ozinoz wrote:I am most interested in the consist builder. I don't know if it is my technique or what, but I always have issue in placing longer consists - they always walk of the mark and move forward, off teh end of sidings or over signal points. Frustrates the living heck out of me. Hopefully this way I can spend an afternoon just creating consists and then, presto, it can add the entire thing to a scenerio, without having to chase it round the route
Long consists certainly are difficult to place, since any consist "balances" at its center point, rather than at one end or the other. Any consist of more than, say, 20 cars/wagons is cumbersome in this regard. I've developed a few tricks, but cannot guarantee that they will always work. Let's say that you want to place a ready-made consist of 50 freight cars and 3 engines on a siding just a bit longer than the consist itself.
First, use the 2D map to locate and snap to a point as near the center of the siding as possible.
Second, return to the 3D world and zoom out until as much of the siding as possible is visible.
Third, use <Ctrl>+ up and down arrow keys to move the viewpoint directly above the siding. Note: this is easiest when clear weather has been selected; if the scenario's weather setting obscures aerial views, change it to clear while placing long consists.
Fourth: select the desired consist and try to match its center (where your grab point is) to that of the siding before you left-click to place it. This may require several attempts if you have trouble clicking on the track. Don't worry whether part of the consist extends slightly beyond one end of the target siding.
Fifth: if the consist extends beyond the limits you want, let's say one end or other of a siding, find its approximate center point and temporarily move one car to an adjacent track. Click on the gizmo that allows selecting an entire consist at once and use it to maneuver one half of the consist at a time into place (a really long consist can obviously be split into more than two parts in this way). Once the end pieces of the consist are located at the ends of the siding, move the displaced car or cars back into place. This will probably leave a gap in the consist, so select the next part of the consist and move it carefully to fill the gap.
Sixth: with the entire consist tool still selected, click the consist and make sure that all of it has turned red, zooming and sliding as necessary.
This method still requires good eyes, a steady hand, and lots of patience. Keep in mind that you could also pre-split a consist by placing it on a main-line track near the target siding, following the fifth step above, and then moving each separate piece to the target siding. Another possibility is to place two or more shorter consists end-to-end, removing excess engines as desired.
I hope that these techniques prove helpful.
) to get it suitably placed.
