West Somerset Railway

[august1929]

I am in the middle. I agree with both sides. There is good and bad, I just don't let it upset me, I just keep on going. I get enjoyment and frustration. Just like the rest of my life.

I agree with Bob's sentiments - There is something to be had from all of the train sims - TSXX does it best for me by a long way, especially with a well developed route and good stock.

That said, elements of CSX Heavy Haul, Northeast Corridor and Great Western Express were very promising - what they all lacked for me was, and remains, the inability to go into the sim and rearrange things to suit myself - editors for scenarios and routes. This may come, with the ability to use stock across other routes.

As they stand, all three of the above are no more than games that you can play in a relatively preset way. What they all have however, far and above West Somerset Railway, even within their own obvious limitations, is a strong element of interest - speed and complexity of trackwork with potential.

Come down to West Somerset Railway and you have a short, low speed route, with very limited operational possibilities - all the more important to beef up on the content - engines, stock plus a believable environment.

Hasn't happened - nice Class 09 shunter (switching engine), Class 47 that is ok, but with no clag (smoke - and they usually have a lot) no cab movement, poor sounds (difficult to put a finger on what is precisely wrong, but it just feels like a poor bit of work - but maybe because there is no operational reason to go above 25 mph) and a few nice carriages.

No freight stock, either working or awaiting repair - no possibility of work trains etc. - something - ANYTHING - to make the route interesting other than the scenery.

But wait a minute, the scenery is only detailed going back about 200 yards from track, thereafter it becomes visually (even if it isn't actually) pretty 2 dimensional - flat procedural hedges coming forward towards the track - really? This is supposed to be the best it can get. Invisible walls - inevitable I suppose, but making it all the more game like.

I didn't give it too much of a chance I suppose, as I didn't want to fall foul of my ability to get a refund which felt almost essential after about 30 minutes of use - never felt this with CSX, NEC or GWE.

Anyway, refund requested and given - WSR feels like a step back.

Rod

[SamYeager270]

But I stand by my assertion. DTG are in this for the money pure and simple.

Actually despite appearances to the contrary, I am trying to draw something positive, by reinvesting some time in TS route building, having grown a bit weary of trying to create something I enjoy driving in Trainz.

But why would you want to help make TS more desirable to the punters? After all that just helps DTG make more money.

[BNSFdude]

I have no desire financially supporting development of a dead end. Someone else can (and will) pick up development of a game that understands that the community is the life blood that keeps a game going.

[NorthernWarrior]

But I stand by my assertion. DTG are in this for the money pure and simple.

Actually despite appearances to the contrary, I am trying to draw something positive, by reinvesting some time in TS route building, having grown a bit weary of trying to create something I enjoy driving in Trainz.

But why would you want to help make TS more desirable to the punters? After all that just helps DTG make more money.

If it uses components from long released routes which users already own, the financial gain to DTG is minimal.

If we're going down the keyboard courtroom path, where did I say I wanted to see DTG fail? That doesn't help anyone but if they go under because of their own follies (FSW, TSW etc.), then they only have themselves to blame. Besides TS2018 would survive in its current form and DLC on Steam at least for existing customers. What I want to see is DTG pull up their bootstraps, lose the arrogance and start making product like we saw in the heady days of RSDL - the two WCML routes, Woodhead etc.

[dick8299]

I fail to see the motivation for all you naysayers to get so worked up over eighteen dollars and seventy four cents.

[NorthernWarrior]

I fail to see the motivation for all you naysayers to get so worked up over eighteen dollars and seventy four cents.

No one is getting worked up - and it doesn't matter if the item costs $18 or $1800. As I noted elsewhere during the FSW debacle, there is this curious Stockholm Syndrome that seems to develop around under performing software developers, that you don't see in any other form of commerce. People rush to defend mediocre releases, as if the company is some sort of charitable body that if they go out of business, it will put an end to world peace or something. And if people are scared that criticising DTG will stop the so called special relationship where they occasionally post on here, both the company and the forum users should take a slightly wider view. Come to think of it, I haven't seen much input from them recently, anyway.

[BNSFdude]

I fail to see where brainwashed fanboys get worked up over any slight critique or disagreement with their own opinions.

Vern nailed it on the head.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I fail to see where brainwashed fanboys get worked up over any slight critique or disagreement with their own opinions.

Vern nailed it on the head.

Yes, it is awfully quiet on all boards where TSW is discussed, with negativity and scepticism prevailing in any ongoing discussions.

Perhaps only DTG's in house board or their preferred board on Discord sees some staff or developer input once in a while?
Over at Steam forums, DTG programmers leaving is being discussed, without any official reply as to what this pertains to the continued development and support of the TSW franchise.

Content is created by third parties, it is DTG that has to tie it all together under UE4 to bring the game to life or perhaps make a simulation out of TSW instead of a console game for spoiled kids.
It seems more and more DTG have bitten off more than they can chew, and debugging scripts is both time and labour consuming and thus expensive. Here the leaving of dedicated knowledgeable staff will really hurt the prospect of the franchise.
DLC is often copy-pasted together "under the hood" ( as TS2018 testifies ), so without a solid and 100% perfect code base, borked/broken scripts will propagate through all subsequent TSW releases.

[artimrj]

The only discussion on Steam about developers leaving are the stupid comments from unsatisfied people telling them they should leave and find a better company to work for. Mainly because FSW got shot down and buried.