Additional Public Transit

[andreharv 1,197]

Ok guys, update time.

So I have been working closely with BloodyPenguin on this and it looks like we have just about everything we need to start making the above ground metro a reality.  Heads up on releases.  The loooooong awaited Single and Dual one way tracks will be released this week.  Bloody Penguin is just working out some issues with upgrading (since rail cannot be upgraded by default). We are slated for an initial release of our "Metro Overhaul" early next month.    Here are a couple teaser pics of the ground 'euro' metro tracks to give you a taste of what's to come. Cheers 

[Avanya 2,605]

So cool! Amazing work you guys have done. This will be a wonderful addition to the game (like the other things you guys have made) and I can't wait for next month

[LittleMac 48]

Amazing, can't wait! I have a question: do you guys already have info to share about how we can create new stations for this system? Thanks

[andreharv 1,197]

It should be similar to creating train stations.  I had to make the subways 2m thinner to accommodate this but I feel it is a necessary evil.  Not too well versed in station creation but essentially if you can create a rail station, then it would be a matter of using metro station tracks instead of conventional rail station tracks, easy peasy.

[Tim The Terrible 586]

First thing: looks a-mazing!!! Can't wait for it's release and I appreciate that you guys put so much work into making the game even greater! Thank you!

Secondly, I think the fences are a bit overkill, escpecially at crossings or places where you have multiple tracks along side (e.g. railyards or metro hubs)

Thridly, do you have any idea if the thrid rail is up to scale (it looks great by the way) because it's quite important when making real-life metro trains. It not a huge problem if it's not, you'll hardly notice anyway, just wondering.

Thanks again and looking forward to the single train tracks!

Side note: will there be overground metro station tracks released alongside of it? I'm guessing that's BP's thing

[andreharv 1,197]

5 hours ago, Tim The Terrible said:

First thing: looks a-mazing!!! Can't wait for it's release and I appreciate that you guys put so much work into making the game even greater! Thank you!

Secondly, I think the fences are a bit overkill, escpecially at crossings or places where you have multiple tracks along side (e.g. railyards or metro hubs)

Thridly, do you have any idea if the thrid rail is up to scale (it looks great by the way) because it's quite important when making real-life metro trains. It not a huge problem if it's not, you'll hardly notice anyway, just wondering.

Thanks again and looking forward to the single train tracks!

Side note: will there be overground metro station tracks released alongside of it? I'm guessing that's BP's thing

First thing: Thanks!  The vanilla rail imo is kinda plain and I feel a new design is will cause people to stop asking about the point of this mod and just use it because it looks better. (there is a point.  I'm just not tellin )

Secondly, A rail yard of these would look like a hedge maze of crazed frustration.  There will be a version without barriers.

Thirdly, I assume you are talking about the position of the rail and not the actual scale (size).  If you are talking about the position, it does stick out a bit but the train I tested with (the default for this mod ever so slightly clips it from the top.  I have not put too much effort into fine tuning the position of this stuff as that can be done last once I have everything laid out but great question.

Side note: Yes.

[Skimbo 304]

Just beautyful work, please continue!
 *happily awaits the single track rails

[mikamaty 47]

21 hours ago, andreharv said:

[...] Here are a couple teaser pics of the ground 'euro' metro tracks [...]

@andreharv So there will come more track types than only the 'euro' tracks?

[andreharv 1,197]

@mikamaty: Yes.  There will be a NY/Chicago style urban US style to come as well.

I am happy to announce the release of the One-Way Train Tracks Mod. 

Y'all have been a patient audience and I am so glad that with @BloodyPenguin's help in releasing the first (of hopefully many) more additions to the public transit network.

In a nutshell, this mod includes:

• Single oneway rail 
• Dual oneway rail
• New and original models for single tracks, pillars, overhead wire supports, pillars, and bridge truss
• Seamless integration with existing rail networks
• Updated rail icons
• Full ground, bridge, and tunnel support
• Ground station tracks (for mod developers)

Future work

• Elevated and sunken station tracks tracks
• Rendered tunnels

Enjoy

[wasmic 111]

Awesome!

I've been continuously updating the C:S subreddit and the Steam Workshop page, looking for this, over the last one and a half week. I can't wait to get building, hopefully there'll be some stations taking advantage of this soon. There are so many station types that will be possible now that weren't before!

[andreharv 1,197]

Absolutely, I will be publishing a POC (proof of concept/piece of crap) platform station.  Split level stations will also be possible.

[alkiskan 4]

The fact that we are finally seeing the metro getting out of its tunnels is truly exciting. A few questions though: What rolling stock is the metro going to use, since the vanilla one is not suitable for above-ground operation? Is the above-ground metro mod going to be part of one-way train tracks and finally, is there a plan to merge those mods with NeXT to create a new one?

[mikamaty 47]

@alkiskan Why do you want that?

[alkiskan 4]

@mikamaty The main reason is that I would like to reduce the number of mods I am using. Also, it would be great to see one transportation mod that has everything!

 

[alkiskan 4]

Are there any updates on T++v2?

 

 

[wasmic 111]

Okay, so I've been attempting to convert an existing four track train station to use the two-track one ways, but I am unable to find the station tracks in the asset editor. According to the post, both ground one-way single-track station track and ground one-way dual-track station track are available, but I can't find any of them in the asset editor.

Oh, and how is that PoC template station coming along?

[andreharv 1,197]

@wasmic Where are you looking?  The station tracks are network pieces like roads and rail are.   If you don't see them at all, try unsubscribing and resubscribing to the mod. They are found next to the train tracks.  I will try to publish the poc platform rail today or tomorrow.

[Tim The Terrible 586]

I get the default overhead portals on single tracks for some reason. Happend while running it as the only mod enabled, after a clean subscription July 24th (after the update) Any ideas?

[wasmic 111]

Okay, so a two-way single train track showed up in my game all of a sudden. It doesn't work, though, as trains are having frontal collisions (or they stop just before colliding). Is this something that has been released by accident?

@Tim The Terrible I don't have that problem, maybe it's another mod interfering? 

[andreharv 1,197]

@wasmic That is no accident.  If two trains are traveling toward each other on the same track, by definition, there is nowhere else for them to go.  Originally, I was not going to release it but so many people requested it that I felt compelled to...so yes, it is working as intended.  Obviously, it is not meant for busy railways.

[Tim The Terrible 586]

39 minutes ago, wasmic said:

@Tim The Terrible I don't have that problem, maybe it's another mod interfering? 

No, it's the only mod enabled..

I compared the mod folder with a friend's and it looked like everything was there

[wasmic 111]

38 minutes ago, andreharv said:

@wasmic That is no accident.  If two trains are traveling toward each other on the same track, by definition, there is nowhere else for them to go.  Originally, I was not going to release it but so many people requested it that I felt compelled to...so yes, it is working as intended.  Obviously, it is not meant for busy railways.

A possible way to fix this, that would not require a lot of processing power, could be to find all section of single track two-way rail pieces that are contiguously connected and register them as a block, and then register whenever a train drives into such a block. The block would then prevent any further trains from entering it until the first train has left the block.

The game already prevents a train from entering a track section if a train is already in it, according to my tests. A train will delay entering a station until the previous train has completely cleared the platform, and a train won't leave a dual-track station to move onto a single-track line if an oncoming train is on that very last 12-unit section of the single-track line. Would it be possible to expand this protection to an entire group of sections?

I'm not sure if it could work, though, as I'm by no means a coder.

[andreharv 1,197]

It may be possible but to be honest, I am not too familiar with how the pathfinding works.  I may look into an enhancement like that in the future but sadly with so many projects in the works, it may be a while.

[wasmic 111]

If it works like I think it does (and I have no idea what I'm talking about), it wouldn't even require changing the pathfinding. The trains would plan out their route like normal, but before proceeding onto a stretch of single track, they would have to check if it was already occupied, and if so, wait until it was clear.

[andreharv 1,197]

What you described is a part of pathfinding.  Sounds easy on paper but trust me, it can get rather complicated.

[skallben 21]

Hello.
I logged into this several years old account only for the purpose of sharing something I found that I think might be useful for the modders involved in the metro&rail overhauls, andreharv&co.  

My hypothesis is that the max speed of the rail tracks greatly effects how many Cims choose to use rail as a means for travel. But ALSO freight transport on rails, I will get back to that later.
In turn this snowballs to more bus&tram use in my case because they are funneled to rails for longer and more direct routes, taking cars off the streets. My only reservation is that simulation may have been rewritten since then because I've had some decrease in PT use but I cannot pinpoint if its mods o patches because I'm working too much to do any experiments on it.

Since I found out that Cims travel according to the path that is the fastest, ignoring congestion etc I wanted to make my long distance trains more effective. So I found the mod " Rail Track Speed Increaser " by DontCryJustDie and convinced him to make the speed adjustable.

So I made highspeed lines where I customized ICE trains to max out on about 280 km/h and the tracks was before the adjustable mod version maxed at like 480. My freight got madly congested and travellers in even the short distance local trains which maxed out on 80 km/h had a MASSIVE increase of usage. I figured out that the actual speed of the trains was irrelevant to usage, track speed seemed to be the variable.

Bottomline:
1. I suspect that the usage of rail by Cims are dependent on the max track speed.

2. I think the output of freight trains are also connected to the maxiumum track speed.

Reservation: Has not been tested recently.

Maybe you already know all this, but either way I thought I'd share it.

Thank you for all you modders fanstastic work which make this game a continuous fun to come back to and refine my infrastructure and planning.

/Daniel

[andreharv 1,197]

Great observation!  You are right.  Cims tend to look for the fastest route to their destination (regardless of congestion).  As this thread states, I will be working on High Speed Rail after I get metro done.  Also to your point, to offset the desirability of this fast mode of transit, HSR system will be very expensive in the game and as you said, if stations are placed at short distances or there are a lot of curves, the train will never reach it's max speed so it really makes more sense for long distance travel.

[skallben 21]

22 hours ago, andreharv said:

Great observation!  You are right.  Cims tend to look for the fastest route to their destination (regardless of congestion).  As this thread states, I will be working on High Speed Rail after I get metro done.  Also to your point, to offset the desirability of this fast mode of transit, HSR system will be very expensive in the game and as you said, if stations are placed at short distances or there are a lot of curves, the train will never reach it's max speed so it really makes more sense for long distance travel.

I see. It makes sense to separate faster tracks into a new category, then you wont cause congestion the freight lines. 
A couple of questions for you, both still rests on that my previous observations still stand vaild;

First, if increasing track speed increases ridership subsequently, would you consider adjusting the speed for the normal tracks too? Reason I ask is because I find the simulation is a bit geared against building extensive public transport systems, since parking and congestion is not included in simulation. If there is a highway and a trainroute, there's not much of a gain for Cims top get on the trains unless you plan roads for it.

Secondly - Is there a way to decouple freight train generation from train tracks' base speed?
If so, then you could just increase base track speed aswell and leave it up to the traintypes to be customized with certain speed.  In my setup for non HS trains, I have local trains which max out on 80, commmute trains which max out on 120 and intercity for about 180 I think. Speed of trains is regulated by train type and simulation by track speed. If I go higher on tracks, freight goes bananas after a couple of hours of play. 
 

[Bad Peanut 826]

Hey @andreharv, with the one way station tracks how did you get round the game handling the fact it considers the two separate tracks as two stations - does it need multi track enabler to work??

How difficult would it be to implement a single network that is a train station track with the platforms in the middle? then we wouldn't need to have two separate networks in an asset to build a station with an island platform

[andreharv 1,197]

It would be possible.  However, there would be no way to adjust the width of the center platform and it would create a large junction with the conventional track which would take up a lot of space.  Furthermore, if it was one wide track, there would be no way to control which side of the station the trains go as each station track is bidirectional.  I will talk to BP about making the Multi-Track Station Enabler a prereq or perhaps even adding the code ourselves.