Save / load bug--car status changes in interchange

[DragonIV]

Been seeing this bug in the previous release, tonight got it the second time in the current release in the new save I created when this current release dropped.

Only seems to happen at Sawmill Level 5. I typically move a few cars into the interchange early in the day (usually 1-3 cars). The remainder I move out a bit after midnight. After dropping them off, sometimes I save at that point and quit the game. Come back later, reload the save. and find one of the cars in the middle have 0.2 tonnes of goods and now has a destination of the Sawmill, not the interchange.

This is a car that had been sitting over in SO1 for the entire day, and I had checked carefully that all my cars were full before pulling them out and moving them out to the interchange.

It doesn't happen every time, because I often save at the end of the day prior to sleeping to the 4:00 interchange service. Think I'm on day 14 or something like that, and it has happened twice in this save.

It only occurs with the sawmill cars assigned to SO1 or SO2, and it's always one car with an improbably low amount of goods when I reload the save. Also seems to be the flat car every time, too.

If I find anything else out about it, I'll log it here.

[DragonIV]

I confirmed last night that those flatcars, when they first start loading, never seen to start at 0.2 tons. Very interesting. I'll be trying to replicate today. along with a bunch of manual saves to try to confirm what action appears to trigger this.

[DragonIV]

I hoped to have some more data on the bug above, but now I can't get my engines to pay any attention to signals in abs mode. Had a passenger train at Bryson (station stop), and then the coal train from Robinson (on waypoint mode from Robinson to Whittier Interchange) decided to just drive right into the passenger train at Bryson and hook up rather than pass on the secondary rail.

Does waypoint mode make it's pathing decision based on the track state at the time when the command is made, and then stick to that regardless of signal state when arriving at a junction along the route?

I don't recall this being an issue before on this save file (I've been running with signals and the robinson coal runs for several in-game days now), but I've quit without saving when the issue occurred, then loaded up the game later only to see it happen again.

I'm starting to think both of these issues are improper saving of the state of the game. and things get wonky when I load back in.

[DorniNerd]

Originally posted by DragonIV:

I hoped to have some more data on the bug above, but now I can't get my engines to pay any attention to signals in abs mode. Had a passenger train at Bryson (station stop), and then the coal train from Robinson (on waypoint mode from Robinson to Whittier Interchange) decided to just drive right into the passenger train at Bryson and hook up rather than pass on the secondary rail.

Does waypoint mode make it's pathing decision based on the track state at the time when the command is made, and then stick to that regardless of signal state when arriving at a junction along the route?

I don't recall this being an issue before on this save file (I've been running with signals and the robinson coal runs for several in-game days now), but I've quit without saving when the issue occurred, then loaded up the game later only to see it happen again.

I'm starting to think both of these issues are improper saving of the state of the game. and things get wonky when I load back in.

What CTC mode are you using?

[DragonIV]

ABS mode, haven't ever tried switching to CTC, as prior ABS worked fine.

[DorniNerd]

Originally posted by DragonIV:

ABS mode, haven't ever tried switching to CTC, as prior ABS worked fine.

So what you described above is actually how it is right now. The AEWP cannot negotiate meets with other trains enroute and will set a path at the time the waypoint is made. If things change in that path, and it isn't prompted to recalc its path (which is rare... I go into some detail below) it can collide into things.

In ABS mode, the waypoint system will go where you tell it too. IE: Itll throw switches and that will clear the signals, continuing to the location you told it to go too. It does not recalculate at those signals when the system is in ABS mode... Since it is designed to just go where you want and all the signals are not 'absolute' (meaning that the AE WP isn't prevented from throwing switches which can clear the signals... That is all ABS mode does... It checks for occupancy of the next block to the next signal and the position of the switch it protects.)

Currently, the AEWP system is not intelligent enough to change its routing or pathing based on occupancy of the track it planned a route over. This is particularly the case in ABS mode. It will recalc in certain situations, such as Player/manually controlled CTC signals.

Part of the reason this is the case is so that it doesn't decide to take unusual routing based on conditions that are fluid/changing directly ahead of it. We hope in time to make the AEWP more intelligent, but that requires a lot of 'deeper understanding' of the railroad by both the AE and an overall 'dispatcher' that watches the network.

We recommend when using WP mode to use CTC in manual mode... Swapping to CTC screen by pressing the 3 key to control the system by hand. That way the WP does not send itself into sections and create meets with other trains. Using road mode for long distance travel is also another way to get around some of the pitfalls of using AEWP for LD trips in ABS controlled districts.

The above has nothing to do with the saves or how the saves work... You likely just got lucky with the AEWP up until that point between the coal/pass trains.

[DragonIV]

Thanks, apparently I did get lucky in all my playing hours. Thanks much for the detailed explanation. I'll do a bit of research on CTC and convert over to using it so I can reliably keep expanding.

I'll definitely keep working on the sawmill issue. I suspect it's a bug, but until I can figure out the trigger that's not much value to you.

[DorniNerd]

Originally posted by DragonIV:

Thanks, apparently I did get lucky in all my playing hours. Thanks much for the detailed explanation. I'll do a bit of research on CTC and convert over to using it so I can reliably keep expanding.

I'll definitely keep working on the sawmill issue. I suspect it's a bug, but until I can figure out the trigger that's not much value to you.

We will work on that sawmill thing too, I've not been able to replicate it as of yet, but we will keep trying!