Hi!

The PC version of the CS 2 includes an English UI, but until you got it up and running you may see a few German words.

The first Setup screen allows you to select the language. On my computer English was automatically preselected and all setup screens were in English. So far so good.

When you start the CS 2 program for the first time, it will prompt for a working folder ("Arbeitsverzeichnis" in German):

This is a dialogue from the operating system and will look different with newer Windows versions (I used XP for the screen shots). I recommend creating a new folder for the CS 2. On my computer, this folder contained 4000+ files and required 141 MiB disk space.

Then you get a warning that the environment will now be prepared for first use:


You will see a progress bar while files are being copied:


If the PC version could not find a real, physical CS 2 on the local network, it will show a warning ("Keine CS2 entdeckt. Es wird nun der Demo-Modus gestartet."):

This means "No CS2 was found. Demo mode will now be activated."
You should close this warning quickly, otherwise more instances of this warning will pop up on the screen. For n warning messages, you will later get (n - 1) error messages when you close the warnings - so better close it quickly while there is only one warning message.

You cannot change the language selection ("Sprachauswahl") while any of the warning messages ("Frage" means question, but it shows a warning) are still open.
Once all "Frage" warnings are closed, you can select the language for the UI. Currently only the four entries in the top row (de, en, fr, nl) work on my computer. Feel free to try Swedish, Spain, Italian, Japanese, or Russian - but don't be surprised if you get a German UI.
Edit: Update for version 3.8.1(12): Swedish, Spain, and Italian now work on my computer. Japanese does not work under my English Windows XP, but may work on different operating systems, Russian still shows German texts.

The "Gfp-Simulator" error message comes when you had more than one "Frage" warning:

So you shouldn't see it if you closed the "Frage" dialogue quickly.

Here we are, up and running - and everything in English:

German text in the UI indicates new features. "Kohle/Öl" stands for "coal/oil". FS stands for speed step.

The PC version has a small font problem, showing a black rectangle where the Ellipsis glyph ("…") should be:


New features, e.g. new screens created for the PC version are in German:

This screen allows you to switch from Demo mode to a connection to a real CS 2. Here the PC version still couldn't find a physical CS 2 and will stay in Demo mode.

Even without a CS 2 and without any mfx+ loco you can now enjoy the mfx+ Spielewelt and all cab control modes:

Sand is sand, Wasser is water, Kohle is coal.

There are four modes for operation of mfx+ locos:

Our daughter was amused about the "Profesional" mode (a typo I had missed).

Not shown here: you will probably get a few warnings from your firewall as the PC version tries to connect to the network. You should allow that if you have a physical CS 2 and want to connect to it. If you don't have a CS 2, then you can block all those attempts.


Long story short: it's dang easy to get the PC version up and running even if you don't know any German.

Update (14/12/2014):
The download page (German only):
http://maerklin.de/de/pr...ds/software_updates.html

Scroll down to "Central Station Program auf dem Windows-PC" to find the download link:

Code:

http://medienpdb.maerklin.de/digital22008/files/CS2.exe

Copy URL to the address field of your browser and download should start.


Update (26/12/2014):
With the current version, seven languages work (only four with initial release).
The download page was modified. Now you have to accept the license agreement by clicking "Ich habe die Lizenzvereinbarung gelesen und bin damit einverstanden" to see the download link.
The new filename is "CS2_setup.exe".


Update (08/09/2015):
There is a new file on the download page:
CS2.dmg (120.000,00 kb)
I assume it is the Mac version of the software. It includes a German Readme file with some Mac screenshots.

The download page (German only):
http://maerklin.de/de/pr...ds/software_updates.html
You still have to accept the license agreement by clicking "Ich habe die Lizenzvereinbarung gelesen und bin damit einverstanden" to see the download link.
The new filename is "CS2.dmg" (Mac).

Edited by user 08 September 2015 08:45:54(UTC)  | Reason: Now for Mac also.

Hi!

An issue was recently reported on Stummi's Forum: the CS2 program is not "DPI-aware".

The standard setting of Windows is 96 DPI or 100 %.

This screen shot was made with 125 % (120 DPI). The window keeps it size, but the fonts are larger. The loco on the left is running at speed step 125 (not 25).


And here are three screen shots taken at 150 % (144 DPI):



I think you get the picture: the more DPI the more text will be cut off.

So if you want to try the CS2 program on your PC, better set the display to 100 %.


Technical details for curious readers.
There is a simple solution: when requesting a font from Windows, developers can specify the height of the font in pixels and Windows will return the same font for any DPI setting. Text will we dang small on a 4K display, but no text will be hidden or cut off.

Further information from Microsoft:
https://msdn.microsoft.c...464646%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Recently, I bought a cheap 7in 1024*600 Windows tablet to see whether that could be used, with this program, as a wireless controller connected to a cs[x] (that is, as yet, still on my wishlist). I do not (want to) have an Ithingy, and find it deplorable that Märklin has not bothered to make apps for Android and Windows.

The low resolution of the tablet is no problem at all – still higher than that of the CS2, and at this size the tablet can be held comfortably. As far as I can see, touch control is no problem, and the looks are OK (picture; the squares on the cutting mat in the background are about 1cm square).



The only thing that did not work was having two boxes (PC/laptop/tablet) connected to the same network. I hope/suppose that that is because of the simulated connection.