Changes affecting some locomotives with more than 8 throttle notches

[N3VSupport]

We have recently received reports that some locomotives with more than 8 throttle notches are showing changed behaviour in the latest TRS22 and TrainzPlus updates (SP6). Specifically, it appears as though the higher throttle notches are inaccessible or not working.

We've been looking into this and found that the affected locos are not configured correctly, and were previously only able to work due to setting the train throttle above the valid range (most likely accidentally). With SP6, the valid throttle range is now being more rigorously enforced, triggering an effective loss of power to the trains.

To confirm, we do support trains with more (or less) than 8 throttle notches. However, these need to be configured correctly for them to work. Specifically this means that the cabin asset must match the number of throttle notches on the engine asset. In addition, the throttle-power container of engine assets should never contain more than 8 entries (the standard/default number of throttle notches). Where excess 'throttle-power' data is provided, it will be unused.

Unfortunately, it's possible this issue was caused, or worsened, by some inaccurate data on the Trainz Wiki. This has now been fixed, and the relevant pages will be closely monitored to detect any incorrect changes in the future.

To resolve this issue, the creators of affected locomotives will need to update their content to fix the misconfiguration. In most cases, this will mean two edits to the engine asset:

Correcting the value of the 'throttle-notches' tag in the config.txt file
Adjusting the throttle-power container to have at most 8 'notches'. In some cases, this will be as simple as removing some intermediate positions and renumbering the rest. However some assets will require more careful attention to redistribute the data.

If you require more information about how to configure engine assets, please see the relevant wiki page here:

KIND Engine - TrainzOnline

online.ts2009.com

Or for more specific information regarding the throttle-notches and throttle-power tags:

"Motor" container - TrainzOnline

online.ts2009.com

"Throttle-power" container - TrainzOnline

online.ts2009.com

 

[Sanek17]

Why exactly 8 maximum? Not 10, not 15, not 20, but exactly 8? Or do you think all locomotives in reality have 8 and no more. Maybe it was just necessary to add the ability to register more positions, and not cut everything, so that later lovers would have to suffer with the settings, and now it turns out that it is impossible to make real characteristics of the locomotive

 

[Erendir]

And why do that? But what about locomotives with more than 8 positions? After all, the intermediate ones will be calculated from these 8, as a result of which they will not be able to reflect the real traction characteristics of the prototype.
It may be worth making it possible to specify a more arbitrary notches count, as it was before this fix, instead of trying to adjust the notches count to the DefaultCabin script. It would be a correct and universal solution that would satisfy everyone.

 

[RBrooks]

In the wiki it says:
For engine assets with more than 8 throttle notches, the maximum throttle notch will map to the notch 8 data in the config file, the middle throttle notch will map to notch 4, etc. The game code will use linear interpolation to determine the power output for the other (in between) throttle notches, as required.

So, basically the enginespec needs to be re-configured.

Specifically with the CHS2 (and chs2t, chs2k) locomotives it's a difficult task since the loco has 57 positions on the throttle-power container. Even if you change throttle-notches tag from 8 to 57, you will still need to delete all the notches except from 0 to 8. So if the notch 57 is now 8, the notch ...28? 29? is now 4? This is a very vague specification, which will cause unrealistic driving experience. I'm not even talking about the additional throttle positions here (I don't know how to explain that in english).

In the end it's just like Erendir above said, seems like not the best solution here. Theoretically can be fixed by any user, but the "fix" will not be what we expect.

 

[passanger]

The situation overall becomes more and more clear. So, each update makes custom content unplayable. Either routes start glitching like crazy or locomotive features stop working properly. And each time N3V blames content creators who basically plays by your rules, but you change the rules every time. You know, you call it "Simulator", but according to your standards it can be rather a simulator of driving a plain box with dummy cabin without any script on empty tile. In this case there will be no issues. Honestly, getting sick of it.

 

[ajrf]

With this I feel less and less eager to update anything. I guess that I will have to stick to Build 5.5 indefinitely until developers stop breaking things.

 

[vit_pnz]

This updated made simulator mostly unplayable. Because 90% of our locomotives have more than 8 throttle positions.

 

[norfolksouthern37]

This effects me way less than these folks but I agree with them completely. This is a detriment to the simulator. The power curve should not be limited to an arbitrary number. It should at the very minimum be able to match the number of notch stops.

Some of these locomotives will not be able to get close to their real life power curves and will be stuck with a gapped interpolation at best.

Reconsider this move or it may as well be a DCC only game. Change this stupid idea.