TSW build 710 "Diesel-hydraulic debut"

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

FRom TSW's Steam page: https://steamcommunity.com/app/530070/d ... 303/?ctp=2

"Today we are bringing an update to Train Sim World 2020, this adds support for the upcoming DB BR 204 Loco Add-On, as well as other minor changes to existing add-ons. Please find the full update log below:

Peninsula Corridor
· Resolved an issue whereby progress could be blocked at Redwood Sidings when running service “UP1 Northbound Loaded Aggregates”.
· Updated passenger alight behaviours to reflect “4th and King” being a terminus station.


West Somerset Railway
· Resolved an issue where it was possible for route refuel points to become inoperable (as originally reported in the Class 33s “Pitstop” scenario).

Main-Spessart Bahn
· Doppelstockwagen (BR 766, 780 and 785) collision updates to improve player access to passenger doors on Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr route’s platforms.
· Extended timetable to support DR BR 204 locomotive.

Ruhr-Sieg Nord
· Resolved an issue where audio could distort and cut out for certain locos (such as the BR 155) in some of the route’s tunnels (most notable on the PS4 platform).

CN Oakville Subdivision
· Inaccessible track no longer shows on the 2D map.
· Resolved several instances whereby it was possible to escape the player world boundaries across the route.

-----
My game received a 746 MB update, your download size may vary.

Apparently we need to be locked in the world DTG created for us, otherwise we might fall off the face of the earth (which I believe is round in the projection TSW uses ;-)

Now, will DTG in the future stop advertising inaccessible track miles as a route feature, i.e. in being honest as to what you actually get for your money?

[ElphabaWS]

Now, will DTG in the future stop advertising inaccessible track miles as a route feature, i.e. in being honest as to what you actually get for your money?

I can think of no case when DTG's "advertising" has stated a length other than route miles (e.g., primary main line length) rather than track miles, which in fact generally far exceed route miles, especially so on a route such as Oakville (whether a few miles of industrial trackage are inaccessible or not).

[BNSFdude]

How do you explain them advertising the route to have tons of accessible miles that are in-fact inaccessible prior to this update then? It was part of the map marked.

[dejoh]

Not only can't you operate locomotives WHICH YOU BOUGHT on other routes, there are miles of yards and sidings that you can't enter. IMO a very stupid move on TSW planning. Why design tracks that can only be seen and not used?

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

No amount of DTG's staff and their mouthpieces talking can smooth over TSW's deficits in the eyes of the majority of Train Simulator users.

One can only hope third parties might be able to elevate the standard of the game from pretty trains with lots of buttons, switches and levers you can play with to something equally useful or even surpassing Train Simulator, Trainz, Open Rails or Run8.

DTG is struggling with TSW for three years now, and the base inadequacies still remain. It just has no play value other than the kind gaming consoles offer: new level, play, finish, discard, off to the next new level.

The fact that there still is no free roam, no own formations and schedules/scenarios I find most disappointing. Even more so because there are intrepid hackers opening up the cooked solid timetables etc.

I am waiting for the discerning German player community's evaluation of this new DLC, and wether it really allows more game play and even some freedom on the German routes and enhanced game play like serving industries.

[Boss1]

The fact that there still is no free roam, no own formations and schedules/scenarios I find most disappointing. Even more so because there are intrepid hackers opening up the cooked solid timetables etc.

I agree 100%!

They really need to at the very least incorporate free roam if they are not ready to release the editor.

[cnwfan]

They really need to at the very least incorporate free roam if they are not ready to release the editor.

It seems like it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to include free roams. Basically, isn't it a timetabled activity without AI and predetermined steps?

Overall though, a scenario editor is really needed for the routes. Even if DTG wishes to completely control route development, making a scenario editor available would be a big leap forward, and I think would really help product sales. Just make the scenario editor a stand alone PC product that bolts onto TSW for PC's. Create a TSW scenario workshop space on Steam, and allow users to post their scenarios. Adjust the base TSW product to allow downloading of scenarios from the workshop space. I would gladly pay for something like this if it gets us scenario creation freedom.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Steam cloud save function and Steam Workshop integration are apparently too difficult to implement.

Wether the UE4 game architecture and DRM doesn't allow for this I don't know. Everything, including the hacks that allow repaints of default stock, better horns, lights and weather, the substitution of engines etc., are in cooked .pak files.

Game settings are saved in your user directory, but there are many multiple references to the same variables, and in all, there are a huge lot of UE variables.

Plus, like with resuming from a saved state in TSxx, scripts and scripted events most often don't get properly re-initialized, so you have to abort your game and start over.

[SAR704]

The current state of the game reminds me of someone who keeps turning their head to have 3 conversations simultaneously. TSW will be a dead end road unless they listen to the customers.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

The current state of the game reminds me of someone who keeps turning their head to have 3 conversations simultaneously. TSW will be a dead end road unless they listen to the customers.

if the console players don't complain too much and still happily buy every new piece of DLC, the game might survive and even very slowly make progress.

I've checked this BR204's Steam page, it has a route availability of one, it still doesn't allow you to assemble your own train, run a double headed consist, kick cars or whatever duties you might demand of a switcher.

As with all TSW locomotives, the model looks nice, has lots of lights, buttons, levers, switches for you to play with. You can even adjust the seat :-)

It has dual control stands, and I wonder what the scenario creator has made of this feature when you change direction. Do you need to swap seats? When you ride along as a brakeman, does the AI engineer swap seats?

The manual https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/1113824/manuals/Train_Sim_World_DB_BR_204_Driver's_Manual_PC_EN.pdf leaves me confused though.

It speaks of 'traction motors' while the locomotive has '3-stage fluid torque converter transmission gearbox with additional 2-gear mechanical gearbox' and apparently you cannot use power braking.

I don't know if any of the included Scenarios has the locomotive working at its capacity and adhesion limit to test the implementation of the characteristics of hydraulic transmission.

[GT46PAC]

TSW is dead.
The first DLC was the best, quality degraded after that.
Now this game is for fanbois not for serious train simmers

[mjlevy1118]

I really, really tried to get onboard TSW as the future of train simming, and ultimately ended up uninstalling it. I was shocked to see how big of a footprint the game made on my hard drive, and then I thought about it and realized I just don't care enough about the game to make the space worthwhile.

TSW suffers from some serious flaws with no apparent remedy, and no apparent interest or communication from the Dev team in fixing them or making the game better. I try not to fault games for not being what they aren't, but the gameplay structure is too limited for extended replayability.

• No third-party route or content editors. MSTS, Trainz, and Railworks/TSXX have all been greatly successful because of the astounding amount of care and work that the userbase has put into making custom content. These simulators have thrived specifically because they can be added to at will. To lock users out of creating their own content is a crazy way to do business with this particular franchise, and the offerings that DTG manages to put out are...... alright, at best. Their rotation of German, UK, and North American routes has gotten really old, and as an American commuter fan and steam fan, I just don't care about the German or UK routes, or the North American freight routes. I could be mistaken, but I seem to recall one of the devs commenting outright that they have no plans to deviate from the German, UK, and NA rotation. If that memory is correct, then this plan is incredibly, incredibly frustrating to me as a longtime user.
• Yet even as a commuter fan, I've grown bored with the current American commuter DLC. Whether it's the LIRR or Caltrain, there's just only so many times I can make the same exact runs, see the exact same scenery, and find zero surprises along the way. I didn't bother purchasing the NEC addon because the route choice of Newark to New Rochelle was such a poor decision. The LIRR route is alright, if buggy, but the world feels so dead, and both the branches to Hicksvile and Hempstead are too short. The Caltrain route is definitely my favorite to date, but it still feels like I'm operating in a flat, lifeless world.
• A flaw of the TSXX franchise is that there's very little variabiliy in how the game is played. If you do a quick drive, you'll see the exact same static scenery and pre-determined AI and static consists every time you play. What I really crave, and what I'm disappointed that TSW is unable to implement, is a dynamic world that offers a different driving experience every time. I'm talking about changing weather patterns, randomly generated debris by the tracks, randomly generated malfunctions and breakdowns, randomly generated obstacles or situations along the track, dynamic AI dispatcher and conductor who are programmed to give a variety of randomized orders, responses, and confirmations, and other small variables.
• It pains me that the first-person cab camera is generally "bolted" to one spot (or a couple spots in some locomotives). Almost any other simulator allows the user to fully control the first-person camera along the X, Y, Z grid so that you can set the best position for yourself to look forward. As it is, the user is stuck in pre-determined spots that I feel often have poor forward visibility. This diminishes the visceral feeling you should get by being in command of a train.
• The lack of steam locomotives at this point in the game's development is really disappointing. Driving a steam locomotive is what I most want to do most in any train simulator, and yet there doesn't seem to be any steam on the horizon whatsoever for TSW.

Some of these flaws are understandable, as compromises inevitably have to be made for any game. But the dev team is pretty bad at communicating to the fanbase and being open and honest about the state of the game's development and what is to come. Consider something like Derail Valley, which has a great communication system, roadmap to development, and interactions with fans that are playful while being very open. And then look at the half-hearted way the TSW team communicates their game's development to us. There's some information conveyed and a whole lot that isn't conveyed. Their method doesn't inspire confidence that the game will get better in time.

i really wanted to like Train Sim World, but the game just isn't delivering what I'm looking for in a train simulator. Aside from the pretty graphics, it has little to offer more than Train Simulator 20XX. And it pains me even more to see the game go down a track of appealing to the console player market, almost becoming like an arcade game version of what a true train simulator should be. This is a weird approach to me, because the console market isn't loyal or invested like PC players tend to be, so it seems like a strange market to try to capture. And in doing so, the entire game is dumbed down for the PC market as a result.

I just saw that a LIRR M3 will shortly be released for Train Sim World. It looks wonderful, but with the same truncated LIRR route that we've had since 2018, I'm going to pass and keep the game uninstalled. Maybe once a Swiss narrow gauge mountain route appears, or a Welsh steam train, I'll give the game another go.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Thanks for your elaborate and well wrought posting.

I am starting to think the UE4 isn't the non-plus-ultra game architecture for large open world simulations like TSW after all. And since trains are bound to tracks, it isn't a free running open world simulation, like some of the FPS akin to Fortnite.

Given the highly competitive gaming scene, some competition to TSW should have risen by now. But the only other UE4 train simulation initiative I know of, by Crossties Studios IIRC, has never materialised beyond a teaser page.

But then one has to add that the market for realistic train simulations is very small, and probably mostly tied to older white middle class men with roots in model railroading.

Do toddlers and young kids nowadays still play with toy train sets, wooden track pieces and colourful pieces of rolling stock?

[DigitalRails]

Trainz guys need to push up more now
TSW is for console now
UE4 was a bad choice for it
In house was better.

DTG have an EPIC fail

Do toddlers and young kids nowadays still play with toy train sets, wooden track pieces and colourful pieces of rolling stock?
_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha

Yes