Train Simulator Classic, the ultimate railway hobby, returns with a new core package in 2025, featuring three iconic routes from the wide world of railways. In this article, we outline the offering in 2025 and answer questions about the present and the future of our much-loved, longest-running train simulation title. We also announce a new country coming to TSC in the form of a future route Add-on! Read on to find out more. Train Simulator Classic, the ultimate railway hobby, returns with a new core package in 2025, featuring three iconic routes from the wide world of railways. In this article, we outline the offering in 2025 and answer questions about the present and the future of our much-loved, longest-running train simulation title. We also announce a new country coming to TSC in the form of a future route Add-on! Read on to find out more. The release last year was called ‘Train Simulator Classic 2024’. This year, it is simply ‘Train Simulator Classic’. Why the change? The ‘Classic’ label was introduced a couple of years ago, and reflects the status of TSC as our original, long-standing train sim, which offers a different experience and a different appeal to Train Sim World. 2024 was a landmark year, combining a number of updates to the core code, as well as being the 15th anniversary of Train Simulator, which launched in 2009 as RailWorks. This year, we are reverting back to the simple ‘Classic’ naming for the longer term – though we may still offer alternative editions to go alongside ‘Classic’. What does that mean for the core game? We are sticking with the current version of the game code. We did a lot of work on the core last time, and we feel it is now stable for the majority of players. To make any further code changes would again take us along a path of potential disruption for players and for developers, and it doesn’t seem warranted or fair to do that at this point. What is different about TS Classic this time around? What makes it interesting for players or would-be players? A major difference this time is the inclusion of Partner Developer route and loco content within the core package. Like many games, TSC has included components developed by external creators many times over the years, right back to the days of RailWorks in 2009. This year’s version is unusual in that it features two complete routes, with locos, entirely conceived developed and by third party developers. So, what will be included in TSC, and why will third-party routes form part of it? In keeping with the ‘Classic’ theme, TSC will feature three routes from our traditional TSC heartlands – the UK, the USA and Germany. Our very own Chatham Main Line: London Victoria & Blackfriars – Dover & Ramsgate is all about commuter services, with a lengthy track map and plenty to do. On the other hand, Norfolk Southern Saluda Grade by High Iron Simulations puts you in charge of heavy freight trains tackling the hills of North Carolina, while TSG’s Konstanz – Villingen gets you moving both passengers and freight on the Upper Rhine and Black Forest railways. The Chatham Main Line is featured in its entirety from London Victoria to Ramsgate and Dover via Faversham. The Sheerness Branch is also included, as is London Blackfriars, totalling over 130 miles of South East railway to explore. Also featuring are a selection of Southeastern EMUs, including the BR Class 465/9 for long-distance Networker action. The historic Norfolk Southern (ex-Southern Railway) Saluda Grade route extends 70 miles from Asheville, North Carolina, to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and includes the legendary and daunting 4.7 per cent railroad grade that ascended the east slope of the magnificent Blue Ridge Mountains. You’ll climb aboard three types of authentic Norfolk Southern diesels and experience extraordinary and memorable mountain railroading. Konstanz and Villingen are connected by more than 90km of scenic inter-city rail. From Konstanz, the line starts off as the Upper Rhine Railway, which has followed the path of the great river since the 1840s. The Upper Rhine Railway stretches all the way from Mannheim down to the Swiss city of Basel, before sharply darting east and following, plus frequently crossing, the German-Swiss border all the way to Konstanz. Trains from Konstanz, bound for Villingen, follow this path as far as Singen. You will experience all of this from the cab of the BR111 and the BR189. Now that TS Classic relies more heavily on third-party content, making it part of the core product means that we can continue to offer refreshed TSC core packs for a long time to come, built around some of the most popular third-party routes and locos with all their expertise and innovation built in. What role does DTG play in the life of TS Classic now? Has the focus shifted away from TSC now? DTG is still committed to the future of TS Classic! We simply rely much more now on the thriving third party development community to bring new content to TSC, and to Steam, and we plan to continue working with 3PPs for as long as they plan to work with us. Even in the past year, we have begun work with additional developers such as 3D Zug, Diesel Workshop and others, and many other familiar developers are working on new content for TSC at this moment. In fact, we're delighted to announce that we'll be bringing a brand new country to TS Classic this year: The Netherlands! It's a little way off yet, but an all-new route from Amsterdam to Hilversum is currently in the works, and will be a joint production by DTG and Jasksoft. We're excited to see what you think, and we'll share more details in the future. For now though, here's an in-progress picture to whet your appetites: Keep watching our channels for more news on the Train Simulator Classic update!
This is great to hear, one of my questions for the new update is, 1. Will the headlight flares issue be fixed for the upcoming Train Simulator Classic? It is a bug that was introduced in TSC 2024, (build v77.6b) where headlight flares would turn on a very short distance instead of being visible from far away 2. Will there be updates to the sky textures, silverlining? 3. Will DTG be creating routes again soon for Train Simulator now that there is a joint route in the works?
I read between the lines there will be no core updates 'because they break more than they bring', correct? And a complete overhaul isn't commercially viable considering TSW and the console market. The UK and Germany route seem sensible choices, Konstanz-Villingen is a gem, TSG quality. Saluda is useless, difficult, slow and incomplete, just included for HIS' reputation as a 'core developer' status I think, and incomparable with the other two. Amsterdam-Hilversum is like 25Kms, 5 commuter stops or so. But perhaps a kernel which can be extended to Almere-Lelystadt and Amersfoort? I already have all routes in free or payware, so what's the deal for newcomers exactly, while the subscription model is still being continued?
If you read the post one more time you will see that there won't be any core update. It's just a name change and a new route bundle.
Australia when? Got my hopes up when I heard a new country was coming to the game!! Can you tell I’m desperate? In all seriousness thanks for the update and clarification on what is happening with the game. Much appreciated.
I saw but I am sure many know the headlight flares issue is a fairly annoying bug, atleast that should be fixed
DTG's reasoning for no more core changes is an excuse, nothing more. There's still so much they could do with TS but don't want to, including the UI overhaul that was listed as a potential upgrade by DTG a while back. As for the routes, three routes doesn't make much sense now. Undoubtedly they'll need to pay the two third party developers for every copy of TSC sold, so they won't be making as much money with this release as they were with the last one. If they were including DTG routes only, they've already made their money on them so they could give away loads of them with the game which would make it a much more compelling package. They did that to an extent last time, but didn't include the extensions they released for the routes that had them. It would have made that package much better. I don't know why they went with a High Iron route when they could have gone with a route by literally any other third party developer. With that said, the Chatham Main Line is a good choice and Konstanz Villingen is an absolute banger of a route. The Dutch route is interesting - Danny, before he deleted his account, said that DTG were working on a TSC route which was cancelled and he couldn't talk about it. I wonder if that is the route that was announced today? We'll probably never know. One more thing - the cover art looks really weird to me.
Its on everything that uses headlight flares with the "fade end distance" set to a low value. I have always looked at this value as the distance from the loco/train that the flare will stop the fade (from small size to big size) Somehow DTG have used this value as the render end distance. It could be fixed by editing the fade distance to a much higher value, and change the size of the flare.
Not all locomotives but I notice the bug is on most trains that use the headlight flares option. Disabling headlight flares turns off the light completely. Below are trains that have this bug with the headlight flare - Metro North M8 - Metro North M7 - LIRR M7 - LIRR M3 - Metro North M2 - NJT F40PH - Amtrak F40PH - NJT GP40-2 - NJT Arrow III - Caltrain MP36 - MARC MP36 - NJT Comet IV cab car - New Haven FL9 - Amtrak P42DC
I think it's really weird to offer a Dutch route DLC while these have been a big thing you can download for free or barely any money (especially comparing it to your price tags) for literal years. One of the first games I ever watched videos of is either Train Sim 2014 or Train Sim 2015, and trust me, a big majority of these routes were able to be purchased/downloaded. I actually don't know if TSC is a completely different game, and if most of these routes are even in there, but it's for sure a big slap in the face for people who have offered all these routes for barely any money, if any in the first place for all these years. I know Zwolle - Groningen sold really well in TSW, so why not just add it to that game? I assume it's because it will take a lot longer to develop because mainly graphics and detail wise it's a lot more work, but it's a disappointing move. Besides, I would rather have quality over quantity, and quantity is what it rather feels like to me. It's like you guys want another Dutch DLC asap. Trust me, we also want another one, but I personally am likely to NOT buy it in TSC as this is the easy 'route' for you to take. This route could be worked on to bring a new audience to TSC... but I feel like that audience is already there, or at least used to back in the day when you still had TS14, 15, 16 etc. And I don't think people would return if they would suddenly have to pay a lot more for a route which they can also get for cheaper
It's very difficult to release the open-source code, there are 894 DLCs ("steamdb.info") where they can still get some resources, very different from other cases where the open-source code was released. Grain by grain, the chicken fills its crop.
The DLC doesn't need to be made open source (there's not much about them that could be made open-source anyway), just the core game.
Decompile parts of the game's core and you'll be in for a surprise. Now imagine the open source code being released.
Hey even a fix of the errors in the latest public would be something. Make the signal scripts work again.
The point of open sourcing isn't excessive magic, but even small things like adjusting some numbers (flare distance) or refining some error messages can help. With careful review of changes a trusted collective of the community could gradually improve TSC. There have been several really helpful people, such as Spikee, likely willing to test the newest version. Just adding a small change every 1-3 months sounds fine. Say, fix headlights first, then update the snowflakes second (trivial but explains the point), and so on. Could also update some content, like fix references in All Aboard content or replace the white doorframe on the Kuju SD40-2. Emphasis on small changes.
Eh? Route and scenario DLCs are just BIN files which you can open and modify at will already. Train DLCs are the same for the most part, but any custom scripting will be encrypted in most cases. Not that it matters, because not many people care about DTG Lua scripting from ten years ago.
You're not understanding where I'm going with this, there is nothing with lua codes or silly codes in bin, the DLCs on Steam will be exposed with the leak of the open-source code, this is not in the company's interest.
What an absolute white flag post. After nearly a year of silence, this is what comes out? Unbelievable. My expectations were low but to simply admit that you’ve stopped working on the core code is one thing; to say you’re doing it as a service to your customers is another. As someone once said, “Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining.” Looks like the bugs, like the aforementioned glare effects, are here to stay. Looks like the graphics engine, dated at best, is here to stay. Looks the the physics engine, bearing little resemblance to reality (show me how to break a train in half on that upcoming 4% grade and I’ll consider it improved), is here to stay. What’s the chances I won’t have to modify the scenarios because they’re buggy And have impossible objectives while still adhering to railroading best practices? It’s not zero, but it’s close. As a long time player, this is heartbreaking. A game like this thrives on a healthy third party ecosystem, but that ecosystem has to have solid, well-maintained, and continuously updated foundation. In transitioning TSC to abandonware, the collapse of that ecosystem is inevitable.
It's not much of an update is it - you've got what you've got, but here's some new stuff to buy. It's really disappointing to see that not only has the beta work been discontinued, but the "reasoning" is that, "yeah, it might break something, stick with the broken thing you've got" is worse. I was really excited when Steve talked about the opportunities for extending the life and experience of TSC - it very much feels like the rug has been pulled out from under the community
I don't recall their being a year where TSC has not been upgraded. I hope the TSC core stream provides some insight to what the future of TSC is looking like
It’s very unlikely that their stream will go against what is said in the article. The future is that all development is off.
I don't think there's any likelihood of the stream contradicting the announcement. I think that for now at least (and probably for ever) there will be no more DTG development of the core. If you want your light flares back then revert to any earlier version of TSC.
Just edit the headlight blueprints and change the "fade end distance" under the Head light flare component. This will make the flares visible until this value is reached. TSC didn't get any core updates between 2015 and ~2022, at least no features or bug fixes. I'm glad that DTG took their time to adress some issues after 2023, but the latest public beta has some important fixes that should have been implementet before they end the project. The signal issue is probably due to the crawling fix, I could live with trains crawling. Its been like this since 2007 and it hasn't prevented people from enjoying the sim. So if they could just revert that, and leave the rest of the fixes in 78.1a I think it would be better.
Again, eh? I assume you mean that the content in the DLCs would be made open source, which wasn't part of the equation (but I wouldn't mind seeing the source files for them being released as well). DTG's 'interests' aren't relevant, because by making the game open source they are relinquishing their exclusive rights to the game entirely. You haven't made your point very clear. The physics are dependent on what the author of the wagon or locomotive has set up, and the overwhelming majority of the time the core has bugger all to do with it. Once again, it's dependent on the author, generally not the core. I don't think TS2017 or TS2018 had any core updates from what I can remember. I could be wrong though.
That's true, almost forgot it. Was it in 2019? But in my opinion the development until 2015 and after 2023 was more active with new features and bugfixes, until it died last year. I'm 100% sure it has to do with the new owners of DTG.
Would there happen to be a guide or instructions on how to fix the headlight flare and the end distance. If this does not get fixed, I would like to learn how to fix this myself if possible.
TS2019, so late 2018 to be exact. TS2016 did see a UI update but it was minor stuff between those two releases.
