How to use pedestrian connections for train stations?

[matthiasbasler 2]

Hi all,

I just released my first train station and it was quite a struggle. In its current state I still dont manage to make the Cims take the preferred paths I to in order to get onto the platforms and back. Basically the walk from the street to left of the building, then disappear and re-appear on either platform a second or so later. I even built an underpath for them (see screenshot below with pedestrian path connection removed).

I have used the "Advanced Network Stuff" and "Move it" mods in order to place "pedestrian connections" (as existing in the vanilla train station) and I also have the "Advanced Building Editor" mod. I do not currenly use the "Mod tools". My search for information on "pedestrian connections" on the web did not yield any guides for "do"s and "don't"s. So here are my questions:

1. There are four types of pink "pedestrian connections": Unspecified, "surface", "underground" and "inside". I can imagine what each of the three last is good for, but don't know the details.
   • Do they only differ in the way they are placed or do they really function differently in game?
   • When should I use the unspecified "pedestrian connection"?
   • Can (or must) I combine them for an underpass?
2. What prerequisites exist for pedestrian connections to be used by Cims? Am I allowed to move them in place with "Move it" (and maybe even "Road Anarchy Mod" on)? Or will Cims ignore them if they contain things like too short segments? (The second screenshot below shows what I tried to achieve with surface/inside connections.)
3. Can the behaviour of Cims always approaching the train station around the left side of the building be altered to make them walk around either side of the building in order to get to the first platform (as in reality)?
4. Concerning the underpass:  It consists of two sunken exit sub-meshes with slopes and roofing. There is a wall at the bottom of the stairs so there's no real tunnel connecting the two.
   • Can this still made to work with Cims? (That is, will they move through underground walls if the connection tells them to do?)
   • What type of pedestrian connections do I have to use? I tried "pedestrian connections underground" for the complete stretch and moved it into place with "Move it". Should I use another type for the stairs?
   • When I later load my saved assed, the underground pedestrian connection has moved upward onto the surface. Huh? Why could this be?

Hope someone can help me.

  Edited August 17, 2019 by matthiasbasler  
Added second screenshot

[Clus 24]

Hi Matthias ! 

 

First of all ...I really hate those pedestrian connections. They are the reason why I am currently not publishing any station assets... it's really "hard" to work with them... :/ 

So ... to your questions:

1.    - surface = used if you want to "see" your cims.

       - underground = used within the vanilla subway station to connect the path to the platforms. The cims aren't visible.

       - inside = also used to connect pathways inside a building, I think these are used within station assets. The cims aren't visible, too.

      - unspecified = I don't know what that one is used for... 

 

They all do have in common, that they work and behave almost the same. At least that's what I think and what i've found out due to my own testings.

You can combine them for your underpass...as mentioned, that's done at the vanilla subway station.

 

2. You can and should move them with move it. But be careful.... some very short connections between nodes might lead to strange pathfinding/walking behavior.

3. You have to test different layouts yourself, but I think (and tested it myself) that it is only possible for the cims to enter the platform at one point. You can of course

   create two or more connections to the platform, but I doubt that the cims will use them. They always tend to use only one access point to the platforms. Although they

   will use more than one connection when they leave the platform.

4. Because of the "automatic snapping" of the pedestrian connection (BP did talk about that in the context with moving stations via move it mod) you have to keep a minimum 

    distance of 7m (or 6m) to the station tracks or streets or whatsoever, to avoid this behavior. I guess that the distance you used was shorter than that ... That's the reason why 

    the connections weren't in place after saving and loading your asset.

    If you want to do the connection underground without any "real mesh", you should use the "underground" version of the ped pathways. I've encountered some issues when I 

    used the "surface" variant without any mesh under the cims feed. 

 

So I hope the answer isn't to chaotic ... I wrote it on a mobile :P. And I hope that it might help you a little bit.

 

Mbr

[matthiasbasler 2]

Hi Clus,

I very much appreciate you comprehensive answer and will have another go at this once I have the time for it. Will try to use the automatic snapping and see if it works better.

Matthias.

[matthiasbasler 2]

Tonight I did a series of tests and would like to share my findings with you:

1. Pedestrian connections do indeed work, if placed correctly.
2. When you do changes to the asset and then click "continue" in the main game in order to load the last saved game, the visual changes to the building will apply instantly. However, in order for the changed pedestrian paths to be used, the building has to be removed and to be re-built. Otherwise the cims will behave as they did with the previous version.
   This is irritating and the reason why I thought those paths were not working at all ... my changes simply didn't apply automatically.
3. There's obviously no point in creating two distinct connections to platform 1 (the one close to the station building). I created one right of the station (when facing the city facade of the station building, in the back of the screenshot below) and it was used. Then created another one left of the building, and from that point on only the left one would be used. The first one now gets ignored even if this means cims have to walk a "U" around the station building when coming from the right hand side. Stupid cims ...
4. A combination of "underground" and "surface" paths worked for my pedestrian underpass. The short surface part just connects the tunnel entrance to the street.
5. Tunnel connections are, by default, unrealistically deep. They can be moved up (with the "Move it!" mod) to be more shallow but need a certain (still relatively great) depth, otherwise they are moved to the surface when saving and re-loading the asset.