SimRail

[seagoon]

3 minutes driving, 40 mins sat at red signal.....

Right there - that would be sufficient for me to say "uh-uh, not for me".
In fact, I seriously doubt if I would've lasted more than 15 minutes, Vern.

[NorthernWarrior]

To be fair, it is the beta but they need to sort out the AI dispatcher and also provide a training module/sandbox for those who want to try their hand at being signalman. Watching one of Sean's video clips earlier and it looks as if the Dispatcher Mode isn't fully localised and you really are thrown in the deep end.

Still I might have a go at that myself later, at least working one of the smaller electronic signalboxes.

[SurvivorSean]

I think the AI dispatching is fine, the issue is when people like myself try a signal box for the first time despite being confident at dispatching and trying to figure it out. Then you have all these cornfield meets etc.

Even Run8 in single player is not perfect and these cornfields can happen. Hopefully single player will have the option to try and figure out what is going on so that you can resolve the situation, delete trains if necessary.

I noticed in the play through that trains were deleting when derailed. Not sure what is causing a derail since everything should be interlocked but players running through reds could also be causing issues.

They'll have to figure out how to control these things but I'll give that time. The bottom line is there is plenty of services that will run on time even on my boards without issue. Usually the simpler signal boxes are always available because the more complex ones are more in demand.

Thanks

Sean

[NorthernWarrior]

Yes I'm going to find a nice wayside signalbox later, Up and Down lines, maybe have a go.

[SurvivorSean]

The 2nd video I put out yesterday (I actually did 3 live streams) the one exploring signal boxes might help. The ones with the computer consoles are actually pretty easy to get a hang of. There is only a few that are a bit challenging but fun. I started testing myself on a box called "Lazy" which is ironic because it's anything but That one has a big board with buttons everywhere. I'm actually starting to get a hang of that one but have much to learn. As someone who is a signal and dispatching geek though I am in my glory and enjoying the whole learning curve.

There are some very simple ones with just a crossover or 1 junction. Others have station platforms you need to route certain trains through with others bypassing.

They are also now updating the server every 3 hours from what I read this morning which means your journeys may end. Their actual forum has more information on this and I'm just getting into it today.

Thanks

Sean

[NorthernWarrior]

Well that seemed to go fairly well, at the very small station with just the mains and loop (passing) lines. Got the basics of setting routes and just for giggles I put an express passenger on the loop line and ran a freight by it first (CSX would promote me!).

The downside to DS mode is at the "learning" signalboxes there can be a few gaps between trains and there is no routing or any other complication to worry about. Also at this stage incidents such as track circuit or points failures aren't simulated which could spice things up a bit.

[SurvivorSean]

Yeah those basic ones are really basic I must admit. Although I think massive majority being passenger you wouldn't get too many overtakes.

I forget some of the names but a good one is where there are 2 overtakes per hour in the schedule. It has 2 sidings that lead to the platforms with the mains not having access. So it's only for the commuter trains I believe. What happens is once an hour in each direction a scheduled commuter heads to the platform. While a Euro express train needs to get by. Now it's fairly routine if everything is going well. However with the freights in the mix as well as a few late or even early trains (which does happen especially when some people don't wait at the platform until the departure time) it gets very interesting.

A better challenge after that is when you have a junction involved that gets traffic. There some easy ones that get the odd train. The one I'm enjoying the most has the letters GB but it's popular as it's one of the busiest. Even the big boards can be a bit routine but very hard to figure out.

Thanks

Sean

[SurvivorSean]

If you haven't already check out the simrail forums

https://forum.simrail.eu/

There is a dispatching manual that must of gone up today I think.

Thanks

Sean

[SurvivorSean]

Came across a dev log from 3 months ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCKLrU9mwjU&t=7s.

They are looking at a full SDK including a mission editor, rolling stock editor, and scenery editor. Won't be available in main release. From what I understand the January release is Early Access. They want to see this grow and more content developed through their SDK from the community.

Thanks

Sean

[NorthernWarrior]

It seems to have become more reliable in the last couple of days, connection wise.

Thanks to your post at the official forum Sean and a bit of trial and error, I was able to set the slot to send then accept trains on that single line section.

However that's enough signalling for now, jumping back in for a bit of EU07 thrash.