Gradients indicated in F3 and F4 HUD's differently

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

While running Barstow - Mojave - Palmdale - San Bernardino the long way round on Bill Putnam's remastered route available from that certain user over at trainsim.com I noticed a difference.

Coming from Barstow, when reversing at Mojave, and running backwards (reverser -100%) over the Palmdale Cutoff towards Colton, the indication of grades are reversed.
F4 HUD still displays correctly, up is up and down is down, while F3 HUD is reversed, indicating down while I am going up the hill.

Is that on purpose or an error? If so, how can it be corrected?

[OldProf]

While running Barstow - Mojave - Palmdale - San Bernardino the long way round on Bill Putnam's remastered route available from that certain user over at trainsim.com I noticed a difference.

Coming from Barstow, when reversing at Mojave, and running backwards (reverser -100%) over the Palmdale Cutoff towards Colton, the indication of grades are reversed.
F4 HUD still displays correctly, up is up and down is down, while F3 HUD is reversed, indicating down while I am going up the hill.

Is that on purpose or an error? If so, how can it be corrected?

The F3 HUD has never, ever (going back to Rail Simulator) recognized the fact that engines sometimes operate in reverse. That's why I prefer the F4 HUD, despite some shortcomings (which look like they're about to be remedied in RW 2013).

[dfcfu342]

You also have to remember that the F3 display shows the grade that the lead locomotive is on and F4 shows the grade that the rear most car is on.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Yes, and the F5 HUD displays yet other values, the ControlStateDialog yet again other and the cab instruments mostly nothing useful at all.

Lots of work for RSC still to be done before TS 2013 also!

[OldProf]

Yes, and the F5 HUD displays yet other values, the ControlStateDialog yet again other and the cab instruments mostly nothing useful at all.

Lots of work for RSC still to be done before TS 2013 also!

What exactly do you think the cab instruments should show? Surely not the track gradient! A bit of history: the F3 and F5 displays date to the very first version of RailSimulator and, as far as I can remember, have not changed at all. Although some folks evidently insist on driving with them visible, the F4 display, introduced with the second version of RailWorks, contains considerably more useful information, as well as controls that can be manipulated with the mouse but also reflect keyboard entries. According to information made public already by RSC, the F4 display will become more user-controlable when RW 2013 arrives. Cab instrument displays vary from engine to engine, so a blanket statement about their usefulness is in itself useless. Essentially, each engine's designer decides which instruments will be "active" and since most engines are now being designed by people who do not work directly for RSC, blaming RSC for what the instruments show is, again, useless and empty rhetoric.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Cab instuments on the ES44 should show basic engine, brake and train parameters, including length and established weight. RSC's UK Class 70 has displays that show a few more gauges, so they know how to do it. The simulation engine calculates the train parameters, so why not display them?
Lead engine on the one screen, lashed up engines on the other by punching a button for each of them. RSC perhaps shouldn't go into that level of detail, but if we get scenarios with random failing engines again to add to "play value" (like with Donner Pass) one would like to know what is wrong and issue a restart command.
EOT parameters should be called by punching another button or having the end of train parameters displayed permanently in that other screen is OK with me.

I don't know what prototype displays exactly show, but certainly no empty fields or "n/a" values of critical parameters.

Apparently the new Run 8 has all these features so it can be done in a train simulator.
ProTrain Perfect even has working electronic timetable "FiBuLa" displays in many of its engines, but these require a separate Linux program running inside the sim.

Wether we get these or even any of the faults/"features" corrected depends on the course RSC wants to take with TS 2013: game or sim?
Here is what I found on RSC's Facebook today, a new cab photo:

One cannot conclude that much from a static photo combining classic gauges with a glass cockpit display.
Magnifying the photo shows still mostly "n/a" in the fields of the display, does this bode well?
I wait with anticipation for the new ES44 and other 3rd generation engines that are supposed to come with the Sherman Hill.

[OldProf]

... I don't know what prototype displays exactly show"...

And that's all you really needed to say.

[Kali]

There's a publically available ES44 systems manual, you can find out exactly what they show...

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Prof, I am not from the US so have never even been near an ES44, let alone in the cab. So I did some research and found this link to a railroad operating manual that shows the layout, functions and purpose of the SDIS:
http://bartfk.cba.pl/gfx/opm/SP-ES44DC-GE.pdf
Most users probably don't want all that information, I am satisfied if it shows at least the same info as the ControlStateDialog window in one display.
Would be nice to have the EOT parameters displayed on the other screen. It is all available in the sim.
Must fire up the old Open Rails/MSTS again and install a recent ES44 model to see what they make of the cab instruments and displays. Apparently there are many different photorealistic cabs available.
I am wary of forking out 40 USD to get a copy of Run 8 just to see and try for myself. It is still a bit early as that new sim is only in its infancy.

There are several cab tour and cab ride videos available on Youtube with modern "glass cabs":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0FCSLODh8A
Kid having a tour of an older unit, with CRT's instead of LCD's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_i-ZIvdGk4
Cab ride at night with close up of the SDIS

Still looking for a reference or official instruction video or something like from a railroad engineer training simulator.