I noticed the following in the patch notes for next week’s big update….. Hopefully we will finally have working DPUs. SAND PATCH GRADE Added Localisation for the RailDriver functionality for the C40-8W. Fixed an issue with the Banking Communication so that attached locomotives change controls accordingly.
Is this bug only apparent in certain locos or scenarios? I don't think I've had a problem with the trailing unit/s not powering up, after I've gone back and set everything up correctly.
It says they change controls accordingly post update. Does that mean you switch banking comm on and the controls in helper units will automatically setup DP without having to walk all the way to the back of the train?
my take on the patch notes I posted is that it will now be done automatically rather than having to set up each loco individually as we do now.
That's how I read it also. Indeed that's how it was always supposed to work. I assume it means DPU rather than just MU which don't need it. Of course SPG is not the only route that needs this fix. CRR needs it too.
It is true that helper engine functionality in Clinchfield is broken; but it is NOT distributed power. DP refers to automated remote control, which only exists in modeled locos in the AC4400 (the first locos to come from the factory with DP installed were the Dash-9s and the SD70s, although some RR (not CSX) had installed 3rd-party systems before then)
So why would you want Banking Com to be "fixed" in Clinchfield? With all due respect, you began that thread by pleading with Matt to give us the ability to control DPU's. You asked him "where's the magic button?". I actually agreed with you that, even though it may not be realistic for the time, banking com was needed to play scenarios/services in the route without having to fly around every couple minutes to adjust the helpers. And Matt clearly thought it was an unfortunate omission, too.
Hold it, hold it, hold it. Banking Comms are NOT Distributed Power. Banking Comms means using the radio to give verbal orders to the (invisible) AI crew in the trailing MU, which is what was used from the 1940s until DP took over, and is exactly what CRR, and the CSX SD40/Dash-8/GP38, used. Distributed Power means electronic remote control of one or more unmanned trailing MUs.
In TSW, Banking Com is simply a short cut, a fiction if you will, used to activate locomotives which are not directly connected to the lead engine. It stands in for the absence of crews who might otherwise be communicating by radio. I think you are dissembling here and I could quote your entire thread, but let's just agree to disagree, instead of boring everyone with this back and forth. Have a great day.
I still don't see where the issue is lol, the initial note doesn't make much sense as banking comms don't control attached units, the DPU system does, unless they're talking about SD's running as a pair? They're saying the fix is for SPG not CRR anyways, but helpers work fine for me in SPG.. Set up the driving unit and the attached unit, Same with any banking pairs further down the train, finally making sure to put the banking Comms on in the lead loco. Everything powers up.
I’m not disagreeing with you that banking comms doesn’t work at present but as you say you have to set it up yourself manually in each cab. As has been said the fix would appear to implement it being setup automatically when you turn banking comms on in the lead cab without then having to go in the cabs of the locos at the back of the train.
As I said before, I'm choosing to read it that way too. A clarification from one of the Mods would not go amiss.
No, that's not correct either. Locomotives directly coupled together are a Multiple Unit (MU),* and they are all controlled from one cab via cable connections. Distributed Power refers to power (locomotives/MUs) distributed along the train, top-and-tail and often in the middle too, which are remotely controlled by radio signals, not cable connections. This is a relatively new technology (1980s). Before that, manned helper engines were coordinated using voice radio, ie. banking comms. *Pretty much all American locos can operate as MUs, not just "SDs"; this has been true since road diesels debuted in the late 30s.
You know if DTG put the same amount of effort that everyone here has put into defining DPU and other terms we probably wouldn't have ever needed a patch for the bank comm in the first place.
I’ve been saying all along that all you have to do is set up your driving loco and turn on Banking Comms. It works most of the time in timetable mode if you spawn in the cab for a service. There’s never been any need for radio fuses or distributed power fuses (as it was never distributed power anyway). It’s just that the system didn’t always work correctly. Only on the very odd occasion have I had to set up the rear locos to get it to work, and now nobody should have to.
I think the wording of the patch note causes some confusion. " Attached " locomotives is a little ambiguous, to my mind, so I asked for clarity in the upcoming Q and A stream. But you're right. As I said earlier in the thread, that's the way it's supposed to work, but sometimes doesn't.
Just for the record, the AC4400CW tutorial included in the Cane Creek route includes the instruction, "Switch on banking com". I discovered and started using banking when the CN Oakville Subdivision route appeared, since it was the only way I could find to get some trains moving. I posted about it here and was roundly derided, mostly by BBB-ers, but I've stuck with one of my favorite mottoes: "If it works, don't knock it".
