A real Tutorial for making Sessions

[dphorton]

I have looked at the Tutorials on Youtube and some other places. Is there a real step by step Tutorial to make a Session. Maybe I am Blind but I have not found one. There are some that show this or that but nothing specific. Don't kill me as I may have missed finding what I am searching for. All inputs gladly accepted. Tanks in advance.

[philskene]

Hi Dave --

What sort of session?

There are two basic types:
1. Tightly scripted sessions with pop-ups and text boxes that tell you what to do, where to go, kick you out if you do anything wrong (like go to the wrong location, exceed the speed limit, ... ) and usually give you a score at the end.
2. Sessions where you are told what needs to be done and left to your own devices.

I've done both. The first I find incredibly tedious. And even worse to test because you have to run through the whole session time after time making corrections.

The second is my "Chuck & Joe" type sessions. See, for example, the descriptive text for this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX-vUY9kAY8&t

Phil

[dphorton]

Hi Phil,

I think the Second, where you are told what needs to be done and left to your own devices. I need some Basics as this is not like Railworks at all. I know how to palace a Locomotive but running from point A to point B is no fun. Need to learn how to set the Switches, set drop off and pickup and so forth.
I viewed the Video, so how did you do that?

Dave

[philskene]

Dave --

Which version of Trainz are you running?

By "that" do you mean:
How did I make the video?
How did I make the layout?
How did I place the locomotives, the rolling stock, and decide what Chuck & Joe have to do?

Or is it more the mechanics of driving the locomotive, setting switches, and loading and unloading the freight cars?

If it's the very last (load / unload) and if you have TRS19, this video will help:

Phil

[dphorton]

Hi Phil, Thank you for your time and questions. I have Trainz 2019.
1. I think I know how to place the Locomotive and rolling stock but need to know how to decide what Chuck and Joe have to do.
2. Need to know and learn how to set the switches, and Loading and unloading freight Cars.
3. Thanks for the Video. Are there more like these?

I heard Trainz was easier than Railworks but I am having a harder time of it.

Thanks,

Dave

[haverfordwest]

There isn't a proper front end for session creation in Trainz.

Instead you have to learn how to put together session rules.

Which in 17 years of using Trainz i have never managed.

Far too convulated a system and if Auran and then N3V, had provided a dedicated editor.

I am pretty sure there would be far more sessions available to download.

Mike.

[dphorton]

Thank you. I am trying to piece together information you get from one place and the watch another for one piece. So far I have seen three that sort of give you an Idea.
Thanks to both of you and Phil for your help.

[haverfordwest]

Very welcome Dave, i didn't really help much sorry.

Just pointed out the short comings of the rule based implimentation.

EDIT:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Rules

TS2006 but still relevant

http://cdn.n3vgames.com/documentation/TRS2006/TRS2006_Sessions_&_Rules_Guide.pdf

http://www.js-home.org/trainz/tut/jsTRF-TIMETABLE%20rule%20tutorial%20V2En.pdf

http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/HowTo/Create_an_Interactive_Session

Mike.

[philskene]

Dave --

Chuck & Joe sessions. a) you need a route or layout to support the type of operations you are interested in and b) you need to use your imagination, as The Dispatcher, to decide what Chuck & Joe have to do. In essence, that's all there is to it.

For the first, are you interested in short line operations where Chuck & Joe move freight cars from one location to another? Where they have to decide on how to cut the freight cars, the switching movements, spotting the cars in the correct location ... ?

Now I'm assuming you have access to both the N3V Trainz Forums and to the Download Station? If the answer is "yes" then I suggest as a first step you might do an advanced search of the Forums for my posts, thus:



You might find this:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?150167-TRS19-model-railroad-layout-The-Lilliput-Logger

If you look at the sessions I've constructed for this layout, they all involve moving things from one location to another. Logs, lumber, equipment, ... . In fact the whole little railroad revolves around that. As in real life, that's how it survives, by generating income by providing transportation services. And Chuck & Joe are a critical element of all this. Chuck & Joe also have to multi task.

In the sessions Chuck & Joe have the roles of Locomotive Crew (driving the locomotive), Switchman (setting the switches), Yard Master (directing the Crew to the correct location for loading and unloading), and Load Master (loading and unloading the freight cars). In some sessions you may also be the MoW (Maintenance of Way) Foreman or the Barge Master (ensuring the freight cars are correctly loaded on a Barge so that it does not capsize).

So -- choose a route or layout that interests you, think about the traffic flows, select and spot a locomotive and appropriate interactive freight cars, maybe write the shift orders on a piece of paper, and tell Chuck & Joe to get out there and get it done.

You can also fiddle with the starting time in Edit Session Rules (top left of screen) / QuickDrive Rule. Other rules can be added to control, for example, the weather.
_____

An afterthought:
The best Forum is the N3V Trainz Forums, here:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/forum.php

It's a useful source for help and support.

Where we are now is for:
Fanboz like me.
Trainz haters and sceptics like Mike (no offence intended).
Ditherers like Vern (who often reminds me of the saying "Last year I thought I was indecisive; this year I'm not so sure").

We hang out here because we think we are away from the watchful gaze of the N3V team and can express view that may not be welcome in the N3V Forums.

Phil

[dphorton]

Phil,
Thank you so much for your insight. I will do my best to figure this whole thing out. I like Trainz and will continue to press on. I guess I am with you a Fanboz and there are always different opinions on things. Makes things interesting so to speak. I will look at the N3V Trainz Forum.

Dave

[seagoon]

....(reminds me of the saying "Last year I thought I was indecisive; this year I'm not so sure").

I haven't come across that saying before, Phil.

[NorthernWarrior]

Ditherers like Vern

Not really a ditherer, fanboi or hater. Trainz still has the edge when it comes to building routes and I'm working on a couple at the moment which I hope to see through to completion. There's also a really nice layout in this month's Railway Modeller (Catesby & Dent) which has caught my eye to go on the shortlist as a potential MR project.

However I am with Mike when it comes to setting up structured activities. It is possible but brain aching and tedious. I managed it for my "Water Of Coate" route which I put on the DLS last year and managed to get 5 or 6 trains lapping the circuit simultaneously. That was for AI though and where Trainz still falls down is not having a simple interface to set up a player activity such as we can do in MSTS or DTGTS (or even Zusi 2) and have the sim autonomously route and dispatch you.

[haverfordwest]

No idea how i can be a hater when i have been purchasing Auran's-N3V's crap product for over 17 years.

Sceptic yes because N3V always talk a good fight, then fall over in the first round.

Mike.

[NorthernWarrior]

...and I just got bitten again by TRS2019. Loaded up a route I was working on to see the old spline deleting bug after exit and reload is still there. Uninstalled and gone back to TANE SP1 which seems to be the last stable iteration of the current epoch of the game.

[haverfordwest]

Not good Vern, not even installed here and hasn't been since i said i had finished with it.

And to be honest i don't miss it one bit, buddy.

I spent £150 on the Il2-Sturmorvik Great Battles games. Stalingrad, Moscow, Kuban and Bodenplatt.

Got them in their sale at the begining of this month. far more into killing people at the moment.

Mike.