[Solved] Impuls 2 – Cannot enter train number and start ETCS

[schmusegewürzkatze621]

To get to know the vehicle before playing multiplayer, I started the ‘vehicle test’ Żmigród scenario with the Impuls 2. However, I cannot figure out how to perform ETCS SOM to be able to drive – be it in level NTC, 1 or 2. The DMI boots in SB mode to a speed gauge and a prompt to enter driver number. I can enter some number here and press a button to proceed to entering my train number. However, on that screen, there is no button allowing me to confirm the number entered, only one to go back to the previous screen. I have tried pressing the separate ETCS acknowledgement button. This didn't do anything.

And if I start driving anyway, ETCS automatically stops me saying I moved without authorisation (of course, since I'm still in SB mode).

This happens no matter if I choose the scenario as ‘cold start’ or ‘ready to drive’ (though of course with cold start it only happens once I've switched on the battery and activated the cab).

Is this a bug? Or have I missed some vital step?

Edited 10 hours ago by schmusegewürzkatze621
add [Solved] tag to title

[schmusegewürzkatze621]

I've been informed that pressing the ETCS acknowledge button is actually the correct thing to do in this case according to ETCS SRS. But again – I have tried this and it doesn't work.

Edited 23 hours ago by schmusegewürzkatze621

[markus16w]

You have to click on the number field to acknowledge it. All other entry fields are also acknowledged this way.

[MBGT Benjamin]

Hi, for the touch screen ETCS DMIs (in SimRail, these are used in Impuls 2 and Dragon 2), you have to click on the input field to confirm your input. I highly recommend you to play both ETCS tutorials (if you haven't played them yet), as they explain the startup (and other important procedures) for the Pendolino, which should be the same for Impuls 2 (and Dragon 2) except for the differences in inputting and confirming data, as the ETCS DMI in the Pendolino isn't a touch screen and therefore uses buttons around on the DMI frame.

[mateusz424]

Touchscreen – that's the solution to the puzzle.
Buttons are then unnecessary.

[schmusegewürzkatze621]

10 hours ago, MBGT Benjamin said:

Hi, for the touch screen ETCS DMIs (in SimRail, these are used in Impuls 2 and Dragon 2), you have to click on the input field to confirm your input.

What the fuck. I would never even have considered that! Clicking on an entry field to apply changes?? That just spits in the face of 50 years of human–machine interface guidelines! What did the DMI developers at Newag smoke?!

… Thank you for this information. That's pretty counterintuitive. I'll try this out immediately.

[mateusz424]

5 godzin temu, schmusegewürzkatze621 napisał(a):

What the fuck. I would never even have considered that! Clicking on an entry field to apply changes?? That just spits in the face of 50 years of human–machine interface guidelines! What did the DMI developers at Newag smoke?!

Is a smartphone or tablet's touchscreen... also a "spit in the face"?
The first touchscreens in industrial and professional applications appeared in the mid-1970s, and their wider use in automation came in the 1980s.
If you buy a touchscreen monitor for your computer, you won't have to click, just touch the entry field as in the original. 😂

Edited 5 hours ago by mateusz424

[Quacking Duck]

6 hours ago, schmusegewürzkatze621 said:

I would never even have considered that! Clicking on an entry field to apply changes??

I am reminded of certain user interfaces in aviation[1], which are arguably even more counterintuitive, in which the user first enters a value into a "scratchpad" field, and only then selects the input field into which to place the value.

More relevantly, here[2] is a series of videos which has helped me learn to use ETCS, including the use of the touchscreen DMI. Because of these videos, I was able to effectively use ETCS despite bugs in earlier versions of the ETCS tutorial scenarios. As illustrated by the very first forum thread I posted[3], however, there remained some subtleties of the user interface which neither the videos nor the tutorial prepared me for.

In case you have not seen it yet, here[4] is the official driver's manual. Though repetitive, it rather exhaustively illustrates the step-by-step usage of much of the user interface.

[1] Here is a relatively short video showing an example of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw8hQX2dFCE
[2] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-11Syv2fsjTVdOLoRmFc--BO-7Dyk8Hx
[3] https://forum.simrail.eu/topic/11609-clicking-the-etcs-staff-responsible-acknowledgement-button-at-the-beginning-of-the-pruszkowskis-intermodal-scenario-does-nothing/
[4] https://www.era.europa.eu/domains/european-rail-traffic-management-system-ertms/generic-etcs-drivers-handbook