BigVern

We need something akin to free roam or quick drive in TSC or TSW. Or just a very simple GUI scenario editor similar to the one in TSW.

Sorry I don’t buy into the hardware argument. Seems a bit strawman to me. The fact changing the start time at the commencement of the scenario to find it then jumps back to the original timings after the run round, is hardly on the CPU or GPU. Likewise, the save game routine no longer running when it worked fine in the previous version or before the DLC’s is not the fault of the user. Edit: Further to my thoughts above, the bug report has now been published and marked as “Open Sim” on both the timetable reversion and the sudden save game issues. So kudos to the developers for acknowledging as such and not just dismissing as potato PC or user error.

I am leaving all the SP scenarios alone until/if the developers acknowledge the issues and confirm they are working to fix the issues. I did wonder as regards testing whether things worked better on release, but we have had two small patches one yesterday and the other today which may have broken things. It's also a bit annoying that they seem to sit on bug reports for a day or two before they show up on public viewing. I know it's the weekend but you would have thought following a major DLC release which does have issues they would be sorting through the problems.

Sadly the SP scenarios now seem increasingly broken in respect of several aspects, which I have detailed on the SP section along with a (pending) bug report.

As I’m still waiting for my reports to appear for public view in the Bug forum, would further note the save game seems to have stopped working for other scenarios too. I started off IC 7320 and tried to save about half an hour in. Same thing happened… After hitting the save box, game remained in the pause menu. On hitting Esc to return, no confirmation of save in the message box and on going out to the main route menu not registered there either. So until these issues are sorted, looks like SP off the menu at least for the Lodz Jn route. My initial positive thoughts about these two add ons are diminishing rapidly, but unfortunately too late to refund. Got to wonder what sort of testing was done before they were pushed out.

Add to this while waiting for it to be published. IC 7320 with the Ty2 steam loco not saving the game even on the section to Lodz. After pressing save from Pause menu and hitting the window with save details, not being returned to the running screen without hitting Esc, there is no record of a save in the message box and returning to the main menu no save listed under the route/train to load.

Thanks for the heads up. Given the issues I found/reported with the passenger scenario run round, I begin to wonder how thoroughly these SP scenarios were play tested? I thought SimRail developers were better in this respect than DTG, who we are used to pushing out stuff for TSW without adequate QA and testing.

I have a bug report pending in the other forum section but just advance warning to anyone playing the Lodz Junction scenarios where a loco run round is required. Don’t change the starting time when loading the run (e.g. two or three hours earlier) as after you complete the run round move at Lodz. Part 2 of the scenario reverts to the original times when the Timetable window returns. So in my case, I was sat in Lodz at 0840 with the train not due to leave until 1137. (IC 3720). As an aside, once you reach this location it is no longer possible to save the game (also logged in the pending bug report). Have to wonder if this was properly tested, what would happen with effectively two part scenarios using the start time modifier?

Running this scenario with an ET22 hauled consist and loading into a game saved just before Lodz Kaliska, where the loco runs round the train. On approach to Kaliska and thereafter the save game became disabled, could call up the pause menu and hit save but the menu did not fade back to the driving screen and no message on the HUD. On completing the run round and changing cabs, when the timetable window returned, it had jumped forward to show departure at 1137 not 0837 and an infinite number of minutes remaining on the station dwell time. No longer possible to continue the scenario, Edit: To clarify, I had used the customiser to start the scenario earlier, so it looks as if the second part had jumped back to the original time once the run round was complete and timetable reappeared.

As we don’t have a general feedback thread for the new DLC, thought I would start one! First impressions are very good and definitely helped by being able to buy the two items at a considerably reduced price combining the release discount and bundle offer. £13.26 instead of £22 when it goes to full price. Far better value than DTG’s East Coastway pack for TSW which also released yesterday for £12 and has two slightly reworked trains for a short existing route and by all accounts buggy as hell. Anyhow I digress… Back to the new SimRail content. What I’ve seen of the new route it looks very nice and well put together. Scenery wise, not a lot different to what we already have but this is central Poland, not the Alps or Scandinavia. However it does have some nice sweeping curves in places and was pleasantly surprised to find mechanical semaphore signals at a few locations. There’s a good cross section of scenarios for the single player game which can all be replayed with different trains and time of day using the substitution menu. I haven’t explored the route in MP yet or taken a look at the signaller side of things. The Impulse EMU. Although I prefer older trains the model is nicely done both exterior and interior. I have no idea how the real thing sounds but the audio seems new and not copy/pasted from the existing traction. It does seem to accelerate rather quickly though again not being familiar with the prototype perhaps that’s true to life. It does however seem rather easy to trigger a brake lock which can be overcome by pushing the brake release button in service. However the same problem is occurring loading back into a SP save game and in that case operating the releaser doesn’t work, train stays stuck. I’ve popped a separate post to that effect in the SP Bug forum. There’s also no tutorial for the Impulse which could have shown how to recover the brake situation. So overall for the two items combined I would score 8.5/10 based on my experience so far and it has to be said far better value for money than any equivalent TSW DLC.

Loading into a save game with the new Impuls EMU, the brake alarm is sounding and the train comes to a stand. Operating the brake releaser restores the brake pipe to 5 bar but as soon as you try and take power the train brakes apply again and the alarm sounds. Can't find a workaround at present. Edit: On the CDU the wheels are shown in red and the brake pressure gauge is reading 2.5 bar.

NB: If you delve around on the Steam page you should be able to pick up the new route and EMU as part of a bundle with the original Lodz route. If you already own the first route that brings the price down to £13.26 for both the items released today which is a £6.52 saving on the price of the items purchased seperately.

Oops…

Just wondered what time the Lodz Junction route and new EMU will “go live” on Steam? I know the default is normally 1800 UTC but sure I’ve seen SR stuff appear before that.

Could be a performance issue involved, the more people complete with animations the more it’s going to push the CPU and GPU. Though that could be overcome by having a slider to adjust density. I’m just grateful that the passengers generally in SimRail are better implemented than in TSW where they all wander round with identical baseball hats or umbrellas, if it’s raining and worse of all spread out on to the track in front of approaching trains. (Harrow & Wealdstone on West Coast Main Line South one of the worst locations for that).