Sequential Pickups Problem Options

[tjbuege]

Hi,

I'm running version 4.2.11 of Activity Generator. In the documentation , it states that "if simple mode is NOT checked, you may be required to pick up the first, 5th and 8th cars on that spur". I am not finding that to be the case. More often than not, most of the pickups remain sequential, regardless of the state of this check box option.

Additionally, if I uncheck the sequential pickup option, I end up with an activity where cars are to be delivered to TWO destinations! Put another way, I am to deliver cars to both industry tracks, and to the final destination yard track. This is not a problem if I check the sequential pickup option.

What's going on here? Is this a bug? Or is there a problem with they way I've designed my template?

Thanks,
Tim

[nbeveridge]

Hi,

I'm running version 4.2.11 of Activity Generator. In the documentation , it states that "if simple mode is NOT checked, you may be required to pick up the first, 5th and 8th cars on that spur". I am not finding that to be the case. More often than not, most of the pickups remain sequential, regardless of the state of this check box option.

Additionally, if I uncheck the sequential pickup option, I end up with an activity where cars are to be delivered to TWO destinations! Put another way, I am to deliver cars to both industry tracks, and to the final destination yard track. This is not a problem if I check the sequential pickup option.

What's going on here? Is this a bug? Or is there a problem with they way I've designed my template?

Thanks,
Tim

Depending on the template design, number of cars to work and the track selected, you might still get all sequential car for pick up. For instance, if the track only holds a few cars (say 3) and you allow more than that per move (say 5), then you will likely get all three cars from that track, and thus they are sequential. Or if the designer set up the track to be "unit" pick up, such as at a coal mine, then the cars will always be sequential regardless of whether this box is checked. Try generating the same activity multiple times to see if it sometimes will be non-sequential. The more capacity on a given track, the more likely that the cars will NOT be sequential.

As for the other problem, we have seen this in the past, but I don't remember the exact circumstances. I do remember that if this happened, it was due to some unusual set up of the activity and I could not get it to repeat. I.e. when this turned up, if I exited AG, and then restarted AG, then even if I set up what I thought was the same activity, it would not repeat.

If you somehow get this to repeatedly happen, then please run the diagnostics with the activity. Then gather all the activity files plus the diagnostic reports and send them to Steve.

[tjbuege]

Depending on the template design, number of cars to work and the track selected, you might still get all sequential car for pick up. For instance, if the track only holds a few cars (say 3) and you allow more than that per move (say 5), then you will likely get all three cars from that track, and thus they are sequential. Or if the designer set up the track to be "unit" pick up, such as at a coal mine, then the cars will always be sequential regardless of whether this box is checked. Try generating the same activity multiple times to see if it sometimes will be non-sequential. The more capacity on a given track, the more likely that the cars will NOT be sequential.

Yes, I realize that if I am asking to pick up 5 cars and the track only has 3, then they will always be sequential. But I am seeing this behavior on tracks where there are 3-4 cars and only one is being picked up. 9 times out of 10, the first car (car "0") is being picked up. So it's not 100% of the time, but it's not very random, either. Regarding the "unit" type of track, where is that documented? I've looked through the manual (pdf), but it only mentions that the designer can designate a track as "unit". It does not say how. This is a template I've written myself. Could I have inadvertantly set the tracks all to unit? I'm guessing that is not the case, since as I mentioned, every once in a rare while, a car will be requested for pick up that is not the first car on the track.

As for the other problem, we have seen this in the past, but I don't remember the exact circumstances. I do remember that if this happened, it was due to some unusual set up of the activity and I could not get it to repeat. I.e. when this turned up, if I exited AG, and then restarted AG, then even if I set up what I thought was the same activity, it would not repeat.

If you somehow get this to repeatedly happen, then please run the diagnostics with the activity. Then gather all the activity files plus the diagnostic reports and send them to Steve.

Oh, this is very repeatable. Exiting out of AG does not help. Although, I have noticed that if I generate multiple activities during the same AG session (without exiting out between each generated activity), I'll start to see some strange results, such as fewer and fewer cars placed on the tracks, and included in the generated activity. Eventually AG will crash with an error message (which I cannot recall just now), suggesting there is some memory leak somewhere. Next time that happens I'll make note of it. Anyhow, I'll get the information you suggested and send it to Steve.

Thanks,
Tim

[nbeveridge]

Regarding the "unit" type of track, where is that documented? I've looked through the manual (pdf), but it only mentions that the designer can designate a track as "unit". It does not say how. This is a template I've written myself. Could I have inadvertantly set the tracks all to unit? I'm guessing that is not the case, since as I mentioned, every once in a rare while, a car will be requested for pick up that is not the first car on the track.

Oh, this is very repeatable. Exiting out of AG does not help. Although, I have noticed that if I generate multiple activities during the same AG session (without exiting out between each generated activity), I'll start to see some strange results, such as fewer and fewer cars placed on the tracks, and included in the generated activity. Eventually AG will crash with an error message (which I cannot recall just now), suggesting there is some memory leak somewhere. Next time that happens I'll make note of it. Anyhow, I'll get the information you suggested and send it to Steve.

Thanks,
Tim

"Unit" is a track type, which would be designated in the SWLTDB file as a U. If you are creating your own templates, then you would have to put this designation in there yourself. Presently the track types available are I for industry, Y for yard, X for eye candy only, and U for unit. This is not well documented -- I think that Steve's manual has lagged behind a bit. Maybe we should clean it up. We pretty much thought that all the template developers were covered, but recently I have heard from several new people (now including yourself) who are working templates.

I recommend that you should exit AG after each activity is generated. I.e. my suggestion is that you should not generate multiple activities in a single AG session.

Since this is your own template. when you have this dual destination error, please package all the activity files plus the diagnostics file plus all your template files for Steve.

[tjbuege]

"Unit" is a track type, which would be designated in the SWLTDB file as a U. If you are creating your own templates, then you would have to put this designation in there yourself. Presently the track types available are I for industry, Y for yard, X for eye candy only, and U for unit. This is not well documented -- I think that Steve's manual has lagged behind a bit. Maybe we should clean it up. We pretty much thought that all the template developers were covered, but recently I have heard from several new people (now including yourself) who are working templates.

Yes, I think the documentation needs updating. I searched this forum for the word "unit" and found no hits that explained the track type. How would I know about this feature? What other features and enhancements are not documented? I will try to package up the diags file and my template files this evening.

Thanks,
Tim

[tjbuege]

Ok, I just sent Steve an email with what I hope are the files he needs. Please let me know if I missed something. Thanks.

Tim