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| Control for multiplayer and chained hosts 11/05/2015 at 09:48 #72077 | |
kbarber
1743 posts |
I wonder if there's mileage in offering a few features for the hosts of MP sessions, all the more so if they're chained. What I have in mind would make it easier for the host to act as Control. First: it might be good to be able to have a 'hierarchy' of Controls, at the discretion of the hosts. Two main scenarios I have in mind where chained sessions are being run (they don't really apply to single MP sessions). The first is where there's a 'primary' host who is set up as the Controller but with the host for each sim acting, in effect, as box supervisor making regulating decisions and handling shunting instructions & suchlike (particularly as per my '...for following train to pass' feature suggestion). The other would have the Controller dealing directly with all boxes/workstations in the session and other hosts having relatively little to do. That might be more appropriate where the sim covers what are, in reality, a number of smaller boxes (North Wales Coast and Shrewsbury, for example). There might even be a hybrid structure where part of the session is smaller boxes and the other has a powerbox. Control would have control of trains that didn't run every day, rather than running being on a percentage basis as now (but could opt to allow the percentages if preferred). For each train there would be a cut-off time by which the decision whether it would run had to be made, usually the time it would normally start its journey from point of origin (but in some cases could be an intermediate location - for a Coventry/NS/Wolves/Walsall/Staffs/etc chain there might be an option to cancel a train from Willesden rather than Dover being the cut-off time). The sim would present the controller with trains to decide on at appropriate times (including an initial list at startup). There would be a facility for timetable writers to include both blank paths and 'elapsed time' paths. The blank paths would be the equivalent of the old 'Q' paths, effectively a complete train but without a headcode and 0% probability until livened up by the Controller, and could be used at any time to run a Control special. 'Elapsed time' paths would start at the origin location at 00:00 and each subsequent location would then be an appropriate number of minutes later. They would probably go from one significant location to another - junction to junction, perhaps - and would be capable of being stitched together easily to provide a path right through the sim (regardless of how much it conflicted with other moves). The controller could assemble a VSTP timetable from appropriate elapsed time paths, then inputting a start time from which all the subsequent times would be filled in automatically; the train would then launch itself into the sim and the unfortunate signalmen and box supervisors would have the job of regulating it as best they could. Log in to reply |
| Control for multiplayer and chained hosts 14/05/2015 at 12:56 #72193 | |
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Frankley Junction
37 posts |
I think there is merit in this added level of realism being available, certainly the VSTP features. However, I think the step before in any chained MP game is the one that I have previously requested, that the main host can simultaneously message all operators on all chained sims at the same time.
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| Control for multiplayer and chained hosts 14/05/2015 at 16:34 #72206 | |
GeoffM
6377 posts |
The concept of a sort of master control program has been considered and timetable UIDs facilitate at least part of that. Currently there's no way to prevent a train which runs to the same destination from two possible origins from both running if the origins are in separate simulations. The master control program would be able to oversee this sort of thing.
SimSig Boss Log in to reply |