TS2017 live

[Terry]

No issues here with the update, and I agree the graphics seem a little sharper. The menu colors are a little easier to read. I ran a scenario (flubbed it but that's not the fault of the update), and no issues starting or exiting. Load time seemed a little quicker too once the update was installed.

I'm not springing for Pioneers Edition at this point. I still have time to reconsider that but for US $45 (in my case) I think I can skip the five routes I would likely not run anyway. I'll look into TSW after it's out, assuming it meets with favorable reviews and it's on sale for a good price.

[GSkid]

Yes it does seem a little sharper now that you guys mention it. This will be the first yearly edition I don't purchase even if it's on sale. I don't want any of the routes it has and the short beta doesn't tempt me either. More than likely I will pick up TSW at launch though.

[artimrj]

Welll,,. It seems obvious that DTG doesnt care about the game at all...

This is what bothers me the most. Why is it always DTG's fault? How could you even say they do not care? Makes no sense to me.

[goddrauG]

I've had no issues so far with TS2017. And I still have Portland Terminal, so I'm glad about that.

[jamesphh]

Even though I will not be ordering the Pioneer Edition, there is one thing not mentioned about getting the advanced copy of TSW. Can your system handle UE4 and TSW?

[PamBrooker]

Welll,,. It seems obvious that DTG doesnt care about the game at all...

This is what bothers me the most. Why is it always DTG's fault? How could you even say they do not care? Makes no sense to me.

Because i've seen this before in other companies and i'll see it again.. you start the game, and its an advertisement for Ts-2017, you go into world edit and its an advertisement for ts-2017 and TSW trying to sell their pioneer edition, when you already have the core of Ts-2017 on your machine.. It took me almost 150 dollars to get the GTEL, that most people got for free with TS-2016, because of the hoops and loops i had to jump through to get it. Mind you, I'm glad i did. I still need a UP U-50c to complete my Giants of the West collection annnd maybe someone will make one. But the amount of advertising and hype tells me that DTG has moved away from actually providing us with a product they are proud of; that they want to show off to their customers; to providing us with nothing but fresh advertisements as they grab for even more money. Certainly I cant be the only person to notice that the advertisements are the only change from TS-2016, and the pioneer edition gives us nothing but one american route and three european routes. TS-2017 is an exit product. There wont be a TS-2018. All of DTGs energy is now focused on TSW which is totally incompatible with TS. TS-2017 is a last ditch money grab to get as much from a dieing product before they switch us over to something completely different where we have to start all over again and re-invest our thousands of dollars into it.
Now, I'd like to think I know this community, at least in regards to TS. We've got some incredible people, and they wont let TS die. TS will survive for years to come, because of its developer community, so that places the ball directly into DTGs court I fully understand the neccesity for DTG to create a completely new product, to be able to give us the extras they will be giving u with TSW. There was no other way to do that, but to not even make the mallest improvement or correction or change to ts-2017 and call it a new product, is anathema.

[buzz456]

Tell us what you really think.

[Terry]

I may have found a problem ...

With two different scenarios on two different routes I have had a "drop off freight" instruction fail. The first time I thought maybe it was me; the second time I thought I had a bad instruction too so I started the scenario again, making sure I was heading where I was supposed to go and dropping everything off that I was supposed to. Click *uncouple* - nothing. Task list shows I did not complete the instruction ...

So, this being my own scenario I went into the editor and did this:

Copy list of cars picked up
Delete the list of cars to drop off and replace with the same list I just copied
Save - "no changes made"

Now I'm puzzled. The second scenario is for a route that Steam doesn't touch (Ohio Steel 2 purchased from All Aboard) - the other was for NSCD. Since i wrote both these scenarios I know they were tested and run successfully at some point.

I'm going to go back and find a scenario that shows a green check mark in the list and try that. I know I'm getting old but I don't think my mind is shot yet. At least I hope not!

Update: I ran a different scenario - still one of mine - on Ohio Steel 2 and it completed without a problem. Maybe I really am getting senile or something.

[GSkid]

Welll,,. It seems obvious that DTG doesnt care about the game at all...

This is what bothers me the most. Why is it always DTG's fault? How could you even say they do not care? Makes no sense to me.

It makes perfect sense to me Bob. Why? Because DTG has a split personality. They BOTH.....CARE A LOT and DON'T CARE AT ALL at the exact same time.

A lot of people that say DTG doesn't care, tend to gloss over the fact or ignore the instances when they clearly do care... and ....A lot of people that say DTG does care, tend to gloss over the fact or ignore the instances when they clearly don't care. People on both sides of the issue are guilty in one way or another at times.

Human nature is that we tend to concentrate on things that are wrong or bad. That's cuz we are more concentrated on things that may affect us adversely than positively. I'm more worried about the things that could end my life than the things that could prolong it. It's why television newscasts concentrate the majority of their coverage on bad news. Cuz a newscast of all good news will only garner a fraction of the viewers the bad news newscast would.

DTG has made a lot of great decisions to improve the sim... and a lot of dumb decisions to not improve the sim.

I've used this example recently and before cuz it's a perfect example of what's both great about DTG and what is terrible about DTG....

RWA, UKTrainSim and TrainSim are the largest English speaking community forums I know of for this sim. DTG added Xbox 360 support and later added TrackIR support. That's great! More options and more support is a good thing!

But here's the rub.... go to any of those 3 major forum sites I mentioned and try and find a bunch of people making posts clamoring for or complaining about the lack of either Xbox 360 support or TrackIR support prior to DTG adding them to their sim. You'd be hard pressed to find any.....let alone a lot. Yet.... DTG added support for those devices anyways.

But I can find you numerous posts on those forums over the years from RailDriver owners or potential owners clamoring for or complaining about the lack of RailDriver support. And unlike the Xbox 360 controller and TrackIR, the RailDriver was made SPECIFICALLY for train simulators.... yet it's the RailDriver that still goes unsupported to this very day despite years of RailDriver owners or potential owners asking for it. IMO.... that's really messed up and screwed up priorities!

Notice to this day (that I am aware of) DTG has never addressed the RailDriver issue in posts or PR press releases? Because they don't have any good reason why they don't support it.

And as is the case for PR from many companies in this world... better to remain silent on things that are indefensible than to speak on it and confirm it as indefensible..... or as the old saying goes....."Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt".

It's like DTG at times cares about the stuff we really didn't care about that much (Xbox 360 controller and TrackIR support) and doesn't give a flying rip about the ones a lot of us do care about (RailDriver support).

As long as DTG continues to have this dual-personality when it comes to this sim, there will always be those that praise them and those that will be critical of them. And as such there will always be the defenders and the detractors.

[Accurate]

I am not sure what to expect. I started TS2016 and the download began automatically. No issues there. So I started TS2017 which was the new label so I assume that I was using the latest thing. I opened some existing routes and they looked no different. I jammed all the sliders right and values max in the video options. Still can't see any difference. Could it be that you have to buy addons that are specific to TS2017 to see improvements.

Perhaps just a simpler question is - what improvements should you see?

[buzz456]

What has led you to believe that anything would look different?

[PamBrooker]

I'd like to see the world editor revamped to make creating routes easier. I look at that other sim and its world editor and i'm gobsmacked. what takes me ten minutes in TS takes five seconds in it.. I'd like to see junction creation as simple as that other sim, and i'd like to not have to jump through three seperate programs that arent photoshop to get to where i can paint things if i want..

[PamBrooker]

What has led you to believe that anything would look different?

It wouldnt look diffrent buzz. It would behave differently, giving us more options for creation How about trees that adjust automatically to the angle of the terrain, instead of being faced with a choice of zero, five fifteen or thirty degree angles?? That would be a very nice thing to have.. How about a snap tool that snaps the terrain to the level of the track your working on, instead of the level of the track your passing over with a second track?? I'd really like to see that..

[buzz456]

The comment and wish list period ended several months ago. I'm kind of interested to hopefully have someone explain what if anything is different.

[PamBrooker]

to be honest? Nothing that I can see.