Dresden Riesa Scenario 5 Rush Hour Time Penalty

Hi everyone,
I think i found a bug in the scenario mentioned above.

Leaving Niederau Platform 2 at 7:37:43
ETA in Priestewitz at 7:42:44
Distance is 10,95 km
This makes 5:01min for 10,95 km which means an average speed of 132 km per hour. With no accelaration and breaking time at start and end!
But the track is limited to 120 km per hour. So this is physically impossible.
Or do I miss a thing?

I tried with 180 km per hour which mackes aprox 400000 penalty pionts for speed limit, but I get to Priestewitz in time.

Regards.

 

It is a Career Scenario - Which don't really fit in with a Simulator - more an arcade game
DTG always expect you to drive like you are in a Formula 1 race

 

Agreed. This problem is as old as the simulator. Donner Pass, which is an old chestnut, has the Director's Special scenario in which it is impossible to maintain time up the hills without speeding (when you can) so you are penalised for speeding or penalised for being late. One of the reasons I gave up career scenarios a long time ago. Enjoyment is more important than point scoring.

 

The interesting thing about the Director Special is that your service is of "Standard Freight" class instead of a passenger service class - which means lower speed limits apply.

 

Then I will stop wondering about how to do that

I thought I found some other places as well.
Indeed driving for pleasure is more fun than the scenarios

 

It’s a hobby after all.

 

Unfortunately not all scenario writers have your knowledge of how the real railway operates
Or your dedication to getting things right

 

There is no excuse for not testing. I have written a number of scenarios for my own use and a few published and I have never got it “right” first time. Like all computer programs TS is only as good as the programmer and needs instructions in the correct form. Otherwise it, like all other computer programs is stupid. This is what testing is about, if anyone says that they can get it right first time every time then they are either God or a politician.

 

Danny, you should probably playtest every single official scenario personally and edit the ones that aren't good yourself. I keep coming upon bad eggs.

Today, I drove the GWML "Scots Pine" and found that there is a ticking time bomb in the scenario in the form of ICN5 being directed into a siding - where a static train is waiting to be collided with. Led to having to replay a 100 minute scenario. Best possible run IMO is getting to the final task a minute before the collision...but it CAN be completed.

Same route, The Argyle Line; the timings all show to be white, but they are totally unrealistic and demand an absolutely perfect drive to score...600 points. I tested two timings by adjusting by ten seconds and they turned red in turn. A sure sign that there is absolutely no consideration for the player experience. My run was 8 minutes late. Why should a player take this continued failure?

Donner Pass. 25 MPH timings on the fourth scenario on a 30 MPH track and you end half an hour early. Meanwhile, for everything else (including the three hour introduction), you have what I believe are 30 MPH timings on a 25 MPH track. The expected 2:47 time to get a perfect score cannot be done, and my best score is -18,000 points or so with an arrival after 3 hours and 5 minutes. BTW, Scenario 3 in Standard Mode is a timetable mode scenario. Guess what that means? Speed all the way. I ran 30 and made it, but lost part of the train on the mountain after initially connecting to it. Still got offered a beer. The kicker? All Career versions are tied to achievements. Score -18,000, get an achievement. Well, that's a great reason to waste my time on that version...not to mention having to run the entire set ten times apiece to get the 3,000+ miles on Career scenarios achievement. Do they think about these things?

I think work needs to be done to correct old scenarios. I'm on a hunt to find some of the oldest scenarios that no longer work. Definitely a project I can offer assistance with in terms of identifying broken scenarios and suggesting fixes.

 

Ok Cyclone, I will tell you how to get the achievements. Here's a few facts.

1. Using the scenario editor will alter the MD5.

2. TS does NOT check the scenario files' MD5s by calculating and comparing. It just reads the .MD5 files produced by the editor and compares them with the <MD5> tag in the Scenario and Steam database on exit. See where this is going?

Spoiler

3. This offers the possibility to edit the ScenarioProperties.xml with a text editor. You can adjust the awarded scores per stop here or give a start score of 1000 or what you like it to be. You can even disable speed checks and comfort checks. This is up to you and not considered cheating as this is a single player game with a useless highscore list. No VAC ban here

4. You can also edit Scenario.bin with the scenario editor by using a copy of the scenario (not clone!) and insert the modified Scenario.bin back to the original folder. (For removing derailment-causing services of static consists.) If you remove AI services you have to remove them from the <FrontEndDriverList> in ScenarioProperties.xml too.

5. There you go. I've changed the service class in the Director Special from freight to passenger to get rid of the low speed limits.

The worst thing you get by doing so is "Missing Scenario.bin" which you can skip with F2 and Cancel.

Cheers.

 

When seems like a job, feels like a job, wears you down like a job - it’s a job not a hobby. Those who want to change scenarios - I suggest learn to change scenarios. Does it matter if they are not identical to what everyone else is doing? They could actually post it in appropriate forums, there are a few about.

 

Danny, I mean ones being made now. And maybe a few reported ones here and there. Most of the time you would not need to replay old scenarios.

Yeah, I've tried editing this stuff, but the Career scenarios always seem to have it back active. The Donner Pass scenarios in reality should be 1,000 point starts and drive at a casual pace to keep to the speed limits.

I find it odd, in Director's Special, that it's marked as freight.

torf, may want to chat with you about how you edit official scenarios sometime. Maybe this workaround is part of why this stuff never gets fixed; if all these scenarios could be fixed, perhaps a posting somewhere like on ATS would allow people to play the edited versions cleanly. Of course, I want to be fair with edits, too, not give them away.

 

It works in Career scenarios. You might have to restart TS if you're working within the scenarios folder outside the ap's. Trust me I've adjusted all those freight scenarios to 1000 score start and just penalizing misbehaviour, got all my Donner Pass gold stars and achievements (execpt the mileage because I mostly ran my own/freeroam/workshop scenarios)

 

torf, I posted a late edit. May want to chat sometime about how you can edit the Career scenarios. Do you have a Discord?

 

You mean you don't normally play TS in your spare time?

(Don't answer that; I'm sure there are days the last thing you want to see is the cab of a train.)

 

Don’t mind those people. Seriously. You do you. People interested will play it. And they will appreciate it. If you want someone to try stuff out, just ask.