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| Potentially useful function 21/02/2010 at 19:56 #750 | |
UKTrainMan
1803 posts |
I was playing one of the sims the other day and wanted to hold a very early freight train back somewhere. Now, this sim was a big one and I was busy on other things which resulted in me nearly forgetting about the train. This gave me an idea of a feature which I'm sure others may also find useful; Alarm Clock Basically, a simple sub menu or button on the control panel which would allow the player (in solo) or each individual player (in multi) to set a time (based on sim time) for some kind of alarm to go off, which could simply be a message box to pop-up for users to acknowledge it by clicking on 'OK' (no need for a sound effect). Uses of this could include; Reminders of a specific train to be signalled General reminders for the players personal reasons (i.e: "Time to go to bed" reminder). Don't know what others will think of this nor whether this is actually possible but I would hope it can be at least seriously considered. Looking forward to replies and welcome both good and bad comments. Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for. Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 21/02/2010 at 19:56 #6854 | |
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UKTrainMan
1803 posts |
I was playing one of the sims the other day and wanted to hold a very early freight train back somewhere. Now, this sim was a big one and I was busy on other things which resulted in me nearly forgetting about the train. This gave me an idea of a feature which I'm sure others may also find useful; Alarm Clock Basically, a simple sub menu or button on the control panel which would allow the player (in solo) or each individual player (in multi) to set a time (based on sim time) for some kind of alarm to go off, which could simply be a message box to pop-up for users to acknowledge it by clicking on 'OK' (no need for a sound effect). Uses of this could include; Reminders of a specific train to be signalled General reminders for the players personal reasons (i.e: "Time to go to bed" reminder). Don't know what others will think of this nor whether this is actually possible but I would hope it can be at least seriously considered. Looking forward to replies and welcome both good and bad comments. Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for. Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 21/02/2010 at 23:04 #6861 | |
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alan_s
152 posts |
I agree this would be useful - for both uses outlined above! :) Alan Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 15:25 #6871 | |
Chrisrail
384 posts |
Why not use Sticky Notes!! We have seen many of these on our visits
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| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 15:29 #6873 | |
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lpeters
160 posts |
It would be nice to see this built into the TRTS function. Although obviously seperate it might be useful to have it included. Sometimes, although I put sticky notes in, I can forget about them totally when I am busy signalling.
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| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 17:28 #6877 | |
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alan_s
152 posts |
Sticky notes don't pop up and remind you 2 minutes before you are meant to signal a freight train out of a loop. Normally the only reminder you get is about 3 mins after when he complains he's waiting at a red signal! And sticky notes don't remind you that its time for bed! 
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| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 17:34 #6878 | |
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kbarber
1712 posts |
alan_s said:
HWMBO's for that... provided he's not SimSigging as well of course. Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 20:22 #6884 | |
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clive
2738 posts |
How many real signalling panels have an alarm clock to remind you to set a route? [If you're really desperate, get an alarm clock program and run it separately.] Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 20:26 #6885 | |
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UKTrainMan
1803 posts |
Whilst real signalling panels do not have an alarm clock built into them, I seem to recall reading somewhere some functions may be included in SimSig simulations if they are deemed as useful / wanted by others - or something to that effect. Additionally, obtaining a separate alarm clock programme may not be workable as I can imagine it would likely run off my computer time and it would probably not be something I could edit the time of to suit the game time. Furthermore I could not pause the alarm clock timer whenever I pause the game too. I could of course change my system time to suit the game time but it still wouldn't be pause-able for when I pause the game meaning having to change the time repeatedly to suit the game time would of course mean less game-time plus I would lose track of the real time! Finally, I wouldn't be surprised if it included forced advertising or ad-ware / spy-ware which of course is unwanted. Anyway, the use of an alarm clock feature may not be just for setting a route - that was just an example of one of the functions that any player may want to use. Another example would be to remind the player of the newer departure time for a delayed train. I'm sure there are plenty of other functions out there. And yes I do already use sticky notes (especially with delayed trains - I copy the text dialogue and paste it into a sticky note) but as lpeters said it is all too easy to forget about or overlook a sticky note whilst busy signalling away. Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for. Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 22/02/2010 at 21:06 #6886 | |
GeoffM
6284 posts |
Given a choice I suspect most users would prefer that the developers add more realistic features added than an unrealistic alarm clock. A signaller's duty is to remember what his trains are doing. If he has to write it down, put a post-it note on the panel, or create a sticky in SimSig, then that's what he has to do. If he still forgets then he's in trouble - and yes it happens on the big railway. Situational awareness, or lack thereof.
SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 23/02/2010 at 17:32 #6908 | |
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ozzyd9001
131 posts |
i have a great reminder for bed time THE WIFE????? she kicks me off when SHE WHO MUST BE ODAYED wants some sleep never did see the point?? HEHEHE Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 25/02/2010 at 14:55 #6943 | |
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afro09
167 posts |
Not to knock UKTrainMans idea, But I do think having such an option in a sim takes away from the first description that anyone gets of SimSig on the home page. "Welcome to the world of railway signalling! SimSig brings the signal box to your home PC and with it the enjoyment and frustrations of running today's (and some of yesterday's) railways. How often has your train been delayed because of "signal failure" and you've wondered why trains can't be routed around the problem - or why it is even a problem in the first place? You'll soon see exactly why - with SimSig! SimSig places you in the signaller's seat and lets you control the trains. You will be presented with an environment closely resembling a real signalling control centre, including the screen display and controls. It recreates the signalling as realistically as possible and it is up to you to route the trains to their destination and do your best to keep them on time. You will have to make the same kind of decisions that real signallers do to keep the railway running as smoothly as possible. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it is ... until something goes wrong. Can you cope with the everyday challenges of late running trains, random delays, signal and point failures, engineering works, or bad weather?" It is the challenge of keeping the railways running smoothly we all trive on. Keeping freights to time, getting delayed pax services back on time. and if you get lost in a momment of chaos the so be it, a driver has a lineside phone beside him if he is at a red, so him ringing will remind you the train is there. To me I feel adding an alarm clock of this style, you may aswell put ARS on all sims then sit back and watch. But then again thats just my view. Alan. Log in to reply |
| Potentially useful function 28/02/2010 at 07:10 #7014 | |
Champs450007
96 posts |
I was playing a sigcent demo the other day, and one thing they have is a hot point that you can select so when a train passes that area an alarm ring to let you now which is pretty useful for when you are elsewhere when you really need 3 people on a big simulation.
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| Potentially useful function 28/02/2010 at 11:57 #7015 | |
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razgriz33
42 posts |
Get an Egg timer and pop it next to your computer? hehe
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| Re: Potentially useful function 21/12/2011 at 05:12 #25930 | |
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maxand
1637 posts |
Recently I started a thread about running a free countdown timer in conjunction with SimSig to help users remember things like times of TRTS and raising LC barriers, etc. Compared with such an external device, SimSig already has a built-in clock that compensates for the speed at which the sim is run. This is more accurate than guessing. Thus if LC barriers must be raised within 4 minutes to avoid a penalty, I would need to set an external timer for 2 minutes if running the sim at 2X speed. Computers are supposed to save us labour (ha ha), so at the expense of a bit more code, one could arrange for a pop-up window to appear or a sound to be played to notify us that a TRTS has occurred, or a warning that LC barriers are still down. This really becomes useful if one is playing a relatively wide sim on a relatively narrow screen, i.e., at least 60% of the action is occurring offscreen. For a bit of extra luxury, the option to "jump to TRTS" or "jump to LC" could be worked in, similar to the "jump to signal" or "jump to train" feature request I canvassed here. Components that occur only in games today have a habit of becoming an indispensable part of professional software tomorrow - see the Kinection? 
Last edited: 21/12/2011 at 05:14 by maxand Log in to reply |
| Re: Potentially useful function 21/12/2011 at 13:48 #25968 | |
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john havenhand
58 posts |
how about having the train flashing when its due to depart from the loop
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