Playing OpenBVE: Acessibility

As far as possible, we’d like OpenBVE to be accessible for all players. We include various accessibility helpers to help support this, which are described below:

Screen Reader Support

OpenBVE uses the TOLK library to provide screen reader support in-game. This will read all in-game messages, and the in-game menu if a supported screen reader is present on the system.

Accessibility Hotkeys

Sevral new accessibility hotkeys are available. These will not be set by default on existing installations, and must either be set manually, or the controls reset to default.

  • ACCESSIBILITY_CURRENT_SPEED - Announces the current speed of the train. Set by default to SHIFT + CTRL + S

  • ACCESSIBILITY_NEXT_SIGNAL - Announces the distance to the next signal, and it’s current aspect. Set by default to SHIFT + CTRL + A

  • ACCESSIBILITY_NEXT_STATION- Announces the distance to and name of the next station. Set by default to SHIFT + CTRL + T

Accessibility Helpers

Several optional accessibility helpers are also available. As these may be considered to be potentially disruptive, they must be enabled under Options ==> Verbosity ==> Accessibility Aids

They are as follows:

  • A message is shown / announced when 500m from the next station.

  • A message is shown / announced when 500m from the next signal.

  • The stop position overlay is supplemented by an audible tone.

  • When the player handle position is changed, the current position is shown / announced.