Original v Improved Loading algorithm

[MiracleCure]

Would I be correct in saying that under the original algorithm, all vehicles at a station load at a standard rate and that with improved algorithm it loads them in arrival order?

It is a pity that this is tied to the stations rather than types/groups of vehicles. Eg. I'd like to have a large station releasing many trains at the same time but a dock only loading 1 freighter/tanker at a time. Would this be something that could be changed by GRF or is it fundamentally rooted in the code for the station?


Thx
Miracle

PS.
I have no knowledge of coding what so ever, so please try to refrain from telling me to look at it myself because if I could I would already have done and probably would not need to ask this question.

[NekoMaster]

Would I be correct in saying that under the original algorithm, all vehicles at a station load at a standard rate and that with improved algorithm it loads them in arrival order?

It is a pity that this is tied to the stations rather than types/groups of vehicles. Eg. I'd like to have a large station releasing many trains at the same time but a dock only loading 1 freighter/tanker at a time. Would this be something that could be changed by GRF or is it fundamentally rooted in the code for the station?


Thx
Miracle

PS.
I have no knowledge of coding what so ever, so please try to refrain from telling me to look at it myself because if I could I would already have done and probably would not need to ask this question.

Dude, you do know you can change the loading algorthem in the advanced settings menu, I usually have improved loading off though, i prefer having everything load at the same time

[Roujin]

Yes, he knows. What he wants is one behavior for trains (improved) and the other for ships (original).

[NekoMaster]

Yes, he knows. What he wants is one behavior for trains (improved) and the other for ships (original).

Oh...

[Eddi]

I don't see a reason to disable Improved Loading. When there is enough cargo to load multiple trains, it will load them both simultaneously, maybe turning off gradual loading will improve this effect on transfer stations, as all cargo will be accounted for immediately.

[NekoMaster]

I don't see a reason to disable Improved Loading. When there is enough cargo to load multiple trains, it will load them both simultaneously, maybe turning off gradual loading will improve this effect on transfer stations, as all cargo will be accounted for immediately.

but having trains loaded instantly as long as theres enough cargo is kinda unrealistic, having all trains loaded gradually is more realistic

[rjch_au]

I don't see a reason to disable Improved Loading. When there is enough cargo to load multiple trains, it will load them both simultaneously, maybe turning off gradual loading will improve this effect on transfer stations, as all cargo will be accounted for immediately.

In a word, ratings. When I play a game of OpenTTD, I tend to build a rail system that ships primary materials to only one secondary destination (for example, I'll build a rail network to ship iron ore from all mines to one steel mill) which consequently means I have a secondary industry churning out tens of thousands of cargo items. If I turn on improved loading, trains neatly load in sequence and depart in a fairly orderly manner. However, when I'm generating 20 or 30 thousand crates of goods, this leads to a fairly significant backlog at the station, which reduces ratings significantly - quite often when I enable improved loading, ratings will drop 20-30% within a year or two. With improved loading off, cargo is loaded onto whichever train is ready to take cargo. This keeps the platforms empty, keeping the rating higher.

Ideally, what I'd really like to do is to be able to enable improved loading globally, but optionally be able to disable it at very busy stations. Whilst I know enough about programming to be dangerous, I'm not good enough at it to be able to wade through the OpenTTD code to find out how I might implement it.

Realistic? Probably not. But that's the way I like to play.

[planetmaker]

Improved loading will load more than one train, if there's enough cargo around, but only one, if there's less than it takes to fill one train.

[rjch_au]

Improved loading will load more than one train, if there's enough cargo around, but only one, if there's less than it takes to fill one train.

I know. However, when you have industries generating huge amounts of cargo, the backlog of cargo to be loaded onto partially loaded trains can easily add up to 1000+ units - more if you use very long trains. (which I do - once I start dealing with thousands of units of cargo a month, I use trains that are 14 or 21 tiles long with 28 or 36 carriages)

[Eddi]

have you tried just disabling "full load" instead?

[rjch_au]

have you tried just disabling "full load" instead?

Actually, that's even worse, since you reduce the effectiveness of the trains. Many would leave the platform having loaded nothing at all.

[2457]

sorthof i would like this feature too, to be able to set all stations to load WITH!!!!! the improved algorythm, but be able to set original for any station i want.

Reason is the rating, if i play WITH!!!!! original settings they do go higher.
i can get better results WITH!!!!! it at some stations, while not at others.

so in my opinion it would be great to be able and enable/disable improved loading independantly.
whom may know..
maybe later there will be a feature for multi platform stations where user could set how many trains to load at the same time. (as like 4 platform station, and i as user could choose to load 2 trains in the same time)

this would be handy for RV, while loading only 1 ship at a time at docs would still be prefered.

love the idea.

[XeryusTC]

Improved loading will load more than one train, if there's enough cargo around, but only one, if there's less than it takes to fill one train.

I know. However, when you have industries generating huge amounts of cargo, the backlog of cargo to be loaded onto partially loaded trains can easily add up to 1000+ units - more if you use very long trains. (which I do - once I start dealing with thousands of units of cargo a month, I use trains that are 14 or 21 tiles long with 28 or 36 carriages)

Try gradual loading if you haven't, it might work better for you.

[Eddi]

have you tried just disabling "full load" instead?

Actually, that's even worse, since you reduce the effectiveness of the trains. Many would leave the platform having loaded nothing at all.

you can catch those with a conditional order to loop back to the station.

[rjch_au]

Try gradual loading if you haven't, it might work better for you.

As I mentioned previously, gradual loading is worse because it leaves cargo sitting on the platform even longer.

you can catch those with a conditional order to loop back to the station.

That's even worse - you'll have more trains than ever (and my goods runs can have a couple of hundred trains already) getting in the way when looping around, potentially causing a complete traffic jam.

Even if someone could point me in the right direction - which files contain the logic for loading goods, and which for the station GUI - I could make some sort of attempt at creating a patch...

[Eddi]

without really looking i'd guess vehicle_cmd.cpp for the loading and station_gui.cpp for the GUI. typically, "_cmd" files contain the game logic, and "_gui" files the windows.

but maybe you might want to consider adding a loading type to the orders instead of messing with the station. you probably find hints to doing that in order_gui.cpp