[cnw_fan]

Goku, on 14 February 2017 - 06:05 AM, said:

?
Yes. Click "Hacks" in Signal Properties.

When seeing this to begin with it wasn't clear what hack dialog box you were referring to. So not Hacks in the left hand side panel under advance?

[Goku]

.. you have it on the image - yellow "1".

[WaltN]

Goku, on 13 February 2017 - 08:19 PM, said:

I'm working on activity editor, so maybe I need to know something about creating activities? I never made any other than empty activity with only player service.
Is there any good guide?

Another way to proceed is by consulting the "big guys" -- real railroads. And that means research.

To give it a try, I searched for the phrase "railroad service planning" on the web. Right at the top was Wikipedia with Service planning (train). Interesting tool, the service planning diagram.

Following one of Wikipedia's links, this was interesting. Then this on timetables. Another.

I had hoped that someone from a real railroad would have documented the mechanics of planning a freight or passenger service. Maybe someone can come up with a better search phrase.

Another approach is to turn to our sibling hobby, traditional model railroading. For example, John Armstrong is a good source of information on realistic operation. I've never browsed this book, but maybe you can find a copy in a library. Then there's these, available via download.

What better way to look for a list of features than to consider how the real railroads do it?

[Goku]

I see you don't understand what I mean.

[hminky]

There is Rich Garber's payware guide:

Allaboard Activity Guide

There are several tutorials over at trainsim.com

Harold

[Buttercup]

Also: http://msts.steam4me...html#activities

[Goku]

I already read steam4me. Only simple things. But maybe AE is simple ..

Now I see that built-in path editor (or at least drive simulation) is mandatory before making AE. You need to calculate DistanceDownPath, station stops etc.

[longiron]

Fundamentally, the MSTS Activity Editor did a few simple things:

1. Create and activity framework (name, description, etc)

2. Select the consist that will be involved in the activity.

3. Select the path that activity will use (Start, End, Direction)

4. Define the elements of the activity ( Pickups, Drops offs, Reverse Points, Waiting, Station Stops, Siding definitions). The most difficult part as the activity package, as it tried to anticipate all the points and use cases within a railroad environments

5. Save these as a file

[conductorchris]

Yes, you need a path editor. But one is part of open rails track viewer. (You can do better, I know - but you could proceed without it if you choose).

To add to what Chris wrote above, the activity editor of MSTS also defines the operation of AI trains.

[Csantucci]

Goku,
I think that what you need is more understanding how the various items in the .act, .srv, .pat and .trf are generated and how they are used by OR.
You can ask specific questions on it and I can try to answer.
OR e.g. does not use the DistanceDownPath parameter.
I am even more convinced that the best starting point for an OR AE is TrackViewer, which has already all the path generation and display features, including inserting waiting and reversal points, and has a well-done 2D route map. Why you don't contact JeroenP and ask him if you can clone TrackViewer and develop the AE within the OR development environment? That would be definitely faster, and you could have also automatic access to the OR modules managing the activity files and the related ones. I had also in mind to do that, but generating an editor is beyond my capabilities.