Timetable based separation patch

[MagicBuzz]

Well,

I'm currently testing with a real game and... I just can't believe the bug I fixed yesterday is still present. Damned!

[MagicBuzz]

At last !

This anoying bug left. I fixed two small errors, and now the patch works correctly.

[MagicBuzz]

Big optimisation in the r10980 bis version. It should handle very heavy loaded transportation network using timetables and shared orders.

[MagicBuzz]

Small update : I added to the patch an option to enable/disable it.

In the "patch only" version, it's in the vehicle panel, under the timetable option.
In the ChrisIN version, it's in the ChrisIN panel.
Both need the timetable option to be enabled.

[MagicBuzz]

Erh... I added the lang files in the executable archive or it won't be usable

[Psistorm]

playing a game with this right now - I think awesome is the right word here, the seperation works beautifully!
getting an 80% rating for passenger services makes me smile lots, I seriously hope this awesome patch makes its way into trunk eventually.

*joyfully watches his now suddenly so cool passenger lines work*

[MagicBuzz]

I'm glad to recieve one feedback ! (and it's a positive one )

Don't hesitate to tell me if you see any problem with the patch

[Psistorm]

well, the only thing Ive noticed so far were some too long strings in the german translation, in particular in the schedule GUI, the auto button and the one to reset the lateness counter dont fit and horribly garble, making it hard to read.
but I believe thats not really connected to this patch in particular - I will however drop a note when I find something more related

[MagicBuzz]

well, the only thing Ive noticed so far were some too long strings in the german translation, in particular in the schedule GUI, the auto button and the one to reset the lateness counter dont fit and horribly garble, making it hard to read.
but I believe thats not really connected to this patch in particular - I will however drop a note when I find something more related

You're right, that is not related to this patch
The patch itself only adds strings for the separation option (English and French only as I can't speak other languages )
You might report these strings problems to the OTTD flyspay, as these translations seems to be from the trunk. http://bugs.openttd.org/

Edit : I just tested in German and French, and you're right, some string are absolutely too long

[Spingo]

I attempted to fiddle with the Chris-IN version with this patch rolled in. Because I couldn't load my save game from the previous ChrisIn (IIRC, r11820 - the one before the current release), I did start a new game, created a new route to test it all. I started with two maglevs servicing two cities and waited until the seperated - it's brilliant watching two trains depart two stations at exactly the same time, every time!

I then added a third maglev to the route without changing anything - and again, they seperated nicely. A fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eigth maglev was added everything sorts itself out very nicely without having to manually fiddle with timetables.

Admittedly, I only got the chance to to about 20 minutes of testing last night (I work 2.5 jobs and have a 2.5 hour commute each way to the highest paying job), but I look forward to doing more testing on the weekend when I hope to do a network test.

You ought to be congratulated though! It's a very good and very useful patch and I'd love to do what I can to test it in order to try and help it be included in ChrisIN and the trunk.

[Lupin III]

Do I have to fill the complete timetable? I often just set a limit for the loading station and don't mind how long the rest takes. This makes it much easier if the engines are upgraded or the route is changed. I know e.g. that a goods train would normally be loaded to around 80% in 15 days. So I enter this in the timetable for the station, which makes the industry happier. But of course I have the problem with multi platform stations that trains arriving at the same time (because of a breakdown or something) then leave at the same time 40% loaded.

[MagicBuzz]

Do I have to fill the complete timetable? I often just set a limit for the loading station and don't mind how long the rest takes. This makes it much easier if the engines are upgraded or the route is changed. I know e.g. that a goods train would normally be loaded to around 80% in 15 days. So I enter this in the timetable for the station, which makes the industry happier. But of course I have the problem with multi platform stations that trains arriving at the same time (because of a breakdown or something) then leave at the same time 40% loaded.

yes, you have to fill the entire timetable.
use the autofill button, then just change the waiting times at stations.
feel free to set a value higher then needed to the waiting time (1 or 2 days), in order to allow the vehicle to catch up their lateness in case of breakdowns.
the current problem with the patch is that the separation will works correctly only if the first vehicle of the chain is on time. i'll try to update the patch in order to reset the lateness counter of this vehicle automatically when entering the first station of the route, so you may not have to ensure it's up to time. but i'm not sure about some side effects, so I wait for some feedbacks before doing this (it will be easier to fix problems one by one and not introduce things that could trigger some new problems )

[DJ Nekkid]

ive tried a bit and this is my experience...

1. build train
2. order window and make a few stops
3. autofill
4. start train.

then the problem arise... even if i set the days 5 days more on each head, it will go late, because in the beginning of a game you might have only 50 passangers (like 1 day/tick/whatever) to load them (5 in each of 10 wagons). then the game run for a time, and it's REALLY late because the autofill didn't take into concideration the load/unload times, and it might run into some traffic as well, and that will make the train a day or three late...

so my question then is:

lets say i need
Stop A: 10 days
travel: 10 days
Stop B: 10 days
trravel: 10 days.

what if i set them all to 100, would the train then be "on time" and the rest will separate appropiately?

[KrevRenko]

If you really want to know, Try it.™

[MagicBuzz]

what if i set them all to 100, would the train then be "on time" and the rest will separate appropiately?

Yes, and your ratings will grow up very quickly as you trains will give a good service at each station (your rating grow up mostly when a vehicle is waiting at a station).

For the problem about timetable making the train late when the station production grows it's directly related to this patch, but the timetable feature. IMHO, there is no need to fix it, and you have to find out how much time should stay a full train completely loading/unloading.

For a 5 tiles long train, I counted it's near 700 ticks (~9 days).

[MagicBuzz]

I just added a small documentation to help you using this patch. Even if it's easy to use, you might be lost at the first time if you never used the timetable feature

[MJS]

Is it possible to show in the train window (where it currently says 'Loading/Unloading') something like 'Waiting for scheduled departure'? (Or even a countdown to departure?)

[MagicBuzz]

Sorry, I didn't read the forums for a long time.

I like the idea.
I'll try to add this as soon as possible. But I'm not sure I'll be able to do something before friday.

There will be a big strike in France on thursday... If I can't go to work then I might be able to do this on thursday

[MagicBuzz]

As promised, here is a small patch.

This patch only contains this new feature, not anything else.

I decided to put this feature in a standalone patch, as it's not a timetable separation feature update, but a timetable feature update, and the timetable feature is already in the trunk.

This patch is a preview only, as I get some strange effects and I can't understand why they happen : the "Waiting for regulation" and "Loading / Unloading" texts sometimes are mixed (???) and the waiting text doesn't appear when it should. I can't really understand what's the matter with this.

[MJS]

There's no way to actually sort or filter vehicles (in the main vehicle list?) by how much they are delayed, is there? Would be useful, because if you made a wrong calculation in the timetable, the vehicles will be running behind schedule forever, and the separation patch (I use ChrisIN) can't do its wonderful job any more...