Bug in cargo handling, cargodist makes cargo for unavailable destinations.
This happens when using cagodist and a complex economy like FIRS.
The game is supposed to only generate cargo for destinations where you actually transport stuff. The bug is that sometimes, cargo is generated for a destination where no train actually tries to bring that sort of cargo. This cargo is then unavailable for transport to "normal" places, and piles up in large amounts at various stations. The player looses money, (or must react and schedule lots of new trains. Trains for which there may not be room.)
This doesn't happen all the time, expecially not in the beginning. I think I have figured it out now:
Weird cargo is only generated when there are trains going to the weird destination that
could be re-fit for the weird cargo. In the beginning there are few trains, so this doesn't happen unless you try to make it happen. The problem is that while a re-fit is possible, there are no actual re-fit orders so the cargo is never moved. Also, these "weird routes" never cancel, because new trains pass the pile all the time, and so cargodist erroneously think that "this train
could bring such cargo, so the unserved route remains. Often, the re-build is of a kind that cannot happen in a station, only in a depot. So even "re-fit to available" won't help.
The error is that cargodist consider a cargo route viable if transport could happen through re-fits - even though the trains in question doesn't have such re-fit orders.
An example:
A train brings metal from a steel mill to a metal fabrication plant, and goes empty back to get more metal. For this, flat wagons is used. Now, the metal fabrication plant also receives some chemicals, as this boosts production.
Unfortunately, chemicals can be transported on flat wagons. So if there is, say, a glass works near the steel mill, cargodist will think that the metal train should bring chemicals on the return trip and schedule cargo that way.
This disrupts everything, because now the chemicals pile up at the metal fabrication place, instead of being used there. Production gets lower as a result. And the metal train cannot bring chemicals, because it doesn't have re-fit orders for that. Actually, you can't re-fit from metal to chemicals in a station, so it is not as simple as changing the orders a bit. Such a re-fit can only be done in a depot, and it costs money.
This breaks the game totally around year 2000, with the newgrf's I use. At that time, the SH125 is the only reliable diesel locomotive. Unfortunately, it has a very small cargo capacity and can be re-fit for nearly any cargo. Even mail/passengers! So as my industrial lines all upgrade to this locomotive, cargodist sees LOTS of new opportunities. Cargo (and passengers) gets scheduled for all sorts of unexpected stations, because re-fitting allows this locomotive to bring anything. If I add "re-fit to available" to every stop for every train, some of that cargo will move. But not much, as the cargo capacity for this locomotive is very small. Stuff will pile up everywhere, with half-empty trains and ruin as a result, for the total cargo production remains constant. So the only option left is to quit the game.
The fix is conceptually simple:
Don't create a route that may be served by re-fitting a train, unless the train actually has "re-fit to available" in its order for that station. And obviously, only if that re-fit can be done at the station. If the re-fit is not allowed at the station, or simply not in the order list - don't create such a route.
I don't know if it is a problem with this patch, or the standard game. I haven't played the standard game for a long time, as I use the new map features a lot.