The TEXTOR helical divertor is a magnetic configuration created by the application of external resonant magnetic perturbations with the intention to control plasma edge transport and the resulting particle and heat fluxes to the divertor target. It is confirmed by 3D computer simulations that no high-recycling-like regime is established under TEXTOR relevant conditions, despite the fact that a transition to detachment (i.e. a saturation or even a roll-over of the recycling flux) is observed at high densities. The driving mechanisms are, distinct from apparently similar observations in poloidal divertors and stellarator divertors, a combination of volumetric power losses and enhanced upstream-to-downstream heat transport, but with no significant role of the momentum balance.