The new minimal HUD in TSW4 has me thinking about route learning and how it applies to the simulation offered in TSW. I do love a good sim title and I have an extremely curious mind, so I find learning the real world context helps me get the most out of what's offered. This forum seems to be populated with the most passionate of players, so I'm sure I'm not alone. For TSW4, the removal of the numeric countdowns on the HUD is very intriguing. It threatens to completely change the way I play. I know they can switched back, but I'm open to the change. In fact, I want the new HUD to work for me. I want it to be as smooth as my gameplay is now. The distance to stop is the main detail that has me scratching my head, especially for the upcoming ECML route. We all know it takes more than a mile/kilometer to smoothly stop from 125. I was inspired by the printed EBULA-like sheets that exist for the German routes and decided to look into creating something for the UK. With data taken from the real Network Rail Sectional Appendix, these sheets are designed to apply directly to the routes in game. Read from top down, these will give you information about the infrastructure ahead and how much distance there is between each entry. Each direction of travel will have it's own top to bottom sheet. If the service changes to a different line, that line will be displayed next. No jumping around like in the real Sectional Appendix. My plan is to use a tablet, but they can also be printed. The listed infrastructure will largely include stations, depots, junctions, tunnels, bridges, crossings, and line speed changes. I want to be reasonably sure that what I'm listing is actually modeled in the game. Mile post locations are listed in miles and chains. 1 mile is 80 chains, half a mile is 40, etc. The distance between two points can be applied to your unique driving style and choice of equipment. To replace the stop distance HUD, I did go ahead and convert the station distances to decimal values, rounded up or down to the nearest tenth. These are just meant to be a guide so I didn't stress too much over the exact math. Anyway, here's the first one. It's for the DC section of Southeastern Highspeed. A bit of a proof of concept. I'm not going to haggle about tenths of a mile, but if you notice any glaring errors or omissions please let me know. I didn't directly play test this, so there may be some errors. I'm also open to suggestions for the remarks section. If you have a note that you think might help others, or some interesting real world context, let me know about that too. My plan is to do the ECML between Peterborough and Doncaster next, that way it's ready for the release. After that I have no specific order or timeframe plan, but if I do complete more, I will share them.
