Railworks America

I got a small problem. I have designed around 20 freight cars to date. I have no issues with tests conducted over the last few months except for when I got the GP40-2s. Those engines couple to my cars rather hard. My cars will jump up in the air when I couple up. The cars don't derail, they just do a little jump and then couple. I have this issue only with the GP40-2s, all roadnames. My other engines couple up to my cars smoothly. Do the 40-2s have a bug? Is this something I can correct within the bin file for the engine using RW Tools?

Thanks

The short answer without getting into it is the couplers have almost incompatible length thing going on. Try a sort of close up view and then roll up to it real slow and see if the couplers reach four each other or maybe look like they go too far into each other before locking up. Here is a really good tutorial by ChrisTrains on what all does what with couplers. Obviously if your cars are working with many other locos you probably want to mod the loco's not your cars.
https://www.christrains.com/en/ts_faq_p ... lings.html

Thanks for the help Buzz. I came across the tutorial you mentioned last night, well early morning. With it being nearly 3 in the morning my time, and having done battle with the issue for the better part of last evening, I decided to come back fresh this morning and continue the battle.

Been there done that. Usually by the time I get it to work I'm not sure what all I did.

So here's the deal: The darn coupling matrix was a bitch for me until I found out the numerical values were wrong in the blueprint editor to begin with. This is how it's laid out. It's the rear coupling that's jacked. It should read -1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 1 for the rear coupling pivot

It's the same for the rear coupling receiving point.

Originally the values are all the #1. That's why I could never get the rear coupler mounted!!!!

So, because of that, I mounted my couplers directly to my models. No coupler blueprint and no matrix settings. This works for a good part of my cars when coupling to cars I didn't design. There are some exceptions I discovered earlier today. The DTG GP40-2 and SD70ACE jump into the air along with my car when coupling with no derailment...... Don't ask me how that's possible.

So with the correct values for the coupling matrix I mounted my front coupler doing just the coupling pivot. No more jumping into the air, but now my coupler disappears when I couple up. I also tried adding the receiving point and the coupler still vanished.

Pics enclosed. #1 shows the preview window and where I put the arrow for the front coupler pivot. #2 shows what things look like before coupling. My coupler on the TOFC flat is visible. #3 shows after I couple. POOF! Cloaked coupler.
So I need to know what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks

yeah some things just dont make sense in this game

Well, I'm getting nowhere with this..... For the last car I did, I reverted back to my original design with the couplers directly mounted to the model. Only 2 engines out of dozens that complain is a good percentage. The jump in the air is not too bad if one couple as slow as possible.

Only way I do the couplers the "correct way" is if I can get some help. For me, it would be of more benefit if someone with Facebook would be willing to do a one on one video chat so I can see what the person is doing.

Still doing battle. At least I now have visible couplers. But now I have this problem..... Pics enclosed.

I had the same situation with the fixes for MaineLine's Covered Hoppers.
First : all depends on the model. I would just give this a try:
Use zero values with the receiving point :

Code: Select all

<FrontCouplingReceivingPoint>
                  <cHcRMatrix4x4>
                     <Element>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                     </Element>
                  </cHcRMatrix4x4>
               </FrontCouplingReceivingPoint>
               <RearCouplingReceivingPoint>
                  <cHcRMatrix4x4>
                     <Element>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">-1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">-1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                     </Element>
                  </cHcRMatrix4x4>
               </RearCouplingReceivingPoint>


Then you should shorten the Front- and RearCouplingPivot a bit (second last value in the matrix) a bit: about 0.1 to 0.3 m shorter.
Unfortunately it seems that the height differs between loco and the wagons. This cannot be fixed here.
Hope that helps.

kris120 wrote:I had the same situation with the fixes for MaineLine's Covered Hoppers.
First : all depends on the model. I would just give this a try:
Use zero values with the receiving point :

Code: Select all

<FrontCouplingReceivingPoint>
                  <cHcRMatrix4x4>
                     <Element>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                     </Element>
                  </cHcRMatrix4x4>
               </FrontCouplingReceivingPoint>
               <RearCouplingReceivingPoint>
                  <cHcRMatrix4x4>
                     <Element>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">-1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">-1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                     </Element>
                  </cHcRMatrix4x4>
               </RearCouplingReceivingPoint>


Then you should shorten the Front- and RearCouplingPivot a bit (second last value in the matrix) a bit: about 0.1 to 0.3 m shorter.
Unfortunately it seems that the height differs between loco and the wagons. This cannot be fixed here.
Hope that helps.

OK... I'll see where I get with it. I have mickey moused with the matrix numbers. Might have been making adjusts not fine enough. (a bit too long/short) Know what you mean with the coupler height. 0.8763 seems to be figure most used on cars, engines seem to be all over the place.

Thanks

TheKman wrote:

kris120 wrote:I had the same situation with the fixes for MaineLine's Covered Hoppers.
First : all depends on the model. I would just give this a try:
Use zero values with the receiving point :

Code: Select all

<FrontCouplingReceivingPoint>
                  <cHcRMatrix4x4>
                     <Element>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                     </Element>
                  </cHcRMatrix4x4>
               </FrontCouplingReceivingPoint>
               <RearCouplingReceivingPoint>
                  <cHcRMatrix4x4>
                     <Element>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">-1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">-1</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">0</e>
                        <e d:type="sFloat32">1</e>
                     </Element>
                  </cHcRMatrix4x4>
               </RearCouplingReceivingPoint>


Then you should shorten the Front- and RearCouplingPivot a bit (second last value in the matrix) a bit: about 0.1 to 0.3 m shorter.
Unfortunately it seems that the height differs between loco and the wagons. This cannot be fixed here.
Hope that helps.

OK... I'll see where I get with it. I have mickey moused with the matrix numbers. Might have been making adjusts not fine enough. (a bit too long/short) Know what you mean with the coupler height. 0.8763 seems to be figure most used on cars, engines seem to be all over the place.

Thanks

The front coupler is fine now. But the rear coupler is still jacked. Still looks like the middle picture I enclosed in the second set of pics. It would appear the figures I entered for the rear pivot and receiving points are correct. Just need to figure out this last hurtle.