Railworks America

... and its receiving a right trashing over at the German boards.
UKTS is also discussing this route, for those interested in buying it and w/o German language skills I recommend: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 1&t=142365
It seems DTG has little love for German routes, cookie cutter scenery, wrong signalling, broken features in the locos, most beta suggestions were ignored, etc.
There are reports of players using the Steam refund succesfully.

Don't think I will buy it then. Another thing people are moaning about is the price. Why do DTG price all new routes the same irrespective of how long the route is. Surely a shorter route should be cheaper than a longer one.

trev123 wrote:Don't think I will buy it then. Another thing people are moaning about is the price. Why do DTG price all new routes the same irrespective of how long the route is. Surely a shorter route should be cheaper than a longer one.

Oh really. I could do a 40 mile route through the woods in about 3.2 days. The new Chicago route with all the scenery????????? Come on. If you don't like it don't buy it but please don't complain about the price. I would like a Ferrari but I only want to pay twenty thousand. So far no luck.

I'm not moaning, just saying what I have read on other forums.

_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha wrote:... and its receiving a right trashing over at the German boards.
UKTS is also discussing this route, for those interested in buying it and w/o German language skills I recommend: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 1&t=142365
It seems DTG has little love for German routes, cookie cutter scenery, wrong signalling, broken features in the locos, most beta suggestions were ignored, etc.
There are reports of players using the Steam refund succesfully.

I can't help but sit back and laugh at DTGs marketing strategy and quality control issues. But yet people do keep on buying their working thinking every time its going to be different which it's not and then go complaining about how it is not right. Just a endless cycle and they may fix a FEW things but sometimes not the important stuff. But that is why now I only usually buy projects that are done by a third party company and not DTG cause TP designers attention to detail is usually the best and they listen. Hell, look at the WCML Trent Valley line, just out of the ballpark of a route. Detailing and features are probably the BEST out there right now for any DLC route in TS2015. But, I'm looking forward to the next DTG made route, and then having a small chuckle followed by a "Oh boy".

Although I have neither of them I have heard the DTG BR152 is also rather broken although it has changable PZB modes. The best German lok to run on the Munich-Rosenheim is probably the DB BR110 EL Orient Red (http://www.virtual-railroads.de/db-br110-orientrot.html)

What struck me most was some comment from a beta tester on the German forum that glaring errors they pointed out were ignored, as was their offer to help fix them. Release date was more important.
To the casual non-German player the route and trains are probably nice enough.

With a little more effort it could have been so much better. Broken locomotive features and signalling being ignored, I have no excuse for that attitude.
DTG needs the money for its UE4 based future simulator. So they churn out cookie cutter DLC as fast as they can to finance the development. We don't want another TANE disaster.

However, perhaps "voting with your wallet" does get the message across to DTG. I wonder how they react to negative ratings and Steam refunds.

All I know is that if my customers were as unappreciative and critical as some on these forums I would hang it up and go on to doing something else where people would appreciate my work. None of this stuff is perfect nor will it ever be but in the years I have been involved the game has come a huge way, is way better looking and way way more stable than it was years ago and yet some seem to think there is a reward of some kind for complaining about everything belittling the creators at every turn and even questioning their motives.

I take this rant opportunity to thank DTG for sticking with this instead of abandoning it like MSTS and all of the hard working third parties whether they are selling through DTG or independent gateways and look forward to better and better stuff in the future.

Rant off.

buzz456 wrote:I take this rant opportunity to thank DTG for sticking with this instead of abandoning it like MSTS and all of the hard working third parties whether they are selling through DTG or independent gateways and look forward to better and better stuff in the future.

Rant off.

We all know Railworks is a simulation and always will only be an approximation of reality. Most of us also do not question the motive of DTG, they are a commercial enterprise, not a charity. Compromises between time and effort vs. financial rewards will always have to be made.

My gripe is about quality standards. If I buy a full price piece of DLC I want it to be accurate as advertised and its promised features unbroken. This newest German route falls way short. Them Germans are very picky about quality, it is the land of Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Daimler and Volkswagen - some of the best cars in the world - after all. So far, every German route released since Hamburg - Hannover was met by serious criticism from the buyers and promises of improvement from DTG. Few of these promises have been delivered, so I can understand the frustration of German players that have access to some of the finest rolling stock around, courtesy of Virtual Railroads, but only half baked routes to run over. For non resident players, the inaccuracies of the buildings and scenery may go unnoticed, but broken signalling and locomotive features were quickly noticed on UKTS even.

As of late, US players have been well served with routes and DLC, but persistent problems still haven't been addressed. Most USA DTG locomotive 3D models actually seem to come from Martin Velozo and his team I think, but who kits them up with sounds and physics? Who adds in a few wagons, appropriate or not, with or without even the right typeface for the reporting marks to make an attractive package of DLC for us to buy?
Will every new loco now have advanced braking, the right physics, engine sounds and horn sound? Will every new car have non springy couplers? Will there be winter textures and snow effects on every new piece of rolling stock? Increasing standard, you say "better and better stuff", but practise is one step forwards in this, two steps back in that department?

Take Soldier Summit. I think it was created by the same crew that gave us Stevens Pass and Marias Pass before. All three routes by themselveswere well received, but the trains were taken from existing stock, slightly enhanced, repainted and relettered for the route. With Soldier Summit we got three locomotives, one with advanced braking, two with winter textures and snow effects (copied from DP they are based on) and one with nothing of either, making it stand out in winter scenarios.
The new SD9 doesn't have winter textures, but throws snow about I am told.
I've watched the Twitch preview of the SD50 with interest. The pre-release neither throws nor accumulates snow. Does DTG even impose requirements on those independent partner programme creators as to what standard features and level of quality must be met? The video assured me that I will most probably buy this locomotive together with the SD9, as it is no better or worse than the other ones for Soldier Summit. I'll just have to avoid winter scenarios.

Given the errors made in the Rosenheim locomotives, including the new BR152 which is technically a copy of BR189 which already was faulty, is there even quality control and implementation of the beta testers findings?

I am no fanboi who buys every new piece of DLC on sight or with his eyes closed. I am a critical customer who want values for money, otherwise I wait for at least 50% off or no sale at all. So Rosenheim goes on the waiting list for a coming sale, just like Mannheim - Karlsruhe, Munich - Augsburg and Cologne - Koblenz before it. With the Steam refunds and rating system in force now, perhaps the numbers of thumbs down reviews and refunds will make a difference? Voting with your wallet is probably more effective than any number of support tickets, Facebook postings or Twitter chats.

Buzz, you and I have been through this discussion before. I still play Railworks with pleasure, enjoying many commercial DLC after I've made some small modification, and appreciate the work of you and the many other repainters and creators of freeware very much.

I guess you are just genetically compelled to nit pick everything.

buzz456 wrote:I guess you are just genetically compelled to nit pick everything.

You can when your paying for it. Not like this is free work. People do the samething for other businesses too and they ride them harder than we do to DTG. But if people are getting refunds DTG should start to get the message soon.

You can but not necessarily on here. This forum is to talk about the fun and creative side of our simulator not a place for "look how smart I am" or "I notice something none of the rest of you see." This is annoying to many people on this forum and while many don't say as much as I do they complain to me about it and I happen to agree with them. If you want to bitch about everything do it on the Steam forums (which I hardly ever look at) or over on that other forum that seems to be populated by people who want to argue and put everything down.

Extra post.

buzz456 wrote:I take this rant opportunity to thank DTG for sticking with this instead of abandoning it like MSTS.

What makes you think MSTS is abandoned? In relations to that statement that is completely inaccurate. MSTS is still alive and is not "abandoned". We may have lost MsTS 2 but we have gained another new engine program called Open Rails. Supports new lighting, easy on the frame rates, compatibility with new graphics cards and operating systems, and multiplayer.

buzz456 wrote:You can but not necessarily on here. This forum is to talk about the fun and creative side of our simulator not a place for "look how smart I am" or "I notice something none of the rest of you see." This is annoying to many people on this forum and while many don't say as much as I do they complain to me about it and I happen to agree with them. If you want to bitch about everything do it on the Steam forums (which I hardly ever look at) or over on that other forum that seems to be populated by people who want to argue and put everything down.

So basically silence the obvious and truth and create a fake euphoria of rainbows and unicorns. Seems legit.