Why does this path signal not work?

[Frost]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2838275734

All signals are block except for the two on the RIGHT side of each track in the foreground. I want that one to be a path so that if a train is trying to get to the station and it can't, it doesn't block the merger, and another train from the other path who wants to skip that train station can do so.

Any ideas?

I'm very experienced with train signals - in factorio I made very complex train setups with many combinations of train signals and they worked great. But I'm having issues with path signals in this game not working the way videos seem to imply they do.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: Well I found the answer, but it seems to make the path signal useless for what I'm trying to accomplish:

https://satisfactory.fandom.com/wiki/Train_Signals

" All entry signals to a given block have to be of the same type, either Block or Path.
Path Signals can't be used as a terminal signal for other Path Signals."

So, it didn't "work" because I had a path signal to ENTER that block, but coming the other way, to enter that same block was a block signal - they either both need to be block or both path.

However, I changed the three entry points into the block path and it removed the error.

However, now it just says no train can enter into that block.

EDIT 2: Yes, even though the path blocks claim no train can enter, when a train tries to (an automated train), it will turn green and let it enter. How odd. Thanks for the replies.

[Man's Best Friend]

All signals into a block have to match. Looks like you have one single block signal on the other side of the block. So you've got a signal mismatch with the two path signals.

[Arch]

Originally posted by Frost:

However, I changed the three entry points into the block path and it removed the error.

However, now it just says no train can enter into that block.

I believe that sometimes the path signals don't reflect that status of the block they're marking an entrance to until a train gets close to the block and intends to enter it. If you haven't actually tried a train on automatic driving moving through the block, I would do that and see if it works.

Another possibility is that the train that is trying to move through the path block (on automatic driving) can't exit because the exit block isn't clear. I think that when moving through a path block, the exit block the train wants to use must also be clear.

A third possibility is that it looks like you've got a 2-way section of track there, and that may be confusing the game's pathing logic.

Sorry if that doesn't help....just some ideas.

[Soylent_Boob]

i think the issue is that there is like 2 choices for the train to make which needs an extra seperate block between them.
The extra block signals should go at about the height of that lookout tower but it looks like you're just short of the necessary room considering the minimum track lenght able to place...
https://postimg.cc/0zdmZfDW

I am working on my worldlogistics atm, this is my hub with 10 stations, receiving from 10 stations around the map.
They have several entries and exits for the several directions they might want to go, as you can imagine i came across lots of pathsignals not working XD adding blocks always helped me.
https://postimg.cc/68NndS24

[Vectorspace]

Block signals are green by default until a train enters the block.
Path signals are red by default, until an automated train "allocates" its path through the block. Which it does when the train enters the preceding block.

Note that with your track and signal layout, if multiple trains use that station, you could get a deadlock situation. Because both junctions (the V junction closest to the camera, and the triangle junction further back) are separate block, you could have opposite-direction trains in each waiting for the other to move.

You should make both junctions part of a single block.

Note that the main purpose of path signals is to designate a block that two trains can pass through at the same time, proving their paths do not intersect. That doesn't apply to your junctions, so you don't need path signals.

Also note that trains will never stop inside path-signal-controlled blocks. This is because a train will not pass a path signal unless it can allocate not only its path through the block, but also the next block.

And finally, note that it is much more difficult to reliably signal bi-directional track networks (where trains travel both directions on the same line) vs unidirectional track networks (where you have separate "up" and "down" tracks, so trains only travel in one direction on any given track.