PC [app] - Thirdrails - Community Railway Network

Yes, there is a minimum threshold.

Rides need to be at least 2 miles long to be logged and published to WhistleBoard. This helps filter out very short test runs, setup movements, or accidental starts.

If your shunting operations were around 3–4 miles total they should normally qualify, but if they were just under 2 miles they won’t be published.

 

Yes, you’re right, apparently the world decided it was a good idea to reuse station names across continents

There is a temporary workaround:
Since stations are harvested directly from the timetable’s “Calling At” entries, the system treats the station name exactly as written there. So if you manually rename it in your timetable to something like:

Chatham (US)
Dover (US)

The Station Network will treat those as separate entries and they will register correctly.
It’s not ideal, and I don’t expect everyone to modify their timetables, but it does work as a short-term solution.

I’m currently refactoring the radar engine as part of RadarX to support upcoming features like the timetable layer, which will also enable a more location-based approach to station matching.

 

3.57 according to the log, but in spite of my attempts to upload it, no dice..

 

Oh yeah, you are right about that.

I looked into it a bit deeper.

Rides under 2 miles are not logged at all, neither locally nor on WhistleBoard.
However, the WhistleBoard server only accepts uploads for rides over 5 miles.

So your 3.57 mile shunting run was logged locally, but it doesn’t meet the 5 mile threshold required for publication.
Why 5 miles? Please don’t ask… it’s one of those “historic design decisions” that stuck

 

Cool, good to know.

 

Hey BeenTrain , the option to follow trains on the map is no longer available, at least the way it was before. Was this intentional?

 

Hey! Yes, this is intentional

In older versions of ThirdRails there were actually two ways of following your ride:
1. the HUD radar panel, and
2. the main form browser radar. (or local map)

This evolved over time and meant that the browser view and the HUD sometimes ended up doing the same thing and competing with each other.

With ThirdRails X (Radar First) this was simplified. The HUD radar panel is now the central place for tracking and following your ride.

When you press Track, the HUD radar will automatically start following your train.
In Radar First mode it opens automatically.
In Classic mode (not recommended) you’ll need to open it manually using the Open HUD button.

The main form browser is no longer meant for following your train and will evolve into a network overview map, showing things like driven routes and activity from other players.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

You might have misunderstood

You can still follow your ride on any computer, tablet or iPad using a web browser, anywhere.
That’s what ThirdRails is all about!

The only change is that tracking now starts from the HUD in the app. Once tracking is running, you can simply click yourself (or another player) on the map to follow.

You can try it here:
https://rentor.nl

 

Thank you for the breakdown, however I don't think I've completely understood how to follow someone through the app itself. I can do so through rentor.nl, but I don't see the option on the app itself. When I used it on streams, this was how I would utilise it; start the tracking on the PC running TSW, minimise it so it's not in the way of the game, and then open the app on my streaming PC, find myself on the map and click follow. The app open on my streaming PC would be the one visible to my viewers

 

Thanks, that explains how you are using it on your stream
In the older versions the main form radar in the app could also follow trains, which made setups like yours possible. (basically the same follow functionality as in the web browser)

With ThirdRails X, following was moved to the HUD radar, which now handles the tracking and follow logic. The main form radar in the app no longer has a follow function.

For streaming in your setup, you now have two options:
1. Use a web browser on your streaming PC via https://rentor.nl
You can simply click yourself (or another train) to follow.

2. Capture the HUD radar overlay from the game PC.
The HUD is movable and scalable, so you can place it anywhere on top of the sim.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks, I'll do the first option as I want the game to be clear of as many things as possible. There's a way to have the track monitor decoupled from the game and displayed elsewhere, Matt mentioned it on stream as he does it, but I'm not sure how.

 

You can try it here:
https://rentor.nl[/QUOTE]

Yes it works as advertised, I must have done something wrong the last time I tried.

Dank!

 

What's with the satellite view since the latest update having a wobbly effect akin to the old PS1 texture warble? It's making me slightly queasy. It gets more noticeable at the levels of zoom I am used to, which I can only guess is why the overlay now defaults to being futher zoomed out than it used to?

 

Thanks for pointing that out. The radar now uses smooth interpolation between position updates, and with satellite imagery that can sometimes create a slight “wobble” effect at certain zoom levels when following.

I will take a look and see if I can smooth it out a bit further.

 

Unfortunately smoothing it out further is technically not really possible. The smooth interpolated movement can, at certain zoom levels, especially with satellite imagery, cause a slight wobble effect as map tiles are resampled while the map is moving.

For most users this will not be noticeable and smooth tracking generally provides the most natural radar experience. However, if it makes you feel queasy there is now an option to switch from smooth tracking to classic tracking. In classic tracking the followed player will simply “hop” to its new position each second, similar to how the original Radar v1 behaved.

You can toggle this using the Route Trail button in the rider info panel that appears after following a player. If you are using the HUD, you can open the same panel via the ellipsis menu using “Open followed ride info.” (See screenshot.)

Hope this helps!

 

That's ideal, thanks.

 

New in ThirdRails 10.2: Peek Weather HUD panel

Use Peek Weather alongside Winzarten’s TSW Route Annotation/Live Weather app and the upcoming TSW 7 Live Weather feature to quickly check the weather conditions around your train using real world weather radar.
Browse current and historical radar imagery, and see what may be heading your way while you drive.
For now, you can choose between Ventusky, which is the default provider including your live train position, and Zoom Earth.





Looks like it’s going to rain…

Available now in ThirdRails 10.2!

 

Has anyone managed to reliably get the next station, the current objective and the next objective? Stations/markers are either incomplete, missing or too complete (there is no GoVia boolean, so next station for current service might not be the real next station. There is another IsGoVia node in the Objectives, but I couldn't match it since I cannot get the Objective name/description, just index. I've been browsing through every endpoint, every node, I dumped the process memory and tried every CallFunc_* I've found, disassembled the binary and followed about 70 func calls in windbg, inspecting rsp for string pointers, all just to find hidden unlisted endpoints. This API is so incomplete on stuff that actually matters for a HUD and PIS, I can't even.

 

What I noticed with ThirdRails is that the available track/station data changes as you drive. You basically push the track data ahead of you and stations appear as the route gets loaded.

That's actually why I started collecting station and route data myself, which eventually became RouteX.

 

Thats *IF* they do. What I noticed myself is that they either get pushed delayed, not at all, or all at once (so you don't know if the next station is the real next station, or just a "go via"). A professional api would give you all the stations beforehand with fields as 'visited', 'upcoming', 'stop=true' etc so you can create a reliable PIS. ALso it would give you the clear in-game objectives. Very strange that you have HUD_GetSpeed and other HUD_* info, but not objectives and times.

 

Introducing ThirdRails Zeus
ThirdRails Zeus fills the gap between Custom (static) Weather and Live Weather. It lets you make a Weather Forecast for your journey.
You can make a Weather Story by simply adding Weather Anchors, representing a Weather State, to which Zeus will let the weather gradually evolve in TSW.

The Weather Engine is designed to make every ride variable and to add in-between transitions for major weather changes, but as you can see in the screenshot below, you can also define these yourself.

Zeus is now available in ThirdRails 10.3!

If you want to play with Zeus, I recommend reviewing the tutorial first, which includes tips and technical weather information.
You can find the tutorial here.

 

Ahhhh, no way!!!!

 

I am trying to automate station announcements and having trouble, as the screen in my TRM doesn't match what's in the documentation. How do I get this screen where I add the POIs to trigger announcements?

Thanks!

 

Wow, you have found one of the older corners of the ThirdRails documentation.
That screen belongs to the older POI-based announcement setup. It can still be used, but announcements require a timetable. A timetable is then used to trigger the announcements, either manually or automatically.

A simple way to set it up is:

1. Create or load a timetable via the button on top Start Service. You can pick a real live timetable from RealtimeTrains or DB, or create one yourself.
2. Start Tracking. The HUD configuration panel will open, where you can select a voice and open the radar panel.
3. Use Schedule Waypoints button on the radar panel to create the station waypoints from the timetable.
4. ThirdRails can then automatically handle the relevant station announcements while you drive (you can also trigger them manually)

So in most cases you no longer need to manually create POIs for every station.

There is also a YouTube video about Schedule Waypoints at approx. 5 minutes you can see it in action:


You can find more tutorials here: https://thirdrails.org/learn.html

Hope this helps! If not, let me know!

 

Awesome. I will try it. I have been using the play buttons in-cab but would rather have it happen automatically (like the newer TSW routes do.)

Thanks! (And glad I could bring you some nostalgia today lol)

 

Just did a run on LIRR. LOVE IT! Thank you!

Eddie

 

Glad you like it, Eddie!

See you on the radar!

 

ThirdRails 10.4 is now available.

This update brings several improvements to Forecasted Weather (Project Zeus):

• Auto Season
  Zeus automatically selects the season based on the TSW scenario date.
• Fog
  Independent fog settings for each weather anchor, with gradual transitions and natural variations.
• Weather Console
  A new live view showing what Zeus is doing during your drive, including Live, History and Log views.

Zeus is still being fine-tuned, especially the weather transitions and behaviour. Keep an eye on the roadmap, and let me know what you think or what could be improved!

More information and examples in the Zeus Tutorial

Forcasted Weather editor:


Weather Console in the cab:

 

Working on ThirdRails 10.5
With a Clear to Light Rain anchor change, rain could sometimes begin before enough cloud cover had built up. We therefore added a precipitation threshold with a gradual ramp-up once that threshold is reached.
You can see the effect nicely in today’s test: a showery Weather Story with early fog, several rain periods and clearing intervals.

The new precipitation/cloud handling makes the transitions feel much more natural. Light rain only starts once there is sufficient cloud cover, then gradually builds and fades again.

The Weather Console history shows the whole journey afterwards: cloudiness, precipitation, wetness and fog all evolving independently throughout the Story.

A showery story:


The whole story in a graph: