Nice new touches in TS 2013

[OldProf]

Here's something new in TS 2013 that I haven't seen anyone else mention: if you move the in-cab camera away from its standard position and then switch to a different camera, when you come back to the in-cab camera its position hasn't changed, whereas in previous incarnations of RW this camera always snapped back to its standard position.

Another nice touch is that the beacon of the EMD SW10 switcher that comes with the Sherman Hill route features a much improved design for its rotating beacon, which turns on and off via a switch in the cab. Here's a screen shot taken as the switcher passed by the round house.

The one feature I miss is the Async key option ... perhaps it's buried somewhere?

[Griphos]

Yeah, I really appreciate the way the cameras remember their position now! And the rotating beacon and EOT lights are great! So much to like about this new version!

[fecrails]

One of my favorite new features is the f3 display! Variable opacity for the display is a nice touch too. I keep it at about 50% and it's unobtrusive to the awesome views of Sherman Hill.

[roinuj]

Mine is the simplest improvement......double clicking in the game menu.

It drove me nuts in TS2012 to have to click the selection and then select the Next button to advance.

[AdmiralLeviathan]

On the topic of the SW10; when you activate the bell, you can see the clacker moving back and forth from the cab and from the outside view.

[Chacal]

I miss the ability to see the state of the next signal.
Although unrealistic, it compensated for not knowing the route which is mandatory in real life.
I think signal state should be shown on the 2D map.

[BNSFdude]

The signals state does indeed show up when you press 9.

[OldProf]

On the topic of the SW10; when you activate the bell, you can see the clacker moving back and forth from the cab and from the outside view.

I haven't gotten that close yet! I'll have to take a look. There are a lot of treats in this version!

[Chacal]

The signals state does indeed show up when you press 9.

You're right, I had entirely forgotten. It shows up and there's a direction marker too.
I guess I should play more often...

[Toonces]

The signals state does indeed show up when you press 9.

You're right, I had entirely forgotten. It shows up and there's a direction marker too.
I guess I should play more often...

My recollection is that they don't appear for career mode scenarios. It just shows that a signal is there, but doesn't show the aspect.

I have to admit that I like this "knowledge" myself. It is helpful in free roam scenarios when I check the track ahead to make sure the switches are set correctly.

[ex-railwayman]

I miss the ability to see the state of the next signal.
Although unrealistic, it compensated for not knowing the route which is mandatory in real life.
I think signal state should be shown on the 2D map.

If you go into the 2D map and click on the switches for the junctions, you can set yourself a route path for the next 2 miles, or, even more, in which case you don't really need the signals as they should all be green.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[OldProf]

More nice touches: pressing F1 in 3d mode not only displays the list of instructions for the scenario, but also a large arrowhead pointing to the location of the next objective; similarly, in the 2d view, it's now possible not only to center the view on the player engine, but also to point to the next objective. One change that I haven't gotten used to yet is that throwing switches in the 2d view now requires just a click (and the switch's circular indicator turns from blue to yellow) rather than a shift-click. The direction of the frogs is also highlighted in pale blue for clarity, which is very helpful with 3-way switches.

[LoneWolfDon]

The one feature I miss is the Async key option ... perhaps it's buried somewhere?

Found a way to do it. Async Keys still are part of TS2013, even though any obvious option to turn it on is now absent.
But here's how to do it;

From your Steam-client, Library, right-click on your Train-Simulator 2013 there, Properties, click the "Set launch options" button, and in the field enter in this command there:

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EnableAsyncKeys

In fact, you can have more than one command (be careful to separate each command with a space though) if you know what they are. Here's mine as an example:

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-SetFOV=80 -FPSLimit=40 EnableAsyncKeys

After entering your command(s) there that you want, click "Ok" then "Close".

Then when you play a Scenario in TS2013, your Async Keys should now work

Shift + Ctrl + 1 (normal speed), and using the number from 1 through 5 accordingly to select the run speed you want. Good for testing scenarios sometimes, or perhaps getting through some Donner-Pass scenarios a bit quicker Anyways, hope that helps.

[Machinist]

Ha! That's why my preloaded command for Async Keys never worked: I was tipying -EnableAsyncKeys, instead of EnableAsyncKeys. Now the speed up feature in game is working fine. Thank you.

I am setting FOV to 50 (or 55, default is 60) and fps limit to 30.

Cheers,
Doc.

[OldProf]

Thanks, Don! For me, the AsyncKeys option is useful in any long-run scenario.