[Jovet]

Coolhand101, on 08 August 2016 - 01:03 AM, said:

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

It's my understanding that a NORMAL signal between the train and the level crossing at STOP will cause the LevelCr objects to not activate. Once the signal upgrades from STOP then the behavior is normal—the LevelCr objects will activate when the train moves towards them within the parameters with which they're configured. They will/should not automatically turn on unless the train is in the Minimum Activation Distance.

[Coolhand101]

jovet, on 08 August 2016 - 01:07 PM, said:

when the train moves towards them

Yes this is the behaviour i am getting, once the signal changes from start to proceed. However according to what i read from roeter, stating "The LC will close when the signal clears". This is not happening.

I was hoping that when my white flashing signal is activated( normal clear from stop ), the crossing will activate, either barriers or lights , if in the required distance. Roeter does state that the signal should not clear until the crossing is fully activated, but that requires a code change.


Thanks

[Jovet]

Coolhand101, on 08 August 2016 - 01:52 PM, said:

Yes this is the behaviour i am getting, once the signal changes from start to proceed. However according to what i read from roeter, stating "The LC will close when the signal clears". This is not happening.

I suspect you're reading too much into his wording. He said "will" but I bet meant "can." Short of being inside the activation distance, there's no reason for a LevelCr object to ever activate if there is no train moving towards its track marker. In other words, if you want the level crossing signals to activate the moment the wayside signal clears, then you need to (greatly) extend the Minimum Activation Distance of those LevelCr objects to include where the train is sitting, waiting for the signal.

Coolhand101, on 08 August 2016 - 01:52 PM, said:

I was hoping that when my white flashing signal is activated( normal clear from stop ), the crossing will activate, either barriers or lights , if in the required distance. Roeter does state that the signal should not clear until the crossing is fully activated, but that requires a code change.

Yes, realistic operation of those kinds of signals are functionality which OR just does not have yet. The closest you can get to duplicating it is by making a LevelCr signal shape and not using a true signal.

Similarly you should not want or expect a level crossing warning signal, which reports on the condition of the level crossing protection signals, to in any way itself control whether those signals activate or not in the game. So I hope (but it's not clear) that you're talking about two different signals in the scenario you're setting up.

[Coolhand101]

Some progress.

1. Approaching the crossing at the 20 mph required speed:

A double RP was used, to keep the white flashing( NORMAL ) signal at stop( no white flashing light ).

When i tripped the DRP, the signal was flashing ( Clear_2 ) and the crossing activated.

2. Approaching the crossing which requires a complete stop:

A waitpoint was used to keep the white flashing( NORMAL ) signal at stop. After the waitpoint expired, the signal was flashing ( clear 2 ). Although i was in the required distance for the crossing to activate, this did not happen until my train begin to move.

I will continue testing the crossing activation distance.

Thanks

[Coolhand101]

Increasing the distance made no difference!

Also i just tested another DRP for a different station and flashing signal.
This time i had to stop in the station before the crossing, as oppose to approaching the crossing first then stopping at the station after.

The DRP held the signal at danger. As i was coming into the station, the DRP tripped, the signal started flashing and the crossing lights and alarm sound came on. Success!!!.....

No, it was very short lived. As soon as i came to stand in the station, and well inside the activation distance. The crossing lights stop flashing and the traffic started to move. Moving a tad, then stopping, the crossing once more activated and stayed that way until my train passed.

Conclusion, it appears that if a signal before a crossing is showing a stop aspect, and that signal clears. The distance activation no longer works to that crossing unless the train moves slightly then stops, causing the activation distance to work again. Could this be a bug?

Also, the ( two ) red flashing crossing lights when not activated, one has a permanently lit steady red light. I would like this light not to displayed when the crossing is inactive. Any ideals?

Btw, your trick for the negative number in the RE crossing box worked 100%.



Thanks

[Jovet]

Coolhand101, on 09 August 2016 - 05:27 PM, said:

Increasing the distance made no difference!

Then it works differently than I was thinking. It seems to me that the Activation Distance should override whether a train is moving or not, and the Signal-At-Stop-In-between should override that. But I was also thinking that your station stop was before the crossing, too.

Coolhand101, on 09 August 2016 - 05:27 PM, said:

The DRP held the signal at danger. As i was coming into the station, the DRP tripped, the signal started flashing and the crossing lights and alarm sound came on. Success!!!.....
No, it was very short lived. As soon as i came to stand in the station, and well inside the activation distance. The crossing lights stop flashing and the traffic started to move. Moving a tad, then stopping, the crossing once more activated and stayed that way until my train passed.
Conclusion, it appears that if a signal before a crossing is showing a stop aspect, and that signal clears. The distance activation no longer works to that crossing unless the train moves slightly then stops, causing the activation distance to work again. Could this be a bug?

The game is designed to stop the LevelCr objects if a train moving towards the crossing stops and/or reverses before actually getting to the level crossing. I would expect the activation distance to take effect if it's large enough, but apparently it does not.

Not sure I'd call it a bug, (I am biased—I've been fine with how it works) but there's still may be room for improvement. You should ask Carlo and/or Rob about it, if they don't notice this thread.

I also meant to mention above, you said that the crossing alarm sound stops. From what I can tell, that is a bug, which happens to me sometimes, but I have yet to identify the circumstances that cause it to happen. It does seem more prone to happening at some level crossings and not others, but I do not know why.

Coolhand101, on 09 August 2016 - 05:27 PM, said:

Also, the ( two ) red flashing crossing lights when not activated, one has a permanently lit steady red light. I would like this light not to displayed when the crossing is inactive. Any ideals?
Btw, your trick for the negative number in the RE crossing box worked 100%.

The flashing-light shapes have to be especially-designed to be animated as a LevelCr object like that. Animation frame #0 must have all lights be "off," for example. Additionally, there must be "all off" frames during transitions from one light to another so that the animation doesn't seem lop-sided (assuming that is not prototypical).

You can convert the appropriate .s file to Unicode and hack its animation parameters to achieve this, similar to what has been done to get the turntable shapes to work. At the end of the file where the animation information is, there should be a series of linear_pos groups. Each linear_key under that marks an animation keyframe which controls the animation at specific frame numbers (the first parameter). Since how the shape is specifically animated can vary, I can't walk you through further than that. But what you need to do is to figure out which key numbers mean which positions the animated objects and then arrange/add/remove them so they're correct. If you want to get serious about that, I suggest you start a new thread.

[roeter]

The behaviour that level crossings reopen (or remain open) for trains which are stopped was introduced in version 3433 (feb. 2016), by edwardk, for reasons of compatibility with MSTS. As ever, this behaviour is correct for some countries, but completely wrong for others.
Basically, the original MSTS definition for level crossings is far too limited to have proper working for all the various types of crossings, not to mention the large variety of ways of interaction between signalling and level crossings.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[Coolhand101]

roeter, on 10 August 2016 - 01:12 AM, said:

The behaviour that level crossings reopen (or remain open) for trains which are stopped was introduced in version 3433 (feb. 2016), by edwardk, for reasons of compatibility with MSTS. As ever, this behaviour is correct for some countries, but completely wrong for others.
Basically, the original MSTS definition for level crossings is far too limited to have proper working for all the various types of crossings, not to mention the large variety of ways of interaction between signalling and level crossings.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

Thanks for the explanation. I fail to see why a crossing activated by train gets deactivated when the train comes to stand.

I can see two ways to get both desired methods:

1. If the train is stopped and is not within the crossing distance, ie 20 meters, then the crossing will deactivate. If the train is stopped within the 20 meters, then the crossing will remain close.
This both occurs if there is no signal or the signal is clear. This is the current behaviour in OR.

2. For a signal which is held at red by a waiting point or double reverse point. The crossing is deactivated regardless of the crossing distance. When the signal clears, the crossing remains deactivated until the train starts to move, again this is the current behaviour in OR.

For the latter, if the train is within the crossing distance, when the signal clears, the crossing will then activate. This can be implemented and still maintain MSTS compatibility.

Any thoughts on this ?

Also are there any plans to reintroduce the 'Initial warning phase lasts' and 'More serious warning phase lasts'

Thanks

[Coolhand101]

jovet, on 09 August 2016 - 08:15 PM, said:

You can convert the appropriate .s file to Unicode and hack its animation parameters to achieve this, similar to what has been done to get the turntable shapes to work. At the end of the file where the animation information is, there should be a series of linear_pos groups. Each linear_key under that marks an animation keyframe which controls the animation at specific frame numbers (the first parameter). Since how the shape is specifically animated can vary, I can't walk you through further than that. But what you need to do is to figure out which key numbers mean which positions the animated objects and then arrange/add/remove them so they're correct. If you want to get serious about that, I suggest you start a new thread.

Many thanks for the explanation. A slight adjustment and all is well.

I now have four crossing warning lights that actual work according to the condition of the 'open' crossing.

Back to the signal 'protecting' the crossing. I'm getting some positive random results. If the actual signal shape is in front of the crossing and the signal marker is behind the crossing marker, then when i come to stand at the station, one of the barriers remain down. This is nearest barrier, and has a activation distance of 15 meters as well as the opposite barrier. Would it be wise to adjust the other barrier as i thought they both should have the same distance.?

I'm going to make these flashing signals 'approach control' via the signal scripts. I'm getting some wierd pathing issues when using DRP and WP to control these signals, when using the same path ( single line ) both directions in an activity.

Thanks

[Coolhand101]

Coolhand101, on 10 August 2016 - 12:04 PM, said:

I'm going to make these flashing signals 'approach control' via the signal scripts. Thanks

Okay i'm normally good at scripts but i cannot get this to work 100%

sigcfg

ApproachControlSettings ( PositionYd ( 200 ) SpeedMPH ( 20 ) )

The approach control signal was clearing below 20 mph at any distance, but i've been going around in circles for a good while and i'm failing to spot my mistake. Help!

Edit

If i have no luck, i start a new thread.

I can get the approach control to work as abovem but here is the problem:

Distance, this seems to have no effect. If the train goes below the approach control speed of 20 mph, the signal(s) will clear from ANY distance.
Any ideals?

Thanks