Blocking.....again

I have a question regarding the blocking system. Does the game always halt a train at the bottom of the lift until TWO blocks ahead of it are clear? I recreated King Cobra at PKI which has two trains. I of course had the default blocks of the station and when I connected the track at the end. I then made the brake run prior to the station a blocking segment. That gave me a total of three blocks. Three blocks, two trains. So far, so good.

But when I run the ride, the train that dispatches starts up the lift and then when it's halfway out of the station, the lift stops, and the ride is stalemated because the other train isn't clear of its block, but it can't move because the first train isn't clear of the station block yet. I checked the block borders and they are fine. I fixed this by adding a block brake at a random place and setting its speed limit very high so as not to affect the train. This works, BUT has an unfortunate side effect. The lift will not set up if the train isn't clear of the final brake run and the little brake I added just to make the ride work can't stop the train, so it's possible to have a collision.

Then I had another idea. Since I now had four blocks, I should be able to add nother train. Well, I did. When I start the ride that way, I have a third train sitting in that makeshift brake. The train that dispatches then does the same thing as having two trains, three blocks. It stops at the bottom of the lift because two blocks ahead of the train aren't clear.

So my question is (I know this is long and you probably don't even remember what I'm talking about :) ) is: why do lifts set-up if the next TWO blocks aren't clear?

I had the same problem except I noticed this:  Whenever I do an emergency stop (Call em crazy, but I do it for fun just to see how coasters react), I sometimes stop rides at the top of the lift.  However, if you play with it too much you can run  into problems.  If you hit the emergency stop just when the train is about to go over and the chain stops, but the train keeps going, it confuses the ride.  Then, when the next train is dispatched, it only comes halfway out of the station and dosen't go anywhere.  I don't know why it does this.  I guesss it is looking for that other train to still be at the top of the lift.  This may not be the answer to your question, but it is similar.    Has anyone else noticed the same thing I did?

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So...you can't handle a rollercoaster huh? Well...you ARE the Weakest Link! Goodbye!

Number 1 Batwing Fan!

Here is what to do, you have the final brakes, then the 180 before the station. Make half of the 180 turn or the straight section right before the station be the 4th block. It is always better to have 2 more blocks than you have trains. (4 blocks for 2 trains, 5 blocks for 3 trains) that is the way I have been building my coasters and there are no set-up problems at all.

BTW I would love to see your King Cobra recreation.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

Hey, in case this is causing anyone else trouble, I found the solution. The game doesn't distinguish between a train at the top of a lift or bottom. It just knows there's a train on the lift segment. If the next block is occupied, the lift will shut down as soon as the train hits it. However, this isn't block-dependent, just lift segment-dependent. If you make your lift out of more than one lift segment, the lift will shut off only when the top-most segment is occupied.

In summary: don't make your lifts out of only one lift segment. Not only does this solve the set-up problems I mentioned, it also makes shaping the lift to your desired shape easier.

-John