Dispatcher Improvements

[DazT]

Having played around with a lot of the panels and workstations I can say I'm impressed so far, and that's coming from me, a real signalman here in the UK!

Here are a couple of features and/or improvements I'd like to see in no particular order
 

• Phone console - does it really have to be so far from the panel/workstation? I can guarantee in real boxes the phone is close by either on the panel or next to it, three solutions, move it closer, or add some shortcuts to bring up the context menu without having to move, so for instance Ctrl + 1 is box A, Ctrl +  2 is box B etc, or have a shortcut so you can snap instantly to look at the phone and another to snap back to the panel/workstation
• Phone console - Button order - Can it be possible to have boxes to your left on the left and boxes to the right on the right, gets confusing on Zw panel, you get used to it eventually, but I'd expect the button for Lazy to be on the left as it's on the left of the panel
• Adjacent signal boxes chat box colouring - If the AI is in control can this change the colour of the box from grey to purple like the button so if you've been working to and from another human and then suddenly it drops back to AI you know straight away you're going to have to tell them what train left at a glance (Most of the time I do anyway, but some of use can read so don't really need to tell each other what's coming, more so on workstations, it tells on on the screen anyway)
• Window blinds - Depending on the time of day the panel can sometimes washed out by sunlight shining on it, please give us some blinds!
• Opening windows (self explanatory!)
• Lighting control - with all the lights on it's sometimes washing the panel indications out, as most of the boxes have more than one light switch, can one of them turn off the lights directly over the panel and the lights at the back of the box provide just enough light to see when walking around (As I found if you switch them off, you can't then find the switch in the dark! 😁)
• Button tooltips for panels - Ability to toggle off or user set a time delay: At present F3 is an all or nothing toggle, after you set hundreds of routes do you really need to know that left click sets it and right cancels it. So could it be possible to add some toggles that allow you to turn off certain tooltips, so turn off Set/Cancel but leave on everything else when you hover or it, or perhaps add a timer so that if you really need to see what a button does then add a small time delay (that can be user set, say 5 seconds) so that the tool tip doesn't appear every time you try to set a route. Some rare buttons like the bidirectional running controls between boxes do help, as does hovering over a track sections to identify trains.
• The most important thing is missing, a kettle in the box!

[Die blaue Eminenz]

Opening Windows is also an big thing for me, plus binoculars or better zoom for dispatchers. In Zawierce and some other stations you can see the Train station, but you cant see whats happend there, cause its too far.

 

 

[Snowpig]

maybe a more modern approach by using surveillance cameras?

[DazT]

For what use? In the box where I work we only have 1 CCTV monitor and that's for a level crossing we've got to aid with the lowering and proving "crossing clear' procedure. 

The only other box I've been into on a visit that I know has CCTV for dispatchers to use to see what's going on at stations is the RhB at Landquart, but I guess in Europe it's probably a more commonplace thing than the UK. 

[Swäntai]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb DazT:

For what use? In the box where I work we only have 1 CCTV monitor and that's for a level crossing we've got to aid with the lowering and proving "crossing clear' procedure. 

The only other box I've been into on a visit that I know has CCTV for dispatchers to use to see what's going on at stations is the RhB at Landquart, but I guess in Europe it's probably a more commonplace thing than the UK. 

Munich main station does for example at certain platforms. Also the Munich S-Bahn metro has got local supervisors in their little cabins with camera screens on the platforms at it's most congested stations, which are responsible for attending the passenger exchange. They got to make sure the doors are clear before they give the door closing signal to the train operator.

That'd also be a interesting mode to be added to the game now that I come to think about it 🤔.

However I think it's just a fun quality-of-life feature being requested as to make the dispatching less monotonous after some time, especially in certain boxes. So I'm all for it.

At least a binoculars keybind would be great, as I believe that'd be less hassle to implemented.

[Deadlost]

On the light rail in Bergen, the ctc have multiple cameras for all stations and points of interest. So there will allways be variations.

I don't expect 240 possible cameraviews from a route, but a solution for platform view would indeed be nice. Since many of the boxes don't have direct/close view of the station platform.

Possibilty for camara views, 1 bumps you to the box today. Add 2: main screen 3: EDR 4: platform 1 5: platform 2 etc ?

Edited March 9, 2023 by Deadlost