Panning view to the rear applies the brakes... SORTED! Loco ISOLATION

[HighBypass]

I noticed this issue for the first time tonight when using the ES44AC (NS Coal District & NS Heritage locos). When in the cab I panned the view around and looked down and back at the rear panel and seat and the brakes began to be applied (Gradual Lap). Upon moving the view away again, the brakes were released. On external views this did not appear to be a problem although 'Release' did flicker on the HUD now and again.

Now one might say that this is quite thematic and immersive; if I'm not looking at the track ahead then the loco puts the brakes on LOL! However, NS Coal District was one of the first add-ons I bought back in 2016. The ES44AC came with the route and I cannot recall noticing it.

I have since then purchased the Heritage loco packs. I have also recently installed the GEVO sound enhancement from Searchlight Simulations. I wonder if somehow the sound enhancement is causing the issue?

I don't think my xbox 360 controller has any calibration issues , certainly none when I checked it out via Windows control panel and the ES44AC seems to be the only loco with the issue..

[JohnS]

the Searchlight Enhancement packs don't support the use of a controller. It could be something to do with the way the game handles the key bindings to the controller and the Enhancement pack that are causing the brakes to apply when looking around. The Controller not being supported is stated in the manual and on the website for each enhancement pack. Direct from the GE GEVO 12 Enhancement Pack web page

○ This enhancement pack is not compatible with simple controls or other external controllers such as XBOX or RailDriver®

[HighBypass]

A fair point well made, John and thank you for giving me a starting idea for further investigation. I have since cleared the cache and restarted the game with mouse/keyboard selected as the controller option. Just in case, my XBOX 360 controller is not even powered up either. Yet still no success.

When panning with the mouse to approximately this view,



then the same phenomenon repeated itself. Note that the scenario is the stock Emerald coal run as supplied with the NS Coal District route...

[JohnS]

Make sure your control setting are set to expert. Other than that I'm not sure. I couldn't recreate the problem. I have the route, the scenario, and the enhancement pack but no matter how I panned the camera while moving I could not get the brakes to apply. Make sure you follow the manual on how to set the locomotives up to run in game. There are a few extra steps then just hoping in and going.

[buzz456]

What John S said.

[HighBypass]

Problem sorted! Not only that, but more good news is that the game does appear to respond fine with my xbox controller active (I do use keyboard concurrently too!). It was the Isolation Switch and preparation thereof of any trailing locos! Once the locos were set to RUN then panning the view around had no braking effect. If this was some kind of undocumented reminder for the engineer to check and prepare their consist, then it's a doozy. Now that I understand it, I love the idea of the game telling me that something isn't right when I pan the view to look back at the consist!

It is noted that the ES44 supplied with Montana Hi Line does not exhibit this behaviour, but that is probably because that route is not listed as a supported DLC...

Gentlemen, it is about this time that I humbly mumble the words, "Must RTFM!"

John, I thank you for the gentle reminder about one does not simply jump into a loco and go and your patience with this dumb limey (it took me a minute to locate the manual because I'd incorrectly assumed that the program was just a sound enhancement pack)

I have a further question regarding the train length function (SHIFT A, SHIFT D to cancel). I activated it when the nose of my loco passed the speed sign (going from 10 mph up to the 30mph section). Whilst the pop up told me the length of the train (more than a mile long!), it did so before the back of the train had passed the sign. In UK stock (Class 66 for example) the length of train seems to work right on the money (different script with an in cab button to press). When should the engineer activate this function IRL, as well as within the limits of TS?

[JohnS]

You're welcome in getting it running. As far as the counter goes, I've personally not used it in game. I wouldn't even begin to guess how or what it's using to figure out car lengths. In real world I usually push the distance counter as the cab is passing by the location but in the real world we hardly every get correct train sheets or a counter that works so it's a lot of guessing. Enjoy and have fun!

[BNSFdude]

You're welcome in getting it running. As far as the counter goes, I've personally not used it in game. I wouldn't even begin to guess how or what it's using to figure out car lengths. In real world I usually push the distance counter as the cab is passing by the location but in the real world we hardly every get correct train sheets or a counter that works so it's a lot of guessing. Enjoy and have fun!

It reads either the location you start it at or reads consist .bin files length and converts to feet.

[JohnS]

You're welcome in getting it running. As far as the counter goes, I've personally not used it in game. I wouldn't even begin to guess how or what it's using to figure out car lengths. In real world I usually push the distance counter as the cab is passing by the location but in the real world we hardly every get correct train sheets or a counter that works so it's a lot of guessing. Enjoy and have fun!

It reads either the location you start it at or reads consist .bin files length and converts to feet.

Now that's cool. I had no Idea that was even possible. I guess if you can write the code anything is virtually possible. Keep up the great work Searchlight Simulations!

[HighBypass]

It reads either the location you start it at or reads consist .bin files length and converts to feet.

Which would be great if it did actually read the length at the location I started it at in game, so that the ending beep and the length display in the top right of the screen occur when the end of my train has passed the higher speed sign. It did this too early by about 7 or 8 gondolas or so..

[JohnS]

Which would be great if it did actually read the length at the location I started it at in game, so that the ending beep and the length display in the top right of the screen occur when the end of my train has passed the higher speed sign. It did this too early by about 7 or 8 gondolas or so..

The lengths in the freight cars bin or Geo file (I'm not sure which) could be incorrectly formatted or listed and that could be why the counter comes up short. The scripting relies on what the consist bin file shows.