Dealing with invisible platform passengers on gradients?

[DavidVI]

On my quest to smarten up and improve DTG's GEML I've come across an issue that I can't get to a stage where i'm happy.

Colchester Town is on a downhill grade. With the invisible platforms the passengers end up standing on the platform at the town end of the station but as you get further down they end up over 6 feet in the air.
That's if you do the invisible platform level all the way.

If you use gradients to lower the platform so it hugs the actual platform you end up with passengers at the town end with their feet on the ground but passengers at the other end sunken into the ground.

This happens at a few places on GEML and I assume a lot of other routes. I know the invisible passengers cannot do hills. Even if you slope the invisible platform they will stay at the height they spawn at.


I spent a good few hours deleting and redoing the platforms at Colchester town, trying different things but ending up feeling more and more frustrated.

So how are people overcoming this? Is there a trick I have missed?
David

[Carinthia]

I hear of a lot of problems with this particular route and as I don't have it I can't comment on why they occur, but . . .

I did set an "invisible platform" on another route just a couple of days back on a 1 in 98 gradient and I can't see any issues with passengers being above the platform or below it at either end, so you are experiencing something that is not universal. The one I used was Platform Inv 5m L 50's which I would guess is a "default" Kuju one? You might want to experiment with those in this series if you are currently using something different. Worth a try, anyway.

John

[DavidVI]

I hear of a lot of problems with this particular route and as I don't have it I can't comment on why they occur, but . . .

I did set an "invisible platform" on another route just a couple of days back on a 1 in 98 gradient and I can't see any issues with passengers being above the platform or below it at either end, so you are experiencing something that is not universal. The one I used was Platform Inv 5m L 50's which I would guess is a "default" Kuju one? You might want to experiment with those in this series if you are currently using something different. Worth a try, anyway.

John

So with the platform you're using, if it's sloped and a passenger walks quite a distance down it they follow the slope? I don't see why it would be specific to platform types as RSC/DTG seem to use the same asset on most of their routes.

[DavidVI]

What on earth.

I just tested it on WCML-Shap and the passengers walk up hills. Then on GEML with a GEML platform in a field and the same result. No idea why it's not happening at my actual station. Does it make a difference if the platform is made of different loft sections joined together?

[DavidVI]

This is really really frustrating me.

In the carpark next to Colchester town I can put a sloped platform in and the passengers walk down it. Yet any platform actually at Colchester town the passengers end up sinking even though the invisible platform is placed as an offset of the track and hugs the visible platform perfectly.. What is going on?! Why does a slope work in the carpark but not next to the track?

[Carinthia]

So with the platform you're using, if it's sloped and a passenger walks quite a distance down it they follow the slope? I don't see why it would be specific to platform types as RSC/DTG seem to use the same asset on most of their routes.

That's how it looks to me. I haven't sat and watched for hours but all seem to have their feet firmly on the platform. I think at 1 in 89 it would be rather obvious, even on a short-ish platform (mine takes about 5 coaches). For info I installed it level and adjusted both ends with the yellow arrows to get it how I wanted it. I used no exits or other extras.

I don't even pretend to understand how things work but it is noticeable that the routes people seem to be experiencing trouble with are all ones released since TS2014 was introduced. There were a lot of new platform operation features introduced with TS2014 and I just wondered whether the post-TS2014 routes used different invisible platforms. Not having either of those mentioned makes it a little difficult for me to compare.

John

PS - wrote this before seeing further replies. So they will walk uphill in certain circumstances after all. Just not in those you want them to . . . odd indeed!