Will they ever fix level crossings in this game?

[cwattyeso]

I recently returned to playing ATS after a long absence, in fact before I returned to playing there was no DLC for this game. Something that really bugged, annoyed and angered me about the game back then and amazingly after all this time it still exists in game is the horrible Level Crossings.

You know how you get absolutely zero warning or information as you approach them that a train may be coming and the barrier may close. That is until your truck slams into a completely invisible wall that gets thrown up, causing massive damage to your truck, trailer and cargo. Then after a short period of time the lights on the crossing start flashing the barriers lower, then after a much longer period of time a train finally trundles past.

Surely this should have been fixed by now and SCS should have a better signal or warning system in place for Level Crossings to warn players to slow down and stop as a train is coming, rather then putting up an invisible wall with no warning which actually causes damage to the player and becomes very costly.

[Asigion]

I bought this game the day it was released and I have 1660 hours playtime and have never hit a level crossing in all of that time. I watched a pre-release video and Squirrel hit one and after seeing that I just slow down as I approach level crossings.

[shoopy]

Interesting. I didn't know this could happen. I've always been paranoid of the level crossings because of how dangerous they are in real life.

[Ryujinwing]

Aren't you supposed to slow down when crossing train or no train? Never happened to me that way.

[Cascades]

I have only encountered this once.. Generally I will slow down before Railroad crossings and depending on what I am carrying (anything flammable) I will stop at the crossings. So, if the gate starts coming down I can stop in time without hitting the invisible barrier and damaging my truck

[cwattyeso]

The problem I'm saying is that there is no warning as you approach a crossing that the barriers may start coming down or the invisible wall is there. So you're not just going to slow down and stop for the sake of it, unless you have to. I'd expect much as in real life that when approaching a level crossing, if a train is coming the warning lights and alarm bells would be active way before you get to the crossing to give you advance warning and time to slow down and stop, then the barriers would lower and finally the train would come past. Unfortunately in this game the way it seems to work is the warning lights and barriers only seem to work after your truck has been completely stopped and destroyed by the invisible barrier. It's like they are out of sync and should actually occur in game first before the invisible barrier gets raised.

[Asigion]

If it happens once it is unfortunate but once it does happen and you do not take care when approaching them and it continues to happen then it is just careless. As I said, I saw Squirrel hit one and because of that I never hit one. You do not need to stop all you need to do is slow down as you approach so you can stop.

[Ryujinwing]

Originally posted by cwattyeso:

The problem I'm saying is that there is no warning as you approach a crossing that the barriers may start coming down or the invisible wall is there. So you're not just going to slow down and stop for the sake of it, unless you have to. I'd expect much as in real life that when approaching a level crossing, if a train is coming the warning lights and alarm bells would be active way before you get to the crossing to give you advance warning and time to slow down and stop, then the barriers would lower and finally the train would come past. Unfortunately in this game the way it seems to work is the warning lights and barriers only seem to work after your truck has been completely stopped and destroyed by the invisible barrier. It's like they are out of sync and should actually occur in game first before the invisible barrier gets raised.

There should be warning lights way before the ramp comes down.
At least that's how its always for me. If it just slams ramp out of nowhere that could be a bug. Any mods?

[shoopy]

Originally posted by cwattyeso:

The problem I'm saying is that there is no warning as you approach a crossing that the barriers may start coming down or the invisible wall is there. So you're not just going to slow down and stop for the sake of it, unless you have to. I'd expect much as in real life that when approaching a level crossing, if a train is coming the warning lights and alarm bells would be active way before you get to the crossing to give you advance warning and time to slow down and stop, then the barriers would lower and finally the train would come past. Unfortunately in this game the way it seems to work is the warning lights and barriers only seem to work after your truck has been completely stopped and destroyed by the invisible barrier. It's like they are out of sync and should actually occur in game first before the invisible barrier gets raised.

It's not uncommon for trucks to slow down at crossings in the US. I believe some are even required to stop depending on what they're carrying. I slow down because even if the gate won't be a problem, the crossing itself often has a bump that could damage the underside of your vehicle.

I do agree this isn't something that should happen though.

[SBGaming]

In the real world as a commercial driver you're supposed to slow down, check that the arms are up, and warning devices are on or off (if present), look both ways to see if you can see a train coming, and then confirm if the tracks are clear. I actually practice these sorts of checks when driving in the game. Buses though are required to stop to check for oncoming trains before proceeding. Sometimes though in game you're going in blind as to whether a train could be present, but the warning signals come on first, then the arms come down, and the train eventually shows up.

With that said there's been a crossing or two that I've come upon that was on a curve and the angle I was coming in at didn't give me good enough visibility to see that the arms were already down. I avoided damage, but had to swerve into the other lane to stop in time...

The game does in places give enough notice that there are tracks coming, so your responsibility in game is to ensure you can cross safely without destroying your vehicle. I often use the key to zoom my view so I can see things that are further away that I'm approaching such as railway crossings just to be prepared when I get there.

The only time I ever hit an invisible wall like this was for a draw bridge up near Aberdeen. Saw the warning signals but the arms were still up, and thought it was clear to go. That was mostly my fault because there was also a car there stopped ;)

[Joschac2]

Out of 20 railroad crossing, i may only see 12 trains runign thouth

[cwattyeso]

I don't argue that the game gives warning that railway tracks are coming and that level crossings are ahead. They do post signs. Again what I'm saying is the level crossings themselves do not post any warnings or give you the player any indication that the invisible barrier is there until you've hit it. So far on my current profile I've hit this barrier 12 times, and at no point on any of those were the level crossing warning lights flashing as I approached, no bell, alarm or siren was sounding as I approached and the barriers were not down. So for all intent and purposes the information the game is giving me the player is that the crossing is clear to cross and there is no trains approaching, so it's perfectly okay to continue as you are and cross the crossing.

As far as mods go I'm not using many, I think I have two or three trucks, the mod that changes the hud in the truck so all the info is on a narrow bar at the bottom of the screen, and a voice navigation pack. I'm not using anything that could effect the maps or the railway crossings. So I'm going to call it a bug with the game, especially as I experienced back when the game first came out long before there were mods or dlc add-ons. So it seems like something that SCS still haven't fixed in this game despite all the time that's passed since release.

[AyMazingATS]

If you are running into invisible walls at railroad crossings with no lights active and barriers not down....I would start looking at what mods you are running.

You say mods do not directly affect other parts of the game because they are just a gps mod, or whatever.....sorry but they can and actually do.

I don't run into invisible barriers at a non active railroad crossing.

There is absolutely no way that you are having the same problem as when the game was released unless you haven't updated the game.

[cwattyeso]

Okay so checked my subscribed and installed mods and I have only the following:

SiSl Mega Pack Cabin Accessories
SiSl Mega Pack Truck Add-on
Smaller and Corner Mirrors
Realistic Rain
Real Advertisements
Better Call Saul Billboard
Los Pollos Hermanos Paintjob Pack
Hemil's Route Advisor SiSl Edit
Liam Neeson Voice Navigation

So absolutely nothing there that would conflict or cause issues with the map, roads and level crossings. Like I say this is a bug in the game, that I have experienced. There are not invisible barriers at every railroad crossing in the game, please don't misunderstand me on that. There are many I have navigated without problems the ones that seem just to be decorative and have no active trains. However the ones which are active, are not warning when a train is approaching until the player has hit the invisible barrier. The warning lights and barriers at the crossings needs to activate far earlier then they seem to currently be programmed to, so the approaching player can slow down and stop before hitting the invisible barrier and getting their truck and trailer wrecked.

[AyMazingATS]

What railroad crossing is this happening at?

Have you tested this on a new, never been modded profile to see if the same thing happens? If not, I suggest you do.

If the same thing happens on a new never been modded profile then post it to the bug section on the SCS forums with game.log.txt and pictures. SCS doesn't do bug reports here.

https://forum.scssoft.com/viewforum.php?f=263

[cwattyeso]

Well the profile was completely new about two weeks ago, when I re-installed the game for the first time after I picked up all the DLC in Steam Summer Sale, the game was completely un-modded when that profile was created and the mods have only been added after that time on advice and recommendation of another player.

As for what Crossing it has happened at I couldn't tell you, as it's happened at a couple as I've been doing jobs across the map, though I feel they are probably in the New Mexico or Arizona area as that's where I started my profile, and am only just now starting to venture into California and Nevada.

I could maybe watch back a couple of my recent youtube videos to see if one of those captures the moments I hit a crossing and see if I can deduce the location from that.