CoursePlay Tutorials

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TeaBelly
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CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by TeaBelly »

Hi Guys,
I am a big fan of farming simulator and I have created some courseplay tutorials that some people might find helpful.

All CoursePlay Tutorials

Start to Finish
Unload combine to silo
Silo to Sell
Sowing and Refil
Bailing
Overloader/Auger
Combine self unloading
Liquid manure transport
Fill & Empty Shovel
Push - Pull Method using GRIMME
Combines side by side
Chaff to Silo ** New 28/10/2015

CoursePlay Manual

I really hope these are of some help.

Cheers TB

Just edited the post to put the individual tutorials in.


Edit by Rince... pinned as *important*...
Last edited by TeaBelly on Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:06 pm, edited 11 times in total.
_Ty_
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by _Ty_ »

Nicely done TB. I watched the 1st 2 videos.

As I start new maps and my farms get more busy I start to rely on Courseplay more and more. Courseplay is a great tool. These videos you have made will be great tutorials and for those that are new to courseplay. It's nice to go to one place to watch a number of quality tutorial videos on the same program about different topics within the program. I see you have a whole library on courseplay. I plan to watch them all to see if I can pick up some tips from you, especially on the more advance tutorials.

I cant seem to get the tractor to reliably unload a stationary combine without getting "stuck in traffic". it works 3 times perfectly, then maybe on the 4th time it gets stuck. I've played with the offset distance but can't seem to make it work reliably.

Thanks again for the tutorials!

Ty
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TeaBelly
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by TeaBelly »

Hi Ty,
Thank you for the positive comments.

Yes the 'stuck in traffic' can be a bind. Is the tractor getting too close to the side of the combine? what combine, tractor and tipper are you using?

Have you tried to use just headlands instead of a headland and a up/down method. I have tried it and set it up so it has max headlands. in an anti clockwise direction. Also set the the tractor unloading the combine to have pathfinding activated. I think this makes the tractor avoid going over the uncut part of the field thus stopping the tractor from getting in the way of the combine.

Hope this helps.

TB
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mackintosh
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by mackintosh »

_Ty_ wrote: I cant seem to get the tractor to reliably unload a stationary combine without getting "stuck in traffic". it works 3 times perfectly, then maybe on the 4th time it gets stuck. I've played with the offset distance but can't seem to make it work reliably.
This is an inherent courseplay issue and it will creep up time and time again. It's the same problem that sooner or later will show up with the auger wagon, when it will invariably get stuck upon reaching the unloading point and just sit there without unloading. With the tipper getting stuck, you can try to have it drive off and unload every time it empties the combine, rather than pull away and wait somewhere, I've had a lot more success doing it that way rather than using any other option.
_Ty_
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by _Ty_ »

TeaBelly wrote:Hi Ty,
Thank you for the positive comments.

Yes the 'stuck in traffic' can be a bind. Is the tractor getting too close to the side of the combine? what combine, tractor and tipper are you using?

Have you tried to use just headlands instead of a headland and a up/down method. I have tried it and set it up so it has max headlands. in an anti clockwise direction. Also set the the tractor unloading the combine to have pathfinding activated. I think this makes the tractor avoid going over the uncut part of the field thus stopping the tractor from getting in the way of the combine.

Hope this helps.

TB
Your welcome.

Yeah I started a new game on "hard" on Bjornholm and just have the 1st harvester the comia, the 1st duetz 6.61 and the little Bratner wagon.

not sure what you mean by this "just headlands instead of a headland and a up/down method". If this is in one of your videos just point me too which one and I can have a look.

Thanks,
Ty
_Ty_
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by _Ty_ »

mackintosh wrote:
_Ty_ wrote: I cant seem to get the tractor to reliably unload a stationary combine without getting "stuck in traffic". it works 3 times perfectly, then maybe on the 4th time it gets stuck. I've played with the offset distance but can't seem to make it work reliably.
This is an inherent courseplay issue and it will creep up time and time again. It's the same problem that sooner or later will show up with the auger wagon, when it will invariably get stuck upon reaching the unloading point and just sit there without unloading. With the tipper getting stuck, you can try to have it drive off and unload every time it empties the combine, rather than pull away and wait somewhere, I've had a lot more success doing it that way rather than using any other option.
Yes thanks Mack.
uughh the auger wagon... I'll have to remember that if I have a Auger wagon again.

As a side note, I don't really under stand the purpose for the in-game Auger wagon. I'm not a farmer, but I can see it useful in real life but for the game, the in-game high end tractors are strong enough to pull several tippers, almost as fast as a smaller tractor with the Auger wagon. it does offer a different flavor though.

Thanks,
Ty
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TeaBelly
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by TeaBelly »

not sure what you mean by this "just headlands instead of a headland and a up/down method". If this is in one of your videos just point me too which one and I can have a look.

Thanks,
Hi Ty,

I will do a video for you :)

TB
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mackintosh
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by mackintosh »

_Ty_ wrote:As a side note, I don't really under stand the purpose for the in-game Auger wagon. I'm not a farmer, but I can see it useful in real life but for the game, the in-game high end tractors are strong enough to pull several tippers, almost as fast as a smaller tractor with the Auger wagon. it does offer a different flavor though.
It's perfectly suited for courseplay and when you have several combines threshing at once. I have 7 combines running during my harvesting season, with 4 of those running in two pairs. To cut down on tippers and delivery vehicles, I have my fields grouped together with each cluster dedicated to a different fruit. They are clustered in such a way as to minimise harvester travel time between fields. Each group of fields has a dedicated delivery vehicle (MANs with the largest Krampe) and every combine group has a dedicated auger wagon (grain cart) that I drive myself. With all 7 combines threshing, things get quite hectic. If I were to empty each combine with a standard tipper, it would take a bit more time and would take a very long time to drive multiple tippers back to the silo (I play on Bjornholm). With an auger, I can quickly empty a combine and then move on to the next one, then offload to the delivery vehicles, which are then flawlessly handled by courseplay.

I've experimented with multiple setups before arriving at this workflow and found it to be the most efficient.
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TeaBelly
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by TeaBelly »

TeaBelly wrote:
not sure what you mean by this "just headlands instead of a headland and a up/down method". If this is in one of your videos just point me too which one and I can have a look.

Thanks,
Hi Ty,

I will do a video for you :)

TB
Hi Ty,
If you take a look at my lets play series (season 1) Episode 47 @ 22:46 mins there is an example I use. this was the first time I actually used it too. Later I change the ofset slightly for the Man truck just so its easier on the corners. I hope this helps explain what I meant.

Also mackintosh explanation of overloader/Auger usage is spot on.

Cheers TB
_Ty_
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by _Ty_ »

OK, thank you TB! I will have a look.

Guys, I don't have enough experience to really have an opinion on the Auger Wagon for what we are speaking about. I'll have to rely on your experience that it is the most efficient.

I started on Westbridge Hills and accumulated 12 million. Kind of figured I had made enough. I had 6 New Holland 10.90, but instead of having pairs per field, I used 3-4 on one field leaping from field to field. I had 3 magnum/quadtrac/NHT9 with a Krampe 900BB that continually ran around emptying them. Mostly Courseplay. Seem to work fairly well. It's quite possible that the openness and close proximity of the fields on Westbridge lends itself to what I was doing.

Now that I am over on Bjornholm this could be different as there seems to be more travel involved from field to field. I think for kicks I am going to give your idea a whirl once I build up. Thanks for input!

Ty
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TeaBelly
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by TeaBelly »

Just updated the post to show the separate tutorials. Hope this helps

TB
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by viper278 »

Thanks Tea Belly for your tutorials. I just started using course play last night. Now I wish I had started using this mod a long time ago. I am using it for the Westbridge Forest map and keeping my machinery to a minimum. 1 NH harvester, beet and potato harvester, 2 sowers, 1 cultivator, and some tippers for the crops. Mower and windrower. I am doing mostly forestry in this map, so no time to keep up with the agriculture.So this mod is great to automate all the agro chores. I just took awhile to set all the courses. It was fairly easy.
I think you had a way of generating the waypoints for your field by going around the perimeter of the field and you were wondering why the corners weren't getting cut. When I set the field points, in the set field path, I noticed you set it for user defined? If you click on the arrow, it will pull up the field number. I didn't have to drive anywhere. I just click on the field #, set the spacing of the tool and of I go. ez peazy. I mainly wanted to use course play to mow large area of grass for the mixed rations and sheep. For mowing, I set up the field size before I planted the grass. The mower, windrower and wagon did a great job. Wagon doesn't get all the cut grass and the ends of the field. The ai picks up the vacuum as it makes its turn to the next line. Not a big issue if you don't have OCD. oh well. This does save a ton of time. I love that it will unload and go back to clean up the rest. I used to do this myself. About a hour real time to cut, tedder, windrow and collect on a big field.
I figured the field work button by trial and error. I managed to get it almost correct on the first shot. The only wish I have is being able to delete a waypoint on the fly. I had to redo a few courses when my driving wasn't too good. And I don't know the reason for the floating cross path signs.
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TeaBelly
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by TeaBelly »

Hi Viper,
Yes since then I found out a lot more about Courseplay. Regarding the headlands yes I did drive round the headland to create the border for the headland (which is really useful for irregular shaped fields, or for making areas for mowing). I do try out a lot of different methods to see what it can do but I still dont know everything about it. I have no idea what the debug channels are used for. In regards to the floating cross path signs, I think this is used when 2 separate courses are merged together. I could be wrong tho... :)

TB
_Ty_
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by _Ty_ »

TeaBelly wrote:I have no idea what the debug channels are used for.

TB

I think it was in the manual to never touch them unless your working with one of the developers and he/she tells you too.

TB- I might not be able to look at that video until this weekend, thanks for your help.

Ty
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Re: CoursePlay Tutorials

Post by viper278 »

TeaBelly wrote:Hi Viper,
Yes since then I found out a lot more about Courseplay. Regarding the headlands yes I did drive round the headland to create the border for the headland (which is really useful for irregular shaped fields, or for making areas for mowing). I do try out a lot of different methods to see what it can do but I still dont know everything about it. I have no idea what the debug channels are used for. In regards to the floating cross path signs, I think this is used when 2 separate courses are merged together. I could be wrong tho... :)

TB
I haven't used course play on anything but rectangle fields. When I initially started the program, there was a choice to automatically detect fields. I clicked yes to this. I am wondering if there is an L shape field if it would automatically detect the irregular shapes as for some fields in the Bjornholm map. I had to reshape a few fields so the equipment for hire would follow the field and crops correctly. I have only been using course play for a few days now, so I am still learning it also. I also did notice the debug channels. I was going to see what they did but I read the previous comment not to so I am going to follow the advice and not worry about. Thanks again for your videos. I found 1 guys video where he does baling, and bale pickup in course play. I don't know if the ai would find every bale if it is not in the course's line path. He did have a great note as to windrow the straw first before using the forage wagon. I tried it without windrowing and he was right. The tract was off line after a few rows. But once I windrowed it, It picked up good.
I can also see making your own tract for mowing as once a field has grass, the program doesn't recognize it as a field anymore. I would like to suggest to the developers to change that. It still shows up a field on the maps, so I would think it could easily be kept as a field for mowing purposes. Every map I played I use 1 field to cut grass. it easier and neater to use this than cutting around the sides of the fields. If there is a vehicle stopped at the ends, the wagon doesn't pickup all the grass when being pulled by a mower attached tractor due to turning to avoid obstacles. I hate grass shavings laying around.
Last edited by viper278 on Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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