Help with Q1 Scenario(s)

[chrisonline]

I have downloaded the Bulleid Q1 by Pete Gillam (Karma99) which is a free download from the DP Simulation site. What a wonderful unheralded gem! If you don't have it I recommend it, the download link is here: http://www.dpsdownloads.x10.mx/Q1.zip

However it comes with just one scenario, on the S&DJR, which has a major flaw which I can't resolve with my limited abilities. You start off by backing onto a long consist of coal wagons, but it is impossible to couple up to them.If you go at a crawl, the tender's buffers hover a few inches short of the first wagon and cause the wagon to wobble a little nut refuse to connect (almost like the effect of two strong magnets pushing against identical poles) and with no coupling-up. If you try to hit it a bit harder, say 2 or 3 mph, it very briefly taps the wagon (with the coupling sound) but doesn't couple (and the icons on the bottom of the screen flicker on and off but you can't catch them). I tried pushing the loco hard against the wagon while repeatedly pressing CTRL+SHIFT+C, and eventually it "catches", but immediately then the whole consist shoots backwards and crashes against the buffers causing a derailment.

I tried moving the consist slightly in the editor (I've seen this mentioned before) but either get no result, or an "AI collision" as the loco approaches the consist. And I tried deleting the consist (gives missing marker errors) or taking out a couple of wagons (no effect).

So does anyone have a suggestion or, preferably, an actual fix?

Also, I have searched here on UKTS and on Google for other scenarios using the Q1, but haven't managed to find anything. Of course I can switch it out with other locos in existing scenarios, but I wondered if anyone is aware of any that maybe aren't showing up in a search

Thanks for any help. And again, if you don't have Karma99's Q1 . . get it!

Chris

[gptech]

This has come up before, but I can't find the original thread. So, as I'm not much use here's afew general suggestions....
Drop the Q1 and a wagon in a new free roam, check that they actually play nicely together.
In the problem scenario check that the Kuju/RailSimulator P/P box is ticked to remove any possible error with the couplings---Ok, if the couplings show it shouldn't be necessary but best not to leave a stone unturned.
Drop into the scenario editor and check that the instructions are calling for the stock numbers of the wagons, and that the wagons actually have those numbers.

[chrisonline]

Thanks for the reply, Gary.

Very interesting . . and very strange. Your comment prompted me to search again (I had like you, not found any previous threads) but dug up this from only June this year: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 1&t=132450

In that thread, markpullinger suggested (with suitable explanation) editing the loco tender's <backPivotX> tag changing the number from 3.7 to 3.75, and the OP said that worked.

Well, it sort of worked for me, but still left things inconsistent. It worked sometimes but was *very* finicky. Other settings I tried either were the same or caused other problems. Then I tried your suggestion of trying the loco and wagon assets in a free roam, and found that everything was fine using Kuju's grey-rusty 16T mineral wagons, but NOT the Default wagons (rusty-red) which are the ones used in the Q1 Scenario. Inspecting the main .bin file for the default 16T mineral wagon, I saw that the <BackPivotX> and <FrontPivotx> tags are set to 2.966, but for the grey-rusty version (and *every* other 16T Mineral Wagon variant) it is set to 2.9675. So I changed the Default wagon's settings to this and hey-presto . . combined with the change to the Tender settings, it works consistently!

Even now, there still seems to be a mysterious energy built into the consist of mineral wagons waiting for the loco - if you're not quick on the brakes as you couple up, it still suddenly shoots backwards, like someone has lit a fuse. Very strange, I have no clue what that could be. But the changes in the tender and the default 16T mineral wagon have resolved the coupling issue. I've also tried it with several other wagons and coaches and all is fine.

The good thing about this is that I've learned a lot more about asset structure and behavior!

I'd still like to hear of any other Q1 scenarios that anyone is aware of.

Chris