Line Operations Manual

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Page is under construction. Information is subject to change.

This page describes functionality that is in development. The information given may not be completely accurate.

Notes/to be added:

• port forwarding requires TCP and UDP
• one port (default 55386) is for others to connect with their simulation to your Stellwerk simulation
• passive port (default 55387) is for Line Operations Viewer communication
• keep in mind that for Multiplayer sessions, a different port then the default is needs to be used as well i.e. 55388, to avoid conflicts
• Line Operations Viewer / Supervisor is free to download and used to see which Line Operation server are running
• Statusses
• red = no port forwarding detected, no sim data received
• yellow = either port forwarding detected OR sim data received, but not both
• green = port forwarding OK, AND sim data received

Introduction

Some of the Stellwerk simulations can be connected together so that you can dispatch traffic sent to you by other people via the Internet.

Connecting to other simulations is usually easy; enabling this feature requires sometimes requires some configuration of your firewall and router.

Things to Know and Do Before Starting

Ports

When one computer sends data to another computer via a network, the data is usually sent from, and to, specified ports. Network ports are not like physical ports you find at the back of your computer for connecting monitors and keyboards – network ports are "software addresses" that allow computer programs to be specific about where in the target machine the data is to be sent.

If you are surfing the web with a browser while simultaneously chatting using an instant messaging application, web data is sent to a different port than the data coming in from the person you’re chatting with.

The Stellwerk simulation series expects data to arrive via a specific ports – you can specify which port to use, but by default, port 55386 is used for the connection with an other simulation, and port '55387' for the passive view in the Supervisor application.

The Stellwerk simulations use port 55386 by default (TCP protocol) for connecting with neighbouring simultions. The Stellwerk simulations use port 55387 by default (UDP protocol) for publishing the track and signal statusses towards the Supervisor application (passive view).

Port Forwarding

The router in a typical LAN acts as a gateway between computers in that LAN, and other machines outside of the LAN. Normally, requests for data from outside a LAN are rejected by the router for security purposes.

In order to instruct the router that traffic destined for Post T / Stellwerk simulation should be allowed, port forwarding must be turned on. In simple terms, the router must be told to allow traffic destined for a specific port (in this case, 55386) to be forwarded to your specific IP address.

Consult your router’s manual, or visit PortForward.Com to see if your router is listed. For convenience, sample port forwarding is shown below:

The computer to which data is forwarded is specified by an IP address. It is recommended that your computer’s LAN IP address be static – consult your operating system’s manual to learn how to configure your machine to use a static IP. Refer to the Section Other Helpful Resources for some online resources that will help you set up a static IP and port forwarding.

Firewalls

Computers should have firewalls installed and configured to provide additional network security. If you are using a firewall on your computer, ensure that the port you are using (typically, 55386) is open. If it is not, you’ll discover that no one will be able to connect to you.

Some firewalls can detect when an application needs a port opened, and will kindly ask your permission to open the port. Consult the manual for your firewall to add an entry.

Dispatcher Supervisor (Line Operations viewer)

The Supervisor is a tool which gives you an graphical overview of an active Line Operation session, thus shows where the trains are and which routes have been set by the dispatchers of the various signal boxes. It gives you the following options:

• monitor your own Line Operations or the one you joined;
• check with Line Operations are active, and if one of the signal boxes that can be part of the Line Operation is not hooked up yet, to join that session instantaniously

The Dispatcher Supervisor is a free tool that can be downloaded from the Signalsoft website. Note: At the moment you want to join a Line Operation and you haven't the Supervisor application installed , you will be reminded to download the Supervisor application and be forwarded to the download link.

The start screen of the Supervisor is as follows:

The start screen has the following options available:

• Settings : port settings for Line Operation communications
• About : information about the Dispatcher Supervisor tool and installed simulation that can be used with it
• View Available lines : view the current active Line Operation sessions
• Language : change your language setting here

Settings

When you are going to use the Dispatcher Supervisor for the first time, you must check your settings first. Under Settings you have to define which Port the Supervisor tool has to use for viewing the available lines. For this, you must have a port opened, using the UDP protocol, on both your router as well as in your firewall.

The Supervisor tool uses port 55385 (UDP protocol) by default for viewing available lines.

Use the Test button to check if your port setting is working.

About

The About button will open a window showing for which simulations which simulation applications are installed.

Remagen, Bonn, and Bonn-Bad Godesberg *must* be installed and licensed in order to join. Otherwise, the user may only view.

View Available lines

When you select the View Available lines a new window will open, showing all the currently active Line Operation session.

The following information is shown per listed Line Operation session:

• Name : as configured by the person who started the Line Operation.
• Line : the line, i.e. Remagen - Bonn , the session is running for.
• Dispatchers : the number of dispatchers connected to the session. Could also be read as the number of signal boxes (simulations) already connected to the session.
• Up time : the time that the session is running
• Last activity : the time since the last moment one of the dispatcher has taken action on his signal box.
• Password : a symbol that indicates if a session requires a password or not to join in.

The Refresh button can be pressed to update the list of available lines.

Select one of the available lines and then press the View button to see the details of that Line Operation session.

Open and Password protected Line Operations

Someone who organizes a Line Operation session may decide to add a password to his session. There can be many reasons for doing so, but one of the reasons could be that the organizer wants only people he invited to join in.

You can recognize if a Line Operation session is password protected or not by means of the following icons.

Icon	Meaning	Description
	No password	The listed Line Operation is freely accessible to join in
	Password required	The listed Line Operation requires a password to be able to join in. The person who has initially started the Line operation has to provide this password.

Viewing a Line Operation

When you have choosen to view an existing line operation, you will get a window like shown on the picture below.

In this example you are viewing a line operation between Bonn Hbf and Remagen. You can see where the trains, the signal states and which routes have been set.

Note: Signals showing grey states are the first indication that that part of the line is not being operated by a player yet

On the bottom right an icon is shown, which tells you your connection status with the current line operation. See below in the section Statusses of Dispatcher Supervisor

On the bottom left you will have buttons with the abbreviation of each signalbox that can or is connected to the current line operation. In these buttons, you will also notice some colored status indications. More on this below in the section Stations/signal boxes

The button Shunt signals allows you to toggle the view between hiding or showing the state of the Shunt signals.

Statusses of Dispatcher Supervisor

On the bottom right an icon is shown, which tells you your connection status with the current line operation. If the icon is showing anything else then the green icon, you are likely to have a problem with your port settings or firewall. The viewer will show no data or incorrect data in that case.

Next to this status indication you will also see two letters flashing :

• 'S' : The Dispatcher Supervisor application is sending data to the connected simulations of this Line Operation (actually just asking for updated data)
• 'R' : The Dispatcher Supervisor application is receiving data from the connected simulations of this Line Operation (actually getting the shown viewing data)

Icon	Meaning	Description
	Error	This is typically an error state - no port forwarding detected and/or no sim data received. Something is seriuously wrong.
	Faults	either port forwarding detected OR sim data received, but not both.
	OK	port forwarding OK, AND sim data received.

Stations/signal boxes

The station buttons, or better signal box buttons, have a couple of purposes:

1. to show if a signal box is already occupied by a player, and thus showing if the signal box is taking part in the Line operation
2. to connect to the line operation yourself, with the selected signal box simulation. Of course, you *must* have the selected signal box simulation installed and licensed in order to be able to join in.

If you decide to join a Line operation, click the appropiate button. Your simulation will be started automatically and connect to the Line Operation session. You can only connect to a direct neighbour. For example: If Remagen is occupied, and the rest not, you can only connect with the Bonn-Bad Godesberg simulation and not with Bonn Hbf. Line Operation requires a chain of connected signal boxes, so no gaps in between.

Note: before joining a line operation you must have set the proper port settings in the simulation itself. How this is done is described in one of the sections below.

Icon	Meaning	Description
	Occupied	The signalbox is already part of the current line operation. (read: someone else has already connected to the Line Operation with this Signalbox simulation.
	Unknown	The signalbox is already part of the current line operation. The status for this signalbox is uncertain, thus train locations and routes being set might not be shown or are shown incorrectly.
	Free	Indicates that the signalbox for this part of the running Line Operation is available. You can join in with this signalbox simulation. Of course, you *must* have the simulation installed and licensed in order to join. Click the button to connect to the Line Operation with your simulation.

Starting Line Operations

After starting the simulator application, locate the "Line Operations" button with the green and black icon. Press this button to begin configuring Line Operations.

You will be given a choice: do you want to start a new line operation, view existing line operations or join an existing one?

• Starting New Line Operations will start your own Line Operations to which others can join
• View existing Line Operations will start the Supervisor application. From there you can also join an existing Line Operations
• Join an existing Line Operation will let you join an existing Line Operations, however requiring some manually actions from your end.

Starting New Line Operations

You will have to possibities when you choose to Start new Line Operations:

• Begin Line Operations: this is the easy mode to setup new Line Operations
• Begin (Expert) : here you have more control on how the Line Operations is setup, i.e. for LAN only. Other users need to know your server details to be able to connect.

Begin Line Operations (Easy mode)

To start New Line Operations in easy mode, make sure you have selected the tab 'Begin Line Operations'

Fill in your Full Name, your Line Name and a Password (optional: if you want to protect your session with a password) Then press the Setup Line Operations button

The message "OK ... Press 'Start' should now appear, and Green border around the Start button should appear.

If all your ports are properly configured, the simulation will start.

Begin Line Operation (Expert)

The expert mode for beginning New Line Operations allows you to have more control over your Line Operations session, i.e. playing on a LAN or over the Internet (WAN). Also note that when you use the Expert mode, other players can only connect to your sessionwhen they know your server details

From the Begin Expert tab, select Query IP Address.

Choose your IP address. If on a LAN, select your 192.168.X.X address. Use 127.0.0.1 if you want to connect two simulations on the same computer. You probably want to use a WAN address, which will allow other people to connect to you via the Internet. To do so, choose Detect to determine your WAN address.

When you have selected your IP address, choose Use.

The Start! button should now have a green border, indicating that your connection information is valid.

The rest of the simulation starting procedure remains the same.

Manually Joining a Line Operation

From the Join Expert tab, enter the server code given to you by the person you are connecting to.

Choose Query IP Address.

Choose your IP address. If on a LAN, select your 192.168.X.X address. Use 127.0.0.1 if you want to connect two simulations on the same computer. You probably want to use a WAN address, which will allow other people to connect to you via the Internet. To do so, choose Detect to determine your WAN address.

When you have selected your IP address, choose Use.

The Start! button should now have a green border, indicating that your connection information is valid.

For layouts with more than one Line Operation connection, that is, more than one neighbour, you must indicate which connection you wish to make.

If connecting was successful, your simulation will start.

Line Operation Status

To view the current status of Line Operations, use the Line Operations > Status... menu item. Here, you can retrieve your current server code (if you forgot to copy it when originally starting Line Operations) or the Line Operation password, if one is defined.

Connection statusses (while in simulation)

Icon	Meaning	Description
	Error	This is typically an error state - something is seriuously wrong. In some cases it means that the system is waiting for something to happen. If this icon persists, it is very likely that no one will connect to you.
	Not connected	This is what the icon will look like when the Line Operation session is first started - the session is active but no one has connected.
	Connected	Indicates the number of signal boxes connected to your signal box.

Ending Line Operations

To stop all Line Operations, use the Line Operations > End menu item. Any connected neighbours will be disconnected. Rail traffic will appear not via the Internet, but from the timetable (as it does normally).

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