Controlling AI/traffic behavior

scefhwil · Post by **scefhwil** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 1:18 pm

I was wondering what settings/values can be changed in the various files to control the behavior of AI/traffic services?

I have found that in the consist files you can change the MaxVelocity( x y) statement with good effect.

The first figure, x, is the max speed (in m/s)

The second figure, y, is the accelaration rate (probably in m/s/s, but I've not checked this out). Values of 0.1 and less gives a very slow accelaration, 0.2 to 0.4 seems more normal, 10 and the consist rapidly goes fast!

The Activity Editor does seem to set values for these figures based on the rolling stock in the consist, but for me these values always seem too high. I have also found that changing a consists values after 'compute and save'ing an activity will result in some funny effects (overshooting of platforms etc) so the activity needs to be re 'compute and save'd.

Any other tips?

dcduncan · Post by **dcduncan** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 4:13 pm

Me too, I would like to know if there are any hints. I rarely get the timetable to recompute and have to do them all by hand.

David

FuNky2k · Post by **FuNky2k** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 5:20 pm

Very good tip, ill have a mess about with 'em!! ill redo some of my short acts for mideast again, cheerz for that.

JohnEyres · Post by **JohnEyres** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 5:39 pm

I often find that once you set the default running speed for a particular service, you will find that you can't change it again. To change it you have to open up the service in wordpad and change the values. Same with start speed too.

scefhwil · Post by **scefhwil** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 10:33 pm

JohnEyres wrote:I often find that once you set the default running speed for a particular service, you will find that you can't change it again. To change it you have to open up the service in wordpad and change the values. Same with start speed too.

"...you set the default running speed...". I know you can set a start and end speed but where do you do this John?

JohnEyres · Post by **JohnEyres** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 9:05 am

There is a box next to the start speed one which is called something like default performance. I believe if you set it to 100%, it will run at speeds up to the route's maximium line speed. Set it at 50% on a 100mph route and your AI train should pass you at roughly 50mph.

scefhwil · Post by **scefhwil** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 11:23 pm

Thanks John, I never realised that!

Neptune50006 · Post by **Neptune50006** » Thu Oct 31, 2002 8:41 am

I thought that the default performance box was to set how strict the timetable was???

gregp · Post by **gregp** » Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:25 pm

I did some investigation of the second parameter of the consist MaxVelocity statement. It does indeed appear to be a acceleration value (in metres/sec). The formula used seems to be:

(MaxContinuousForce - friction)/mass

If an engine does not have a MaxContinuousForce value then the MaxForce is used instead.

"friction" seems to be some sort of average value, using the friction at half the maximum speed gives about the correct value.