PC [app] - Tsw Route Annotations

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by Winzarten, Aug 8, 2025.

  1. dbrunner#4864

    dbrunner#4864 Well-Known Member

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    If you have time to add this little feature or would be great.
    Also could you also add something that resets all settings to the initial default state? For example font position, other values that you might change / ruin and you would want them to be back as default?
    And another big thank you for making and continuous updating this fantastic little tool.
     
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  2. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    For weather mapping that's already exists, but I need to add it to the overlay also :)
    upload_2025-11-7_16-54-42.png


    and, a small update before the weekend.

    Fog Progression - Low Visibility fog changes are now limited by your speed. So fog cannot just magically appear during the transition period while you're stationary in a station. You need to drive into it. This can mean that visiblity can get out of synch with the real weather (overlay will still show the in-game situation), but the transition should'n be so jarring. Instant tunnel transitions are not affected ofc.

    And, I've added one neat (i think) button. View Online
    upload_2025-11-7_16-57-29.png

    This will open the open-meteo site with the parameters that were used to query the shown data from its API.
    And in the middle of the page you can find this chart, where you can examine what the weather will do over the day
    upload_2025-11-7_16-58-30.png

    And using the search at top of the page, you can search for other stations on the route, and see what weather you can expect there. :)
    upload_2025-11-7_16-58-56.png
     
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  3. champier#2613

    champier#2613 Member

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    Those 2 additions are neat! Especially the search option. Thank you for your dedication and effort you put into this Winzarten
     
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  4. tof70110

    tof70110 Active Member

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    Hi everyone,
    Thank you for this very detailed map of the Arosa Line. It could be used for a rail tour service to show tourists the structures, places, and other details of the line and the region!

    annotations route Arosa line.png

    Best of luck with your future projects!

    Best regards, Tof
     
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  5. Sharon E

    Sharon E Well-Known Member

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    This addition keeps amazing me. I was running a Dutch service with an SNG just before sunrise with weather of fully overcast, early morning haze and residual wetness. When you came into stations you could see the lights reflecting off very wet platforms. You just get this without having to do anything. This app has made, for me, TSW much more enjoyable to run.
     
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  6. Train Sim Society

    Train Sim Society Well-Known Member

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    WHAT, so we can actually SEE the forecast?! That's incredible WOW!! Amazing work, like usual! :)
     
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  7. The SimTrain Tube

    The SimTrain Tube Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely loving the app:love: I've got mine set to historical weather, but I wanted snow. By using the link to the Meteo site, I found a date. December 10th 2017. If you want to drive something UK, you got snow starting at about 6AM and lasting pretty much all day.
    7AM
    [​IMG]
    8AMish
    [​IMG]
     
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  8. champier#2613

    champier#2613 Member

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    I'll be doing the Antelope Valley Line next adding the bridges, roads and other points of interests.
     
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  9. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    I just finished Annotations for GWE Paddignton-Reading. Downloadable at

    https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/m.../i7015-annotations-for-gwe-paddington-reading

    BTW, I made my first trys with annotations on the Arosa Line, before I read that c_champier is already working on it. So I chose GWE instead.

    And here I realized that you have to adjust the radius for Roads, Rivers etc. according to the speed of the trains on that line. At first try, when driving at 125 mph, when the annotation pops up and you read it, you have already passed that point... Then I made the radius bigger so now the annotation pops up and you can see the bridge/river etc.
     
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  10. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    The route I will do is Southeastern Highspeed !
     
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  11. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    And that's the main reason why the updates has been so frequent. Having the variety of situation only real weather can provide really increased my enjoyment of TSW... which in turn drives me to improve the app even futher. :)

    Nice. Having the data easily accessible via a website is imho one of the best features of open-meteo. You can trully find the exact conditions you're looking for :)
     
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  12. squerble

    squerble Well-Known Member

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    Such a fantastic addition, thank you so much!

    Looking forward to someone making a super detailed "route learner" annotations, which includes junction names and maybe bridge names (where applicable - some are named, some could just use the name of the road they carry, some bridges go over roads and are usually helpful reference points).
     
  13. Thorgred

    Thorgred Well-Known Member

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    maybe there can be extra info shown on tunnels for how long a tunnel is ?
    this tool getting better each day :)
     
  14. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Fantastic work! All working well :)
     
  15. champier#2613

    champier#2613 Member

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    What's the custom radius you used?
     
  16. dbrunner#4864

    dbrunner#4864 Well-Known Member

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    Great work with the annotations projects. Anyone interested in also doing Crewe - Birmingham?
     
  17. dr1980

    dr1980 Active Member

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    This app is incredible, thank you to the developer. I thought I wouldn’t like the annotations and would just use it for live weather but I’m actually quite enjoying both.
     
  18. Es4t

    Es4t Well-Known Member

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    Finally got round to installing this earlier today and all I can say is wow! Probably THE best mod out there right now!
    Just a small thing and me being thick have probably overlooked it but is there an option to change the speed from KPH to MPH please?
     
  19. PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix

    PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix Well-Known Member

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    is there a step by step instruction or video on how to install this?
    i don't know which files to download because there are lots of file. Any help from the community would be helpful, i really appreciated it.
     
  20. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Hopefully this should be some help. I'll try to explain it the best I can -

    1.) Make sure you enter the following into your Steam launch settings for TSW 6 -HTTPAPI (ignore the other command)
    [​IMG]

    2.) Once you've installed the TSW route annotations program, you should just be able to launch it alongside TSW 6. Please make sure TSW 6 is set to WINDOWED FULLSCREEN in the screen settings, otherwise it won't work.

    The app should work in the background, as you launch TSW and load into a route. It doesn't matter which way you launch it, be it TSW 6 first or the route annotations app after, just make sure both are launched.

    If this doesn't work, continue to troubleshoot it with the steps below:

    3.) If the program fails to detect TSW, then you may have to enter the API manually. The API can be found in the following dictionary - Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TSW6\WindowsNoEditor\TS2Prototype\Saved\Config

    4.) Inside of that folder, there will be a notepad file called CommAPIKey.txt. Open that and inside of there will be a long API key.
    upload_2025-11-8_20-3-49.png

    5.) Simply copy that key into the custom API key command box, inside of TSW Route Annotation settings.
    upload_2025-11-8_20-4-45.png

    6.) Scroll down and press apply and it should all now work. :)
     
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  21. PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix

    PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix Well-Known Member

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    thank you londonmidland for this installation breakdown. Although i am confused about which or where do i download the install exe. Do i download from the trainsimcommunity website or the link he posted? which is latest one? thank you again

    i just download the latest from the gitlab webpage, but for some reason it said the file is unsafe to open, my anti virus is telling me "our information on this file is inconclusive. can someone here confirm that this file is safe to open? thank you
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
  22. PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix

    PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix Well-Known Member

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    this is what i am getting
     

    Attached Files:

  23. Emmy_MAN

    Emmy_MAN Well-Known Member

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    Hi PegasusLeosRailwayFanatix

    You can find the latest version here in the thread on page 1.

    Once you have installed it, it is best to go to the folder where it was installed.
    There you can create a shortcut to the exe file on your desktop.

    Yes, this file is 100% safe, you can download it without any problems.
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM
  24. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    I downloaded it from the TSC website. Although the actual app has a built in updater, so it'll inform you when there's an update.

    Ignore any firewall/spyware popups - they're generally not needed and are just bloatware for Windows 10 and 11 as the OS has its own built in protection.
     
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  25. Es4t

    Es4t Well-Known Member

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    Might be an idea to stay well away imo if you are that wary!
     
  26. bljohansson#4171

    bljohansson#4171 Active Member

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    I can't believe you made this, it's so good. Thank you. :cool:

    To use this with Xbox PC I manually added the API key and created a shortcut of the executable where I added -HTTPAPI to the target.
     
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  27. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    This afternoon, I started with the South Eastern Highspeed line. I was a bit irritated because the name I got when I started in St.Pancras was West Coast Main Line London Euston-Milton Keynes.

    But when I made a test with the route, several double annotations appeared. So I had a look at the location list after unhiding the built in locations.
    And there they were. It looks like the WCML and the SE Highspeed line are merged into WCML London Euston-Milton Keynes although SE Highspeed is not on the list of Routes.

    As there are some locations are still missing in SE Highspeed, which I would include, is it possible to seperate both routes, each with it's own name, so that it is a bit more clear?
     
  28. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    This something I was also thinking about, but I also need the ability to define the length manually, as the value from measuring the annotation can differ from the real values... And I know there are people in the community who then like to enter the corret length :-D

    upload_2025-11-9_8-13-5.png
    The little evidence is most likely because the installer and app are not signed. That means that there is no way of verifying it is trully TSWRouteAnnotationInstaller and that it wasn't tampered with after creation. It isn't signed becasue of money, getting a certificate from a reputable authority (those that are automatically trusted by MS) costs money... And it's also a hasle.. Hijacking a niche gaming genre app for malware woud not be the smasterst way how to infiltrate the most computers :-D

    For wind speed, there are UOM in the weather tab of the settings. For the speed on the bottom bar, currently not, as that was intended more for debugging to see in realtime if the app is receiving correct data.

    I would love to have the routes separated by one, but sadly that is something that cannot be done atm. There isn't a route name in the data, only the origin location (which is the point defined by the route author as a 'reference point')... and lots of routes share the same origin point. The benefit is you don't have to double defined points on routes that share a common location.. the downside is that routes are bundled together.
    It is also the reason why I have to rework the import logic a little, becasue right now the app cannot differentiate between user created locations, and imported locations.. which might get messy in the long run.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2025 at 7:41 AM
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  29. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    I was already wondering which reference point is used to detect which route is selected in the game. Which should really be difficult in the London area, especially when some stations are used by more than one route.

    So the Southeastern Highspeed is definitely already in the app, can you please update the routes list with it ?

    I have already finished the Highspeed section where I found some missing locations. I will still take a look at the Dartford to Faversham section to add locations that perhaps are missing and then publish this file as an supplement of the Route that is already included.

    And a big DANKESCHÖN for the good job you made with this app !!
     
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  30. tof70110

    tof70110 Active Member

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    Hi [Winzarten], just a quick question regarding the last part of your reply to [glendathu]:

    Quote: "It is also the reason why I have to rework the import logic a little, because right now the app cannot differentiate between user-created locations and imported locations… which might get messy in the long run.”

    Since we're already using two new maps, is there a risk of encountering the problems you mentioned before you've looked at the system (for importing new maps)? Because currently, I haven't experienced any issues using the new annotation maps.

    Best regards, tof
     
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  31. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    No risk. And it shouldn't really affect those that use annotations, more it should help those that would like to export and share their work.
    In essence it is another issue caused by me not being able to tell, from data, what route the player is actually playing.

    So, let's say you're doing annotations for Semmeringbahn, but you already have imported the great annotations for Salzburg-Rosenheim by solicitr. Now, you cannot export just annotations for Semmeringbahn, because both of those routes share the same origin, so the app sees them as the same 'route'. So right now, you'll also export Salzburg-Rosenheim, if you try to export Semmeringbahn ... so I would like to mark imported entries, so they are ignored by export, and you only export your work.

    Those that already have imported stuff, and are affected by the current issue, would need just to re-import the annotation file, for the entries to get marked. All locations already have a unique identifier, so there already isn't a risk of double-importing the same location (and then having it shown twice).
     
  32. Train Sim Society

    Train Sim Society Well-Known Member

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    Are there any current plans to implement the user-made annotations into the software as an update for everyone that way we don’t have to search for them and install them individually? :)
     
  33. The SimTrain Tube

    The SimTrain Tube Well-Known Member

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    Where can one find user made annotations? I know there are 2 on the Train Sim Community site, but other then that..
     
  34. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I would like to make them part of the install. But I don't want just to 'merge' them with the current build-in annotations, as I would like to give more exposure to the authors than just a simple patch notes mentions...;)
    So most likely there will be a tab with all the included annotations + the author names.. and possible an option to disable/enable them individually (so it isn't just a blank panel without any real functionality).
     
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  35. simulator fan

    simulator fan Active Member

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    can anyone suggest a route/ time of day and date combination that demonstrates variable fog to a good level. After years of being swamped by DTG's dense fog I now cant seem to find any and then get absorbed playing the route anyway lol
     
  36. dbrunner#4864

    dbrunner#4864 Well-Known Member

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    Play a 390 Birmingham Crew service for today ag 9pm .Fog varied but it was as manageable you would expect in real life, not that often blind after 25 m fog. Also it has subtle variation in thickness.
     
  37. champier#2613

    champier#2613 Member

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    Winzarten Do you know what the default radius is for the built in points?
     
  38. simulator fan

    simulator fan Active Member

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    thanks i will try it
     
  39. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    For Rivers and Roads I used 250 m. But that's only good for very fast routes !

    Just had a look at it, Jubilee River still had 0 m radius and Thames 100m. (again forgot to save the changes..) I changed that and uploaded the corrected file but of course everyone who uses it, can do this by himself...
     
  40. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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  41. tof70110

    tof70110 Active Member

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  42. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    For anyone who wants to make annotations for routes, I found that https://www.openstreetmap.org/ is much better than Google maps for finding train locations, especially names !
     
  43. glendathu

    glendathu Active Member

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    Ah yes, sorry I forgot to mention Rosenheim.
     
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  44. tof70110

    tof70110 Active Member

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    Hi Winzarten,
    thank you for this very interesting explanation. As you correctly point out, with the import of new maps, I noticed that two routes can overlap (you'll also export Salzburg-Rosenheim if you try to export Semmeringbahn...). And indeed, everything continues to work, so as the saying goes, well, [that's all there is to it!!!] Thanks for the follow-up.
    Best regards, Tof
     
  45. champier#2613

    champier#2613 Member

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    Open Street Map is really more detailed!
    I got donee with Antelope Valley Line last night I just have to do a end to end run to ensure everything is as it should be and it pops up when it should with the link you provided I will be adding more locations for sure thank you!
     
  46. peemik#6734

    peemik#6734 New Member

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    For UK Routes a good starting point for official reporting points is www.realtimetrains.co.uk Pick a station then a service for the route you are interested in then go to detailed view and all the reporting points/junctions/stations etc. are shown. This also a great place for tracking actual trains and their locations if someone you know is travelling.
     
  47. OpenMinded

    OpenMinded Well-Known Member

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    This is much appreciated! Maybe this could also be extended to other factors, like cloud covers (to some extend) and snow build up?! I asked about this in post #202 of this thread, however, not really with fog in mind (nevertheless, agreeing that for fog it actually makes the most sense!).

    And I cant praise enough the instant tunnel transition. I am currently working my way through the expert 101 timetable on KWG. The other day I had visibility changes from one side of the tunnel with roughly 8000m visibility, hitting a wall of only 160m visibiliy on the other side! This progressed through very noticable changes throughout the following tunnels (of which there are so many on this route), which was so incredible immersive! Cant really wait for winter time to arrive, to also see different snow covers along the route, especially breaking out of tunnels:D
     
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  48. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    Snow cover is currently being implemented :). While stationary the snow cover can only increase / decrase by the snowing rate (from meteo data), or by estimated thawing rate (based on temperature). And while moving the rate of change can be set in setting as max change per 1km/0.6mile...
    Also the curve is much sharper in the first cm of reported snow cover, so snow should appear more quickly.

    One complication currently is that there is huge difference in snow cover visualization between routes.
    i.e.
    Tharandter Rampe
    IMG_2025.11.10-16.37.55.jpg

    Semmeringbahn
    IMG_2025.11.10-16.39.17.jpg
    Both at the in-game slider at 50%... So in future there might be a route specific override for the snow settings
     
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  49. Train Sim Society

    Train Sim Society Well-Known Member

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    This is something I’ve been meaning to ask. It seems pretty clear that snow accumulates differently depending on the route, which I’m guessing comes down to how old the route is or which snow system it uses. On Boston to Providence, for example, snow doesn’t build up very high on the tracks. On newer routes, you’ll see much deeper accumulation.

    If the tool can detect the route, maybe it could apply snow accumulation settings that match how that route handles snow. So on older routes, the “max snow” slider would kick in at lower totals, since the visual buildup is lighter. On newer routes, the slider could allow for higher totals to match the deeper snow. The app having route-aware behavior would make the presentation of snow feel more authentic. :)
     
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  50. Winzarten

    Winzarten Well-Known Member

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    I'm also noticing that some routes use the first part of the ground snow slider for snow atop mountains, and only after 15-20% it starts applying snow to player area (Semmeringbahn i.e.)...

    Which could also be utilized once some mapping are customizable per route... i.e. the peaks coordinates could be added to the app, and the snow atop them would be used for the 20%, which would result in having snow cover atop of peaks, based on real condition... You could have a nice spring run, while the peaks still have a little bit a snow...
    But these are kind of 'cherry on top' features :)
     
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