Player Inactivity Warning - Needs Cautionary Implementation

[BigVern]

Read about this for drivers and have to say a minute is maybe not enough time to allow a player to move off - maybe double to two minutes?

I am also now getting the warning message flash up in Lazy LC signalbox. No activity because there are no trains about at the moment. This definitely needs to be modified, very invasive and distracting.

[SurvivorSean]

Perhaps if this was more directed to say an AI contacting dispatch and the player not responding within a couple of minutes?  In fact there are times that I wish the AI contacted me because I was distracted with something else in the box.

Thanks

Sean

[pschlik]

Made a bug report for this but it hasn't been approved, but I'll add my 2 cents here as well.

I had the idle message going off on me when I was waiting to load passengers at a station. Which is super annoying-why should the AI be taking over for me when I'm stopped at a station like I should be? It serves no purpose as the AI will do exactly the same thing I was doing: sit there and wait for the departure time.

As it stands, the system punishes all forms of idle-ness, even in situations where being idle is not disruptive or is exactly what you should be doing. Something needs to be changed so that the game only checks if you are idle when you aren't doing what you should be doing. Like if someone goes idle with their train stopped at a green light, it makes sense to have the AI take over so the line doesn't get blocked. But stuff like having the AI take over for someone idling at a red light? Pointless and annoying.

[Gazz292]

i think whats happened is these playtests have shown that some people have been deliberately blocking things up by taking control of a train / signal box, then ignoring the sim,

People have been asking for a timeout that kicks players who are doing this deliberately, or re-assigns the AI to take over.
and the quickest way to implement this is a simple timer, when no input from the mouse or keyboard has been detected for a minute, you get a warning, fail to acknowledge it and after a while the AI takes over, then you get kicked and someone else can have your role in the sim.

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I know it would need a lot more coding, but i think what players want is a more 'intelligent' timeout system,

One that for the train drivers monitors if their train is moving or not, if moving then usually about every 2 Km or less there will be a SHP to acknowledge before the signals.. i've only really been driving the EU07, and the czuwak / Alerter seems to go off very rarely, it's deffo got more than a 1 minute timer... so the current 1 minute timeout feels a bit annoying when you are cruising along looking at the road ahead, but not needing input for the train (and i know with German trains they have a 30 second SIFA thing, but thats built into the train and realistic, the current timer feels not part of the sim, if that makes sense)

Then when you stop at a red light or a station, the timeout stops counting whilst you are supposed to be stationary, as that's not holding anything up,

But when the light changes to a proceed aspect, or it's time to depart the station, the timer starts again,
30 seconds or a minute later if you haven't moved off the AI takes over and drives the train, preventing backlogs in that section,
Then you have a certain time to re-take control of the train before you are kicked back to the train selection screen, and someone else can drive your train if you don't re-take control of it from the list of trains on the server available to drive.

 

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For the dispatchers this is going to be more complicated, as there will be periods where it is quiet, and as in real life, between trains the signaler may do other things like read a book, write a letter / email, browse the web etc,

Having to press a button every minute whilst nothing is actually happening in the sim is going to get annoying, and people will use workarounds to send a keypress every 59 seconds automatically 😞

So the system needs to detect there is nothing for the signaler to do at the moment, and pause the timer until the next train is offered to his signal box,
Here again i can imagine a timer starts, fail to respond before it timeouts and the AI takes over the box, and like the train driver you have a little time to re-take control or you are booted etc.

[Averrnor]

So, we need something like "Czuwak" xD

[Howky]

 

Alerting on player inactivity is a big step backwards !
Personally, I'd argue for the cancellation.
I have experienced a situation while playing MP where nothing was running for a long time and as a dispatcher I had nothing to do. It's annoying to move the mouse just to operate an alert 😕

Wouldn't it be better if there was a central dispatcher that could control multiple stations that are not occupied by the player ?

 

 

[BigVern]

1 hour ago, Howky said:

Alerting on player inactivity is a big step backwards !
Personally, I'd argue for the cancellation.
I have experienced a situation while playing MP where nothing was running for a long time and as a dispatcher I had nothing to do. It's annoying to move the mouse just to operate an alert 😕

Wouldn't it be better if there was a central dispatcher that could control multiple stations that are not occupied by the player ?

I have to agree - in addition to the over zealous implementation there is the fact that sometimes you do need to step away from the PC for a moment or two - go to the loo, answer the door, see what the wife's nagging about etc. etc.

Also strange when planning the MP game, surely the devs already gave thought to the possibilities that are now arising and shouldn't be shoehorning in imperfect solutions three weeks before release?

It needs to be taken out for a rethink and something less intrusive adapted for the final build.

[BigVern]

Yes the message is popping up when driving along but not having made any input for a minute or two (vigilance etc. isolated) when the original implementation was supposed to be stopped at a clear signal.

Not really acceptable guys, needs to be taken out or you will kill your MP game.

[Jasonic]

I agree with everyone else, it is ruining the experience for me and I hope it is removed in its current form.

[BigVern]

15 hours ago, pschlik said:

Made a bug report for this but it hasn't been approved, but I'll add my 2 cents here as well.

Same here, well I guess they are now busy getting the SP game ready but some acknowledgement of the concerns would be appreciated. If MP does disappear from the playtest in favour of SP then we will probably have to wait until 13th Jan to see if it's toned down or removed. Or they may of course have a third playtest with both SP and MP active.

Edited December 21, 2022 by BigVern

[giBBer8]

It is a great idea in principle, a must have in multiplayer.

For dispatch, I think if a train is on your panel, then keep the 1 minute timer, and if not, let it out to 5 minutes. That allows a browse of the internet, fridge for a drink etc during slow times.

Driving is different ofc but a good compromise is needed, not total removal.

 

 

 

[BigVern]

I would still say a minimum of two minutes on the panel - the route might be blocked so train waiting for you to call the signal etc.

[SurvivorSean]

As I posted on Train-Sim

It has to be smarter not time based.  AI Trains waiting for signals need to notify boxes, if they don't respond, warn them, if still nothing then kick them.  Trains stopped at green signals need to be notified by AI boxes.  If they don't respond warn them if still nothing then kick them.  Logs would also help nail down sabatoge players.  To communicate with the AI train you can use a similar system like the phone so the AI understands.

If the AI train and the AI box can't figure out what the other is doing then reboot the server and post a log to the developers!  This could be caused by an original wrong track and the AI just doesn't expect them on that track despite having access.  All I know is less busy servers do not have these issues.

Thanks

Sean