[Gary54]

I have been trying to run some simple “homemade” activities on the D&H Bridgeline Route in order to become more familiar with the recent upgrades in the way OR handles AI trains. Overall, it has been working nicely. However, recently (starting with X2164 – perhaps earlier – and continuing to X2208), an especially frustrating problem has occurred. It’s similar in some (but not all) respects to what other people have alluded to. Basically, all of the AI trains begin at their proper times as set up in AE. However, some of the trains appear (to the passing Player train) but others have apparently vanished (again, relative to the Player train). When viewed using the F5 Dispatcher HUD, all of the scheduled trains are present. However, those trains that will not be seen from the Player train show a speed of NaN mph (by the way, these trains fail to appear on the Dispatcher map view). While I have seen this problem mentioned as an issue with Player trains, in my case, it affects only AI trains, and not all of them. It essentially renders some AI trains invisible even though they appear on the F5 HUD and apparently are moving. The “missing” AI trains show an AI Mode of RUN but at a speed of NaN mph, whereas those trains that will be visible from the Player train also show an AI Mode of RUN but their speed is some numerical value, as it should be. I have tested this in several ways, including with both the curve dependent resistance and curve dependent speed limit checked and unchecked with similar results. Also, it does not always affect the same AI train. In a recent test, an AI train named Local 1 was observed; in the next test, the same AI train never appeared (its speed on the F5 HUD was Nan mph). Further, in one case, the Player train was required to stop to await the arrival of an AI train that never showed; its speed was listed as NaN mph. It appears that because it was supposed to be on that track at that time, it was given the signal and the Player train was held. It seems to me that the issue of the NaN mph speed limit is the culprit here.

This is a vexing problem that diminishes the impact of this otherwise fantastic improvement to the way the AI dispatcher handles the Player and AI trains.

Thanks very any help you may be able to offer as well as for the almost daily improvements to OR.

One other point that I need to include here; none of these trains initially appear in the F5 HUD with speed limits of Nan mph. Instead, they appear to appear, accelerate, and then at some point, hit the NaN mph speed limit effectively removing them from the sim.

Gary

[Gary54]

I continue to have this problem of vanishing AI trains in X2222 (curve resistance and speed checked and unchecked). In fact, within the last five minutes, I finally observed an AI train disappear. Before this, the only way I was aware that a train had vanished was by keeping the F5 HUD dispatcher screen open or simply never seeing the train while running the route. In the most recent case, the train vanished and its speed on the F5 HUD changed to NaNmph, whatever that means. It's worth mentioning that I have never had the Player train vanish (as some people have); thus, OR does not crash for me. The most recent train to vanish was to pass in front of the Player train. However, because it vanished before making its move, the Player signal remained unchanged (red). This has also happened with oncoming AI trains that vanished before clearing a signal.

I've tried multiple acts at different areas of the route - the D + H Bridgeline ( a payware route). Because it seems that I may be the only person having this problem (I've tested back to X2003, always with the same results), I have to wonder if it may not be route-related. I really have no basis for this, but I'm completely baffled. Different trains vanish at different times meaning that I am never able to fully test the latest AI train handling capabilities of OR. My next move will be to try another route.

Gary

[dennisat]

 Gary54, on 06 May 2014 - 03:59 PM, said:

... speed on the F5 HUD changed to NaNmph, whatever that means....

NaN means "not a number". The speed field should contain a floating point value for the speed but the format of the field has become invalid. The previous bug of this nature was due to unusual, but not invalid, track formations in the route.
It is possible that you've come across a problem with your route that is very unusual, perhaps even due to a construct in the TDB? Who knows! I've been watching all my routes (which are all UK) to see if something similar is occurring but so far I've not come across the problem.
I'm afraid that doesn't help you much, you need someone with debugging skills who has your route and can reproduce the problem and track it down. Any takers?

Best of luck

Dennis

[roeter]

Gary,

can you upload the log-file from a session where this problem occurs?
Can you also upload a path file as used for one of the AI trains for which the problem occurs, and indicate at, or at least near, to which location this happens?

One of these days I will try and have a look at it.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[Gary54]

Thanks for the responses Dennis and Rob,

To Dennis' point regarding the TDB; given that the D&H Route is a bit dated, I completed a rather heavy upgrade of the vegetation along the right-of-way. However, this did not involve modifying or adding interactives. Still, I suppose this could have altered the TDB in some way. I replaced the TDB file of the modified route with the original TDB file, but the problems continue. Further, they do happen at the same time nor do the same AI trains vanish.

Rob, I have attached the log that was generated when I shut OR down. I do not get crashes when the AI trains disappear. I would like to include the path of that train that vanished in my most recent attempt. However, when I attempt this, I receive an error message telling me than I am not permitted to upload this kind of file.

Thanks for any light you can shed on this. In the meantime, I am going to run some other routes which I have not modified.

Regards,

Gary

Attached File(s)

•  OpenRailsLog.txt (12.53K)
  Number of downloads: 162

[roeter]

Thanks for the info.
As for uploading the file : you can try to zip it, if the system refuses that, just make a copy and change the file-extension to .txt and upload it as a plain textfile.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[Gary54]

Here's the zipped path, Rob. Thanks.

Gary

Attached File(s)

•  Coopertown-Oneonta.zip (645bytes)
  Number of downloads: 181

[midneguy]

I've noticed something similar as of late while running OR version 2477 and a few earlier versions, after being bitten by the coal hauling bug and trying to run the Powder River Basin route. Rob - since you were in this discussion earlier I'm sure you'll remember some of the challenges we've already had on that route lol.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand... I've observed the same problem while trying to run activities on this route, though in a slightly different way than Gary described. I've seen the same things about different AI trains being effected by the NaNmph speed notation, and being noted in the dispatches HUD display, and not always the same AI trains every time. I also had the good (?) fortune to catch one in the act of going from a moving, functioning AI Train to a frozen one... Instead of seeing the train disappear, what I saw was the AI train lunge, or jerk abruptly to a stop, and all of the wheels beneath the locomotives and cars disappeared. The rest of the cars and locomotives remained, the AI train was still in RUN mode, and I could even hear the locomotives being revved up as if they were trying to pull the train - which doesn't work very well if the train has no wheels lol.

So I guess I'm curious... was a cause identified for the problems Gary saw on his D&H Bridgeline route found, and a way to correct the problem identified? Or is this still an open problem that hasn't been solved yet?

Thanks! :rotfl:

[Gary54]

Thanks for your comments regarding the vanishing AI trains. The Nan mph problem continues to occur intermittently. I have observed a train about to disappear only once; in that case, the train had stopped well short of any signal. It disappeared soon after the Player Train passed it (going in the opposite direction). When the problem arises, it seems to (1) occur very early in the activity and (2) affects a single consist. I have been running on the same route for some time now, using the same consists in different combinations. It's possible that the NaN mph has something to do with certain consist parameters; i.e., certain consists are prone to disappearing. However, I have been unable to identify the single or multiple parameters that might be causing these problems.

One other point - I can complete activities even if some AI trains disappear by frequently saving the activity. The AI trains do not disappear at predictable times; thus, resuming the activity when the AI train is still there usually allows for one to complete the activity. It shouldn't be this way, but it does work...for now.

Gary

[midneguy]

Gary - thanks for the additional comments about your experience with this, because my experience has been a little different actually. I've seen the NaNmph suddenly effect an AI train both early in an activity, and also quite a ways into an activity as well. Additionally, I've seen it effect multiple consists, but not all at the same time...

I also wondered if there might be something about a consist itself that would make this happen, since I first saw this while I was trying to run activities set in the 1980's or so. I've been running another activity sense, all "modern day" and I haven't seen the NaNmph AI consist freeze happen yet - though the activity has much less AI activity in it than the ones I was trying previously...