Questions from a beginner

[bravuralion]

Hello dear Maszyna community,

I recently started looking into Maszyna in detail and am currently recording the first episodes for my YouTube channel. So far, I am very excited about the simulation and I must say that I think it's great that there is a fantastic English manual that covers all the most important aspects. However, I have come across a few questions and problems that I have not been able to find answers to yet, so I need your help:

Maszyna and 4K resolution

I play Maszyna on my 4K monitor and have also selected 4K in the Starter app, which works wonderfully, but later in the simulator, where, for example, the current tasks, radio log, timetable window, etc. are extremely small and barely readable. I haven't found an option to make it bigger. I also tried increasing the DPI of the monitor, but that had no effect. How can I make the in-game interface bigger? (If that's not possible, it would be an important feature for the next version).

Reading the radio log

Radio communications often happen quite quickly and if you're not paying attention, you can miss an important instruction. Is there a way to read the radio log from the past communications in the simulator?

Display complete timetable in the simulator


I've seen that for certain tasks in the launcher, the complete timetable is already displayed or appears on the display depending on the locomotive. However, there are also tasks or locomotives where I don't have a timetable in the locomotive and have to open the timetable window in the simulator. But there, only the next stop is ever displayed. Is there an option to display the complete timetable?


More precise braking movements


What bothers me the most at the moment is that it is difficult to fine-tune the train brake or locomotive brake. When I use the number keys 7/1 or 6/3 etc., the lever usually jumps quite far, which is not ideal. You have to tap the keys very briefly to make it more precise. Is there a way to adjust this more precisely or is there a better way to do this in general? I also have a Raildriver if it can be set up as a joystick with Maszyna.


What to do when the signal is red?


During one task, I accidentally passed the stop signal. I wasn't sure what Maszyna wanted me to do next. I pressed ZEW3, which only triggered a radio test and nothing else. Do I have to go back behind the signal in Maszyna and wait for the virtual dispatcher to respond to me, or has the task already failed?


More routes and tasks

The starter already has a nice list of routes and their tasks. Is that all that's available, or is there more that can be installed here in the forum?

[Ra]

Hello!

Radio communications often happen quite quickly and if you're not paying attention, you can miss an important instruction. Is there a way to read the radio log from the past communications in the simulator?

When I added the radio sound subtitles in 2014, I had no plans for log review. At that time many sounds did not have their subtitles, so it was more of a curiosity than something useful. But it would be a good idea. Another good option would be a list of tasks, whose approval will be recognized by the scenario. I mean, apart from driving according to the timetable and regulations.

But there, only the next stop is ever displayed. Is there an option to display the complete timetable?

I've implemented the passenger stop points — previously, timetables were just a passive text file. Due to limited screen space and very long timetables in some cases, I have limited the display to only the nearest stop. It would be a good idea to have an option to scroll all the timetable. Also, the developers after 2015 promised "timetables” (lists of tasks) for maneuvers, but did not complete them for unknown reasons.

Is there a way to adjust this more precisely or is there a better way to do this in general? I also have a Raildriver if it can be set up as a joystick with Maszyna.

This can be done from the eu07.ini file or the starter program. I don't know if there are settings in the simulation itself (this is probably explained in the documentation).

During one task, I accidentally passed the stop signal. I wasn't sure what Maszyna wanted me to do next. I pressed ZEW3, which only triggered a radio test and nothing else. Do I have to go back behind the signal in Maszyna and wait for the virtual dispatcher to respond to me, or has the task already failed?

Probably it's over. ;) Traffic management in MaSzyna is quite cumbersome and in most cases does not take into account unusual situations. And is not interactive at all. If you have slightly exceeded the stop signal, there is still some safe distance ahead of you, so you can wait and see if there will be any consequences. I have developed station control scripts that should handle situations where an unauthorized train enters the route. However, they have not gained popularity and are only used in a few sceneries. They also need more effort to offer interactivity...

The starter already has a nice list of routes and their tasks. Is that all that's available, or is there more that can be installed here in the forum?

No, there are many extra things, but you have to find them and then install them correctly, taking into account all dependencies and consequences yourself. Years ago I've developed a method for installing add-ons, but it was abandoned in favor of solutions that do not exist.

[bravuralion]

Thank you very much for the helpful answers, that helps me already :) Then I'll see if I can customise the ini regarding the brake behaviour. Do you have any other tips regarding the 4K problem that the interface is so small?

[jakubg1]

Yes, you can enlarge the simulator UI. To do it, close the Starter program and open the eu07.ini text file. Inside, locate the following lines (or add them if they don't exist) and set the numbers like this:

Kod: [Zaznacz]

ui.fontsize 20
ui.scale 2
It would be nice to scale it automatically depending on the screen resolution or at least make it configurable from the Starter program itself, by the way.

There is no way to read past radio messages in the simulator. Once they disappear, they're gone. However, they aren't really of importance, as it's mostly information about what's happening in the world that you can see directly (like a signal being displayed) or random talk to add variety. The most important signal said on radio (ready for departure) is by the way NOT captioned. In rare cases, especially when shunting, you can always refer to the scenario description.

Yes, you can display the full timetable. When you press F3, you can see the next station. However, when you press F3 again, you can see all upcoming stations. You might want to manually resize the window to see them though.

The default brake sensitivity is indeed overly sensitive, but you can reduce the sensitivity in the settings panel of the Starter.
The simulator doesn't support Raildriver, unfortunately.

If you pass the red signal, you can usually recover by swiftly go back behind the signal and wait until it changes. If you don't see anything after a while but you can see a green or yellow signal in front of you and the switches are positioned correctly, you can try passing the red signal and proceeding as normal. It all depends on how the scenario has been programmed, and you might encounter issues later on the way. It's always safe to just be careful and not pass red signals in the first place :)

Yes, there are a few really good scenarios which you can download from the forum. Here's a few noteworthy examples: (I'll fill out the links soon)
- Całkowo 2 (will be in the next release):
- Drawinowo od nowa:
- Kaliska:

They might require dependencies. I did not install any of them so I don't have the experience, but maybe other people can tell you.

And finally, thank you so much for checking our simulator out, and we're glad you're enjoying it! :D