I hesitate to say anything negative about “this wonderful game of ours” for fear of bringing out the “Love It or Leave It” crowd that was a tad bit vocal about my return as contributor here. Interestingly enough, I have received a number of emails coaxing me to “stop being so nice” and let my “Cranky” side fly, as they find it more entertaining, and honest.
However…this is Alissa’s place. And Alissa is nice. Very nice. But, admittedly even she wants me to be honest and pragmatic (within the confines of also being nice). Which brings us to the paradox at hand.
First of all, let me state unequivocally, “I love the monorail.” It is in my less-than-humble-opinion, the best addition to the game, ever. There are lovers and haters of the monorail. I am a lover, and really don’t understand the haters. But, that is the way it is in the world with most things. I am not a fan of chocolate ice cream. I don’t hate it, but it is waaaaaaaay down on my list of favorite flavors. So, when someone says “I love chocolate ice cream” I mostly just smile, while I order my cone of “Apple Pie Caramel Crunch.” No harm. No foul.
However, I am pretty sure that both camps would agree, that if you ordered an ice cream cone, and the server placed the scoops just off to the side of the cone, barely out of reach of your ability to reach it with your tongue, and you just couldn’t get to the satisfaction that is so close you can almost taste it…but can’t…that you’d be pretty torqued off. It might become so frustrating, that you just say, “Forget this!! It’s too much trouble! I’ll just have a cookie! Who needs ice cream?”
And so it is with the monorail and the addition of the tunnels to the game which almost…but not quite…allow us to connect our monorails in Springfield proper and Springfield Heights easily.
Take a look…you’ll see what I mean. You might want to grab a couple of cookies and your favorite beverage…it is going to require you to have something sweet at the ready, as I may go a tad “un-sweet” in my description.
Let’s begin with the fact that most of us who love the monorail, spent countless hours creating monorail loops in both our main Springfield and Springfield Heights, because we could. We had the spare stations. We had loads and loads of spare track (don’t forget that for months now, there have been weekly Bonut Rewards for finishing the weekly track challenges). And for about as long as the monorail has existed, those of us in the “Love the Monorail” (LTM) and even some in the “I Think the Monorail is Fine, but it Isn’t My Whole Life” camp (TMFIMWL), have wanted a way to connect the two towns together, through the mountain barrier that separates them.
So, when July 26th, 2016 brought us the “Dilapidated Rail Yard” mini-update…we in both camps were THRILLED, even if the “I Hate the Monorail” (IHM) were just annoyed that so much attention was once again being placed on something they don’t care for. We got two wonderful things on that day… a TUNNEL…and a greatly reduced level of tapping required to get the tunnel (weekly requirements to max out and collect the reward being near 70K points and now being just 25K points).
There was rejoicing in the streets of both Springfields, with shouts of “We Shall Finally Be Unified!!” echoing across the mountain passes!
But then…rEAlity set it. Yes. Again, I emphasize the EA in rEAlity to make a point.
First…as there are no cross tracks, switch tracks, or other connecting tracks that allow you to have two directions connect in a “Y” to return to the tunnel, it became very clear that you were going to need TWO tunnels to pull off a completely closed, one-way loop.
Now this is where there are two very distinct camps within the original camps (starting to feel a bit like politics and religion?) come into play.
Some of us “Monorail Loop Purists” (MLP), many of whom have come from the world of model railroading, feel that the best layouts are those that allow a train to run in a long, interesting, connected loop…the same direction. And so, we built at least two of these loops, one in our regular Springfield and one in our Springfield Heights.
Others, from the “Monorail Bi-Directional Purists” camp (MBDP) feel that as the monorail was in fact designed with two engines, one on either end, it is SUPPOSED to travel from one station to the last station (with perhaps many stations in between), and then change direction, and head back to the original station on the same track.
The arguments for both are sustainable and salient. It is the kind of thing that is much like our ice cream cone analogy, when deciding between chocolate and other flavors. We all agree we like ice cream, we just agree to disagree on the flavor or mode of delivery (I understand that some chocolate lovers will eat their cones out of a bowl!)
But when it comes to the monorail, and the tunnel…every flavor of monorail enthusiasts in the entire spectrum of LTM, TMFIMWL, MLP, MBDP, and even the IHMers, would agree on one thing; “EA is SCREWING WITH US!”
Why? Because there is no simple, EAsy way to connect two existing tracks…even if they appear to line up perfectly. As has been noted by several frustrated tappers (no double entendres please) in the past, even the most simple coupling is about a half of a short track too short or long. Coupling is thwarted! Close…but no cigar! It is Monorailus-Interuptus at its worst!!!!!
Take a look at my own attempts to couple. (and get your mind out of the gutter).
It started when I tried to connect my existing SH loop and my regular town. Nope. 1/2 track short.
I decided to wait until I got the 2nd tunnel…SURELY there would be a solution with a 2nd tunnel!!
Nope. Two tunnels only exacerbated the coupling aspects. (again…please look up the word, and don’t get excited).
There is no EAsy solution. It is too short, or too long…never just right. And that is just for ONE of the tunnels. After getting my second tunnel, I tried to figure out if the same thing would happen if I placed it in another location along the mountains. It did.
Surely, I thought, EA wouldn’t make things so difficult as to make the 2nd tunnel behave in the same manner…
But, I was wrong.
No matter which way I tried to connect EITHER side of my existing…EXTENSIVE monorail layouts…they would not couple.
This is even further exacerbated by the fact that there are limited number of locations EA allows you to place the tunnels along the mountains. I did figure out that once you placed the two tunnels near one another, you could EAsily couple them to one another…a bit of self-coupling as it were (again….get your minds out of the gutter!).
But…that left me, and everyone else in the very real situation that there is NO WORKABLE SOLUTION or combination of existing track pieces that will allow you to make most existing monorail layouts hook up EAsily to the tunnels that EA provides.
This means that some serious reconstruction, and perhaps minor “Nuking” (using the green highlighter, rather than the nuke button) will need to take place in order to accomplish my final dream of a working, full-loop between my two Springfield halves.
I have…at last count…more than 850 pieces of monorail track on my layout. I may have to move them all. Every. Single Piece. With extensive changes to the perimeter of my town’s layout.
And for that…I have a message for you EA.
This whole mess is the result of one of two things…
EA is either just screwing with us…
Or like so many other things in the game, THEY DIDN’T TAKE THE TIME TO TEST before they released. It is one more example of EA Lazyass Programming (EALP).
I am going to make this work. It is going to take a ton of redesigning and manipulation. It is going to take hours, and hours, and hours, just because they were too lazy, or too cruel to do it right.
IF ANY OF YOU CAN SEE ANOTHER SOLUTION…PLEASE SHARE IT. But…for now…I am an Unhappy Monorailist with a Coupling Issue. (UMCI).
UMCIOldGuy
Patric
I haven’t seen the second tunnel yet and want it
The reason so many people are having this problem is that they didn’t places their stations correctly. I did and have absolutely no problems connecting my monorail.
I already had to move every piece of Springfield track to connect the first tunnel…Quite a headache, but it made it relatively painless to connect the second tunnel. Just took my first ride around…Some fun!!
After reading everything about the tunnel/s since this little event started I’m still putting off redesigning my monorail. Mine’s huge – I was using all 5 (is that how many we’ve gotten?) stations, tho’ I recently took one out. I disable my monorail when we have events so perhaps I’ll tackle this once this current event is over. I just got my second tunnel yesterday. Perhaps EA will issue a fix for this by the time I’m ready. 😎 RachelS
For the longest time I had performance problems on my device, so I took out all the tracks after the initial event. Still collected tracks via the Railyard each week, so i had a boatload of tracks in storage.
And then two things coincided: I bought a new device, and EA revived the monorail, giving us tunnels. This prompted my building a track once more, and luckily I started with the first tunnel. I had a feeling they might be the most difficult part to integrate, since you can’t move them freely along the mountain range. Phew, escaped that trap…
Haven’t worked in the second tunnel yet, so for now my “loop” is not quite closed, and my trains run back and forth. Maybe I will run into trouble with tunnel number two, but I think it will work out when the first tunnel fits in already.
So glad to know that I’m not the only one in that situation. I have rails going in between buildings and I don’t want to have to Nuke my entire town just to accommodate two tunnels. Unless he does something about it I’m not going to bother. I love my Springfield as it is.
The reason your layouts don’t connect is because they’re off by 1 square. Short tracks are 1×2, long ones are 1×4. Curves can be thought of as a 4×4 square. So, if you’re off by one square diagonally, those tracks will never connect. So, do what I did, and shift by one square. Yes, it’ll mess up some of your designs, but I’m sure you can design something new to make it work.
We understand why it’s off, what isn’t understood is why ea did this….
That’s what I did. Fir more than 800 pieces if track. Thanks EA!!!
Did not receive one long straight rail this week. A couple short sections the rest 90* and squiggles. Will we ever to be able to purchase tracks?
That was a great novella. Typically, I like my diatribes to be accompanied by pictures – so that was great (although I prefer a little cheese with my whine).
Thanks so much! It’s nice to be appreciated!
I’m surprised by the complaints. Alissa said it would be a few weeks for the second tunnel, so I set up my first tunnel, then moves it to the proposed location of the second tunnel and adjusted my tracks there. Once the second tunnel was ready I just plopped it in.
Exactly!
Well…….many if us had huge layouts BEFORE the tunnel.
So…sorry. Not a solution.
I am thrilled to hear I’m not the only one and great timing as I was getting ready to redo all of it!!! I hope they fix this.
Love Your articles, but the tunnels worked fine for me on first try. I put the first tunnel away from the sea and the second closer to the sea, That may?? make a difference for those having trouble.
I had the same problem. My track was a sliver off just like yours. I used the cut and paste feature to move the track and stations over by one measly square so it would match up. I thought I was just going to take a second to place the 2nd tunnel. Next thing I know it’s an hour later and my cell phone battery is dead but it killed the last hour of the day at work.
I ended up literally shifting every section of track and my stations that half-short length. Took over an hour but luckily I just had to move a couple houses. Everything else had just enough space next to it to do the move, and now it’s linked. GIGANTIC pain that could have EAsily been avoided.
I could be wrong, but as far as I can see, it isn’t that they didn’t test it out first. The issue is that you and everyone else with this problem initially placed your first station in the “wrong” spot by placing it one square off where it “should” be.
Now I’m not trying to be either an apologist for EA or a jerk to anyone with this annoying problem, because it sucks, and it sucks through no fault of your own. But I recognize the issue because before I nuked my town, the same issue was causing me a different problem. I couldn’t get the pavement to line up right with the door for the Mall-o-rail station…it was always one off and it drove me nuts. When I nuked and started rebuilding, I very carefully looked to see how to line the station up with the pavement (north-south and east west) so that everything was centered. And now, my rail is lined up just fine with the tunnels too, so I have no problems connecting through the mountains
So it seems to me that the issue is related to the fact that you can’t have a road or the pavement “run” in whatever squares you want…they are coded so that they can only be started in preset blocks of 4 (that was weirdly stated but I’m pretty sure everyone knows what I mean). Now as I know basically nothing about coding anymore, I have no idea if EA is lazy to not be more flexible on that particular issue, or if they’re being jerks about the tunnels because they knew it would be a problem and didn’t care, or if they’re being jerks for not providing a couple half pieces to solve what is surely a huge problem for a LOT of people who were unlucky enough to place their first terminal/track in a spot that would inevitably lead to this problem. But my guess at least is that yeah, they knew this was going to happen, but decided that the way they coded things with the roads and pavement and the pass through the mountains for the roads dictated that the tunnel works the way it does, and people would just have to deal with it.
MOVE YOUR STATION(S). That’s what’s causing the problem. I ran into this issue before the tunnels existed.
Don’t the ‘s’ bends have a ‘one track to the side’ effect? So you could switch a straight track for an s when it goes perpendicular to the tunnel, either shifting outwards or inwards depending on whether you’re one short or one long
I have successfully connected my monorail without any gaps… However, that required me to start AT the tunnel and work backwards. Moving monorail pieces into place and at the end of the line my station is off by 1 grid line.
Just to show that I actually do have it all connected without gaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BrpzpsiSY4
(Don’t yell at me for my city being cluttered, please. I’m pretty much out of space with all the buildings and deco that I have 😐 )
It did however take me a day or two to figure this out. I just unlocked the 2nd tunnel a few hours ago, so I’ve got to get that one connected as well, but I’m out of straight tracks 😮
I do agree they need to bring in more track pieces and make it less annoying overall.
BTW, are building still disappearing with the tracks on the water/roads?
Clutter bug lol
I started out so good, Had buildings in nice areas and laid out all nicely. Then I started running out of land space, for the most part. BUT, the big issue is that when quests come I grab all the buildings and everything I can and just plop them down.
You should see how it looks now after the Sci-Fi quest XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9e_KIWimqY
If EA could just open up 4 rows and columns of land at one time, I would be able to sort it all out better.
oh well, some day I’ll have it all sorted out.
I would be handy to have a town planner, so that you can place the buildings and everything else where you want them, so you can see how it looks. Then in game, work from the planner to place everything.
I do the same, need more land lol
I need more sea for my Squidport and Ornate Pier.
@rudolphovanwijk Yes, indeed. A few more rows of them would be nice. It’s too small for the amount of stuff there is 😐
EA, I’m looking at you o.o
Solution: use the removable mountains glitch and bypass the tunnels altogether… 🙂
I was hesitant to do it at first, but removing sections of the mountain range is just too cool/useful not to take advantage of. Now I can run the track through the mountain pass up to SH and retain my one, complete loop. I was really frustrated with the tunnels not lining up, as it’s literally impossible to move all my existing track one square over… it’s just far too integrated into my town’s design at this point.
I expect ea to patch this, probably sooner rather than later. I only hope it doesn’t royally jack up my game afterwards, because I, and others, could really benefit from it. For now, i will keep the “mountain passes” clear of everything except track, and we’ll see what happens once ea patches it.
Could you post a screenshot of what you are talking about or tell us how you put the track through the mountains? I’m confused about what you moved & placed and this is the first I’m hearing of this.
to remove a section of the mountain, you put both tunnels next to each other. then store both of them in your inventory, one after the other, and the space where the last one occupied will be clear, allowing you to freely put items in the open space. so here’s an example of how i could have tracks going into and out of SH, through the same “pass”:
http://imgur.com/pCLFwkc
WHOA! Looks cool & using those wiggly tracks makes it look like it’s still on an incline. Thanks for posting!
If only I had known about that before moving my entire monorail by 1 square and subsequently nuking my town… 😭
That looks awesome, I really hope I get the second tunnel soon so I can do this before they patch it, hate those ugly mountains.
That is awesome!! I just removed all the mountain I could. Thanks!
These small gaps are caused due to using of S shaped pieces of track, if there is a gap, use one S piece to get closer, or one more straight piece to it and its connected
Nope tried it. Sorry.
Well spoken Patric , I’m glad that we got a 2nd tunnel and I don’t mind re-doing my layout but how hard would it be for EA to add some other track pieces like Y’s , cross T’s and some 45° s. Poor planning on their part . I mean come on give us something to work with. What am I supposed to do with over 165 pcs. of 90° of angle track and I don’t care too much for the S curve pieces, I got way too many of them also. OK I’m done complaining. . .for now . Thanks for bring this up and maybe EA will do something about it.
I’m not sure why, but I didn’t have a problem connecting my loop.
I took screenshots but I don’t know how to add them to this post.
I only have one tunnel so far, but I was able to make it work after much redesign. I’m a little side-tracked (pun intended) at the moment with more pressing life matters. So I won’t be getting my second tunnel for a bit, but when I do, I will let you know if it’s possible to have one big loop with two tunnels.
Happy tapping, and good luck. 😎
I haven’t got a second tunnel either, good luck with your life issues my friend 🙂
Can anyone tell me how to get the 2nd tunnel? I got the first one about a month ago …thanks
Finish thus week’s track challenges.
Not true, I was only offered 20 mystery pieces and 20 doughnuts. I’ve been around forever. I’m not new, I should have been offered the second tunnel as well.
It’s hitting at different times for people. I got mine in week 2. Why? No clue. But wait and see what next week brings
I figured as much. Thank you
I have one track from Sprinfields heights to Springfield and returning opposite direction, it is not amloop but returns on the same line and works fine, just got my second tunnel but on holiday tomorrow so will see if I can make a loop it when I return.
This might have been posted and in moderation. If you place both tunnels side by side and then store them the second tunnel will remove the mountain space it was occupying. All credit for this to alunited and Tapebelt.
That would have been helpful. BEFORE I did six hours of redesign.
Oh well. Hopefully a few people will see it before they get to that stage.
I’m definitely going to do it as soon as I get a second tunnel lol
i can’t take any credit, i just saw it posted on the ea forums.
You get credit for posting it here tho 🙂
See what saying Patrick I try using lots different track but then start ruining everything around Springfield height so I gave up and made complaint to ea and they gave me 5 donutz and tryfix in it it. They never did
I’ve confined mine to the heights and have no plans to use the tunnels, just trying to hide them.
I had to remove the odd decoration but I didn’t have any issues having my monorail match up (I’m an MLP)
I have the tunnels at the first and last positions they can be in. Not sure how else I can help
Alas, I did the dreaded “move every friggen piece, one at a time” to get it to couple…
(Good to have you back C.O.G.)
You!!!!! The ever-present favorite graffiti leavin’ neighbor!!! Lol!
Nice to be back.
Me!! I still smile when you graffiti back 🙂