Railworks America

Finally, but will it be true to the promise?

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Today we are bringing an update to Train Sim World PC. This update consists of two parts:

The update which enables Tees Valley Line on Steam - out at 2PM BST.

The long-awaited update to the Train Sim World: CSX Heavy Haul Route. This update brings improvements to the diesel-electric engine physics, lighting and sky colour. Please find the update details below:

Sand Patch Grade:

Introduced improved diesel-electric traction engine physics for the following locomotives: CSX GP38-2; CSX SD40-2; CSX AC4400CW. Diesel-electric physics have been completely reworked, with new core support code and much better adherence to the realistic performance characteristics of the locomotives. Please note that this update does not upgrade the version of the GP 38-2 in the Northeast Corridor: New York route.
Introduced improvements to sky colour balancing: clouds have been upgraded to add more depth and detail. Sky lighting has been upgraded to the same setup used on current routes, which results in less brightness and more range of colours, contributing to a more realistic look.

Fixed an issue where trains would be fully illuminated when passing through the tunnels.
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Why the NEC:NY GP38-2 has been excluded? Only DTG knows ...
Or the GP40-2? Only DTG knows ...

Over two years is certainly long enough. With a lot of negativity over the years about the quality and bugs left unpatched and lack of an editor this is certainly a reach out to the people who were the first subscribers to this. DTG can only hope that this reignites interest in those who were a bit disenchanted by the initial release. I am downloading it now. We shall see........... I will watch Steam DB over the next few weeks to see what happens. I do have positive hopes for DTG on this. I wouldn't want them to go away.
EDIT: After the fact.
I still have issues with color, both scenery and rolling stock still not correct. I am still having to make corrections through NVIDIA control panel. Diesel exhaust going through traffic bridges, sparkles around some locomotive handrails and locomotive and freight car trucks. Not trying to be a rivet counter but IMHO after 2 years of mostly European and passenger DLC this seems to be a placation to those who purchased when first released and have given up on it. Yes there is a bit of improvement in the physics. I don't see steam running on this in the foreseeable future because of the physics involved with it. I do not have the ultimate gaming system but it certainly can not be considered a potato so it should run this well. I'll give the update a 3 out of 5.
Still strong on TS2019. Huuu Rah!

Well I've run, tested and compared all three available engines after the update... overall the power output "feels" better but is still far from realistic. Compared to the other two, the GP38 performs best in terms of the power output simulation.

It's nice to see that they added the traction transition on the SD40-2 (series to parallel and vice versa), something that wasn't there before however there's still many things off with the power output simulation on the EMDs (the AC44 is even worse..).

There's weird load restrictions on both the GP38 and SD40, no wheelslip prevention system (because there's still no proper wheelslip simulation to begin with) and weird dynamic braking behaviour.

In summary, yes the update does help in making at least the EMDs feel better however given it took them two full years to implement this update and yet it does not deliver what it should have from the very first day of launch along with other things like the air brake simulation and etc. which still are not correct, I frankly can't take this update seriously.

To me it's a joke that fundamental engine characteristics take THIS long to properly implement (which they still have not been) when really it wouldn't take long (provided you'd have the correct people giving you input on it) but it is what it is and the casual players will not care about proper physics ever..

I've clocked 9 hours total in CSX:HH when it first came out and only today reinstalled it to see if the update had changed anything for the better. As a passionate simmer , i was once again left disappointed.

I'll hold off putting this back on my computer until I hear from someone other than the three or four fan bois on here on what they think about this.............. Actually I still have little interest until we get a editor.

buzz456 wrote:I'll hold off putting this back on my computer until I hear from someone other than the three or four fan bois on here on what they think about this.............. Actually I still have little interest until we get a editor.

Me too! Am waiting for an editor and more American DLC before I bother.

It is improving.

Tell me again, how many years does it take until we're happy with the sim of our choice?

It's still wrong. They took two years for it to be wrong and it's very sad that after all of that time they couldn't get the performance correct for the AC44 and SD40-2, both of which, are very well documented. I wouldn't have been offended if they copied how our two examples performed in the legacy software, hell, I would have been happy for them to take notes.

What are the clouds like now?

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
-Joni Mitchell
had to.

AmericanSteam wrote:I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
-Joni Mitchell
had to.

You forgot Judy Collins

With every new DLC released it's the same: it gets released, played, bug reported and is forgotten almost as quickly as it's been bought and all scenarios have been completed.

Only the promised 'editor' can save this game, but even if, when and then, we don't know if it allows the same game play as the good old Train Simulator.

Also, the cycle has been broken, no new USA DLC for quite a while. Perhaps because of commercial reasons, perhaps because of licenses, perhaps because there is nobody willing to build a route on credit?

_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha wrote:With every new DLC released it's the same: it gets released, played, bug reported and is forgotten almost as quickly as it's been bought and all scenarios have been completed.

Only the promised 'editor' can save this game, but even if, when and then, we don't know if it allows the same game play as the good old Train Simulator.

Also, the cycle has been broken, no new USA DLC for quite a while. Perhaps because of commercial reasons, perhaps because of licenses, perhaps because there is nobody willing to build a route on credit?

It would be interesting to know what the participation demographics of European and US players for TSW is.

Also noted on the Steam forums for Train Simulator a lower participation of US players as to what it was a year ago. Maybe they migrated here? A majority of comments appear to be for European content.

Heavy Haul have improved, somewhat. The latest route, as far as I'm concerned, is ok. They have, slowly been improving this product. As of now, having about an hour of gameplay, per day, I'm using Train Sim World almost exclusively. The physics have been improved, somewhat, but slowly. By the way, they are looking for someone to work on the physics. See here: https://www.recruit.net/job/physics-pro ... 281834CD91

While I agree with most of I criticism so far,I must say the graphics are hugely improved almost to the level of the original release,the distant vegetation especially.

Boss1 wrote: Am waiting for an editor

The editor is out there, it's called the Unreal Editor. I've been messing around with it on and off for over a year. I still don't have a total grasp on it.

If you guys are just sitting around waiting for some magical program to make routes.....

I suggest you all get up off your butts and start learning Unreal or you will be sorely disappointed when the editor does drop.