Q Where can I find documentation about the usage of WorldOfOperation ?

A A "type specific" handbook ships with each loco
see below

As of October 2017 Marklin have posted some manuals online
Refer https://www.maerklin.de/.../spielewelt-anleitungen/


A The "Marklin Magazin" ran a series of articles in 2013
2013/3 pg16 What you can do with mFX+/Part1 : Dreams come true
2013/4 pg20 The possibilities of mFX+/Part2 : Even more running fun
2013/5 pg16 The possibilities of mFX+/Part3 : The royal class
A A Website page exists
Refer : https://www.maerklin.de/...odellbahn-steuerung/mfx/
(generally light and out of date)


The Documentation that ships with the mFX+ locos includes a booklet entitled "World of Operation" with 3/4 pages in each language

Aug2015

Base Electric CabMode=01 198140_Spielewelt_Elok


Base Diesel CabMode=02 198139_Spielewelt_Diesellok


Base Steam (Coal) CabMode=03 198141_Spielewelt_Dampflok


RE_4/4 CabMode=09 246356_Spielewelt_ELok_A5


BR_144 CabMode=13 243591_Spielewelt_ELok


Koploper CabMode=29 253846_Spielewelt_Triebzug_A5


Eleckto Grau CabMode=33 253312_Spielewelt_Modernisierte_Elok


Krokodil CabMode=41 253703_Spielewelt_Krokodil

Edited by user 04 October 2017 02:14:14(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Q What differences can be observed on the Control screen for a mFX+ loco

A CS2 Differences can be seen as a) extra icons for function access and b)status displays of resources in use

Image shows differences seen in the Classic (control) panel for
A) Motive type = Electric, Diesel, Steam
B) Skill Setting = Standard, SemiPro, Professional, Specialist

A CS3 Differences can be seen as a) different icons for function access and b)status displays of resources in use

Refer to modes of operation for CS3. These are now refered to as
- Without Consimption : (1) The main icon shows the mFX+ icon
- With Consimption : (2) The main icon shows the white dots (representing 1,2 or 3 guages) - Which can be clicked to access details and replenishment
- Maintenance Facility : (1) The main icon shows the white dots (representing 1,2 or 3 guages) - Which CANNOT be clicked to access details and replenishment

Icons
(1) the base mFX+ icon : mode = "Without Consumtion"


(2) The resource indication -
The number of white dot bars is dependant on the locomotive type / resources : Electrics have one bar for sand, Diesels have 2 and Steam engines have 3
NOTE: The dots/bars are indicative of actual capacity IF the locomotive is in contact with the controller. the controller polls all mFX+ locos every 10 seconds. failureure to get a response will show black dots


(2a) NOTE, for "With Consumption" the icon can be clicked to expand resources


(2b) NOTE for "Maintenance Facility", clicking the icon shows nothing

Edited by user 28 December 2016 09:14:14(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Q Explain Resource replenishment and Consumption Rate Setting


Note Dec2016:
The following is for CS2

The Semi-Pro and Professional - Quick/Cheat refuel (also fuel usage rate setting)

Available by selecting the "Add Fuel" Icon on the "ClassicControl" panel

The blocks represent the resources available to a particular locomotive type (example = Steam with Water, Coal and Sand)

The right had side provides a means to adjust the setting for the useage rate of each resource
- "0" may be used to indicate no usage at all
- The meaning of the number is otherwise relative - (future clarification needed)
Note: These usage rates are maintained even if you subsequently set the Decoder mode to "Specialist" when this setting page is hidden


For CS3 For "Quick Replenishment" The terms that closest equate to Semi-Pro/Professional is "With Consumption", in this mode the CS3 presents a Resources dialogue
Refer also post #8 https://www.marklin-user...AQ-repository#post391429

From the Resources Dialogue, clicking the bowser icon will start to replenish a particular resource



On the CS2s "QuickReplenishment" screen there was also seen the "consumption factors"
for the CS3 , another sub-panel has to be opened. click on "Consumption"

Edited by user 29 December 2016 01:07:25(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Q What are the "Baby Steps" for getting/using the refueling function with s88 sensors

OK
Major Spoiler Alert

If you are the type of person who likes puzzles and relishes doing the discovery of new and foreign concepts yourself, then do not read any further.

If you have limited time and/or suspect that Marklin's logic may not match that of your own, and wish to short-circut at least some of the "setup" challenges of this topic, while being alerted to some of the inconsistencies(bugs?) then I hope the following offers enough insight to allow the "frustration" of reading between the lines to be minimal

Are you ready? And by that I mean brain fresh and ready for new concepts...... ;-)

A But first - some perspective and expectation (reset)
Brain wipe
#1
You can leave the concept of the CS2(CabMode) knowing the exact location of your train on the layout at the door!
With the current implementation. If ANY train triggers a sensor of the type indicating a resource then ALL mFX+ locomotive ABLE to use that resource (and that being operated in CabMode) will receive a refueling prompt and the image of the resource approaching in the screen.
#2
Any implication that you may have read into the description that the sensor can automatically initiate a refuel, or even a slowing down and stopping, are incorrect. CabMode maintains an essence of prototypical realism by still requiring the engineer to determine "if" he/she wants to refuel and, when in position, to initiate the refueling themselves
#3
@ v3.0.1
Be aware there are still bugs in the implementation. Specifically in the Servicing Symbols that appear in the top left of the windscreen.
Triggering "Sensor1" should show a fuel bowser with no arrow - all too often the sensor appeared with the arrow thus confusing the state of operation.

Lets start with the manual
".... for <The CabModes (Professional and Specialist)> you can determine the location of a locomotive refueling station (BW)<??> using electrical contacts and a feedback module. 2 contacts per refueling Station must be present on the layout. The first contact is for requesting fuel and the 2nd contact is the locomotive refueling facility that has been reached (diesel ... , sand ,... coal ... , etc.)."

Comment:
This does not address the situation that you are able to define multiple refueling station of a similar type

breaking this down to its components
- Setting up the sensors
- Moving into the Cab and observing the effect of the sensors being triggered and understanding what engineer interaction that needed for and when used.
- Assessing distance, speed and deceleration and tweaking the sensor settings

Setting up Sensors
This is done on the CS2s Layout panel and the mechanism for placing a special sensor on the trackplan is the same as that of a standard one.
Prior to CS2 v3 firmware adding a sensor would simply mean placing a dot on the track plan and giving it an address. With v3 a number of additional options were provided
- Nachfuell (Refill) Station
- Abstand (Distance)

The Refill Station sensor can be defined as ...
- Kleine (none) - traditional Dot

- Anzeige (Advance) - graphic of the station type with grey(inactive) and light yellow(active) aspects

- Halt (Reached) - graphic of the station type with black(inactive) and bright yellow(active) aspects


Within the Advance/Reached groups each shows are a choice of 4 station types (image shows Sand Coal Diesel Water ).
It is import that the type chosen matches its purpose (if not the sceniced item on your layout). e.g. Water and Coal have no meaning to a Diesel locomotive and will not show in its CabMode.

CabMode - what is observed and how to interact
The use and interaction of a sensor triggered event involves the following sequence...
- Moving (speed > 0)
- A sensor (that has been defined as Advance type for a Resource Type used by the loco being driven) is triggered
- The engineer decides if he/she wishes to refuel and presses the "Add fuel" button(icon)
- The loco will stop and the image changes(jumps) to being adjacent to the fuel depot when Ether
- - A sensor (that has been defined as Reached type for a Resource Type used by the loco being driven) is triggered
- - The virtual image reaches the adjacent resource.
- The engineer decides to refuel by pressing the "Add Fuel" button again to do so (or drives off)


Image when loco in motion


Image when an "Advance" sensor triggered - in this case for Sand
Note:
- The appearance of the Sanding tower in the distant right
- The appearance of the servicing symbol at the top left - State shows hose in holstered position


Image after engineer presses "Servicing Symbol" - it changes to include an arrow (indicating request for refuel)


Image showing locomotive stopped by refueling unit


Image after "Servicing symbol" is pressed - the icon changes to one with the hose extended.
not shown is the animation of the sand delivery chute swinging into position. The Sand level gauge slowly rises
Note: It is up to the engineer to stop the refueling and swing the delivery arm out of the way (it will stay there even @ 100%)
- pressing the "Servicing Symbol" again
- driving off

Assessing Distance
This is the part where you can tweak the "Distance" paramater of the Sensor definition to make for more comfortable operation and to tie in the actual gap of the 2 sensor locations on your layout

The distance parameter for the advance sensor produces a delay before the image on the CabMode screen shows the approaching resource.
This might be used if you have the sensor too far in advance of the actual desired stopping area. In this case a request for refuling will stop the loco when the image of the resource has been reached.

The distance parameter for the reached sensor permits for the physical resource location (and desired stopping location) being slightly past the actual sensor on the layout.

So in summary - for the physical world to be tuned to the CabMode world
= Sensor 1 distance value PLUS the virtual time for the resource on the screen to be reached should as equal as possible to (but slightly longer) than it actually takes for the locomotive to get from sensor 1 to sensor 2.

The reference to slightly longer is so that Sensor 2 comes into play first because it represents the real would and this is preferable to the Virtual world deciding to stop the train short. If , on the other hand, Sensor 2 is past before the engineer has pressed "Refill request" then the loco will continue until the Virtual calculation stop it - which may be in an undesirable place.


Closing observation
- While refinements will undoubtably emerge in the ability to catagorically identify that a particular locomotive is at the sensor being triggered. The current implementation restricts this operation to a single Cab and a single mFX+ Loco on the layout

Edited by user 09 January 2014 05:27:11(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Q Are their any observable (from a standard mfx) differences on the CV settings panels

A There is a whole new "Block", called "Vorrat" (translation needed? - comment below from John(River6109)) <There may be other bits>

Comment: A Steam mFX+ loco has 3 fuel resources while the Diesel only has 2 (Electric only one).

Should you wish to play with the Steam CabMode option (and include Coal) via ...
... a (factory)Diesel loco, you can access the CV and update "Max Fuel B" with a non-zero value
... a (factory)Electric loco, you can access the CV and update "Max Fuel A" and "Max Fuel B" with a non-zero value

Translation
Vorrat: What stock is left = volume, liters, kg, pieces, fuel diesel, coal, water, ammunition, the same goes for a battery when it indicates how much charge is left etc. etc.


2014 Updates improved the english description and added fields (Console Type)

Edited by user 31 July 2014 05:48:46(UTC)  | Reason: Copied translation from River6109

Q Are there any "gotchas" (operation bugs)

A Yes there are. These may be addressed (or not) in firmware/software updates


This may be an organically growing post. but for now .. as at v3.0.1


A The SIFA countdown continue when the CS2 is at STOP


A re multiple throttles contend with the one in CabMode

Because the CS2 overlays some "high level" management (e.g. SIFA and discrete throttle v brake) it is currently possible for other throttles to interfere/contend with instructions to the track. Ideally (and maybe in the future) a CabMode CS2 will monitor this other traffic and, at the very least, keep in sync.

Specific example. 2 CS2 (one as slave) in CabMode for the same locomotive (Diesel/Electric) will each maintain their own SIFA counts.

More likely is that is a CS2 has a loco setup in CabMode and a MS2 calls up the same loco, the MS2 may appear to work by sending a change of speed command, but the CS2/CabMode will subsequently override it to set the speed back to its required value

A re knob useage in CAB mode - Pressing knob=SIFA has been observed to also cause a reverse (probably a bug)

For experience, this symptom has been observed rarely but noteably.
There appears to be a link to the underlying Throttle control panel that is allowed to "get through" the CabMode skin and cause the reverse of the loco assigned to the left Throttle

A re knob useage in Refuel mode - Turning a throttle knob affects the other (probably a use ability)

In most panels (keyboard/layout) it is possible to continue to control the Locomotives speed and direction. In these cases an abberiviated speed bar and direction indicator appears at the bottom of the screen to maintain track of these aspects. And they succinctly reflect the left and right thottles respectively.

In the Refuel panel of an mFX+ loco, a single speed bar indicator is shown but it is always on the bottom left.
So if the mFX+ loco being refueled was loaded on the right throttle - this gives a missleading association, and as such the intuitive thing is to turn the left knob. This will actually result in the action being performed on the loco that was registered on the left BUT with no indication as such.


A Bowser icon in CabMode (seen in window) shows incorrect state

Probably a bug.
refer sensor/refuel uage post.
.....

Edited by user 18 January 2014 00:58:24(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Q Why is the resource values area blank (occasionally go blank) : The words "Diesel","Sand","Water" are still there

A The regular (10 sec) status communication between the CS2 and the decoder has failed



When a mFX+ decoder is not in "Standard" mode (and the CS2 reflects this) there is a regular, approximately every 10 second, status exchange between the two. Because the resource usage is actually done within the decoder, these checks are needed so that the CS2 can provide updated values on the screen.

Should the locomotive (mFX+ decoder) fail to respond during these status checks The CS2 blanks the value area. This may simply be an indication that the locomotive is in a dead section controlled by a signal in which case the resources wont be being depleted, but the CS2 has no way of knowing that and the locomotive could have transitioned to an area being powered by a 6015/7 booster and still using up resources. The blanking may also be used to indicate a stalled loco (bad pickup) or poor connection (quality signal) to a part of the track.

From observation, even on a reliable roller-bed, the value area may be seen to occasionally go blank for 10 seconds and then return. The supposition being that this aspect is not as critical as some other activity on the track and has a lower priority

Q Is there some similar indication (of comms failure) when running in CabMode?

A Not directly, the fuel/resource gauges will continue to show the last reported values (i.e. will not go to zero or highlight)

Q What function does the schedule have in the WoO game?

A @ v3.0.1 = Limited/Cosmetic animation with no flexibility of awareness (retention) of state

As observed
- the Uhlzeit - is just the time in the cab (CabMode) - it counts even if the loco is not moving.
- schedule display ticks over purely based on time (regardless of speed as long as it is > 0)
- unable to "start at a particular station"
- resets whenever CabMode is exited (and reentered)
- Once route is complete - display is blank

Q What do the values in the schedule display mean?

A From the config file a bit of information can be gleaned and correlated




{fahrplan}
item
.dist=4000
.zeit=3
.ort=A-Burg
item
.dist=12000
.zeit=9
.ort=B-Bach
......


Both distance (.dist) and time (.zeit) are relative to the place of departure
The distance e.g. 4000 (presumably in meters) shows in the display as 4 (kilometers)
The time is the expected time of arrival - relative to the start of the trip. In the display the format id hh:mm
And the place (.ort) is an abbreviated location/halt/station.

No data is indicated as to the arrival time (for train stops)
The game as such (@3.0.1) is within the players mind, whereby, a bit of mental arithmatic is needed to divide the delta distance (e.g. 8000 between Bach and Burg) by the delta time (6 minutes) and come up with an average speed need = 80kph. After that it becomes a personal challenge if you want to allow for for stops (starting and stopping) or speed restrictions.

Maybe a future version will actually overlay an "actually distance travelled" from the decoder to provide for a measurable target to help achieve the goal.

Q Can I customise the Shedule in WoO? : e.g. for fast v slow trains

A @ v3.0.1 = No

It can be seen from the CS2 file listing that the dynamic schedule seen in Diesel and Electric cabs (The Steam Cab is a non-dynamic clipboard) that the schedule is from a configuration file .../spiel/fahrplan1.cs2. As such there is theorectically no reason why this cannot be customised.

Quotes as recent as 2014/1 Insider , when talking about the E93,
... On the Central Station display, the operating information for E 93 07 appear,such as the schedule information (which cannot yet be influenced) ...
imply a future capability of some kind is being considered.

The 2014_NewItems brochure telegraphs the following
Update 3.6.x
- Your own schedules can be generated
no date is provided for the availability of this version the implication is that it will be after 3.5 which has also yet to be released.

Brief summary of Changes in CS2 update 3.5.6(16)

Some English - in scrolling message display

But SIFA emergency breaking still in German!
Link to Audio for "Zwangsbremsung"

The TimeTable schedule can be created (multiple) and selected
- Utilises an extension to the Memory(route) capability
- Can include sounds from soundfiles through the CS2 speaker (e.g. station announcements) - From Audio Tab of Setup

The new Memory-link function with a Locos Function button can be utilised to "hot key" routes and accessory sequences, without leaving the CabDisplay screen

No new images for Oil fired steam engines

Bugs still evident
- switches not in sync with Function state
- SIFA still counts withe CS2 BIG-STOP
- scroll message (to refuel) continues even after refueling complete
- turning left knob when in the resource page has unwanted(unseen) consequences