AbstractIf vibrationally excited molecules are discretised into individual species and proper account is taken of the toroidal geometry in simulating neutrals, some improvement can be made in simulating the anomalous detachment behaviour seen at the outer target of TCV single‐null lower L‐mode discharges. This contribution discusses the inclusion of these options into SOLPS5.0 (B2.5/Eirene) simulations of TCV discharges previously modelled with the SOLPS4.0 package, but demonstrates that current physics contained within the simulations is still by a large margin insufficient to describe the experimental measurements. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)