What does it take to move my harvest fleet from one field to another and set everything up in Farming Simulator 22 (FS22)?
Pickup Truck Prep-Work
First I'll jump into my pickup truck 2017 which is my go-to vehicle for FS22 AutoDrive network waypoint route recording, then obviously I check map which is the field I'm going to, drive there and inspect if there is already existing FS22 AutoDrive waypoints and target point to lock on to.
If there are no waypoints I drive my pickup truck there and record them, including the centralized target point for semi-truck grain trailers to stop at. Pickup truck driving from the location where my harvesting vehicle fleet is kind of like a dry run to see that the path is clear, all waypoints have been recorded, there are no detours etc, if my pickup truck arrives nice and straight into the new field location, so will the harvest fleet. And well in fact mr pickup truck is part of the harvest fleet at this moment, haha.
I like to record waypoints looping around the field about to get harvested, if there is not a route already. This ensures that any vehicle from any side of the field can get moving without FS22 AutoDrive doing crazy calculations for the route path finding. Often times if your network routes are lacking, vehicles doing a simple u-turn which would go only around the current field (in road grid), ends up being completely silly scenic detour which takes a very long time.
Recording or making sure next field has waypoints around it is kind of like making sure everything is setup and ready for the guests to arrive, or well workers in this case I guess.
Its a big part of preparing the next harvest when you record new FS22 AutoDrive network waypoint routes, it gives you assurance that everything at least from the road network stand point will run smoothly.
Semi-Truck Grain Trailers
Once FS22 AutoDrive network route is setup, then its time to configure semi-truck grain trailers for FS22 AutoDrive Pickup and Deliver mode for this new target point.
I usually have plenty of grain trailers so grain carts never have to wait to unload, its the only sane way to run grain hauling operations. What is plenty? Well depends on the field of course, as I'm typing this I'm on PMC Undefined Farms 20km ready to start harvesting F1508 which is actually quite tiny, but right next to it is F1535 which is this areas one of the largest, I only have two combine harvesters so currently I'm running 5 semi-truck grain trailers as 6th and 7th are busy doing something else (one is filled with seeds from last planting season, yeah I know, need a seed storage bin and other is connected to UTTS-32000 liquid tanker trailer, come to think of it, I think my farm only has five grain trailers, hmm need to fix that). So have enough grain trailers, its peace of mind.
Grain Cart Tractors
Once semi's are rolling out, I'll switch to grain cart tractors and send them on their way as well, usually if there are grain leftover from previous field I empty them out, no reason really, just nicer to start a new field fresh and empty.
I setup the new waypoint target point as Unload Combine mode target for both field and unload, its not a working setup but at least if this tractor is on the field with combine harvester(s) having the same target point, then you can simply click play and have him begin unloading combine harvesters. Its a nice way to add another layer of safety so to speak, dunno how to describe it, peace of mind, hah.
Depending if the field is far away or close, I drive grain cart tractors there myself manually, saves me the hassle of untangling bunch of FS22 AutoDrive vehicles stuck in a convoy butt sniffing each others, anyone ever had to pull out a grain cart tractor from six semi-truck grain trailer convoy knows what I'm talking about
Combine Harvesters
Only after FS22 AutoDrive network waypoint routes have been recorded, semi-truck grain trailers and grain cart tractors have arrived to the field, ONLY then I even send combine harvesters to that field, they are the last ones to arrive, like ladies always being late to the party
Once harvesters arrive, its just generating FS22 Courseplay field work course to them and sending them on their way.
Please note that if you have header trailers on the combine harvesters, FS22 AutoDrive to my experience doesn't have collision detection for those so the latest arriving combine will smack right at the back of the previous one, very annoying and I try to monitor their arrival so I can stop and take over the driving before that happens.
Also usually at this point I diesel refuel everyone if it looks like they are need of some fuel, its never a good idea to start a large harvest with mixed fill levels of fuel tanks, its so annoying when especially combine harvester(s) run out of diesel fuel during harvest.
Actually FS22 AutoDrive can automatically diesel refuel your semi-trucks if in the savegame somewhere you have a refuel point, so you might not even notice when that happens, its just that it takes away one (or more) of your vehicles during this refuel time which might look odd that hey why does that guy run all over there when it should just go dump some grain
Conclusion
This is how I move from one fields harvest to the next, semi's first, harvesters last, its the only way to keep a peace of mind as all parts are properly in play.
Also there is the FS22 AutoDrive grain cart waypoint recording, but that is a whole new topic, often times especially with small fields and only two combine harvesters like right now, I don't even use that feature, I drive grain carts myself manually, gives me something to do and gets the job done without frustrating automation script mod collisions.
Farming Simulator 22. FS22. Farmsim. FS22 AutoDrive harvesting. Combine harvester in FS22. Farmsim driving grain carts. Semi-truck grain trailers for grain hauling in FS22.