AI loco's

[stefcurtis]

Hi chaps,
I have recently started creating an activity & have a question.

In my activity I have been able to create quite a few traffic trains but done so using normal non ai loco's which was surprising.

I thought they had to be AI in order to work??????
What benefits does an AI loco have over a standard one?

Can someone please enlighten me as it's a mystery!

Thank you....

Stef

[Rockdoc2174]

Most locos can be used for players as well as for AI but some can't be. When modellers use what has come to be called advanced scripting the locos no longer adhere to conventional protocols so there is no guarantee they will work as AI. In such cases, there will be versions marked something like [ADV], that should only be used for players, and [STD], that use conventional scripting and can be used for either.

Keith

[slipperman12]

Hi Stef,
As you've found out, you can use any locos in traffic trains!
The advantage of using specific AI locos is reduced resource usage. That is, they don't have cabviews and, therefore, less sounds demands.
There may be other advantages, but I'll leave it for more experienced users to add their comments!

Regarding Keith's comments - I don't know what he's on about !!! As far as I know, there's no scripting in MSTS - maybe he's a TS2013/4 user??

Cheers,
Ged

[stefcurtis]

Thanks Ged (as always). That makes sense. The previous post lost me a bit!

So... A traffic train will have noise and smoke but no headlights whereas a static consist loco will not. Is this right?

Thanks...

Stef

[Rockdoc2174]

Sorry, chaps, I missed the MSTS tag. Ignore me and I'll go away!!

Keith

[stefcurtis]

No worries Keith, you meant well! Cheers anyway.

[slipperman12]

Hi Stef,
I'm not sure about the lights on traffic trains - I'll leave it to those with more knowledge to answer that one!

Cheers,
Ged

[rufuskins]

Lights can be set up for Player, AI and DIT engines. A Steam4me tutorial looks at AI lighting.

Alec

[NiallGray]

For me, it was always due to resources. You couldn't drive an AI train so no need to have a cab line in the .eng file which then needs to be loaded.

[stephenrwells]

Hi All,

Although any loco can be used as an ai, MSTS treats ai steam locos differently than driveable ones so ai versions should always be used in ai consists. This is why model makers always include steam ai versions. As Niall said it also puts less strain on resources. As far as I know it makes no difference whether ai diesel or electric locos are used or not.

Regards,

Stephen

[rufuskins]

For further information on lighting definition refer to the Technical Documents on the MSTS Disc(s) called "How_To_Specify_Lights" and is for once a not unreasonable document. It gives all of the different factors including for AI and DIT.

[stefcurtis]

Hi Lads,
thanks for all the info, food for thought eh!

I appreciate your help.

Thanks..

Stef

[stefcurtis]

I finished my activity eventually but experienced the screen freezing for 30+ seconds once en-route. The sound carried on as normal but the screen froze (went back to normal shortly after). I have 12 AI consists ( non AI loco's) running at various times as well as many static consists along the way. I guess the screen freezing would be due to overload of the system & if so do you think it would be due to AI or static consists or a combination of both.

Thanks....

Stef

P.s - is it worth placing end points on the AI paths & running the consists only where needed as at the moment I have only a start point on my AI traffic paths.

[stephenrwells]

Hi Stef,

Your low frame rates are a combination of ai traffic and static consists.
It is definitely worth only running ai services where they are seen - this will certainly improve frame rates and, therefore, performance. This also why I tend to use ai services as static consists whenever possible.. If you only use Open Rails then normal static consists aren't a problem. As stated in earlier posts using ai locos instead of driveable ones will also place less strain on the system.

Keep persevering - getting an activity to run properly is very satisfying.

Regards,

Stephen

[stefcurtis]

Hi Stephen,
thanks for your advice.

I have just finished tweaking things & i have succeeded!

Ending the AI train paths worked & i also changed the start/ finish times of some of the AI trains to balance things out (a steady stream of AI rather than everything coming at once!)

It may be a simple run from Acton to Slough but you gotta start somewhere eh!

Thanks...

Stef