[Coolhand101]

For a good while, i have notice that when my train stops before a level crossing, the gates open, and the traffic resumes. As soon as i start to move, the gates are then lowered and the traffic stops.

According to this post from roeter Thread link , this should not be the case.

Also can anyone confirm what the first four settings actually mean? I see no reference in the MSTS TechDocs:-

http://www.atomic-album.co.uk/showPic.php/178898/LVLC-Settings.jpg

Thanks

[Jovet]

Minimum Activation Distance
The distance down the track from the LevelCr track marker in each direction that the presence of any train (or any rolling stock, ideally) will mean the LevelCr should be activated.
For most US and Canadian crossings, this value should be set between 15 and 40 meters for gates when using a non-zero Activate Level Crossing Early By value. Use higher values when the level crossing is not perpendicular. When configuring automatic lights with automatic gates, the lights should be configured about twice the distance of the gates, depending on the customary maximum speed of trains at the crossing. When using a zero value for Activate Level Crossing Early By then this setting should be at least twice or thrice the normal value, depending on the customary maximum speed of trains approaching the crossing.
For level crossings elsewhere in the world, it depends, as practices vary. Generally you will want to follow the settings outlined above, and give a larger Activate Level Crossing Early By value if that is customary for the region.

Activate Level Crossing Early By
A train moving towards the LevelCr track marker should cause the LevelCr to activate this many seconds before the train arrives at the track marker. I haven't tried to really experiment or decipher the code, but I suspect that OR actually measures against the "leading edge" of the Activation Distance and not the track marker itself. MSTS seems to work off of the track marker.
This setting simulates the behavior of a grade crossing predictor which is a device commonly employed to give constant warning time at a level crossing no matter how fast the approaching train is moving.
Setting this value to zero will disable "grade crossing predictor" behavior, and will cause the Activation Distance alone as proximity to activate the LevelCr object, such as in an old-style detection circuit.
For most US and Canadian crossings, this value should be set between 15 and 30 seconds. When configuring automatic flashing lights with automatic gates, the flashing light objects should be configured 3-5 seconds more than the gates.

Initial warning phase lasts
More serious warning phase lasts
These control how CarSpawner traffic responds to the LevelCr object in a manner similar to the Activate Level Crossing Early By setting. I never have figured out what the actual difference between them is supposed to be.
I always set the first one to 5 seconds and the second one to 3 seconds.
A symptom that these settings are wrong is the CarSpawner traffic stopping at the crossing for an approach of the train before the LevelCr signals actually activate.

Gate open/close animation length
This sets the total time for LevelCr object animation or frame rate. This value can be positive or negative:

• A positive value puts the LevelCr object in "one-shot" mode. This mode is appropriate for something like a crossing gate or barrier. The LevelCr object is held in animation frame #0 when not activated. When activated, the shape is transitioned to frame #1, with the transition taking this number of seconds. The shape remains at animation frame #1 as long as the LevelCr marker is activated. When the LevelCr is subsequently deactivated, the initial animation is played backwards taking the same number of seconds until the shape is back at frame #0.
• A negative value puts the LevelCr object in loop mode. This mode is appropriate for something like automatic flashing warning lights or a wig-wag. The LevelCr object is held in animation frame #0 when not activated. Once activated, the shape loops through all of its animation frames for as long as it is activated. After the last frame, animation continues back at frame #0 and continues indefinitely until it is deactivated. When the LevelCr is subsequently deactivated, the shape's pose is instantly reset back to frame #0 again. I have traditionally calculated the speed of the animation as the inverse of the absolute value of this value in frames per second. (For example, -0.0333 = -(1/30) = 30 frames per second; if you want 20 frames per second, then 1/20 is 0.05, and the negative value of that is -0.05 which is the value to use.)

For most US and Canadian and Australian crossing gates installed in the last 70 years, this value should be set to somewhere between 6.5 and 8 seconds. For older manual or hand-crank gates, consider 10-16 seconds. For other locales, you'll have to refer to prototypical experience and practices.
For flashing light shapes, this value depends on the design of specific shape and the number of animation frames included. My flashing light shapes, for example, are designed to have 60 frames, with 30 frames per each light per flash cycle. Thus for one-second cycle flashing this value should be -0.0333. If you want the lights to be a little faster, use a slightly higher value, such as -0.03 or -0.0275.
For wig-wag shapes, again this value depends on the specific shape's design. For my wig-wags, I typically use a value around -0.04.
The MSTS Route Editor will try to reject a negative value which is input into this box in the object Properties window. You can fool it by typing the negative value and pressing ENTER without pressing TAB or switching away to a different window or text box (which works most of the time—always double-check it after), or you can manually edit the world file.

Crossing is invisible
If this option is selected, the shape itself will not be rendered in the game, and the crossing will make no sound. It will only stop CarSpawner traffic.
This setting should be used only at passive crossings (signs only) and crossings with only flashing lights. If there are gates or barriers at a crossing, do not use this setting as the CarSpawner traffic will enter the crossing after the passage of a train before the gates/barriers have cleared.

Crash probability
This value sets the likelihood that a CarSpawner "vehicle" may be encountered on the level crossing as the player train approaches. Failure to blow the horn/whistle may cause a collision and the Activity to end. Or something. Setting this value to non-zero will cause MSTS to require the horn/whistle be sounded before arriving at each level crossing. I have not tried this value in OR but I suspect it has no effect.
This should be set to 0.0.

[Jovet]

Coolhand101, on 07 August 2016 - 05:35 AM, said:

For a good while, i have notice that when my train stops before a level crossing, the gates open, and the traffic resumes. As soon as i start to move, the gates are then lowered and the traffic stops.
According to this post from roeter Thread link , this should not be the case.

Your experience sounds like the proper behavior to me. The only difference described in the linked thread is if there is a signal facing the track between the train and the level crossing. Do you have a signal there?

[Coolhand101]

jovet, on 07 August 2016 - 06:30 AM, said:

Your experience sounds like the proper behavior to me. The only difference described in the linked thread is if there is a signal facing the track between the train and the level crossing. Do you have a signal there?

Many many thanks for the detail reply.

I have two crossings on a section of track for this testing, one with and without signals. Both will open the gates once i have come to a stand. However roeter states:

"•If there is no signal or this signal is cleared :

◦The LC will close as the train approaches and will remain closed until the train has cleared the crossing".

Which is what i trying to achieve, but i cannot seem to get this ideal method!

Any ideals?

Thanks

[Coolhand101]

The first crossing has lights and barriers but the train has to stop before it can proceed.

Setting "Activate Level Crossing Early By" to zero and "Minimum Activation Distance" to 30, gives this desired effect( minus the gates opening again once at a stand ).

The second crossing has lights but no barrier, but this crossing has 20 mph speed limit from a 60 mph upper limit. The 20 mph is timed so the train can stop in time if the crossing signal( facing train ) does not flash white.

I'm unsure what values to be inserted for this type of timed crossing for 20 mph and lights and traffic?

Thanks

[Jovet]

Coolhand101, on 07 August 2016 - 07:13 AM, said:

If there is no signal or this signal is cleared :
The LC will close as the train approaches and will remain closed until the train has cleared the crossing.
Which is what i trying to achieve, but i cannot seem to get this ideal method!

Every LevelCr object will de-activate if the train stops moving towards the crossing and the train is outside the Minimum Activation Distance distance. I believe Carlo tweaked/improved this behavior earlier this year or late last year.
If you want the LevelCr to stay activated with a train in proximity you'll need to increase the Minimum Activation Distance value to accommodate that.

The point I gather with the wayside signals in that thread is that if the signal for the train is showing STOP then the LevelCr shapes past that signal are locked out and will not activate. Since MSTS/OR do not support level crossing warning signals, it's the effect that the wayside signaling is having on the LevelCr signals, versus the typically opposite effect of the wayside signal (level crossing signal) being affected by the level crossing signals.

Coolhand101, on 07 August 2016 - 07:34 AM, said:

The first crossing has lights and barriers but the train has to stop before it can proceed.
Setting "Activate Level Crossing Early By" to zero and "Minimum Activation Distance" to 30, gives this desired effect( minus the gates opening again once at a stand ).

You'll want the activation distance to be long enough so that the train stopping before entering the crossing doesn't let the barriers deactivate. I would start with 100 meters and work from there, depending on how close you want the train to be able to stop realistically. If the activate early value is, say, only 20 seconds, then it might not have any effect with an activation distance that long, but that is okay.

Coolhand101, on 07 August 2016 - 07:34 AM, said:

The second crossing has lights but no barrier, but this crossing has 20 mph speed limit from a 60 mph upper limit. The 20 mph is timed so the train can stop in time if the crossing signal( facing train ) does not flash white.
I'm unsure what values to be inserted for this type of timed crossing for 20 mph and lights and traffic?

I'm going to assume you're setting up British level crossing lights. Because they are supposed to be multi-stage (Off→Amber→Flashing Red), proper reproduction of them would require more than one .s file. But continuing to assume you're just dealing with the flashing red lights that are suitable to be used as a LevelCr object, I would start with an activation distance of 50 meters, but no less than a small ways beyond the nearest level crossing indicator wayside signal. If the level crossing indicator wayside signals are also LevelCr objects, so much the better.

[Coolhand101]

Just before reading your latest post, i was testing out the settings in RE/OR.

Yes the 'Minimum Activation' default distance, gives the unwanted effect of the barriers opening once the train has came to stand at these low speed crossings. Increasing prevents this from happening, however for some reason, the crossing alarm sound stops playing, once the train has came to a stand?

The "Activate Level Crossing Early By" is most important for these types of low speed crossings i am testing.

The "Initial warning phase lasts" and "More serious warning phase lasts" do not appear to have any effect in OR.

I have come across one little problem with these types of crossings.

The station where you have to stop before the level crossing, is only for one direction of a single line, the other direction, has a 20 mph speed limit. Can this be achieved ?

Sorry i should of been clearer. The flashing white light is for the train, to let the driver know that the barriers are down. I did make a signal for this, no white light = Stop, Flashing white light = proceed.

A wait point just before the signal and train should give the effect i need. I set the "Activate Level Crossing Early By" to 1 second. And as soon as the train stopped, the barriers came down. The OR 'approach control' scripts would 100% suit these signal crossings.

Slowly getting there!

Thanks

[Coolhand101]

What a shame.

The signal before the crossing held at red by a waitpoint, does indeed prevent the barriers from lowering. However once the signal goes to green, the barriers are still up with traffic still passing.

Most of roeters crossing updates seems to no longer apply? Can anyone else confirm this signal/crossing problem?

Thanks

[Jovet]

Coolhand101, on 07 August 2016 - 10:42 AM, said:

I have come across one little problem with these types of crossings.
The station where you have to stop before the level crossing, is only for one direction of a single line, the other direction, has a 20 mph speed limit. Can this be achieved ?
Sorry i should of been clearer. The flashing white light is for the train, to let the driver know that the barriers are down. I did make a signal for this, no white light = Stop, Flashing white light = proceed.

Yeah, I knew what kind of signal you were talking about. The only way to link the behavior of the signal to that of the level crossing is to make the signal a LevelCr object. You can then very easily have it flash when the rest of the level crossing signals activate, just like in real life. But it will just be eye candy for trains—they will not see it on the Track Monitor or be forced to stop for it. The only limitation with this idea is that LevelCr shapes can only be moved a certain distance from track marker. 50 meters maybe? I've never bothered to find out the maximum distance. But if you want the signal further away than allowed you'd have to give the thing a very offset pivot point, which could be awkward.

If the speed limit at the crossing is permanently 20 MPH then just bury a 20 MPH speed post. You don't need a signal for that.

Coolhand101, on 07 August 2016 - 11:41 AM, said:

However once the signal goes to green, the barriers are still up with traffic still passing.

The LevelCr objects will not activate until you move your train towards the crossing. Just a nudge should be enough.

[Coolhand101]

jovet, on 07 August 2016 - 10:32 PM, said:

The LevelCr objects will not activate until you move your train towards the crossing. Just a nudge should be enough.

Yes that is correct. I was referring to Roeters update, which states the signal should control this.

Thanks