220hotwheels

Hi Douglas Whether right or wrong my system of back up follows this principle. Press the save icon at the top of the screen, then save the file as an *.mbp, this I do several times during a session and finally once each week make a complete backup. I've restored the backup file and it's fine so I've only lost around 20 hours work which I can work through once more but what concerns me is why has this happened. To be on the safe side I am saving, saving to a new *.mbp and backing up to a new file so as not to alter the original *.mbp just in case some bright fellow can tell me which button to press to get everything back to normal on the original layout. If this proves to be a none starter then I will delete this faulty layout once I have all the bits from it re-entered onto the new copy. Pete

I wish it were that simple but alas not so. I have loaded the program several times. As soon as it has completed loading I press play and nothing moves. The play button changes colour, the pause button changes to white but nothing moves. As I mentioned I have given several vehicles values to enable them to move and they do so but no traffic lights change, no switches change via my EV. They will change if I do so manually so clearly something is not quite right, but I don't know what. Pete

Hi all I have a very strange occurrence. Last night before turning off my computer I saved the file and program on my computer. Today when I went into the program I noticed that nothing was moving, absolutely nothing. I have worked through some individual items and set their respective speeds but even then none of the programs instructions work either, signals, traffic lights switches. Clearly this is quite an issue. Over 70 signals, 80 some switches, 200 plus vehicles, hundreds of instructions in my EV. Has this happened to anyone before? and is there an easy fix. Could it be something that I have caused and if so how. All solutions will be very gratefully received. This is a very big layout, not as big as some that I have produced. This one is only 4483kb at present. Others have been 5400kb without any issues. I await any advice that might help to resolve this matter. Cheers Pete

To Dad3353, Goetz and Simonjackson196 Hi to you all My experiments are now complete and all is working fine. Many thanks for all of your advice. My conclusion: The train is in the freight depot, (lets assume pointing north), the logs have been loaded, (they too are set to north/south and I have marked the front of each log pile with the word front. So, I now have the train in position, the orientation of the logs is the same as the train. The train moves off, completes its journey around the layout and stops on invisible track. The empty trucks in the meantime have moved to an invisible road parallel to the invisible track. When the train stops the logs are transferred by Lua code to the waiting trucks but are now rotated by 180 degrees so that the front of each log stack is at the rear of the trailer. Once the trailer has arrived back at the freight depot (it's pointing to the south) along with the train (once again pointing to the north) the crane simply lifts the logs, places them back on the flatcar without the need to rotate. The front of the logs are facing the same direction as the train. I hope that explanation is clear enough. Suffice it to say that all is now well so I can now move on to my next problem. Onwards and upwards, as they say. Pete

Thanks Goetz. On My test layout I simply marked the front of the deposit pads and the same for the logs. By doing so all worked well. In my current main layout the trains and trucks all follow similar paths, from the freight depot and eventually back to the same point. As I have mentioned to Simon Jackson I plan to experiment tomorrow and see what the outcome brings. My conclusions will be posted then. Pete

Thanks Simon. I'll experiment tomorrow and let you know how I get on. Pete

Just found a spare hour before moving on to office work that I missed today and have been amazed that I hadn't appreciated that both cargo and cargo deposit pads had actual directional rotation. You learn something new every day. How amazing is this program!!! Anyway, having got my logs and their respective cargo pads all in sync. the crane lifts and deposits the logs without further rotation, halleluiah. This however brings me to the next area to tackle. When the freight train arrives in the freight depot it is pointing, lets say north/south with the cargo pads also facing north/south. The trucks however as they arrive are facing south/north. In other words the cargo on the trucks is facing south/north. When the logs are transferred from the train to the trucks via Lua they currently do so retaining the north/south orientation, it's only when the truck pull alongside the train in the depot that the orientation is reversed. My only solution, if it can be done, is to rotate both the cargo deposit pad and the cargo in Lua at the time that the cargo is moved from the train to the trucks (all of which takes place out of sight), although perhaps I will only need to rotate the cargo at this point just as long as it will settle on the trucks cargo deposit pads back to front, as it were. So tomorrow presents yet another learning curve with move lateral thinking, yet another challenge for the little grey cells!! I'll post my conclusions, hopefully later tomorrow. Pete

Hi Simon Many thanks for your solution. I've been very busy all day today at my daughters installing French doors/suitable frame in order to separate her dining room and lounge. As with all such jobs nothing is straight forward but after 4 days it is now finished and fully functional. Having read through your suggestion I think I have the measure of what you are suggesting. I'll try some experiments either tonight or tomorrow. I'm using Lua script to transfer the logs from the train to the trucks and the crane to make the transfer from the trucks to the train so I assume if I add a rotate command into the Lua script so that when the logs are transferred they rotate by 180 degrees that might do the trick or do I have to rotate the invisible cargo floor on the trucks by 180 degrees at that point. Anyway I'll experiment and see what happens. Thanks once again for your advice. Pete

Hi Goetz Many thanks for that insight. Guess I'll just have to wait and see if Neo has any thoughts on the matter. Pete

Where's the fun in that!! Pete

Hi Douglas Thanks for your suggestion although not sure if that would be very practicable even it it did work. It really isn't necessary for the logs to be rotated so if I can stop that element then great all should be well. I will however take a more concentrated look into said suggestion over the next 24 hours. If it works I'll let you know. If it doesn't then A&E will continue to be very busy!!!! Pete

Hi all When using the Bruckenkran, kindly supplied by fmkberlin back in 2016, with large logs, Baumstamme, after lifting the logs it will then move over to the area to which the logs are to be deposited but only then does it decide to rotate said logs before lowering them. Whilst the operation achieves all that is required of it the aesthetics are disappointing to say the least. The poor guy operating the crane is decapitated with most of the gantry structure also being demolished. A similar problem applies to the movement of other cargo too. My question therefore is thus. Is there anyway to alter the crane behaviour to allow for the cargo to be rotated, or not, prior to it moving from place of pickup to place of discharge. I wait with fingers crossed for someone's very cleaver answer. Pete

Hi Douglas Many thanks for the update and yep I think the AFS livery would be a very nice touch as the default livery. All I can do now is wait and see whether Neo will consider it's inclusion in the catalogue. I'll send you a few screenshots during this week so you get a brief snapshot of the current layout. Cheers Pete

Hi Neo Some time ago, in fact 3 layouts ago, I was looking to try to personalise an articulated tractor unit so that it would be representative of those I ran in my own international logistics business. I first contacted fmkberlin to see if this was possible to do so on the heavy tractor units that he had produced, unfortunately it proved not to be a viable option but as a result of this enquiry I was offered an alternative by Dad3353, Douglas. With his considerable patience and guidance I was able to modify the colour scheme of a Renault Magnum that he had created and have subsequently incorporated these into my last 3 layouts, the current one has 32 such items. Whilst I am extremely pleased with this outcome it has left me with a dilemma in so far as I am currently unable to share any of my creations with other members as the items in question are not in the catalogue. I have attached a screenshot showing the final result for this truck together with the draft reference provided by Douglas, 94082A74-2B6E-4592-B0B4-11F5BF6F1A4D, and wonder if you would consider including this in the catalogue for the benefit of others. If this is not possible then so be it but I do feel it would be a shame. Kind regards Peter

Hi A recent post "Berthing a Ship" has highlighted another anomaly that I would like to know whether or not can be solved. Movement, as we all know, is very important to a model. Trains and vehicles who's wheels do not turn loose quite a lot of authenticity. In the same way when a ship moves it creates both a bow wave and prop/stern wash. These are both elements that I have pondered on for some time and and whilst I appreciate the fact that this program is essentially a model railway one, all types of transportation are included, thus far I have not been able to find a satisfactory solution to these two issues. However during my ship berthing experiment I feel that I have been able to achieve a modest success with the prop wash effect although it still needs much fine tuning, but I believe a good result is achievable. The only thing that I have noticed is that depending upon the angle of view the effect all but disappears. This brings me to my question. Does anyone know how, or what can be altered in order to remove this anomaly so that the prop/stern wash remains visible at all times that it is required? The experiment is attached to highlight the issue. Simply press play and double click on the switch on the quayside wall. Pete Berthing1 experiment.mbp

I forgot to mention. Press play and then double click the switch on the quayside to get everything underway. Pete

Hi As promised I have attached a somewhat more rounded version of my ship berthing process. It's not quite perfect yet and I've given up on the possibility to introduce hawsers for pulling the ship from the quayside, somethings have to remain a fantasy!!!. All remaining alterations will be made on my actual layout which currently has the timber ship, a container ship, 2 general cargo ships and a roll on roll off ferry, hence the restriction for too many tugs per ship. Then of course there are all the trains and other vehicles. This particular layout does not have an airport, as had my two previous ones, but then the file size just gets too big. I'm already over 4000kb. Any thoughts you have that might improve this will be very gratefully received. Kind regards Pete Berthing1 experiment.mbp

Hi Simon Good job mine are all merchant ships then !!!!

Hi. What can I say to that suggestion other than, Hmmmmm. It's taken me ages just to get a suitable track layout working reasonably for one tug to pull away from the ships side, manoeuvre alongside, wait until all cargo has been unloaded and then return to the ship ready to pull it away from the quay and then to theoretically scuttle off, bad choice of word for a ship, back to it's base, plus I don't think I could find enough space in the dock area of my current layout for another tug. Still more to do, smoke from the tugboats chimney and if possible hawser lines from the tug to the ship for a more realistic pull but not sure if that will be possible as they would need to appear and when finished disappear. I'll send you an update of my efforts when complete. Cheers Pete

Hi streit_ross Many thanks for your kind reply and for the demo. My current example runs pretty much on similar lines since I was put on the correct path by Goetz yesterday. I'm still working on a suitable side thruster simulation, nothing quite right yet, but I have introduced a tug into the equation which is quite effective although it still needs some fine tuning. The plan once finished is for the tug to withdraw once it has berthed the ship and to lay alongside awaiting the time when the ship needs to be pulled off the quayside ready for it's journey. So still some work to do. I've taken the liberty to attach my example thus far. Just press play and let me know what you think. Kind regards Pete Berthing1 experiment.mbp

Many thanks Goetz for the additional insight. I might just leave telling my harbour master this as when last I spoke to him he was looking forward to admonishing a few ships captains in an effort to maintain tradition and discipline. Pete

Hi Simon Nice to hear from you, I trust you are well and nicely settled into 2023. On the main layout I have used actual track simply because it is easier to see and adjust but I do find that the virtual track allows for more precise positioning under certain circumstances. As for the rule about use of the port side against the quay, I didn't know that, I may well have to get the harbour master to hold a meeting with all of the ships captains and admonish them for ignoring this long standing procedure, either that or redo the port routes. No I think I'll leave the harbour master to give each captain a good ticking off!! Cheers Pete

Just had time to run through your suggestion in between lunch and next batch of work. It works a dream, so many thanks for that. Now all I have to do is sort out suitable thruster effects. If that doesn't pan out too well then a tug will be the alternative. Pete

Good morning Goetz Many thanks for that very useful information. I hadn't considered simply moving the track. I'll give that a try. If that works then I have to see if I can achieve realistic side thruster motions. If not then a tug might be the answer. Onwards and upwards. Isn't life fun!!! Pete

Hi I am attempting to create a more realistic vessel berthing procedure rather than it simply pull up alongside the quay, there are good technical reasons for this in the current layout that I am working on. Getting the ship to stop, imitate side thrusters to move to the quayside and later back out to the main track is no problem. Where the difficulty arises is then getting the vessel to continue on its way. As can be seen from the screenshots everything would seem to line up correctly but the vessel will not move off unless it is given the tiniest of nudges. I have managed to sort this out, in a fashion, by using a second SX1 dummy but that too creates further problems down the line when the vessel has to negotiate entry and exit from the lock. No doubt I am overlooking the obvious but thus far the solution escapes me. Any thought please. Pete