SIMULATOR WORLD 1 2014 Aerosoft Edition ENG PDF

Your free simulation games magazine - AEROSOFT EDITION 1/14
Rise of Flight
Channel Battles Edition
Emergency 2014
Rescue-Simulation Game
West Somerset Railway
Train Simulator 2014 Route
ICE T & Taurus

New train and loco for TS2014
SIMULATOR WORLD 1/2014
INDEX
Rise of Flight
Emergency 2014
P. 16
SAR - Search & Rescue
P. 10
Train Simulator 2014
P. 20
P. 8
Editorial ................................................................................................................. 03
Simulator-News ....................................................................................................... 04
Imprint/ Preview
............................................................................................. 29
RESCUE - SIMULATION
SAR - Search & Rescue ............................................................................. 8
Emergency 2014 - The Rescue-Simulation ......................................................... 10
FLIGHT - SIMULATION
Rise of Flight Channel Battles Edition
................................................................. 16
TRAIN - SIMULATION
DB BR411 ICE-T Add-On
MRCE ES 64 U2 Taurus Add-On
West Somerset Railway
........................................................................... 20
........................................................................... 22
........................................................................... 25
EDITORIAL
Simulator WORLD Edition 1/14

Dear readers!
In this edition of Simulator WORLD, we will be looking at two products from the genre of rescue simulation: SAR - Search & Rescue and Emergency 2014.
SAR is strongly reminiscent of The Hunter, only without the hunting. Emergency 2014 is the continuation of the successful Emergency games series. We
will also be looking at Rise of Flight - Channel Battles Edition, the newest edition of this WW-1 air war
simulation. Rise of Flight is simulation at its highest
level, which also seems to require a PC of the highest level. For Train Simulator 2014 we have looked
at two new add-ons, the ICE-T high speed train and
the Taurus loco. We will be exploring whether these
two high-tech add-ons have been turned into hightech or rather low-tech products.
Frank Moellenhof
Chief editor Simulator WORLD
moellenhof@simulatorworld.de
NEWS: FLIGHT-SIM
Ultimate 146 The Complete Collection
This NEW release includes the BAe 146-100, 146-200
and 146-300 aircraft in addition to the RJ70, RJ85
and RJ100 variants, six aircraft with three cockpit
variations, 60 liveries and over 100 realistic animations! Take your seats for landing... The Avro RJ series aircraft are an upgrade of the four-engined regional 146 aircraft by British Aerospace. Sporting many
huge improvements to both cabin and flight deck
with new ALF507 engines, FADEC, semi-digital flight
deck instrumentation and a new GNLU910 FMC. This
highly accurate simulation features both 2D and 3D
flight decks with `in-sim` switching between `Lite jump in and fly` and `Mid Level - better read the manual` systems simulation. QualityWings are renowned
for their `Complexity simplified` approach to flight
simulation, making the QW146 enjoyable for both
beginners and expert sim pilots.
More information at: www.aerosoft.com
Seychelles X
The Seychelles are a group of islands in the Indian
Ocean, north of Madagascar and approximately
600 nautical miles away from the African continent.
Much like the Maldives, the Seychelles consist of coral islands mostly, though most of us are much more
aware of the rough mountainous characters of the
main islands Mah and Praslin. This combination of
big islands with cities and rather high mountains on
one hand and the many small coral islands on the
other, makes the Seychelles such a special and diversified place. Mah houses the only big city of the Seychelles, Victoria, the only commercial harbor and of
course the only international airport of the country,
with almost 5.000 aircraft movements per year.
H36 Dimona X
The Hoffmann H36 Dimona is not your regular small
aircraft. It`s in the rather exclusive class of touring
motor gliders; aircraft that are a cross between motor aircraft and gliders. They got the long wings of
a glider but a standard (though often rather small)
aircraft engine. You can either use them as a normal aircraft or switch off the engine and glide for
a while. There has never been a high quality motor
glider for MS Flight Simulation. And this one is certainly high end. At the base of the product is one of
the most detailed flight/engine models ever done for
FSX. Accurate down to the altitude you lose in a spin.
The aircraft is meticulously modeled and has superb
non-standard animations. Though there are not that
many systems, those that are included are programmed with great depth.
NEWS: TRAIN-SIM
The Holiday Express

Get yourself the Richie Rails `Electric` Holiday Express.
The track has been laid in the Living Room, the presents are under the tree, let the adventure begin!
Everything you need to enjoy a nostalgic Christmas
journey is included in the box with a reduced price
of 2,99 Euro. The Holiday Express combines the authenticity of highly detailed models with the simplicity of driving a model train to ensure that players of all ages and abilities will have hours of fun. It
can be used as an add-on for the TS2014 as well as a
stand-alone simulator.
More information at: www.train-world.com
Engadin - Express for Microsoft Train Simulator

The Engadine Express route of from simtrain.ch includes the actual Engadin-Line of the Rhaetian Railway from Bever to Scuol-Scuol, Engadin, the upper
triangle of St. Moritz and Pontresina via Samedan
Bever, the Vereina from Klosters to Sagliains in the
Lower Engadine and the section of the Bernina railway from Pontresina to St Moritz. The diversity of
these sections corresponds to the supplied rolling
stock. The TrainSim train driver takes almost the entire rolling stock of the RhB network strain, as well
as some selected vehicles from the Bernina Railway.
And as a special highlight the car-carring-train with
the control car BDt 1731are included. As a separate
add-on products Allegra Stammnetz Plus and RhB
Nostalgiacan be installed at any time.
More information at: www.simtrain.ch
New EEP - Eisenbahn X Expert

The advanced Pro German version of the deployment and control simulation New EEP Eisenbahn X
is available. Build complex railway worlds on your PC
or notebook. In the Expert version, it is now possible
to control trains as a train driver. Of course you can
control the entire rail traffic via a sophisticated signal system. Build consists from steam, diesel or electric locomotives as well as passenger or freight cars.
The other exclusive features of the Expert version
will delight you: having a separate switch box you
always keep track.
More information at: www.eep4u.com
NEWS: TRAIN-SIM
Berlin-Leipzig for Train Simulator 2O14

Early next year there will see an addition to Berlin-Wittenberg. The add-on will be extended from
Genshagener Heide up to the freight depot Seddin
(25 km double-track main line, quote one of the
most important marshalling yards of DB Netz AG in
East Germany (Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/ wiki/
Bahnhof_Seddin). This add-on can be acquired by all
of the customers in possession of the Berlin to Wittenberg Route. The complete route (except branches)
will include super-elevation (without stuttering), 3D
catenary (except Seddin Gbf) on the BAR stations
Genshagener Heath, Struweshof, Saarmund and on
the Wetzlar train stations Michendorf and Seddin
More information at: http://bahnjan.blogspot.de/
Railworks Plus Pack Vol. 2

The new Add-On RailWorks Plus Pack Vol 2 takes you
to the most beautiful railway routes in Germany. Experience the beauty of the Black Forest as you drive
through unique mountain ranges. 31 original stations and stops, more than 200 original objects, 49
tunnels, and 5 viaducts spectacular distributed to this
about 170 kilometer route, make the trips to a realistic experience. Three well-known trails are supplied
with this extension for Train Simulator 2014: Black
Forest Railway, Hllentalbahn and DreiSeenBahn.
Matching tasks that remain for many a challenge offer a varied game.
More information at: www.halycon.de
SteamPower1830
As of now, the free-to-play online game SteamPower1830 in the new Windows Store is available. The
debut from Hamburg indie developer Hexagon Game
Labs using in addition to the self-developed Ubique
game engine the HTML5-based powerful Windows
Azure Server from Microsoft. The building strategy
game in railway style setting thus has a technical
framework that enables a device and cross-platform
gaming experience of the next generation. During
a game session it can be changed anytime between
all supported platforms such as PC, Microsoft Surface
and Windows Phone.
More information at: www.steampower1830.com
NEWS: RETTUNG,- TRUCK & BAU-SIM
Mountain Rescue-Simulator
Save lives in the mountains and experience the exciting work of mountain rescue first hand.
As a savior of the mountain rescue team you can use
special vehicles such as helicopters, a snowcat, SkiDoo and ATV, to help people in acute distress. Saint
Bernard assists you in searching for avalanche victims
or missing persons. Provide help for injured skiers or
search for hikers gone lost. Be a part of some dramatic rescues!
More information at: www.simuwelt.de
American Truck Simulator

Get out of European into the landscapes of California! Roll along with huge American trucks and deliver goods and commodities right on time. From SCS
Software, developer of Euro Truck Simulator series,
heres the next exciting simulation. Very detailed
trucks and typical American landscapes and cities accompany you on the way through California.
Construction-Simulator 2015
RELEASE SHIFT: Construction-Simulator 2014 will
be released in the third quarter of 2014.With Construction Simulator 2015 you can either play on your
own or in multiplayer mode together with friends,
operating 14 true to the original construction machines. Thanks to the licensing of LIEBHERR MAN and
STILL you can realistically excavate the foundation for
a family home, pour concrete with a sky-high pump
into the framework wall of an industrial hall or
transport pallets with a flat car to the freshly rolled
out sports field. About 15 different buildings can be
built in more than 100 steps.
SAR
SAR- Search and Rescue
With hat and boots through the wilderness

The SAR Simulator takes you into a remote national
park where you have to complete several missions
either on foot or on a bicycle. As a ranger in the park
it is your responsibility to keep the park clean and to
protect the tourists.
The missions start off in one of the small wooden
huts in the park. These are ranger stations and places where the player can rest and stock up on supplies. There are several of these huts dotted across
the park.
Visually the game is alright. When putting all the

graphics sliders to the maximum settings the game
suffered from some lag. However, after some tinkering with the settings this was resolved.
The sound is very quiet. If you want to hear your
footsteps or the birds singing you will have to really turn up the volume. Make sure you turn it back
down again before going back to the main menu as
otherwise you will be welcomed by some very loud
music.
All missions seem to follow the same concept. You

At the beginning you will be equipped with a small need to get to a place either on foot or by bicycle and
rucksack. This will limit the amount of equipment then spend some time looking for things. It could be
you can carry with you. Before going on a mission it a watch or a hat that was blown away by the wind.
is a good idea to think about what could be needed
and what can be left behind. For each successful mis- Conclusion
sion the player receives points. These can be used to
buy more and better equipment. There are Satnavs, Search and Rescue has a promising title but turns out
night goggles and even snake sprays available.
to be a very slow game. The player spends most of his
time walking around in the woods or riding a bike.
The first missions are very simple. You just have to If you enjoy walking around a virtual landscape then
walk to an area marked on the map and look for this will be fine, but if you are after some action or
items lying around in the high grass. Once you have adventure then SAR will be rather disappointing
completed a mission the next one is unlocked and
you can move on.
For each task you have a given time limit. Should you
overrun this limit you will have failed and the mission will end.
SAR
There is a lot to discover.

Small wooden huts like this
one serve as a base and a
place where you can rest or
replenish your supplies.
Getting lost is easy. The map

is a vital tool.
The scenery is well designed.

However, when using high
graphics settings the game
can lag quite a bit.
Emergency 2014
Emergency 2014
The Rescue-Simulation
Emergency 2014 is the latest instalment in the Emergency games series and provides the player with
new challenges and a new map to work with. Interestingly the game includes all the content from the
two previous versions (Emergency 2012 Deluxe and
2013), so there is a large number of different scenarios and options available.
is a whole different matter though. Be prepared to

spend quite some time on this mission.
The storyline of Emergency 2014 revolves around
an asteroid that is on a collision course with earth.
Whilst other earthlings are working hard to deflect
the asteroid, fragments of all sizes are causing havoc
across the globe.
The game can be played in different ways. You can

follow a campaign where you are challenged in dif- So much for the storyline. It sounds more like an acferent scenarios. Only after successful completion of tion movie than a computer game, but somehow it
such a scenario can you progress to the next one.
works and it sets the stage for some pretty spectacular scenarios.
Alternatively there is the sandbox option. The player
finds himself in a virtual city and has to deal with all Once you have completed the mission set in 1890 you
sorts of emergency situations.
find yourself back at the same spot, only 100 years
later. Things look different now and the equipment
Through Europe and through time
available is a lot more capable too. Once again you
have to fight a large fire. This time though a chemiIf the player chooses to go through the campaigns he cal plant blows up in the process.
will be taken to different cities all across Europe. Not
only that, there is also a scenario where the player Lots of people with radiation exposure have to be
finds himself in the year 1890. The only emergency treated. It is a major operation and you will requiservices available are horse-drawn pumpers and men re good organisational skills. It took me several
with axes and simple fire extinguishers.
attempts before I was able to complete the mission
successfully. After that it just gets harder and harder
With these fairly simple tools at hand the player is and the scenarios become more and more complex.
asked to contain a large fire and protect the city just
across the river. Manpower is everything and I found Despite the difficulty I really enjoyed the campaign
the best thing to do was to equip everyone with mode. You can try different strategies, experiment
axes and chop down all the trees surrounding the with different equipment and try to prioritise certain
fire. That way it could be contained. Extinguishing it tasks differently every time you play.
10
Emergency 2014
When confronted with a large fire, good planning is vital.
Different emergency personnel can achieve different

tasks. Here a fireman is getting injured people out of
their cars.
Roadblocks are vital to avoid

further people getting injured.
11
Emergency 2014
should reflect this and it is important to keep in mind

At the end of a campaign you get a de-briefing. Your that there is a limit on how many vehicles of each
performance will be scored and if you did well you type can be accommodated.
will get a medal.
Gameplay
Into the sandbox
The gameplay itself is pretty much all performed with
My favourite gameplay is the sandbox mode. Here the mouse. There are several fly-out windows on the
you have the choice between the challenge and main screen with different menus and sub-menus to
the so-called endless play. The challenge is simple choose from. If an accident happens somewhere you
enough. The number of emergencies keeps increa- choose the exact vehicles you want to attend and tell
sing until you make a mistake.
them where to park.
In the endless play you find yourself in a virtual city
in charge of all manner of emergency services. Your
task is to keep the city safe and respond to any accidents or fires. The scenarios the player is confronted
with are varied and each of them requires a different
approach.
Once at the scene each emergency worker can be given tools and tasks. Should the extent of the emergency require a lot of personnel on site it is a good
idea to group them or give commands to groups of
people instead of clicking on each and every individual.
You could be chasing a man who has just planted a One really nice aspect is that the whole city is affecbomb, there could be a car accident or a woman that ted by an emergency and that your actions can easily
has collapsed in the street, a pickpocket or a large trigger a chain reaction.
fire in a factory building, and anything is possible.
Lets say there is a fire and you block off a road so
If you deal with all these situations successfully you that firefighters can do their work. That will cause
will be given grants by the city. With these you can a traffic jam which, if you are unlucky, could extend
buy new equipment and hire more personnel. After over a railway line. If things dont go your way cars
a bit of gameplay it very quickly becomes apparent will get trapped on the railway lines and an oncowhich vehicles are always in demand and which ones ming train will collide with the cars on the railway
are more specialised. The purchase of equipment crossing.
12
Emergency 2014
The graphics are very good

and the game also looks very
good during the night time.
Not all locations are easily

accessible and sometimes
emergency personnel have to
travel the last few metres on
foot
Sometimes accidents happen

in very dangerous locations
and speed is of the essence.
13
Emergency 2014
All of a sudden you have two emergencies on your

hand. This applies to every situation and I soon learned to use police cars to cordon off roads and strategically block access points and streets.
But Emergency 2014 has won me over. The gameplay is great and the graphics look good. With the inclusion of Emergency 2012 and 2013 there is a huge
amount of content and lots to do.
It is also important to note that emergency personnel

and equipment are just as vulnerable as everything
and everyone else in the city. I have lost a fair amount
of fire engines because I sent them somewhere where they got trapped by fire.
The game itself is absorbing and the hours seem to

just fly by during gameplay. I enjoyed myself and if
you are into disasters and rescue services then this
should be right up your street.
The poor firemen had to be rescued and taken care of

by the medics. It all adds up to a very realistic scenario and reminds you to be cautious and plan ahead.
The graphics of the game are pretty good. Even with
all graphics settings set to the highest levels the game
still ran smoothly and without any stutters.
The layout looks good and works well, although it
would be great to have an option to increase the size
of the map on the right hand corner.
Conclusion
To be perfectly honest, when I was asked to test this
game I wasnt too thrilled. The number of games
revolving around the emergency services seems to
grow on a monthly basis.
Infobox

OS: Windows XP / VISTA / 7

CPU: 2,0 Ghz DualCore
VIDEO: 512 GB, Pixelshader 3.0
RAM: 2 GB
HD: 5 GB
SOUND: DirectX 9.0
DVD Drive & Internet connection
INFO: http://e2012.deepsilver.com
14
15
Rise of Flight
Rise of Flight
Channel Battles Edition

Rise of Flight takes us right to the beginning of modern aviation, to World War 1. It was during this
time that flying machines such as the Zeppelin and
aeroplanes for the first time played a major role in
a conflict. Planes were made of wood and cloth and
the life expectancy of pilots was rather short. Daredevils that survived many aerial missions quickly
became the stuff of legends.
Rise of Flight will take you back into this world. Far
removed from modern fighter jets and cockpits with
computer guided missiles, you will have to brave the
enemy in some daring missions sat in fragile flying
machines. Dogfights require a cool head and bombing missions a lot of skill.
Game structure
If you purchase the game (available in the Aerosoft store) you will receive 10 flyable aircraft, 25 AI
aircraft and 125,000 square kilometres of highly detailed terrain.
The player has several different options of how to go
about the included missions.
The simplest and most straight forward way is the
Quick Mission option. You simply choose a place
on the map and some of the parameters of the mission. You can set additional targets such as trains or
vehicles and if the ground troops should be equipped
with guns that could blow you out of the sky. After
that you are pretty much dropped straight into the

action and it normally doesnt take long before you
will be under fire. The mission ends if either you have
defeated all enemies or they have shot you down.
Another option here is the Survivor Missions. The
player is subjected to wave after wave of enemies
that have to be stopped.
If all that sound too much like a game and not like a
proper sim then do not fear. You can also choose missions. These normally start at an airfield with the engines shut down. After start-up and take-off you will
have to navigate your way to the area in question
where you will have to complete the briefed mission.
If successful you will then either fly back to your base
or proceed to another airfield. Most of the time, the
player is accompanied by other aircraft. The distance
between the airfield you start from and the actual
place of enemy engagement can be quite far. It is not
unusual to fly for some extended time periods before reaching the target area. Luckily the game offers a
time compression mode. Time can be accelerated up
to 16 times. There is also the option of an autopilot
which will fly the plane to the starting point of the
mission.
Apart from all this there is also a career mode. The
player has to choose a squadron and then start off
with simple training missions. Only after successful
completion of several training flights is the player let
loose on the enemy.
16
Rise of Flight
The aeroplanes included are

of a very high quality and
look and sound impressive.
No GPS in sight. The cockpits

are very simple indeed.
The Channel Battles Edition

includes Campaigns over the
British Channel.
17
Rise of Flight
There are also so-called campaigns. These are like

missions, but depict real missions from World War
One. The brief gives a historical background and also
explains how the real world mission ended.
The cockpits are very simple and instruments only indicate the bare minimum of required information.
Movement around the yaw axis is indicated by a blue
ribbon attached to the wings.
Flying in World War One
The included sound is also very good. If you sit in

the cockpit you can actually see the instruments and
Now that we have taken a good look at the structure flight controls vibrating whilst the engines are splutof the game, lets go flying.
tering and puffing exhaust gases past you.
The first thing I immediately noticed was the graphics. The visual impact of the game is simply stunning. Even small details like raindrops have been included.
Dogfights are probably the most exciting feature

of this game. Without any technical assistance, you
have to get the enemy aircraft right in front of you
and into the crosshairs before pulling the trigger.
The landscape and the lighting are second to none.

I was shot down during a dogfight in a beautiful
sunset because I spent too much time admiring the
graphics, and not enough time watching the enemy
aircraft.
The game has a multi-player option included, but

due to lack of flying skills I never tested it. I can imagine though, after some time and training you could
have some real fun fighting other players online.
All this beauty comes at a price. Rise of Flight is not

designed for older PCs. The game requires a modern
graphics card and is generally a bit demanding when
it comes to performance. However, if you do have
an up-to-date PC and are able to put all the graphics
settings to the highest level, then this will be a real
treat.
Dropping bombs is also not all that easy. You can activate some features within the game to help you a
bit, but it still requires some skill.
After some experimenting I was able to use my Saitek flight controller set-up for the game. It worked
pretty well, although unfortunately there is no option to adjust the sensitivity of any of the control axis.
But it is not only the graphics which are really good. Another thing I noticed was that the English version
The flight models feel very nice and realistic. If you had a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes in all
are used to flying modern aircraft you will have to of the texts.
get used to a real lack of aids.
18
Rise of Flight
Widening your horizon

This game enjoys a very active community. On the
gaming website players can purchase all kinds of
additional aircraft, maps and missions. The number
of available aircraft is huge and there should be something for everyone. The Channel Battle Edition
includes some special Mission over the English Channel. For example in one of them you have to hunt for
a submarine and destroy it Sound easy, but it isnt,
believe me.
The game allows the player to change a large variety of settings. Aircraft and missions can be as realistic or simple as the player wants them to be. There
are many detailed options that can be activated or
de-activated.
Conclusion
As mentioned before, Rise of Flight is a bit performance hungry, but if you have a good gaming computer you wont have any problems. Without a doubt
this game was created after a lot of research and
with real attention to detail. So much so, that I can
overlook the sometimes poor English.
Visually this simulator is simple unbelievable. The
graphics combined with the great flight models and
the nice sounds create a wonderful game in which
you can easily lose yourself without ever getting bored.
Infobox

OS: Windows XP/ VISTA/ 7

CPU: 2,6 Ghz QuadCore
RAM: 4 GB
VIDEO: 1024 GB VRAM
HD: 10 GB
SOUND: DirectX 9
INTERNET: Registration
INFO: www.aerosoft.com
19
Train Simulator
ICE-T
Train Simulator 2014 add-on

As far as names for trains go, I cant think of anything
cooler than the ICE trains. When the DB launched
the tilting version of their ICE-series, they decided
not to stick to the consecutive numbering used until
that point (ICE1, ICE2, ), but to create the coolest
train name of them all, the ICE-T.
RSC had released earlier. All they had done was swap
the visual model. They didnt even bother to change
the sounds!
Identity crisis
The package includes 3 scenarios, all for the Hamburg Hannover route. So if you dont have that, you
wont have any scenarios either. The train is quickdrive ready and there is a choice between a single and a
double unit. The double unit is very long and actually
quite heavy on the framerates. I would therefore recommend sticking to the single unit unless you have
a very powerful computer.
An ICE-T sounds nothing like an ICE3, so this is either a serious oversight or plain and simple laziness.
Either way, after that moment I was very disappoinWhen RSC announced this product there was a lot of ted with the whole product and regretted that I had
excitement. The screenshots looked superb and with spent money on it.
the tilting technology included, surely this would become a must-have product.
The package
When I saw the train for the first time in the game
I wasnt disappointed. The outside model is simply
stunning. The details are great and it just looks the
part. Jumping into the cab however, my face dropped slightly. Granted, the modern high-speed trains
have a rather economical cab, but the ICE-T cab is
simply below the standard expected from a payware
product these days. The textures are of low quality The tilting technology is of course one of the key
and the whole cab just looks incredibly dull.
features. From the outside this looks pretty cool. The
train really leans into the turns, especially at high
The ICE-T is not as fast as its siblings and is limited to speeds. In the cab, this is also simulated, although it
230 kph. So you can imagine my surprise when I ac- looks a bit odd. The drivers point of view is fixed and
tivated the AFB and saw that it went all the way up doesnt move with the train.
to 300 kph.
So the forward view ends up squeezed against the
It was at this moment that I thought something was sidewall of the cab. It has been suggested that this
afoot and when I pulled out of the station the penny is a shortcoming of TS2014 itself and cannot be cordropped. This was no ICE-T, this was the ICE3 that rected.
20
Train Simulator
Conclusion
RSC has produced some very good products in the
past, but this is not one of them. The model is pretty
and looks great, but the fact that they didnt include an accurate driving model and used the wrong
sounds shows that this was either rushed or done on
the cheap.
Compared with the high-end products we see from
the likes of Just Trains or Virtual Railroads these days,
this is simply not good enough. A poor effort and
not worth your money.
Infobox

DB BR 411 ICE-T EMU Add-On

SIMULATOR: Train Simulator 2014
PUBLISHER: RSC
PRICE: 13,99 Euro
INFO: www.railsimulator.com
21
Train Simulator
MRCE ES 64 U2 Taurus
Train Simulator 2014 loco add-on

The ES64U2 loco is a widely used machine and can
be found all over Europe. As the name doesnt exactly roll off the tongue most people know it by its
nickname: Taurus.
The Taurus is built by Siemens and is a so-called universal loco. This means these locomotives can be
found pulling freight trains, passenger stopping services, Intercity and Eurocity trains and even one of
Europes newest high speed trains, the railjet.
The Taurus loco (a ES64U4 series to be exact) still
holds the world speed record for electric locos. But it
is not only speed that makes this machine so formidable. The name Taurus was coined due to the fact
that the ES64U2 is an extremely powerful engine.
So, it should come as no surprise that eventually this
loco would find its way into Train Simulator. Is the
virtual counterpart as impressive as the real thing?
Lets find out.
The Taurus in TS2014
The cab is equally well made. Lots of nice details all

around and really well crafted switches and buttons.
It is, of course a very modern loco, so there is no charming or rustic appearance to be found inside. It is a
clean, functional design.
Once on the move the Taurus performs very well. It is
a powerful engine and will pull quite a lot of carriages with great ease. The Taurus is limited to 230kph.
If the limiter would be removed it could go much
faster. Since this is not normally done in real life, this
option has also not been included in this package.
The loco only comes in one livery. This is a bit of a
shame. The Taurus can be found all across the continent and over the years has appeared in well over
100 different liveries.
The sound of the loco is very good as well, although
it has to be said that when setting off the scales played by the engines dont sound as good as on the real
thing. I am not sure if this is a limitation of TS2014 or
if it is a short coming of the loco itself.
So far, so good. A beautiful model with realistic driThe outside model is simply great. All the details are ving characteristics, good sounds and a very nice cab.
there. The textures are of a very high quality. Even Good value for money then, right? Not really.
when zooming all the way in and taking a close look
at the details, all the textures remain sharp and crisp. Deja vu
The loco shows signs of wear and tear and on the I suspect that some readers will have had a Taurus for
buffers you can see scratches and grease marks.
their Train Simulator for quite a while. It was about
two years ago that a Hungarian company called HRQ
22
Train Simulator
launched their Taurus for TS. The HRQ Taurus packa- with different versions included for almost the same
ge is a very realistic and detailed representation of price. So it will come down to what you would rather
the ES64U2 and includes many brand new features. have. For me, it is a no brainer.
So how do the two compare?
They dont, because they are one and the same thing.
RSC bought the rights from HRQ to publish their Taurus under their own name.
They took the model, the sound and created a very
much dumbed down version of the same loco. Whilst
the HRQ version requires the player to start up the
loco at first and activate lots of systems, the RSC version is more of the jump in and drive variety.
In a way thats not a bad thing. I am sure not everyone would want to be faced with a highly complex
machine. Some people just want to drive off and
have fun.
The only real downside of the RSC version is that it
only comes in one livery. The HRQ version includes 35
liveries with lots more available for free, two different cabs and even a completely different model of
the Taurus, the ES64U4. All this for pretty much the
same price. The mind boggles.
Conclusion
The RSC Taurus is a very good package. It looks good,
it drives well and has a great looking cab. But, as
mentioned above, you can get the very same loco
with much greater realism, countless liveries and
Infobox

MRCE ES 64 U2 Taurus Add-On

PUBLISHER: RSC
PRICE: 13,99 Euro
23
24
Train Simulator
West Somerset Railways

Train Simulator 2014 Route
The West Somerset Railway is probably one of the

most iconic and well known heritage routes in the
UK. It attracts thousands of visitors every year and
runs pretty much all year round. In a way this should
not come as a surprise. The route runs through very
beautiful countryside and through charming little
towns. Its highlights are probably the sections where the steam trains huff and puff along the white,
sandy beaches.
The West Somerset Railway is probably one of the
most iconic and well known heritage routes in the
UK. It attracts thousands of visitors every year and
runs pretty much all year round. In a way this should
not come as a surprise. The route runs through very
beautiful countryside and through charming little
towns. Its highlights are probably the sections where
the steam trains huff and puff along the white, sandy beaches.
The route was extended in 1874 and ran all the way
to Minehead. During its history, there never seemed
to be a lack of passengers or cargo. Coal was transported from the mines in Wales and many tourists
used the railways to come and visit the Somerset
coast. Despite all that, British rail decided to close the
route in 1971. However, it wasnt long before locals
and charity organisations resurrected the route and
turned it into a heritage railway line. Only five years after its closure the route was open for business
again. And it has been running ever since.
Into the virtual world
Because of its popularity this is not the first time this
route makes an appearance on our computer screens.
The route has been re-created for Trainz and MSTS in
the past. Even for Train Simulator you can find an
older version of this route.
With so many products to compare it to and so many

The West Somerset Railway is also the longest herita- fans to please, this must have been a daunting task
ge route in the UK stretching around 36km. The rou- for the route builders.
te has a colourful history and has seen many changes
throughout its life. Even before the first track was What is interesting is that RSC decided to publish this
laid a lot of activity surrounded this project. Many route not specifically as an add-on for TS. If you own
proposals came and went on how to create a rail- Train Simulator, you can of course purchase the route
way line in West Somerset. It took over 10 years of and it will work like any other add-on route you have
planning and discussing before a final proposal was purchased in the past, but if you dont own a copy
agreed on. The total cost of the route was 120,000 of Train Simulator you can buy this product without
pounds. Sounds like a bargain, but then this was having to purchase TS. It will work out of the box as
back in 1862.
a stand-alone product.
25
Train Simulator
I guess this approach was chosen to get people on

board that are not necessarily interested in highspeed lines or modern freight trains. It is a heritage
package dedicated to a well-known route.
The route section where the line runs along the beach is faithfully re-created and looks very nice. Animated waves with foam tops have been added to the
water textures to better represent a beach.
And with that in mind lets get started
The route is very densely populated with objects and

at places seemed a bit performance hungry. However, whilst the fps did drop in places it never reached
a point where the fun of driving around was spoiled.
The route in TS2014

The package includes the route running from Maidenhead to Bishops Lydeard, a 7F loco in West Somerset Railways livery, a GWR Hall Class, a BR Class33,
Mk1 coaches and freight wagons. It is a very extensive package which also includes quickdrive and scenarios.
The route itself looks very good. There is lots of greenery on the side of the tracks. The developers didnt
hold back on little details and there is always stuff to
see. Every station has been faithfully re-created with
custom built objects and buildings. It has to be said
that the stations along this route are of exceptional
quality. From flowerpots to old wooden benches, it
is all there and creates a nice nostalgic atmosphere.
The included rolling stock looks good but comes with
a very poor sound set. In fact, I struggled to hear any
sound at all from any of the freight wagons. A big
let-down in my view. Part of the attraction of old
railways is the smells, the sounds and the feel of it
all. Since we cant have smells on the computer (not
yet anyway) they could have at least tried to include
nice, realistic sounds.
Comparing it all
Building a route like this will present the developers with two major problems. First of all, this is a
very well-known route. There are countless pages of
documents and pictures available online and more
youtube videos than I could ever watch. People who
buy this product will likely have a good idea what
the real thing looks like and notice anything that has
gone amiss.
Secondly, the speed limit along this line is very low.
Trains normally chug along at 15 to 25 mph. When
speeding through the landscape at 100 mph many
things dont get noticed, but at such low speed the
players have time to take a good look around and
inspect the landscape around them.
RSC has produced many routes over the years and
you would have thought that the above mentioned
points should have been obvious to them. But it
seems that this was not the case, and here is why.
26
Train Simulator
The route lies directly along

the south-coast.
The Developers didnt hold

back on placing foliage
along the route. It makes it
all very life-like.
The included stations are

built to a very high standard.
27
Train Simulator
I have never been to the West Somerset Railway and

so to make sure I understand what I am writing about
I spent an afternoon looking at photographs, reading articles and watching videos on youtube that all
revolve around this subject. Despite this fairly short
introduction to the line, I was able to spot certain
mistakes along the RSC version of the route. Some
bridges were wrong, the landscape looked wrong in
places and in many places the signalling didnt reflect the real world at all.
Conclusion
For me this is a bit of a mixed bag really. There are

signs of brilliance here. The landscape, the beaches,
the stations and all the little nice details along the
route really have a great impact on the product as
a whole. If I wouldnt have spent some time researching the real route I would have given it top marks
and recommended it to all our readers. But I did take
a look at the real thing and as such discovered some
pretty basic errors. This, combined with the poor
I have been involved in several routes for Train Si- sound set included for the rolling stock leaves me
mulator and normally the first few weeks or months with a rather bitter taste in my mouth.
of the project are spent on research involving taking
pictures along the real line, digging up technical dra- This could have been an amazing route, really captuwings and trying to organise meetings with people ring the history and feel of the West Somerset Railworking along the route.
way line. Instead it is an ok add-on with some very
nice bits but also some serious flaws.
I do not know whether RSC did all this or not. The
fact that I could find many glaring mistakes after just
a few hours on the internet doesnt make me very
hopeful though.
Infobox
I think this is a real shame. The route builders clearly

wanted this to be a good looking add-on and must
have spent many hours trying to re-create the West
Somerset landscape. Also the tracks have been laid
very well and do look very realistic. It begs the question why this attention to detail seems to have gone
missing in some areas of the add-on.
West Somerset Railway Add-On

PUBLISHER: RSC
PRICE: 24,99 Euro
28
Imprint/ Preview
PREVIEW EDITION 2/2014
Imprint
SIMULATOR WORLD
Your free simulation games magazine!
Homepage:
www.simulatorworld.com
Publisher:
ALBO medien GmbH
Lindberghring 12
33142 Bueren
Germany
Tel. +49 (0) 29 55 76 03 37
Fax: +49 (0) 2955 - 7603 33
Company Registry:
Tax ID:

B 9728
339 5801 0442
FA Paderborn
Management: Eva Uhl

email:
kontakt@albo-medien.de
Address of editorial staff:
DC-8 Jetliner for Flight Simulator X
ALBO medien GmbH

Simulator WORLD
Lindberghring 12
33142 Bueren
Germany
email:
redaktion@albo-medien.de
Chief editor:
Frank Moellenhof (V.i.S.d.P.)
email: moellenhof@simulatorworld.de
Copyright:
ALBO medien GmbH
All rights, in particular of the duplication, translation, microfilming as

well as the feed and processing in electronic systems, to the utilisation
of parts of the technical periodical or on the whole remain reserved.
All logos related in the magazine and protective brands are a property of the respective legal owners.
PREPAR3D V2
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