Portals

[cdu801]

I've been working on several of my own scenarios for Rich's Colton and Northern, and while I understand that we can set up an AI train to exit the Route via a Portal, I can't seem to find anything (maybe I've just missed it from re-reading it so many times) that says whether you can create an AI train that enters the Route via a Portal at a certain specified time. Would anyone happen to know if this is possible or not?

Thanks,

Christian Boe

[KevinWS]

It looks like you can - from what the documentation says anyway.

Download "doc files" from the the download page here at RS America - http://railsimamerica.com/f-l.html

Then use the search facility in Adobe to find the portal references - only two or three, but this may help. Should be easy enough to test the concept!

[Railworks]

Not sure about RW, but in regards to RS.

RSDL definately stated that Portals were for the removing of trains from the route and then to facilitate their return, at a later time.

Portals should not be used as a starting point for AI services.

This was the info i was given on the old RS support forum.

regards,
Railworks.

[Bananarama]

Updated link: http://railworksamerica.com/f-l.html

[Hawk]

Thanks Marc.

[Railworks]

The docs will only tell you exactly what i posted earlier...................."Portals are destinations".

Railworks.

[Oldlimey]

Hi all,
I don’t know if this works as I haven’t tried it myself, but this is a note I made when Portals were being discussed on the Uktrainsim forum some time ago:

Create a consist in front of the Portal, and give the consist a start time, destination etc just as for any other AI train.
Double click on the Portal’s central post to open up the properties window.
Click on ‘Add’, then click on the consist.
The consist should disappear from view, and be added to the Portal and then it should be expelled at the time you set for it when setting up the consist.

As I said, I haven’t tried this one out yet, but it might be worth a try!
Regards Ted.

[Capt_Scarlet]

That does work, but it isn't perfect. As has been said the primary use of portals is to remove trains from the sim so AI trains don't block other AI or player movements and lesson cpu / gpu load.

John

[Railworks]

Thank you John, i have only been making scenarios since the release of RS in 2007.

Plus as i previously said, RS_Adam himself, told me what the Portals were design to do.

At the same time, also informing me that manual points\switches should not be used on the mainline.

One of the reasons that RSDL retreated from participation at ts.com. Was all the misinformation and incorrect advice given there.

Particularly from one specific individual.

regards,
Railworks.

[Capt_Scarlet]

Thank you John, i have only been making scenarios since the release of RS in 2007.

Plus as i previously said, RS_Adam himself, told me what the Portals were design to do.

At the same time, also informing me that manual points\switches should not be used on the mainline.

One of the reasons that RSDL retreated from participation at ts.com. Was all the misinformation and incorrect advice given there.

Particularly from one specific individual.

regards,
Railworks.

I am not sure if you are having a go at me or not ? I thought I was actually backing you up but the info I gave is not incorrect as you can physically do what was suggested, whether you should or not is a different matter. Adam says it shouldn't be used that way and I don't disagree with that. Perhaps you misinterpreted it when I said "that does work but isn't perfect" when what I perhaps should have said was "yes it does allow you to do that but it shouldn't used that way" which is what I actually meant, because at the time I was thinking about the process of doing it as stated by Ted. Sorry.

John

[Railworks]

No John, of course not.

Not having a pop at anyone on this forum.

As a long time user of Trainz, i am actually used to Portals having greater functionality, than those in RS\RW.

It was in this regard that is asked Adam about their purpose in RS\RW.

regards,
Railworks.

[Capt_Scarlet]

No John, of course not.

Not having a pop at anyone on this forum.

As a long time user of Trainz, i am actually used to Portals having greater functionality, than those in RS\RW.

It was in this regard that is asked Adam about their purpose in RS\RW.

regards,
Railworks.

Yes, I have all the Trainz versions up to and including TC3 but none are installed at present.

John

[Railworks]

CE - TS2009, here John.

I am also on the beta team for the next version.

cheers,
Railworks.

[LionelDave]

This may not be the right place to ask this question but it is about Portals.

So can you route an AI train to a portal and then have the train go into the portal and then return after so much time. I though I had read some where that is could be done but haven't figures out how to do it.

This works:
Create a consist in front of the Portal, and give the consist a start time, destination etc just as for any other AI train.
Double click on the Portal’s central post to open up the properties window.
Click on ‘Add’, then click on the consist.
The consist should disappear from view, and be added to the Portal and then it should be expelled at the time you set for it when setting up the consist.

This works really nice (note: the AI train can be anywhere on the layout) but I wanted to run the AI train to this portal. I even tried a "Stop At" command but the system crashed every time I entered the portal as a desination in the stop at cpmmand.

I'm beginning to think it can't be done and would like to find out either way

Thanks
Dave

.

[LionelDave]

Well 2 days later I have finally figured out what I was doing wrong. The "stop at" command will NOT work unless the Portal is programmed (the default values will not work).

The only problem I can see is that the portal can only be programmed in the Object tools which I have been told cannot be save in the scenario. So in effect it can't be used in uploaded scenarios.

Dave