Scenario Creation: Basics

[Kromaatikse]

This is a quick walkthrough of making a simple scenario, from start to finish. At the end, you should have a simple but polished scenario, and the knowledge of how to make more like it.

The very first step is to decide what kind of scenario to make, what route to put it on, and what era to set it in. Here, we will make a simple, un-timetabled passenger scenario in the BR Blue era, departing from Didcot and calling at all stops to Oxford, in the evening after the rush hour. We'll make more, less important decisions as they arise.

The next step is to open the scenario editor within Railworks - this is not a separate program as in some other simulators, instead at the main menu there is an Editor button.

Pick the route to work on - that's "Oxford to Paddington" for this demo - then hit "Scenario Editor" on the right. A list of existing scenarios will show up - to continue editing after a test, this is where you look, but for now just hit New Scenario.

Use the "Route Origin" menu to select Didcot Parkway as the starting location. This dictates where the scenario marker will appear - you can move it later, but it's harder to move it dozens of miles. The scenario marker should always be close to where the player train begins, as Railworks uses this to decide which scenery to preload.

Set the scenario type to "Standard scenario" - we won't have a timetable but we do have a specific job to achieve - and then hit "Create Scenario". Give the scenario a name - say "Evening Stopper to Oxford" since we're not being very creative here. Railworks will then chew for a mnute and drop you into the editor proper.

At this point it is time to explain the camera controls. Hold the right mouse button to look around. Use arrow keys to move around, and hold Shift to move more quickly. It's easy to get used to. If you get disoriented, there's a compass at the top of the screen - it's a good idea to pin this open.

In fact, before clicking on anything else, pin open the other four panels that are already arranged around the edge of the screen. You'll be making heavy use of three of them.

The editor will start you off staring at the scenario marker at close range. Mine landed in the middle of the track between platforms 3 and 4. As you look around, you'll notice that there are a lot of abstract-looking objects that aren't present when driving - for example, the huge pale green shaft just to the right of the scenario marker. These extra objects are cues to help with editing the world, and are mostly less relevant to scenario editing.

Our first editing task will be to move the scenario marker to the departure end of Platform 3 (ie. to the left). Just click and drag it - and remember you can move the camera without releasing the object. The idea is to move it away from the generic station location (to avoid confusing it with other new scenarios) and closer to where the player will start driving the train. Once it's in position, use the yellow arrow to rotate it to face where the train will be, and te blue arrow to raise it above platform level. This determines where the camera will start when you load the editor for this scenario.

Next, we'll set some basic properties of the scenario. Double-click on the scenario marker and look at the panel to the right.

At the top is the name of the scenario - if you want to change it, for example because you noticed a typo, this is where you can do so.

Next is the description, shown to players when they select the scenario in the main menu - write something like "A quiet evening stopper service from Didcot to Oxford." The box is too small to see all the text at once, so unless you're a very good typist, you will probably want to keep this short.

Following this is the briefing, which players see when they press F1, along with the actual instructions which we'll set later. This is a routine passenger service, so the briefing should be correspondingly simple: "After picking up passengers here, proceed all stops to Oxford." Note that not all players routinely read the briefing - we'll explore how to deal with this later.

After this are the Author and Starting Location fields, which should be easy to fill in. Authors usually give their UKTS username rather than a real one. The starting location for this scenario is simply "Didcot Parkway".

The next line contains the date of the scenario's setting. Since this is supposed to be the BR Blue era, the default date will not do. Let's pick the 5th of April 1985, so 05-04-1985.

Next is the difficulty rating. By default this is 1, meaning Easy. For this scenario that is perfectly appropriate, since we will not introduce any complications to hinder the player, and there will be no shunting. The other ratings commonly used are 2 for Medium, 3 for Hard, and 4 for Very Hard.

Next is the scenario duration in minutes. It doesn't take very long to drive to Oxford from Didcot, so put 30 here. This is just a guideline for players who may choose a scenario based on their available spare time.

Following that is the scenario start time. By default this is midday, but we want an evening train after the rush hour has died away. Since it uses the 24-hour clock (just like the railway does), enter 19:15 here. That should give us just enough daylight to reach Oxford before it gets dark.

Following that is the weather to use: Clear is probably wrong for April, having more of the look of a hot summer's day. Select Cloudy instead. There are lots of options to experiment with later. While we're on the subject, Summer is also wrong for April, so set the season to Spring. Finally, we're going to be driving a diesel train, so select Diesel from the final menu.

That's a lot of work so far, but we haven't even introduced a single train yet! Nevertheless, it's time to save our work. Click on the platform to dismiss the panel, then press F2. Save your work often - then it is much easier to recover if Railworks decides to throw a wobbler. While we're at it, make sure the route is unlocked - see the padlock at the bottom right of the screen.

[Kromaatikse]

Technically it doesn't matter what order to create trains in, but it's generally easier to plan if you start with the player's train, then any trains that interact directly with the player, then "moving scenery" trains, then static wagons in sidings. So let's start with the player's train.

Rolling stock is divided into several categories in the left panel. Drivable vehicles - including DMU and EMU cab vehicles - appear in the Locomotives section. I've selected a Large Logo 47 for the player to drive. This isn't the most interesting loco around, but it is reasonably prototypical for this type of service in this area. Put it at the near end of the Platform 3 marker.

We'll also need to add some carriages to haul, but placing them will be hindered by the huge sound shaft in the middle of the tracks in the distance. Hide this by selecting Display from the top-left panel, and unticking the Sound entry from the bottom of the right panel.

This won't be a very long train, since we have to be able to stop at some fairly minor stations en route. Five Mk2 carriages should be enough, and these are all in the Wagons section because they don't have cabs or engines. Add a Guard, a Second, a First, another Second, and another Guard behind the 47. You may find it easier to place these from an overhead view, so fiddle with the camera until you find an angle you like. Didcot makes this easy because it doesn't have an overall roof, but you'll find things a bit more cramped at Paddington or York.

Notice that one of the Guard carriages is the wrong way around - ideally the parcels compartment should be at the outer end of a carriage rake. This often happened in reality, but for neatness let's fix it. Select it and click on the huge orange arrow overhead.

Now observe that most of the train - including the all-important First Class carriage - is not under the canopy. Passengers don't like walking too far or in the rain, so trains usually stop near the stairs and under the canopy, if there is one. We want to move the train back a bit. Shift-click on it to select the whole thing and drag it back, still holding Shift, and making sure it stays on Platform 3.

If the whole train doesn't change colour when you shift-click on part of it, it means you didn't make a coupling correctly. Just drag the part you have selected up against the other part, click somewhere else, then try again.

With the train in position, let's set up the instructions for it. This used to be an extremely tedious and fiddly exercise, but now it's only slightly tedious due to the Timetable View.

First we must give the train a driver; select this from the top-left panel, then click on the 47. Be sure that it appears at the front of the loco - if it doesn't, you'll need to reverse the loco as you did the Guard carriage. Otherwise the player will start in the cab facing the train, which isn't very good for visibility.

Now click the Timetable View icon in the top-left panel (note that it will be greyed out until you have at least one driver). The 3D world disappears, to be replaced by the 2D map on the left and the instruction list on the right.

The first thing we need to do is edit the Driver for our train. Click the driver icon at the top of the instruction list. Change the generic "Service1" name to something more descriptive, such as "Oxford Stopper". Select the "Player Consist" box - since the player will driver this train - and set the priority to Stopping Passenger. The start time should be 19:15:00, the same as the scenario start time.

Remember the briefing? The first thing the player must do is pick up passengers here at Didcot. This is a very good way to give the player about a minute of orientation time, during which he can set up the cab, read the briefing, and look at the map. So our first instruction is a Passenger Stop, which we add using the people button right at the top. Now click on the new instruction's icon to set the details.

The first detail to set is the location of the instruction. You can set this in two ways: by selecting it from the menu at the top of the panel, or by clicking the Set Destination button to the left of it and then clicking a marker in the 2D map. The latter is helpful when you can't remember which platform is which, but it can be fiddly. Either way, this location needs to be "Didcot Parkway 3".

Other items to set for most instructions are the Effort Percentage - since we're already here it doesn't matter, but for other instructions it will - the Stopping Time - increase this to 00:01:00 - and the Reversing Allowed toggle. For all of the instructions in this scenario, we will turn the Reversing Allowed toggle off. This simplifies the Dispatcher's job, and makes it slightly less likely that something will go wrong without our noticing. Leave the Hande Off Path and the Timetable toggles disabled.

At the bottom of the panel are three boxes for messages. We'll come back to these later, so close the panel for now.

Now is a very good time to save your work again. There's a disk button in the Timetable View which does the same thing as F2.

Now add four more Passenger Stop instructions, and set these up for Appleford 1, Culham 1, Radley 1, and Oxford 2. Leave the stopping time and the effort percentage at default, just set the destination and untick the reversing toggle for each one. A 75% effort is appropriate for most short-distance stopping services like this. If you select the wrong platform or set them in the wrong order, disabling the reversing toggle will cause the Dispatcher to refuse to back you down the line, highlighting the error.

Finally, add a Final Destination instruction at Oxford 2. Final Destinations should, for player trains, always be in the same place as the last real instruction. Due to a Dispatcher bug, you might need to leave the reversing toggle on for this one in some cases, but for this scenario you can safely turn it off (because the train fits entirely in the platform marker).

You should now have a complete list of instructions, each with arrival and departure times in white, and with the route - automatically calculated b the Dispatcher - appearing on the 2D map in red. Save your work.

At this point we must provide messages at the beginning and end of the scenario, to remind the player to open the doors at Didcot, and to let him know whether he successfully completed the scenario or not.

Add a Trigger instruction to the list. This will appear near the bottom, just above the Final Destination. Tick the selection box beside it, and move it up as far as it will go, above the Didcot stop, then untick it. Now edit it - give it a timing of +00:05 (to display 5 seconds after the scenario starts), leave the Train Stop and Wheelslip toggles unticked, and add the message below: "Pick up passengers here, then depart for Oxford."

Now the player will get a friendly reminder of why the Next Destination display is showing where he already is. We still need to give him feedback at the end.

Edit the Oxford 2 Passenger Stop instruction - not the Final Destination. The three message boxes at the bottom are, in order, for a message that will always display once the instruction is passed, one that will display only on success, and one that will display only on failure - and at scenario completion, these messages relate to the whole scenario, not just the single instruction. Since this scenario is very simple, the only thing that can really go wrong is if the player misses a stop. So, put "Another journey completed successfully." in the second box, and "You missed a stop on the way here - the Inspector is not pleased with the passenger complaints this caused!" in the third.

Save your work, and exit the Timetable View by pressing OK. You will now see that your train has sprouted a number of extra icons behnd the driver. These are a relic of the old scenario editing system, and simply represent the instructions you have just entered.

At this point, we could run the scenario and everything would go as planned. However it would be a bit boring and empty, because there is no other traffic around. You can try it if you like (press the large Play button, ignore the small one) but come back to the editor (and the next part of this tutorial) when you're ready to add some AI trains and wagons.

[Kromaatikse]

Welcome back to the Editor. As you can see in this screenshot, upon reloading the time of day has changed to match the scenario, and the sound shafts are back. Use the Display panel to get rid of them - we have some more trains to make up.

We don't want to add any trains which interfere with the player's progress. Fortunately, in the BR Blue era, we don't need to add a lot of moving trains to make it look realistic. We'll add a couple of HSTs passing through Didcot in opposite directions, another passenger train coming back from Oxford, and a coal train on it's way to Didcot Power Station. We'll also add a few stationary trains, waiting for their slot on the line.

The standard formation of a HST is two Class 43 power cars, between which are eight Mk3 carriages - two first-class, a buffer car, and five standard-class, in that order - the first-class carriages being nearest London. Once again, the power cars are in the Locomotives section and the carriages are in the Wagons section - choose the BR Blue versions of each for the classic HST125 livery. Let's put such a HST in Platform 2 - some passengers have just left it and will board our train. Chances are the power cars and buffet car will turn up the wrong way round - obviously the pointy ends of the power cars go outwards, and the red stripe of the buffet car goes at the first-class end as shown here.

Add a driver to the London end power car - we'll have it depart while we wait for our passengers to board. Back in Timetable View, once again edit the name "Service1" to, say, "HST Eastbound", set the priority to "Express Passenger", but do NOT select the "Player Consist" toggle. Do change the departure time slightly, to 19:15:10, so there's a short delay before it moves off. Now add just one instruction, a Stop At (without passengers) for Paddington 2, no reversing, 100% effort. It's AI, so no messages are needed.

That was a lot simpler than setting up the player train. Save your work anyway.

The next train will be easier still, because it's another HST. Shift-click on the existing HST, then on the Copy icon in the top-left panel. Now go east for a short distance and hit the Paste button, giving you a fresh new HST for you to stick on the Down Fast. (Try doing that with your Hornby models.) Add a driver icon to the country end power car, and in Timetable View call this one "HST Westbound". Give it a Stop At for Swindon (the portal a short way west of Didcot), again at 100% effort, no reversing. Look at the timing - it should reach the portal in 2m32s, so it will pass Didcot (which is less than half the distance) while we are still there to see it.

Now, obviously this train will have some difficulty accelerating in the short distance available to it, but it should still get through Didcot Parkway 1 at a fair clip. We'll see how well it works once we've added a few more trains. Save your work.

Now for some freight traffic. Go north to Appleford level crossing, and plonk down a blue Class 37 about there. Then add about 20 HAA hoppers behind it. Actually, put down five (not coupled to the 37), then copy and paste them to speed things up, then move the 37 to couple. They'll all get unique numbers. Shift-double-click a wagon in this rake and tick the "loaded" box so they're all full of coal, as they should be when on the way to a power station. Give the 37 the name "Coal to Didcot", priority "Standard Freight", and an instruction to Stop At Didcot Reception 1, 100% effort, no reversing.

Hold on a minute. That train is going to cross the player's path. Weren't we going to avoid traffic conflicts? Yes, and there's actually no problem because Standard Freight is lower priority than Stopping Passenger. So the 37 will wait for the player to pass, rather than the other way around.

Right, go back to Didcot, select the whole of the player's train, and copy it. We're going to paste this one all the way up at Oxford to provide some colour for the later part of the journey. Notice already that instructions and driver icons don't get copied with the train, just the vehicles. As a shortcut to get to Oxford, click the Route Markers icon in the top panel, find Oxford in the right panel, then hit the Go button in the top panel. Paste the train into Oxford 1, making sure the first-class carriage is under the main canopy and the loco is at the London end (you can select and reverse the while train if necessary) and give it a driver.

We're going to have this one stop at the same stations as the player does, but obviously in reverse order and on different platforms. It can start from Oxford immediately without picking up, but should stop at Radley 2, Culham 2, Appleford 2, and finally Didcot Parkway 4. Again, it's AI so it doesn't need messages or a Final Destination. It's also fine for it to remain at 75% effort throughout, and it should have Stopping Passenger priority. Note that the 37 will be well out of the way by the time this train reaches Appleford, unless the player is seriously dawdling.

Save your work.

At this point you should run the scenario again, to make sure that everything fits together nicely and that there are no untoward gaps in the action.

Finally, you might want to add static traffic in the various yards and sidings within sight of the player's route. Just make sure not to put any in the way of either the player or any of the other moving trains. These can be rakes of wagons, loaded or unloaded, one or two perhaps coupled to a loco (which should have a driver so that the engine runs).

For example, at Appleford there is a container yard, so put in a train of loaded FSA flats, behind a 37, waiting for the line to clear. It doesn't need any instructions, just a driver to run the engine. Loose wagon rakes can also be put into Didcot and Hinksey yards. A spare loco - engine not running - can be put into one of the West Midlands sidings.

Save your work.

[Kromaatikse]

And here is a video walkthrough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nOQIIz2XhI

If I can do that in 15 minutes... what can you do given weeks for the Challenge?