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I'm about to give up on activity editor..... why do I always have to ask persmission to get into a siding? I have moved my reverse points all over the place and no difference?!? Am going crazy cause it takes 6 reverse points to back into a siding and switch a car!Anyway, my question.... how do I either....make an activity with manual switches make an explore type activity with consists setting here and there?what I want to do is pull into a town and switch several spurs, maybe in different order...I can't imagine keeping track of reverse points for several switching operations.Thanks in advanceLeslie
It sort of depends on the route. PO&N is especially well suited to doing what you describe. It was designed specifically for "open-ended activities" where you can drive around at will. The switches are all manual and the AI trains have their own tracks to play on. Even if you do set up AI trains for decorative purposes, the signalling system handles any meets pretty well.There is a huge new (to revision 6) yard at Anderson that I don't think anybody has done an Activity with yet... you could be the first.
>I'm about to give up on activity editor..... >why do I always have to ask persmission to get into a >siding? >I have moved my reverse points all over the place and no >difference?!? >Am going crazy cause it takes 6 reverse points to back into >a siding and switch a car! Been there. Got the T-shirt. The one thing I would reccomend is to make sure the trailing edge of your consist clears the signal as well as the switch before the leading edge hits the reverse point. ISTM the MSTS "knows" when the leading end of a consist passes a signal and also when the trailing edge passes it. If you back out of a block that you have not completely gotten into, the signal logic goes south and the sim seems to loose track of where exactly you are. If you set the reverse point so that the trail end of the consist clears the switch, but not the signal, it can eliminate many of the "ask permission" situations, but when running the activity, If you miss your RevPnt and let the trail edge of the consist get past the signal, you will be locked out of the block you just left and will not get permission to reneter when you ask for it. Also (at least on the USA2 route) you will have restricted speeds in the next few blocks.There are known problems with the signal logic in the sim, and I believe there are some problems with the relationship between the path logic and the signal logic that I have not been able to nail down. The challenge of trying to understand all this is part of the reason I prefer road switching activities to yard switching (where no reverse points or even much of a path is needed) or through traffic (where, for me at least, nothing happens!).One thing to try, if you haven't already, is to set a reverse point so the trail edge of the consist is just before the signal and then set one just beyond the signal, while observing how each one behaves in operation.FWIW, I find the easiest way to accuratly set the location of a reverse point is to make a loose consist in AE that matches the one I will be pulling through the switch. Then I place it so that the trail edge of the consist is where I want it (generally just beyond the signal), then scroll AE around until the head of the consist is just at the edge of the AE window. Then I go into path edit and set the reverse point on the edge of the window, save, and leave path edit. Assuming I am happy with the location after seeing the RP and the consist together, I then delete the consist from the activity.>make an activity with manual switches . . .You either work on a route with all manual switches or you limit yourself to yard areas, where there are all manual switches. Some folks have created routes with all manual switches (the is an early redo of Marias Pass that was "all manual" IIRC). Other routes have large yard areas where "all manual" switch ops can be done.>what I want to do is pull into a town and switch several >spurs, maybe in different order...I can't imagine keeping >track of reverse points for several switching operations. I did an activity several weeks ago for the stock Marias Pass route (USA2). (OTT.zip in the library) What I found was that that sort of roadswitching (with signals and critical reverse point placement) could not be reliably run without the track monitor going so that one can actually see the reversepoints and know when they have been passed. Laying out the path for such an activity is a pain, but following one is actually pretty easy with the track monitor. Brad Meyer
I should have added that I am currently doing several things on the Seattle route, because the bulk of the pier sidings in the Everett area are amnual and one can do lots of road-switching without even having to put reverse points in the path.Brad Meyer
For a truly outstanding tutorial on reverse points, go here and check out "Reverse Points for Smarties."http://hometown.aol.com/nectrackteam/activity.htmlThis is a godsend for those of us (me, most of all) who are "activity editor challenged."MC
