Thank
you for downloading the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Route for BVE.
You should have downloaded this route FREE
from <http://joshimsbveroutes.gamehorizons.net/>
If you have downloaded this from any other
source please inform me, no action will be taken against
those who report this. This route is FREE
and should not be used for commercial purposes
and should in no way be reproduced for any other
simulation without the author's EXPLICIT
consent. This route contains copyright material of
not only the author's but of other
people (see section 3 below for credits). Please
respect this, and should you wish to re-use any of the material in this route
for any purpose please contact
me at <joshim.nur@gmail.com>
This
route tries to capture the highest level of detail without too much complex
scenery.
The route should run
satisfactorily on lower specification machines, and this route has
been developed on a 900Mhz AMD Athlon machine
with 256MB SDRAM. During alpha testing the route
averaged a frame rate of 9-16fps (frames per second) on this machine. It is
therefore expected that the route
should run satisfactorily on machines of similar specification. Naturally
if you have a higher specification machine you can expect the route to run very
well.
The
route is based on a real light railway system operating in London as part of the
Transport for London (TfL) network.
Information relating to the system can be found at the TfL
website at <http://www.tfl.gov.uk/>.
The route begins in the heart of the City of London at
Bank Station. In then proceeds through the east end of London to the Docklands
and the Isle of Dogs and to
terminate at Greenwich often referred to at "the home of time". The
route was originally intended
to go to Lewisham as the real railway does only 3 stations away from
Greenwich, but due to some scenery
programming problems due to tight curves at Deptford, this will
be delayed slightly. This will be completed and will be available for download
in the near future, so please
do check the website regularly at <http://joshimsbveroutes.gamehorizons.net/>
Note
in BVE.net (version 2.9) there is an error which can be safely ignored,
PowerL.csv and PowerR.csv will be shown as erroneous. Click 'Ignore' to continue
and the route will continue normally.
2.
Driving Tips
The
Docklands Light Railway uses special trains which are computer controlled. There
is a Train
Captain (now
referred to officially as Passenger Service Assistants) which are on board the
train to inspect tickets, issue
them in case of machine failure or to issue penalty fares. They are
also responsible for closing the doors of the
trains at stations to ensure their safe departure.
The
train can also be controlled manually by a panel in a locked cabinet at the
front of the train.
For the
purposes of the simulation in BVE the train is controlled manually by you but
the view is would be seen if
the train was computer controlled. Hence you in a way act as the computer
controlling the train!
The
route has a series of markers for your information as you drive the route. Some
are for
information purposes
only (these appear with an italic 'i' background), and others give instructions
as to how to drive the train correctly. Speed
limits are given in Kilometres per Hour on a teal coloured
backgrounds the train displays them in these units digitally to the left of the
screen. Also next to the digital
speedometer is a "hazard warning" light. This will illuminate when the
doors are open and the train should not move.
The ATS will prevent the train from being powered when
the doors are open. You should adhere to the speed limits so that you stick to
the timetable and also drive
appropriately. There are three power notches and three braking notches. If the
speed is less than 50 Km/h you should
accelerate in P2 from a stationary start, but if the target speed is higher than
50 Km/h you should use notch P3 from a stationary start, and then use notch P1
to hold the speed or use the 'SPEED HOLD'
function of the train ('Backspace' in assignment option 1, 'D'
in assignment option 2) to keep the train at that speed. When you approach a
stopping point use the brake
gently and appropriately to stop at the stop mark, shown by a black diamond and
a yellow background with brown
edges on the track. You should normally be able to stop using B1 and B2, but
for higher speed B3 may also be required. You
must stop within 5m either way of the mark (ideally within
2.5m either way) for the doors to open.
The
route has signals which are at stations and at points only. As the train is
normally computer
controlled
there are no need for intermediate signals as the computer knows how far ahead
the next train is. The signals
will only therefore show STOP (with a red horizontal bar) at stations in the
route. These will change to PROCEED (a
vertical arrow pointing upwards) on approach to the stop mark, but
some signals will only change on stopping fairly accurately. If the signal does
not changed because you have
stopped slightly short but the door does open, when BVE closes the door for
departure begin to move slowly
forward and the signal will change aspect.
At
points, the signal will show the route set. If the route set is not the straight
path a DIAGONAL
ARROW pointing
to the left or right will be displayed. If this is the case you must not exceed
25 Km/h through the points,
unless a speed restriction marker instructs you otherwise. After clearing the
points you can return to the
line speed shown by the previous marker or comply with the new line speed if a
new marker advises you of it. If
you drive correctly and according to the line speeds and signals and the tips
for acceleration, you should be
able to comply with the timetable of the train (can be viewed by pressing F4).
3.
Credits
Most
of the work in the Docklands light railway is the work of my own, but I have
used other authors
work as
well, and I am sincerely grateful to them for permitting me to use them in this
route. The following have
contributed to this project:
David
R Coleman - for DLR Train textures, 'E'/'X'/'C' signs and information on
their locations
Steve
Green - For support, inspiration to code in BVE in the first place, Cl357
C2C train object
