Altering Start Time of an Activity

[scampispeedway]

Hi, can anyone just confirm that in order to alter the Start Time in an Activity, I use the Activity Editor in MSTS.
I have as one of my routes installed in my computer, the South Tyne which covers the run from Haltwhistle to Alston and back and it has quite a number of Activies along with it.
I have no problem with the ones from Alston down the line because you start at the station and all you have to do is wait until you get the o.k. to proceed and carry on.
Any failure to keep to the timetable is then down to your driving skills which should get better with practice of doing more runs over the same route.
Now comes to reason for my question, when starting at Haltwhistle, you are down the branch line platform and moving forward, you are immediately told the distance to the next station (0.09miles) which is of course Haltwhistle itself.
You have to stop here and press enter and wait until the loading time ends before proceeding on your Activity, o.k. you say but the Start Time is exactly the same as your arrival time at Haltwhistle and no matter how quick you are, you cannot avoid leaving Haltwhistle behind schedule.
Last night while the main forum was down I unstored everything in Train Store and following the correct path described by DavisEFC, I called up the right activity and spotted the Start Time could be altered if necessary up or down.
I did nothing then, and I thought to see if what I want to do is o.k. when the forum is back online, I only want to move the Start Time backwards a couple of minutes or so and I will of course save the altered Activity before retrying it through Train Store
As it stands at the moment the dice are loaded against you and you have no chance of winning.

Thanks Bob

[mathmatics]

Go to activity editor, open the activity you want to alter the start time in, click on edit timetable, select the first station double click on it, a box will appear called new arrival time, advance the minutes by howeaver much you need, click ok click on recalculate this. Job done. The original train start time from the sidings or wereeaver remain the same.

all the best Jim

[Lad491]

a box will appear called new arrival time

Although the box says arrival time, the first time you enter will actually be the departure time, so enter that first. Then double click again and NOW enter the arrival time.

You can only make departure times later, you cannot bring them forward unless you first untick the station in the service editor box, click ok and then reopen it and retick it. Now times will be shown as 0:00 and you can change them, entering the departure time first and then the arrival time.

Remember if you change the activity start time by more than a minute or so, you may well upset the other AI in the activity and possibly break some of the interactions, unless you advance all their start times accordingly.

Other than that - its easy

[scampispeedway]

Hi Mathematics and Lad491, from what you have said is that I must not alter the Activity Start time but amend the Station Timetables using the Activity Editor.
I have just unstored everything in TrainStore again and opened up the Activity to have a look at what you have told me, and clicked on the edit timetable box.
All the stations were listed and had the present Arrival and Departure times showing, I then tried double clicking on the first station and nothing happened except highlighting the line.
I then clicked on the arrival box above it and got the box which would allow me to alter the arrival time for the highlighted station which of course showed the current time.
I didn't change it as I just wanted to see what it looked like, Lad491 from what you posted should I advance the Departure time first and then the arrival time before recalculating ?.
If I now leave later than originally planned won't that affect the times I happen to meet the AI controlled stock as they are still running to the original start time ?.

Regards Bob

[Lad491]

[quoteLad491 from what you posted should I advance the Departure time first and then the arrival time before recalculating ?.][/quote]

Unfortunately that box is a bit of a bug. The first time you enter a time in that box it will make that the departure time. So even though it says arrival time its actually the departure time. Then you open it for a second time and enter the arrival time. The exception to that rule though is that you cannot bring the departure time forward unless you reset it first.

So as you want to give yourself more time to your first stop, fisrt enter the revised time you now want to LEAVE that station. Both arrival and departure times will be the same. Then enter again this time putting your desired arrival time and the departure time will stay unaltered.

DONT use the calculate function or that will mess everything up. You shouldnt ever use that function - its pretty hopeless.

If I now leave later than originally planned won't that affect the times I happen to meet the AI controlled stock as they are still running to the original start time ?.

Thats exactly right. Making a change of a minute or so probably wont affect anything significantly, but changing the time more than that could well upset the activity completely.

[scampispeedway]

Hi Lad 491, thanks for your comments, thats why it is better to have someone like you who has had experience with the Activity Editor and know all about it's perculiarities to explain to someone like me what to watch out for.
Thats why I won't touch anything until I ask if it's alright to do so because changing one thing may effect the whole smooth running of an Activity.

Bob

[douglee]

Hi Bob,
As an alternative and as you are into the Activity Editor anyway, try under 'Player Service' Edit Timetable and click Recalculate This.
Save the original first of course.

Sorry Ignore this. Iv'e got me glasses on upsidedown.

[Lad491]

try under 'Player Service' Edit Timetable and click Recalculate This.

No you shouldnt ever do this. If the author has entered the times he wishes you to arrive and leave, clicking the calculate now button will completely break the activity. Even if he hasnt done that, you may end up with timings which are different and possibly worse than before.

The MSTS timetable calculation function isnt very good at all and should normally be avoided.

[douglee]

Hi Laurie,
Thank you for the correction. Somthing else I've learnt. Never too old eh!

Is the same timing due to the activity actually starting within the platform markers?

[Lad491]

Is the same timing due to the activity actually starting within the platform markers?

Normally the arrival and departure time of a service starting in a station will be the same as the activity start time. I suspect the author may have moved the start point after entering the times but without altering the activity start time. But im just guessing.