Railworks America

From inside the cab it is a subtle effect in super elevated curves, but shouldn't the view remain horizontal and the cab tilt and sway a little?
I didn't notice track unevenness from the inside view.

From the outside it is not so good IMO, there is some kind of rhythmic undulation and sudden shaking movements.

Any other observations and opinions?

We need better cab movement for sure, outside the cars bounce around nicely but that is not reflected inside. I've noticed that inside the cab the glass on the windscreens moves inside the frames, only slight but it's there. Be nice if we got a bit of rocking around when going over switches wouldn't it, together with a nice clatter from the bogies.

Handbrake wrote:We need better cab movement for sure, outside the cars bounce around nicely but that is not reflected inside. I've noticed that inside the cab the glass on the windscreens moves inside the frames, only slight but it's there. Be nice if we got a bit of rocking around when going over switches wouldn't it, together with a nice clatter from the bogies.

You are right. More bouncing and rocking over switches.

Yesterday, I found out that when you remain standing in the cab as a passenger, you stay upright and the cab tilts around you while your view of the horizon stays level: right!
When seated however, your virtual head becomes part of the train and your view tilts with the cab: wrong!

It's nice but let they implement is correctly. From the point of veiw of the drive you should experience both the ouside world to sway abit and the cab. In TS2017 only the cab sways, which feels a bit curious. It's nice but does not give me a feel of realism.

So it is not my top priority. I would like better sound (much better), a proper game save (urgent), maybe a little more tweaking of performance (saves we Euro 2000 for a new system) and less hard bugs.

Seems as if this is down to a few hundred people a day even attempting to play. Right now this is not headed for a happy tale.

http://steamspy.com/app/530070

I miss the cab sway but I also miss he rain effects on the windshield. That was the thing that most impressed me about Railsim when it first came out. Not very well done in TSW. Also the sounds are not as good as TS 2017.

suzukisk wrote:I miss the cab sway but I also miss he rain effects on the windshield. That was the thing that most impressed me about Railsim when it first came out. Not very well done in TSW. Also the sounds are not as good as TS 2017.

Check your quality settings, since the windows do get wet and the wipers work with all settings maxed out.

Then there are two sliders in the Services screen: Rain and Wetness. Wetness makes the rolling stock gleam, lets puddles appear here and there (which I think is cool).

No word from DTG on a next Beta yet ....

[quote="buzz456"]Seems as if this is down to a few hundred people a day even attempting to play. Right now this is not headed for a happy tale.

http://steamspy.com/app/530070[/quote

Well their are 20,000 + players. More than likely the drop off of people playing is because they have done everything. DTG need to hurry up and get a new route out for it.

I think they need to get some kind of scenario editor out at least, then folks can make some more things themselves such as the ability to leave the yard and go drop some cars somewhere, rather than the A-B services. I do think TSW would lend itself to a short line operation much more than a main line, jumping in and out of the cab, throwing switches and picking up odd cars here and there would be great in this sim. That in my mind is the kind of route they should have gone for. I'm sure the performance might feel better in those situations, a nice bouncy cab over uneven track would be great.

Yes, a shortline offering, similar to one of your routes, Mark, that would go down a treat, I'm absolutely positive.......

And yes, we need more cab sway and bounce and listening to those windows rattle as you get up to top speed in these 1st generation diesel locos, and your tea/coffee spills out of your mug all over the place as you hurtle across the points, fantastic, bring it on......

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

Handbrake wrote:I think they need to get some kind of scenario editor out at least, then folks can make some more things themselves such as the ability to leave the yard and go drop some cars somewhere, rather than the A-B services. I do think TSW would lend itself to a short line operation much more than a main line, jumping in and out of the cab, throwing switches and picking up odd cars here and there would be great in this sim. That in my mind is the kind of route they should have gone for. I'm sure the performance might feel better in those situations, a nice bouncy cab over uneven track would be great.

While my tastes in railroad simulation match yours, it seems that puts us out of the majority of buyers, who prefer passenger operations and long-run freights, judging from the routes and scenarios DTG offers for sale. Besides, switching scenarios require a lot more imagination on the part of both creators and users. We all should keep in mind, though, that the TSW team is still learning to manipulate the Unreal Engine on which this new sim is based and that they've done quite a bit to make TSW use a computer's resources more efficiently, not that they're ever likely to meet the imaginative demands of their critics. Oddly enough, although yearning for more switching-based activity, I do find the end-to-end, routine freight runs that dominate TSW interesting -- perhaps because the visual detail , especially the ability to select weather and seasonal conditions and cab interiors with detailing that goes well beyond the inoperative, mesmerize me. Although I'm not completely satisfied with the product, I can't deny that I've spent very little time with TS since buying TSW -- kid with new toy syndrome?

TSW definitely needs more cab sway! LOL, I have uninstalled TS2017 since using TSW! I would also like to see a scenario editor for switching activity, more locomotives, and routes in the future of TSW.

Are any videos available of cab sway in real locos comparable or identical to those present in TSW? (links, please)

In TSW, as I move along the train I'm driving in the external "boom" camera views, the freight cars seem to sway more than the engines, but it seems that this is confined to the car directly in front of the one I'm closest to, which appears very steady; the same may be true with the cab camera, but I'm not as sure of that. How much would swaying, tilting, and jolting of engines and cars be likely affect overall performance values (fps in particular); that is, the very thing that TSW is working to improve at present?

The only applicable experiences I've had come from trying to keep my balance while standing on board passenger cars in Italy and vaporetti in Venice, but being seated in either case minimizes the effect. Unless the train is running on very uneven or poorly aligned track, it seems to me that the engineer's body would do its best to counteract motion effects and that experience would lead toward compensating for and even ignoring them. Returning to my previous examples, when I first board a train or vaporetto after a longish absence, I really have to make an effort to remain balanced; fairly quickly, however, my system recalls earlier experiences and adjusts accordingly.

One more thought: the various cameras represent the player's eyes, not his entire body. While driving, a real engineer -- checking the track ahead and the gauges and reaching to adjust various controls -- is seated on a chair firmly attached to the cab floor. The chair, an inert object, moves with that floor; the engineer, a living being, adjusts mentally, psychologically, and physically to that movement. Can all of that actually be simulated electronically?

The short answer is no it can't do all of that. But I can tell you from experience some locomotives are pretty rough riding and having some degree of wobble and jolting when going over frogs at higher speeds would add a lot.

CSXs engines with steerable trucks "feel" like you're floating and it can make for a pretty sea sick experience.

Geeps of any kind are pretty bouncy over joints, frogs, soft spots, like an overdampened car.

SD40-2s on HTCs are pretty smooth overall, but will jolt over frogs, and as they wear out, they make some pretty awful noises.

Cab sway is primarily controlled by the condition of the tracks and the age of the locomotive. Also, a big bulky engine like an ac44cw wouldn't have as much cab sway as a feather weight gp38-2 due to the suspensions and weight counteracting any sway... like driving in a full size truck versus a small car over the same kind of bumps on a local road.

In a lot of cab ride videos the more common thing to see is vibration caused by the insane torque of the prime movers. On a lot of machines prime movers have a rubber bushing that separates the mounts on the motor itself from the framework but in most trains they are directly bolted to the framework or have very little of a cushion to dampen engine vibrations. I don't know too much on the condition of the Sand Patch lines but I do know that a lot of the more dramatic locomotive and rolling stock sway occurs on short lines and railroad museums where they don't have the army of workers to keep the lines in good shape and allow for higher line speeds.