PC The Sand Patch Grade Derail Thread

Great if DTG has found the cause for the derailment issue. What was it?

 

Y104 Car Switching completed, no incident.

Y105 up next.

Edit: Y105 and Y106 both completed okay, including a bit of speeding. Will try a main line run tomorrow.

 

I have made several runs, end to end, east -west and west-east without any problems over the last few days.

I know a number of players have had derailment problems, especially eastbound between Mance and Cumberland.

It's either a random problem and I'm just lucky, or a matter of brake management. I will say that I use the dynamics almost exclusively, with just the occasional minimal reduction on the automatic, and I would never use the independent brake to slow or stop a heavy freight train. Bail it out before engaging the dynamic brake.

Good luck with your runs.

 

I tend to follow the same process I use in Run 8. Make a minimum set of the train brake then juggle the dynamics dependent on the gradient changes. The only time I slam the indie in is approaching stop signals where the objective marker is about one yard in front as train brake alone does not give that fine a control I find. That's not so much of a problem in Run 8 as, 1. There are no objective markers and 2. Passing a red doesn't terminate the run, just get a suitably fun message on the screen and a black mark on the "Vernometer" career tracker!

But yes after three switching activities I need to stretch my legs and pick up a main line Journey run.

 

I just ran Sand Patch Grade Powering America Part 2 - and all was good! Set dynamic brake at 3 to descend from Sand Patch (sometimes 4) and feathered automatic brakes to control speed. No derailments! Thanks for fixing this DTG.

 

They still haven't addressed Y109 and Powering America Part 1 problems.

 

Would that happen to impact the Class 43 on GWE?

 

Y109 is a Sand Patch yard service where you're blocked from completion by a couple of AI locos trying to execute their function, unless you seriously hustle through the switching. Here's a thread:
https://forums.dovetailgames.com/th...ion-y109-westbound-set-out-and-pick-up.52950/

 

And still no closer to a fix for TSW2 that I see.

 

Despite other people attempting to diagnose my specific problem, I will elaborate myself.

Powering America Part 1 problem is that when you release the Independent Brake, the game doesn't recognize it and while you are allowed to run the scenario, you can't get any points or medals for it.

I have heard to snap the handle back, look up at the roof of the train or try it normally. Did all of those and nothing works.

The bigger problem is Y109. Towards the end of the scenario, you're asked to couple up to 32 cars. My train has its 2 locos and 10 cars already attached.

There's a pair of locos sitting on the track that I need to drive through to couple up to those 32 cars.

I have tried everything from rushing the scenario in under 45 minutes, stopped my train to try and control the loco pair and move it out of the way, looked for an alternative path to my 32 locks, even changed the switches to re-route to another track, but none of that works.

I believe I saw that was X786 and it reverses itself on the same track I have to reverse on right before the problem, but it then gets out of the way......onto the track where the 32 locks are.

The other issue is that it's so far up the track, there's no way/room for me to go around it or to the front of the 32 locos since I am coupling then uncoupling right after and it has another loco pair attached to it.

So that's basically it.

 

Two solutions. One is to run the scenario up to that point ridiculously fast - just about impossibly fast - and you'll barely beat them.

Much easier approach: couple up to the offending locos! That makes them part of your train, and you can complete the service with them attached.

Just don't try to uncouple them- they will brainlessly try to carry out their AI instructions still.

 

I forgot to mention I tried the second option. I was able to couple them to my train, but unable to get the game to recognize that.

 

I had a lot of derailments and strange hick-ups on SPG in TSW 2
So recently I checked the rails at those locations.

Z_TSW2_SPG_derailment_01 by cadrisian posted Dec 22, 2022 at 4:57 PM

Could this cause the derailments and hick-ups?

 

If possible, can you please post where on the route this is, either description or a map picture?

 

These are the two that I know of on the main line. They are just up north from Narrows River Bridge. Both are right next to each other.

 

There are also two in the south yard.

 

Personally I suspect the buffering issue caused when DTG patched the game for SOS (which apparently, was having buffer issues), thus breaking the rest of the game in some routes. I was driving freight on Tharandter Rampe two days ago and the buffer issues are prevalent here too. Leaving Dresden to travel to Frieburg, and suddenly thre's a huge lurch in the train, speed rockets up drastically and fortunate to stay on the track. Similarly, going down from Frieburg to Dresden, each minor application of the brakes results in clanking of the buffers in the consist. "Submit a ticket," I hear you say. Why, say I, to what point? This firm obviously couldn't give a toss about fixing our broken game. It's hopw they seem to design games. Have you seen the number of patches released for th "New Big Thing" and its DLC?

 

Thanks for the pics, cadrisian! It would certainly be a facepalm moment if what we thought were braking problems causing the derailing were in fact misaligned rails. Seems odd that an SoS physics adjustment would coincidentally break rails, though. I'll have to give SPG another try and see if those rail breaks are located in the same spot.

 

Bit of a contradiction here.

 

Not really. The thing is they produce bugged stuff and then patch it but our model remains ruined.

 

Have you gotten around to the issues I mentioned after quoting your post?

 

It's Christmas week, fer Pete's sake

 

Still derailing in TSW2. I tried
- only Dynamic
- only Auto
- Auto on Min, plus Dynamic
- Auto on Min, plus Independent
I tried going slow, and also going fast. Sometimes it happens when I adjust a brake, but it has also happened while descending at 8mph, constant speed, no touching the controls.

I saved right at the tunnel, and kept retrying.
I'm thinking to try something stupid next: stop the train, go back and turn off the banking loco, see if that solves anything.

 

Looks like this is working. After turning off the banking loco, I have been able to go way past the previous derailment point. Not completely off the mountain yet, but it looks promising.
My thought was that the derailment might have been caused by something being out of sync between the front tandem and the banking loco. I think something was: the banking loco had dynamic brake applied, although the front lead didn't. I had stopped the train with the Auto brake only, and hadn't touched Dynamic brake at all. But when I went to turn off the loco at the back, the power handle was in B7 position.
There is still something happening that could derail the train. Whenever I release the Auto brake, the train shudders. And the higher the speed, the worse the thing is. It literally looks like the train is jumping up. My descent is going in stages: from stopped, I release the brakes, let the train roll, and use the Auto brake to control the speed. At some point, I go higher than I should, so the speed begins to decrease. I let it decrease into single digits, then release and repeat. Sometimes, I let it come to a complete stop. And then repeat from there.

 

With saving being disabled in TSW3, this is becoming more of a disaster.
My experience: Train is bumping as if someone's hammering its back, causing the accelerometer to jump violently, before derailing just past the house in the route introduction tutorial.

 

The hammering occurs not long after you release the auto brakes, isn't it?
I'm pretty sure it's the train bumping the front tandem, coming from an extended position (where buffers are distanced from one another) to compressed.

 

Has there been any update/progress on either of these?

 

If you're playing TSW3, the issue is now gone. If you play TSW2, you need to wait for the fixes to be backported (no ETA available).

 

Can confirm the issues are gone on TSW3. I recently upgraded and don't regret it. For those who do not like the lighting - it doesn't affect the old routes. I doubt they have any time to invest in TSW2 patches.

 

Except where the old route was "upgraded" to the new lighting system (i.e. Sherman Hill, Boston Sprinter).

 

I normally don't drop names, but since he responded to me directly and did it on this thread, I would expect Matt to correct or, if he can't do it himself, take the issues to someone at DTG who can.

I get that they've moved on from TSW2 (for the most part), but these are (I assume) not difficult issues to fix and if they are, just say that and it would be better understood.

I also totally understand that not everyone is a completionist like me, but Powering America Part 1 and Y109 are preventing me from finishing Sand Patch Grade fully.

I hope this clears things up as far as where I stand.

 

But they have time to churn out more and more bugged DLC's and as lupojohn says above, "I normally don't drop names, but since he responded to me directly and did it on this thread, I would expect Matt to correct or, if he can't do it himself, take the issues to someone at DTG who can." Since DTG broke our version of the game, it seems only fair they fix our version of the game. Now, I ask you, why should we have to shell out for another version of the game simply to have our broken routes fixed? I eagerly await your reply.

 

My reply is not of relevance, as I do not work for DTG and cannot help you.

You can't change other people's behaviour, only yourself. Don't rely on promises or hopes. These are values for friendships, not in the game industry unfortunately.

I'm not playing games to be frustrated. Time's too precious. All I can say is that the SPG derailments are fixed for the current version of the game.

I've happily returned back to TSC with 300+ routes as a consequence which is a much more complete experience. I can modify what I want, do endless freeroams, and running around platforms quickly wears off for me.

So everyone has to make their own choices. I have suggested in another thread that with a better budget now, they should stop pumping out subpar DLC and concentrate on fixing the long standing issues.

Whether they do or not is not in my hands.

So, as a fellow trainsimmer, I can only give one advice concerning TSW2: Do not expect anything. You're going in circles here, which is not good. As there is no "complete" simulator and each of the ones available has their own strengths and weaknesses, my experience is spread over TSC, Run 8, Zusi 3, and sometimes TSW3. But for TSW, my wallet is closed until I see drastic change in quality.

 

DTG Matt can you confirm if you've ever looked into the issues I described to you in this thread?

 

So almost four months since my last reply and still.........NOTHING.

 

No derailments, that's why.

 

It's ridiculous. I get they want to work on other things and this isn't at the top of their list of things to fix but compared to other issues across all other versions of the game, it's not that hard of a fix.

I hate to say this but it's also rude for an actual DTG staff member to ask me what the problem is and then never give me any sort of reply.

 

I'm curious if SPG is now completely unplayable on TSW2 due to derailments or it is only certain scenarios? Hopefully the entire route wasn't broken via a post purchase patch. I'll need to give it a try. Been a while.

 

I played SPG for the first time in early 2023, and it was working OK. The only issue is the derailment that happens during one scenario, where you're going downhill and there's a banking loco. See my posts above if you need the details.

 

And now we know. They were telling porkies all the time and our version will never be fixed. Fortunately for the developers, P.T. Barnum's (alleged), quote stands firm, "There's a sucker born every minute".

 

Matt got several fixes out.

He made half a dozen posts here in this thread.

Are you on TSW3 or TSW2? Or latest TSW4?

I ran SPG and didn't have a derailment after the tunnel heading east downhill....where I had one before.

 

TSW2.

The point is that he asked me what the issues were, I explained them and he never messaged me. It's called being courteous and responding even if it's not what I want to hear (which I have said earlier in this thread).

Those fixes did NOTHING to help me. The brake issue still exists on Powering America Part 1 and the locos are still there in my way on Y109.

The fixes are not across all versions of the game. As I have also said on this thread (which I won't repeat since it's there for you to look at yourself), if they're gonna do fixes and updates, do it across all versions of the game. Don't forget about us just because it's TSW2.

 

OK that explains it then.

I thought you were on TSW3.

Or did they update it for TSW2?

 

No. The problems still exist.

 

Ok will have a look and if I can't help I will ask Matt very nicely to see if something can be done for you.

I have TSW2 installed somewhere I think.

 

Might have a tip for you to help you complete Powering America Pt 1.

I went notch 1 and slow speed as directed.

Couldn't get rid of the prompt (scenario orders in top left next to time) to release independent... so I went to Notch 2 and it then went to next prompt.

Which is Go via loading facility. 105 yards and getting closer....

 

I'm trying the Y109 service now. Will have to continue tomorrow. I am at the 1850 mark (time) and I think it is 1/3 through.

Have you tried (after saving) just jumping out of your train and moving the 2 locos out the way to another road?

Then jump back on your service (Y109) and resume as normal?