Railworks America

Hello Friends,
The learning process of creating scenarios has been an interesting experience. Having a background in real train operations and liking scenarios with lots of AI trains and switching, I try to create as real a scenario as I can. There are of course many limitations to the simulators ability to understand and dispatch what I'd like it to do. I have read on the forums alot about various folks' experiences with things you can and can't do. I have conducted a number of my own, sometimes exasperating, experiments with the scenario editor. Its great fun to try and trick the game into doing what I want it to do like cutting a pusher off a player train on the fly. The first thing I must tell you is script editing and understanding how all of that works is something I have not even tried. I use the editor tools as they are in the game. I'm not opposed at all to learning the scripting.....I just need to understand the process better before I try.

I have come upon a problem I wonder if anyone else has encountered and solved. On my custom route that I have been creating in the simulator, I have a scenario that involves a "pusher" locomotive assisting several different prototypically long trains over a mountain grade. All of the trains are static or loose consists with no instructions to operate on their own. Basically, I show up and add the consist to my pusher on the front or back and "help" it over the grade to another siding before moving on to the next assist. In this particular scenario, I take siding with a train I am double-heading over the grade. After I stop and uncouple this first train, I am supposed to then move across the rail yard to another train ands assist it.

As I enter the initial destination siding off the main track, at the required speed for the track, I can proceed until about 3/4 or sometimes more of the train passes the entrance switch and then the points throw underneath my train causing a game ending derailment. If I "speed" significantly into the siding, I can escape this happening and then go on to complete the entire scenario. It is as if there is a certain time limit the game dispatcher allows for the train to enter the siding before it follows the next logic in the scenario and begins to line the routes for upcoming moves that I will be making to assist another train. I have tried numerous work arounds including different consists and instructions including waiting points and times. Same results happen whenever I enter this one siding that works best for the scenario. This is admittedly a complicated scenario with the player train making three different passes over the same route more than once. As I previously stated, other than this glitch, the dispatcher understands the scenario completely otherwise. It is quite a good run.

Am I missing something with the way the simulator uses its signalling and consist coding? In creating the route, I have followed the suggested methods for the signals described in Piker's signal tutorials. I use the great RCAP signals from RWA. I think all the circuits should be correct with the track. The same switch and siding offer no issues with any other scenarios I have created.

Attached is a pic of the problem location on my route, which is simulating the CSX Cowan Pusher District in Tennessee. Someday, I'd like to share it here with everyone when the bugs are worked out and about 1.2 billion more trees and telephone poles are planted.

In conclusion, I would be most appreciative of any thoughts and suggestions anyone might have to offer.

Yes! It is happening in a scenario I created for Majestic Falls. In try to shift a cut of coal cars to a new track at the mine, the switch I'm going over changes just as the locomotives that are shoving it go over the switch, and then I get the derail.

I think the main problem is that the TS cannot handle the changing length of consists. You couple to a consist, then disconnect again, and then you have the problem. That's why shunting scenarios are so difficult to create. I think the only thing you can do is to split the scenario into several individual scenarios and chain these scenarios together ( Railworks\dev\Docs\HOWTOUSE_TS14Tech_P1.pdf, page 5 ).
Unfortunately this is not the same experience like to drive all in one scenario.

It wouldn't be happening in my instance if the switch I was running over were manual and not automatic. I need to look into changing that...

Thank You for your replies,
I come to realize every day and every time I work with the simulator there is something new to learn.
kris120 what you say makes perfect sense to me. I think of other large scenarios I have seen created in the Steam Workshop and very often they are split into two or three different contiguous scenarios. I shall have to unfortunately subscribe to the same tactic.

pkz19 if you aren't already aware, it has been my experience that if you alter a route in the route editor (such as you describe to change it from an electric to manual control switch) after creating scenarios, you will corrupt the continuity of the track ribbons and crash your scenarios. Perhaps I am not doing the route editing correctly, but that has been my exact experience. It just means I have to reload my scenarios or create new ones. Someone who is more experienced with the simulator can speak up and correct me or explain how to do it without crashing scenarios. In a last ditch effort to not have the points line under the train, I relaid the suspect switch yesterday for two reasons. It is one of the first switches I had laid and I was not happy with the angle of the turnout so I wanted to correct that. I also had a stack of 3 red triangles in front of the points that I was hoping was contributing to my derailment issue. I had thought possibly that many weld points were contributing to the dispatcher not realizing the train was not past the points. No Joy. After reloading the scenario and running it, same result. Game ending derailment. SO... I will split the scenario as kris120 suggests.

Thanks to all who are willing to get on this forum and offer helpful information.

Update,
I have reconfigured my scenario to move the train that derailed into a different track and it has eliminated my derailment. I had to modify a consist to fit into the new destination and I am reasonably happy with the result, even if it wasn't my first choice. The lesson is to be patient with the dispatcher and its ability to handle complicated moves. It took several experiments, but I am now derailment free in this scenario. I'm going to film the scenario as a run through for folks to see my route that I have been creating and post it on YouTube and on RWA, if I can figure out where to post the link in the forum.