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| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 22/04/2023 at 15:34 #151381 | |
samrammstein
2 posts |
Hi all, I've been SimSigging for many years, mainly on Chester and Sandhills (local to me) and I felt that I picked up those sims quite quickly as I already had some local knowledge. I have just purchased Crewe and instantly felt overwhelmed by the size of it and volume of traffic, I got a few hours into the default TT and find myself more stressed than after a hard day at work. So I am asking for any tips / methods anyone might have for how they learn a new simulation from scratch. Is there an easier way or should I just dive straight in and learn from mistakes? Surely it can't just be me who is struggling with the Crewe monster after really enjoying some of the smaller sims. Hope this thread can help others also. Thanks, Sam. Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 22/04/2023 at 16:46 #151384 | |
Splodge
702 posts 
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My normal thing is to use one of the default timetables with a midnight start - it's normally quiet, with shunts and unusual moves which allow you to learn the area without causing too many delays. Unfortunately this doesn't really apply to Crewe which is manic nearly all night long! There's the right way, the wrong way and the railway. Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 22/04/2023 at 16:50 #151385 | |
GeoffM
6284 posts |
When starting the sim, on the options screen, did you change any of the default settings? Ticking "TORR enabled" and unticking the other check boxes should make life somewhat easier.
SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 22/04/2023 at 20:03 #151389 | |
andyallen4014
358 posts
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You can always reduce the speed (even to less than 1:1 or realtime). And no you're not the only one, I've found Crewe a bit of a monster with a lot of scrolling. User | Multiplayer Host | Timetable Writer Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 22/04/2023 at 20:33 #151390 | |
jc92
3629 posts |
andyallen4014 in post 151389 said:You can always reduce the speed (even to less than 1:1 or realtime).I tend to use hot keys 1 5 and 9 to speed up jumping around to roughly the right area. When testing crewe solo I found the 0400 start to be the easiest with freight having died off a bit, but passenger services not yet in full swing. I would start there and use the pause key as much as needed if you Need to check the manual or make sense of a timetable. "We don't stop camborne wednesdays" Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 22/04/2023 at 21:24 #151392 | |
flabberdacks
580 posts |
Absolutely no shame in turning a sim down to half speed (in Options -> General tab). If you feel like it's getting away from you, pause it and plan your next moves. If you're not sure what train is next into a platform, pause it and check what's on approach, or take the time to check your simplifier. Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 23/04/2023 at 09:13 #151402 | |
Cedric
42 posts |
I too have been using Simsig for many years, and yes Crewe is a monster although it is not unique in that regard (think of London Bridge, Victoria, Three Bridges for example). I think all the suggestions so far are good, and are ones that I have tried myself. The other things is not to take it too seriously particularly as you "learn" it - especially if it is an unfamiliar area. If you get into a complete mess you can always abandon it and simply start again; and alternatives are to delete/remove individual trains if you can't get them to do what you want, or abandon timetable on a train (in which case the train will just go off in whatever direction it is pointing). As you get more familiar with an area then you will find that you need to do this less and less. For starters I would recommend doing all the things suggested so far - i.e. TORR On (I suspect that Crewe had TORR anyway given that it wasn't commissioned until the mid 80s), level crossings and absolute bock disabled, nil faults & failures, no delays and run at half speed. If necessary you can remove or abandon timetable on the odd train if you get completely stuck with it. As you get more familiar you can speed the sim up to normal, introduce some delays and failures and when you start your second or subsequent game you can reintroduce some of the facilities that were disabled initially. Hope that helps. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: flabberdacks |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 23/04/2023 at 10:16 #151403 | |
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eps125
66 posts
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I agree that for the purposes of learning having the options selected as mentioned above in the thread will be helpful, especially level crossings disabled. Regarding the TORR though Crewe SCC (and Gresty Lane which by then resides there) in the modern era do indeed have TORR, the others don't. Winsford, Coal Yard, Basford Hall, Salop Goods, SSN, and Steel Works all have lever frames with Winsford being a little bit special. The manual does mention that with TORR disabled, only Crewe SCC panels will have TORR. The use of hot keys helped me massively in my first play through of the supplied timetable, especially with the amount of hopping between Salop and Coal Yard for the AB controls! Another suggestion could be keeping an eye out for a multiplayer game which would mean you have realtime support from others and a much smaller area to worry about. I suspect there will be plenty of games appearing over the coming weeks! Log in to reply |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 23/04/2023 at 13:37 #151411 | |
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Stephen Fulcher
2026 posts
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Not relevant for Crewe, but another thing to do is to turn ARS on some of the sim, and leave it off on the section you with to learn.
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| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 24/04/2023 at 10:49 #151430 | |
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slatteryc
248 posts |
One other really useful ( and I've just done it for Crewe) is to look at a few cabrides on Youtube . There are a few for Crewe that go round the houses and I found it very useful to see how it all was knitted together. Its very satisfying matching the SimSig signal numbers on the sim to the videos and going "Aha" !
Log in to reply The following user said thank you: tigermatt |
| Best Way To Learn A New Sim? 25/04/2023 at 17:22 #151472 | |
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Keith Palmer
12 posts |
Hi there! Have you slowed down the simulation? If so, you will soon get used to it, once you become more familiar with it! At first, it does seem an awful lot, but as I said, you will soon find it much easier as time goes by and furthermore, you will enjoy the Crewe simulation better, so don't give up! As for me, so far, the only simulation I find too much with all honesty, is the London Bridge simulation! Mega to say the least! It covers quite an area and as the simulation progresses, it does start to get to a point where there are too many trains to deal with, all at once! So, I have decided to purchase a new 35" monitor so that I have a much better view, even after using the "overview" to show the whole diagram, it will be better! Kind regards, Keith Palmer. Retired Preston PSB signaller. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: flabberdacks |