Train Sim World 4 - Nahverkehr Dresden Upgrade + Vectron Preview Q & A (sep. 14th)

Will the Vectron feature the Roadrunner system?

 

They only appear on the Franken-Thuringen Express, further south, but it would make sense as a formation in scenario planner.

 

It’s not technically for any route anymore, but yeah the focus will be for DRA.

 

Vectron can only be seen in Dresden with Freight or as an IC to Prague

 

And between Frankfurt - Wächtersbach - Fulda. Black MRCE Vectrons (Kinzigtalbahn)

Btw would be a nice DLC to introduce the ICE4 and new generation of Dostos in Game

 

I'm gonna miss the live stream, so my question will be:

Can we get a detailed overview of timetable changes. Is it a different timetable like ECW? What's been added and changed.

 

Only the vectron services are getting added. No services are being taken out or changed which is explained in the dra gameplay guide faq document

 

I'm sure the announcement video said a "new timetable" though...

 

Well, it is a new timetable if the Vectron services are being added, is the way I look at it anyway.

 

Thank you JD. I appreciate your response. Have bought the deluxe for Steam and xBox and can’t wait to try it out.

 

Is the old night lighting that was bespoke to Dresden still there, or has TOD4 reverted it to the same night lighting on every other TOD4 route?

 

Could you show the lighting on Nahverkehr Dresden at 6AM and 6:00PM on a 22 March?
Basically it should be almost equal brightness (it's equinox after all). Something I noticed on TSW routes is that sunrise and sunset always seemed overly early in comparison to real life (even moreso with daylight saving time)

 

So...
Is there any magical way to turn on all additional layered traffic on September 21st and not just the "Vectron" one?

 

Another question I have about the vectron will future versions be made from the existing one Railpool for example the Austrian 1293 or not

 

Will the PIS of the BR146.2 be fixed in TSW4 ?

 

Can the new wires be turned on for all wires? Like this it looks like the conductors are weirdly floating.

 

One question that would really interest me. Why did you Update the Timetable of the TSW3 Version of DRA with the Vectron Services if you planned to release this DLC only for TSW4.

 

You can't turn them off

 

The nightlighting looked great in the world, but the train being driven looked very odd. It was like there was zero reflection at all. The train just absorbed every particle of light, it was completely black inside and outside. Not sure if there is a setting awry...

 

Looking the the stream tonight it looks like there is an issue with the Vectron marker lights. There was alot of comments on the chat about it but it was ignored on the chat and all the talk was about the fog.

Also the way Matt kept panning the camera view very fast away from the head on view of the loco is making me suspicious.

 

Still looked abit laggy and still some stuttering like tsw3.

 

LZB working on the Vectron and if it subs on other routes

 

Hi Matt.

During the day in the stream they seemed fine.

During the night with the fog, only the top center light appeared to be on or working. It was hard to tell if the markers were working or not turned on.

 

A quick question about the Vectron screens.

I know you can move the speed information from the right screen to the centre. But is it possible to move the power and brake information presented on the left screen to the right screen?

 

When someone asked "Will the Vectron be used on passenger services", one of the people on the video said "Not yet..." then back-tracked a bit. A possible hint?

 

Would hope so! Czech Eurocity trains would fit in in Dresden nicely, Hamburg too. Also there’s Danish Vectron with old DB IC coaches to Hamburg now. Maybe the new Railjet from OBB..

 

I was very pleased to see this implemented. Being able to use this makes the 182 my freight loco of choice now. This will soon be replaced by the Vectron, particularly on night runs since I can adjust the gauges. I also really liked the way you can blow both horns at once with ctrl spacebar.

I asked about this earlier and was told that LZB does function in the Vectron. Also, late in the steam, it was confirmed that the Vectron will sub into freight runs on any German route except MKZ. Very pleased with both of these answers.

It looks and sounds great. Can’t wait to drive it. I have about 7300km on DRA. It looks like more are coming!

 

In my honest opinion, it’s this kind of remark that will be interpreted by some on here as a promise: it will be fixed, but not now. On this board, this sort of thing may come back to haunt you.

And a bit of criticism for an otherwise insightful presentation, Matt, while I do enjoy your hands-on presentations, sometimes it does seem like it’s only the second time or so that you’re driving the train you’re showing off. “I’ll have to get back to you about that” (paraphrasing). Having to check various in-game buttons to find a function and then finding out it doesn’t work. To me, that detracts from the presentation. I would expect the presenter of these presentations to know just about everything about the train.

Also, you keep going on about the mini HUD allowing you to not have to watch a number count down, but at the same time you use the floating stopping marker that does just that. Talk about immersion-breaking HUD elements :P

 

A screenshot from the stream yesterday. What has happened to the PIS and the windows of the loco?

 

Hi, are there more on-screen settings for Vectron? I see a down arrow there (and more settings on other menus?).

 

I also saw a French flag on the Vectron setup screen - freight AI at Marseille?

 

I doubt they add freight AI at Marseille. Vectron is nor homologated in France, and on the classic line into Marseille, you see very rarely freight, they drive around there.

 

The down arrow simply indicates which softkey you need to press to move down between the rows on the screen. If you press it once, an up arrow will appear as well.

The following settings are implemented:

1. E-Bremskraft (Electric brake effort): You can switch between two presets (150 kN or 240 kN) by pressing the 1 or 2 key at the bottom left.
If 240 kN is selected the TDD (left screen, i.e. the one pictured) main page will change with an indication "> 150 kN" showing the driver that more than 150 kN brake force is available.

2. Zugkraft (tractive effort): Same logic as above. The presets are 150 kN, 200 kN and 300 kN.

3. PZB Modus (PZB Mode): You can choose between U, M or O but only when the locomotive is stationary and not in restrictive mode.

4. Bremsart (brake mode): You can choose between G, P or R. The locomotive will spawn with a (usually) correct mode already preset. It follows the same logic as described in the Dresden-Nahverkehr Freight Guide in my signature.

The following settings are fixed/not implemented:

5. Oberstrom (main current): This limits the maximum current in the pantograph. IRL the maximum allowed current will change depending on network (1.5 kV DC, 3 kV DC, 15 kV AC, 25 kV AC).

6. Betriebsart ep/NBÜ (electro pneumatic brake assist / Emergency brake override system): This setting can be used to enable ep brake assist on passenger trains. With ep/NBÜ enabled (Germany at least), moving the train brake to "Fü" (Quick Release) will enable NBÜ and override a passenger applied emergency brake. With ep/NBÜ off (default/current) "Fü" opens a larger hole from the main reservoir to the brake pipe yielding a very fast charging of the brake pipe. "Fü" is quite problematic though and from the drivers I've talked to it's very rarely (if ever) used. It is (realistically I would argue) problematic in the game as well, so be careful.

7. Zugbeleuchtung (train lighting).

 

Maybe I'm being a killjoy, but I wouldn't treat a country flag in the network settings screen as indicating a future route/timetable. chirimu likes their easter eggs

 

Do we have official Information about the countries the modeld Vectron version is able to drive in? That beeing which Countries you can select on the screen resulting in the raising of an appropriate Pantograph, not the routes we have, or modelled safety systems.

Railpools fleet of Vectron MS contains the subtypes (according to elektrolokarchiv.de):
A17 D/A/PL/CZ/SK/H/SLO/HR/BG/RO/SRB
A22 D / A / CH / I / NL
A01 D / A / BG / SK / RO / PL / CZ / H

By number we have seen locos of first and last Subtype. By the Pantographs it seems like D/A/CH/I/NL to me. On the first page of country selection we see france, which isn't a country Vectrons drive in at all, if I'm right.

So what do we get, or will it just be a Mix without consistent numbering?

 

Far more likely it just indicates the system/panto setup for France, as opposed to Germany/Austria, like on the 187. (Which makes little sense, given gregorby's post above)

 

I was a bit confused by Matt talking about a voltage changeover at the DE/AU border. While there is a dead zone, there would be no need for a changeover since Germany and Austria both use 15kV 16-2/3 Hz (as does Switzerland, but different pantos are needed there)

 

Yes, you do change between German 15kv to Austrian 15kv. I believe that the real loco would change other parameters as well, which are then unique to the associated country.

 

One question regarding the panto set up on this MS model. Are all 4 pantos different and used for different countries or do I have the ability to change between front and aft panto in, let’s say, Germany? If so, I would assume that the panto is also chosen through a screen toggle, rather then a switch at the back panel?!

 

All 4 pantographs are different. So you aren't able to toggle front or back one. Only type of system pantograph.

 

Could be just that there are formations in scenario planner where you can haul passenger coaches with the Vectron.

But if not, as far as I know, there are only two routes where Vectrons are hauling passenger coaches: Kinzigtalbahn (Frankfurt - Fulda) and along VDE8 (Sonneberg - Nürnberg). I guess both routes have some potential as a candidate for one of the upcoming routes, the latter one even uses Railpool Vectrons, although MRCE Vectrons on Kinzigtalbahn don't seem too unlikely either

 

The countries listed on the outside of the RP Vectron (in the game) is (as far as I know) corresponding to the real world variant that it was based on. These are: D, A, BG, SK, RO, SLO, SRB, PL, CZ, H, HR. I.e. it matches the A17 variant.

In the network settings screen on the simulated Vectron the available countries and voltages are
DE 15 kV, DE 25 kV, AT 15 kV, AT 25 kV, CH 15 kV, FR 25 kV, FR 1.5 kV, NL 1.5 kV, NL 25 kV, B 3 kV, B 25 kV, PL 3 kV, PL 25 kV, CZ 1.5 kV, CZ 3 kV, CZ 25 kV, SLO 3 kV, H 25 kV, SK 3 kV, SK 25 kV, HR 25 kV, RS 25 kV, RO 25 kV, BG 25 kV.
And also one surprise. Basically it's the real world counter part and some additional countries that were added either to match some of the freight services that the Vectron drives in the timetable (for example if it starts in Belgium) or because "fun".

Note: You need to have the correct voltage set to raise and pantograph and close the main circuit breaker (MCB). If the raised pantograph accepts a lower voltage than the OHLE voltage then overprotection will drop the pantograph and if the OHLE voltage is lower than the expected voltage the MCB will be blocked from closing. This implies that if the voltage is zero you will not be able to close the MCB.

While the voltages are the same as you correctly wrote, there are differences between the networks that require adaption from the locomotive. Austria doesn't have a 100 Hz current filter (paraphrased from chirimu). This is an IRL requirement. In the game you can run in Austria with DE or vice versa.

This is correct both IRL and in the game.

Here are some (all* but I could have forgotten I implemented and I don't want to state things that turn up not having been implemented or Matt will be unpleased)

Germany:
1. Traction motors 1 or 1 & 3 (direction of travel) will shut off when the requested (by driver or AFB) traction power or brake power is below 60% or 35%, respectively, for more than 15 seconds.
2. Maximum brake effort is 240 kN down to 60 km/h then linearly decreasing to 150 kN at 30 km/h.
3. AFB hold brake only applies direct brake.

Austria:
1. Traction motor "eco" shutoff is disabled.
2. Maximum brake effort is 240 kN down to 60 km/h then linearly decreasing to 100 kN at 40 km/h.
3. AFB hold brake applies both direct brake and indirect brake. The indirect brake application is dependent on train type (passenger/freight) and length. The indirect brake can be released by moving the train brake to "Fü" momentarily.

Other countries:
1. Enabled.
2. No reduction at low speed.
3. Only direct brake.

Like mentioned: each country/voltage corresponds to a single pantograph. DE only uses the "D" (closest to cab 2) pantograph. CH for example uses the "A" pantograph (closest to cab 1), even though the voltages are the same. This is because different countries require different pantograph widths.

 

Amsterdam - Berlin and Hamburg - Prague do too, as well as the sleeper trains from Amsterdam. They're also quite common in Belgium, and CD (Czechia), ZSSK (Slovakia) and RegioJet (private operator in central Europe) have some too.

 

Flixtrain has Vectrons in Germany as well, right?

 

Increasingly, yeah, but mainly Tauruses I think