User manual

SelectOR is an alternative menu and launcher for Open Rails. From a single window you choose the route, train, path, time, season and weather, see the train in 3D and 2D, check the route map and start the simulation. It does not modify Open Rails: it reuses the components you already have installed.

It also includes the Companies section, an optional online mode where several drivers share a railway company: fleet, bank, services, ranks, rankings and station announcements. While you drive, SelectOR lays its own tools over Open Rails: the HUD with mini-map and timer, the quick-access bar and the cab panel with gauges, speedometer and controls. You can also check your services, the ranking and your profile on the website, with the My Company button (chapter 10).

This manual is a complete tutorial of the interface. It first explains the requirements and the main window. Then it follows the work of the three roles in a company:

What happens if the web server is not active

SelectOR shows no error, but the driving tools never appear: they keep waiting for Open Rails to report that the scenario has loaded. Also:

• the timer does not start;
• there are no passengers and no station announcements;
• the cab panel receives no data;
• the service distance is estimated from the save file or from the length of the path, instead of being measured live.

2.1 Other requirements

When SelectOR opens, a splash screen with a progress bar appears while it reads your routes, trains and locomotives. After that it starts much faster thanks to its content index. If a route or a train is missing, check that its content folder is added in the Open Rails Options.

If you have several content sets in Open Rails, the splash screen first asks «Which content do you want to load?». The last one you used is preselected: change it if you like and press Load. This way only the content you are going to use is read. You can change it at any time with the Content selector in the header.

The window has four areas:

• Top bar: the logo, the tabs (Route, Activity, Free driving, Timetable, Multiplayer, Consist editor and Companies), the Content selector to choose the set of Open Rails folders, the Resume button and three icons: the gear (OR Options), the sliders (SelectOR settings, section 4.9) and the «i» (About SelectOR).
• ROUTES column: a search box, the All and ★ Favourites filters and the routes as cards, with their picture and how many activities they have. Double-click to mark or unmark a route as a favourite. In Companies, the company menu appears in its place.
• Tab content, in the centre.
• Bottom bar: a summary of your choice (route, train, timetable…) and the action button (DRIVE or Go on duty). In Multiplayer you connect from the window that opens when you choose how to play (section 4.4).

SelectOR always opens on the Route tab, with a welcome screen showing the logo, the prompt «Choose a route to start», the release notes of the version (in the language SelectOR is set to), a summary of your content and, at the bottom, the SelectOR and Open Rails versions. The last route is already loaded behind it: choosing a route in the list (or coming back from another tab) shows its overview: picture, description (Read more expands it) and its figures (stations, paths, activities and timetables). On the right, START DRIVING takes you straight to Activities, Free driving or Timetable, with how many there are of each, and below are the trains in your content, the stations on the map, the last time you drove it and the km you have done on it.

In the centre is the route map (tracks and stations) with the SelectOR community users driving on it right now: each one is a locomotive in its colour, scaled with the zoom (with the name inside when you zoom in), with their train, speed and the company they are on duty for. Trains move continuously, a few seconds behind. Wheel = zoom, drag = move, double-click = whole route; clicking a train or its name in the legend makes the map follow it. If the route has no track layout (.tdb), the tab shows the route picture and the View route map button.

4.1 Activity

Shows the route's activities as cards: name, start time, season, weather, train, path and difficulty. At the top are the All, Easy, Medium, Hard and Under 1 h filters, each with how many there are, and the search box.

When you pick one, the CHOSEN ACTIVITY panel shows its start, duration, difficulty, train, season and weather, with the description and the briefing. Show the path on the map opens the map with the whole path. Press DRIVE, or double-click the card. When you drive an activity, the route sheet already has its path and stops with the scheduled time (section 9.7).

4.2 Free driving

This is the free mode. At the top, the YOUR TRIP card looks like a ticket: the departure (green dot) and the arrival (orange pin), joined by a line with the path km and how many paths there are between them. The ⇄ button swaps them (if the route has the return path) and Map opens the path map.

Below, in a row of chips, the departure time, the season, the weather and the activity mode. A click on the time, the season or the weather opens its picker (the time bar with its shortcuts, or the season and weather cards); it closes by itself when you choose and the chip is updated. A click on Activity mode turns it on or off.

The Itinerary chip opens a planner on the route plan: click the track to mark the start, waypoints and destination (Follow the path fills it in from the chosen path) and tick the stations to stop at in the list. It is saved like any other itinerary (section 9.7) and, when you drive, the HUD and the route sheet already have it. The chip turns green with its name, «Itinerary: …».

Below, in CHOOSE YOUR TRAIN, are the trains, as cards or as a compact list: the button next to the search box switches the view and is remembered. The All, Passengers, Freight, Multiple units and Locomotives filters show how many there are of each type, and the search box filters by name. Next to them there are two more filters with their count: ★, your favourites, and ⚠, the incomplete trains, which are missing an .eng or .wag in your content (they cannot be driven; hover over it to see what is missing). The ⚠ only appears if you have any. Double-click to mark or unmark a train as a favourite. Right-click a train: Edit consist opens the Consist editor (section 4.5) with that .con already loaded, and Delete consist… sends it to the Recycle Bin after you confirm. With Ctrl+click you mark several separate trains and with Shift+click (or Shift and the arrow keys) a continuous range: the right-click menu then offers Delete N consists…, which deletes them all at once, or marking them as favourites. After deleting, the list stays where it was.

At the bottom, CHOSEN TRAIN shows everything without pressing any button:

• the 3D view: drag it to rotate it, use the mouse wheel to zoom in or out and double-click to return to the initial view. Below it is the .con name, so you can easily find it in your content. The ⤢ button in its corner opens it large (section 4.8);
• the 2D consist, car by car, with the vehicles coupled buffer to buffer. A click opens it at full size;
• the spec sheet: traction, mass, top speed, type, vehicles and length. The traction (electric, diesel or steam) is the one declared in the engine's .eng, the same Open Rails uses, and it also counts in the Purchase price.

What you change in the Consist editor (cars, name, a vehicle's seats) shows at once in Free driving: the spec sheet, the 2D consist, the card and the type filters, without restarting SelectOR. The same goes for the .con files you copy, change or delete by hand in your TRAINS\CONSISTS folder while SelectOR is open: the list updates itself within a second or two.

If you belong to a company, the right side of the title shows whether that train is in its fleet and whether it is available, for example «● Operational · Ferrocarriles del Sur». If the train has destination signs, the destination sign picker appears next to the title (section 4.7). If the train is not in the fleet, a button also appears: supervisors and the manager see Buy this train, which opens a window with the train in 2D, the price breakdown car by car and the Buy and Rent buttons; drivers see Request purchase, which asks their company to buy it (chapter 6.3).

Several paths between the same stations: if two or more .pat go from the same start to the same destination, Go to shows one entry per path, with its name (for example «Sur · Aranda-Sur-B»), and exactly the one you choose is launched, also when joining a Multiplayer room.

If some trains are missing an .eng or .wag, the notice «N trains are not shown here because they are missing an .eng or .wag» appears above the list; See which opens the ⚠ filter. The first time the trains of a very large folder are read, the loading notice says how many it has done.

4.3 Timetable

This is the Open Rails timetable mode. It only has content if the route includes timetables: Open Rails looks for them in the route's ACTIVITIES\OpenRails folder (.timetable_or files).

• On the left you choose the SET and, below it, the TIMETABLE, with how many trains each one has. The search box filters the list of timetables.
• In the centre, TIMETABLE DEPARTURES is a departures board with every train: time, train, path, stops and consist. The search box filters by train or station. Pick a train; double-click to start driving it.
• On the right, CHOSEN TRAIN shows its 3D view (with the .con name), its itinerary with every stop and its time, in running order, the season and the weather (in chips, as in Free driving: a click opens their cards), the 2D consist button and, when it applies, Buy this train or Request purchase.

If the timetable train has destination signs, you also choose the destination sign here, on its own row below the title (section 4.7). When you drive, the route sheet already has the path and the passing times of the timetable (section 9.7).

4.4 Multiplayer

At the top, in HOW DO YOU WANT TO PLAY, choose Host a game (your PC is the server) or Join a server. Clicking either opens a connection window with your player name (your SelectOR one), the IP and the Port (1 to 65535), and the Connect button. When hosting, the IP is 127.0.0.1 (this computer) unless you change it; the others join with your local network IP and the port. To join, type the IP of whoever hosts. To play over the internet you must open that port (TCP) on your router and give your public IP. What is launched is the Free driving selection, that is, the path and the train.

Below are the public servers (tsimserver.com) as cards, with their route and their players. The All, With players and Routes I have tabs filter them. The list refreshes by itself every so often, without flicker; Refresh updates it at once. A click on a card selects it and its Join button (or a double-click) opens the connection window with its IP and port already set.

Public server password: to join one you must be signed in to Companies. The first SelectOR user to join a public server gets a numeric password for it (they can ask for Another password, copy it or choose No password). While they stay connected, other SelectOR users need that password to join (3 attempts per minute); the server card shows who opened it and whether it is protected or 🔓 Free. When Open Rails is closed the password stops working and the next player to join sets a new one. The protection only affects SelectOR users.

Your player name is your SelectOR user name, also when hosting or joining by IP: to play multiplayer you must be signed in to Companies. Open Rails requires 4 to 10 characters, with no spaces, quotes or hyphens, and not starting with a digit; if your name (from an older account) does not meet it, SelectOR asks you to change it when you connect, and the new name becomes your name throughout SelectOR (you still sign in the same way).

The shared CGL room: SelectOR has a shared multiplayer room on the CGL_V22N_RE route, always open and with an always-on dispatcher on the server: nobody needs to host the game. If you choose that route in Free driving, the «Drive in the shared room» box appears next to DRIVE (ticked by default): when you drive you join the room with the other players, with the room season, weather and time (the time is Spanish time, ahead or behind if the administrator has chosen so). Untick it to drive alone. Below it you see the time, the weather and the Open Rails version of the room, and who is on duty as dispatcher and at which stations («No dispatcher in charge» if there is none).

• Before joining, SelectOR checks that your route is the same version as the room one (otherwise Open Rails would not let you in, and it offers to drive alone).
• You start at the beginning of your path (.pat); the route switches are not changed by it.
• Carry on with your train: if you leave the room or your connection drops and you come back within 10 minutes with the same path and the same train, SelectOR asks whether to carry on with it: Carry on where I left it gives you your train back where it was; Start on my track, you start on your path.
• Esc opens a menu to Quit the room or Continue (the room is not paused).
• Switches, signals and routes from the big HUD map (section 9.1), on the whole route: any player sets signal-to-signal routes, except in the stations run by a dispatcher. A switch with a signal between your train and it can only be set by a route from that signal; shunting switches (no signal ahead) can still be thrown by hand, with a click, Ctrl+9 or G / Shift+G, which ask the room for the switch. The switches you see in 3D are always the room ones: your Open Rails does not set them by itself.
• Why a signal does not clear: if a signal is still red or a route is still queued, the big map and the control centre say why (track occupied, switch reserved, another train ahead…) with a ! mark next to the signal; your train's signal also shows at the bottom of the big map, and the route queue says «Waiting because…».
• Detached cars: if someone uncouples and leaves cars on the track, they show on the big map and in the control centre as «… detached cars», in grey, and occupy their track: signals and routes take them into account.
• Room chat: in the HUD chat, the room channel talks to the players in the room, including those writing from Open Rails.
• Room radio: hold Right Ctrl (or the key or button you choose in Settings → Controllers) to talk to the others; it sounds like a real radio (section 9.10).
• Room weather and time: the administrator chooses them. Clouds, rain or snow, fog and the time change straight away for everyone inside; the season, next time you join.

Control centre: the 🖥 button, next to the room box, opens the room control centre, like ADIF signalling screens. It is a single board with the whole route, following the real track layout (spread out in stations so it reads well): the wheel zooms in or out, dragging moves it and a double-click shows the whole route again. From afar you see the tracks, the stations and the trains; close up, the tracks with their number, the platforms, the numbered switches (in blue, interlocked), the signals with their real look, occupied blocks in red and routes in green. The list on the left (or a click on a station name) takes you to each station or line section; Esc goes back to the whole route. On the right is the room chat: players driving and the dispatcher can write, the dispatcher also from the control centre; while in charge of a station, their messages carry the [Dispatcher] tag, also in the HUD chat. More in section 9.9.

• Anyone can watch. Dispatchers, appointed by the administrator, give the orders: with Take this post a dispatcher takes that station (one dispatcher per station; there can be several at once). Where there is no dispatcher, the drivers run it from the big map. Who the dispatcher is shows on the room card and in the big map legend («Dispatcher: …» or «No dispatcher in charge»).
• The dispatcher gets the Tab requests of drivers asking to pass one of their signals, with a sound: Let pass or No.
• The dispatcher can put their station in manual control: its signals only clear with a route. In automatic they clear by themselves when the train arrives.
• If a route crosses one already set, it is queued (dashed blue) and set by itself in turn, first come first served. The dispatcher can Move it to the front of the queue.

In the route list, the CGL_V22N_RE card carries the 🌐 SelectOR multiplayer badge and is pinned first in the list, with a golden frame. If you do not have the route, a notice with Download the route appears above the list and opens its official website: download it, unzip it into your content (ROUTES, GLOBAL and SOUND) and open SelectOR again. If you do not want it, close it with its ✕ and it will not appear again.

4.5 Consist editor

Create, rename, edit and delete trains (.con):

• add cars from the available rolling stock (double-click or ◀ Add). A single click shows the vehicle in the 3D view before adding it;
• remove them, move them up or down, or flip them;
• set the passenger seats (PassengerCapacity) of each vehicle. In company services, the seats the manager has set for that train take precedence, if set (section 7.4);
• check length, mass, brakes, power and maximum speed.

The editor's 2D consist is always shown at the same size, whatever your screen; if the train does not fit, it scrolls sideways. A click on a vehicle selects it in the list.

Use Save changes to save and Undo changes to discard. When you delete a consist, it goes to the Windows recycle bin.

4.6 Resume and About

Resume shows the Open Rails saved games, from newest to oldest. They are created when you save inside the simulator with the save key (F2 by default). For each one you see the route, the path, when it was saved and the screenshot Open Rails took when saving it.

• Resume, or a double-click: continues the game where it was saved.
• Replay: plays the game again from the start. It is only available if Open Rails saved its replay.

In multiplayer, Open Rails does not save the game when you join a server (only the host can save it); if you press F2, SelectOR tells you with «Game not saved».

About SelectOR shows the installed version and the Check for updates button.

4.7 Destination signs

Many trains come with several destination signs for the front and the sides. If the chosen train has them, the destination sign picker appears (DESTINATION SIGN ◀ [sign] ▾ ▶): in Free driving, to the right of the CHOSEN TRAIN title; in Timetable, on its own row below the title.

• It shows the chosen sign large, as it looks on the train.
• The ◀ ▶ arrows, or the mouse wheel over the sign, go to the previous or next destination (after the last one it goes back to the first).
• A click on the sign opens the gallery: every sign in a grid, with Train's original first and the chosen one in green with ✓. The search box at the top filters as you type and Enter chooses the first one; a click chooses and closes, and Esc closes without changing.

The train's 3D view shows the chosen sign at once: turn it or zoom in with the wheel (or open it large with ⤢) to see the front.

• The train's files are not changed when you choose, but when you press DRIVE: SelectOR copies the chosen destination into the train folder, which is what the .bat files some trains include do. Open Rails reads the signs when the scenario loads, so the destination is chosen before you set off.
• The destination is remembered for each train. If you never choose one, the picker shows the one it currently has and nothing is changed.
• Train's original puts back the train's original signs. The first time SelectOR changes a train, it keeps the originals in %AppData%\Open Rails\SelectOR_teleindicadores.
• Activity has no picker, but if you already chose a destination for that train in Free driving, it is also applied when you drive.
• The sign stays in the train folder, even if you open Open Rails without SelectOR.

Your own destinations: the ✏️ button next to the selector opens the destination board editor. It lists the train destinations with a thumbnail and whether they are «by the author» or «made with SelectOR». New… asks for the text and draws the sign over one of the train's signs used as a model: if it is LED dots, with the same dot grid; if it is a plate, with a narrow font over its colour. The preview changes as you type and is stretched as on the train. Edit… and Delete only work for the ones made with SelectOR (the author's are not touched); if the destination was set, editing it sets it again and deleting it brings back the original. They are kept on that computer.

4.8 The train large (3D viewer)

The 3D views in Free driving, Timetable, the Consist editor, Fleet and Purchase have the ⤢ button at the top right. It opens the train in its own window, drawn again at the window size (it can be maximised) and in higher quality once you stop moving it, so you can look at it in detail.

• Drag: rotate. Right button dragging: move the camera.
• Wheel: zoom in towards the mouse. The camera never goes inside the train: the angle narrows, like a telephoto lens, and you see the cab, the lettering or the bogies up close.
• Quick views: Front, Side, Rear and Top; Reset or a double-click go back to the initial view.
• Save image… saves a PNG with a transparent background at twice the window size. Esc closes the viewer.
• In Free driving and Timetable it shows the chosen destination sign.

4.9 SelectOR settings

The settings button in the top bar (three sliders) opens the SelectOR settings, in four tabs.

• Language and display: the SelectOR language (Spanish, English, German, French, Italian, Brazilian and European Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese; by default Automatic: Open Rails' language or, if it has none, Windows'). It applies when SelectOR is reopened; the Reopen SelectOR button does it straight away. Dates and numbers follow the chosen language. Below, the size of the HUD, the route sheet and the chat (100 % to 200 %, for large screens), which applies at once.

The other three come turned off: they only work if you tick their box. They are saved at once and apply from the next time you drive.

• Controllers: your connected joysticks and quadrants, live. For the levers (throttle, train brake, engine brake, dynamic brake and reverser) press «Assign» and move the lever; with a three-lever quadrant, 3-lever quadrant: assign does it in one go. Assign a button: press the button on the controller and choose what it does in Open Rails. Tick «Use my controllers when driving» to use them. Other levers: Throttle + dynamic brake (a single lever resting in the centre: one way the throttle, the other way the dynamic brake) and Throttle + train brake (the same, but the other way is the train brake, like the handle of multiple units), Combined (per train) (adapts to the train you drive: it reads from its .eng whether its handle brakes with the dynamic or the train brake and where its rest point is) and Cruise control: speed (from 0 to the service maximum speed or, if you have not set it, the train one, in 5 km/h steps; it is the one of the yellow triangle on the cab panel). Among the buttons are the cruise control ones (mode, speed up or down, to zero, acceleration). PC and PlayStation controllers, wheels and quadrants work, and Xbox controllers with separate triggers; the D-pad counts as four buttons. On combined levers, Rest sets the rest point by hand (for example, where your lever has its notch); empty, each train's own. Each button can be a Push button (on while you hold it) or a Toggle (one press turns it on and the next releases it). At the top, Room radio · push-to-talk key: the key you hold to talk on the room radio (Right Ctrl by default; also Scroll Lock, the «º» key, a side mouse button or none). Among the controller buttons you can also assign Room radio (hold to talk).
• Graphics: image enhancement with ReShade (included in SelectOR): presets (the first, the SelectOR profile), sharpness, colour vibrance, saturation, contrast, brightness, warmth, vignette and SMAA edge smoothing, with a before-and-after preview. In the game, Home opens the ReShade menu and Scroll Lock turns the effects on or off. It is not added with CYZYRails, which has its own post-processing. Below it, the People on the platforms box (on by default): realistic people who wait on the platforms of the route (only there and on the side where they are), watch the arriving train, move to the doors and get on and off, spread across all the doors, on the side that opens, at platform height and on any route. How many: as the route says (passengers waiting on each platform, with at least one every 8 m or so so the platform does not look empty) and the train (its seats); in service and in Free driving, exactly as many as the passenger counter shows, at the same pace. Once the doors close, nobody else gets on. The first time, SelectOR prepares the people in the background (about 37 MB download); until then, the platforms are empty.
• Weather: the SelectOR weather images (clouds, rain, snow, light glow and night sky), by groups, with the Open Rails image next to the SelectOR one. They go into the Open Rails Content folder only while you drive from SelectOR, and the Open Rails ones are put back when you return. Below, the «Cloud texture» strip lets you choose the clouds: Default or one of the ones SelectOR publishes (downloaded when you view them).

ReShade and the weather are placed next to Open Rails only while you drive from SelectOR and removed when you return; whatever you put there yourself (another ReShade, other images) is not touched.

The Companies tab is optional and needs internet. Every service you drive for your company is recorded automatically when you return from the simulator:

• the distance, measured live;
• the real driving time;
• the passengers;
• its economics (income, track access charge, energy, salary and rental).

5.1 What each role can do

The Settings, Users and Administration sections belong to the service administrator and are not shown to users. Nobody can remove the manager from their company, and each user can create at most 3 companies of their own.

5.2 Create an account and sign in

5.3 No company yet: create or join one

If you do not belong to any company yet, you will see the public ranking and the ➕ Create and 🙋 Join buttons:

• Create: type the company name and save. You become the Manager and the company starts with the initial balance and its own ID (for example, «EMP-7KQ4TZ»). There cannot be two companies with the same name.
• Join: choose the company in the list and press Request to join. A supervisor or the manager will accept it from Members.

5.4 What a company screen looks like

• Company card (top left):
  • the logo: supervisors and the manager change it by clicking it;
  • the name, with ✎ to rename the company;
  • the ☆/★ favourite company star, if you belong to several: it is the one selected when Companies opens;
  • your role, the number of members and the company ID (click to copy it);
  • the drop-down list to switch company;
  • the ➕ Create and 🙋 Join buttons and, for the manager, Delete (chapter 8.4).
• Section menu: OPERATIONS (Services, Fleet, Purchase, Board), FINANCE (Bank, Ranking) and COMPANY (Chat, Members, Rules, Routes, Station announcements, My profile). Only the ones your role can use are shown. If there are pending purchase requests, Purchase shows how many in a red circle.
• Your card, at the bottom: your licence photo (or your initials), your name, your ID (click to copy it; it is used to add you as a member), My account and Sign out. My account opens a menu to edit your name, change your password (it asks for the current one), see your recovery key (section 5.2), leave the chosen company or delete your account. It also has Sound for notifications and chat: a short, soft sound when a notification or a new message from another member arrives (on by default). Deleting the account asks for your password and cannot be undone: your profile, licence, notifications, chat messages and requests are deleted, and you leave your companies. The services you drove stay in their companies, with your name. If you are the only manager of a company, first make another member manager or delete it. 🚪 Leave «company»… takes you out of the chosen company: you stop being a member and what you did there stays. It is not possible with an open service or if you are its only manager; to come back you have to ask to join again.
• Indicators at the top: in Services, TREASURY, MEMBERS, SERVICES and TOTAL KM; in Fleet and Purchase, the treasury; in Members, the members by role. The other sections do not show them.
• The data are reloaded when each section opens and are updated live when another member makes changes.

5.5 The monthly company league

Each calendar month (Spanish time) is a league season. During the month, Ranking → Monthly league shows the live standings, the countdown and the prize each company would take if the month ended now. When it ends, the server pays the prizes into the winners' treasury, so the league is a way to earn money to buy trains.

• What counts: the completed and valid services recorded during the month, at most 8 per driver and day. Services by drivers whose licence is below 6 points do not count (section 5.7).
• To qualify a company needs at least 10 services in the month. Companies that do not have them yet are shown in grey.
• The Overall, Passengers and Freight tabs show the standings of each category, with its podium and prize. Passengers and Freight only list the companies that carried passengers or freight that month.

These are the initial amounts; the service administrator can change them. The same company can win several categories. The month closes by itself the first time someone opens Companies (in SelectOR or on the website) after it ends, and each month is paid only once.

• When you open Companies after winning, a notice tells you what each of your companies has won.
• In Bank, the income appears as «Prize», with the league and the position in its description.
• Champions keeps the history of each month's winners and the total won by your companies.

5.6 Notifications

When something happens that affects you, SelectOR tells you with a pop-up at the bottom right of the screen:

• you are accepted into or rejected from a company, added to it, given a new role or removed from it, or a company of yours is deleted;
• your purchase request (bought, rented or rejected) or your company request is resolved;
• the administrator validates, discards, deletes or annuls one of your services (with the reason);
• a new rule is published in your company;
• a company loan is approved or refused, or an instalment is left unpaid;
• another company buys or rents one of your trains from the market, or a rental ends or is returned;
• the administrator penalises you (with the points, fine or annulment and the reason) or answers your appeal; if you are a manager or supervisor, also when the company is fined;
• the status of a company route or of a route you proposed changes (section 5.9);
• your licence is suspended;
• if you are a manager or supervisor, someone asks to join your company or asks it to buy a train.

The pop-up does not take the focus from what you are doing and closes by itself after 20 seconds (not while the mouse is over it). A click on it opens the right section of Companies; the X closes it. They arrive instantly if SelectOR is open; the ones that arrived while you were away appear when you sign in, and the ones that arrive while you are driving wait until you close the simulator. If many arrive at once, you see the first ones and a summary of the rest. Notifications about something that has already been dealt with (for example, a request another supervisor has already accepted) are not shown.

The bell next to your name, on your Companies profile card, keeps every notification: the red number is the unread ones. A click opens the history (newest first) and marks them as read; a click on a notification takes you to the right section. Requests that have already been handled show as Resolved.

5.7 The points licence

Every driver has a 15-point licence. While you drive a service, SelectOR watches the driving and, when the service is recorded, it sends what it saw; the server applies the rules. The licence is yours, not the company's: it follows you in all your companies. Automatic offences never fine the company; only the administrator can fine it with a penalty (C1–C3).

• They all deduct the points at once. A1, A2, A3 and A4 stay applied. B6 and B7 stay pending review: the service administrator confirms or annuls them and, if they are annulled, you get the points back. Either way you get a notification.
• Administrator penalties (C1, C2 and C3): they are only given by the administrator, by hand, after reviewing the service; they are never applied automatically. You get a notification with the reason (and the supervisors and the manager get one about the fine, which shows in Bank as «Multa del administrador»). If you appeal and are proved right, or it is annulled, the points, the fine and the service are returned.
• Short trips: on trips shorter than 3 km or with less than 5 minutes of driving no offence counts (those trips are not recorded either).
• The speed limit is the one in the Open Rails Track Monitor, which already takes signals into account.
• The service km only count while Open Rails says the train is moving: changing cab or end with the train stopped adds no km and cannot give an A2.
• Automatic offences cost at most 6 points per service.
• Appeal: if you disagree with a penalty, appeal it from the service report (section 6.6) or from the licence on the website (chapter 10). The administrator reads it and answers you; if they agree, the penalty is annulled and your points are given back. Each penalty can be appealed once.
• Recovery: +1 point every 5 consecutive recorded services without offences, up to 15.
• Below 10 points: warning. Below 6: your rank is frozen (you do not move up) and your services do not count towards the league of the company or the drivers' ranking, until you are back at 6. At 0 points: the licence is suspended for 7 days and you cannot go on duty in any company; afterwards you come back with 8 points.
• The licence is shown in My profile (points, status and recovery, with the history below), in the result of each service and in Members (POINTS column). Changes arrive as notifications.
• Live warning: while you drive, as soon as SelectOR detects an offence, a pop-up appears at the bottom right, over Open Rails and without taking the keyboard, with what it saw and what it will mean when the service is recorded.

5.8 The company chat

Each company has its own chat, in the Chat section of the COMPANY group. All members read and write in it; messages arrive instantly and the last 1,000 of each company are kept.

• Type at the bottom and press Enter or Send. Up to 500 characters per message and at most 5 messages every 10 seconds.
• Each member has their own colour, and the manager and supervisors show their role. Your messages are on the right. Right-click a message → Copy message.
• The administrator can write in any company's chat, member or not: their messages carry the blue Administrator mark.
• You can correct or delete your messages: right-click → Edit message (Enter saves, Esc cancels) or Delete message. Everyone will see «Edited» next to the message, or «Message deleted» in its place.
• If you are at the end of the conversation, new messages appear by themselves, without moving the scroll bar.
• While driving, you follow the chat in the chat HUD (section 9.6), and you can also read and write from the website (chapter 10).

Permissions (only the manager and the administrator): the Permissions tab lists the members with «Can write» or «No permission to write». Choose one and press Remove permission to write or Give permission back. Anyone without permission can still read the chat and gets a notification. Nobody can change their own permission or another manager's.

5.9 Authorised routes

Does it affect me? It depends on the mode the administrator chooses

With authorisation active (Notice or Mandatory), the cards on the Route tab carry a badge: ✓ Authorised (green), Pending (amber) or Unauthorised (red).

Who does what

Driver: proposing a route

Manager and supervisors: requesting authorisation

Route statuses

Versions: when the route changes

SelectOR recognises each route by its identifier and its track file (.tdb). If someone installs a modified route (another release by the author, changed tracks…), for SelectOR it is a different version and the administrator also has to review it; meanwhile it shows as «Version pending». Changing only scenery, sounds or activities does not change the version. The first time someone goes on duty with a new version, SelectOR sends its plan by itself, so the administrator can review it.

The Routes section

Companies → Routes lists the routes that concern the company: the ones it has requested, the ones its drivers propose or use and the ones installed on your computer. The All, Authorised, Pending and Unauthorised tabs and the search box filter them. Each card shows the name, the status, who requested or proposed it and when, whether it is installed on this computer, the comment or the reason for the decision and the services run on it. View plan opens the route plan, drawn like the large HUD map (stations, platforms, sidings, crossings, loading points and buffer stops): wheel to zoom in, drag to move and double-click to see it whole.

Common questions

• «I cannot go on duty: the route is not authorised». The mode is Mandatory. Propose the route (driver) or request it (manager or supervisor) in Companies → Routes; meanwhile you can drive it without recording the service.
• I am a driver and I do not see «Propose to the company». The route must be installed on your computer and not requested yet. If it is already Proposed or Pending, there is no need: it is already on its way to the administrator.
• I am the manager and I do not have the route. It does not matter: you can request the version a driver proposed and see its plan.
• The route is authorised, but I get «Version pending». Your copy differs from the authorised one: install the approved version or wait until yours is reviewed.

Driver This chapter follows Lucía, a driver of «Ferrocarriles del Sur», from the moment she opens Companies until she records her service.

6.1 Services

You see the company's full history. The services of the last 5 days are shown as cards, grouped by day with the number of services, km and net of each day; the earlier ones follow below in a list of slim rows, and the calendar on the right jumps to any day (days with services are marked). Each card shows the driver, the route, the path and the departure time, the 2D consist of the train used (visible even if you do not have that train in your content), the cars —«3 cars (1M)» means 3 vehicles, 1 of them powered—, the km, the time, the average speed and the passengers with the seats (or the tonnes for freight) and, on the right, the net and the status. The tabs filter by All, In progress and Completed, with how many there are of each; Scheduled holds the company's service shifts (section 6.8). The search box filters by text. View service detail, or a double-click, opens its full record. Services recorded from 1.2.51 on also include the route map the train drove, with the departure, the arrival and the stops with their times (on the route tracks if you have the route installed; otherwise just the route driven). A click opens it large. Services recorded from 1.3.0 on also keep the simulator time you left at, the season and the weather, with their icons on the card.

Trips that break the rules (too short, or with an impossible average speed) are not saved: they do not appear in the list and do not count for anything (chapter 6.6).

6.2 Fleet

Fleet lists the company trains, one per line, with their whole 2D consist and their units: «No. 1», «No. 2»… or their number, with a dot in the colour of their status. The company buys complete trains (each .con bought is a unit); several units of the same train let several drivers take it at the same time. The All, Available, In service and On the market (if any is for sale or for rent) tabs filter and the search box looks up a number or a name. Separately, under EARLIER ENGINES, are the single locomotives the company bought before version 1.2.53: they count as the lead of any train that carries them and can now only be sold.

When you pick a train, CHOSEN TRAIN at the bottom shows its 3D view (drag it to rotate it) and twelve boxes: type, status, ownership (bought or rented), value, next service (km left), total km, seats, comfort, traction, power, top speed and mass. The i button on each line, or Price breakdown, shows what each vehicle of the train is worth.

• Available (green): you can set off with it.
• In service (blue): another driver is driving it now. Each unit lets one driver at a time drive it.
• On the market (purple): the company has put it on sale or offers it for rent to other companies (section 7.8); meanwhile it can't run services.
• Service due soon: less than 10 % of its maintenance km left. In workshop: maintenance is due.
• Rented: a rented train (from SelectOR in Purchase or from another company on the market) shows «Rented» in the ownership box, with its price per service. One your company has rented from another company is used like your own, and Sell, rent out or scrap… → Return gives it back early.
• Automatic workshop: when a unit reaches its maintenance km, it goes through the workshop on its own when that service closes. The company pays for the maintenance («Maintenance of …» entry in Bank) and the unit is available again straight away.
• «(you do not have it in your content)»: a company train whose .con you do not have. Add to my content copies it to your TRAINS\CONSISTS folder; you must have the rolling stock (.eng and .wag) installed.

With Ctrl+click or Shift+click you choose several trains at once: the boxes summarise the set and the actions apply to all of them.

6.3 Asking the company to buy a train

If you want to drive a train that is not in the fleet, ask your company to buy it:

The request carries the whole train as you have it: its .con, its vehicles and its 2D picture. That way it can be bought even if the manager or the supervisor does not have it on their computer.

6.4 Bank, Ranking and My profile

Bank shows all members the company accounts. In Summary, the balance as a bank card, income, expenses, result and best month, where the money goes and the income and expenses of each month, for This month, 6 months or All. The Statement lists every entry, grouped by day, with the balance after each one and filters by concept; prizes (the league ones and the €5,000,000 welcome prize every company received) appear as «Prize» and the administrator's balance changes as «Balance adjustment», which counts as neither income nor expense. Market sales and purchases, the rent the company earns from trains rented out to other companies, scheduled-shift bonuses and administrator fines (and their refund if a penalty is annulled) also appear in the Statement. Loans lists the company's loans, with their repayment schedule (section 7.6). Ranking has the monthly league (chapter 5.5), the champions and the overall ranking: companies by km and the drivers of your company with each other, each with their profile photo. My profile sums up your career, with your licence photo (click it to choose, change or remove it; members of your companies see it; in the same menu, Show my photo on the maps puts it on your train’s badge for everyone): rank, points licence (section 5.7), kilometres, trips, time, average speed, passengers, badges, most used trains, most repeated journeys and the licence history. At the top right is the «Share my position on the map» box (section 9.2). Only completed and valid services count.

Rules (COMPANY group) holds the company's internal rules, by category. The manager and the supervisors write them (section 7.7); when they publish a new rule you get a notification.

6.5 Driving a service step by step

6.6 The service result

Once recorded, the Service recorded window appears, with:

• the route, the train and the path;
• the distance, the real time and the average speed;
• the passengers carried;
• the route map: the real route the train drove, in amber, on the route tracks, with the departure and the arrival with their times, the commercial stops and, if there were any, where each offence was recorded (red triangle). A click opens it large (wheel to zoom, drag to move, double-click to see it whole);
• the trip economics: income, track access charge, energy, salary, unit rental and net, plus any bonuses (for example the night bonus of passenger services for each kilometre driven at night);
• the new company balance;
• your rank, with a notice if you have moved up a level;
• the points licence, if there were offences in the service or you are missing points. Under each penalty, Appeal this penalty…: you write why you disagree and it reaches the administrator. Then you see whether it is unanswered, accepted or rejected, with the answer. The same from the record of one of your services in Services, also with Appeal the annulment… if it was annulled.

If the trip breaks the rules, Service NOT RECORDED appears with the reasons; for example, «Distance of 1.8 km: trips shorter than 3 km are not recorded». That trip is not saved, earns nothing and does not count for rankings, and the unit is freed.

6.7 The Board

The Board (OPERATION group) is the meeting place of all companies. Anyone with an account sees it, also without a company, in six tabs. At the top, a header like a station departure board shows the time and the latest from each page.

• Showcase: companies that want to make themselves known, with their slogan, introduction and this month's figures (members, trains, km, services and League position; no money). If one is looking for members, Ask to join… sends it your request with a message. The manager and the supervisors set up their company's profile with My company's profile….
• Ads: news, new services or meet-ups in the room, with their image in view on the card (double-click opens it large). They last 3 or 7 days; featured ones (they cost game money) come first. The manager and the supervisors publish up to 3 at a time.
• Jobs: company offers with their requirements (licence points and services done). If you meet them, Apply… sends a join request with your message; the company accepts or rejects it in Members and you are notified. An offer can also ask for a driver or dispatcher certificate (section 6.10).
• Train market: the trains other companies sell or rent out (section 7.8).
• Transparency: how every company is doing this month (section 6.9).
• Tips: how to earn more on every trip, with current figures: how you are paid, how many passengers there are by time of day, day and weather, and which train suits each service.

6.8 Scheduled services (shifts)

In Services → Scheduled the company organises service shifts.

• The manager and the supervisors press Schedule service… and choose the route; an itinerary made in the planner, with its stops (section 4.2); a fleet train or «any passenger / freight train»; the departure window and whether it repeats (daily, on certain days or weekly).
• Any member can Reserve a free shift (and Release it). Prepare sets up Free driving with that route and train, and the shift's itinerary in the route sheet; you choose the path (.pat) you start from.
• If the service you register matches your shift, the server pays the company a bonus: a percentage of the income, capped per service and per day. The bonus does not come out of anyone's treasury and does not count as League profit. It shows in Bank as «Prima de servicio programado» (scheduled service bonus).
• You add a completed shift to My profile, with its badges (Appendix).
• A reserved shift that is not driven simply expires, with no penalty.

6.9 Board → Transparency

Board → Transparency shows how each company is doing this month:

• its League position (and in passengers and freight, if it is in the top three);
• its activity: services, km, driving hours, passengers, t·km, members and trains;
• which services count in the League and which do not (annulled, low licence…);
• League profit, per service and per hour;
• indicators that are the same for all: high occupancy on passenger services, freight services at the mass cap, offences with their points and services with a low licence.

Only companies appear, never drivers' names. View last month switches months. How is it calculated? explains, with the current figures, how the League is ranked, its prizes and how each service is paid.

6.10 Driver and dispatcher certificates

My profile → Certificates holds your two credentials: the driver certificate and the dispatcher qualification. Each one shows what you still need for the next step.

• Driver: first the exam (20 questions on signals, ASFA, the shared room, the licence and services, in 20 minutes; you pass with 16). Then you level up with practice: B with 10 services; A with 50 services, 2,000 km and two kinds of service; A+ with 150 services, 10,000 km and 20 services in the shared room. All of them need at least 8 licence points.
• Dispatcher: its exam, 15 questions on the control centre (you pass with 12). Once passed you are a trainee and can already take command in the room; with 5 hours in command and the driver certificate you become certified.
• If you fail, you can retake the exam after 24 hours. Questions are picked at random and the order of the answers changes every time.
• A certificate is suspended while you have fewer than 6 licence points or a suspended licence, for 30 days after a serious sanction from the administrator, or if the administrator suspends it. The administrator can also grant a certificate without an exam.
• Certified players carry their badge (🎓 with the driver level, 👮 for dispatchers) in the room legend, the chat and the radio, and companies can ask for a certificate in their Board job offers.

Supervisor The supervisor drives like any driver (chapter 6) and also looks after the company: admits members, buys, sells and rents trains (also to other companies), handles the drivers' purchase requests, maintains the fleet, schedules services and records the station announcements.

7.1 Members

The Members section has four tabs:

• Members: each member as a licence card, with their photo, role, seniority, licence points and their services, km and net in the company. Remove selected expels a member, but never the manager.
• Statistics: each member's services, km, hours, net, passengers, average speed, offences and annulled services in the chosen period, their month-by-month activity and when they last drove. It filters by period, role (including former members, whose trips are kept) and search, and sorts by services, km, net, hours, last activity, offences or name.
• Add member: paste the driver's user ID (they copy it from the footer of their Companies menu) or their exact username. Choose the role and press Add member. A supervisor can add members as Driver or Supervisor.
• Join requests: requests made with «Join». Accept turns them into drivers and Reject discards them. View profile (or double-click) shows the applicant's profile: their licence, services, km and hours, their most used routes and trains, their companies and their certificates; you can also accept or reject from there.

7.2 Buying trains

The company buys complete trains: each .con bought enters the Fleet as a unit, with its locomotive, its cars or wagons and its 2D consist.

In Purchase → Buy, the CHOOSE YOUR TRAIN list has every train in your content, one per line with its whole 2D, its price and, if the company already has it, how many units. The All, Passengers, Freight, Multiple units, In your fleet and ⚠ (incomplete) filters and the search box help you find it. At the bottom, CHOSEN TRAIN shows its 3D view, twelve boxes (traction, power, kW/t, top speed, length, mass, vehicles, brakes, seats, comfort, density and in your fleet) and two prices: PURCHASE and RENTAL / SERV.

• Buy train (or Buy another if you already have it): you pay its value once and the unit belongs to the company.
• Rent: the company pays a rental fee for every service made with that unit.
• The price is that of the whole train: each locomotive as before, and each car or wagon at its own price (wagon: €40,000 + €800 per tonne; passenger car: €150,000 + €2,000 per seat; others: €120,000), times the price scale set by the administrator. The i button on each line opens the breakdown: vehicle by vehicle, how it is valued, how many there are and what they add up to.
• Each unit lets one driver at a time drive. For two drivers to take the same train at the same time, you need two units.
• With Ctrl+click or Shift+click you choose several trains and buy or rent them in one go («Buy the 3»).

From Free driving or Timetable, the Buy this train button opens a window with that train in 2D, the price breakdown and the Buy and Rent buttons, without leaving the tab.

7.3 Purchase requests from drivers

Purchase has two tabs: Buy and Requests. The second one, and the side menu, show how many are pending; for example, «Requests (2)». Each line shows the train the driver asks for with its 2D, who asks and when, their message and the price; the i button opens its breakdown.

Choose one or several (Ctrl or Shift) and press:

• Buy or Rent: the train enters the fleet. It is bought with the .con the driver sent, even if you do not have that train on your computer.
• Reject: discards it and the driver gets a notification.

Once bought, rented or rejected, the request disappears from the list.

7.4 Looking after the fleet

In Fleet, the manager and the supervisors have, besides what any member sees (section 6.2):

• Assign number: a text of up to 20 characters, for example «446-140». Leaving it empty removes it.
• Type and seats…: sets the type (passenger or freight) and the seats of that train for the whole company. They apply to every member in services (passengers, comfort, income and the seat limit) without touching any .eng or .wag file. If you do not set them, the seats (PassengerCapacity) in each driver's files apply. To go back to those, leave the field empty.
• Sell, rent out or scrap…: opens a window with three options side by side: sell in the market (SelectOR sets the price and the company gets that price minus the fee), rent out to another company for 7, 14 or 30 days (SelectOR also sets the price per service) or scrap it straight away for much less (15 % of the new price); section 7.8. A rented unit is not sold or scrapped: it is returned (Return). Units granted by the administrator can't be sold or rented out, and scrapping them pays nothing. If the unit is already on the market, the button reads Withdraw from market.
• With Ctrl+click or Shift+click you choose several units or trains, and Sell, rent out or scrap or Add to my content apply to all of them (with a single confirmation). Esc clears the selection.

Maintenance is automatic: nothing has to be sent to the workshop any more. When a unit reaches its km, it goes through the workshop when that service closes, the company pays for the maintenance (the percentage of its value set by the administrator) and it is available again. The NEXT SERVICE box shows how many km it has left.

7.5 Station announcements

If the administrator has enabled station announcements for your company, the supervisor and the manager record the station announcements that drivers will hear as they approach each stop. First choose the Route and the Line: Base (all lines) or a specific line.

The route list has the ones installed on your computer and also the ones that already have announcements recorded in your company even if you do not have them installed, marked «not installed on this computer»: for those you see and change what is already recorded (audio, advance notice and lines).

Stations tab

• Upload audio…: uploads an MP3 or WAV of up to 2 MB with the whole announcement. With «Base» it applies to the whole route; with a line selected, it replaces the base one when the driver is running that line.
• Test announcement: plays it.
• Lead time…: when it plays, in «metres seconds» format (for example, «800 20»). It plays 800 m or 20 s before the station at the train's current speed, whichever comes first. With a line selected, the lead time applies only to that line at that station (it is marked «·L»); leaving it empty goes back to the station's value.
• Remove audio: deletes the audio.

Lines tab

• Create, rename and delete lines.
• With Stops… mark which stations each line stops at: only those will be announced.

The announcement only plays if the station is ahead of the train, in its direction of travel. So stations on parallel tracks and the departure station do not play.

7.6 Bank

Loans

The company can borrow money from the bank in Bank → Loans, just like at a real bank. At the top, the bank card sums up the outstanding debt, the instalments, the next payment and the terms, and next to it four indicators: active loans, interest, requests under review and missed payments. The manager and the supervisors press Request a loan and choose the amount (from €10,000 to €50,000,000), the term and, optionally, the purpose; the window shows the estimated instalment. The service administrator reviews the request and approves it (with its interest rate and arrangement fee) or refuses it; you get a notification.

• Once approved, the amount goes into the treasury and is repaid in automatic monthly instalments, the same every month (French system). Each loan shows its repayment schedule: every instalment with its interest, the capital part and what is left to pay.
• If there is not enough balance in the month of an instalment, it is left unpaid, with a surcharge, and collected as soon as there is.
• Repay early… returns part of the loan early (or all of it, to cancel it), with a small fee. Unpaid instalments must be paid first. Withdraw request cancels a request that is still under review.
• Instalments and fees appear in the Statement under the concept «Loans».

7.7 Company rules

In Rules the manager and the supervisors write the company's internal rules. Each rule has a title, a category and its text. New rule publishes it and notifies every member; Edit, ▲ Move up, ▼ Move down and Delete change, reorder or remove it. Drivers read them in the same section.

Requirements: in Rules you can also require a minimum of km or minutes per service and being on the company Discord. The driver is warned when starting a service, and a service that does not meet them is cancelled automatically with the reason «Does not meet the rule required by the company: …»; the cancellation can be appealed from its record.

7.8 Train market

In Board → Train market companies sell, buy and rent trains from each other. The company does not decide the price: SelectOR sets it from the new price of the train (starting at 70 %), lowering it with the km and with how much is left until the next service; it never goes below 25 %.

• Selling: in Fleet, choose the unit and press Sell, rent out or scrap… → Put on sale. It stays on sale for 14 days, shows «On the market» in Fleet and can't run services. When another company buys it, yours gets the price minus a 5 % fee and you are notified.
• Withdrawing: in Fleet (Withdraw from market) or in the market itself; the train is available again. If 14 days pass without a sale, it comes back on its own.
• Buying: choose the train in the market and press Buy…. It is paid at once from the chosen company's balance and the unit joins your fleet with its km, its number (if you don't already have it) and its consist. Each card shows the train in 2D, whole and on one line.
• Your folder: each card says whether you already have that train in your folder («You have it in your folder: …»), whether you have all its rolling stock (its .con is then added from Fleet with Add to my content) or what is missing («You don't have it in your folder: you're missing …»). You can still buy or rent it, but not drive it until you install that rolling stock.
• Renting out: in Fleet, Sell, rent out or scrap… → Offer for rent, choosing the term (7, 14 or 30 days). SelectOR sets the price per service: 75 % of what SelectOR charges to rent it, and less if it is worn. While offered it can't run services.
• Renting from another company: choose the train on the market and press Rent. Nothing is paid upfront: it joins your fleet as rented and every service it runs pays its rent to the owner (it shows in Bank). When the term ends it goes back to its owner (if it is on a service, when that finishes); Return gives it back early. While you have it, you pay its maintenance. If a service is annulled, its rent is refunded too.
• Your rentals: the market also lists the trains you have rented out to another company («Rented out to another company», with who has it and what you have earned) and the ones you have rented («Rented by your company», with what you have paid), with when they go back.
• Rented trains (they are returned), trains granted by the administrator and trains on a service can't be sold.

Manager The manager is whoever creates the company. They can do everything a supervisor (chapter 7) and a driver (chapter 6) can, and they are the only one who assigns the roles.

8.1 Setting up the company

8.2 Assigning roles

In Members → Members, choose a member and the new role (Driver, Supervisor or Manager) and press Change to selected role. You cannot change your own role. When adding members, the manager can also give them the Manager role.

8.3 Keeping track of the company

Keep an eye on the Treasury in the top strip and on the Bank section. Services earn from passengers or kilometres and pay track access charges, energy and salaries. Purchases, rentals, workshop visits and fines take money out; sales and rentals to other companies bring it in. In Board → Transparency you compare your month with the others. In Ranking, compare your company with the others by km and see which drivers contribute the most. If you belong to several companies, mark your favourite with ★.

8.4 Deleting the company

The manager can delete their company with the Delete button, under the company selector in the side menu. SelectOR asks for confirmation twice: first it warns about everything that will be deleted, and then you must type the exact company name.

The tools appear once the scenario has loaded. They do not take the keyboard away from the simulator and they remember where you left them. They work on company duty and also in free driving: Activity, Free driving and Timetable.

9.1 HUD and mini-map

By default it sits at the bottom left, and you can drag it anywhere. It shows:

• Mini-map:
  • the track, the stations and your train (a green navigation arrow pointing in the direction of travel), and the other users driving on your route, as round badges in their colour (section 9.2);
  • the route detail, read from its files: platforms in blue, on the side of the track they belong to; named sidings in hatched purple; diamond crossings (white diamond), pickup points (magenta square), buffer stops and mileposts. Each one appears from a certain zoom, so the map does not fill up. Labels never spill out of the frame;
  • the zoom changes with the mouse wheel or with the + / − buttons that appear when you hover over it. It is kept for your next drives;
  • it grows by dragging its bottom-right corner.
• Company and timer (on duty): logo, name, a red light, elapsed time and km travelled. In free driving, only the km.
• Passengers (passenger trains): «N on board · N boarded» and, after each stop, how many got on and off.
• Connection (multiplayer): «Online» (in the room, with how many are connected), «Connecting to the server…», «Joining the room…», «Out of the room» or «No connection to the server». If you are the one protecting the room, its password too.
• Station announcements:
  • a click on the speaker turns them on or off (crossed out in red = off);
  • a click on the line name opens the list to choose it. It opens at the chosen line and, if there are many, scrolls with the wheel or its bar; Turn announcements off always stays at the bottom;
  • the mouse wheel over that row adjusts the volume.
  Every drive starts at «Select announcements»: nothing plays until you choose a line or the base voice. You do not need to choose the company or be on duty: SelectOR uses your companies' announcements. If you belong to several, it uses the first one with audio for that route, in this order: the company you are on duty for, the one selected in Companies, your favourite and the rest. This row only appears on trains with declared passenger seats (PassengerCapacity). The station where you start is not announced, neither when you pick the announcements with the train stopped nor when you leave; it plays again if you come back after moving 1.5 km away.
• Icons: cab panel, large map, mini-map, collapse and close. Once closed, the HUD is reopened from the top bar.

The large map opens from its HUD icon or from the top bar. Move it by its header and resize it by dragging its bottom-right corner; it remembers its size and position for next time.

The large map shows the same route detail as the mini-map, with a legend at the top left (a click folds or unfolds it): itinerary, platform, siding, diamond crossing, pickup point and buffer stop. Amber is used only for the route sheet itinerary (section 9.7).

The large map like Ctrl+9: in Free driving and in the shared CGL room, the large map does the same as the Open Rails Ctrl+9 window, without opening it:

• a click on a switch throws it; a click on a signal opens its menu: Set a route from here…, Close the signal (stop), Call-on (permission to pass) or Remove the stop (automatic). Signals show their real look: their lit lamps (the green and yellow of the caution warning, flashing yellow, call-on…) and the figure on their speed-warning board; when you zoom in, they grow;
• signal-to-signal routes, as in a control centre: with Set a route from here… the possible destinations appear with a circle (the one along your route sheet itinerary in green with a ★); a click on one requests it and a click elsewhere, nothing. The switches are set and interlocked, and the signal clears by itself, with the aspect it should show, when the train arrives. The route is drawn in green and is released as the train passes; if unused, it expires after 5 minutes. Cancel route removes it (with a train approaching, the signal goes to stop and the switches are freed after 2 minutes). A driver can only set them from the two signals ahead of their train. If it crosses another, it is queued and set by itself in turn;
• switches interlocked by the route Open Rails has set for a train appear in blue with a padlock and cannot be moved; call-on appears in red and white;
• each train shows its path ahead, dashed and in its colour (up to 5 km, as in Ctrl+9), with an X at a switch set against it;
• in the shared room you change the switches and signals on the whole route, not just those on your path; the signal menu also has Ask for clearance (like Tab) and Release your train’s signal (like Ctrl+Tab). In the room, a switch with a signal between your train and it can only be set by a route from that signal; shunting switches, with no signal ahead, can still be thrown by hand;
• the four switches of a double crossing are thrown one by one; if several switches fall under the mouse, a menu lets you choose which, showing how each one is set;
• each train is drawn to scale along the track, in its colour, with its length and its cars and the head pointing where it goes; when you zoom out it becomes a round badge with the driver’s initials or photo.

While you drive, the large map centres on your train and follows it. The wheel zooms in or out and keeps following it. If you drag it, it stays where you leave it and ⌖ Follow my train appears at the top (or double-click) to go back.

In Activity and Timetable the large map is still view-only.

9.2 Live map: other users on your route

While you drive, the mini-map and the large map show the other SelectOR community users driving on your same route, on duty or in free driving, whether or not they belong to your companies. Each one has a colour it keeps for the whole trip, with a notch or a point showing where it goes. Positions are updated every 5 seconds and the trains glide from one to the next.

• Mini-map: a small round badge per train and, at the top right, how many drivers are on the route, even if some are out of view.
• Large map: each train to scale along the track and, next to it, the name, the train with its speed (or «stopped at» the station) and the company it is on duty for, or «Free driving». At the top right, the On the route now legend with everyone, you included: a click on a name centres the map on that train, and a double-click on the map goes back to following yours.
• Without driving, the map in the Route tab shows the same users (you need to be signed in under Companies), each as a round badge with their initials or, if they turned it on in My profile, their photo.
• Whoever closes Open Rails disappears from the map at once; if the connection drops, after 30 seconds.
• You see whoever has the route with the same name. Others see your username, never your email.

9.3 Quick-access bar

It is hidden: move the mouse to the top edge of the screen, in the centre, and it slides down. It contains:

• the status: «On duty · company · time · km» or «Free driving»;
• the HUD, Map, Cab panel, Chat and Route sheet (section 9.7) buttons, to show or hide each tool;
• the service button:
  • Go on duty · <company>: puts you on duty in the middle of a trip (also in Activity) if the train belongs to the fleet;
  • Register service: press it twice to record the service without closing Open Rails;
  • Cancel service (on duty): press it twice to cancel the service without recording it; you carry on in free driving;
  • if it is not possible, it shows the reason (for example, «The train is not in the fleet of …»).

9.4 The cab panel

It is a frameless panel with the train's indicators. It is opened and closed with Cab panel in the top bar or from the HUD, and it remembers whether you left it open. You move it by dragging the dials and resize it with the handle in its corner or with the mouse wheel. At night in the simulator, the dials are backlit.

• Air gauge: TDP (main reservoir, red needle) and TFA (automatic brake pipe, amber needle).
• CIL. FRENO: brake cylinder pressure.
• Gauge scale: right-click a gauge to choose its scale, «Automatic» or 0-6, 0-10, 0-12 or 0-16 bar. It is remembered for each locomotive. The automatic one is the train's cab scale, in its unit, enlarged if it does not reach the train's maximum pressures (main reservoir and brake cylinder).
• Speedometer:
  • the scale comes from the train's top speed (the lowest of its locomotives), rounded up a little: a 120 km/h train has a dial up to 140, a 160 km/h one up to 180 and a 300 km/h one up to 350;
  • the needle moves smoothly and there is a digital readout;
  • on large-scale dials (numbers every 50 km/h or more), small numbers also mark the intermediate speeds;
  • the yellow triangle on the ring marks the Speed target (cruise control target speed) when the train has it active; it can be set with a lever of your controllers (section 4.9);
  • service maximum speed: right-click the speedometer and type the maximum speed for this service (0, the train one). The speedometer scale, the speed diamond and circle and the route sheet use it;
  • underneath is the speed sign: a diamond with the current track limit. When you approach a lower limit and the braking curve begins, it changes to a circle with the next limit. The limits come from the Open Rails Track Monitor; those the Track Monitor shows in yellow are ignored. The limit shown never exceeds the train's top speed.
• Row of controls, from left to right:
  • left doors;
  • pantograph;
  • circuit breaker;
  • headlights;
  • sander;
  • wipers;
  • high horn (Bell) and low horn (Horn);
  • right doors.
  Each icon shows the real state and is also a button: it sends Open Rails the key you have configured. Hover over it to see what it does and which key it uses.

If you ask for something the simulator does not allow, such as opening the doors while moving, the icon returns to its real state after a few seconds.

9.5 Passengers at stations

On trains with passenger seats, SelectOR simulates who gets on and off at each station:

• How many wait: a percentage of the train's seats (12 % by default) multiplied by the size of the station, which comes from its metres of platform. A large station fills the train more than a halt. It varies with the time of day, the season and the type of service.
• Where: only with the train stopped and some car inside a real platform of the route.
• Doors: you must open the ones on the platform side. If you open the other side, the HUD warns «the platform is on the left» (or right).
• If you close the doors before everyone has got on and off, boarding stops and carries on when you open them again.
• Final destination: if you have a route sheet (section 9.7), at its last station passengers only get off: everyone alights and nobody boards. This applies to activities, timetables and the itinerary you create yourself.

The station announcements announce the next station by following the track ahead of the train, junctions included, and play again on the return trip along the same line.

9.6 The chat while driving

The Chat button in the top bar opens the chat HUD: a semi-transparent window, at the bottom right, with the messages of one of your companies.

• It shows the company you are on duty with and, if you are not on duty, your favourite. A click on the name opens the drop-down list with your companies to switch chat.
• ✎ Write a message… opens a small box: Enter sends it and Esc cancels, and either way the keyboard goes back to Open Rails.
• Right-click one of your messages → Edit message or Delete message, as in the Chat section.
• Drag it by the header, enlarge it from the corner and fold it with –; folded, it shows the new messages. It remembers whether you left it open.

9.7 The route sheet

The route sheet is the list of stations you are going to pass through, with the time you will reach each one. You prepare it on the large map and follow it in a transparent HUD while you drive.

• Each station shows the estimated arrival time and how long is left. The SIM / PC button in the header chooses between simulator time and the PC clock, and the choice is remembered. It is worked out from the track speed limits and the train's top speed, and it is recalculated as you go.
• Stops: at first every station is run through without stopping. A click on a station marks it with a stop (another click removes it), and All and None at the bottom mark or clear them all at once. Each stop adds 30 seconds to the times of the following ones.
• The stations you have already passed are marked as passed. If you leave the itinerary, it is recalculated by itself in a few seconds.
• The Route sheet button in the top bar shows or hides it. Drag it by the header, enlarge it from the corner and fold it.
• The amber line disappears right under your train as you move on.

Saved itineraries: an itinerary you repeat does not need marking every time.

• Save, in the large map header, stores it with its points and stops. It suggests a name («first station → last»); Enter accepts it.
• The ★ Saved tab lists those for the route you are driving, with km, points and date. A click on one loads it; the ✕, pressed twice, deletes it.
• In the itinerary planner of Free driving and Scheduled services, the 🗑 button next to the saved list deletes the chosen one.
• If the train is already partway along the itinerary (you saved it from A to F and you are at C), the route sheet is worked out from where the train is, without going back to the start. If you are off it, it first takes you to its start.
• They are kept in the SelectOR preferences, so they work in all your Open Rails folders.

Timetables and activities: if you drive a train from a timetable or an activity, there is nothing to prepare: the route sheet appears as soon as the simulation opens and already has its path and the stations with a stop and their scheduled time. For each one you see whether you are on time, early (−N min) or late (+N min), with the estimated time below. In that case the times are always the simulator ones.

• The path is the same one Open Rails will take, section by section, including the platform track when a station has two tracks.
• The stops are the same ones Open Rails will make: the timetable or activity stations with their exact name. Those the timetable marks as passing (P10:30) are passed without stopping, and stops without a time (* or x) are shown as stops.
• If the train passes a station twice, the stop goes on the right pass: in an activity, following the order of its stops; in a timetable, on the first one, as Open Rails does.
• The final destination is the last station where the train stops, even if the path carries on to a siding.

9.8 Driving in the room: large map guide

This section gathers, for the driver, everything needed to run in the CGL shared room with the large map (section 9.1): itinerary rules, how to ask for permission to pass, what each notice means and what changes when a station is run by a dispatcher.

Where each feature works:

What you see of the trains: your train, to scale with a green pointed head; each player in their own colour with a label (name, speed or «stopped» and their role: «Room player», «Dispatcher's assistant» or «Room dispatcher»); the cars a train leaves behind after uncoupling, in grey, as «… detached cars»; and AI trains as «AI · N km/h» (the room timetable ones in violet with their service, e.g. «C1 07:20»).

Signals as in free driving: in the room signals behave as when you drive alone. The ones behind your train stay at stop and only clear if you reverse (also when you drive from the rear cab, towards where you are heading). A cleared signal does not drop when you cannot stop before it. Flags and the diverging-route aspect follow the switches. And every section between stations has its block direction: if it is against you, the entry signal stays at stop until the section is free (without a dispatcher the first train to enter sets it; with one, the dispatcher). Signals are not forced to approach or clear: they clear by themselves.

A signal’s menu (click on it):

Signal orders belong to the assistants of the room dispatcher; in the CGL room every player who joins is normally an assistant. At a station run by a dispatcher, the menu only says «Set by the dispatcher (…)», plus Tab and Ctrl+Tab.

Itineraries: the rules

• Only from the two signals ahead of your train, and you must be driving in the room.
• At most two at a time, queued ones included.
• If it clashes with another itinerary or a switch is busy, it is not rejected: it is queued (dashed blue) and set by itself in turn; at most 15 minutes in the queue.
• Unused, it expires after 5 minutes. Retention: if your train has been stopped 2 minutes without using it while another waits, it is cancelled and your train gives way.
• Cancelling with a train approaching: the signal goes to stop and the switches stay locked 2 minutes (amber). With the train already inside, it is released as it passes.

Switches: with a signal between your train and the switch, the switch is set by a route from that signal; by hand (a click on the map or the G key in Open Rails) only shunting switches with no signal ahead can be thrown, and they are requested from the room («Switch requested from the dispatcher…»). Switches you set by hand for your train are protected for 3 minutes from other drivers. X-shaped switches (scissors crossovers) are changed with a click on the white dot in the middle: a menu offers their four positions (straight, one diagonal, the other or both) and their four switches move together. If it cannot be changed, a notice appears at the bottom:

Asking to pass (Tab): at a signal at stop, Tab asks for permission. The room grants call-on if that signal is requested for your train and its block is occupied by another train going your way: the signal shows white and you pass on sight. The permission is withdrawn when you pass the signal, after 5 minutes or if a train comes the other way. The answer arrives as an Open Rails message («Tab: permission to pass signal N…» or «Tab: signal N cannot be passed: …» with the reason). If the signal belongs to a dispatcher, the Tab goes to them and waits for their answer (at most 5 minutes). Ctrl+Tab releases your train’s signal so it can open for another.

9.9 The control centre

The control centre shows the whole route of the shared room like a signalling display: tracks with their occupation, signals with their RCF figure, numbered switches, platforms and trains, AI ones included. Watching is for everyone; commanding belongs to the dispatcher (jefe de circulación), who takes one or more posts (stations or line sections) and there sets itineraries, moves switches, gives signal orders and answers the drivers’ Tab requests.

Opening it:

The screen:

• Header: where you are («CONTROL CENTRE · Overview» or the post), the room time, how many trains there are («N trains in the room · N AI») and, on the right, who is in charge of the open post and the dispatcher buttons.
• Posts: «Overview» and the control areas (BR1 to BR10) with their stations. Each station carries its line sections (named after the stations they join or the station they are next to): taking it takes its sections too. The dispatcher’s name appears on the right (green if it is you, yellow if someone else) and a yellow bell marks where someone has asked to pass. The column folds onto the left edge with « and is remembered.
• The board: the overview is the real track layout, widened at stations; each post opens as a straight ADIF-style diagram (tracks in rows, switches at 45°, everything spaced out), and the View: real layout / View: diagram button switches between them. From afar, tracks and stations; closer, platforms with their track number, numbered switches, signals and, very close, each signal’s number.
• The route diagram: control areas and posts are shown in a diagram of the whole route, station by station, framed on what you pick with the rest dimmed. It shows kilometre posts, level crossings with their exact kilometre, tunnels, named sidings and crossing tracks as flyovers. Signals sit on the side of the track they govern without overlapping and, where many are together, hang from a gantry. Layers turns what is drawn on top on or off (posts, kilometre posts, room objects, tunnels, notes, block direction).

The set leg of each switch is marked white when set to the straight track and yellow when set to the diverging track, and the other leg is cut; if it carries an itinerary or a train, it takes their colour. X-shaped switches (scissors crossovers) have their own symbol with their name (T1, T2…). Each train carries an arrow showing its direction. Each signal appears on the side of the track where it really is (left or right of the direction of travel), in both the diagram and the real layout.

A switch number turns blue when it is locked (itinerary, open signal, a train that has reserved it or a train on it). Player trains carry an orange label with the driver; room timetable trains, a purple one with their service; the rest, grey («AI», «… detached cars»).

Only mine: the Only mine button keeps only the signal boxes you run in the list and on the board; it is remembered for next time.

Disconnect: a dispatcher can disconnect a player or remove loose wagons within their signal boxes (right-click the train). You must type the reason, which the player sees; they can join again. Other dispatchers and the administrator cannot be disconnected, and every disconnection is logged for the administrator.

Trains: on the right, the trains in view: train number and driver, type → destination, their intermediate stops, speed and 2D consist. If a driver changes their service, their card turns amber for two minutes with a sound. Click a train to locate it; double-click to follow it (another double-click or dragging the map stops it).

Block direction: in the room every track of every section between stations has a block direction, shown in the control centre as an arrow towards the station it points to: green when the track is free, red occupied and grey with no direction set; with a yellow border if a dispatcher runs the section. Signals that would go against it stay at stop, so two trains can no longer enter the same track head-on. Without a dispatcher it is automatic: the first train to enter sets it. With one, the dispatcher (or the administrator) changes it by clicking the arrow → Towards … or No direction set, only when the track is free. On the real layout the arrows show close up; turn them off in Layers → Block direction.

Station dispatcher: at the stations where the administrator has placed one, it shows on the map as a 🚩 in the colour of its indication (Room objects layer). Right-click → Stop signal, Pass signal, Train may depart or No signal (the dispatcher of that post or the administrator): drivers see it straight away on the platform, with a flag by day and a lamp by night, and a whistle on «Train may depart».

Incident alerts: room incidents appear in a box with their own sound and marked with ⚠ at their place on the map; Hide removes them from your control centre. The administrator can also leave notes on the map for everyone.

Dispatcher: each post has at most one dispatcher; there, switches and signal orders are theirs alone and Tab requests go to them. Drivers get a notice in Open Rails when a dispatcher takes or leaves control. Who the dispatcher is also shows on the room card and in the big map legend.

• Automatic control / Manual control: in manual, the signals of your post do not clear without an itinerary (those already open stay open until their train passes; a granted Tab still counts).
• Administrator only: Dispatchers to add or remove dispatchers (by their user ID, which stays the same if they change their name), take control away from someone or take a post that is already taken.

Itineraries: you do not order a signal’s aspect: you set an itinerary from one signal to the next (or to a buffer stop). The room sets the switches, locks them and the signal clears by itself when the train arrives.

At the bottom, Repeat: keeps your latest routes in the signal box you are viewing: click one to request it again (greyed out if it is already set).

• If it clashes with another, it is queued and set by itself; the first in the queue has priority. In the signal menu: Move it to the front of the queue (dispatcher or administrator) and Remove it from the queue. At most 15 minutes in the queue.
• Cancel route …: at once with no train nearby; with a train approaching, the signal goes to stop and the switches stay locked 2 minutes; with the train inside, it is released as it passes.
• It is released section by section as the train passes; unused, it expires after 5 minutes.

Switches and orders: in your posts, a click on a switch throws it; at a scissors crossover, a menu with its four positions (straight, one diagonal, the other or both) moves its four switches together. It is not thrown if it is locked, held by another train or in the route of an open signal; the notice says why. Your signal’s menu also has Close the signal (stop) (it returns to automatic by itself after 10 minutes), Call-on (permission to pass) and Remove the stop (automatic).

Tab notices: when a driver asks to pass, the notice reaches every open control centre (top right, with a chime; the signal flashes for 25 seconds). It says who, which signal, the post and the verdict: «granted», «waiting for the dispatcher» or «not granted» with the reason. If the signal is yours and waits for the dispatcher, answer Let pass or No; if you do not answer within 5 minutes, the Tab expires. A click on the notice opens the post centred on the signal.

Room chat: on the right of the board, the same chat as in the HUD and in Open Rails. Players driving in the room and the dispatcher can write, the dispatcher also from the control centre without driving; while in charge of a post, their messages carry the green [Dispatcher] tag (also in the HUD). Enter sends, Esc leaves the box and «›» collapses it into a strip that counts unread messages. Above the chat is the room radio: hold the 📻 button (or your key) to talk. A dispatcher in charge can talk over anyone, cutting them off (section 9.10).

9.10 The room radio

The shared CGL room has a radio to talk to the other players and the dispatcher.

• When you drive in the room, a small window with the 📻 button appears over Open Rails. In the control centre, the radio is above the chat.
• To talk, hold the button or your key: Right Ctrl by default, changed in Settings → Controllers, where you can also assign it a controller button (section 4.9). Release it to free the channel.
• There is a channel per control area: while driving you hear and talk on the one of the area you are in (it changes by itself when you move to another). Dispatchers also have their own channel, which drivers do not hear, and the administrator can talk to every area at once. In the control centre you hear the areas of your posts and the one you are viewing, and you pick the channel with its chip. On each channel one person talks at a time: if it is busy you see «Channel busy: … is talking». You can talk for 1 minute at a time at most.
• A dispatcher in charge has priority: they can talk over anyone and cut them off.
• It sounds like a real radio, with a click at the start and end.
• Right-click the radio to Mute on my radio anyone you do not want to hear (remembered) and change the Volume. The administrator can also Mute for everyone.
• You need a microphone that Windows allows SelectOR to use. In Settings → Controllers you pick the radio’s microphone and sound output.
• Your voice is not recorded (chapter 12).

9.11 Shared room rewards

Running services in the CGL shared room earns your company a reward. The server pays it when the service is recorded, apart from the trip's net, and it does not count in the League.

• Room bonus: 15 % more of the service's profit, if you were in the room from opening the service until closing it (with a couple of minutes' margin at the start).
• With a dispatcher: 5 % more if a dispatcher was in charge for the whole service.
• Weekly streak: €1,000 when you reach 5 services with the room bonus in a week (Monday to Sunday).
• There is no bonus for services shorter than 10 minutes, with a serious offence, or from your 6th bonus service of the day. If a service is annulled, the bonus is returned with the rest.
• Who was in the room is reported by the room server, not by your computer.

The bonus appears in the service result, below the net, and in the company's bank. Drivers and dispatchers are not paid, but it counts for them: My profile has the Services in the room, This week's streak and, for dispatchers, Directed as dispatcher tiles, and their badges (annex).

9.12 How you see AI trains

The room's AI trains use the consist from the room timetable. You can see them with another train from your folder: on the room panel, AI trains → How I see the AI trains.

• Each timetable service shows its 2D consist: the timetable's or the one you chose.
• Choose… sets a train from your folder and Remove goes back to the timetable's.
• It only changes in your Open Rails, for trains that appear from then on and for those already running when you join the room: everyone else keeps seeing them their own way. If the chosen train has a different number of vehicles from the timetable’s, it is adjusted.
• The room’s AI trains run without jamming each other, passenger trains go before freight on single track, and they can stop at freight terminals and sidings.

9.13 Your train in the room: number, destination and stops

When you join the shared room, the Your train in the room window asks for:

• the service type (Commuter, Regional, Long distance, High speed or Freight);
• the destination post, from the list or by clicking it on the route map (passenger stations as dots, freight terminals as squares);
• your intermediate stops (optional): tick them in the list or right-click them on the map; they can be stations, freight terminals or sidings (◆). They show in light blue and are ordered from your departure.

You get your 4-digit train number: even if you move away from Estación Sur and odd if you head towards it. You see it in the HUD, above the minimap, with the type, destination and how many stops you have, and the dispatcher sees it on your train card in the control centre, with your stops. While driving, click your number in the HUD to open Change your train and change the type, destination or stops; the dispatcher sees the change marked. It is remembered for next time. Sidings have no people and no passengers boarding or alighting: the stop is a notice for the dispatcher.

Part of the Companies section can also be viewed on the SelectOR website, on a computer or a phone, without opening the program. Press the blue My Company button in the website menu, next to Download.

10.1 Signing in

Your password is never stored. The session ends when you close the browser or with Sign out.

Forgot your password? Press Forgot your password? and change it with your recovery key (section 5.2), as in SelectOR.

10.2 Services, Ranking, Chat, Map and My profile

• Services: the company indicators (Treasury, Members, Services and Total km, with their detail below) and the whole service history, with the All, In progress and Completed tabs and the search box, with the train, the cars and the seats or load of each service. Annulled services carry the «ANNULLED» mark and do not count in the totals. View service detail, or a double-click on the row, opens its record with the trip economics, the route map (with ⤢ Enlarge), the commercial stops, the notes and, if it is annulled, the reason.
• Ranking: the monthly league and its champions (chapter 5.5), the public ranking of companies by km and the ranking of your company's drivers.
• Chat: the chat of the chosen company (section 5.8). It refreshes by itself every few seconds and you write with Enter or Send. Your messages have two buttons to edit (✎) or delete (✕) them. The manager has Chat permissions above it, to remove or give back each member's permission to write. The administrator can write in any company's chat.
• Map: the map of the Cercanías & GL 2.2 route with the trains being driven on it now, moving live. Wheel or buttons to zoom, drag to move it and click a train to follow it.
• Routes: the company routes with their status and plan (section 5.9). The manager and the supervisors request authorisation or dismiss proposals from here.
• My profile: your driver licence card (with your photo), your rank, your points licence with its history (from it you can appeal a penalty and see the answer), indicators, badges and the trains and routes you use most. It is shown even if you do not belong to any company.
• Bell: next to your name, with the number of unread notifications. Opening it shows the notification history (section 5.6); a click on one takes you to its section. Below the company name and yours is its ID; a click copies it.

10.3 Administration (administrator)

The administrator sees every company in the drop-down list (those that are not theirs, with ★) and, in the menu, the ADMINISTRATION group, as in SelectOR:

• Review: every licence offence, with the All, Pending, A1-A4, B6·B7 and C1·C2·C3 tabs. Each one can be approved, annulled (the points are given back) or deleted. The red number is the pending ones. The Appeals tab has the drivers’ appeals: Accept… (annuls the penalty or lifts the annulment) or Reject…, always with an answer. The red number also counts unanswered appeals. In the record of an annulled service, and in Services, Lift the annulment…. C1–C3 penalties (Penalise…) and the Suspicious list are only in SelectOR; on the website the penalties show in Review and can be annulled.
• Loans: the requests from every company. Approve… asks for the interest rate and the fee and shows the instalment and the APR; Deny… asks for the reason.
• Users: every account, with its recovery key: copy the ID or the key, generate a new key or delete the access.
• Companies: every company, with its ID, manager, members, services and balance: Open (selects it in the drop-down list), Balance… and Delete… (you have to type its name).
• Route catalogue: every route with its plan, its versions, the companies that use it and its requests: authorise, reject with a reason, approve or reject a version, revoke the authorisation and choose the mode (Collect only, Notice or Mandatory).
• Settings: the global fares and salary, the starting balance of new companies, the fleet economy and the monthly league. The new rates (per-tonne track charge, passenger demand and empty transfers) are changed in SelectOR.
• In Services, also Annul service… (with the reason, which reaches the driver) and Delete service.

The passenger model, the service classification and publishing updates stay in SelectOR. Everything adapts to phones: the menu turns into pills and the tables into cards.

10.4 On a phone

On a narrow screen, the side menu becomes a row of tabs and each service is shown as a card with the date, status, route, driver and figures. A tap on the card opens the details.

No passengers get on or off at a station

The train must be stopped, with some car inside a platform, and with the doors open on the platform side: if you open the other side, the HUD warns you. If you close them too early, boarding carries on when you open them again (section 9.5).

«Licence suspended» when going on duty

You have run out of points and the licence is suspended for 7 days (section 5.7). When the suspension ends you come back with 8 points. My profile shows until when.

I cannot go on duty: «The route is not authorised»

The administrator requires authorised routes for company services. In Companies → Routes, propose it to your company (driver) or request authorisation (manager and supervisors). If it says «Version pending», your copy of the route differs from the approved one: use the authorised version or wait until yours is reviewed. See section 5.9.

I cannot write in the chat

The manager has removed your permission to write (it says so under the text box and you get a notification). Only company members can write.

The destination sign picker does not appear

It only appears if one of the train folders contains the Destinos folder with one subfolder per destination and, inside, the sign textures (TRAINS\TRAINSET\<train folder>\Destinos\<destination>\destinos.ace). See section 4.7.

I cannot see other users on the map

You must be driving at the same time on a route with the same name, signed in to Companies and with «Share my position on the map» ticked in My profile. If you untick it, you do not see the others either.

I do not get notifications

You need to be signed in to Companies. While you drive they are kept and appear when you close the simulator.

The HUD, the top bar and the cab panel do not appear when I drive

Check in OR Options → System that Web server port = 2150, and that no other program is using that port. Run Open Rails windowed or in borderless full screen: exclusive full screen covers the SelectOR windows. Remember that they appear once the scenario has loaded.

The timer does not move, or there are no passengers or announcements

It is the same case: the Open Rails web server is not answering on port 2150.

«Not a company train» or «Train not operational» when I go on duty

Your .con does not have the same vehicles as any fleet train, or all its units are in service with other drivers. Ask for the train with «Request purchase», or ask a supervisor to buy another unit. In Notice mode, another company train with the same leading locomotive also counts (section 6.5).

I created a train in the Editor and it does not show in Free driving

It shows as soon as you save it, but only if it has at least one locomotive with a cab: trains that cannot be driven are not listed (Open Rails does not list them either). If an .eng or .wag is missing from your content, look for it under the ⚠ filter.

My trip was not recorded («Service NOT RECORDED»)

The window gives the reason. Trips shorter than 3 km or than 5 minutes are not recorded, nor those averaging more than 350 km/h (for example, from speeding up the simulator time), nor those with a position jump or driven with accelerated time or on autopilot (section 5.7). If there was a connection error, press Register service (blue button) in Companies. If everything closed suddenly, the trip is recorded by itself the next time you open SelectOR with your account.

I forgot my password

Press Forgot your password? on the access screen and use your recovery key (section 5.2). Without the key, ask the administrator for help.

I do not see the «Request purchase» button

Only drivers see it, and only when the train is not in the fleet of the selected company. The manager and the supervisors see «Buy this train».

Multiplayer will not connect because of the username

You play with your SelectOR user name, so you must be signed in to Companies. Open Rails requires 4 to 10 characters, with no spaces, quotes or hyphens, and not starting with a digit: if yours does not meet it, SelectOR asks you to change it when you connect (or in Companies → My account → Edit name).

The station announcements do not play

Check that the train has passenger seats (freight trains and light engines have no announcements), that the company has announcements enabled and audio for that route, that the HUD speaker is not crossed out and that you have chosen a line (or the base voice) in the list. The station must be ahead in the direction of travel.

I cannot see routes or trains

Add your content folders in the Open Rails Options and choose the right set under Content. Press F5 to read the content again.

Text is cut off or the window is too large

SelectOR adapts to the screen size and to Windows scaling. If something still looks wrong, maximise the window and update to the latest version.

A train looks grey or incomplete in the 3D view

That model is missing textures or files in your installation. It is a content problem, not a SelectOR one.

• Companies: the data of companies, trips, bank and members are stored in a cloud service so they can be shared. Your username identifies you; SelectOR does not publish or share data with third parties.
• Live map: while you drive, your position on the route, the train and the company you are on duty for are sent every 5 seconds, and users driving on that same route see them next to your username. They are deleted when you stop driving, and it can be switched off in My profile.
• Chat: messages are stored on the server (the last 1,000 of each company) and only the company's members read them.
• Shared room and radio: when you drive in the room or open the control centre you connect to SelectOR's room server, which relays positions, the room chat (the last 40 lines, forgotten when the room empties) and the radio voice. Your voice is only captured while you hold the push-to-talk key, is relayed live to those in the room and is not recorded.
• Transparency: any user with an account sees each company's monthly figures, never its drivers' names.
• Service in progress: while you drive a service, SelectOR saves what it has collected of the trip every few seconds in %AppData%\Open Rails\SelectOR\servicio-en-curso.json, so it can record it even if everything closes suddenly. It is deleted once recorded.
• Updates: only packages digitally signed by the author, with their hash checked, are installed.
• Uninstall: delete the SelectOR.* and shape.mgfx files from the Open Rails folder, and the desktop shortcut. To also remove your preferences and caches (including the platform people), delete the %AppData%\Open Rails\SelectOR folder.

Badges:

• Services: first trip, 10, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 services.
• Distance: 100, 1,000, 10,000, 50,000 and 100,000 km.
• Time: 10, 100, 500 and 1,000 hours.
• Routes: Explorer (5, 10 and 25 routes).
• Trains: 10 and 25 different trains.
• Passengers: 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000.
• Style: Clean driving, Flawless (50 services) and High speed (100 km/h average).
• Shifts: first shift completed, 10 and 50 shifts completed (scheduled services, section 6.8).
• Shared room: first service in the room, 10, 50 and 100 services in the room, weekly streak in the room and 10 weekly streaks; dispatchers, first service directed, 25 and 100 services directed (section 9.11).

SelectOR © 2026 David MZP · GNU GPL v3. It uses the Open Rails libraries (openrails.org, GPL v3) and is not endorsed by the Open Rails team. Have a good trip!