I've started to play ts2020 again since i have a new pc. When playing with the hud on, I found I was focussed more on the hud than focussing on the outsider. So ofcourse I turned off the hud and I started to use the keyboard for controlling the train. I notice that I enjoy the game much more. I have however one problem. Without the hud I cannot see the speedsigns comming. If I drive 60mph and I see a sign of 30mph, the game simply does not give me time to slow down. The game instantly gives you penalties. Without the hud it is impossible to know what speeds you will get unless.. ....I am not going to commit every speedsign to memory (which would make the speedsigns kinda redundant). But in free roaming mode I care little and I Just drive. And likewise the game also starts giving penalties when you accelerate behind a speedsign too zoon. You have to wait until your entire train is passed the sign. I don't know if this is normal but I'd guess not. My question: is it actually ment to be this way? Also: am I really supposed to memorize the routes I am driving? Or is this fixable with mods? Kind regards, Bas
Hello welcome to the forum. Yes, it is meant to be that way. You can only do the new speed when the entire train has passed the speed board. Think about it logically: if you’re going across a junction at 25mph and the line speed is then 125mph on the line, if you started accelerating as soon as you went past the board but you’ve got a 10 coach train, the last few coaches of your train are going to be going across that junction at 40mph+ which wouldn’t make sense. With regards to braking, yes you need to know when to brake and be doing the new speed before you pass the speed board. It’s called route knowledge which all drivers will have. It’s the same principle as stopping at stations, you need to know when to put the brake on. What I suggest is, turn the HUD on until you’re comfortable with the speeds and think you’ve learnt them, then turn the HUD and test yourself. Find ‘braking points’ and try to pick obvious ones so you can easily remember such as a signal, tunnel, bridge, bend, etc... remember, in real life, you would need to be able to operate the train in thick fog without any assistance so you need excellent route knowledge. I’m assuming you’re in the UK because the UK uses route signalling. Other parts of the world such as some parts of the US use speed signalling. So you don’t need much route knowledge because the signal will tell you what speed to be doing. This is why you have a wide array of signal aspects you can get in areas where speed signalling is used. This is easier because you don’t need to have as much route knowledge but on the flip side, you need to learn what all the signal aspects mean and what speed it corresponds to. If you have large reductions in speed, usually where speed drops down by a third or more such as 100mph to 50mph, there will be a warning board (upside down yellow triangle) and an AWS magnet associated with it- see picture attached. But there will be no such warning boards usually for all other speed drops. (Usually, you’ll only just see the top one)
So you are driving a Heavy Freight Train and you have to go slow thru a Junction or over a Bridge. Why would you think that having got the 80 ton loco at 20mph over a Bridge it would be ok for the 100 ton wagons to go faster? A Speed Restriction does not just apply to the loco, or even the drivers cab, but for the WHOLE Train And that is NORMAL Peter
You are not getting me. I know very well real world train drivers need to have route knowledge. I was indeed driving in the UK. I purchased the west highland line DLC. (And now I wait for steam discounts to purchase anything else in this rediculously overpriced game). I also found that most stations have entry signals (dunno the correct english words) so with those I could tell that there is a station comming. Only the single tracked stations.... yeah those you have to memorize allright. Luckily for those people I was hauling a freight train XD I just find it strange that you alreay have to drive 30mph before you can even see the sign. If the game would only give you like 0.5 miles beyond the signal to brake, than the game would be much more plessant. I get your points that the entire train needs to be passed the danger points before you may accelarate to indeed avoid accidents. But I find it extremely illogical that the speed signs are not placed 1 long-train-lenght further. I mean if your train is like 600 meters long and you have no crewman at the end which could tell you that the last car is passed the signal, it is impossible to know for the driver (you may count the seconds and calculate how long it would take with current speed) when the last car is passed the signal. Truck drives already have the problem that they cannot always see when the can switch lanes after passing another truck. That is why they signal to eachother. If I sit in a class 37 how can I tell when all wagons are passed the speed signal? The only thing I can do right now is just wait an x amount of time to be sure. If the signal would be placed 600 meters (or however long the longest train is) beyond the dangerous point than the train driver would not have to count seconds or be depended of his computer systems to tell when the last car is past the signal. If the signals are also placed 0.5 mile before the dangerous point, the driver would not have to memorize it's exact location because the driver could simply apply the breaks when he sees the signal. On dutch stations there are even signs to inform a driver where to stop depending on the length of his train. If it is true that it is done like this IRL than true it is, I just have difficulty believing it is because it makes no sense not to place the new speed signs further away from the dangerous points. Kind regards, Bas.
I understand you completely. I see what you’re saying but that has nothing to do with the game/simulation. The game has modelled it correctly. You seem to have a problem with the signal/speed regulation used by rail systems around the world. That’s just the way it is. What is 1 long train length? There are trains of all different sizes. In certain locations, there are boards that display when your train is clear although this is generally used for to know when you are clear of a set of points for shunting (I.e change ends) rather than for speed. Yup. There are various techniques you could use such as counting overhead wire gantrys as the distance between each one is about a a coach length, etc... Some trains like the Class 66 have a counter so you press the button and when the rear of the train is clear, you will hear a ‘beep beep’ in the cab. Again, it’s route knowledge. Once you’ve done it enough times, you will know roughly when you’re clear and will have a rough marker in your head such as a signal, bridge, viaduct, station, bend, tree branch, blade of grass, whatever. That’s basically what I described earlier- speed restriction warning board. To have it everywhere for every single speed restriction would be non-sensical. Different trains have different braking capabilities, doing different speeds, etc... it would be silly and you would be getting an AWS warning all the time which would desensitise you to it thus increasing chance of a SPAD. Route knowledge really isn’t that hard. Knowing you have to start braking at the end of Ealing Broadway platform as speed drops from 125 to 100mph, for example, really isn’t that hard and is actually quite enjoyable. Route knowledge is key for a driver and they will spend months route learning so they will know every inch of track on the route. Same in the UK usually.
I suggest you drive with the F3 HUD on The display tells you where the stations are, What your next stop is and the time you are expected to arrive The current Speed Limit and upcoming restrictions You can change the opacity of the HUD so it does not obscure anything Note that the train is stopped at 0.0 at the station - Although there are marker boards for different train sizes the game does not always recognise you have stopped Peter
Peter thank you for your help but my second sentence was: "When playing with the hud on," I was driving with the hud, but I didn't like it
Option 1 - drive with the HUD on Option 2 - Drive like a Real Train Driver and Learn the Road - that is what I had to do when I was at work. I do not know of any other option Peter
I am going for option 2 and I am going to buy a raildriver. Driving with the hud off is not do-able. You have to look at your controlls in order to controll them.. properly. When you drive car you also don't look at your gas pedal or steering wheel. The keyboard method also proves to be impractical as you do not have have any feedback about the position of the levers. I am also going to try to use an arduino board in combination with a magnetic sensor/accelerometer to try to use the movement of my head in order to look around. The electronics are flat and I can easily tape them to my headset. Kind regards, Bas
If you are using the F3 HUD, the one without the silly train set controls, it gives you information on the Direction setting the Throttle position the Brake percentage And you controls these from the Keyboard very easily - I don't need to look at the throttle to know what position it is in or how much brakes I have applied. If you are thinking of getting a Raildriver you should read up on it first - it is not just "Plug and Play" https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/64-bit-download-for-raildriver.13723/ This thread was started in 2014 so you are best starting near the back for current information https://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=361&t=139830&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=1365 Peter
