ST Help Text

Download ST 4.4 @ NostWare.com
Macintosh: 	SteamTRAIN 44.zip  for Intel with OSX 10.4 or later
o   Unzip to Desktop (relocate as desired)
Windows:	SteamTRAIN 44 Install Win for Win XP SP2 or later
o   Install SteamTRAIN (shortcut Icon should appear on desktop)
For additional downloads, see Translate and/or Print near end.

Start
Double Click the red/yellow SteamTRAIN Driver Wheel Icon.
Title Page opens – new Help and Controls Buttons offer American-English Text.
Press PLAY Button to start ST in Full Screen graphics.
For the Demo, the Help screen appears first (H or F1 toggles open/close).

Layout
The upper part of the screen contains the Track-Map as seen from above.
The lower part of the screen contains the Side-View of the your selected train.
Between the two is a floating Data-Bar which provides useful feedback for your loco/train.  PageUP or PageDN adjusts the Zoom of the upper and lower parts..

Throttle
Use the Right or Left Arrows to control Throttle and Train movement East/West.  
Non-zero THROTTLE settings automatically release the Brakes of your train.  A new Option added to decouple Throttle/Brake for additional control.
You are a Rail Road Engineer!  Ring Bell (toggle B) or Blow Whistle (hold W).

Brakes
Train Brakes are applied or released with the SPACE BAR and noted by a Red Stop Sign under BRAKE.  Brakes are automatic air (or vacuum) and activate on each Car or Locomotive (loco) coupled onto the same train.  Brake ON also neutralizes the Throttles on all locos coupled to one train.  If a Car becomes uncoupled, Car Brakes are applied automatically.

Slip
If your Locomotive Driver Wheels Slip on the rails and lose traction, a small word SLIP appears on your Data Bar.  To eliminate slip, you could reduce Throttle, or reduce Boiler Pressure (Shift+P), or apply Traction Sand (toggle S).  Only the sand on the track under your locomotive's driver wheels (side view) aid traction.

Switches (Points)
Before your train reaches a fork in the tracks, press UP or DN Arrows to move North or South.  Yellow SWITCHES Arrows affect all Switch settings at once.  Trains straddling switches should not derail.  Robo Trains (below) always show switches down.

Crash
Crashes can happen from rolling stock collisions, entering sharp curves at excessive speeds, or running beyond track ends.  If a crash occurs anywhere on the Railroad, both Track-Map and Side View should jump to the Crash Site.  Every loco's Throttle is zeroed and Brakes are applied throughout.  After a crash the central Data Bar flashes Red.  To recover hit Return or Enter and the Data Bar flashes Green.  You need to relaunch all stopped trains including Robo Trains (below). 

Coupling
Car coupling/uncoupling is accomplished by moving the Mouse/Pad cursor between any 2 cars on the upper Track Map when train stopped.  The normal cursor o (visible when mouse touched) becomes a large yellow O if coupled or large red X if uncoupled.  Left clicking mouse/pad toggles between coupling/uncoupling.

Locos Select
You can select another loco  with Tab or Shift+Tab.  The color of the selected loco is displayed under LOCOS on the DataBar.  Choose from 3 loco types with colors RGB.  The Red is a 4-4-0 (US classification) for fast passenger.  The Green is a 2-6-0 for mixed use – slower but more traction.  The Blue is a 2-8-0 meant for heavy, slow freights.  Feel free to use any loco for any use or several locos on one train.  Locos can work forward or backward but Traction Sand works differently with direction and loco wheel configurations.  Note: If the map and side views occasionally get out of sync, Multiple Tabs may sort things out.

Multi-Locos
Several locomotives can be coupled to the same train.  All locos on one train then share Throttle, Brake, and traction Sand settings.  Not shared are Water/Coal/Sand levels, and Boiler Pressures which are set separately for each loco.  Robo Locos use 100% Boiler Pressures only.

Turntable 
Each east/west Terminal Station has an associated Turntable and Roundhouse.  The  Turntable is used to rotate one Loco/Tender combination to face either east or west or direct them into one of the Roundhouse stalls.  Turntable rotation is not meant for cars.  Pressing T or Shift+T rotates the direction by 18 degrees CW or CCW.  If you attempt to exit or enter the Turntable when tracks aren't aligned, a Crash will occur.  The Roundhouse (actually an arc) has stalls for storing and maintaining  Loco/Tender combinations.

Multi-Trains
In order to reasonably control more than one train at a time, ST 4 offers a Robo(tic) Loco/Train option.  Except for restrictions on MODEs (below), any Loco can be made Robo simply by pressing the R key.  If a train is stopped (SPEED=0), pressing R trys to launch the Robo Loco in the normal forward direction.  If you want a stopped loco to move in reverse, press Shift+R keys.

If a loco/train is already moving in the desired direction, press R for Robo(tic) control.   A small word ROBO appears on the Data Bar overlaying your colored LOCO selection box.  If a train has multiple locos (described above), pressing R toggles Robo on/off for all locos coupled to that train.  Also, total stalls (SPEED=0) or tapping the Brakes disengages Robo. 

The semi-skilled Robo crew and train offers several unique characteristics:
o   Auto Throttle tries to maintain your chosen speeds (Options) when possible
o   Auto Braking when you reach a terminal on a clear lower track
o   Auto Traction creates amazing stickion between loco driver wheels and rails
o   Auto Fueling consumes no coal/water/sand while Robo engaged
o   Auto Switching always moves Robo trains Down (south) toward the main-line at all 	Switches – ignoring SWITCHES settings
o   Auto slow and stop at Terminals only, possibly bumping parked cars/trains
Note: Robo Trains are quite simple minded – reach far terminal on the lowest track.  You need to get your train out of the way or disengage Robo on approaching trains.

Signals
Red or Green signal lights appear on the Track-Map where dual passing tracks converge into one main-line track.  A Red signal means another Loco occupies the single track ahead leading to a possible collision if you proceed.  If the signal turns Green, it may be safe to proceed.  While stopped, you can always side-scroll the map to check ahead.  The signals only check for locos -- not parked rail cars.  

Also, when two converging locos get close – less than one station – whistles blow to alert the other loco driver.  A red left/right arrow appears on one end of your Data-Bar to indicate the approaching loco's direction.  You have a limited time to take action.

Auto-Scroll
The A key toggles Auto-Scroll on/off.  A small word AUTO appears on the Data Bar.  For the Side-View, Auto scrolls the train to the first or last car/loco for best visibility after a threshold speed.  For the Track-Map, Trains at speed auto-scroll the screen width for best forward visibility.

Data-Bar
A new strip atop the Data-Bar shows relative East/West position of all locos by color.
From left to right, the Data-Bar provides the following information about your loco/train:
o   WATER-COAL-SAND levels – % of full with Green/Yellow/Red warnings
o   GRADE (Slope) – % vertical/horizontal motion  (Green bar shows Up/Dn angle)
o   SWITCHES (Points) – all Up or Down for your train  (Robo trains always down)
o   BRAKE – red Stop Sign means all brakes applied to locos/cars in your train
o   LOCO(motive) – color indicates selection  (ROBO locos identified)
o   THROTTLE – setting for your loco % of full with green/red showing direction 
o   SPEED – speed of this loco/train in MPH or KPH with green/red direction
o   PRESSURE – boiler pressure for this loco in % of design limit
o   CLOCK – shows accelerated game time in 24 hour format  (18 hr = 6 PM)
o   FRAMES – shows approximate game frames-per-second  (SetUp Only)
o   SCORE – shows your earned score  (Dispatcher and MailTrain Only)
o   SCHEDULE – shows ahead or behind schedule  (MailTrain Only)

Title Window Buttons:

Help and Controls
New green buttons offer either Help or Controls Text describing how to use the latest version of SteamTRAIN.  These are in American-English but seperate downloads are available (below) if you want to Translate or Print either file.

Screen
The Screen button on the Title Window offers Resolution and Graphics Driver choices.
Normally, the highest resolution is recommended.  However, if the Loco wheels look like ovals instead of circles try a different resolution.  Also, if FRAMES are normally below 60 (fps), try a lower resolution.  Leave the Graphics driver OGL (only) for Macs or at default DX9 for Windows unless you see visual problems – then try DX7 or OGL.  

Options
The Options button on the Title Window offers several choices which are hopefully self explanatory.  The Options Window has 3 choices at the bottom: Easy, Defaults, and Hard.  Easy may be good for young players or beginners.  Hard may challenge seasoned veterins.  Defaults lies somewhere in between.  The new Easy choice includes flat track while the Hard choice has steep slopes and decouples the Throttle and Brake controls.   Note: If the Brake and Throttle are not linked together, you must manually release the Brake before proceeding!  Feel free to override these options with selections of your own.

MODE
The Title Window, a MODE button selects between three different operating modes.  Pressing Mode toggles the button immediately below:
o   SetUp – Sellect a loco, train cars, direction and station for a challenging run
o   Dispatcher – Build a train at one terminal for a run to the opposite terminal while 	adding and dropping cars en route.  Score based on quality and safety.
o   MailTrain – Speed from one terminal to opposite while exchanging mail bags at 	designated locations.  Score based on safety and time relative to schedule.

Setup Mode
If you just want to drive a train (or trains), the Setup button provides a screen of choices. Use setup to select a starting Station from 8 possible, Direction (East/West), Locomotive, and up to 9 train Cars total – Passenger, Freight or mixed. To add variety, click Random.

Since its tough for one person (like most) to safely drive multiple trains at once, a new Robo option (R-key) is available for launching Trains which proceed automatically not currently in your view.  See Multi-Trains above.  If you have selected the Second Train option, a Robo Train should launch automatically.

Dispatcher
If you want a more realistic and challenging railroad experience, Dispatcher mode asks you to assemble and operate a train between the two terminals.

The Dispatcher screen offers you choices of starting Terminal East or West, Train Type – Passenger, Freight, or mixed – plus 4 to 8 Cars.  For variety click Random. A second 'Robo' Train will always launch from the opposite Terminal during your run.

After clicking OK and PLAY, choose your Locomotive(s) from the starting Terminal's Roundhouse. Include in your train all local marked (lettered) Cars.  As you proceed to the opposite Terminal, you will be expected to drop off and pick up lettered cars along the route.   

Dispatcher adds SCORE (far right) for more challenge.  Scoring rules are:
o   +10 couple lettered car (points or $)
o   +10 uncouple lettered car in drop off box (large box at destination)
o   -10 uncouple lettered car (often temporary while switching)
o   -20 run out of coal or water and require emergency 20% fueling (F-key)
o   -40 any crash on entire railroad requiring crash recovery (Return/Enter)
Note: When using Dispatcher mode, Robo Locos cannot pull any marked cars.

Once you are comfortable with the Dispatcher operations and want even more stress/ challenges, go to Options and select harder options: Steep Slope, Fast ROBO Train, and/or Mixed Weather – Clear, Rain, Snow.  You may need to use sand carefully, run 2 Locos, or even 2 Trains to complete your Dispatcher run.  Watch for the Second Train.  High scores are recorded.

MailTrain
If you want even more challenges and mild stress, MailTrain mode asks you to quickly drive a pre-assembled train between the two terminals while stopping the Mail Car at marked locations to drop off and pick up mail and newspapers.  

MailTrain mode resurects the Phantom Express from prior versions of SteamTRAIN.  The Express has top priority and your Mail Train must clear the lower track for it to pass.  The Robo option cannot be turned off on the Express!  If you collide with the Express, it should vanish when you recover.

MailTrain uses SCORE (far right) for more challenge.  Scoring rules are:
o   +20 exchange mail at designated mail-car locations when bell stops ringing
o   -20 run out of coal or water and require emergency 20% fueling (F-key)
o   -40 any crash on entire railroad requiring crash recovery (Return/Enter)

In addition to SCORE on the DataBar, SCHEDULE indicates whether you are ahead or behind.  The actual schedule is determined by the difficulty you choose in both Options and MailTrain windows.  When you drop mail at the destination terminal, your total score adds SCORE + SCHEDULE. High scores are recorded.

Quit and SAVE
The ST 4 DEMO can't save anything.  You need to purchase a copy and register.
Improvements have been made based on customer feedback.  Whenever you QUIT ST 4 PAID, all your latest selections will be saved under Screen, Options, and the 3 MODES – Setup, Dispatcher, and MailTrain – plus High Scores.  If you have chosen the SAVE on QUIT Option, quitting automatically records your Game-Play as well for next time.  If you uncheck SAVE on Quit, you will be asked (Yes/No) if you want to save Game-Play each time you quit.  If you have saved your Game-Play and wish to continue later, just launch ST and immediately hit PLAY.

Translate and/or Print
Optional Downloads from NostWare.com:
o   ST 4 Help RTF
o   ST 4 Controls RTF
o   ST 4 Tasks RTF
If your first language isn't American-English, try computer translation.  Just open the English RTF (Rich Text Format) File in, say, TextEdit or WordPad.  Select-All and Copy.  Open a Browser to it's Translate option.  Paste into the Translate Input and set your desired language for the Output.  Copy and Paste it back into a blank page of any Text program and Save for later reference or Print for your convenience.

Happy Railroading
IronHorseJohn
April 2014