Are freight trains blocked by passenger stations

[Rady]

I read something before that some freight stations won't let passanger trains pass through, so I'm curious if that's the same the other way round? I'm using the Rural Station Pack for the STR and observed that no freight train passes through. And that despite the fact that this is the only neighbour connection and industry demanded to connect the rail to the neighburs .. SO if there were the need for rail traffic (and it certainly is once you developed your industry to a certain stage), it should go over that line. Additionally, the only road connection is at the same point as the rail connection, so the rail connection should be in favour, shouldn't it?

[tooheys]

As far as I know, the problem works(or doesn't work  ) both ways. I don't think it applies to all passenger stations but I know there are some out there that will block freight.

I'm sure there is a rail guru here who can explain the problem and whether a lot can be fixed.

Dave

[Andreas]

It's only a matter of how the stations are transit enabled. There are separate transit switch properties for passenger and freight trains, so if you want to allow both passing a transit enabled station lot, you need to add them both.

[Rady]

It's only a matter of how the stations are transit enabled. There are separate transit switch properties for passenger and freight trains, so if you want to allow both passing a transit enabled station lot, you need to add them both.

I really adore you for your knowledge  ... if you only could put it into terms understandable for a noob like me   


So, pls, what would I need to do to (1) check if the station in question has the proper transit switch properties (2) add the freight transit switch property in case it's missing?

[Nardo69]

Exactly. A step by step list:

0. Make a backup copy of the lot
1. Open the TE Editor in the SC4Tool
2. Note Transit Entry Cost and Capacity
3. Check if you find the following Transit Switches:
  a) Freight Trains Outside -> Inside
  b) Freight Trains Inside -> Outside
4. If you don't see them, add them:
  a) click the star
  b) choose type and direction (inside->outside or outside->inside)
  c) usually TE lots are East-West, to be sure you may activate all directions on the windrose
  d) Usually Tranist Entry Cost and Capacity are now gone. Restore them. If you wish you may change (increase) the capacity
5. Save the lot and Exit

Alternatively you can provide a route for freight trains by adding a side track, too ...

[Rady]

ok, done that for the rural train station pack. After that, I wanted to edit another station that I'm using, but things are strange with that lot. I can open it, edit (add) the Transit Switches and save the lot - SC4 tool say "saved". However, 1) I now have two lots, one called *.dat and one called *.sav 2) if I open them again in the SC4tool, the changes are gone? Any ideas of what's going on here?

Thanks!

[Nardo69]

The .dat should be the actual and changed file/lot while the *.sav should be last state of the lot before saving.

AFAIK SC4 doesn't look after extension but opens the files while loading and checks in the open file if it is a valid plugin file or not. In this case both files are valid sc4 data.

Again AFAIK Sc4 opens the files&folders in alphabetical order. Given that the file name hasn't changed the *.sav file will load after the .dat file and hence overwrite the changes you did before in SC4Tool.

So move the .sav file out of the plugin folder and see if it works then


Bernhard 

[Andreas]

*.sav files are simply backups, they save you from making a backup manually (hence the file extension name ). As Bernhard said, always remove them from your plugins folder when running the game for testing or playing. If you want, you can disable the creation of those backup files in SC4Tool's options.

[Rady]

OK, Bernhard, Andreas, so I forget about that sav file,

but: if I change and save that file, close it, exit SC4tool, and then open that file again with the SC4tool, this file should reflect the changes, shouldn't it? However, it doesnt. It seem untouched and the entries that I've just made are lost.

Have a look:

Before editing


Adding entries:


Save, close everything --> now we have the following:


Reopen:


And whoops, it looks like picture one.

[Andreas]

Did you remove the *.sav file before opening the *.dat? Not sure if that really changes anything, but you never know...

[Rady]

simply: yes.

Mayber there's something wrong with that lot ...?

[Andreas]

If I could have a look at the DAT, I'd probably get an idea what went wrong. Simply send me a mail to andreas (at) simcityplaza (dot) de.

[Rady]

An answer is long overdue, sorry for that - RL implications 

Thanks for the modified files .. I put them into game after deleting the old ones, but unfortunately they still block freight rail traffic. But, we shouldn't worry to much about that. I finally decided to build a bypass for freight trains, so now everything's ok.

Thanks anyway for your help and time, Andreas!!