To be fair, my brain immediately compensated the parallax effect. (which I'm used to in reality too on many occasions).
Again, I have to say how much fun this 218 is to drive. Just did a freight service in ND which was 1144 tonnes and a single 218. Put the gear select into slow range and it was smooth running. From start I was able to get into the mid 70's and stay there in position 15 on the tap controller. When I got to a good down grade it moved up to about 100 and from there to the end was able to hold in mid 90's until I had to slow for the final stop. This locomotive was made for Rail Driver.
Parallex view notwithstanding, I just had a bit of an issue where I could not release the brakes fully. Loaded my saved "free roam" from Chemnitz to Dresden and after braking for a 40 km/h restriction, appeared to be stuck in minimum or possibly Step 2. It took a couple of attempts to get power too and I pretty much had to drag the train into Dresden at 6 km/h in Notch 13.
Sorry, my answer wasn't meant to be a snarky remark or anything... And to be fair I didn't of switching the PZB on and off. I thought it would be enough to put the reverser into neutral or off, then change the mode and then back into on again. Thanks anyways and the 218 is really glorious!
I still don't think the save game works 100% of the time, though it's way better than it used to be. Did you try the "reset simulation" button?
It primarily turns on the train's heating and the higher the locomotive's revolutions, sometimes I read level 6, it seems unfortunate to me, wouldn't it be better if it were turned off by default? Did the train driver turn it on in the game? EDIT: But it is interesting that in AI mode it does not increase the engine speed. Only when a person sits down and takes control of the locomotive .....
It provides electricity for the coaches. The term "Zugheizung" is historically related, when boilers would heat steam to provide heating. In the game it is correctly turned on on passenger trains, and off on freight trains. All fine. AI is treated differently and simplified in the game for performance reasons. You wouldn't be able to play a train simulator with today's hardware if all trains would run Simugraph. 2 FPS maybe.
So, Maintalbahn is growing on me lol. I know it isn't an fan-favorite, but i had a nice northbound run on the RB88. The log train was held for me at the junction to the harbor, but then it was allowed to overtake at Aschaffenberg Sud. Good fun thrashing the 218- only weirdness was it seems my driver disappears in photo mode lol
D’oh I forgot to try the reset simulation button. But yes I suspect it is the complex scripting getting the better of the save game. Strange thing is, I had successfully saved and loaded twice previously during the same run but thrice was pushing it. Looks like I might give Maintalbahn a go in the sale after all. I blew a bit of cash on Pegnitz and the VR 218 for TSC, but thus far I still feel the TSG one for TSW is better, certainly as regards sounds. The VR TSC version has rather muffled or subdued in cab sound and you certainly don’t get the turbo scream the TSW one has. Edit: The Vr 218 also has a rather insidious and overpowering track sound above 80km/h, sounds like you are running on jointed track with fishplates every 5 metres.
Well i dont mind the parallax effect. Overcharging is called "angleichen" and its a normal procedure. But yes in the workshops the brakevalves get calibrated very precisley to 5bar for the "Regelbetriebsdruck". Also very small tolerances.
As an addition, I found this post which quotes the real manual (freely translated by me for everyone's benefit): Release the brakes (on a gradient only once the transmission is filled) Notch up to 2 and wait for the transmission to fill, notch up from 2 to 7 rapidly. Notch up from 7 individually while considering rail conditions and required power output. Should the loco experience wheelslip, you must notch down a few notches irrelevant of the presence of a wheelslip-protection system. During slip, sanding is prohibited. While driving at constant speed, the appropriate notch is to be selected. Frequent switching between idle/neutral (notch 0) and a higher power setting ("saw-toothing") is to be avoided. Driving close to the maximum permitted speed in fast and slow gear with idle engine and filled transmission is to be avoided to prevent overheating of the transmission oil. The reduction of engine power should happen in steps to reduce thermal stress in the engine. To notch 6, you should notch down step by step. Under notch 6, you are allowed to rapidly notch down to 0.
After some days I also had the chance to try this wonderful DLC. I believe it has all been said. I also think its one of the best loco DLCs we have so far. I am careful to say "the best", as I think that with the Vectron we habe another loco which I would assume is about at the same level. For me, at least. I especially like driving the 218 on NID. The way it moves around and, thanks to suspension being implemented, jumps up and down over every single track joint (and there are many on this route) makes it feel so alive! Just want to mention the two already available community time tables (as mods for PC), which both are really great! However, not aimed at the 218, its a general remark, I am still trying to understand why the walkway through the loco´s are not made available to be used. I think it would still be better to have a non-modelled walkway between the two cabs, then none at all. I am sure it will hardly make any difference to performance if there is nothing modelled insight. However, just the fact that I have to get out of the loco and get up the other side brakes the immersion more then walking through a non modelled engine room. They who dont like it can still walk around on the outside, but I would really like to be able to walk within a loco from one side to the other. Its just a too big of a thing in any real operation that it should be completely ignored... in my eyes.
Of course overcharging is a normal procedure, you just do not drive with it always present. Yeah we could get over the parallax effect but once again it's some small detail that are pretty easy to fix ... which are not fixed.
Guys, once again with that Maintalbahn timetable: I don't have the 218 in neither of the two! Then I tried the other way around ("Zughalle" (Depot?)->218->$routes) and Maintalbahn is not in that result, too. Has anyone encountered a similar problem (and was able to resolve it)? Some other thing I noticed: Sometimes ... well like 50% of the time, when I get up from the driver's seat (to switch cabs for example or to reach something on the back wall) BOTH wipers are enabled! I play with the RailDriver, of course I didn't touch the dial. This is not happening while driving so it's not due to bad calibration I guess. Otherwise, the RailDriver settings are awesome by the way, you can select each and every notch just perfectly and both, the air- and dynamic brake, are perfectly fine! Ah ... and one more thing. It somehow drives me mad to close the door to the cab from the outside when standing on the ground (not on a platform) - it's very difficult to "select" the door and "climb up". When I can't get the door-prompt in 10 seconds, I use camera 8 and close the door from a raised position.
No idea. Those things are not even nearly connected to each other at all. Wipers can be only activated by the switches for them. I will check this just to be sure, bu i never experienced that in my tests and you can imagine how often i did that You just need to step a bit back, out of the hitbox for the step-up. There is no other way to do this. It's made so, that the door is accessible from further away than the step-up box. Basically every train in TSW suffers from that in some sort.
Do you have Hamburg -- Lubeck installed? As far as I understand, BR218 formations on Maintalbahn use HBK Dostos. So, you won't have this layer enabled without HBK.
I will investigate that further in the course of the upcoming weekend. When I can safely reproduce the issue, I'll let you know. Please chill out this weekend, you and your team deserve it! Awesome, many thanks for that trick/hack! Thanks for reply! I have all the German routes installed. Maybe I try to "reinstall" Maintalbahn? It's really strange since Maik Goltz replied earlier that the 218 should be in one of the two selectable timetables (before I bought the 218 there was no timetable selection for Maintalbahn) but it's not. I watched the preview stream from Matt & Harry earlier today and saw it with my own eyes! In an hour I can boot up the game and create screenshots if that proves something/helps.
I found out that you can't drive backwards from cab one with ZWS switch set to off. switching to cab two also lets you drive in only one direction if ZWS is set to off.
So far I’ve only been able to play two complete services (been busy with work) but the two earliest morning passenger services I tried on HBL are pretty good. All I’ll say is you’ll want to pay close attention to the signals.
I’m not sure if I understand you correctly. If it’s about the braking procedure, you’d throttle down from 15 to 6 slowly and carefully one (or two) notches at a time. Once you’re at 6, you’d yank it all the way down to 0 and wait for the transmission light to go off again (meaning the transmission is empty). Then you’d start applying brakes.
Very good dlc, first time since long i dont regret my day one purchais and wasnt annoyed by bugs. Sounds are superb and the 218 is very fun. Also nice the P2 was modeled. I was doing my first runs in the Bremen area.:
I believe Maik was explaining the h-brake, but can someone pls specify like to which lever is that H-brake actually tied to? The train brake, the loco brake or which one ?
To the FBV, "Führerbremsventil", which is the train brake (not direct loco brake). Same as the 110 or 103.
During service with Dosto cars on the route Hamburg - Lübeck, when the heating is switched off, the banners with the destination station will go out for the inserted cars, except for the last control car, and the interior lights in the set will go out. On the other hand, when the heating is switched on, the interior lights in the cars are on permanently and cannot be controlled from the locomotive in any other way. Am I doing something wrong or is it supposed to be like that?
That should be correct. I think "train heating" means today's "train busbar", i.e. the 1000V feed into the cars. I think it was called that back then.
When driving a ZWS operated train (218-Dostos-218), make sure to turn off train heating in the leading loco. As ZWS can't transmit the HEP (train heating) controls, the trailing loco will still provide power for the coaches. Pretty much the same on the HST, the trailing Class 43 is used to power the coaches. (Automatically set on MML, whereas GWE HST needs pressing the Power Supply On button in the rear unit manually. Note that Dostos may need to have their lights turned on from the coach's panel. (Green "Formation Lights" button).
PS5 Service RE83 (11447) : In 766 Dosto Cabcar HUD Speed Limit indicator does not work in PZB Restrict. Shows only Seeed limit 0km/hod. It probably won't be a problem of just one specific service. For the BR218 driven service it shows correctly An answer like turning off the HUD, showing it directly in the car won't help, you can't really see it on the display EDIT: I tried the substitute Dosto Cabcar (Rosenheim-Salzburg) and it shows the limits correctly, so the errors will be with the redesigned driver's car (Hamburg-Lubeck)
PS5 Service RE83 11449 : Has anyone managed to leave Lubeck? In my case, a stuck ICE is blocking the entrance to the station, it is probably in an unfortunate position at the time the service starts and does not have a built train path, or the auxiliary shunting signal is red
I encountered this too today, so it not just happens on PS5, but also on PC/Steam. The ICE definitely is following a path, but the signal seems to be on permanent red. If you start the service and immediately switch to the map, you can just see the train moving into position and staying there.
Another discovery: On the Dresden line, during Service RE50 with Br 218, I get the cars shown in the picture below. When I stop and unlock them, the doors don't open, so from the external camera view, you have to open one door by hand, but then all the doors of the car open on the other side as well.
Major signal bug approaching Hamburg: Service RE 83 (11453) approaching Hamburg with Vr1 (2x green)! shows Hp0 with Kennlicht at dark Vr, which is completely wrong! (Signal was shown in green on map, dispatcher said "continue according signals")
I think this will be the case with other services as well. I have already recorded this signal as well
tried that also, on Munchen Augsburg, and it is true it can get up to 150 and more, but if you keep going that speed, after like a minute or so the engine shows you middle finger by locking the traction and wont unlock until you get to a very low speed (I believe Maik mentioned sth like 50 kmh and less) and get the engine to idle
for me the biggest issue are the substitutions - 218 is mostly thrown in as REX, which is ok, since it takes its sweet time to pick up speed, and so isnt suited to S-Bahn service or so, but the timetables just arent built for that acceleration (hindered even further by the consists they pull as single loco where two would be needed) and you just end up being freakin late I believe I tried Rhein Ruhr Osten or sth, one of those old short routes... and I almost kept on time, plus the gradients helped the train pick up speed, so it was fun eventually but yeah, atm it is best to stick to Hamburg Lubeck... or freight where you dont really have to keep up to tight schedule ... before we hopefully get routes that showcase the fun side of this neat loco ... like yeah, it is slow to accelerate (what a surprise since it is diesel-hydraulic and not at least diesel-electric), cant pull/push super-long/super-heavy trains, but it has kind of charm that despite the bit of anxiety (I am weird ) keeps me coming back to it
So far, I am sticking to freights with the 218. Not having to worry about schedules keeping reduces any possible anxiety and keeps this loco fun to drive. I am using it across the German routes in subs into to get them registered into my new video card.
Good point! Well hopefully if anyone from DTG is actually bothering to read this feedback, or if TSG have a bit of lobby, they will look at bringing out some fixes and improvements for HBL.
I am running freight on DRA with the 218. The Dresden - Riesa run at 10:08 puts you in the hole at Priestewicz to let an RE 50 pass. While I was waiting, the engine cooled enough for the fan on the top to stop running and the side louvers to close. Very, very cool!
I feel like that isn’t mentioned enough. We’ve had fans turn on and off before but the louvres are a first, I think. Really, really nice.
I think if there has to be an award for the best all time (to date) loco in TSW, the 218 is a clear winner. As regards complaints about acceleration, this is a heavy, heavy loco and it is not going to accelerate like a 387 even with a relatively light train. I suspect TSG got it right whereas the 218 in other sims are a bit too quick off the mark.
To conclude my issues from last week, reinstalling the DLC helped - in the 2nd timetable there is the 218 now included. As it took me two days to write this here, I was busy learning ;-) One more questions arose: It happened to me, after pulling freight in noth 14/15 for 2 minutes at circa 100 km/h - suddenly the gearbox-icon illuminated - I went down some notches and it went dark again. What happened? I'm too rude?
Were you in fast gear? I think around 100 is when fast gear switches converters again. No problem then, if so. Similar to the old US diesels losing power around 25mph to switch motor wiring.
The gearbox "shifts" at 60 km/h and 100 km/h in fast gear, that's why the light comes up for a while at these speeds. Not sure if it's the same speeds for slow gear. No need to worry about it Edit: Of course Lamplight was faster Edit again: Tested it, in slow gear it "shifts" at 60 as well, but not at 100.
One minor thing i have to "critisism" about the 218, but nothing which ruins the driving experience on track. 1) With the 110, 103 and now this 218, the main battery cant be shut down anymore. I liked this feature and it was present since tsw2020, so why give it a pass? 2) The 110, 103 and 218 doesnt support "Angleichen", which means overcharge the brakepipe. Since the brake system in tsw is rather advanced i cant understand this feature to be dropped, since its a fundamental procedure. The 111 has it modeled. This is braking the experience for me in terms of realism and immersion. Beside that very well made loco, here a Freeroam service in the vorarlberg timetable. Timber Train to wolfurt, and empty wagons back. When coupling consists, the "Angleichen" is nessecary, and unfortunately not modeled even in fact this feature exists since the beginning.
Not to forget the delays and losses typical for hydraulic transmission systems, especially the torque converters. I don't know if that Voit transmission had a lock-up clutch feature. Will have to look it up, but even if it has, 100% efficiency is not feasible. Second your motion for the Best Loco DLC in TSW. If she had a gangway between the cabs, there would not even be a discussion about it. It's the only caveat I see.
