B98 - Microshunter, DE Revamp, Vehicle Catalog, Better FPS and More Improvements
Derail Valley · published
Hi everyone! We've just released build 98, our latest update bringing you a new vehicle, new features, numerous improvements and bug fixes!
BE2-260 Microshunter
The tiny, quirky new battery-electric shunter takes the spotlight! There's two practical functions to it: it's the first vehicle to utilize the all new electric powertrain simulation, and, once unlocked, it can be requested anywhere with comms radio for a small fee!
Microshunter isn't powerful enough to replace a regular locomotive, but it can still pull some load. That, combined with its size and ability to be requested, give it a unique advantage in many situations. Mind how you treat it though, as you'll need to service it, and even charge its battery occasionally.
DE Simulation Revamp
With this update we've also revamped (or rather finished) the diesel-electric powertrain simulation, now vastly more accurate when it comes to governors, generators, currents, voltages, circuitry, transitions, as well as failures from the all new traction motor overspeeding. DE locomotives have received a complete overhaul in terms of behavior and characteristics, with the highlights being:
DE2 – Increased load rating, improved cooling, heavier engine feel, rebalanced wear and tear
DE6 – Completely new sounds, more accurate notch distribution, rebalanced wear and tear
DE6 Slug - Now can be utilized from both ends and behaves differently
Vehicle Catalog
If you're curious what all those changes mean to the vehicles' performance, their various characteristics and even spawn locations are now listed in the new Vehicle Catalog handbook. The listing also features a series of scores designed to make easy practical comparisons. Generally, the catalog is intended to help players, whether new or experienced, decide what vehicle is best suited for a role they have in mind, with concise info.
What else is new?
Work Train Improvements
Some work trains, such as Microshunter and Slug, are now able to receive damage. The only way to repair them is manually and, being player-owned, they're not covered by insurance. Handcar and caboose are intentionally kept invincible, however, so you don't need to worry about those.
A neat new feature on the career manager allows you to see health status of the work trains you own. The machine also shows coordinates for all vehicles in the world. Additionally, handcar is now a free vehicle, available to request at all times, which is especially helpful when needing to move around in Realistic difficulty.
Adjustable Player Height on the Fly
You can now seamlessly adjust your height both in nonVR and VR. In nonVR you can do this with X+Mousewheel (adjusting your sitting position), and in VR by holding Triggers on both hands and lifting yourself up or down. Another novelty is the ability to save your favorite "cab" and "follow" camera positions.
^ Open in a new tab, there's a train hiding there
Performance Improvements
We've put a lot of work into numerous CPU and GPU optimizations for this build. While the improvement may not be drastic for everyone, we've seen FPS rise up to 30% in certain conditions and hardware. Optimizations apply to both PC and VR players, and there's some more coming soon.
Revamped HTC Vive (wand) controls
We've completely reworked the Vive controls, also fixing the weird calibration angle introduced in B97. The new controls no longer block you from walking while holding an item in the left hand and are generally more consistent with all the other controller types. The exact mapping is listed in the changelog below.
Improved Tutorials
Vast improvements have been made to the career tutorial, locomotive tutorials and the manual. Whether you're a new player or a veteran, we strongly recommend you to complete the career tutorial again (in a temporary new session, if needed) – as it teaches of a lot of features and best practices that have been recently added to the game.
More
Apart from all this, numerous other improvements and bug fixes were made in this build. Manuals and various texts have also been updated too – and we'd like to say a big thank you to our dear beta testing and translation friends for being tremendously helpful with everything they do!
The work is ongoing on future updates too, such as on the new industries and cargo types coming in B99, but also further beyond.
Changelog:
Stability:
- Made numerous CPU and GPU optimizations, increasing FPS up to 30% in some cases
- This affects both VR and PC users
- It depends on user hardware and game situation
Train Simulation:
- Added BE2-260 Microshunter work train
- Microshunter is a tiny locomotive with a special purpose
- It’s an emergency tow vehicle, for when no proper locomotives are at hand
- It needs to be unlocked before it can be used
- The key costs $30k, and it’s found in Bob’s Garage (handcar is no longer there)
- Once unlocked, Microshunter can be summoned via comms radio for $2500
- It features the all new battery-electric powertrain, with an electric charger socket
- Beware of Microshunter not being a great choice to do orders with
- See vehicle catalog for more details
Gameplay
- Added Vehicle Catalog handbook item
- This item is always available and can be retrieved to inventory
- It condensely lists stats of all motorized and work vehicles in the game, including:
- Name, unit count, production years, license info, vehicle type and role(s)
- Spawn locations and chance, ability to summon and cost
- Load rating on flat, dry uphill and wet uphill track (conservative)
- Dimensions, mass full and empty, pricing, wheel and coupler configuration
- Vehicle power supply, transmission, brake and other features
- Detailed system of scores and effects of vehicles
UX
- Added sitting height adjustment in nonVR
- Hold X and use mousewheel to adjust
VR
- Added seamless height adjustment in VR
- Hold both Triggers and move hands vertically to lift/lower yourself
Graphics
- Fixed sun sometimes shining through mountains when behind player at sundown
- Fixed items in player’s home having bad lighting
- Fixed glitched lighting on passenger car windows
- Fixed rain droplets missing on High graphics setting (merged with Very High)
- Fixed shadows being glitchy on the lowest quality setting
- Fixed a rare visual glitch with pumpjacks being drawn behind background terrain
- Fixed SteamVR loading screen being low-resolution, since B96
Misc
- Fixed being able to “man vehicle” oneself into a locked military base
- Fixed some short sounds not being affected by the doppler effect (e.g. horn pulse)
- Fixed tunnel entrance structures not having collision with player and trains
- Fixed CCUR1 license not saying that it removes rerail discount
- Reduced career manager text size to fit long words in non-English languages
- Fixed VR-intended inventory icons showing up in nonVR inventory, since B97
- Fixed inventory hotbar being offset on ultrawide monitors
- Middle mouse button is now bindable (as mouse2)
- Increased size of weathercast posters
- Added coal service marker to CM on world map
- Fixed missing collision with harbor military base fence
- Made boombox radio signal no longer getting audibly lossy in station offices already
- Fixed pocketwatch ticking sound not being 3D when held in hand
- Made pocketwatch alarm needle movement increment 12 min to align with minute marks
- Numerous improvements to texts and translations
- Many other small improvements
Tutorial
- Reworked locomotive tutorials to be singular runs again, but with only a short drive
- Integrated vehicle catalog, height adjustment, VR remote driving and handcar to career tutorial
- No longer showing post-tutorial steps if session was started with tutorial disabled
- Added all tutorial prompts to the Localization Test scene
- Numerous tutorial improvements, cleanups and bug fixes
Thank you for reading, and we hope you'll enjoy this update!
-Your DV Team