A series of technical questions

[Bedwyr]

Hi there! Long time lurker first time poster. I've played TTDX and OpenTTD before but not Locomotion which this appears to be. After spending some time with it, I do have a number of questions.

1. I've browsed through the Locomotion forum clues about how to properly design roll-on roll-off stations, and I think I mostly have it, but I'm still getting reversing behavior (see image 1). Two solutions occur to me. One, I feed the inbound line the other direction and point trains towards the destination to begin with. Two, I add one more set of one-way signals after the two way signals so that the train will not sense a valid path in that direction. Either correct? Any other corrections?

2. A competitor left a lot of yucky cruft as image 2 shows. Is there no way to remove extra roadways that I haven't built? (Which would be disappointing if true.)

3. There's an ad for a free companion app in the help file (image 3). It doesn't lead anywhere valid. Is this not real or not released?

4. I figured out how to take screenshots on the iDevice. Hurrah!

[YNM]

Hmm, your screenshots shows that the new TT2013 is nothing more than just Locomotion + improvements (where ?) port to mobile platforms...

1. I've browsed through the Locomotion forum clues about how to properly design roll-on roll-off stations, and I think I mostly have it, but I'm still getting reversing behavior (see image 1). Two solutions occur to me. One, I feed the inbound line the other direction and point trains towards the destination to begin with. Two, I add one more set of one-way signals after the two way signals so that the train will not sense a valid path in that direction. Either correct? Any other corrections?

Make all signal as one-way, including the ones in front of the station. Reversals are "normal" as the original Locomotion is.

2. A competitor left a lot of yucky cruft as image 2 shows. Is there no way to remove extra roadways that I haven't built? (Which would be disappointing if true.)

Not at all, which is also the problem with the original Locomotion on PC. You may prefer to play without any AI's (computer player, competitor in single-player) at all.

3. There's an ad for a free companion app in the help file (image 3). It doesn't lead anywhere valid. Is this not real or not released?

Probably not released yet... I'm not sure through !

[Bedwyr]

Thank you for the replies.

Hmm, your screenshots shows that the new TT2013 is nothing more than just Locomotion + improvements (where ?) port to mobile platforms...

You're correct, I think people have pretty much established that it is.

Make all signal as one-way, including the ones in front of the station. Reversals are "normal" as the original Locomotion is.

Hmm. I needed to use two-way signals or else trains would never use other station sections(pathfinding quirk). And hearing that reversals are a behavior issue they *still* haven't figured out after all this time, well, that's just disappointing.

Not at all, which is also the problem with the original Locomotion on PC. You may prefer to play without any AI's (computer player, competitor in single-player) at all.

That's really too bad. Since the game is entirely scenario based, there's little sandbox opportunity. I think it all goes back to Chris Sawyer's weird fixations with scenario and ONLY scenarios based gameplay since Rollercoaster Tycoon.

I may simply say 'oh well' and uninstall this.

[wanderer28]

Not sure if it will work, but here's a suggestion: have you tried putting both double- and single-way signals before the station? In theory that would first solve the platform-choosing requirement, and then the problem regarding the reversals.

Of course, the problem I envision here is it no longer treats the double-way signal as part of the block with the station included, which breaks the platform-choosing layout.

[Roman]

Have you tried setting a waypoint just after the station?

[Zakos]

A waypoint would be my suggestion as well.

Keep in mind that not all of the Locomotion suggestions will apply here. The gameplay is almost exactly the same, but some little behavioral aspects are slightly different.

[Bedwyr]

Thanks for the replies. @wanderer, yeah that's actually what I meant. Putting a one-way past the two way. It does appear to work pretty well. I vaguely remember TTDX having he same undesirable behavior and that's why we were counseled to place station entrances at the "back". That way the train would default to traveling towards its destination. Witchcraft.

It's too bad about competitor management and scenario play. I think Sawyer made some mistakes in bringing those feature decisions forward. At least give us some actual sandbox scenarios.

[wallyweb]

3. There's an ad for a free companion app in the help file (image 3). It doesn't lead anywhere valid. Is this not real or not released?

Oooooh!
Patch packs and GRFs?

[WWTBAM]

No Patches (Like TTDPatch or .patch/.diff) or GRFs as the game uses files in the .pl8 format. I and others have presumed that the .pl8s are similar to Locomotions .dats. Origin8 also haven't ruled out custom content in the future.

[wallyweb]

Origin8 also haven't ruled out custom content in the future.

A developer kit for artists?

[Zakos]

No Patches (Like TTDPatch or .patch/.diff) or GRFs as the game uses files in the .pl8 format. I and others have presumed that the .pl8s are similar to Locomotions .dats. Origin8 also haven't ruled out custom content in the future.

Source?

[WWTBAM]

I can't find it again but Owen said they didn't rule it out in a future update/version.

[orudge]

Yes, it was stated informally at the TT Meet.