Some helpful hints on creating scenarios

[jp4712]

I posted the thoughts below in another forum but, as usual, the useful stuff got lost in the angst so I thought I'd share my thoughts again here. I have acquired a reputation as being a scenario 'expert' over at UKTrainsim; I think that's flattering my skills to say the least, but it's true to say I enjoy creating challenging scenarios and I've picked up a few tips along the way.


As some have said with varying degrees of hysteria, the AI logic in RW is quite poor at times; but it's untrue to say that it prevents you from creating interesting scenarios with lots of AI traffic. And then the MSTS AE used to crash if I blinked at it, and every few weeks I'd find myself having to reset all the registry keys, and every time I used it I'd have to remember to switch my screen to 16-bit or the dern thing would crash. Oh, and did I mention that it was prone to crashing? There are no secrets to scenario writing in RW, there are no secrets in any aspect of creating content for it - but there's a learning curve and if you've been creating for MSTS for 8 years there's a very big temptation to say "y'know what? You can't teach an old dog new tricks, I'm happy with what I've got."

A while after RS came out, I posted on another forum that I only started to enjoy RS once I stopped trying to see it as a replacement for MSTS. It's very different, if anything the resemblance of many keyboard commands was a mistake because it misleads you into a mindset that says 'oh, it's MSTS but newer (and therefore better?). Just see it as an entirely different game, it'll help a lot.

Here, entirely free and jp4712(R) guaranteed, are my steps to scenario heaven:

1. Place your driver service, and enter all its destination details etc. DON'T add any AI yet, just drive the route.
The reason for this is that you can find some pretty unexpected results, and you simply have to work with them. For example, I uploaded a scenario called 'hopper test' It starts at the Eaglescliffe branch just north of Northallerton and I assigned a freight classification to the train; and made sure the route included the slow line at Thirsk. All common sense and logic told me that the train would go via the underpass at Northallerton and on to the slow line. But would it? Would it hell. NOTHING I did would make it do anything but go straight up that steep hill into the station and via the fast line as far as Thirsk, where it crossed to the slow. At this point I had two choices, scrap the idea or work with it. So I added more and more hoppers until it was a real struggle to get up the hill and added some scenery figures to block the slow line with workmen and ballast, and bingo! everyone says I made a challenging brill scenario. Folks, take the credit where you can... the other point is that without running the scenario I'd no doubt screw up the AI because I expected to be on the slow line all the way - so the moral, as per the tip, is 'run the player service' first to see what path it takes.

2. Be very, very careful with driver and AI service classifications
Those 'express passenger', 'stopping passenger' designations aren't to tell the electronic passengers which train to get on - they assign priority. So assign your classifications with some thought, on the basis that if you want tyou train to wait while another crosses, assign a lower priority to your train. Also, bear in mind that 'passenger' and 'freight' designations tell teh game what sort of track it should try to use for the service, depending on teh track type the route builder has set. And NEVER, but NEVER use the 'special' classification in any scenario with AI. 'Special' locks the entire path from end to end for that service, right at the start of the scenario, so ruins all AI interacting with that path.

3. Don't assume that the AI dispatcher or driver thinks the way you do
He might work out that instead of waiting at that red light behind the cunning blocker train you put in, he can get there ten seconds earlier by reversing a couple of miles, reversing the train on a triangle and blasting down the other line – backwards. Or to put it another way, the AI dispatcher in MSTS is unbelievably stupid; in RW, he’s unbelievably cunning.

4. Don’t make AI trains too long
If you do, it seems to make them more prone to the ‘crawl along at 0.1 mph’ bug. That must be a real PITA for colleagues in North America. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen that bug manifest itself recently – have I just learned to not make AI trains too long, or has it been fixed? If you do see an AI train crawling along, take off a few trucks and try again - I've had success with this in the past.

5. Beware, here be portals
I can make trains disappear into portals fine, but making AI trains originate in portals seems buggy and often simply doesn’t work. So I just don’t start AI trains in portals, there’s plenty of bits of track to put ‘em on.

6. Immersion is not just about hot water heaters
What a few people have alluded to is that the graphics (or call it eye candy if you like) in RW is great. So, play to that! The scenario objects function is RW is brilliant, it all helps you feel like it’s a dynamic environment. I bought the Stanier 8F pack and in the first scenario I tried that came with it, the aim was to create the last day of the Bath - Templacombe line in 1966 and so the platform end and track were covered in animated people, just like the photos I’ve seen. Plus mark for RS.com there. In a similar vein my next scenario will feature an very heavy steam freight train with a helper at the rear – and with the guard’s van/caboose in the 8F pack having a passenger view, dropping off the helper whilst still on the move just past the summit looks the business from the guard’s position, though I say it myself. So in other words, get people feeling involved in the scenario – if it’s just ‘blast at full speed from point A to point B’ then the eye candy is all you have and it’s not making the best use of RW’s strong points.

7. Learn the cheats and short cuts
You’re creating a scenario that starts in Paddington and ends at Oxford. Do you click on ‘destination’ then shift-left click ALL the way to the platform at Oxford, then shift-left click ALL the way back again? I did. Then I found that if you click on ‘destination’; then RIGHT CLICK somewhere innocuous on the screen; then press 9; then LEFT CLICK on the coloured bit of track at the desired location; setting a destination reduced in time from an average of five minutes to five seconds. There are other cheats too…

8. Logmate and ‘Driver List’ are your friends
If creating a scenario, click these two options in the, er, whatever the menu thing is called before you fire up the main game. They help tell you which services have failed to run properly, and occasionally you get a very good clue why. Sometimes, be patient with the ‘driver list’ button – in fact, after you press it give the game a few seconds to check things over and then check it again.

9. Be careful how you use the ‘VCR’ button
This is one I learned the hard way – that VCR button is great for finding out how your scenario plays out, but it seems to play havoc with your edits during that session. I’m not 100% sure whether you’re safe if you save THEN play the VCR, but as belt-and-braces I’ve got into the habit of saving, coming out back to the menu, going back in just to play the VCR, then coming back out to the menu before going back in yet again to carry out further edits. That’s a bit extreme but the VCR doesn’t muck about with my edits any more.

10. Don’t try and do what the program isn’t designed for
All games have reasonable limitations (whaddaya mean, my CFS3 B17 isn't supposed to be able to use laser guns and neutron force fields? Well that's just NO GOOD FOR ME!). For example if you place eight AI services to leave a portal one minute apart, you should expect trouble. Real-world railways don't despatch trains from a fixed point at one minute intervals, even the badly-run ones, nor should RW. Similarly free roam scenarios and AI don’t really mix well together. RW isn’t designed for it, that’s what standard scenarios are for. It's nice to potter around doing what you want while AI thunders past, but in real life pretty much every train movement is agreed in advance and teh instructions are followed: which is basically a standard scenario.

11. Get someone else to test it before you upload to a file library
Just because you drive with both brake and throttle on, and just because it works on your machine, doesn’t mean it will on everyone else’s and have the same results. Of course, that’s not a comment that’s exclusive to RW…

Now, as a scenario writer what would I like to see? Well, I think for me the two priorities are more routes and a good variety of freeware. There are only so many times I can write a scenario for the default routes before I get bored – and the routes I like are a particular kind, of course: same for all of us, so it needs enough variety to keep us all sweet.

I hope the above helps - I'm no guru but hopefully the above will inspire a couple of people to try the scenario editor again. And once you're in, that'll be it - you'll be a member of the Scenario Writer's Guild...

Paul

[rgarber]

Great post Paul, good reading and helpful!

Rich

[jp4712]

Thanks Rich, coming from you I take that as a big compliment. Let’s see if I can add a few more hints. I think the more people take the plunge into scenarios, the more we’ll get a real buzz as people try things that are new and aren’t the tenth time they’ve run a default trip, so let’s see if I can persuade anyone to open up the toolbox!

Consists

The AE in MSTS was all built around creating and saving a consist before you could lay a train on the track, even to place a single static truck, and the fact that RW doesn’t make you do this blinds you to the fact that you can still create and save consists for use again later. So let’s go through the steps to create and save a consist.


You know how to place an engine or truck on the track, right? If not, let me know and we’ll go back to that one. But let’s assume that you can open the world editor, click on the train symbol in the left-hand flyout and get into the scenario editor. Done that? Great. Okay, let’s put some stuff on the rails. Now, here’s the first cheat: if you want to lay 50 of the same truck on the track as part of the consist, don’t drag the truck from the list to the track 50 times; just drag it to the track once, and double-click – and again, and again. Wow, the trucks are multiplying! So just keep double clicking until the train has as many as you need. Note that the train tends to move a little along the track to adjust, so bear this in mind if it means the train strays over any switches (points) or gets to the end of the siding. Even so, it’s a lot easier than dragging fifty times.

If you do this, one thing you’ll have to look out for is the risk of two trucks overlapping like this:



If it does that, delete one of the trucks and it should be fine. If you don’t check the consist for these overlaps, and some are more subtle/hard to spot than the example I’ve shown, then the scenario will crash on loading with no clue from Logmate or the DriverList functions. In fact when a scenario has crashed for me on loading with no ‘can’t find path’ message in LogMate, and the Driver list shows all services as ‘successful’, then on every such occasion I’ve found that it has been an overlap of this kind – and if you don’t check the consist when you lay it, then the only way to find it is to go along the route looking at EVERY consist to see which is the rogue.

Okay, you have a consist sitting on the tracks, ready for you to add instructions such as a driver etc. Why should you save it? Well, the obvious answer is ‘so you can use it – or something like it – again’. So let’s save that consist. First, go to the top left flyout and look for the strange little icon just to the left of the engineer/driver – the one that looks like a train on a clipboard:



Yep, that’s the one. Okay, single-click on it and then look at your consist. If you’re a few yards from the train or if the background is dark, you may find it hard to spot: but if you get closer to your train you’ll see a gray cube over each item of stock in the train.



Now click on one of those cubes, it doesn’t matter which one.

Okay, we’ve found yet another flyout! Just type a name for the consist in the window, and that’s it – done.





You can in future select this consist by clicking the left flyout, on the icon third along after engines and coaches/wagons. If you do the ol’ click and drag-to-the-track thing, then instead of a piece of stock snapping to the track then the whole train will do so.

What I tend to do is to have a set of ‘generic’ consists that I can place and then edit. Just as an example, I’m British and my interest is UK 1950 – 1975. Express passenger train consists were, by and large, fairly standard at that time so I have such a consist saved which I place, and then put the engine on the front of it to suit the circumstances. So to create a train with engine, tender and 15 coaches takes me three click-and-drag operations, not eighteen.

That’s a basic set of hints on just one subject today: next set will start to explain all those icons that sit above the engine and how you can use them creatively.

Paul

[OldProf]

I hope that Paul doesn't mind my adding a postscript to his well-done tutorial on consist saving. I've found that getting a really long consist (for me, anything over 25 cars) to snap to the track where I want to place it is very tricky, especially if the track is curved or in the midst of other tracks that are already occupied, as in a yard. The difficulty comes from the fact that the "handle" is in the middle of the consist: if the view is set in too close, the ends of the consist are out of sight, if it is set too far away, snapping to the desired track is more difficult. After some frustration, I started creating partial consists of about 15 units each, giving each part a similar name (GreenPass1, GreenPass2, etc.). Overlap on placement is possible, but as Paul mentioned earlier it can be remedied with a little patience.

Old Prof

[kin3]

Keep it coming. Some things I already knew but some I didn't.

On long trains...I tried to create a mile long consist but RW just wouldn't do it. I had to make it in four sections. Does anybody know the limit for consist?

[jp4712]

One more hint that a few people may not know.

Do you want to navigate from one end of your route to the other but find that all that flying around is a) boring and b) wears out the shift+arrow keys? There's a better way, RS.com have publicized this but not everyone got the message.

[drum roll] To fly from one end of your route to the other super-quickly...

1. Press 9 to bring up the 2D map.

2. CTRL-click on where you want to fly to.

3. Come out of the 2D map back into the world and go to the 'location' top-down flyout.

4. Click on the little arrow just below the world icon.

5. Bang! You're at the location you dhift-clicked. Don't forget that you may have to correct your altitude by going up or down (ctrl+up or down arrow).

More next time...

Paul

[petersde]

Great work Paul

I've resisted "new" scenario building in RW because my brain is wired to MSTS "activities". But this definitely makes it understandable and fills in the gaps in the formal RW documentation.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
Dave

[imajhen]

hello!
how can I find out the weight of the train when I create consist? Is that possible?
I tried to read weight of the single wagon on the texture but can't read it right.

[Downsman]

Having only just joined this forum, also new to Railworks, I may appear a bit late in congratulating Paul on his Scenario Creation guides.
Just as I was getting worried about making scenarios, because I find the RW manuals difficult to understand, up pops Paul with ‘the knowledge’ written in my own language.
Many thanks Paul and let’s hope that more members will add to this forum, so that we can jointly build up several guides based on actual experience of working with RW.

[alanch]

The guidance at the top of this thread was written before Railsimulator.com introduced the Timetable View Editor for scenarios.

TImetable View makes life so much easier - all you have to do now in the standard scenario editor is create the scenario marker and place your rolling stock. Everything after that can be done in Timetable View, and that is the way that RS.com recommend - if you don't know about it, or haven't used it, read the manual RW Timetable View Manual_Web.pdf in the Manuals/EN folder.

[Hawk]

Is the first post in this thread so out of date as to be irrelevant now, due to improvements in the game?
Should this thread be deleted?

[arizonachris]

Is the first post in this thread so out of date as to be irrelevant now, due to improvements in the game?
Should this thread be deleted?

Would be nice for someone like me who is thinking about getting started with editing/ creating routes/ scenarios to at least have some backround info like this, even if a little outdated, it still gives a lot of info.

Unless, of course, someone wants to rewrite/ update this info. I have read the manual, and it's like trying to read an alien language. You guys might understand it, but it's way over my head.

[Hawk]

Cool! Thanks!

Anyone else want to voice their opinions?

[Samwolf]

Cool! Thanks!

Anyone else want to voice their opinions?

I vote for leaving it up, with maybe a note saying parts may no longer apply due to Railworks updates. I agree with having the background info available.

[jp4712]

I tell you what guys, I'll update it and repost. Then we can delete this version. Everyone okay with that?

Paul