Trainsimulator 2012

[RSAdam]

Dispatcher and Signalling information lacking from the TrainSim2012 release news? well it falls under a yes and no answer. Yes information isn't in the headlines, but this aspect of TrainSim2012 has not been left untouched.

So what do I mean? Well lets recap the current status of RailWorks2. There has been to date, one all powerful Dispatcher in the RailWorks world, born into Rail Simulator and expanded gently ever since. Why is it taking so long to address issues with the Dispatcher? Simply put, its dangerous. There are many hundreds of scenarios included in RailWorks, there are just as many again in all the official DLC, and there are thousands more in the freeware communities around the globe. Scenarios are the bread and butter of RailWorks, they combine all aspects of the simulator to create the experiences everyone is here to enjoy.

Imagine if you will, a time traveller going back to see the Dinosaurs. There is inherent risk that while walking about the forest 65million years ago, that traveller might accidentally step on a tiny creature, which could result in the entire evolution of species culminating in the birth of the human race being wiped out. Back in the RailWorks universe, the one overriding Dispatcher is at the heart of hundreds of thousands of hours of game play, and one tiny change could have awesome destructive power. Therefore the risk of any change has always far outweighed the desire to make the changes.

So how does TrainSim2012 address this situation? Two words > Dispatcher Versioning.

Put simply, progress will be made by cloning the Dispatcher, and then enhancing the clone. The original can then be left alone, and everything reliant on it will remain stable. TrainSim2012 lays the foundations to commence work on improving dispatching. Future updates could include a 2nd dispatcher, or a 3rd or 4th. Each update will see scenarios make use of these additional dispatchers as well as all the features of the ones before. Will this leave behind the older scenarios? Yes, for the very reason that we want them to remain stable and usable. We dont want updates to TrainSim2012 damaging the many hours spent creating that content. Will this mean those older scenarios will need to be recreated to use future Dispatcher enhancements? No. When a scenario is generated, it will record the level of the then current Dispatcher. When a new update is provided, the level of the Dispatcher will be incremented. Older scenarios will continue to use the previous level. However, if you open that scenario for edit on the new level, when saved, the new level is recorded, thus allowing scenarios themselves to be updated if so wished. Authors are then able to choose if they want to update their content, rather than being forced to because an update broke them.

RailWorks stablized the (then) present, RailWorks2 addressed the past, and TrainSim2012 is the future.

Regards
Adam

[petebauer]

Adam, thank you very much. This sounds like very sound computer science to me.
I do have one small concern in this. You say that when an old scenario is edited then the change is saved in the current version. If the person doing the edit isn't aware of this it could lead to big problems. Please include a pop-up asking the user if he/she really wants to change it to a new version. Otherwise accidents will happen.
Again, thanks for the information and the BIG update. There's a new day coming!!!

Pete Bauer

[RSAdam]

Hi Pete,

Yep totally agree. Final functionality isn't locked down yet, so there is plenty of time to perfect aspects like this.

Regards
Adam

[micaelcorleone]

This is also the way I would do it.

Let the old dispatcher in the game for all "heritage" scenarios and create a (completely) new one for the future.
Maybe one could introduce a labeling system for scenarios which is also displayed in the game menus: Old scenarios are labeled "heritage scenario", the new ones not or "advanced scenario".
Something like this.

I think that now, as the graphic detail and these things get much, much better, RS.com should really think about a (maybe complete?) rewrite of the AI/ Dipatcher (but with leaving the old one in the game for the obvious reasons).
Such a complete rewrite is in my opinion really necessary:

- It's a hard struggle or even imposssible to create working single-track scenarios with two-way traffic.
This is important for the US side, because many of the long-distance routes are single-track most of the time. UK routes are mostly double- or multi-track.

- You have to test a scenario over and over again various times to ensure that it is workin properly. For many people that is daunting and there cold be much more scenarios if it wasn't so difficult to create a scenario.

- Also the scenario editor lacks some functionalties that would really enhance the driving experience.
Let's say, more trigger options, for example a car on a crossing. The driver would have to go into emergency. I don't want to say that we need blood and crashes, the car could drive off the crossing in time before it comes to a crash, but it would make scenarios more interesting if there are unforseeable events and more interaction with the environment.

- What could also be improved (and already is with the new RW3) are the weather effects.
It would be awesome to have thunderstorms and different intensities of rain in the game that dynamically change within a scenario.
This would mean a change in the weather system: The scneario author doesn't choose a weather for the scneario, but maybe a general forecast also depending on the season and month the scenario is set in.

Maybe this all in another update.

[Old Prof]

Actually, the simple way to avoid scenario editing problems is one that many of us scenario writers already use: before editing an existing scenario, clone it and then edit the clone. I usually do this after every major change in a WIP scenario. The warning would also be a good idea, but not necessarily necessary.

Tom Pallen

[RSAdam]

- It's a hard struggle or even imposssible to create working single-track scenarios with two-way traffic.

Hiya,

Id have to say, with regard to the above comment, that this aspect is entirely down to the route builders setup of the signalling. It is perfectly possible.

Id also say that Free Roam scenarios and AI are mutually exclusive. They will not operate together. That is simply not the purpose of Free Roam scenarios. I say this in response to comments about switches being locked out of use hours before AI is due through. This situation is directly a result of attempting to run AI trains in Free Roam scenarios.

Regards

[Shortliner]

Adam, will there ever be a way to model Dark Territories with the current Signaling and Dispatch system? In the United States, Dark Territories are railroad lines that has no signals and no dispatch. The trains run on things like Train order, or track warrants. Will Dark Territories ever come to RW?

[styckx]

Sounds interesting..

So essentially depending on what revision of the dispatcher (layered dispatchers per say) a scenario was written in with a future version of Railworks the game could dynamically recognize what revision the scenario requires and call the correct dispatcher layer to control the action.

[Shortliner]

I do have to wonder what's the purpose of multiple dispatcher will be. I get that they're putting more in, but why?

[Toripony]

I do have to wonder what's the purpose of multiple dispatcher will be. I get that they're putting more in, but why?

It's not to add dispatchers to a single scenario... it's for technical reasons, to bridge the jump to new technology while not breaking what's already working.

[styckx]

Because from what I'm reading the current dispatcher if changed will not be backwards compatible with current scenarios. Which makes sense. It would be like a mad scientist rewiring my brain.. I may gain special zombie powers but probably lose a lot of abilities I had before he went and rewired my brain. :)

So.. Let's call the dispatcher we have now "Revision A"

RSC keeps "Revision A" in the game, but also adds a enhanced "Revision B" layer on top of it that allows the trains to do a bunch of stuff currently not possible or very hard.

You load up a scenario that was written with the current dispatcher.. The game will recognize that, and only use Revision A to call the scenario. And vice versa with scenarios written in future versions with a enhanced dispatcher.

[RSAdam]

Hiya,

Styckx has got it

Shortliner - Not in this release of TrainSim2012, but Dispatcher versioning should allow us to get there. Dark Territories are a fascinating concept for us British but essentially I understand it as effectively the same as air traffic control. Currently, RailWorks AI requires some kind of plan and dislikes unpredictable events, or it doesn't know what its supposed to do . We'll have to create a specific 'Dark Territories' dispatcher layer.

Regards
Adam

[Toripony]

....... Currently, RailWorks AI requires some kind of plan and dislikes unpredictable events, or it doesn't know what its supposed to do ..........
Regards
Adam

FYI, Gordon (qrfan3) wrote a nice AI scenario for our BLC logging railroad in dark territory. He accomplished it using strictly the train "Class" designations and timing. Something else I found surprising was that the player train was NOT the "Special" in the scene. I haven't tried... I'm having enough trouble working in areas WITH signals, lol.

[RSAdam]

Excellent stuff! You're a step closer than us in that respect then!

Regards

[thecanadianrail]

I wonder, will running in dark territory be possible when the multiplayer comes out? (seeing as you won't need to mess with AI trains)

Out here where i live the track that goes by town is dark territory, but the wierd part is that it is a mainline for CN!?!? The line is the mainline B from Portage La Prarrie to somewhere just before the border of Alberta. the line is the original mainline but now is dark and only run by radio, even though there is a number of trains going through every day.(sorry for a small history lesson)