"Spawning" portals

[OldProf]

Not wanting to hijack GHile's recent thread about portals, I decided to start another one, prompted in this case by the "AI Spawn Point" and "Consist Spawn Point" tools now available to us. Can these only be used in Free-Roam scenarios? Have any of you tried placing them in Standard scenarios?

I'd appreciate responses based on actual experience rather than idle speculation, please.

[DapperDan]

I tried using these in a standard scenario that I was testing and couldn't get them to work. I've read some threads where these are supposedly only used in QD scenarios, and admittedly don't recall reading anything regarding whether they worked in Free Roam scenarios, however this was awhile back and my memory isn't what it used to be. I even tried building QD consists using RW_Tools and tried testing these in a QD scenario, but again, couldn't get them to spawn. I was obviously doing something wrong and after a number of attempts gave up. I wish DTG would've made these available for scenario creators to use in standard scenarios. The only way I know how to spawn AI traffic in a standard scenario is to use the portals within the route and if it doesn't have many of these spaced out it can also be frustrating.

If you try these in a standard scenario I hope you have better luck then me, but I don't believe you'll get them to work.

[hertsbob]

Hi

They're only going to work in Quick Drive scenarios I'm afraid.

If nothing else, the Blueprint Editor functionality for setting up the consists directly references (or is interwoven with) QD scenarios.
i.e. the consist can only check to see whether it is able to spawn in a QD scenario because it can't currently be programmed to look anywhere else.

Now you've raised the point, it would be great if normal scenarios could utilise this functionality. One of the major hassles I have is in creating a scenario with an overtaking AI moves a long way in, which in most cases means I have to path the AI trains the entire length of the route. And this sounds like a potentially very good way to address the problem.



Cheers

Bob

[Bananarama]

My memory isn't what it used to be, but didn't the portals work for standard scenarios in RS?

[OldProf]

My memory isn't what it used to be, but didn't the portals work for standard scenarios in RS?

Not only did they, but they still do! They must be handled with care, especially if you want to store more than one train in a single portal. I'll also note again here that portals are only as good as the route maker who places them. Above all, a single portal that spans two or more tracks is useless for storing AI trains.

[Chacal]

My memory isn't what it used to be, but didn't the portals work for standard scenarios in RS?

Yes. The title of this thread is wrong, it is really about "AI Spawn Points" and "Consist Spawn Points".