AI Traffic does not run

[motormaster532]

Just finished a custom Activity for Bob Wirths' ATSF Hereford Sub. When I checked it in the Activity Editor, all of my AI service ran. However when I ran it in Open Rails I discovered that not one of the AI trains ran. I had experienced this before with Activities that I started around the hour of midnight,but was always able to adjust and compensate for this and get everything running. I cant figure out why this happens,as it does not happen all the time. I really dont want to have to do a "forensic" overhaul of this Activity. If anybody has any ideas of why this occasionally happens and how to correct, it would be greatly appreciated. Brian

[csantucci]

Attaching the logfile could be of help in diagnosing.

[jrmeindl]

I had an issue similar on the Chillicothe route. I tried to start a service at 00:00:00 which didn't work. The AI traffic never ran. Changed it to 00:00:03 and it started with no issue.

Jim

[motormaster532]

I had an issue similar on the Chillicothe route. I tried to start a service at 00:00:00 which didn't work. The AI traffic never ran. Changed it to 00:00:03 and it started with no issue.

Jim

Thanks Jim for your reply. It is common for Activities that start around Midnight to have this problem. I usually get around it by adjusting the Start time in the Activity Editor by a number of hours and then re-adjusting on the Open Rails clock. There are other solutions for that problem that involve addding 24 hours in seconds to cause the AI to run the next day. My problem is that my Activity starts at 9:07 Am. There should be no problem,but there is. It is probably just the fiddly MSTS Activity Editor causing the trouble[cant wait for the Open Rails Activity Editor to be available!]but I was wondering if anybody has a solution. I really dont want to have to go back in and start dis-mantling and re-assembling this Activity as it is pretty involved. Brian

[wwhall]

Have you looked at the OR log file? It might give you some clues. It sounds like the services are never starting. Also, if the AI's use the same path and end at the same place, that can sometimes cause issues, though I've built some activities that way that haven't had problems. One thing that I do know is that the MSTS "playback" function for activities absolutely does not replicate how an activity will run in OR (one of the reasons that OR needs its own AE). What I have done is to start an activity in OR, put the player train on autopilot, engage time acceleration, then watch the dispatch window to see if and when the traffic starts and how it interacts with the player train. Another trick available in OR is to start the activity and (if the AI train starts) then switch to the AI train and run it (the former player train then runs as an AI) and see if you can make the former AI run as you designed it. Just make sure that the AI trains use "regular" (not AI only) locomotives.

There are some routes where some of the signaling just does not always behave correctly in OR. I think that MSTS may forgive some signaling errors in routes, but OR won't. The good news is that, in OR, the player can use the Dispatcher window to move things along if the "plan" of the activity doesn't work perfectly--just as a real train dispatcher would do. There are also options available with OR (especially with regards to waiting points) that just aren't available in MSTS. One statement that I will make--my experience is that only the simplest activities work the same in both MSTS and OR, so building activities that will happily run in both sims probably is not going to happen very often.

[motormaster532]

Have you looked at the OR log file? It might give you some clues. It sounds like the services are never starting. Also, if the AI's use the same path and end at the same place, that can sometimes cause issues, though I've built some activities that way that haven't had problems. One thing that I do know is that the MSTS "playback" function for activities absolutely does not replicate how an activity will run in OR (one of the reasons that OR needs its own AE). What I have done is to start an activity in OR, put the player train on autopilot, engage time acceleration, then watch the dispatch window to see if and when the traffic starts and how it interacts with the player train. Another trick available in OR is to start the activity and (if the AI train starts) then switch to the AI train and run it (the former player train then runs as an AI) and see if you can make the former AI run as you designed it. Just make sure that the AI trains use "regular" (not AI only) locomotives.

There are some routes where some of the signaling just does not always behave correctly in OR. I think that MSTS may forgive some signaling errors in routes, but OR won't. The good news is that, in OR, the player can use the Dispatcher window to move things along if the "plan" of the activity doesn't work perfectly--just as a real train dispatcher would do. There are also options available with OR (especially with regards to waiting points) that just aren't available in MSTS. One statement that I will make--my experience is that only the simplest activities work the same in both MSTS and OR, so building activities that will happily run in both sims probably is not going to happen very often.

Thank you also for your reply. Yeah,what you say is absolutely true! I dont have ANYTHING in the log indicating a problem. I always use different starting points for my services to better facilitate my timetable and I do use the Dispatcher window to hold trains and so forth. This problem does and has re-curred and I usually get around it by methods i described in the previous post. I just dont want to have to re-engineer the thing if I dont have to and was wondering if others who have had this problem have found a better way of overcoming it. Thanks again. Brian