anathoth71
Active member
Trainzveteran testing report - TRAINZ22PE post SP4 (build 126273)
Before I start, I have to provide a link to this 1973 railroading movie that I used to watch as a little kid, and probably did a great deal to encourage my interest in trains. I rediscovered it on YouTube recently, so I hope you enjoy it too if you can tolerate 1970s acting standards.
To the matter at hand, my banner doesn't show it, but my Trainz upgrade history goes UTC > 2004 > 2006 > 2010 > TANE SP2 >TRS22PE. I can now happily say that the last jump to TRS22PE SP4 has been the easiest Trainz base product upgrade I've had to do. Weeks or months of asset repairs - not required, only a few assets required repairs. Extensive route overhauls and fixes - not required. Extensive base session data rebuilding - not required. My base sessions imported from TANE to TRS22PE SP4 “remember” portal settings, schedules in the schedule library etc again saving weeks and weeks of work rebuilding these things for the new version. So I'd like to commend N3V for making this version transition the easiest one so far, it makes a very welcome break from tradition !
Prior to the arrival of the SP4 patch as I detailed here:
transferred route trackage would be mangled and cause derailments, requiring a lot of route work to fix. After SP4 I have found no mangled trackage in any of my routes that I've activated, and have not noticed any derailments caused by trackage.
I am assuming that there is a further patch being worked on forTRS22PE, so wish to provide the following feedback for any DEVs who might read this, from the multitude of play hours of testing and operating I've done since SP4 arrived. I understand that some of these might be a local hardware issue or caused by my own ignorance and therefore unique to my experience. My computer is also 9 years old and slows a bit with huge Trainz routes. I added a “next patch wishlist” where appropriate of things I believe would further improve a generally superb product.
MY SP4 TOPICS OF NOTE:
DRIVER CONTROL CENTER MATTERS
The“Driver Control Center” and session Driver Setup Rule seem to work largely as intended now, and is easy to use and doesn't now mix drivers around against the wishes of the user, unlike prior to SP4, so generally it works well for me now. I did get one bug that I should report - at one point during my test sessions I added a driver using the + button at the bottom. The driver I added already had an iteration of the same driver in operation which already existed at session start, but with a changed driver name. I completed the day's play and saved the driver session. Next day when I loaded that save back in to continue, both of these drivers with the same face loaded onto locomotives in a single train, while the train I had assigned the new driver to was now driverless.
DRIVER CONTROL CENTER WISHLIST
I flogged this feature for weeks and decided it would be very helpful to a pretty serious operations guy like me to be able to rename drivers after adding them with the + button and then move them up ordown the driver list so I can group them together. It would be good to accomplish these tasks WITHOUT leaving the driver module.
MAP MODE BUGS
On occasion I would get a visual bug where the map display would end upoverlaid over the Lineside Camera View. Only a session save and reload would clear this bug.
MAP MODE WISHLIST
I'm still new to the whole TRS19/22 thing and don't yet know every control feature, but it would be good to be able to select whether the map display defaults to “north” or “train direction” when it opens up. It's annoying having to rotate it around to roughly “north” every time I open it. Could a permanent map orientation option be added to the “Map Options” tab?
VISUAL DISPLAY OF TRACKAGE/SCENERY BUGS
This could well be caused by my older computer, but when chugging along on a large route with hundreds of wagons in motion with AI drivers, trackage and scenery generation lags behind terribly at times. Even the track right beneath the train I am driving sometimes disappears. Often I have to pause the game to allow it to catch up and display everything. I am pretty sure a higher spec machine would fix this but thought Iwould mention it in case it's a trend.
PORTALS AND THE DREADED GHOST TRAINS
Unfortunately portals are still derailing trains while generating them, especially on a busy route, despite the QuickDrive Rule derailment realism being set to “None” at all times. These portal derailments often resulted in ghost trains setting off slowly down the tracks, causing mayhem until removed in Classic Surveyor mode. This occurred fairly often on a large route with many wagons in motion. When using smaller routes with not so much happening it did not occur at all. I remember these ghost trains going back to TRS2004. One wonders if they are a feature !
PORTAL WISHLIST
It would be nice if portal generated trains could be generated instantly similiar to adding a consist from the consist list, provided the track behind the portal is long enough to accommodate the train of course. I don't know how the physics math is set up when portals generate trains wagon by wagon, but I do know that such traincreation derailments never happen after manually adding a consist in Classic Surveyor mode. Can portals be made to work this way?
AI DRIVERS GOING ON STRIKE
Onseveral occasions an AI driver has simply decided not to do anything anymore, simply stopping running through his driver command schedule. This seems to be linked to the locomotive though, as abandoning/renewing the driver's schedule, changing drivers, manually adding commands etc etc does nothing to change the AI driver's laziness. But what DOES work to fix it is entering Classic Surveyor mode, deleting the locomotive and replacing it with the exact same locomotive. With the fresh locomotive the AI driver is happy to resume his work. I have only noted this happening with older locomotive assets, so could it be a backwards compatibility matter? But this may not explain why the locomotive/driver works fine for hours and all of a sudden retires like this. This is a minor nuisance, but requires some effort to workaround it.
COUPLING SPEED
When issuing the “Couple” command to AI drivers I've noted that they tend to drive the final approach to the designated wagon at 8kmh(5mph). This is way to fast and has multiple times resulted in a derailment of the loco and the first one or two wagons it impacted, especially when the train being coupled to is heavy and even with derailment realism set to “None”. Can AI drivers be slowed for the last few meters before coupler impact?
DRIVER MESSAGES DISPLAY WISHLIST
No bugs to report here, but it would be nice if we could reduce the amount of spam that displays here. Could we have an option in the Driver Messages subsection of the message display settings tab to disable the incessant “approaching.......” and “releasinghandbrake....” messages, leaving only more important messages?
TRACK PROFILE DISPLAY WISHLIST
This is a terrific feature which is a large part of the reason I decided to migrate to TRS22PE from TANE. In my mind, this display simulates the route knowledge that a real train driver would have of the tracks over which he is driving. Well done N3V for this innovation.
What would perfect this feature for me is if we could change track switches by clicking on this display. The ability to change only the switch in front of or behind our loco while driving a train (by using the J key or CTRL+J respectively) has always been an annoying limitation. If we could click on the junctions as displayed on thetrack profile that would be so awesome. Or if this is in the too-hard basket, could we have a keyboard combination to change the second switch away too?
THE PATH RULE BUG
The Path Rule (by Brummfondel I think) and it's associated driver command “Path Command” appears to mostly function well when inserting this command directly into driver schedules whilst in Driver mode. However whilst editing or setting up a session, I have found that no Path Commands can be added to any schedules found within the Schedule Rule. That driver command simply goes dark when trying to add it to a stored schedule while editing a session. Notably, this is the behaviour seen when the Path Rule has no paths in it, so it might be a simple error to fix, I hope !
HTH
A71
Before I start, I have to provide a link to this 1973 railroading movie that I used to watch as a little kid, and probably did a great deal to encourage my interest in trains. I rediscovered it on YouTube recently, so I hope you enjoy it too if you can tolerate 1970s acting standards.
To the matter at hand, my banner doesn't show it, but my Trainz upgrade history goes UTC > 2004 > 2006 > 2010 > TANE SP2 >TRS22PE. I can now happily say that the last jump to TRS22PE SP4 has been the easiest Trainz base product upgrade I've had to do. Weeks or months of asset repairs - not required, only a few assets required repairs. Extensive route overhauls and fixes - not required. Extensive base session data rebuilding - not required. My base sessions imported from TANE to TRS22PE SP4 “remember” portal settings, schedules in the schedule library etc again saving weeks and weeks of work rebuilding these things for the new version. So I'd like to commend N3V for making this version transition the easiest one so far, it makes a very welcome break from tradition !
Prior to the arrival of the SP4 patch as I detailed here:
TRS22PE upgrader "dabbling toes" user report for DEVS
I am a 20year Trainz veteran and purchased TRS22PE to tryout and compare with TANE SP3, my current ride. I am very impressed with most of TRS22PE, and I think the new features like UDS can be adjusted to, and including Classic Surveyor alongside Surveyor 2.0 was a great idea. My computer is...
forums.auran.com
I am assuming that there is a further patch being worked on forTRS22PE, so wish to provide the following feedback for any DEVs who might read this, from the multitude of play hours of testing and operating I've done since SP4 arrived. I understand that some of these might be a local hardware issue or caused by my own ignorance and therefore unique to my experience. My computer is also 9 years old and slows a bit with huge Trainz routes. I added a “next patch wishlist” where appropriate of things I believe would further improve a generally superb product.
MY SP4 TOPICS OF NOTE:
DRIVER CONTROL CENTER MATTERS
The“Driver Control Center” and session Driver Setup Rule seem to work largely as intended now, and is easy to use and doesn't now mix drivers around against the wishes of the user, unlike prior to SP4, so generally it works well for me now. I did get one bug that I should report - at one point during my test sessions I added a driver using the + button at the bottom. The driver I added already had an iteration of the same driver in operation which already existed at session start, but with a changed driver name. I completed the day's play and saved the driver session. Next day when I loaded that save back in to continue, both of these drivers with the same face loaded onto locomotives in a single train, while the train I had assigned the new driver to was now driverless.
DRIVER CONTROL CENTER WISHLIST
I flogged this feature for weeks and decided it would be very helpful to a pretty serious operations guy like me to be able to rename drivers after adding them with the + button and then move them up ordown the driver list so I can group them together. It would be good to accomplish these tasks WITHOUT leaving the driver module.
MAP MODE BUGS
On occasion I would get a visual bug where the map display would end upoverlaid over the Lineside Camera View. Only a session save and reload would clear this bug.
MAP MODE WISHLIST
I'm still new to the whole TRS19/22 thing and don't yet know every control feature, but it would be good to be able to select whether the map display defaults to “north” or “train direction” when it opens up. It's annoying having to rotate it around to roughly “north” every time I open it. Could a permanent map orientation option be added to the “Map Options” tab?
VISUAL DISPLAY OF TRACKAGE/SCENERY BUGS
This could well be caused by my older computer, but when chugging along on a large route with hundreds of wagons in motion with AI drivers, trackage and scenery generation lags behind terribly at times. Even the track right beneath the train I am driving sometimes disappears. Often I have to pause the game to allow it to catch up and display everything. I am pretty sure a higher spec machine would fix this but thought Iwould mention it in case it's a trend.
PORTALS AND THE DREADED GHOST TRAINS
Unfortunately portals are still derailing trains while generating them, especially on a busy route, despite the QuickDrive Rule derailment realism being set to “None” at all times. These portal derailments often resulted in ghost trains setting off slowly down the tracks, causing mayhem until removed in Classic Surveyor mode. This occurred fairly often on a large route with many wagons in motion. When using smaller routes with not so much happening it did not occur at all. I remember these ghost trains going back to TRS2004. One wonders if they are a feature !
PORTAL WISHLIST
It would be nice if portal generated trains could be generated instantly similiar to adding a consist from the consist list, provided the track behind the portal is long enough to accommodate the train of course. I don't know how the physics math is set up when portals generate trains wagon by wagon, but I do know that such traincreation derailments never happen after manually adding a consist in Classic Surveyor mode. Can portals be made to work this way?
AI DRIVERS GOING ON STRIKE
Onseveral occasions an AI driver has simply decided not to do anything anymore, simply stopping running through his driver command schedule. This seems to be linked to the locomotive though, as abandoning/renewing the driver's schedule, changing drivers, manually adding commands etc etc does nothing to change the AI driver's laziness. But what DOES work to fix it is entering Classic Surveyor mode, deleting the locomotive and replacing it with the exact same locomotive. With the fresh locomotive the AI driver is happy to resume his work. I have only noted this happening with older locomotive assets, so could it be a backwards compatibility matter? But this may not explain why the locomotive/driver works fine for hours and all of a sudden retires like this. This is a minor nuisance, but requires some effort to workaround it.
COUPLING SPEED
When issuing the “Couple” command to AI drivers I've noted that they tend to drive the final approach to the designated wagon at 8kmh(5mph). This is way to fast and has multiple times resulted in a derailment of the loco and the first one or two wagons it impacted, especially when the train being coupled to is heavy and even with derailment realism set to “None”. Can AI drivers be slowed for the last few meters before coupler impact?
DRIVER MESSAGES DISPLAY WISHLIST
No bugs to report here, but it would be nice if we could reduce the amount of spam that displays here. Could we have an option in the Driver Messages subsection of the message display settings tab to disable the incessant “approaching.......” and “releasinghandbrake....” messages, leaving only more important messages?
TRACK PROFILE DISPLAY WISHLIST
This is a terrific feature which is a large part of the reason I decided to migrate to TRS22PE from TANE. In my mind, this display simulates the route knowledge that a real train driver would have of the tracks over which he is driving. Well done N3V for this innovation.
What would perfect this feature for me is if we could change track switches by clicking on this display. The ability to change only the switch in front of or behind our loco while driving a train (by using the J key or CTRL+J respectively) has always been an annoying limitation. If we could click on the junctions as displayed on thetrack profile that would be so awesome. Or if this is in the too-hard basket, could we have a keyboard combination to change the second switch away too?
THE PATH RULE BUG
The Path Rule (by Brummfondel I think) and it's associated driver command “Path Command” appears to mostly function well when inserting this command directly into driver schedules whilst in Driver mode. However whilst editing or setting up a session, I have found that no Path Commands can be added to any schedules found within the Schedule Rule. That driver command simply goes dark when trying to add it to a stored schedule while editing a session. Notably, this is the behaviour seen when the Path Rule has no paths in it, so it might be a simple error to fix, I hope !
HTH
A71