I want TSW to be as realistic as possible, however, sat in front of a screen you lose certain physical elements that can't be simulated easily or at all. These things tend to be the feeling of motion, the ability to focus the eyes quickly on another area of the cab without moving your head, etc. The HUD should be there to fill in for those short-comings. The HUD should show things like gradient (something you can't feel in a sim), wheel-slip (which you would feel and arguably hear better than in TSW), the dials and gauges off-screen that I would normally be able to quickly glance at (without rotating my head and shifting my entire viewpoint). Therefore the HUD needs to just show the elements that are not in the current field of view. If the the brake gauges are off-screen, dynamically add them to the HUD and remove them when the gauges come into the field of view. What the HUD should not do is recreate elements that are in the field of view, there is no point duplicating information and cluttering up the display.
Agree with all that. The HUD needs also to be more customisable for example if you've spent time thoroughly learning a route including the gradients the option should exist to turn off all elements other than controls. I had a go at driving the Class 170 today without the HUD and it did not go well; I thought I was at idle so went for a step of brakes and nothing happened. Counting the audible clicks is not always conclusive because you can skip steps if holding a key fractional too long. One of my reasons for preferring OpenBVE over Train Sim World is because the HUD only shows your throttle, brake, reverser, and door status in a nonintrusive manner at the bottom of the screen. If only I could have this option in Train Sim World: getting rid of everything that is currently at the top left of the screen. Giving players options is the key.
Personally all I want is an option to turn off the entire HUD, but still have: The current time The expected time The passenger loading bar Control change notifications Things like the objective / destination name should be able to be turned off. It’s impossible to drive completely without the HUD and stick to timings because there’s no guard simulation to manage the door operation for you. You either close the doors too early, or play it safe and wait longer than you need to ensure the objective will complete. Real train drivers can feel the position of the controls and can see them very easily without having to massively divert their attention as you do on a screen, hence the need for the control change notifications.
for more HUDless, we need a functioning Ebula/Fahrplan/UK/US equivalent thing that tells you everything about the route / service
The majority of the drivers in the UK actually learn routes by watching videos, looking at maps and taking cab rides with trained drivers. This could easily be represented by learning the UK routes with the HUD. The only issue with UK Routes as I mentioned is that TSW sets a series of objectives to complete the service, whereas in the real world, drivers don’t have to wait a specific time to complete an objective and wait for it to tick over to the next objective if that makes sense
Richard a real train driver (DadRail) on YouTube suggested having specific route learning scenarios. I think he was suggesting having something like an announcer that would guide you. I have been making route learning videos myself and was thinking how simple it could be to location trigger voice recordings. I would probably try more routes if there was a learning mode because I want to drive the route, not a series of dots on the top right of the screen. In the UK ScotRail have been implementing a Driver Advisory System (DAS) which is a screen that does a little of this. Here's a short example on Train Simulator Classic: If Train Sim World could just show me where my controls are, implement proper despatch with a guard who buzzes me when ready to depart I would rate it as the best train simulator available and would not get so irritated with it; basically the way it is done on Train Simulator Classic on the Glasgow Queen Street - Dunblane add-on. Again we should have options in Train Sim World so that we as players can choose what extra information we want or not; I can't imagine it can be that difficult to implement.
I would only support this as an option. The HUD is often clearer than squinting at the in-game dials.
in its current iteration, HUD is quite ok, especially the minimap... I also have the traction lock icon on - made me learn a couple things, like lets say on German BR101, you have to release the brakes, then apply them again, and release again to get rid of the traction lock (sometimes I would wonder why 101 can be so sluggish sometimes, so thats why ) also, since we dont have a functioning Ebula, atm it's kinda ok
