Restart sometimes starts simulation and sometimes doesn't

[mitcheljh]

First, thanks for your amazing software.

Almost all the time I want to 'Restart' a simulation, I want it to just 'Reset', not restart.  This is because I find that I need to adjust some initial settings, then save the simulation, and start it again.  Most of the time I find that 'Restarting' also starts the clock, which I usually don't want it to do.  I haven't quite figured out why it restarts paused sometimes, and restarts with the clock automatically starting others.

I wonder if it would make sense to also have a 'Reset' option, which will never start the clock?

Update:
I just figured out that restarting while in Edit Mode, won't automatically start the clock.  Not sure if I missed that in the documentation.  Still think a 'Reset' option would be nice, though.

Thanks again

[Dan Dixon]

Thanks for pointing out a confusing situation.

Currently:
If you pause the simulation manually with the spacebar and then save it, it will saved paused.
But just opening up the Save window, which pauses the sim, won't save the simulation as paused.

I'll think about how to fix this.

Note that you can force a simulation to open as paused with the checkbox "Open as paused" in the Open window.

[mitcheljh]

Thanks for replying.
It's possible that I did save the sim while it was running.  I guess, when doing this, it will then be running when I perform future restarts?  Unless I save it again, paused, in which case future restarts will not start it runnng?

I'll try to get in the habit of always pausing, restarting, and saving (with it not running).  This is usually what I intend anyway, since I always want to save a simulation in it's original (time = 0.0) state.  Sometimes, I forget, though, and it seems there's no way for me to get the simulation back to it's original (time = 0) state, unless I load a previously saved simulation.  I guess I have to think of the saving procedure as it works with most games...  saving it at a certain point in time.    As I'm using US as a research tool, I guess I'm considering to be saving the sim as it was at time=0, and expect it to always be loaded at time = 0 and paused.

[Dan Dixon]

Yeah... the way it currently works is confusing. I'll eventually fix this.