Train Simulator: ÖBB 1014 Loco Add-On DLC

Truly an excellent locomotive! One of my favorites. The Punktfoermige Zugbeeinflussung (PZB) will alert when passing a non-green signal and has to be acknowledged, and SIFA also is working but can be trurned off. The cold and dark startup procedure is thorough, but can be mastered in short order. Resuming a save seems to work perfectly, with all settings reloaded properly and the throttle is off, so you have to re-establish your desired power level. Indusi works very well, but you do have to contol the tracctive effort both up and donwhill to reach the target speed. Overall highly recommended for some very engaging Austrian alpine eisenbahn aciton!

I initially wrote this review for the first release version which had massive drivability issues and lacked some cosmetic features. It became a convoluted mess so I am just rewriting it for the updated (current) version. This is an interesting power unit. As a real life fan of those and HO scale collector (i have every number roco has made of these) it was a given this will be in my virtual collection as well. External modelling is very good. It is a simple model but they got it right, proportions, angles look like they should. Cab modelling is close to great but there are some either model bugs or texture mapping issues around the dashboard cover on the edges in about 2 spots. And textures around window levers and back wall feel a little uninspired. There is a mirrored texture issue on the right side power handle... they could have fixed that but they do not care. Anyway. 7/10 on texturing, 8/10 on cab model and 9/10 on external model. Glass textures are a bit of a let down from inside and outside. Crystal clear glass is annoying, especially since you can see they added slight grime on the paint. It often feels there is a hole in front of you. The humongous windshield is one of the best features allowing you to actually see track signage and not fatigue your eyes like some other models do. But such a huge piece of glass deserved more attention. Driving mechanics are decent enough. The power handle works as it should and the speed control is extremely precise (as is the real one). However it tends to overbrake and too slow to apply and come out of dynamic braking meaning you will often be 5-10km below your new lower speed set if you let it auto slow down as it then accelerates again to get up to the speed it overshot. I cannot believe the real engine will have such difficulty controlling itself in a slow down..... The model feels very under powered.. (and the 1114 is even weaker) 7 passenger coaches bring it to its knees and you will need quite the distance to accelerate. Doing real life time tables that are currently pulled by a 1216 , im running 20 minutes late over 210 miles because of the slow acceleration out of stations and signals... Trying to get going on a grade (say on the semmering) can be downright hilarious. You have to straight up powerbrake the train at near max power. Fortunately with the update, wheel traction is of no issue. You have tons of it. It is impossible to spin the wheels in fact on wet or dry rails no matter what you do! Only in snow may you be able to get some wheel spin now. What lets this DLC down are the sounds. They appear recorded from random DVD and youtube videos and straight up invented in part. Quality is bad, speed modulation and feeling of travel is also bad. There is no window open sound changes and the locomotive is loud. It drones of the converter and deafens you. Only the traction motors compete with that drone to add more drone. You get a headache in an hour or less. Rail joint sounds are not good either, cab rattle sounds are also bad and really cracking noises more than anything, as if your sound device is broken... Cab camera movement is also pretty unreal with your view being very frozen making for extremely unrealistic smooth driving. Many models are guilty of that granted. Cabin lighting is just the bare minimum. you have gauge lights and cab dome light. The dome light is overly bright and coming from a weird angle and does not match with the textures of where the cab lights should be. Freeware locomotives have that modeled properly! There is no drivers/engineers desk lights modeled making night driving underwhelming. cab interactivity is very low. The radio is a black texture with nothing (always off) on it and no buttons have any lighting on them, other notification lights are also just dark textures, the MFD is not interactive and stuck with a fixed date on it (forever 1998!). it does at least show some warning lights and the time and zug effort... It is basically RSSLO basic levels and they call this advanced! This is not advanced locomotive, do not be fooled by the marketing! There is also no voltage scripting.... This is a multi voltage locomotive and none of that is implemented here in any way. The drivers chair is also offset to the right.. once you see it, it will annoy you! pzb/lzb aka indusi somewhat works sometimes. I just turn it off as i dont like being randomly ebraked for no reason. no locomotive can take full fault for that as safety systems are a 3 way split between game engine, route itself and locomotive. Often all 3 are at fault it doesn't work right. Over many kilometers i have rewritten the sound scripting and exchanged most sounds, redone camera movement and performed some texture tweaks on the worst offenders. With the modding i consider the locomotive acceptable now but out of the box it falls flat. It has potential but they rushed it out and never looked back; no passion, just release a product collect money and move on. No i cannot offer my modified version before you ask because it uses files from paid addons that actually took the time to do it right.. I consider the RWA/SHG 1144 wiesel to be a more polished version of this... It has better cab and much more believable sound implementation!

To tell the truth, I don't understand, why does this addon have a number of hegative reviews. The loco is outstanding. Perfect sounds, especially horns, almost fully interactive cab, startup procedure is not only about moving reverser to forward and releasing brakes, animated sidemirrors and main switch on the roof. I strongly recommend you to buy it.

This has now been updated to V1.1 which as far as I can see corrects the problems mentioned in some other reviews. You now also get an additional four pantograph loco and the 1114 variant, and yes the windscreen blind does work and the mirrors do move. The manual provided is also updated, the one on this store page is still the old one. I think it's a great loco. Sounds are good and lighting is excellent, I particularly like the instrument lighting and the high/low beam option which means that in day time you can have your lights on without throwing too obvious a beam in front of you; so no portable suns strapped to the front with this one. Although a 'Pro' loco it's got an optional auto set-up option which goes through what for me is a tedious start-up procedure. Physics seem believable and all in all it looks a smart fast loco which makes a change from the generally ugly classes it serves alongside. The included SGNS container wagons are a triumph. Although unbranded they look great and have one of the best sounds of any wagon set I've heard. Plenty of noise, rumble, wheel flats and general racket when they thunder past. I think Skyhook really excel at wagon sounds and other developers should take note - I'm looking here at you Armstrong Powerhouse! There are a couple of very minor gripes. I'd prefer a bit more rumble from the loco when moving and I'd prefer the in-cab computer display to take its date from my system, not be stuck in 1998; prototypical perhaps, but not very immersive. The time displayed is system time. All in all a great addition. Recommended.