The Settings menu can be access from either the main menu or the pause menu, to customize your experience. In this guide, we will go through the various settings available and explain what impact they will have on the game.
Please Note: The settings available in this menu may differ between platforms.
General
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Notifications | ON/OFF | Displays a prompt on the right-hand side of the screen, whilst operating a train, each time a control is interacted with. |
Control Change Notification | ON/OFF | Displays a tooltip of the name of a control, and its current set value, as you move the cursor over an operable control in a locomotive cab. |
Screenshot Quality | Normal/High | Reducing this setting will reduce the file size of screenshots as well as the image quality. |
Hide UI in DTL Railfan Shots | Hidden/Shown | When set to Hidden, there will be no UI visible when you Take a Railfan Shot. |
Bidstack Advertisements | ON/OFF | Toggle the visibility of real-world, in-game advertising. |
Re-enable Dovetail Live | N/A | Get prompted to log into Dovetail Live next time the game is started. |
Accessibility
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Subtitles | ON/OFF | Toggle subtitle for voice over segments. |
Default Movement | Walk/Run | Run/Walk by default. |
Speedometer HUD Size | Small/Large | Increase the size of the speedometer for better visibility. |
Crosshair Visibility | OFF/0%/50%/100%/Large | Decrease the opacity of the crosshair, disable or enable a large crosshair. |
Auto Hide Crosshair | ON/OFF | When the camera is still, the crosshair will fade after a few seconds. |
Lightning Effects | ON/OFF | Disable lightning effects for photosensitive players. |
Arcing Spark Effects | ON/OFF | Disable catenary sparks effects for photosensitive players. |
Controls
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Gamepad Controls | Immersion/Classic | Choose between the Immersion or Classic control scheme and view the controller layout. |
Keyboard Controls | N/A | View or rebind keyboard controls. |
Advanced Controls | N/A | View and calibrate controls for the RailDriver peripheral. |
Camera Invert Y-Axis | ON/OFF | Change up & down camera movement relative to the controller or mouse. |
Left Stick and Right Stick Sensitivity | 0 - 10 | Change the speed of camera movement when using a controller. |
HUD & Gameplay
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Disable Junction Derail | ON/OFF | In some situations, whilst driving a train, a switch that has been set to an incorrect position to enable safe passage can cause a train to derail. The Off option will mean that the train will react as it would in reality and derail. The On option will allow the train to continue unaffected by the switch position. |
Objective Marker | ON/OFF | Displays the location of the current objective in the 3D world. |
Stop Marker | ON/OFF | Displays a colored indication and marker in the 3D world that depicts where you should bring your train to a stop. |
Scenario Marker | ON/OFF | Displays a blue marker in the 3D world to allow players to start a scenario when on foot. |
Next Speed Limit Marker | ON/OFF | Displays an indication and marker in the 3D world at the exact location of a changing speed limit. |
Next Signal Marker | ON/OFF | Displays an indication and marker in the 3D world at the exact location of the next signal providing a simplified representation of signal aspect (Green, Yellow, Red) and the distance to that marker. |
Next Signal Aspect | ON/OFF | Displays an indication in the upper right corner of the screen a simplified representation of signal aspect (Green, Yellow, Red) and the distance to that signal. |
Next Speed Limit HUD | ON/OFF | Displays an indication in the upper right corner of the screen that depicts the distance to the next change of speed limit as well as the limit that applies from that location. |
Next Signal HUD | ON/OFF | Displays an indication in the upper right corner of the screen the distance to the next signal. |
Display Safety System Helper | ON/OFF | HUD elements help with the operation of Safety Systems. |
Camera Motion Sway | ON/OFF | The camera will move to show physical effects on the train. Disable this option to reduce feelings of motion sickness. |
Camera Motion Sway Level | 0 - 200% | Adjust the amount the camera will move in relation to physical effects on the train. |
Immersion Camera Switch | Head out/External/Free | When using the Immersion control scheme, clicking in the right analog stick will switch from the internal camera to the selected option. |
Measurement Units | Automatic/Imperial/Metric | Changes the units of measure for speed limits and distances displayed on the HUD from miles per hour (imperial) to kilometres per hour (metric) (1 km = 0.622 miles) and yards to metres (1 metre = 1.094 yards). |
Imperial Distance Units | Automatic/Yards/Feet | Changes the units of measure for Imperial distance when operating a train (i.e. 100 yd = 300 ft) |
Imperial Mass Units | Automatic/Long Tons/Short Tons/Thousand Pounds | Changes the units of measure for Imperial mass when operating a train (i.e. 1 Imperial Ton = 1.12 US Ton = 2240 Pounds) |
Temperature units | Automatic/Celsius/Fahrenheit | Changes the units of measure for temperature as displayed on the Timetable selection modes and scenarios. |
Gradient Units | Automatic/Percentage/Ratio | Changes the units of measure for gradients when operating a train (i.e. 1:10 or 10%). |
Steam Firing Mode | Automatic/Manual/Assisted |
Audio
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Master Volume | 0 - 100% | Sets the overall volume level of all the audio output. |
Menu Music | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume level of the menu music only. |
Game Sound Effects | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume level of sound effects (i.e. engines, buttons, switches etc..) |
Dialog | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume level of narration on guided scenarios or training. |
Ambience | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume level of ambient sound (i.e. birds, traffic, passenger voices) |
External Alert | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume level of external alerts only. Adjusting this will increase/decrease the volume of external audible alerts whilst operating/driving locomotives in the 3D world - i.e. the sounds of the alert systems can be heard even when using one of the external camera settings. Setting this volume level to 0% disables external audible alerts. |
UI Sound Effects | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume level of the menu sounds and tones heard whilst navigating the game menus. |
In-Game Notifications | 0 - 100% | Sets the volume of in-game notifications when objectives or route tasks are completed. |
Window Audio Focus | ON/OFF | Enables or disables whether the audio can still be heard if the Train Sim World window loses focus (i.e. you click on another window currently open in the background). |
Screen
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Screen Resolution | Resolutions supported by your graphics card/monitor. | The current resolution the game is rendered at in pixels. Increasing this setting will improve image quality, but have a direct impact on game performance. |
Windows Mode | Fullscreen/Windowed/Windowed Fullscreen | Allows the player to specify which type of window the game display occupies. FullScreen means the game operates in exclusive full screen mode and occupies the area determined by the screen resolution setting. Windowed mode means the game operates in a window and can be of variable size as defined by the screen resolution setting and includes a window title bar and border. Windowed FullScreen, often referred to as Borderless Window mode, means the game operates in a full screen window where the standard window borders are invisible. For this mode, the screen resolution is set by Windows and cannot be set independently. |
Graphics Preset | Low/Medium/High/Ultra | Change the overall graphical fidelity of the game. Increasing this setting will impact game performance. |
Advanced Settings
Option | Available Settings | Description |
Foliage Quality | Low/Medium/High/Ultra | Defines the quality level of the population and detail of in-game vegetation and trees. |
Shadow Quality | Off/Low/Medium/High | Defines the quality level of shadows. |
Effects Quality | Off/Low/Medium/High | Defines the quality level of effects. |
Sky Quality | Low/Medium/High/Very High/Ultra | Defines the quality level of the sky and cloud rendering. |
Post Process Quality | Low/Medium/High/Ultra | Defines the quality level of post-processing effects such as motion blur. |
View Distance Quality | Low/Medium/High/Ultra | Defines the distance at which certain objects are rendered. |
Texture Quality | Low/Medium/High/Ultra | Defines the quality level of surfaces. |
Max FPS | 20 - 150/Unlimited | Defines the maximum frame rate the game will attempt to render at. |
Motion Blur | OFF/ON | Toggles the use of motion blur when the camera or objects are in motion. |
AntiAliasing | Off/FXAA/TAA | Smoothed appearance of edges in the 3D world. The various modes are: FXAA or Fast Approximate AntiAliasing which is an anti-aliasing algorithm created by NVIDIA and works by selectively reducing the contrast of an image, smoothing out visually obvious jagged edges and isolated pixels. TAA or Temporal Anti-Aliasing creates a smoother, clearer image than any other antialiasing solution by combining high-quality MSAA (MultiSample Anti-Aliasing), post processes, and temporal filters (comparing previous frame with current frame). |
VSync | Off/On | VSync or Vertical Sync enables synchronization of the game frame rate with the display refresh rate for improved stability and perception of motion. If a display has a 60 Hz refresh rate, the in-game frame rate will be perfectly synchronized at 60 frames per second (fps). |
Screen Percentage | 50 - 200% | A resolution scaling technique used to render a lower or higher resolution image than what is currently being presented. This enables the player to balance performance and image resolution quality. Higher settings will incur significant performance overheads and high performing graphics hardware will be required. |