Niddertalbahn: Bad Vilbel-stockheim Feedback Thread

Hi,

I bought the DLC and did some runs tonight with the BR628, this route is really nice ! The train and its behavior are good, same for the scenery. Congratulations, this is one of the best routes so far

I have two questions :

- are the schedules real, or are they "simulated" ?

- the brake release sound seems to play multiple times when releasing the brake, even with a low application. Is it normal ?

 

Real

 

Their are a few issues here and their, for example I did have a sound issue with releasing brakes and at the same time the engine sound when throttling up was a bit weird. I made a ticket on this one. And I'm sure TSG (Mike and Team) will get rid of the small issues.

So I can't say much at the moment, have driven it in both directions now, made one scenario and one run with the 365. Nothing which came to my attention that would say anything negative. The 628.2. drives and feels great, the route looks stunning, I absolutely love the forest sections. Their is so much detail anywhere, the foliage is great, everything feels nice and lovely. It can be seen how much love went into this.

What to say? Thank you TSG, Mike and Team, thank you for easily the most beautiful and detailed TSW route until now, please keep this level and bring us more, take your time, I can wait for new stuff as long as it is so exciting. DTG and other 3rd parties should take a close look to this route, this is how it is done!

Btw. I do believe that is the first ever TSW route with 100% positive reviews (21 at the time of my writing). That tells a story of its own...keep up this fantastic work!

EDIT: I forgot to say thank you for the wiper sound btw. not the obvious "click, clack" sound we have in every other TSW train, it is very nice

 

Inserting my comment from the DTG Live article discussion because this seems to be a fitting place for it. I’ve also updated it with additional remarks and feedback:

Currently doing my first timetable service, and I’m blown away. This feels like a wholly different game, a new benchmark for TSW DLCs for sure. Scenery is legendary and the loco is amazing as well. Timetable with the regular loco crossings/encounters is so good.

Route looks amazing on PS4, and the framerate is very high, with no regular drops. I love the huge explorable areas, with cars stopping and honking at you if you block their path while on foot. I also really like the new G-force indicator in the HUD, very helpful.

Two small questions regarding the cab of the BR 628:

• What does the magnetic brake lever do?
• The toggle for the horn seems to be able to go up and down, but only up (I believe) produces a sound. Did DB remove the low horn without changing the switch, which would be a very 1990s thing for them to do?

Feedback (just some very minor things, I play on a PS4):

• BR 628 training module only gave me a silver despite completing all the tasks. Fell slightly short of 2000 AP.
• I did notice a station where leaves clipped into the station signs, like in the preview stream.
• One of the platform staircases at the big middle station (Heldenbergen-Windecken, Platform 1/2) seems broken, with gaps in the model appearing when walking upwards.
• There is a floating lamppost near one of the last stations prior to reaching Stockheim.
• There is a small red and white sphere between the rails on the approach to the big Stockheim level crossing (going towards Stockheim). Not sure if this is intended or a placeholder artifact.
• A weird spike-like dark texture appears on one of the walls in the middle section of the 628 powercar interior when walking towards it from the unpowered car. It disappears when getting within a few meters.
• I did notice some cars stopping on the road while I was driving next to it and using the cinematic camera. This may be related to the fact that cars stop and honk at you if you’re blocking their path while on foot, which is an amazing feature.
• Not sure why the underground passage between the platform at Bad Vilbel is blocked with invisible walls, it seems to be fully modeled and a similar passage at the other big station in the middle of the route is completely accessible.
• Some of the white and red railings (like those at the end of the platforms at Bad Vilbel) seem to have missing shadows and no collision.
• I did not hear door closing beeps while driving towards Stockheim in the cab of the unpowered car. I did however clearly hear them when I drove towards Bad Vilbel in the powered car. Not sure if this is intended.
• Niddertalbahn doesn’t seem to have an image for the “Resume Last Played” tile in the main menu, would be great if they could set the wonderful route cover art to appear there!

 

A few smaller bugs:

* At Stockhein Station the passenger AI seemingly have problems to reach the platforms. They just spawn in front of the station on each other’s head, stay there, and then they despawn.
* The DB BR 628 Introduction is quite wonky: "Set train brake key to cut in" instruction: before the player inserts the brake key, the objective marker is off a little bit and it covers the key hole. After the player completes the "Release Parking Brake" instruction BOTH "Set the doors to CLOSE" objectives will be marked as complete.
* Minor Z-fighting issue on the train/channel numbers on the train radio, the 'On' pictogram of both wipers and the ‘stop’/‘start’ writing of the engine start switches in the cab of the 628. ES-050 wagon: the line below the ‘Unt.’ text, and on the other side the ‘80’, and the ‘D-DB’ text flickers. (this is more than likely an Xbox/DirectX 12 issue only)
* In the 628 you can contact the signaller by clicking on the phone itself or on the phone pictogram on the train radio. In the 365 neither of these are working.
* At Lindheim Station there are 2 floating lamp posts, the texture of the wall near the level crossing is also glitched.
* At Höchst (Nidder) Station the passengers are floating.
* At Kilianstädten the AI passengers sink into the ground..
* At Niederdorfelden the AI clips through the bike shed, sinks into the pavement.
* Typo on the mirror’s switch labels: ‘Foldet in’ and ‘Foldet out’ instead of ‘Folded in’ and ‘Folded out’.
* The gutters are see-through from above at Glauberg Station.
* ‘Hugging Trees’ scenario: after the tree fells down shouldn't the player cut-off the brakes and remove the brake key from the rear cab? Also if the player doesn’t disable the safety systems during changing the cabs, they will be soft-locked as when the Sifa goes off in the rear cab, the reverser handle will be removed from the front cab and the player can not interact with it after that. Still the same scenario: if the player save the game after the tree has fell down, and reload the save, the tree will be up again. Also typos: 'Tree’ (with a capital T) and ‘busses’.
* Between Lindhein and Altenstadt (Hesse) there's grass growing on one if the utility pole.
* Between Kilianstädten and Oberdorfelden there are some weed on the power lines.
* In the ‘373 Sugar Beets’ scenario there are at least two 999 km/h speed limits between Gronau (Hess. Nassau) and Bad Vilbel stations.

 

One small thing I've noticed is that when you press the horn key on a keyboard (i play on pc), there is no lever sound and the lever does not move. When I use my mouse, I can move it and you hear the lever sound. It's extremely minor compared to issues other people have mentioned but wanted to make it known in case nobody has mentioned it yet.

 

I believe there is also a horn pedal near the feet, maybe this animation plays when the horn key is pressed.
The toggle on the dashboard may be a secondary way to activate the horn. That toggle also appears to include a downward setting that doesn’t do anything.

 

Really quite happy with this. It's a super detailed, very well done route and a different type of route, low speed branch line running instead of the usual high speed mainline running. All in all one of the better route available for TSW.

 

I personally thinks it looks great I mean it's probably the best looking route in train Sim world for a while now train some Germany really knocked this one out of the park sure there's a few little things but I mean in comparison to what we've had in recent DLCs this is amazing absolutely loving it well done

 

Three annoying bugs:
- Stockheim station has bugged passenger
- Bad Vilbel entrance signal shows Vr1 into stumpfgleis
- I have problems with Light Clouds settings that makes the game unplayable or crashing

One sad bug:
- None of the indicators on dashboard seems working outside of Sifa. In reality it's lighting like a christmas tree, because it has indicators for both released and applied brakes, doors open and others. Hopefully we can see that added, it should be pretty trivial.

Otherwise it's easily one of the very few german routes that feel complete and finished.

 

Hi all, once again I‘ve had a „PZB moment“ for which I am most likely responsible for, but don‘t quite understand. I was driving RB3694 to Stockheim when I had a penalty brake application at the level crossing just after Oberdorfelden. The light was flashing at the crossing so I‘m sure it was not a simulated failure. I must have missed something, but had the same happen when I recreated it later. Does anyone have an idea what I am doing wrong?

Edit: I think I found my problem. It has to do with the crossing signals. I have to be more careful to see when they start or stop blinking.

 

I love this little road, it's very relaxing, very "alive", the quality is exceptional!
35 km for 35 euro, the value for money is high but it is currently the most justified!
As already said, the quality it pays, I am ready to give 35 euro for each route of 35 km as good.
I would like to say a big thank you to the team for having surprised me at this point and suddenly made me come back to tsw3. (6 months of absence and 6 months without purchase!)
Now, I would very much like Rivet to come out again with a beautiful route in Switzerland, I have been waiting for a new Swiss route for a long time, please mr Rivet, do another one!
I really like the arosa, even if the mountains are not very beautiful, I'm sure you can do better today!
I would like TSC to release a nice route in Austria (there might be a clue or two that will indicate that the next one will be in the Alps!
I would like Union Workshop to release a nice road in Japan, a 1 lane road like there are many there. (pity no high speed we already have too much).

35 euro is a bit expensive, but I guarantee you that this faith you will get your money's worth!!

 

Apologies if you already know this, but in case you dont, did you past one of these markers?

 

Another Swiss one would be awesome! Imagine that with the mountains of the training center :0

 

Yes, I acknowledeged one on either the previous crossing, or the one before that.

 

Cant help you then sorry, all I can say is Ive completed a run in both directions with PZB on and didnt come over any rouge penalty applications. if you are able to record a video of the run up to it then we might be able to help further and point out what you are missing?

 

Now TSG have successfully cut their teeth on this route, I’d like to see them have a go on something like the Obereruhrtalbahn which was my favourite route in Zusi 2.

 

I‘ve tested again, and it definatley has to do with the crossing signals. Sometimes they are not blinking, sonmetimes they start just blinking just before I get there. I will have to be careful to acknowlege them I guess. But I think I‘ve solved my issue, and learnt something too, which is the beauty of a new route

 

I did mention either in this thread or the other that one of the crossings the barriers only lower as the train is right on it so looks as if some of the trigger points for the barriers and advance warnings need tweaking. I haven’t driven with safety systems on (yet)…

 

Ok thanks !

I noticed that too. I wondered why there was no door cloose indication for example. I hope it will be fixed.

Do anyone knows if there is a manual (PDF or something) coming with the route ?

 

I don't know why, but I thought the top speed on this line was closer to 100 kmh, don't get me wrong, both the train and the route are arguably the best modelled in TSW3, but I just wonder how much gameplay I'm going to get out of it, a few scenarios, and a timetable full of drives that are essentially the same, probably aren't going to hold my attention for too long unfortunately.

 

It's a common practice to press the acknowledge even when not needed (on every Bü-signal, on every speed warning even when it visibly does not have a magnet..), better to press ten times when unneeded than missing one that was needed and having to shamefully call the dispatcher

 

The only problem is that when you manually turn on the PZB and SIFA on 628, they do not start working, only after turning them on through the hot keys they turn on.

 

I notice, when driving the RB (7058) service, that once you uncouple the rear unit mid-journey as per the instructions, you can't apply power and leave the station without deactivating and reactivating the "Leistung" switch in the driving cab. The engine just doesn't rev up. Is this normal or is this a bug ?

 

Yes, you can download it from the dlc page in steam.

 

Thank you !

 

Interesting I was wondering why pzb and sifa weren't doing anything well that's an annoying bug

 

Maik said he sent the patch that fixes it. We just need to wait for the next build.

 

Yeah I figured it would be an easy fix It's more just annoying than anything but it doesn't take away from the absolute gorgeous of the root thoroughly enjoying it nonetheless probably the best release sense the base 3 routes for train sim world 3 I think second would be Birmingham Cross city

 

This is why it needs additional layers and loco packs, such as I suggested the 211/212 and 216/218. As much as the route is nice and superbly crafted, it does have the potential to end up like West Somerset. I was also a little surprised at the lack of much in Journey mode, only 8 elements if you disregard the two Training Centre ones.

 

Remember that the blinking crossing signals indicate that everything is fine, so you do not need to acknowledge them. If the signals are not blinking then the crossing is not secured and you need to acknowledge the 1000Hz magnet that will be placed next to the signal. After that, stop at the crossing and use the manual controls to secure it.

Every crossing has a small percent chance of not being secured (it has been coded that way). The roll of the dice happens when you pass the 5 diamonds signal, so a crossing that is secured now might not be the next time you pass it and the other way around.

 

I dont think we need more journey mode than that for this route. It shows you different times of day and activities, and after that we can just choose what we want from the timetable mode.

Fun fact: random weather is active in most if not all of the journey services. If you repeat any it will not be exactly the same.

 

The ES50 freight cars have a decal following them on the side of the track, probably something forgotten on the side when making the decals on the side of the car. (happens with both liveries)

 

So there’s no way to activate PZB and SIFA on consoles then, apart from plugging in a keyboard to use the shortcuts every time I play a new route?

Loving the route on XSX so far though, plays well, looks gorgeous, but I hope this will be patched soon

Two further nitpicks:

- It would’ve been great if the honking was actually part of the gameplay. Right now it doesn’t matter if you honk or not.
- This goes for TSW in general: it would make so much sense if PZB and SIFA and any other safety were explained during the tutorials, even if it’s just how to switch them on

 

Just flip the switches or turn the knobs manually.

Cheers

 

Yeah but that doesn’t actually activate them, seemingly

 

Depends, I want to have a realistic timetable, this is what we got. It is a small railroad at the countryside, it is how it is. Timetable is exactly like it was back then in 92.

As a plus I can drive the 628 on Koblenz-Mainz where is a lot of more traffic. I'm not interested in services and a mix of locos that didn't exist at the time being.

The route is pretty much working like my local railway network is working nowadays, living near Altenbeken / Ottbergen, a very important east / west connection back in the days, D-Züge, BR 44 Steam locos, two tracks...all in the 70ies. Nowadays it is a single line track, which works like Niddertalbahn does.

 

Yes, correctly sounding the horn should be enforced with AP awarded if you do and deducted if you don't - subject to any silent period curfew of course.

 

I found that when I was playing on steam deck too, switching the lever doesn't seem to do anything at the moment. You can only open the cabinet at one end too, not sure if that's correct or not though.

 

Besides it is not important for me to get AP I also thought it would be a nice feature getting +AP for using the horn at the P-Tafeln, or get minus points when not doing it. This is how it works in Sim-Rail btw.

 

Mind I remember in MSTS, 3D Train Stuff went too far with one of their routes (might have been Cajon) where failing to sound the horn gave you a "Game Over" session termination!

 

The route itself is brilliant though, It shows what TSW is capable of. The Into the Future scenario was great fun, did anyone else feel like it they were in a Thomas the Tank Engine episode?

 

So I bought it, and wow, hands down the best-looking route, ever! Thanks, TSG!

Some minor issues I found:

It was raining a bit during my first run, and the trees had this 'silvery' effect. It looks like we've got too much shine on the leaves. Might not be a route-specific issue, I think I've seen this across many routes before.



The semaphore signal lights are very bright from afar, but as you get close, the light disappears (doesn't look lit anymore).
The level crossing barrier at Glauberg station goes back up as soon as the front of the train hits it (from Stockheim to Bad Vilbel, haven't tested it from the other direction).

I also couldn't keep to the timetable, I was a bit more than 2 minutes late during my first run (I expected longer waiting times at stations, I was rushing like on the Harlem Line). Again, this was from Stockheim to Bad Vilbel, a morning service with the 628.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the route regardless of the above, well done!

 

Really good route and worth every Euro.
Just atmospheric the vibes of 90s with all the fields. Same for the rolling stock, also the 2 axle freight wagon is something new for german routes.

I noticed 3 rather minor things.
- the 628 interior lights are dark during the night in timetable mod.
- beside sifa & pzb, none of the indicator lights seem to work.

- this one is found randome on the 365: with no direction selected + active button, when powering engine up in higher rounds, engine starts to speed up like a bugatti beyond max., sounds like a diesel runaway with 9000rpm.

Beside that im glad tsw got a german route which is actually quiet and slow. It doesnt always have to be mainline traffic.

 

Loving the route.
Enjoyed watching the 103 and coaches run past me at Bad Vilbel. Does the 110 use the route as well. Cant be sure if anyone mentioned it. I don't recall seeing it.
I also ran the 628 on the Mainz Koblenz route. Loved being buzzed by 103's and 110's. Also at one point a 103 service had to wait for my lowly 628 service to pass it. Made a change for my train to pass an important one lol.....
Looking forward to downloading some CC Scenarios on it. Already downloaded a DB Red 628

For Non Steam owners here's a link to the manual

https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic....manuals/Niddertalbahn_Manual.pdf?t=1679587225

Regards
Hentis

 

You are correct. I watched a couple of streams. The PZB controls that you can activate currently only work on the motorised unit.

The keyboard shortcuts seem to work in whatever unit you are sitting in.

So for console players wanting to drive with PZB from the non motorised unit, a keyboard is the only option.

Pretty sure I read a comment from TSG that they already have a fix that can go out in a patch. But it doesn’t say when that will be.

 

Manual activation works for me on PS5 - at least in the 628 cab, haven’t tried in the 928.

 

I think this is the best Route-Loco Material we've got so far in TSW

however the overhead wiring in Windecken isn't finished

 

I'm going to have to buy Koblenz aren't I!!!!

If I buy it this weekend and it goes on sale next week, I am going to be spitting feathers!