I wonder whether someone could help me understand station/stop capacities a little better.
Here's how I thought it worked:
1. If a stop has a capacity of (say) 128 passangers then this really doesn't have much effect unless the Avoid Overcrowding option is checked.
2. If the Avoid Overcrowding option is checked then the stop will no longer originate travel if there are more than 128 people waiting there. In other words the stop will no longer accept passengers from its own coverage area. However, it will still be used as a transfer point for passengers changing lines on their way to somewhere else.
3. If the No routing over overcrowded option is checked then the stop will no longer accept transit passangers either, and will therefore never have more than 128 people waiting.
However, I think this understand may be wrong because I've tried checking both options and my stations still continue to accumulate passengers regardless of their stated capacity. I'm puzzled as to how to get my stops to respect their capacity limits.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
BTW: I'm using Simutrans Standard not Experimental.
An overcrowded station will never be an origin station (for passengers, the unhappy counter will begin ticking).
I think overcrowded stations can receive even more passengers and goods, if those were loaded onto a vehicle before the station became overcrowded.
Changing these settings in simuconf.tab will only affect new games. There is a way to change these settings for an existing game, but (not all) pak sets have a toolbar button and/or key binding for this.
Avoid overcrowding: Passengers will not get onto their train if their next transfer station is overcrowded. (Passengers will stay in the station - deadlock prone situation)
No Routing over Overcrowding: Passengers will not start their travel if their route to their destination goes over a overcrowded transfer halt. (Passengers will not show up at station at all)
This applies equally to mail, freight.
Thanks Ters and Dwachs, this helps a lot.
Analyzing what you say, I think my problem may be related to trying to switch on these options 'in game'. I use pak 128 and was trying to use the 'Settings' dialog to turn on these options. It looks as though this may not work. Would anyone happen to know how I can alter these settings for an existing pak128 game?
You need to edit menuconf.tab,
find the line
#dialog_tool[27]=
and change it into e.g.
dialog_tool[27]= ,i
After that you can open the settings dialogue by pressing "i" in game (you need to start simutrans anew after making the changes above).
Do your changes, close the settings windows, save the game, load it again and you should be done.
Better backup any file you're going to change before you do it, though... especially menucof.tab doesn't tolerate errors very well...
Thanks DirrrtyDirk! I'll try that tonight.