Build 98

Build 98 is entitled "B98 - Microshunter, DE Revamp, Vehicle Catalog, Better FPS and More Improvements." This build introduced the BE2, reintroduced the Vehicle Catalog, and added many quality-of-life improvements.

Changes

This changelog has been transcribed from the Steam update announcement.

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
• Fixed a few game-breaking bugs involving tutorials
• Fixed hovering over save slots causing jarring hiccups in VR
• Fixed rare case where items or vehicles could fall through ground near tunnel entrances
• Fixed save files sometimes able to appear in wrong sessions

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
• Revamped DE powertrain simulation
  • DE2 and DE6 now behave significantly closer to real-life counterparts
  • The change shows in notch operation, heat management, sound dynamics
  • TMs can now break apart if overspeeding
  • Simulating series and parallel circuitry, proper transitions
  • Improved governor simulation
  • TM wear now occurs from running at high temperature in addition to raw mileage
  • Rheostatic dynamic brake power now peaks at around 35 km/h
  • Slug can now share power from two locomotives, one at each end
  • Slug now has less of an impact on top speed
• Modified DE6
  • All new engine sound
  • Reduced powertrain wear
  • Updated gauges to fit the new simulation
  • Swapped large DE6 breaker switch for electrics with a smaller one for TM
• Modified DE2
  • Boosted DE2’s power to its former 400t glory
  • Reduced powertrain wear
  • Updated gauges to fit the new simulation
• Modified DM3
  • Fixed DM3 getting frozen if money shifted
  • Added gear shifting pattern plaque next to the gear levers
• Modified DH4
  • Dynamic brake no longer functions when the engine is off (no pump)
• Added a variety of air compressor sounds
• Fixed S282 loco and tender sometimes colliding at spawn, causing damage
• Fixed wipers squeaking when there’s light rain, but windows are still wet

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
• Turned handcar into a free vehicle
  • In career mode you can now spawn it for free right from the start
  • This helps reduce running/teleporting around in the Realistic difficulty preset
• Began implementation of player-owned vehicles feature set
  • Work trains are now player-owned
  • This means insurance doesn’t cover their servicing - careful!
  • You can see owned vehicles listed under the “Owned Vehicles” career manager category
  • You can print them for cost specifics, just like with vehicle fees
  • Microshunter and Slug can get damaged and need servicing to stay functional
  • Handcar and Caboose are intentionally made to not acquire damage or need servicing
  • Player-owned vehicles can only be serviced manually, not adding up to copay
• Added electric chargers
  • Located in towns’ and SM service points, for Microshunter charging
• Fast travel now elapses game time, depending on distance traveled
  • Increased the UI window to show arrival time
• Improved sleeping
  • Extended maximum sleeping duration option from 8 to to 10 hours
  • Modified the sleeping cooldown logic, now being less restrictive
  • Added Sleep Cooldown difficulty setting
  • In the Realistic preset the cooldown is 8h, in Standard 6h and in Comfort none
• Added loose world map coordinates next to vehicle ID on career manager
• Increased fire damage to vehicles x3
• Removed work trains being available in sandbox if they're not unlocked in career
• Added more day duration difficulty settings (3, 4, 6, 8 and 12 hours)

UX

• Added sitting height adjustment in nonVR
  • Hold X and use mousewheel to adjust
• Added ability to save favorite position in a vehicle
  • This is a position you’ll be placed into when dashing to a vehicle’s cab
  • First get into a comfortable position in a vehicle. Then:
  • In nonVR - in mouse mode (Alt) click the new “Save Camera Position” button
  • In VR - in inventory top-right corner, click the new “Save Camera Position” button
  • Favorite positions are saved per particular vehicle type, on the user level
  • Click the "Reset Camera Position" button to reset to default position
• Improvements to mouse mode UI and external camera
  • Made mouse mode UI accessible by temp-holding Alt, instead of only toggle
  • Each camera type now has a separate button in mouse mode UI
  • Photo mode button now features outline when active
  • Same as for 1p view, you can now save/reset camera offset for the follow camera
  • Fixed being unable to shovel coal on S282 via driving UI, since B97
  • Fixed driving UI not showing amount of coal and water in tender properly
  • Fixed driving UI text being cut off
  • Increased size of non-alphabetic fonts in Driving UI, for improved clarity
• Made improvements to manual and its UI
  • Added new articles and updated existing ones
  • Manual headlines now break into multiple lines when they don’t fit
  • Manual now displays text in tooltip area on mouseover, helps when truncated
  • Removed text justification for languages with long words (French, Dutch…)
• Improvements to item interaction in nonVR
  • Prevented being able to grab items through walls and objects
  • Made held items adjust their position proportional to camera FOV
• Improvements to nonVR input
  • Fixed mouse scroll not working on career manager in mouse mode with held item
  • Added a couple settings for inverting scrolling in Settings/Controls
  • Fixed “use” action being hardcoded to LMB (mouse0)
  • Inverted mouse-wheel interaction with loco remote coupler selector knob
• Made turntable booths have a dash anchor, like locomotive cabs do

VR

• Added seamless height adjustment in VR
  • Hold both Triggers and move hands vertically to lift/lower yourself
• Revamped Vive wand controls and feel
  • Fixed controller calibration angle, bad since B97
  • It is now possible to walk while holding an item in left hand
  • Use Item is now done with Trigger, like on all other controllers
  • Item scrolling is now Trigger+Touchpad Left/Right, like on all other controllers
  • To drop an item press Trigger+Grip
• Drastically improved hand shakiness and aiming smoothness feel
• Fixed missing haptic feedback when interacting with levers in OculusVR mode
• Added haptic feedback when aiming at a switch with comms radio
• Fixed objects in peripheral vision popping on Oculus headsets
• Fixed being unable to tele-interact with item-nested controls
• Fixed a bug where item scrolling in VR could get stuck in a certain circumstance
• Fixed being able to drop an item in VR with the hand still attached to it
• Fixed bad interaction with some vehicle buttons/switches in VR
• Improved interaction with fuel hose plug in VR
• Cut number of notches on handcar hand crank to make VR haptic feedback less spammy
• Shortened inventory long-press wait threshold

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