I have read some complaints about not having enough time to set up the BR101 Expert before a service is supposed to depart and while I probably won't be able to do anything about already released Expert timetables, I wanted to reach out and get a consensus opinion for the future. Most timetables that have been duplicated for the BR101 Expert have about 2 minutes preparation time (sometimes slightly less but very rarely more). I was considering increasing this to 3 minutes based on feedback but I don't want to implement this change if the majority think it is too long and becomes boring. For example if playing with Expert Mode disabled you'll probably be able to set up the locomotive in 1 minute so the extra 2 minutes could become frustrating. At the same time, being an Expert locomotive I do want to cater to players that drive with "everything enabled" as long as it isn't too detrimental to players that don't. I have added a poll and I welcome opinions from all types of BR101 Expert players Note: this would only be on services that are driven by the BR101 Expert or the Bpmmbdzf cab car, services like RE/RB etc would be unchanged compared to the original timetable.
With as long as services take a extra minute really would be a no brainer in my book. At the end of the day you're playing these services from 30 minutes to a hour at a time, a extra minute should be easy enough to sit though. And while two minutes is definitely doable once you've got the hang of it, you do have to be on the ball and start doing it the moment you load in and be quick with it from my experience, it takes a few attempts to get the hang of it. Three would allow you to do the same thing while also not having to run like you're at a Black Friday sale, and make it more doable for a novice.
I would second what Mich has said. I dont have any issues with the two minutes, however, 3 minutes would not bother me and I do see the point that for ppl still getting used to the loco would need more time...
3 min for me- especially since I prefer to set up manually, including switches/valves located in the machinery room and the other cab.
I think 2 minutes is plenty tbh even for someone like me who struggles with the mouse. That said it wouldnt be a deal breaker in terms that I would still purchase if it was set at 3 minutes.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer the poll Looks like the opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of increasing the setup time to 3 minutes, and equally important: those that preferred it stay at 2 minutes aren't strongly against it increasing. I'll make sure to implement this in future Expert timetables. One thing I forgot to ask was whether 3 minutes would be preferable on freight services as well? On passenger services other than the Expert trains 2 minutes I think is more than enough since the setup is very brief (just open the doors and at most enable safety systems). For freight however, depending on how realistic you want to be it might actually take longer to setup the train (even with non-Expert locomotives) than the BR101 Expert, since you may need to get out and move the G/P levers on certain wagons. For me personally I am usually finished with the BR101 Expert setup before 2 minutes have passed, but I often struggle with setting up "LL" on freight trains before the setup time has run out, especially if I need to compute the train data for determining what PZB mode to use.
100% freight needs longer set up if they are timed arrival services, less so when there’s no arrival time set. The times I’ve had to try and use cam 3 in the dark to set up L/L and work out what the mix of wagons are in a manifest service (although I have been known to do the working out and then restart the service)
If it only applies to expert timetables IC, then I don't really care that much. 2 minutes feels amply sufficient to get the BR101 in running order, including punching in a quick 20 - train length /10 - 20 in the ZDE and occasionally isolating Sifa. Then again I would hardly care if it was increased to 3 minutes. What would really help would be having like 5 minutes to get the ZDE data for freight trains but since those are only substitutions (and, as far as I'm concerned, mostly mod induced), that's obviously not an option so I guess we're stuck with restarting the service once we got the BrH down and rushing the G/P levers on the wagons.
Are you talking about just "Expert" freight sertvices (meaning with the 101, which is hardly prototypical), or all freight services in future TSG routes? If the latter, then a big YES. Calculating and performing setup (esp with a long GGG train) can take forever.
Since you here could you look at maybe increasing the brightness of the indicator lights in the 101? In certain conditions they quite hard to see
Can you describe this in a bit more detail (route, time of day, weather pattern etc)? I haven't noticed this issue but I usually play the BR101 Expert on TSW3+ (with the new time of day lighting system) routes so maybe it is an issue on older routes? It is planned, but I can't talk about any details at this moment. I have finished the Mannheim - Kaiserslautern Expert timetable, however, and submitted it to DTG.
I certain lighting conditions the PZB indicators start to look kinda faint even on 100% brightness 0% cloud 30% cloud 50% cloud 70%cloud
The 85 and B light is on the 101 dimmer compared to the other lights. This is because they are pretty much always on and therefore more worn out. Just like in real life
I’ll be honest I’d prefer more time when using UK units in general even though they aren’t expert items. With the class 101 DMU you have the destination blinds and marker/tail lights to setup at both ends. Even the class 142 has the destination blinds at both ends to setup each time.
I wouldnt mind more time... the calculation thing can be made a bit easier when you enter Photo mode, that way it essentially pauses the game and lets you check consist and do the calculations without any time lost... assuming you get no faults during initial setup, you still have the basic GSM-R thing with Zugnummer, data registration and such... atm I do it during takeoff as I proceed to first station... and checking the manual after a long time I found out there is ZVM which for the sake of immersion you should do at the first station before departure? so yeah, a bit of time wouldnt be too bad
I like timetables where freight have the set-up time included, but dispatch beyond is turned on so you can depart when you're ready. I know that won't be possible in busy areas but it's nice to have when there's nothing else around.
For freight, 3 minutes definitely sound more pleasant in general, as especially for mixed consists it takes quite a bit of time to collect the data for calculations. For passenger runs, I feel like it's more about length of the loading instruction than the time itself, on some routes you open doors and the bar fills within five seconds, while on others it's actually filling for full two minutes, so every second before you open them after spawning is already delaying you. As I tend to not use HUD at all, I vastly prefer if the loading instruction is as short as possible and you are more limited by waiting for departure time. Then you have much more realistic leeway in cutting delays or even just controlling your departure by watching actual NPC people board, rather than an artificial bar to fill.
I feel an increase to 3 minutes is needed, actually. Setting stuff like the ZDA up with a controller is awkward (nothing to be done about it, just the nature of a controller) and takes time. I do have to hurry through everything with a mere 2 minute window and I’d prefer to take my time. Ditto for freight trains (setting up brakes etc.). Honestly, I’d prefer moving to a 5 minute window even for expert stuff but I appreciate that this might be too long for those that said a 2 minute window is already sufficient for them.
btw, in manual sth called ZVM is mentioned... does it have to be done at every station or only at the start of a service? (I know the game doesnt require it, but I am asking since it is mentioned in the manual, for the sake of immersion)
If I were to make a new timetable rather than just swapping out formations (although it's never just that ) I would add the train data in the service description. While there may be some enjoyment in computing the train data yourself, it's one of those things that aren't realistic (drivers are given this in the form of the brake table/wagon list) and imho becomes more of a hassle than a valid gameplay element because you have to pause the game and guess wagon weights (unless it's something very uniform like a unit train). This excludes services where the train makeup changes, since here the driver would have to check that certain penalties aren't applicable (example being the Empty Pipes scenario).
excellent comment ... tho I use Photo Mode as a workaround, since it essentially pauses the game and lets me fly the camera around to check which coaches are in the formation, which I then enter into a spreadsheet I got, and there I get the data ... but yeah, it would be super convenient to get those handed to us ... would free up time to register the data via GSM-R... anyway, I have read in the manual about ZVM - is that done only upon starting the service or during each stop? (I know it doesnt affect gameplay, but I am curious now that I have discovered this in the newer version of the manual) edit: another small question - how do I discern a timetable with full expert simulation (with also the IC coaches simulated fully with brakes and other shenanigans) from a regular one / substitution? do the fully expert ones have separate timetable (since I guess not all IC formations have the cab car)?
Myself, I have no shame doing all the calculations, then just restarting the service with the numbers in hand.
Regarding the GSM-R question I'll let chirimu answer that other than my guess is that in the simulator it would be mostly when starting a new service (train number changed) All the timetables in the game that has the suffix [BR101 Expert] would be "expert" timetables, at least with regard to the BR101 Expert (which so far is the only Expert locomotive in the game ). In these timetables the IC formations are purely "Expert" vehicles, with no dependence on the original BR101 DLC.
I was actually talking with devs about adding this type of functionality, but I was told that the game does not calculate or work with this data at all, BrH are just entered per train as simple coefficient by devs' rough guess. *cries a little inside*
Well yeah, Brh is not a real physical quantity. Simugraph is all forces, torques and pressures For example in LL you subtract 25% from the first 5 wagons to compensate for slower application rate, but the brake force has remained unchanged. Even braked weight isn't strictly a weight (as in force) but rather a function of the stopping distance of the vehicle in a specific test configuration defined by UIC. So devs would have to compute the Brh themselves based on the applicable rules, by taking the braked weight and the actual weight (tare + cargo), in the same way as you or I would do it, but with the benefit of knowing exactly what the actual weight is of everything since they (the developers) decide it. For a timetable project (too early to say anything) I wrote a widget script in UE that can take a formation and compute all the relevant data like Brh (based on the rules), BRA and so on, but I'm not so sure it is fit for runtime (there's some nested for loops in there ).
