220hotwheels

Hi Herman I do agree with you that there are lots of very interesting post especially with regard to V7. My personal; view, although I only have V4,5 and 6 as comparisons is that V7 is by far the most exiting. There's lots to get used to but ultimately once these new skills have been mastered, even to a degree, the scope for improvement to layouts from earlier versions is really exiting. Currently I am remodelling one that I started in V4, which remained unfinished, when I was just a raw beginner but with the help of friends on the forum I have been able to make such improvements. Roundabouts though still pose one of my items to solve at some point. Kind regards Pete

Hi Herman Only just picked up your post. I am not very good at explaining how things work but might I suggest you take a look at an item I posted earlier "reversing out of a parking bay". I think the answer that you are seeking might well lie in this item with the solution provided by @simonjackson1964with a comment by @Goetz. I now have the problem solved. My next dilemma is roundabout control. At the moment I have just too many very poor drivers who just don't want to give way. But that is a problem for another day. Hope the above helps. Kind regards Pete

Hi Simon Pure genius, that's all I have to say on the subject. Having followed your example to the letter I now have a properly working parking area. I'll now add a few more vehicles to the pot plus a police patrol vehicle and see if I can eliminate road rage and the odd collision. At least I now have a blueprint from which to experiment. Many thanks for your guidance. Pete

Hi Simon I have tried the option of clicking the target section in the properties tab, made no difference. Your second option is, to me, just a bit too technical unless I am reading too much into the way forward with it. My solution has been to delete all of the EV relating to that particular operation. This might seem radical but so far, fingers crossed it does seem to have got rid of that b----y route, so I'll start again, set a route from the car park exit round a test route and back to the stop point in the parking area. From that point I will adopt your suggestion to set the relevant targets to reverse out and to then proceed to the track contact just before the one currently set as the start point for the auto route. I hope that works. If not then the auto route is out completely and I will simply set a number of targets for the car to hop from one to the other. The latter we know will work from your demo but it seems a shame not to take advantage of the new auto routing system. I'll let you know how I get on. Pete

Silly me, I forgot to attach the screenshot showing the problem route. Pete

Good morning one and all, @simonjackson1964 @Dad3353 Your solutions seem to hit the mark. I cannot wait to put them fully into practice. I do seem to have one issue though that I just have not been able to resolve. I have a small section of route selected via the auto route system and I just cannot get rid of it. I've tried replacing each of the contacts, the road sections and the vehicle but all to no avail. The problem seems to be that as soon as the contact to start that route is tripped then the route is initialised and all other routes are deleted, anyone know why? If I set up another independent route it does not delete the old one!!! Before I can fully appreciate the genius of your joint efforts I need to get rid of that b-----dy route. Pete

Now that's sound perfect. I have been experimenting too but only to se if I can incorporate the "autopilot" system in conjunction with your solution. Both systems work absolutely fine, to a point. Your bit is no problem but I am having real problems with the auto routing. I can set the start point, set the route all the way round to the parking bay. However, in my earlier experiments I set a short auto route from the equivalent of your contact 0 to the parking bay contact 1 and I cannot for the life of me get rid of it. The problem now is that the vehicle follows the little green line all the way round the given route but as soon as it get to contact 0 the short route takes over and the full route is deleted. The same thing happens when the vehicle reverses out of the parking bay and hits the stop contact 2. Perhaps after I have slept on this I might see the solution. Either that or I will have to duplicate this part of my layout in a demo one and try that one instead until I get it right. Pete

Hi Simon Well you're right it does work brilliantly. Hmmm, so much for the auto routing system. No doubt as I begin to tweak things on my layout it will be possible to mix and match but for now your solution is Numero Uno. I have a few thoughts that might help with the poor driver behaviour so if I get those to work then I'll let you know. Otherwise I plan to sell all of my shares in the 3D Train Studio driver insurance company and set up a vehicle repair shop!!! Once again many thanks for your assistance. Pete

Hi Neo In that case all I can do is wait until it happens again and then see if I can locate the errors log at that time and send it through to you. Kind regards Peter

Hi Neo I've worked through the directories as your suggested and got to 3-Modellbahn Studio V7 but the only sub directories are Cache, Catalog and settings.xml plus of course my backup file and mbp file for the layout. Would you be so kind as to advise where I might find the errors.log please. Kind regards Pete

Hi Simon Just picked up your solution so will give it a try tomorrow. By the looks of it it should solve my problems so many thanks for that. Pete

@Neo Hi Neo I have been experiencing occasional program crashes since upgrading to V7, in much the same way that I did with V6 after upgrading to that version. I have sent an explanation via the site but thought the attached screenshot might help. When it has appeared before I have not been quick enough to capture the screenshot. I had been working in the program, saved what I had done and updated my *.mbp file, so nothing lost. I simply minimized the screen so it sat on my task bar and went into Google to sort out some emails etc. When I closed Google I had the error message that I replied to and after sending that I clicked on the 3D icon in the task bar and was greeted with the info as per the screenshot. Back in the program everything is fine, nothing lost but clearly there is an issue somewhere. Unfortunately I would be unable to send you my mbp file as it is now around 5200kb unless there is some other way that I can send it to you. I do also run a regular backup copy as well but that is now over 6000kb Your thoughts on this anomaly would be very much appreciated. Kind regards Peter

Hi Goetz That's absolutely no problem. Only when it fits in will be absolutely fine. I am in no particular rush, just like to solve problems at some point. For now I need to spend some time on the airport taxiways, and much more to achieve a more realistic airport. Your advice at some point, when it is convenient, will be brilliant. I hope you enjoy your visit with your Dad. Kind regards Pete

@GoetzHi Goetz I have another issue that I would like your help with please. Having introduced an airport into my layout I am in the process of sorting out passenger parking. The layout itself seems straightforward, setting the test route seems straightforward. The test car stops in the appropriate parking bay and after a given period of time will reverse out of the bay ready to continue on it's way. However instead of continuing it simply goes back into the parking bay. I have tried several different options but all to no avail. Clearly with V6 it would simply be a case of set the switch for parking bay D4 from 1 to 0 but that does not seem possible with V7. I have tried my Hercule Poirot bit within EV but nothing seems to solve this issue. Clearly there is a solution but I cannot find it . Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction please. Kind regards Pete

Hey, don't worry. I can take it. I do so appreciate your guidance in these matters. I have been pondering on and off during the afternoon and come to the conclusion that MBS is a bit like a murder mystery movie or book. The obvious is never the answer, you need to dig deeper and use the "little grey cells" more. Perhaps that's one reason there is no detailed manual, we are all being trained to be investigators!!!!! That so then it's not a bad thing. Kind regards Pete

Many thanks for that. I tried all sorts to try to get the same wording on that particular section as in the example from Brummi but all I got was either target speed or automatic deceleration but not both. Obviously I did not know where else to find the right wording. Now I do. I am most grateful. I take your point too about looking for the new rather than concentrating on the old. The more knowledge I gain the wider will be my search method, so onwards and upwards, as they say. Progress can be very addictive once you have mastered the overall concept. Kind regards Pete

Hi Goetz There is always something no matter how careful I think I've been. Anyway many thanks for spotting that. I've made the relevant change, if that is all I needed to do, but still nothing works. Perhaps I have upset the railway unions!! or just plain clumsy somewhere else in my EV. Now that won't be the first time!! I have taken the liberty to attach my updated version. As you can see my traffic lights are working perfectly. My next experiment in that area will be to try to ensure there are no pushy drivers wanting to cross lanes at the junction and thereby incurring the wrath of the insurance companies but before that perfect level crossings await. Pete traffic light and level crossing test layout.mbp

@Roter Brummerand @Goetz Good morning to you both As seems to be the way with me, I feel I have completed my current learning task regarding the level crossing aspect by accurately following the example supplied by you, Brummi, but clearly there has to be something that I have either got wrong or totally overlooked. The only bit that I know for sure that is not quite as shown in your example refers to the "set property/variable" for both closing and opening the barriers. In your example the property shows as "automatic deceleration (target speed) =0 or automatic deceleration (target speed)=50" but I have been unable to get this precis wording. I can locate either one or the other from the drop down menu but not both. Could this be the reason for things not working or is there something else. I have attached my result thus far and would appreciate you taking a look and letting me know what I am not seeing please. Many thanks Pete traffic light and level crossing test layout.mbp

Your comment about loosing patience with V7 does surprise me. Whilst I can concur that nothing is ever perfect my impression of V7 thus far is nothing but positive. For the element that I am most interested in, layout design first and technical aspects second I find it a vast improvement on V6 offering much greater flexibility. Even the technical elements that I have started to get involved with, in particular the routing of road vehicles along with the implementation of traffic lights at junctions has proved to be more straightforward than I had thought, albeit with the invaluable assistance of members in the forum. Overall I personally think V7 is absolutely great. If I had any less positive comment to make then it would not be directed at V7 but at every version and that is the lack of an informative manual that might provide a learning platform that would leave one feeling more independent and less reliant on the expertise of others. However, that said, the forum does provide a brilliant platform from which to secure new friends and at the same time move forward with problem solving. Sometimes, as in my case, advice offered can take several attempts to sink in but then I have found that most members seem to have infinite patience with we less knowledgeable folk. Anyway that's my opinion for what is might be worth. I'll now get off my soap box, take the dog for a walk ang get some breakfast. Stick with it Simon I'm sure you will benefit in the end. You have expertise to offer that we lesser mortals need. Pete

Hi to both @Goetzand @simonjackson1964 Not too sure if I have posted my relies to you both correctly but I hope you both pick up my thanks for each of your bits of advice. Pete

Hi Goetz Thank you for both explanations. Sometimes I tend to overthink things and in doing so overlook the obvious. Pete Thanks Simon. As they say every little helps. It was from your example for carriage door opening that I was first drawn into the world of iteration. That example was so straightforward to follow it made me feel like a pro quite quickly. The same can be said for Goetz traffic lights solution so if I can do the same with level crossings then I shall feel as though the sky's the limit. Pete

Hi Brummi As always there seems to be yet another question to ask. The iteration 'wdh'. What does this refer to please. The only time I have thus far got involved with iterations is to use them to open and close train carriages and for that the word "carriage" seems quite obvious. Kind regards Pete

Hi Brummi What can I say other than brilliant. I do so very much appreciate you having done this for me. A few days ago Goetz very kindly pointed me in the right direction for sorting out traffic light systems at junctions and so I have been busy taking full advantage of my newly found knowledge. I can now set up lights at T junctions and crossroads with 30 minutes, which is absolutely great. Best still they work!!! I hope I might be able to say the same for level crossings in a day or so. Once again many thanks. Kind regards Pete

@Roter Brummer Hi The layout that I am working on at present is one that I started back in 2019 in V4. It has grown quite large with many level crossings, some I have completed and others await completion. Some that I thought were complete, work some of the time and not fully on other occasions. Having done a little investigating I came across your ME05 Level crossing with car traffic. As the title was in English I immediately jumped at the possibility of further investigation. Whilst I can follow the basic principle of the operation I cannot fully understand how to implement this on my layout. I'm only just starting to see the wood for the trees with variables let alone inters!!! What I can say quite categorically is that I do find your solution to be immensely more straightforward than the one I have been using, a screenshot is attached to give you an example. My hope therefore is that you might be so kind as to provide me with an EV in English. I'm afraid I am a typical Brit, no ear for languages or as some might say just too lazy to learn another language. I leave you to decide which of these to be most appropriate. The basic principle is clear, a train comes and the crossing barriers go down, vehicles stop until the barrier is lifted after the train has passed and then continue. All very simple until you try to put it as simply as possible into the EV. Anyway, any assistance that you feel able to offer will be greatly appreciated. Kind regards Pete

Hi Simon I've been between meetings and just thrown together a brief mountain scene. I started off with a small piece of track, raise it to the height that I want the mountain, adjusted the terrain and applied, then just keept doing that to create a rough mountain range. Angle the rail track to assist in the different angles. Once you have the rough outline then use the size and strength tools to achieve your desired look. Throw on some paint and in doing so adjust the size, opacity and scaling to suit. The attached took me around 6 minutes and clearly needs much work to finish it off but it should provide the basics. When painting I have found that applying the lighter colours first and then overpainting with other, darker textures is best. Hope this helps Pete Mountains with V7.mbp