London Brighton Express, first impressions / queries

bhyde · Post by **bhyde** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 11:59 pm

Fantastic route, well done!
I havent played all the activities but have got through all of the route and this is what I think for those wondering whether to shell-out on this addon:-

This is the first commercial contemporary addon for MSTS, I was a bit worried as I started at Victoria that my system couldnt handle this (I have a Duron 800MHz/GEForce 2MX), but with a few tweaks to MSTS settings i`ve managed to squeeze reasonable and playable frame rates out of my old PC in the low framerate areas (Victoria & Brighton), this is probably because of the high traffic density in the activities (which is not a bad thing).

Excellent attention to detail on the London approaches, a nasty bend at Battersea Park derailed me a few times, Great! you cant just leave it at the speed limit and hope all is OK without watching whats going on.

The signalling system has been tweaked, opposing traffic passes swiftly, others have had close shaves but I havent experienced this so far. (SSI is required for real traffic but you need good traffic throughput in a sim and this route seems to achieve that)

Sounds are well up to the job, simple but effective EMU sounds, nice air rush at high speeds, mainly uses default MSTS track sounds (these can be tweaked to give a more realistic high speed sound). My soundcard is . so I dont always get to hear the station announcements but they seem to be there at most stations, points rattle is present also (excellent touch, like BVE) but seems to occur prematurely before the junction, dont know if this is my . soundcard or a mistake?

Ive got to tell you that the multiple unit models are 1st class, (best ever i`ve seen on MSTS), cabs are also of excellent quality as one would expect from a commercial product. Variety is excellent, South Central, Thameslink, NSE liveries, differing models, it`s well believable, particularly as the activities are well populated. One question - my electrostar doesnt seem to spark, some of the other trains do, is this prototypical or an omission?

You get wierd wobbles and jinks in the rail, I think this is intentional, it adds to the realism, the train moving around as the prototype does (again, like BVE). Excellent 3rd rail track, very realistic, you need to have objects quality up to max in your MSTS settings to see them though.

Stations are fantastic, the platforms are at the right height and distance from the train!!. They are well detailed and modelled. Victoria is amazing, great junction of tracks etc, signing on all stations is as prototype, this is custom built stuff (high quality), particularly as its a contemporary route. I`m going to have a look at the night textures in a minute, apparently these are good as well.

The in-between stations areas of the route appear realistic and are well varied, I like the viaducts and deep cuttings, the tunnel mouths are also good but its a shame that the inside tunnels seem to be at American rather than British dimensions, (can anything be done about this?)

Overall, you must get this route, it`s what I thought MSTS would be like when I got it but was (slightly) disappointed. It`s well worth the dosh, it converts your MSTS from a train set simulator to a real-life BR Trainsim.

Adjectives which spring to mind - realism, playability, quality.

BUY IT NOW

Ben

jashton · Post by **jashton** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 5:32 am

bhyde wrote:... points rattle is present also (excellent touch, like BVE) but seems to occur prematurely before the junction, dont know if this is my . soundcard or a mistake?
Ben

[pssst! It's strictly a compromise. The MSTS track sound setup is too cumbersome and unstable to be used to provide properly-triggered points sounds. For L2B, the points sounds use a random trigger as the train slows down, so if the sound plays as you cross points it is simply a happy coincidence. Don't tell anyone

]

Jeff

southcoasttrains · Post by **southcoasttrains** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 5:37 am

I'm glad you liked the route as I did testing it.

With the sounds, the station sounds are only heard are certain parts of the station, If you start at Brighton, go to the outside view (2) and move so you are outside the canopy then press 3 so you are inside the canopy you will notice you can't hear the announcements. I'm not sure what the problem with this is.

basildd · Post by **basildd** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:18 am

Ben,

Thanks for the comments - they are appreciated by everyone who has been working flat out on this to get it out! You have made a number of very valid comments and these will be closely looked at as we develop the new project, 'The Wessex Express'. We have learned a great many things from the construction of this route and this can only help improve the next one further still!

jeastmond · Post by **jeastmond** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 11:10 am

I posted this on the Europeanbahn forum, but as this is an established thread I'll cross-post here...

WOW!!!

Most impressed with all the effort the dev team have gone into to produce this product. As they have said, it is not inch perfect, and I don't think there is any way anyone could expect it to be.

Performance is excellent, but from my half-dozen trips down the line since it dropped thru' my mailbox this morning, I've had a couple of lockups where the video has frozen, but the sound has continued.

A couple of nitpicks: there are a few track geometry 'kinks' on the down slow line between Battersea Park and Clapham Junction, but as they don't cause any problems in operation (i.e. the train stays on the track!) they're livable; secondly, from my commuting from Haywards Heath in the 70s, I recollect that the line was dead straight from the north end of HH station thru' to Wivelsfield, and there are a couple of bends in the track in the LB sim - as the rest of the line is accurate (as far as I can remember) in this respect, this is a little disappointing.

That said, I'll reiterate: a great product, and I look forward to more...

Tepic · Post by **Tepic** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 11:13 am

I'd like to add some comments to this thread... These are mostly negative, but that is because there are too many positive to list!

In some places the track is kinked very badly. Most unrealistic, even on the worst main lines in the UK!

The placement of speed boards needs looking at. Warning boards are mostly too close to the restriction. The warning board should be placed at the braking distance of the worst performing train that uses the route. I don't know what this would be, but I am sure it's not the Electrostar!

Lastly some of the structures are badly placed (can see daylight though parapits(sp) etc.)

That's all the bad stuff I have noticed so far. Not bad eh? Worth every penny I paid, and much better than the first boxed version of the TGV route

basildd · Post by **basildd** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 12:36 pm

Tepic wrote:I'd like to add some comments to this thread... These are mostly negative, but that is because there are too many positive to list!

In some places the track is kinked very badly. Most unrealistic, even on the worst main lines in the UK!

The placement of speed boards needs looking at. Warning boards are mostly too close to the restriction. The warning board should be placed at the braking distance of the worst performing train that uses the route. I don't know what this would be, but I am sure it's not the Electrostar!

Lastly some of the structures are badly placed (can see daylight though parapits(sp) etc.)

That's all the bad stuff I have noticed so far. Not bad eh? Worth every penny I paid, and much better than the first boxed version of the TGV route

Thanks for taking the time to comment! Going through your list, the track problem you mention, occurs where dynamic track pieces had to be used and they were matched up as best they could be. The alternative (as we had replaced all of the track with the third rail version) was to rip all the track up and start again and this would have delayed the release quite badly. The speed restrictions were placed to slow trains down where the beta testers had found problems so that the speed over the join was well within the capabilities of the route. I take your point about the placing of the speed board warnings - I found it impossible to bring the train down to the required speed when 'cold sighting' the boards. Ken did work on replacing the positioning but we somehow managed to get them back in the original, incorrect places on the final version, so we will hang out heads in shame and try to make a downloadable patch that will rectify that!

If you can let us know the positions of the problematical buildings (even better if you can supply a screenshot!), please send your findings to support@europeanbahn.co.uk and then we can rectify them with a small patch.

Thanks again for letting us know

Fodda · Post by **Fodda** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 3:54 pm

Excellent product all. The scenery going into and out of London is great. Shame the Thames is only a half mile long

but then what the hey. I love it. Made me late going to the pub last night as I had to drive an Electrostar from Brighton to Victoria. I did it in Explore mode, and didn't get lost once. Stuck to all the speed limits and got there in 40 minutes.

Tried the Brighton Belle activity after that out of Victoria and managed to park the train on a tunnel parapet at 65 mph!!! DOH... But at least it meant I could go and get a few pints of Black Cuillain. :drinking:

Post by **martinhodgson** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 4:45 pm

Well I have found oe glitch - the electrostars horn doesnt sound in external view

Apart from that the route is great - though I did a SPAD after the Ouse Valley viaduct on the way to Brighton, as I failed to slow down eenough for a ed signal which was a very short distance from the previous one! OOps

basildd · Post by **basildd** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 5:00 pm

martinhodgson wrote:
...Apart from that the route is great - though I did a SPAD after the Ouse Valley viaduct on the way to Brighton, as I failed to slow down eenough for a ed signal which was a very short distance from the previous one! OOps

And thats the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, your honour...

basildd · Post by **basildd** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 5:04 pm

Fodda wrote:Excellent product all. The scenery going into and out of London is great. Shame the Thames is only a half mile long but then what the hey. I love it. Made me late going to the pub last night as I had to drive an Electrostar from Brighton to Victoria. I did it in Explore mode, and didn't get lost once. Stuck to all the speed limits and got there in 40 minutes.

Tried the Brighton Belle activity after that out of Victoria and managed to park the train on a tunnel parapet at 65 mph!!! DOH... But at least it meant I could go and get a few pints of Black Cuillain.

Good job George Best hasn't ordered a copy then!

JAMTHEMAN · Post by **JAMTHEMAN** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 5:07 pm

Hi there

You were mentioning badly placed things

I found this derailed MPV at haywards heath yard!

JD

southcoasttrains · Post by **southcoasttrains** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 6:23 pm

You mean Hassocks yard.

basildd · Post by **basildd** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 6:34 pm

Erm, I know this sounds like an excuse but that was meant to be like it! It was derailed so that if anyone wants to make an activity involving a breakdown crane / train, they can do so and have a ready made derailed train which doesn't close the game down...

Additional activities were requested from users on the Europeanbahn website a little while ago and this was one idea for people to try.

JAMTHEMAN · Post by **JAMTHEMAN** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:03 pm

nice idea

I thought it was a object placed, as I couldn't see it in AE...

JD

Atomic Systems

London Brighton Express, first impressions / queries

London Brighton Express, first impressions / queries

Re: London Brighton Express, first impressions / queries

First Impressions