CTC 3.12 was mostly about adaption for TDP3 territories, e.g. possible multiple start times on a particular weekday – or even non at all, and pick a couple of trains of a regular schedule, and place them where you want. We actually run those trains – and only those – and maneuver them so that they get to the supposed starting blocks. Then we save that game status and incorporate that into the scene data that you can download.
The conversion of TDP3’s train schedule handling turned out to be tricky. There are some conditions where decisions need to be made to fit in our CTC scheduling scheme that are not so obvious. That involved some TDP3 investigations – we almost can open now a TDP support group – except for serial number lookup we probably can answer any TDP question you may have.
Anyway, because of this, we haven’t completed the helper function and the foreign train handling yet – we decided to delay that and do it for 3.13.
But we don’t want to do only what TDP does, we want to do something more.
For instance, we are thinking about expanding the signalling and routing by differentiating between train routing (from station to station) and switch routing (typically within a station) Switch routing allows routing into an occupied block and the train runs under caution – since this is switching. And you have – in a station – far more switching signals than signals for train routing. And while switching only signals have to be clear (or at least neutral) for a train route, the train’s behavior is really governed by the train signals as opposed to the switching signals.
Another thing we want to add is “more comfortable” routing, like pre-progamming a route that would not be possible at this moment, but would be set once it is possible, or automatic routing based on train types, destination etc.
As always, enjoy the game.
The WebRailRoader Team