Automated Public Transport

I'm looking at a possible project that would involve some sort of 'public transport' - tram/streetcar/train/whatever, that is fully automated, following a specific route (represented on the ground by a railway texture).

I know it can be done, because I've seen several in-world.... the question is, how do you do it? Is there a 'set' you can purchase, or a script that is useable that you can set a path to follow?

Lewis

I wrote the tram system in Caledon myself. It's not terribly difficult, but at the moment, I don't offer it up for public sale, mostly because I really don't want to have to maintain it in multiple areas.

I have written a fully automated tram system that was in use on the Ginko Islands before they sold off the extra ones. It supports crossing sim boundries, automatically re-rezzing trams if one was lost for one reason or another (with the optional main controller that can handle up to four routes), optional short route to disable certain stops if needed, working doors, etc. I'm going to offer it up for sale (nomod scripts, notecard setup). The scripts are done and ready, just don't have instructions written up yet. I can guide you through setup if you purchase before instructions are done. Contact me inworld if you want any more info.

Kayla Stonecutter

That sounds very much like what I am looking for - although I won't be in a position to need it for a month or two.

I tried contacting you in-world but you were offline... more details would be much appreciated as to how easy it is to set up, and I guess cost would be handy too... there may be others who would be able to use such a system.

How modifiable is the system... ie can I build my own tram and just slap the script in there?

Lewis

As I mentioned in my last post, the scripts themselves are done, I just need to write up the instructions. If anyone is interested in buying the system, contact me in world and I can guide you through the setup if the instructions are not ready by then.

The tram scripts are Nomod/Copy/Notrans. A prebuilt tram comes with the scripts with working doors and is Mod/Copy/Notrans. The main scripts can be put into another tram if you build your own and I can help you make doors work in your own if you want. Trams support crossing sim boundaries for multi-sim setups.

The trams are notecard setup; you set the speed the trams move, the movement nodes for the routes it takes, and a few other options. Movement nodes are actual sim coordinates that the trams move to (nothing is placed in world). Setting the basic path down is fairly simple if you understand the X,Y,Z coordinate system SL uses. The nodes sometimes take a little tweaking to get the turns to work perfectly if you are picky about that like I am . They handle Z changes (hills, etc) properly, so they are not limited to flat movements. Tram routes must be a complete circuit, either a circular path, or a ping-pong path (trams can travel in both directions, so a loop at the end is not needed). The trams also support a short route mode, to disable certain stops if needed. Since this simply disables certain stops, the remaining path must be complete in itself. The trams have a dialog to start/stop and toggle short route mode, and can be setup to react only to owner, anyone in a group, or only people in a list.

There is also an optional main controller that can automatically re-rez a tram if it gets lost for some reason (SL glitch on sim crossing, someone’s over-sensitive shield, etc). Each main controller can handle up to four lines at once, though they need a stop near the controller so it can track and re-rez them. The main controller has a display for each line that shows if it’s Online, Online and in short route, or Offline. The textures can be replaced to use your own. The controller uses a dialog system to toggle each line On/Off, short route, and to rez a new tram. The controller can be setup to react only to owner, anyone in a group, or only people in a list.

The trams themselves are L$12,000, and as mentioned above are Copyable (prims also Modable or you can use your own). The main controller is L$4,000 and is Nocopy, though prims are Mod.

If anyone wants more information, feel free to contact me in world. I can show the tram model and demonstrate the doors, but I don’t have anyplace to show the tram actually working at this time.

Kayla Stonecutter

Neat. I've written an automated vehicle system too, and sold/set up a few different versions of it. That was one of the first real projects I worked on in SL. I've been thinking of productizing it, but if anyone else comes to me with a request, I'll send them to you You've put more effort into making it easier to set up than I have. I don't think anyone besides myself can set up one of my systems. I've tried explaining it to other people, then gave up and just set it up for them

I just added sim crossing capability to the coordinate system on my trams, and have been experiencing various glitches with that. Is there a consensus (or public knowledge) on the best way to handle this? I added a 3 second pause after a border crossing, I think I read that somewhere in the WarpPos thread. Let's see how well that works. And yes, I've had trams disappear too, so I need to add the controller. Funny how similar our projects are



That made me chuckle. I spent a lot of time on that too

One question - do you use physical or non-physical movement?

All sounding very good.... maybe NerdRail will see the light of day after all!

I've been working on track sections, curviture and road/rail crossings in a nice quiet empty sandbox... seems 14 prims is what is needed for a 90 degree corner.

I've been using transitional curves, which fool the eye into thinking that the corner isnt as tight as it is - using straight sections. The first 3 are 5 degrees rotated from the next, then some 7.5 degree rotations, ending with a couple more 5 degree rotations to bring it back to straight again.

Lewis

Why thank you Ziggy. I certainly spent a ton of time on it, including rewriting it from scratch twice.


Physical to get the nice smooth movements. Wouldn't have to worry about someone's shield if it was non-phy. It does use non-physical movement for sim border crossings though, helped reduce the 'falling into the ground' thing SL likes to do .

Thanks. Mine's non-phys... the idea was to allow elaborate builds with high prim counts, but so far, physics would have worked just fine on most of the vehicles the script's gone into