Steam Umlaut/eszett Displaying On Many German Trains' Pis/fis Is Broken

I can't believe this hasn't, that I can find by searching briefly on the forum, been mentioned before, but at least a few German trains aren't able to display destinations (or words, in general, for those non-destination PIS/FIS messages that may contain certain words) with Umlaut-ed letters or the Eszett.

With the amount of location names using these letters in Germany, I don't need to be telling you how big of an issue this is...or I guess I shouldn't need to...

The word and everything after it get truncated right before the non working symbol and as such you end up with the RB51 service to W. Kind of pathetic.



This even with content as recent as TSW5's Frankfurt-Fulda (newest DLC I have currently) and its 114 here, but I would imagine there's probably similar issues in some newer content too. Definitely on some older stock, I'll see if I'll return to this thread to mention more as I find them.

 

I saw this issue on the AI BR628 on Frankfurt HBF (Frankfurt - Fulda route). I believe there was only a K displayed in the middle of the PIS. I didn't realise this is caused by an umlaut in the destination name, however seeing this post, it make a lot of sense.

 

I encountered this a couple of times already, on various routes. Don't know why I haven't mentioned this before... perhaps I'm just too used to not-properly-functioning PIS in reallife trains
I can recall seeing it happen on Frankfurt-Fulda as mentioned, with the Wächtersbach trains and like lexie some AI 628's (to Königstein I believe?). But I've also seen it on Main-Spessart with Gießen being the issue. Can't remember where else I've seen it, but I'll keep an eye out. Definitely seems to be related to umlauts and the eszett (ß).

 

The Main Spessart bahn dostos do have also other issues with the PIS, only the displays on the cabcar are working. This is also the case when those dostos are used on other routes, like Koln - Aachen or Rhein Ruhr Osten.

 

Perhaps that's just realism... it's been a long time since I've seen a Dosto consist where every PIS was working in real life

 

Is this bug new for TSW6, or was this already an issue in TSW5 or maybe earlier?

 

TSW5 already had this issue, I can remember noticing it months ago. Not sure if it's even older though.
One thing I haven't checked yet: Does this issue appear on S-Bahn Frankfurt too? AI trains from Frankfurt to Wächtersbach and Königstein are included there as well, after all.

 

Rödermark is displayed correctly on S-bahn Frankfurt. What services/linien are going to Wächtersbach and Königstein, can't find those.

 

I'll do some tests on various routes in the afternoon... currently I'm still at work

 

OK, tested a little bit and it seems the PIS can be rather finnicky. I tested it by using the PIS configurator in the cab, just as a real driver would do. Found out some interesting things.
I chose the routes in the Frankfurt/Aschaffenburg area as a testing ground, and always did use the loco/cab of that particular route, if available. Combinations which work as intended are underlined.

Main-Spessart
Dosto cab: No problems with umlauts. PIS configurator works fine, changing cab, cars and loco.
BR 111: No problems with umlauts. But the PIS configurator doesn't change the PIS of the cars, just on the loco.
BR 112: No working PIS configurator, but when spawing an RE from Aschaffenburg to Gemünden, the Loco displays "Aschaffenburg" while the cars and cab display the correct "Gemünden".
BR 114: No problems with umlauts, but the only the PIS of the loco is working. All the others are dark. PIS configurator is working, but again, only for the loco.
BR 143 (old version): No problems with umlauts. PIS configurator works fine, changing cab, cars and loco.
BR 143 (S-Bahn Frankfurt): Same as the 114.
BR 146: No problems with umlauts. PIS configurator works fine, changing cab, cars and loco.
BR 218: Loco doesn't have a PIS, all the others are dark. PIS configurator is not working, cars and cab PIS remain dark.

Frankfurt-Fulda
Dosto cab: No problems with umlauts, but the PIS configurator doesn't let me change the display at all.
BR 111: No problems with umlauts, Haitz-Höchst for example works fine. But there are strange entries in the PIS. Wächtersbach seems to be stored as "W" only. The very next entry after "W" in the PIS is "Bad S". There are also two entries labelled "Gro" (Groß-something?) and one "Gie" (Gießen?). PIS configurator works fine, changing cab, cars and loco. (Except on the n-Wagen cab, since they have a manual PIS).
BR 114: Same as the 111.
BR 146: No problems with umlauts. PIS configurator works fine, changing cab, cars and loco.
BR 642: Same as the 111, but the PIS configurator doesn't let me change the display at all.

S-Bahn Frankfurt
Dosto cab: No problems with umlauts, but the PIS configurator doesn't let me change the display at all. Same as on Frankfurt-Fulda.
BR 143: Same as 111 and 114 on Frankfurt-Fulda.
BR 642: Same as on Frankfurt-Fulda, but this time the PIS configurator actually lets me change the display!

Maintalbahn
BR 642: There's one entry called "A" only. Otherwise it looks fine. PIS configurator works too, changing the whole consist.
BR 218: Same as on Main-Spessart.


That's enough testing for now, I need a break