Did DTG make a big mistake?

[fecrails]

Since posting this thread five years ago, Train Sim World has come a long way. A post like this was not helpful in assisting DTG to develop a train simulator that I now prefer above all others. Patience, politeness and gratitude are a virtue I will continue to work diligently on daily!

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I think it is still too early to consider TSW a big mistake on DTG's part or consider it a failure.
Though it seems DTG is having problems making ends meet in content, release time and quality, there is slow progress.

When it comes to customer support N3V is even worse than DTG, Tony Hilliam's ivory tower is a couple of floors higher than DTG's.

Trainz 2019 is apparently easiest in route construction and has a special purpose in creating virtual model railroad layouts.

You'll find that Trainz 2019 paid DLS contains 95% obsolete and out of date assets that look poor in the new graphics environment.
Even the commercial DLC is mostly outdated, only the Russian stuff seems to be up to par under the new graphics.

But for 15 bucks, the equivalent of a couple of beers at your local pub, you cannot go amiss really with Trainz 2019

[hobo1960]

Well said [fecrails].

I also have a rather love/hate relationship with Trainz and while I agree that the new edition is amazing, one can only truly appreciate how amazing when using 3rd party addons and routes. The built in stuff is still rather dated and model RR looking in point of fact. But when one adds routes like the Jointed Rails Tidewater...ooohhhwee! And for steam lovers, nobody can beat the incredible models Steve Lerro creates over at K&L Trainz. His models (and most especially the whistles and effects) are first class all the way. I kept hoping that some of the Trainz creators would have a go at creating for RW and fill in the much-needed voids in RW and to my amazement we got the news last week that RRMods will soon be doing just that. Perhaps other will follow that lead...maybe?

So I'm happy all around lately -- mostly. Alas, if only we had two things for RW (a shape viewer and an easy editing tool)...sigh...but we don't. So...

As I've written many times, I have all the various train games and enjoy each for what it offers. So, we're all fortunate that there are a variety of games out there from which to choose.

KB

[hminky]

The new Trainz is a step forward in train-sim graphics, the game engine has out run most of the assets.

What is really bad is most of the bad assets are "built-ins".

Newer routes look really good in TRS2019.





With Railworks moving to a 64-bit engine maybe DTG will overhaul the graphics capabilities.

Harold

[artimrj]

95% of the DLS is not garbage, about 40% is. When loaded in to TRS19 they look really different. Like night and day and the assets were not changed, just the system.


And that $15 your talking about is a 1 month subscription to try it out. You can buy it outright for $70. It is also still in early access.

[hminky]

95% of the DLS is not garbage, about 40% is. When loaded in to TRS19 they look really different. Like night and day and the assets were not changed, just the system.

Most of the "bad" assets were bad in every other version.

Even my "bad" assets look good under the new light.



The ubiquitous NZ houses look great.



The Trainz DLS is a free for all, sorta like the Gump box of chocolates.

Harold

[TheRailWorkshop]

You might love this at 16:50
https://youtu.be/-8r1o_TuBtQ

[OldProf]

I don't recall any mention on DTG's part of "backwards compatibility" from TSW to TS. From the very first announcement of TSW, DTG made it clear that the new sim would, as Monty Python used to say, "something completely different". I'm one of those who remains quite satisfied with both TSW and TS: they each have their faults, which for me are more than outweighed by their merits.

[DrewG]

I wouldn't say they made a big mistake at all. We're all ingrained into what we like and I don't think many have the desire to climb out of it instantly. TSW wasn't off the the greatest of starts.
Largely what I think dtg did wrong was the lack of content in it. I understand they want to get it out as soon as possible, but especially for the fickle bunch we all are, more content would have been a major selling point. Selling point on not just actual sales of the Game, but a selling point on the fact that TSW could become the next railworks-er whatever we call it now. With its slow and buggy start, I think we only have gotten more ingrained into what we play now, and have become quick to dismiss it.

Once DTG has got some good content in TSW that is fun, then I'll be happy to use it more. Right now they don't have switching, short routes, the environment feels somehow even more dead than TS, and it's so freaking sterile. It's so clean it looks unnatural. If they can work on that... I think TSW can be an excellent long term game.

[SAR704]

Regarding backwards compatibility, as long as the same 3d modeling software can be used to export models into both TS2018 and TSW, there shouldn't be any major issues.

TS2018 could do with a makeover to optimise the graphics and the interface, but I doubt it will happen.

Who exactly are they competing with anyhow? Auran seems to be their only rival.

[Ericmopar]

As someone who has branched out to other games, DTG is way behind the graphics curve.
In World of Tanks for instance, they have managed to make the graphics so real in the new graphics engine that it sometimes gives me a cold chill if I ammorack a enemy tank.
And yet World of Tanks is actually using fewer resources than before, despite introducing water effects so real, that driving through a river or pond washes accumulated dirt off the tank!

Despite all that and weather etc, it never fully uses my CPU or GPU GTX 1070. Nothing ever goes beyond 70% usage under the worst circumstances.
It looks far better and runs far smoother than TSW or Railworks.
Even on ultra 7 year old PCs can run it without stutters.

Heres an example of what I'm talking about, Ultra settings with no stutter etc.
Even people with much older rigs 7 years old with i3s and a GTX 560 get these graphics.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v69xTWdXFQ&t=54s

[buzz456]

As someone who has branched out to other games, DTG is way behind the graphics curve.
In World of Tanks for instance, they have managed to make the graphics so real in the new graphics engine that it sometimes gives me a cold chill if I ammorack a enemy tank.
And yet World of Tanks is actually using fewer resources than before, despite introducing water effects so real, that driving through a river or pond washes accumulated dirt off the tank!

Despite all that and weather etc, it never fully uses my CPU or GPU GTX 1070. Nothing ever goes beyond 70% usage under the worst circumstances.
It looks far better and runs far smoother than TSW or Railworks.
Even on ultra 7 year old PCs can run it without stutters.

Heres an example of what I'm talking about, Ultra settings with no stutter etc.
Even people with much older rigs 7 years old with i3s and a GTX 560 get these graphics.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v69xTWdXFQ&t=54s

What engine are they using? Is this editable? Can I make my own tank and put it in there? Can I create my own scenarios?

[BigBoyMoon]

Wait until you try War Thunder if you think WoT looks soo good

[SAR704]

The brick wall visible to the right of that image does have a moderately decent display resolution, but it makes it obvious that you're still playing a video game.

[KevinWS]

I took a break from TS about a year after DTG games took it over.

I have been back for 18 months.

In that time little has improved. The coupler issue resolved and some other issues. Raindrops. Changing weather. No great graphic improvement.

What has changed in my eyes is inaccessibility. It is now really hard to do anything in terms of modding, checking, repainting etc. Even RWTools contains comments to this effect in the manual.

Clearly DTG do not want users to have access. While this fine if that is their decision, then they need to come to the party in other areas - meaningful development (not just tweaking), decent support, price, listen to the community etc. etc. To my mind that's their mistake.

I still enjoy TS but not as much as I did - I have stopped purchasing anything new. And the other day, I loaded MSTS, and must confess to having had more fun there! Something I noticed was MSTS showed a major improvement visually to what it was - obviously due to today's better hardware.

Trainz on the hand has shown major development and if it loses some of the model train emphasis will be a real winner. 2019 is a real winner appearance wise. Support is good.

And realistic operation-wise Run8 is tremendous. And the developer support is nothing short of incredible. But you need good specs to run decently - I need to upgrade my hardware.