTS.

[GTADon]

These are views of two of the meets in Route Editor. M30131a&b is the first meet that functions correctly, M30131c is the meet that used to take place at Pefferlaw, MP55, but now with the altered start time takes place at MP86. All signals are red both directions even though the siding is clear and the player train is stopped clear.
[img]http://[URL=http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Don_LeBlanc/media/M30131b_zpsa8ad11af.png.html][IMG]http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y468/Don_LeBlanc/M30131b_zpsa8ad11af.png[/IMG][/URL][/img]
[img]http://[URL=http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Don_LeBlanc/media/M30131c_zps39c84ce2.png.html][IMG]http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y468/Don_LeBlanc/M30131c_zps39c84ce2.png[/IMG][/URL][/img]
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y468/Don_LeBlanc/M30131a_zps08074b1f.png

[roeter]

Hello Don,
what you are showing here is not the path definition. It's what the MSTS Activity Editor 'thinks' what is going to happen. Often it does not bear any relation to what will actually happen in MSTS - it certainly bears no relation whatsoever as to what will happen in OR.

Furthermore, I don't see a siding anywhere. I see lots of crossings and loops and things - but no siding where trains can pass. Maybe it is to the left of the area as shown - there are some switches there but if that's the start of a siding or two branches or double track I can't tell.

To show the actual paths, you have to do the following.
(P.S. Close all windows that pop up with "Cancel" when done, so as to make sure you don't accidently change anything.)

• For the player train :
  
  • Select "edit" button underneath "Player service" definition.
    
  • A new window will pop up, showing player service details.
    In this window, select "edit" button underneath "Path" definition.
    
  • This will show the player path in the main track window.
    Now set this window such that both ends of the siding are visible (forget all those crossings etc. to the right of it).
  
  
• For the AI train :
  
  • Select "edit" underneath "Traffic" definition.
    
  • A new window will pop up showing traffic details.
    In this window, there is a selection for the AI services.
    Here, select the service which defines the relevant AI train.
    Next, select "edit" underneath this selection.
    
  • Again a new window will pop up, showing the AI train service details - this window is similar as for the player train.
    So, in this window, again select "edit" underneath the "Path" definition.
    
  • Now, the AI train path will be shown in the main track window - make sure you show the same area as for the player train.

Another request : please upload the screenshots directly (as jpg or png), not via photobook or whatever - it's easier to download that way and than I can look at them in peace and quiet without need to be connected to the internet.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[GTADon]

Your help is greatly appreciated. :rofl2:

How do I tell which AI Traffic is the one to edit? Are they placed in order in the Activity file or some other file? Will they appear in order when I go into the Activity Editor. I would like to do one at a time and see if it is working when and where it should. :sleep:

Thank you for further clarification.

[R H Steele]

GTADon, on 14 January 2014 - 03:29 PM, said:

Your help is greatly appreciated. :)

How do I tell which AI Traffic is the one to edit? Are they placed in order in the Activity file or some other file? Will they appear in order when I go into the Activity Editor. I would like to do one at a time and see if it is working when and where it should. :D

Thank you for further clarification.

Don I see we joined Elvas near the same time. When I joined my experience with MSTS and OR was nil (still close to nil when compared with most in this vicinity). So I don't know what experience level you are at. Before you do anything you should back up the activity. Easiest way is to back up the following folders for the Bala Sub (this is a wholesale back up - there are more detailed ways to do it) ACTIVITIES, PATHS, SERVICES, TRAFFIC and the CONSIST folder in the TRAINS folder (in case you edit a consist and want the original back) .

Read and go through this activity tutorial at Steam4me --- http://msts.steam4me...rial/index.html

As Rob stated you have to know the name of the player and traffic services, and the paths associated with those services. One way is to use RouteRiter which will give you all this information when using the "check selected activity" function under the Activities/Stock tab. This will give the name of the service, its consist, and the path it uses.

I have found the "activity playback" function of the AE to be of service. To use it select tools (top left corner of AE window next to help) click on verify starting state and then go to the bottom of the window and press the play button. You can speed up the play rate by using a multiplier in the time acceleration window. Watch the Player and AI trains you are interested in, also watch the signals clear after trains pass. More experienced folks than myself discount this method, but it is useful to get an overall view of what is going on. I know from my limited experience that it does show what can happen in Open Rails -- I have seen it work. It's certainly not surefire but it is a tool to consider.

I'll post when I receive the route, if you are still wrestling with the problem.

If I have muddied the waters, my apologies.

[R H Steele]

roeter, on 14 January 2014 - 02:39 PM, said:

Another request : please upload the screenshots directly (as jpg or png), not via photobook or whatever - it's easier to download that way and than I can look at them in peace and quiet without need to be connected to the internet.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

I just right clicked on the image and chose "save image as" to the desktop. Worked fine.

[GTADon]

Thank you for the information. I am going to put it to good use.

The Activity M30131 is still mystifying me in that the first meet goes off without a hitch, but the rest will not function. From the information I am seeing from others they are having similar issues running Bala v2 in OR in reguards to AI trains.

I am at best a lower intermediate at all this Sim stuff, I am just breaking into repainting some simple items with Photoshop (not as easy as it looks!).

I really thought that a new route with new (relatively) programming would work fine in OR. The route itself is spectacular and the correctness of the buildings is first rate, a lot of hours went into producing this route.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but some of the fine Activity Builders here should be able to figure out a way of allowing these AIs in the activities to be where they are supposed to be without rewriting the whole scenario. I will keep plugging along and backing up everything is something I learned from experience. I have read that tutorial and keep it handy at all times, sometimes I just get ahead of myself.lol