Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then?

You are here: Home > Forum > New to SimSig? > Newcomers > Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then?

Page 1 of 1

Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 16/10/2009 at 21:40 #114
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
I'm a newcomer and I've already tried out Royston (I've read that this is the easiest simulation).

Which sim is siutable for a newcomer then?

I've tried Swindon (the old one, at the old website) and it's not very difficult.
Are there other sim nearly at the same difficult level?

The othere ones that I've tried, Cambridge and Bristol, are hard to me (also because there is no "simulation documentation" in the help file about them).

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 16/10/2009 at 21:40 #3642
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
I'm a newcomer and I've already tried out Royston (I've read that this is the easiest simulation).

Which sim is siutable for a newcomer then?

I've tried Swindon (the old one, at the old website) and it's not very difficult.
Are there other sim nearly at the same difficult level?

The othere ones that I've tried, Cambridge and Bristol, are hard to me (also because there is no "simulation documentation" in the help file about them).

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 16/10/2009 at 21:59 #3644
ledgero2
Avatar
93 posts
hello and welcome to the wonderful world of SimSig (and its nice new site)

i personally started out with Westbury, or possibly 'easier' than that is Gloucester. youll pick the general hang of things up pretty quickly.

enjoy

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 16/10/2009 at 22:04 #3645
John
Avatar
884 posts
Hi Hari,

Swindon/Didcot, Westbury, Gloucester and Exeter and fairly simple, SwinDid is also equiped with ARS, which means you won't have to control the entire sim if you don't want to.

Dive in and have fun!

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 16/10/2009 at 22:12 #3646
Noisynoel
Avatar
989 posts
Hi Hari & welcome,

Another good way to learn is to join in a multi-player session. Several of us host them and we always welcome newbies. It's good in that you can have a go at a larger sim like Trent or Kings X, but you only control a small area and as your on line with several other people, then you can ask questions there & then..

Keep your eye on the hosting part of the forum.....

Noisynoel
Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 10:58 #3654
lpeters
Avatar
160 posts
LKX is a good one to do once you get going. Personally, the first sim I did was also Royston, and then I tried LKX. I found LKX to be a nice sim, it wasn't easy but neither was it hard. It helps if you do a sim that is local to you. For example, I live in Stevenage which is one of the main stations in the LKX sim, the only non-terminus that NXEC trains stop at which gives me a bit of background knowledge on the sim.

If you can find a sim that is local to you, then I would recommend that you do that one (unless it's Trent).

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 17:23 #3663
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
John said:
SwinDid is also equiped with ARS, which means you won't have to control the entire sim if you don't want to.
Actually ARS is one of the feature that I've not learned to use yet.

I'll have a look.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 17:30 #3665
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
Noisynoel said:
Hi Hari & welcome,

Another good way to learn is to join in a multi-player session. Several of us host them and we always welcome newbies. It's good in that you can have a go at a larger sim like Trent or Kings X, but you only control a small area and as your on line with several other people, then you can ask questions there & then..

Keep your eye on the hosting part of the forum.....
Yes I know so,
but I would like to be at least a bit skilled in a simulation if I'm playing it (even if I'm playing a small area in multiplayer game, just to understand the game).

(I mean that I would like to know the layout and the location.
Some sims are described in the help file "SimSig user manual" ("Simulation documentation" section) but other sims (Cambridge or Bristol, for example) are not)

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 17:33 #3666
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
lpeters said:
If you can find a sim that is local to you, then I would recommend that you do that one.
Alas this is very unlikely, asa I'm from Italy :rolleyes:

p.s. why the "merge post" command in forum post does not work? (or: how does it work?)
I thought that the 3 messages of mine would collapsed into one, but it did not work

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 17:36 #3667
Noisynoel
Avatar
989 posts
Hari Seldon said:
es I know so,
but I would like to be at least a bit skilled in a simulation if I'm playing it (even if I'm playing a small area in multiplayer game, just to understand the game).

(I mean that I would like to know the layout and the location.
Some sims are described in the help file "SimSig user manual" ("Simulation documentation" section) but other sims (Cambridge or Bristol, for example) are not)
Then you will have to be patient until they transfer the Wiki over to the new site which contains info on most of the sims

Noisynoel
Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 19:39 #3670
postal
Avatar
5189 posts
Online
Beware the ARS in the current SwinDid release. The ARS settings are not correct and ARS sets the route for a lot of the trains many minutes earlier than it should causing routing conflicts and wrong priorities. This should be fixed when the sim is re-released.

Hari - ARS is Automatic Route Setting which is a signaller's aid (both in SimSig and the real world). It sets the route automatically for trains using the Timetable and the location of other trains which may have conflicting routes. In the SimSig world, it means that you can let large parts of the sim run themselves. However, it is only an aid and is not a foolproof way to run the sim.

JG

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 17/10/2009 at 23:55 #3672
John
Avatar
884 posts
The ARS in the Waterloo sim is pretty reliable, though if find.

Disabling it on screen 1 allows you to control the terminus only, which in itself is more than enough work for the solo player.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 19/10/2009 at 01:14 #3691
Lardybiker
Avatar
771 posts
Hari,

Another welcome to SimSig!

Apologies for the lack of manuals but problems with our previous website provider and consequent changes to the website when the swap over was made has meant that the original Wiki text is now not compatible. Its being worked on and will get it back up as soon as it can be made to work.

As for your original question, everyone will have a different opinion as to what you should do and which sim you should try.

So here is my take on things....
1) My first piece of advice is to pick a sim and stick to it. Why? Because it takes a while to learn a sim, particularly its locations and if you keep swapping from one to another means it can get difficult to remember what location is where.

2) If there is something you are struggling with in a particular sim then post it here and I am sure someone will be able to help solve it or point you in the correct direction. If you'd rather, send me a private message about it and I'll see what I can do (find my user in the forum uselist, open it and click on the link next to private message).

3) I personally started with Stafford (Royston wasn't available back then), playing through the TT several times before I moved on to Kings Cross. Stafford isn't currently available for download but I do however have a copy of the installer if you would like it.

4) A word about Multiplayer games. Getting in on a multiplayer game is good advice. Don't be put off playing a multiplayer game just because you haven't played much. Many a user has learned how to do things in SimSig be playing multiplayer games. Ask if the host minds you just observing. If they know you are a new user I am sure they will have no problems with you doing that. You can then watch the sim as the game progresses. If you are confident enough you could join in by asking the host if you could control a easier screen (Vw6 in Kings Cross is a good example).

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 27/10/2009 at 22:13 #3794
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
Thank you for all the advices.


Just to let you informed about what I've done and which sim I've started with:

After Royston, I move to Swindon and then Cambridge. (Cambridge was a bit difficult to me, and I should have played it whene I were more expert. But it taked me not very much to learn to manage it -off-course at "beginner" level- )

I loked for an easy sim with ARS, to learn ARS, and I've found Southampton, which is very easy.
(By the way, when a select the "beginner" level, it say that there will be no failures. But actually failures do happend!)

Then, as adviced here, I've moved to Westbury. (It's something easier than Cambridge).

Now I've just moved to Gloucester.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 27/10/2009 at 22:19 #3795
John
Avatar
884 posts
Good for you, Hari.=)

I'm glad your enjoying the sims, and it's nice to see you joining in the multiplayer sessions.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 30/10/2009 at 17:27 #3812
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
ledgero2 said:
i personally started out with Westbury, or possibly 'easier' than that is Gloucester. youll pick the general hang of things up pretty quickly.
I've switched from Westbury to Gloucester, and it does not seem me 'easier' at all.

The layout is not hard to undestand and manage
(though I have trouble with the yards around Gloucester. If a shunter calls me, I can not understand where the train is)

but is the timetable that is killing me!
I had to understand how to manage the banker train,
and there not few train dividing and the joining at Gloucester's platform, sothime also with anouter train at the same paltform (So if you put the two trains in the wrong order, then a train is in the middle after the divide, and it's stuck there!)

It does not seem me suitable for a newcomer (or nearly newcomer).

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 31/10/2009 at 09:04 #3814
nickp
Avatar
30 posts
Hari,

You might like to try Exeter, Peterborough or Stafford. These are also among the easier sims.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 31/10/2009 at 21:11 #3822
lpeters
Avatar
160 posts
Kings Cross is actually a lot easier than a lot of people give it credit for. I've reached 14:20 at the moment with 90% score on the 2009 fictional timetable. And it's not hard but it is confusing. What makes it hard is points failures etc. at Kings X. If you start out how I did with TCFs etc. off but with slight train delays you get the hang of it easily. Then build up to having TCFs and points failures etc.

Kings Cross is a lot easier than it looks. Especially with a timetable that starts off slow because you don't notice it build up and then when you realise you're controlling 50+ trains you just wonder what all the fuss is about.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 31/10/2009 at 22:42 #3823
Adrian the Rock
Avatar
111 posts
With all the sims, to run them effectively you have to learn two main things:

  1. the layout, where all the locations are, what connects to where, which routes connect with each other; and

  2. the timetable, how trains are planned to weave amongst each other at the various junctions, and so forth.


This comes with practice. It can seem daunting at first when you have four or five screens of dense track layouts, but keep going and you may be quite surprised how soon things start to click into place.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 01/11/2009 at 16:55 #3830
Hari Seldon
Avatar
51 posts
John said:
Swindon/Didcot, Westbury, Gloucester and Exeter and fairly simple,
Where can I find Swindon/Didcot (togheter, I already have Swindon alone and Didcot alone) and Exeter?

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 01/11/2009 at 17:14 #3831
AnyFile
Avatar
101 posts
You can find the Swindon A+B on the old site on this page (it is the file named SwinDid.zip )

Note that there should be some problem in the timetabled supplied. A revised version is available
old site: SwinDid fixed 2005 timetable.zip


This timetable is not available on the new site, so I am going to upload it.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 01/11/2009 at 17:17 #3832
postal
Avatar
5189 posts
Online
Beware the ARS on the released Swindon A + B (SwinDid). The coding is not set up correctly and it often sets the route forward many minutes in advance of the due time, locking up other routes and causing delay to other trains. I normally run it with the ARS activated, but collars on the signals at the ends of all the platforms at Swindon and Didcot.

JG

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 02/11/2009 at 18:07 #3851
Signaller@Amsterdam
Avatar
76 posts
Just as in reality I have large parts of the sim running with ARS on, allowing me to sit back and relax... but don't be surprised... you still have to monitor everything.

For me ARS is a big pal, but it can turn into your biggest anemy every minute. As a signaller your core business is to anticipate and look into the future to prevent conflicts. And yes... Safety is the key factor.

In SwinDid I have the entire sim running on ARS... except Didcot east Jcn. That part is done manually as ARS gives me headaches on that section.

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 13/11/2009 at 16:04 #4044
Ruddles
Avatar
6 posts
Try Peterborough.. thats another straight forward one with ARS as well..

Ruddles

Log in to reply
Newcomer: 1st sim Royston. And which sim then? 02/01/2010 at 15:15 #5479
delticfan
Avatar
476 posts
Hi to all from new user Mal. My background is as a lifelong railfan, did 12 years at Brum New Street as platform staff upto 2001.My claim to fame is that I had an article published in 'Traction' magazine in june 2007 and another due to go in sometime. Just turned 60 and got my first home PC. Have used other sig simulations of varying complexity and fancied having a go at SIMSIG as there seems much evidence of detail and much hard work by those involved. I'm certainly going to try the easier sims initially and will try not to ask too many silly questions (LOL). Look forward to reading other posts and may pick up clues to the sims on the way. Cheers for now, Mal.
Log in to reply