How easy is it to create basic activities?

[snoon]

Hi all,

I have West Coast Main Line Euston-New Street add-on. I would like to drive trains just between local stations like Coventry to Rugby or New Street but with the traffic, etc that you don't get in the explore route mode.

Is there anyway to do this - I thought I might need to create my own activities - how do I go about this - what's the easiest way of doing it.

Many thanks,

Steve.

[jbilton]

Hi Steve
This should give you the basics

MSTS Tutorials - Activity Editor Pictorial [10711702 bytes] - AEPICT.zip File ID: 9178 Date: 27 May 2004 - 2400 Downloads

Cheers
Jon

[Lad491]

Do have a go at doing it yourself Steve. At first sight the activity editor looks a little daunting, and i didnt find the included help file very good. The tutorial Jon has linked to above should give you the basics. I also found it really helpful to open someone elses activity and then relate each of the steps to what i was looking at.

Start off simple to get the idea, test frequently as the activity viewer provided doesnt give you a true view of what will actually happen when you run it in the sim. As your skills develop you can add more fancy stuff Dont be surprised if you have to trash your first few attempts but it isnt really hard, as the numbers of people writing their own now will testify.

Good luck and remember, if you have any questions dont be afraid to ask them here. We were all beginners once and most of what i learned I learned from helpful people here who were prepared to pass on their tips.

[scampispeedway]

Hi Steve, I bought the downloaded version of the Activities Guide for around $10.00 from the following site,
http://www.abacuspub.com/ts/
Click on the link to get to it, then click on the Train Sim add-ons tab at the top, then scroll down the page and on the left, you will find it underneath the one about Route Building which is also good and worth buying as well.
Once I read it I understood so much more about the task of creating any type of Activity.

Bob

[bharrison]

Do have a go at doing it yourself Steve. At first sight the activity editor looks a little daunting, and i didnt find the included help file very good. The tutorial Jon has linked to above should give you the basics. I also found it really helpful to open someone elses activity and then relate each of the steps to what i was looking at.

Start off simple to get the idea, test frequently as the activity viewer provided doesnt give you a true view of what will actually happen when you run it in the sim. As your skills develop you can add more fancy stuff Dont be surprised if you have to trash your first few attempts but it isnt really hard, as the numbers of people writing their own now will testify.

Good luck and remember, if you have any questions dont be afraid to ask them here. We were all beginners once and most of what i learned I learned from helpful people here who were prepared to pass on their tips.

Hi,

Lad491 is spot on. I did that when I wrote my first activity Which is on this website for download. I belive I'm now working on my second with Ideas for a 3rd and plans for a 4th. It's really easy when you get the hang of it. I recommend you try. however If your using a default formation But you want to change the loco. I recomend you make a template and change that not the original that way you shouldn't get error messages.

Thanks

[snoon]

Many thanks for the replies.

I tried to create a basic passenger activity - a shuttle service - between Coventry and Rugby.

I don't know where I'm going wrong but in order to get the start and end point to link up - and for the start platform to be at Coventry and the end platform to be at Rugby a needed to change tracks just outside of Rugby but when I approach Rugby now I am getting a stop signal and going through the stop signal ends the activity.

Where am I going wrong, please? I've got the West Coast Main Line add-on but would like to just drive trains between my local stations to begin with whilst a gain experience, that is, stations between Birmingham New Street and Northampton, probably using London Midland Class 350's.

Also, is there a way to generate traffic and times automatically?

Many thanks,

Steve.

[jbilton]

Hi Steve
To do what you want you need to make the 'player' path.... that is the one you drive.
Then make an AI path, which doesn't cross your player path, but goes in the opposite direction.
Then make a service using the AI path.
Then use that as a template to make another AI service, just changing the train.
After you've made about five of them.
Add them to your traffic file, one every 10 mins.
Then as you drive from A to B , the AI trains will pass you.
Roughly every ten mins.
This software can setup a random traffic service, once you have made the basics in AE

http://msts.juliane-und-torben.de/index ... itychanger

Cheers
Jon

[snoon]

I think I figured out where I was going wrong on the Coventry to Rugby run with the train being forced to stop on a red light just outside of Rugby. I was aware that I needed to change tracks to stop at Rugby, rather than bypass the station. It was simply a matter of changing a couple of points in the activity editor and make sure the path flowed onto a platform at Rugby.

I was then able to drive a train successfully between Coventry and Rugby. The was a stop light on the end of the platform so I stop the train on the platform but no matter what I tried the activity did not finish - any ideas?

Also, some help automating some traffic would be gratefully appreciated. I have downloaded and installed the Activity Changer application but I'm struggling to understand it. I would like some trains travelling in the opposite direction if possible - both local trains for instance London Midland and some Virgin or CrossCountry long distance trains like Class 221 Super Voyagers, Class 390 Pendolinos, Class 170 Turbostars and Class 150's.

Thanks again,

Steve.

[gswindale]

Once you've created your path and saved it, your back in the "player service" dialog box. You need to tick the stations you wish to stop at, as by default the activity finishes at the last station stop.

[snoon]

I tried the new route initially and the activity ended after 1 second while the train was still on the platform at Coventry. I then checked the stations the activity stopped at and there was only one in the list - Coventry - which was unchecked. So I checked Coventry and was then able to drive the train to Rugby.

[Lad491]

Rugby needs to also appear in the list of stations or you wont be able to record a station stop there. The reason that the activity ended with Coventry ticked is because the default action event is stop at last station and without Rugby showing, Coventry was the last station.

You will probably have to move your end point until its on, or slightly beyond the last blue platform marker at Rugby away from the arrival direction, then Rugby should appear in the list of stations and you can tick that and Coventry.