Train Simulator: BR Class 303 EMU Add-On DLC

[h1]A poorly attempted update, of a poorly attempted train.[/h1] What looks like a fairly well-built add-on in terms of modeling shown by the pictures, is not complimented by the features or realism you experience from this add-on. The Class 303 was made by Iron Horse House and had a fairly poor quality. Dovetail have bought IHH stock and are re-releasing them here on Steam with very little difference/effort called "updates". You get the Class 303 in the Strathclyde livery. That's it. [table] [tr] [th][h1]Positives[/h1][/th] [th][h1]Negatives[/h1][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Feels in a large gap of the WCMLN route as well as stock for Waverley and the Woodhead line.[/td] [td]VERY quite traction motors and run sounds, not to mention, unrealistic sounds.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]N/A[/td] [td]Unrealistic door animations.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]N/A[/td] [td]Unrealistic physics.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]N/A[/td] [td]Only ONE out of the original 4 liveries included.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]N/A[/td] [td]It's no fun to drive a train so unrealistic.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]N/A[/td] [td]No DRA.[/td] [/tr] [/table] A terribly updated add-on showing lack of care and respect for the potential buyers. ONLY purchase in a sale if you're wanting to get this add-on. [h1]3/10[/h1] [h1]The Class 303 with the Armstrong Powerhouse Sound Pack:[/h1] A realistic train for the WCMLN, Waverley (E2G) and Woodhead routes. Armstrong Powerhouse have hired the spec of this rather shameful train. You get the Class 303 in Strathclyde Transport, Strathclyde Transport with late SPT logos and SPT Carmine and Cream liveries. As well as: ● Moderately accurate sounds. (The traction motors are from the 455 because there are no more Class 303s operating under their own power). ● Accurate physics. ● DRA. ● Accurate braking system. The Armstrong Powerhouse sound pack makes the Class 303 a whole lot more realistic and worth your time driving. With it, you will enjoy drives just like I do. Without it, I don't think you'd go near driving it. Class 303 with the AP SP: [h1]7/10[/h1]

As usual, terrible reused sounds and awful physics. The brake handle is reused from locomotive brake handles and the horn is dreadful. Class 303s have a pedal to control the horn instead of the lever (the levers were added very lately in the units' lives). Could have been a lot better. Overall: 3/10

"Only Recommended for AI Traffic" The good bits, the model is nicely made and its got very good acceleration for a first gen EMU as well as it comes with three scenarios for the WCML North Route. The bad bits. The sounds are terrible and this is what kills the train pack in my opinion. The brakes feel very spongy as it is "all or nothing" when applying them. The horn is very weak as the horns on the real life units when they were in service with SPT/Scotrail were much louder and had more punch to them. The reason I am recommending this unit is purely for AI traffic on the WCML North around the Glasgow area and if you wanted to drive this train to complete the scenarios. I would recommend getting the Armstrong Powerhouse sound set at the same time and you will see what I mean about the prototypical unit sounds. Only buy this pack in the Steam sales. Overall Rating: 6/10.

I have fond memories of being thrown around on these iconic trains. All the distinctive noises- the "tish" of the doors, the Gresley Bogies and the "digga, digga, digga, digga" of the compressors made these trains special. And absolutely none of these distinctive noises are captured on this add on pack. The train as supplied is virtually silent and fails to capture the character of these trains. It looks great, but sounds terrible. Once you get the Armstrong Powerhouse Sound Pack installed however it changes and the train is absolutely superb. But you shouldn't have to pay £7.99 to buy this Add-on from Steam and then pay £4.99 to Armstrong Powerhouse to make this train actually any good. Poor show Dovetail, poor show.

Unfortunately, since both AP's soundpack and IHH's original product this was based on we're removed, anyone who hasn't bought those items will be stuck with this crappy DTG model, as many have explained, missing many details, sounds and functions have been removed. Please avoid this DLC, unless you need it for scenarios or it is on a sale.

this addon is an absolute joke of addon NO Run Sounds when the Unit is in motion sounds like DTG think some trains dont have run sounds The motor and door sounds are awful no attention to detail has been put into this addon at all The only thing I can say thats good is the model of the train I did an comparsion for this unit on my youtube with the default sounds and AP Sounds and by no surprise the AP sounds were so much better than the DTG one This train could have been so much better than it was and helpful to scenario creators such as myself to create scenarios post 2003 to 1980s era of British Railways but sadly it hasnt done that

I agree with Jimbow's review - this is pretty rubbish. The acceleration sounds are similar to what I remember the real thing being like but when you shut the throttle all it does is fade out the motor sounds - it's like the throttle is a volume control! And where are the door closing sounds; PSSSSHHH... rumble rumble rumble... THUD! There is a severe lack of attention to detail here which makes for an unsatisfying drive. Very disappointing, not recommended.

I rather like this EMU as it sounds a little like the ones I rode on in Wellington, New Zealand. Another good thing with this purchase is that the scenarios for it are on that interesting and diverse northern section of the iconic West Coast Mainline North by Keith Ross. Further . . . If you like the second generation Diesel era, then you will pass a number of these during your journey. Get it now while it is on special. I now recommend you purchase the "Sound Pack" from Armstrong Powerhouse, as others have mentioned it lacks sound especially when "drifting", as there are no track sounds nor from the motor.

Where do I begin? This addon is an absolute insult to the players. Despite the fact that it's "upgraded", they still managed to be incompetent as always. This is an IHH re-release. For all those who don't know, it's a long story. Basically a developer named IHH retired and gave all his addons to DTG. As an IHH re-release, you would expect this to be better than the original? Right? No, not at all. Rather than the 3 liveries that came with the IHH version (BR Blue, SPTE Orange and SPT Carmine and Cream), DTG decided to be cheap and include only one livery (SPTE Orange). Their usual excuse of "oh we don't have the license" doesn't work in this case as the BR Blue livery has appeared numerous times. Instead, they opted to stay silent on the matter. Another gripe I have with this are the sounds. How on earth do they screw the sounds up? The sounds on IHH products were usually awful, this wasn't an exception. The incompetence with the sounds from DTG is overwhelming. Unlike the IHH version, DTG reused the 455 sounds, instead of a simple copy and paste, they decided it would be a good idea for the sounds to be completely cut out whenever the throttle is at 0%. At least with the IHH version, the sounds may be ear piercing, but at least it was competent enough to work, unlike the DTG version. On top of all that, there's no door sounds. Brilliant. However there's a bright side to every review. The AP soundpack provides the solution to everything above. The sounds work flawlessly because of it and there's even two extra liveries included. Personally I'm against soundpacks as the products should be sold working as advertised, would you seriously buy a watch if you had to buy a separate component to get the hands to move? Don't think so. However I do believe it is a necessary evil.

For a long time the major drawback of WCMLn was the lack of prototypical EMU stock available for it, the problem was solved in late 2013 when IHH released the 303, It was a pretty good model a reasonable selection of liveries and passable if not prototypical sounds, then IHH was gone and WCMLn was without emu stock again* (except for the freeware 318) ... RSC have been slowly releasing old IHH products and this is one of them, This class 303 is DTGs "update" of the IHH 303, However I use the word update very loosley. So what have DTG done? 1, They have expectedly removed all but one of the liveries, the current livery is repainted to make it look more basic and cartoony compared to the original grimey wethered model 2, They have removed all the sounds, most have not been replaced the door sounds the guards buzzer and return, the compressor have all gone, the unit now has copy n pasted sounds from the 455, this is not just lazy, it also highlights how utterly inept DTG are, if they had to copy n paste sounds they could have at least used sounds from nother mk1 EMU and not a mk3 derived unit, 4CIG sounds would have been much closer with the bogey run sounds and compressor 3, Many of the incab functions have just been removed. 4, They seem to have completely botched the physics and turned it into a roller coaster This model is a pale shadow of the IHH model and to be honest the IHH version while good, it wasnt the best thing to come out of IHH Luckily Armstrong Powerhouse came to the rescue, with a soundpack that fixes many of the issues and makes the unit a reasonable driving experience and for this reason I bought this asset even though I own the original IHH model, Unfortunately this unit is only any good if you drive it with the soundpack. DO NOT get this unit for AI, just like a number of other recent releases from DTG they have a negative effect on framerates, I swapped out my IHH 303s for this 303 on a scenario and it turned it into a slideshow, which crashed to desktop after only a few minutes, there was only around 10 six car sets in the scenario, the version with just IHH 303s runs stable at normal framerates. Even just using this 303 as the driveable with the AI handled by IHH models there is a small effect on frames (10% drop on average) .. the problem is a scripting issue as the framerate hit happens regardless of if or how many 303s are rendered on screen at any time ... So as a drivable with the AP soundpack this unit is ok but if you want realistic quantities of AI you will still need your IHH 303s ... in an ideal world the AP soundpack sould have been applied to the original IHH 303 so this maresnest could just be avoided completely ... oh well I Cant really reccommned a unit that cant be driven without a third party addon or even used as AI in realistic quantities The fact that DTG have the nerve to thank the beta testing and QA teams also highlights the level of dishonesty and/or incompetence at work here ... shameful.