Crazy Collection 3/CC-03.iso/GAMES_3/TRENG/README.TXT

Text File | 1994-03-01 | 11.7 KB | 226 lines

Train Engineer PC Version README

This file focuses on some of the important aspects of using Train Engineer
that were not available when the manual was printed. The information is very
important. So please read it carefully.

Table of Contents
A. Installing the Program
B. Replacing Industries
C. Preferences
D. Manual Train Placement
E. Function Keys
F. Keyboard Run Commands
G. About the Layouts and How to Run Them
H. Successful Layout Design
I. Block-Signal-Oriented Operation
J. About The Layouts Included with the Program
K. Removing an Industry from the Schedule

A. Installing the Program
    If you haven't already installed the program, you need to choose Windows
or DOS installation.
     Windows users: From within the Windows Program Manager or Windows File
Manager, choose Run from the File menu. Type the letter that corresponds to
your 3.5" drive followed by :SETUPWIN, e.g., b:setupwin. Follow the screen
instructions and see Chapter 1 in the manual for more details.
     DOS users: From the DOS hard-drive prompt type the letter that
corresponds to your 3.5" drive followed by :SETUPDOS, e.g., b:setupdos.
Follow the screen instructions and see Chapter 1 in the manual for more
details.
    You may install both the Windows and DOS version of Train Engineer if
desired.  They can be installed to the same directory or to individual
directories.  They are very similiar programs and you will probably wish to
just choose one or the other.

B. Replacing Industries
     If you have placed an industry on the layout and you replace it (either
on purpose or by accident) by another building, track or scenery piece, you
will need to revise your schedule in the Build Schedule dialog. Otherwise
you will not have a pickup and delivery schedule that makes sense. If you do
replace an industry by accident, IMMEDIATELY select Undo.

C. Preferences
     The Preferences dialog sets up the environment for running your trains.
All settings in Preferences affect all the running modes except Demo. In this
dialog you set the type of weather you'll see, your day and/or night, how the
trains respond in crash situations, the number of trains that start on the
layout, what scenery you see in the horizon, and the type of terrain. You can
also elect whether to see the animation sequences and whether you want to
manually place the trains on the layout.
      The preferences are preset for the layouts that are included with the
program. You are welcome to change them, of course, for a different
railroading experience. But we suggest you master each layout as it's
originally set up before you make preference changes.
   Note: If you set the option to "Daytime" or "Night running" you will see
no clock when you play the game and time will never run out for you. If you
prefer to play with the clock, but don't want to be bothered by time
pressures, just use the F7 option (see below) to give yourself more time.

D. Manual Train Placement
      When you select this option in the Preferences dialog, you will see a
special screen whenever you select to run trains, allowing you to place the
trains where you prefer. When you do this, please note that you cannot place
trains in a tunnel, tracks on roads, or on a water-track piece. The only
tracks that you can place trains on are the 23 track pieces that occur in
the track template.

E. Function Keys
These keys give you special controls in Run Game or Run Touring modes only.
You won't see them listed on the Run Help screen (F1).
F1   Help
F2   Full-screen animation
F3   Remove wreckage after a train wreck
F4   Avoid derailments on sharp curves (or during direction changes on
     switches) taken at fast speed/don't avoid them
F5   Repair train and tracks after a wreck
F6   Terminate game with option to play again or go to Layout Window
F7   Give yourself another day to make deliveries on the schedule-press when
     you see the "Time is up" message
F8   Stop all trains/Start all trains

F. Keyboard Run Commands
If you prefer to use the keyboard instead of or along with the mouse for
running trains you can do so with the following commands:
<--- (left arrow):       turn left
---> (right arrow):      turn right
Space bar:               stop
R:                       reverse
Enter:                   start
down arrow:              slow down
up arrow:                speed up
T:                       switch trains
E:                       zoom out
Z:                       zoom in
S:                       show schedule
V:                       show cargo
P:                       unload (pick up)
D:                       load (deliver)
B:                       bell
W:                       whistle
H:                       horn
X:                       exit
Q:                       turn sounds off

G. About The Layouts And How to Run Them
      To run the layouts included with this program we offer the following
general suggestions for successful completion of the game. (You may, of
course, run them however you like.) Please also see the layout name below
for specific details on running that layout.

General Guidelines for Preference selections:

1. Start out with one train. (See Other Options, below.)
2. Select a 24-hour cycle.
3. Use F8 (stop all trains) immediately after start-up to control direction.
4. Press F4 (only once!) to avoid derailing in fast speed either on curved
   90 degree curves (those without diagonals) or when you change direction
   on switches. (If you can remember to slow down to half speed when you
   change directions on a switch, you don't need to press F4. If you don't
   remember, you'll crash.)
5. Don't press F3 or F5 if you're fussy about prototypical action (unless you
   allow 6-18 hours to elapse after wrecks so that the trains would really
   have had the chance to get cleared or repaired).
6. Select Manual Train Placement in the Preferences dialog and place your
   train at a station or in a yard.
7. Select to have Animation Sequences on, at least the first time through the
   layout.

Other Options:

1. Start out with a few trains, but keep all but one stopped in yards or
   stations. This way if you crash your running train and use F3 to clear
   it off the track, you can select another one as a replacement. Or you
   can leave the first train crashed and blocking the track, and then use
   another to pick up and deliver your cargo (if track configurations
   allow it).
2. To help insure a win: select several trains, manually place your train(s)
   at industries, press F8 to stop all trains immediately on start-up, press
   F4 to avoid derailing in fast speed when switching directions on a switch,
   load all cargo immediately (after game start-up) using the Load Cargo
   command and Switch Trains command until everything possible is loaded,
   and for extra advantage, select Ghost mode in Preferences (in which case
   even 8 trains are handleable).

H. Successful Layout Design
   Here's a trick we learned while designing the layouts for this program. We
decided that to make a layout that you can run successfully in one day, a
formula helps in the design process. If your calculations add up to more than
the desired (one-day) total, you can estimate the number of days it will take
and plan to press F7 (at the "Time is Up" screen) to give yourself additional
days, or you can adjust your Schedule to get the layout to run in one day.
First, rate each pickup and delivery pair (of depots) according to the point
system below. To determine a rating, you must count or estimate (the Layout
Window is 64 by 64) grid squares to determine the distance between each pair.
(You can't measure by how the crow flies, you must measure along the track.)

Depots separated by:               points:
less than 64 grid squares               1
64 to 128 grid squares                  2
over 128 grid squares                   3

     Next, add up the value of all pickup and delivery pairs. Your grand
total should be 35 for a one-day win cycle. If you find that this number is
incorrect for the way YOU run layouts, feel free to adjust it.

     Note: If your layout is less than a full Layout window in size, or if
all of your pickup and delivery pairs are pretty close together, you'll have
to judge whether to give any of the pairs a value of 2 or 3. You might want
to use only ones and a few twos to estimate the timing of a successful game.

I. Block-Signal-Oriented Operation
     To operate on a loop-configured layout in a block-signal-oriented way
that is similar to real and some model railroad operations:

1. Set the Train Collision mode to Stop in Preferences.
2. Select Manual Train Placement in Preferences.
3. Start all trains on the main line and then as soon as the game starts
   press F8 to stop them all immediately.
4. Get all trains going in the same direction around the loop by doing as
   follows:
     a. Use the Switch Trains button to go to each train
     b. Switch to the first train and determine its direction (look at the
        compass for the direction setting). Then change its direction to
        clockwise or counterclockwise (your choice) by clicking the Reverse
        button, as necessary.
     c. Switch to each of the other trains on the layout and set their
        directions as above.
     d. Then press F8 to start all trains.
     e. Switch to each train again and set it to fast speed if F4 is enabled,
        or half speed if F4 (derailment protection) is not enabled.
     f. You can let the trains run for 24 hours and they won't collide,
        but you'll want to do some pickups and deliveries, so:
5. Picking Up and Delivering:
     a. Stop any train at a passenger station or industry. Do your
        loading/unloading. When and if the next train on the line reaches the
        stopped train, it will simply stop and wait. In fact, both trains
        will remain stopped until you start them up again.
     b. You can start each one up by using the start button, switching to the
        other train and clicking start for it or, easier yet, just press F8.
     c. So any time you see the message on the status bar that says "Trains
        3 and 5 just met and stopped," and all deliveries and pickups have
        been made at current train locations, just press F8 to get all trains
        going again. This simulates block-signal train-spacing strategies on
        model and prototype railroads.

J. About The Layouts Included with the Program
     There are 25 layouts that are included with Train Engineer. Twenty-four
     of them are actual layouts that you'll want to play as a game. One of
     them is a layout that allows you to tour alongside all layout objects
     so that you can see what they look like from the cab view. This special
     25th layout is called Allviews.trk.

K. Removing an Industry from the Schedule
     Windows users: You may remove an industry/building from the Schedule and
     leave it on the layout as an inactive layout object. For example, if you
     want more than 50 buildings on the layout, but the program allows only
     50 active ones, you need to use this feature. To remove a building from
     the schedule: In the Build Schedule dialog, move the cursor to the cell
     where the building is listed. Don't click on the cell or you'll get the
     Change Name dialog. When you're at the cell, press the Backspace key.
     The program asks if you want to remove the building from the schedule,
     click Yes to remove it. The line will become blank, and if you later add
     a new industry to the layout, it will fill in that line. If you don't
     plan to add any more industries, having a blank line causes no problems
     operating the trains.