Switches and loaders

This page uses GameObject from Unity. The glossary says what each one is.

A track switch is a lever that sends a train down one of several branches of track. A wagon loader is a machine that puts goods in a wagon.

Trains switches and wagon loaders

Use Switches and Loaders to find the track switches and wagon loaders, then SetBranch and SetLoaderOn to work them.

public static class Trains
{
    public static List<GameObject> Switches { get; }
    public static List<GameObject> Loaders { get; }
    public static int GetBranch(GameObject target);
    public static bool SetBranch(GameObject target, int branch, bool force);
    public static bool SetLoaderOn(GameObject target, bool on);
    public static bool SetLoaderFreeToTake(GameObject target, bool freeToTake);
}

Method	Returns	What it does
`GetBranch(target)`	`int`	Which branch a switch points at. `-1` when the object is not a switch.
`SetBranch(target, branch, force)`	`bool`	Points a switch at another branch. `true` when the change was accepted.
`SetLoaderOn(target, on)`	`bool`	Turns a wagon loader on or off. `true` when it ends up in that state.
`SetLoaderFreeToTake(target, freeToTake)`	`bool`	Sets whether the player may take the loader’s goods without stealing.

Property	Type	What it means
`Switches`	`List<GameObject>`	Every track switch in the scene you are in.
`Loaders`	`List<GameObject>`	Every wagon loader in the scene you are in.

Things to know

Switches and Loaders list the objects that are switched on in the scene you are in. Pass one of them to the calls below. (They are the MinitrainSwitch and MinitrainWagonLoader objects found among the active objects of the active scene.)
GetBranch tells you which branch a switch points at. The branch number only changes when the lever has finished moving, not when you call SetBranch. (It reads MinitrainSwitch.currentBranchIndex, which is updated when the animation ends (ChangeTrackCO).)
SetBranch with force set to false follows the game’s own rule: it won’t move a switch that has a train on it. If the change is accepted, it starts the lever and returns true. The game keeps waiting for the track to clear during the lever’s movement as well. (false here is the game’s occupancy check in ChangeTrack, MinitrainSwitch: the switch’s trackSegment.occupied, or, when isReversed is set, the previous segment’s occupied. On success it calls ChangeTrack(branch).)
SetBranch with force set to true moves the switch even with a train on it. The branch changes at once, and then the lever moves. (It calls ChangeTrackForce(branch), which sets currentBranchIndex at once and then animates.)
SetLoaderOn turns a wagon loader on or off. It returns true when the loader ends up in the state you asked for. (It calls MinitrainWagonLoader.Toggle(on) and compares active.)
SetLoaderFreeToTake sets whether the player may take the goods the loader stocks without that counting as stealing. When it is on, each item the loader newly stocks is marked as allowed to take. It returns true when the loader ends up with the value you asked for. (It calls SetOwnerPermissions(freeToTake), which sets permissionToTake. When it is true, the loader tags each newly stocked item (owner ID above 1) with ItemOwnerPermission { ownerPermission = true }.)

Limits

GetBranch throws an ArgumentNullException for a null object.
SetBranch returns false when a train is on the switch’s piece of track, or, for a reversed switch, on the piece before it.
SetBranch returns false when the switch has no such branch, and throws an ArgumentOutOfRangeException for a negative branch. It also returns false when the object is not a switch, and while a save is loading or being written. (The number of branches is the length of the private MinitrainSwitch.branchRotations, read through reflection.)
SetBranch, SetLoaderOn and SetLoaderFreeToTake throw an ArgumentNullException for a null object. They return false while a save is loading or being written, and false when the object is not the right kind of object.