Stop drawing lines. Start engineering traffic.

Lesson 01

Think In Traffic Flow

Before editing, identify where vehicles are actually conflicting. One bad crossing can cause more trouble than fifty kilometres of perfectly good road.

• Where do loaded vehicles slow down?
• Where do machines meet head-on?
• Where do long trailers swing across another route?
• Where does a destination sit too close to an intersection?
• Where can one-way flow remove a conflict entirely?

Lesson 02

Dual Recording

Current AutoDrive can record two lines simultaneously when the recording offsets are non-zero. This is ideal for building paired traffic lanes consistently.

Two one-way lanes

Record paired directional lanes for proper road traffic.

Two two-way lanes

Possible, but use deliberately rather than creating duplicate ambiguity.

Secondary dual routes

Useful when creating lower-priority alternatives alongside the main network.

Dual recording saves time, but it does not know whether your offsets place a trailer into a hedge. Inspect both lines after recording.

Lesson 03

Secondary Routes

AutoDrive distinguishes main routes from secondary routes. Use secondary routes as alternatives rather than making every possible connection equally attractive.

Typical uses include service roads, yard bypasses, access lanes and routes that should exist without becoming the first choice for normal traffic.

Lesson 04

Complex Intersections

Build intersections around vehicle paths, not around the visual centre of the road. Give each turn a clean arc and avoid packing the centre with unnecessary nodes.

The official AutoDrive project also provides separate prepared crossing mods. Treat them as useful tools, not a substitute for understanding why the junction works.

Lesson 05

Turning Space And Curve Quality

Good curves use enough distance for a vehicle to change direction progressively. Test them with the largest combination expected on that route.

Modern AutoDrive builds include collision-aware curve preview behaviour while editing. A preview can warn about a bad idea, but the final test still belongs to real machinery on the real map.

Lesson 06

Reversing Without Summoning Chaos

Light-blue connections indicate sections that can be travelled in reverse. Reversing is valuable for sheds, bunker areas and certain trigger layouts, but it should be short, intentional and thoroughly tested.

• Keep reverse sections as simple as possible.
• Give the vehicle a straight approach before reversing.
• Test trailers separately.
• Avoid reversing through busy intersections.
• Provide a clean forward route out afterwards.

The official AutoDrive ecosystem includes a prepared reverse-to-marker helper mod for suitable placeables. Use the right tool when it genuinely reduces complexity.

Lesson 07

Route Cleanup

Networks accumulate scars: duplicate nodes, abandoned branches, accidental connections and old experiments nobody remembers making.

AutoDrive supports deleting individual waypoints and scalable-area deletion. Before a large cleanup, back up the route data. Then remove dead geometry methodically rather than conducting a digital controlled explosion.

Cleanup order

1. Identify the section and its destinations.
2. Confirm no other route depends on it.
3. Back up the network.
4. Delete only the bad section.
5. Reconnect cleanly.
6. Retest both directions and all affected destinations.

Lesson 08

Collision Behaviour Is A Safety Net

Current AutoDrive includes advanced collision detection for vehicles, traffic and roadside obstacles, with vehicle-specific settings including collision height and corner speed.

Do not use those settings to force a terrible route to behave. First fix geometry. Then tune vehicle behaviour where a genuine vehicle-specific problem remains.

Lesson 09

Network Debugging

AutoDrive's route-network debugging can create diagnostic destinations in an AD_Debug folder. The official FAQ documents the useful prefixes:

1_

End of a one-way route without a connection.

2_

Reverse-driving angle greater than 90°.

3_

Start of a one-way route without a connection.

4_

Start or end of a two-way line without a connection.

9_

Potential problem requiring inspection.

These diagnostic markers disappear when route debugging is disabled. Use them to locate faults instead of staring at 4,000 waypoints and hoping one looks guilty.

Lesson 10

Stress Test The Junction

A route engineer tests combinations, not just one journey. Put several vehicles through the redesigned area from different directions.

• Loaded truck
• Tractor + long trailer
• Large harvester
• Two vehicles converging
• Vehicle leaving a trigger
• Vehicle parking nearby
• Night / beacon behaviour
• AI traffic if present

If the system behaves only when nobody else is using it, you have built a museum exhibit, not a transport network.

Route Doctor / Route Engineer

Diagnose Before You Rebuild

Wrong route chosen

Inspect main versus secondary connections and accidental shortcuts.

Vehicles deadlock

Look for opposing two-way traffic, merge conflicts or destinations too close to the junction.

Trailer clips corner

Increase the turning radius and move the lane outward.

Reverse fails

Simplify the reverse approach and inspect angle/clearance.

Sudden unexplained stop

Check collision geometry, route continuity and notification history before touching settings.

Proving Grounds Challenge

Route Engineer Licence Test

1. Choose one busy Farm Driver junction.
2. Rebuild it with clear inbound and outbound traffic.
3. Use dual recording on at least one paired-lane section.
4. Add one justified secondary route.
5. Include one carefully tested reverse section or explain why reversing is inappropriate there.
6. Run route debugging and clear any relevant broken-end warnings.
7. Stress-test the result with at least three vehicle types and converging traffic.