Guide to Free Roam
Сrеdit gоеs to !
Welcome to Free Roam! Here you can enter any route you own in a blank slate status, with no static, AI or player services present on the route, it’s your empty sandbox.
You can access Free Roam when you are in the Choose a Route menu, Free Roam will be adjacent to Scenarios, Timetable and Training, and then much like within the Timetable, you can choose where you wish to spawn on foot, selecting the time, date, and weather at your discretion.
Once you are loaded in, you will be on foot and no trains will be around, so it’s time to add one! Open the train spawning menu (TAB on keyboard, Left D-pad on controller) and choose from the list of train formations, you can also spawn trains with custom liveries on! Once you’ve clicked spawn you will be presented with a coloured bar on the track, this indicates the space the train will take up, the bar will be red if the train cannot be spawned, for example if too close to buffers, but once in a good spot the bar will go green, and once confirmed, your chosen train will pop into existence!
Now that a train exists, it’s time to drive it somewhere by setting a path. Start by sitting in the driver’s seat, you can only set paths for player trains. Open up the map and click on the train you are sat in, and from here you can select your path by moving across the map and clicking where you want to travel to. With a path set, all signals and junctions will be set by the dispatcher for you to embark on your journey.
You can cancel a path and set another whenever you wish, however it is recommended to not do so while moving, as cancelling a path will reset the dispatcher, and you won’t have a pleasant time if the signal in front of you goes back to red! You can also remove trains themselves, again, while stationary and not sat in the cab is recommended.
If you go past or stop near some sidings, you can place wagons down in them and set a path to couple to them, although you may still need to request permission to pass a signal at danger.
A few things to note with Free Roam and its unique quirks:
- Naturally, you can explore basically anywhere the map lets you click on, however, there is always the chance this paths you down a line which was previously not intended to be a playable area, and you may come across some boundaries and invisible walls.
- If you are faced with an invalid path, chances are you have clicked on a track which is inaccessible from your current location. Try getting there using multiple paths, you can always keep setting new ones up, and with a path set, you can also add go-via points by clicking on the in-map train for a 2nd time.
- Free Roam works within the limitations of realism, Off the Rails mode from Scenario Planner is not represented here, so if you decide to spawn an electric locomotive on an unelectrified track, you may also need to spawn a compatible diesel to drag it around, but, you can still spawn literally anything, wherever you like!
Lastly, and perhaps best of all, Free Roam works within Timetable Mode!
When in a timetable, either spawning on foot, or say you’ve just completed a service, you can use the same train spawning system to place trains and set paths within the active timetable. This also presents some interesting things to consider:
- The dispatcher will have to work your new path around existing AI services, this will mean waiting for clear blocks, vacant junctions, you will be at the mercy of fitting in.
- You can interupt the timetable session. If you cause AI trouble by being ahead of it, leaving a rogue wagon somewhere, or preventing a coupling instruction from taking place, services may not be able to complete, or if you delete the wrong path or formation in the map view, may cease to exist entirely!
If you break Timetable Mode, and chances are you will, don’t worry, it will be fine again in a new session.
how to spawn the Creators club freight car liveries