Laying track and signals

[ZBOX]

Moderator note: Split from Great Britain rail network in Simutrans-Experimental as this post comprised mainly general help requests.

Glad that you managed to get it working; the freezes might be caused by autosave; how often do these occur, and how long do they last? It is a very big map, and Experimental is more complicated than Standard, so you might find performance slow on less capable machines, although yours is at least of the current generation.

As to general guides to playing "normal Simutrans" (I assume that you mean Simutrans-Standard as distinct from Simutrans-Experimental?), there is a wiki manual that you might find helpful. You might also look at the help centre forum to see whether anyone else has had the same question as you and to see what the answers are, or, if nobody has asked the question before, ask a new question. If you want to learn more about Simutrans-Experimental, have a look at the FAQ.

Welcome again to Simutrans, and happy playing!

Thank you for the welcome, The freeze happen 3-4 times anything from 30seconds to 1 minute and once it went into system not responding - had to reboot laptop, i did check and autosave is on - will turn autosave off and try the map again.

Yes sorry i meant simutrans standard, I just wanted to have ago at playing a map laying tracks etc, I did have a look at the wiki help section but could not find a solution, its only really three things i am having trouble with, which are, track laying, signals and deleting signals.

With track laying it seems simutrans lays it in automode is there a way to lay it piece by piece like openttd ? as of right now i cannot really use the default track laying system.

Also signals, i cant find out what each one does, just trying to make a basic two track network, but the trains do not correspond, so i must be doing something wrong, this is the set-up i am trying to make -


STATION  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATION
                   +                                                                                             + 
               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the track being this ------ and the plus + being a track cross over (hope this make sense?) what signals would i need to use for this to work ?

Also is it possible to delete the signals from the map, i only see the option to delete track ?

Thank you.

[ӔO]

To lay down parallel track, hold ctrl while placing the second track. This will force it to be as straight as possible from the two points.

For signals, they have three positions and you can cycle through them by clicking on the signal a few times.
Two of them are single direction, while the initial one is bi-directional. When in single direction mode, trains will not go through the signal from the wrong way.
What you want to do is place two single direction signals in opposing directions on separate tracks.

Another way to place single direction signals is to place, then drag to the opposite end of the passing loop.

[ZBOX]

Thank you ӔO for information,

Using control for track laying is very useful and i am now finding it much easier to lay tracks.

However i still do not understand signals, I have read lots of information on simutrans forums, google etc, and still cannot understand, I have tried to follow a guide and either the trains cannot find a route or the are waiting for clearance and will not move. (i have been using Pak128 great britain)

Could anyone explain (or it there a full step by step guide?) on what each signal does and where to place such signal ?

For example, there are block signals, Pre-signals etc - these are the two signals i have been using so far, do the stations have their own built-in signals ?

Cheers.

[Combuijs]

do the stations have their own built-in signals

Yes

For example, there are block signals, Pre-signals etc - these are the two signals i have been using so far

Don't use these signals for a start. Try to use the normal signal (the most left one in the toolbar). Almost all signalling can be done with these. Pre-sginal and long block signals are much more complicated. I never use them, I never need them. The only other signal I use is the choose signal, but first start playing with the normal signal.

[ZBOX]

Thank you Combuijs Great advice there.

the signal you suggested i use to start with was the "Basic signal" i have just set up a small network to test your advice, and manged to have 15 trains on two tracks from one station to another and it was all running smooth.

Rather the create another topic, i could post it here, today simutrans has crashed twice with the message "simutrans has stopped working" i am using pak128 Great Britain and with a very small map loaded (i did have this fourm open and youtube open aswell) is there a solution to make simutans stop crashing ?

*edit also do city's grow ?*

Thank you.

[jamespetts]

Rather the create another topic, i could post it here, today simutrans has crashed twice with the message "simutrans has stopped working" i am using pak128 Great Britain and with a very small map loaded (i did have this fourm open and youtube open aswell) is there a solution to make simutans stop crashing ?

If Simutrans is crashing, this will be a bug, which it would be helpful if you could report in accordance with the guidelines. If you are using Experimental, slightly modified guidelines apply, and you should post the report in the Simutrans-Experimental development forum.

[Combuijs]

also do city's grow ?

Yes, they do, that is, if you transport passengers, mail and/or goods from and to the city. There is a city list which gives you the current number of inhabitants with growth between brackets. Current buildings will be replaced and new buildings will be placed when enough new inhabitants are there.

[ZBOX]

@jamespetts - i had a look at guidelines you said, but i dont remember what version the game was, all that i caould say it was the simutans standed with a small map 32X32 great britain pak128 and the game just crashed as i were scrolling around the map.

The second time it crashed were the same as above, but rather then scroll around the map, i minimized the game from full screen for 30seconds and when i returned to full screen game had crashed.


@Combuijs - cheers for information, however i have tried that and im not getting many passengers (i have made sure station's are grid conected) and have placed bus stops around towns.

I clicked on the town hall of a few of the towns and noticed an option to make city's grow, the was a small grey box, do i need to click that box so it goes black or just leave it grey ?

Also i have started to understand how freight/goods work, example take coal from mine to steel mill and iron ore to steel mill, then steel from steel mill to builders yard (i make sure that i only connect to the consumers on the still mill tab) it makes a little money, yet overall im losing alot of money (im using great britain pak128) any ideas of what i could be doing wrong ?

Cheers.