Route Manchester Airport Commuter - Feedback Thread

Other than a few bugs I've noticed (broken OHLE at Ardwick Depot, Benches Clipping into each other, raised ballast at Heaton) I have to say i'm impressed with the quality of the route. The stations rival those of Just Trains for quality and the fact you can explore the entire station at Manchester Piccadilly is so cool and this to me is what TSW should be, not having teleport markers at Cardiff Central because they couldn't be bothered to model a concourse.

It puts Rivet Games to shame and if this quality continues for their next route i'm looking forward to it. Once the bugs are fixed this could be a really solid route.

 

Sorry, but this information confirms what I already felt during the stream yesterday. The quality is simply not at a level that justifies selling it.

In addition, the stream was unpleasant to follow, mainly because of the talking and how Alan came across. Far too present.

I'm passing on this product—especially based on what I’ve read here, the decision is easy.

No hate, but this just isn't release-worthy.

 

Xbox Series S

 

iirc it was 27 miles of overall track length, IE from Manchester to Alderley Edge both ways and the Airport branch all total 27 miles.

 

As I read though these threads, no matter what the dlc is, I find it amazing at how the thoughts of the posters vary from "it's a good/great route" to "this route is not worth my money" or "should have never been released it is not worthy". Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on a route, but the disparity is amazing.

 

Noticed the headlights/taillights/gauge cluster lights not working on the ScR 158 but the recent patch has sorted that.

Enjoying the heck out of it so far 9/10 (1 missing because needs more shed)

 

Xbox series x

 

Noticed a thread asking about night lighting so I went to see what it was like.

Please improve the night lighting

 

Tried the 13:22 323 from Piccadilly to Crewe three times and had a crash to desktop at the same point every time about 20 seconds after the line speed goes up to 65 and about 1.4 miles from the next stop.

I suspect this may be related to the freight service ahead (from cargo pack 4) as the tail end container comes into sight just a fraction of a second before the crash.

On PS5

 

Have we got xbox update yet DTG Jamie

 

Tbf, people's tolerances for bugs etc massively differs.

For me, the more the devs bang on about QC and testing, the more any bugs annoy me.

 

Mastery: Complete 4 Timetables using the Class 66 isn't progressing, have done 2 so far but no credit.

PS5 Pro

 

Is this out on all platforms today? Everyone seems to be posting videos about it already but it is not on Steam and it has passed 6pm when the last content goes live. Are these early access or something?

 

It's out on Steam now as I've paid for it and am now playing it!

 

I do not have it listed on the DLC page. The list all icon shows 125 products, but searching for term "World® 5:" which with the colon appears once only in each listing and nowhere else on the page, shows only 124 entries listed on that page. There is also nothing under "upcoming releases" and nothing is hidden. If I refresh, nothing changes except the search drops to 19 because I have to scroll to load everything again.

 

The airport branch has many missing catenary poles Xbox Series X.

 

On Xbox series X, I have found no blurry textures yet.. touch wood but found performance to be horrific on approach to Manchester, from the JN where Glossop joins until the platforms. Really bad frames in genral and many drops.

 

I like the new ballast, however i feel like network rail haven't done such a great job in places...

 

I appreciate it is the first attempt from ATS. So I don't want to sound too harsh.

That being said there are signs of 'Baby's First Unreal Engine Project'.

1. Light baking is pretty bad across the entire map. There are a lot of examples of buildings, like the signal boxes around Stockport, tunnels, not being light baked correctly and just appearing bright and flat.


2. There are areas across the map that are just inconsistently done. For example, the size of doorways, some of which are just too small for the player's height. Another example of this is the escalators down to the Metrolink platforms at Piccadilly, which are so small you can't fit down them without crouching. It's like the map was just eyeballed rather than basing dimensions accurately on the height of the player.

This entire area just serves no gameplay purpose whatsoever. I'd avoid such distractions and make sure you maintain quality across the parts that actually have an impact on the gameplay.



3. Similarly, if you are going to make such areas player accessable, it's worth spending the time to make sure the geometry actually makes sense, i.e. don't have floating buildings. It doesn't matter as much if it's just distance detail, but don't let me walk up to this.



4. This problem at Heaton Chapel speaks for itself. I cannot even begin to fathom how something like this slips through the net, QA, etc.
This is by far the worst thing I've encountered in my initial hour playing


5. This is an incredibly weird formation. You'd never run 2 150 units coupled together with two more 153 units in passenger service. Really weird.


Finally I'd comment on the texture work. Some of the textures are amaturish; advertising textures are just squished and squashed badly, the fake brands are just... weird. I know you can't use real brands, but these are parituclarly bad.


Not sure how Avanti will feel, as a license holder, about Virgin Trains stuff hanging around, even if you did change Virgin to "Veros"

 

Initial run, the light baking is the main issue I've seen so far. Doesn't appear to be shadows under bridges or where shadows would be cast. Whites seem to glow, like the signal boxes at Stockport and numerous bridges, including Stockport Viaduct are pitch black in colour.

The Heaton Chapel monuments have been mentioned by all, but they're on the Steam version too.

The Pendos seem to have the panto raised at the wrong running end as well.

 

And this has checked for release?! This is why i did not paid any Penny...

 

Well, for me, I've done a few runs now and love the route!

 

Willing to bet they haven't gotten the license from Transport for Greater Manchester and actually *forgot* to remove the one that remains. I.e. the bug report is the reverse of what you think it is. They'll need to remove that 'm'blem at Gatley.



In fact we kind of know this is the case given the fake 'Metro' branding instead of using Metrolink.

 

There is a link in the release article that will get you there straight away.

 

Another day, another buggy, unfinished route released.

Its now standard.

 

You know what, I'm going to say it.

The thing that kills me is, by starting out with that intention but for the usual $$$ reasons cutting the route short and not going all the way to Crewe, it really does huff the commercial incentive for somebody else, or DTG themselves, to actually make a Manchester to Crewe route, which would be much more appealing imho. Real shame.

 

Just done a run from Manchester Piccadilly (06:25) to Alderley Edge via the airport and a few things I noticed:

• Unusual routing out of Piccadilly, crosses the train over and then back at Ardwick.
• No flashing yellow aspects when diverging towards the airport. (Not sure if the entire route is missing flashing yellows/approach control?)
• The travel time from the airport to Styal seemed way too long, had around 5 minute wait in Styal.
• Neutral sections don't appear to be functioning.
• Pendos running on the wrong pantograph (might be a Pendo issue rather than the route).
• Really picky, but at Longsight depot the lifting jacks should be on 12 road, not 11 road.
• Game crashed to desktop whilst roaming around Longsight depot, at the old station platfrom on the Up line.
• 1H50 from Wilmslow to Piccadilly Pendo stopped at the 4-car board rather than the 9/11 board.

 

The amount of time they spent bigging up the 'tester' DTG created, just for the same old issues to arise.

 

PC Steam
Class 323 2H89 Macclesfield to Manchester
Departing from Levenshulme as you cross the tracks you get derailed by a 390 in the opposite direction.
It looks like the tracks are too close to pass each other.

 

Someone didn't clear the excess ballast from Heaton Chapel during the railway construction

 

Just done a freight run from the journey completely blurry the whole trip. Job 4l56 this on xbox x

 

There is no supports holding up the AC near Manchester Airport? Xbox series X.

 

Class 87 rail tour has a random BR MK2 TSO as the brake van. Also, when dispatching the train off... The game closes the doors like normal and says wait for the next stop but the train doesn't move. This is on Xbox 1. Any ideas?

 

My thoughts (PC/Steam):
Generally a good route. I'm pleased that patches are been created for the issues raised (such as the ballast at Heaton Chapel).

• Just before Styal heading towards the airport there appears to be an AWS magnet for a 40 warning, but the magnet doesn't trigger an alarm.
• Neutral sections don't appear to work on the 323 or 390, but on TinTin_57's stream they worked on a class 87.
• I'm disappointed that 9R20 (0603 from Manchester to London) is not included in the timetable since this goes to Wilmslow via Styal (and then on to London via Birmingham), presumably for route learning. Admittedly, it may not have been running in 2018 but it would have provided a little extra variety.
• While I didn't notice any missing OHLE supports, I noticed some that seem to be doubled up.

There are flashing yellows on the approach to Wilmslow from Alderley Edge and from Styal towards the airport.

 

I'm on Steam. So far ...

Played multiple services now and I'm pretty impressed. Living in the area and knowing the route and the scenery, I can tell exactly where I am and I don't think you can ask for more than that. It's pretty highly detailed and clearly a lot of effort has gone into the world building part.

A few bugs - light baking isn't the best being the main one. 350 runs no panto, 390s with the London end panto up at all times no matter which direction. The "Heaton Chapel Gravel Monument"! The general few bugs you always find. But I'm really enjoying it. The variety of services and traction deffo helps.

PIS at the Airport. Platforms 4 and 2 have the exact same PIS displaying. Plus around East Didsbury there are a few wires missing, about 5 I counted. But nothing like the swathes of missing poles consoles seem to be getting. Generally the OHLE is nicely done and doesn't feel at all generic like say WCMLS.

Approach control. Is there meant to be approach control from the Manchester side into the airport? It's present on the Styal side but not the Manchester side, but not sure if that is actually correct.

 

Not had much time to explore but fairly smooth and blur free so far. However crashed to desktop on selecting “back to main menu” on completion of Unit Swap scenario. Xbox Series X with all DLC installed

 

There seems to be a bit missing from the Sunday timetable, there are no Transport for Wales services and the Stoke services seem to only run every 4 hours. (Unless that is realistic, then ignore what I said)

 

Bridge/ tunnel reverb missing. It is a bit of a hit and miss if it's there between different routes. I'm on PS5.

 

Here’s my feedback / review of the route. Overall, I’m impressed by ATS’ first route.

For me a train simulator should be an immersive experience from the cab and what you can see from the cab is everything. ATS have got this spot on, which I know is part of their ethos to make what you see from the cab as best an experience as possible.

The trackside clutter is the best we’ve seen in TSW, the ballast shoulders, dense foliage, redundant rail, cable, it’s all there. What happens outside of that doesn’t matter as you are fully immersed in the cab. It’s great to see the inclusion of speed boards with the correct font!

I completely understand why ATS went for this route, there’s some very complex stations and junctions not like we’ve had in TSW before. Slade Lane Junction, Heald Green/Manchester Airport triangular junctions, Adswood Road and also the approach to Wilmslow from the North, all unique and well executed by ATS. Massive thumbs up for this. There will some that criticise the route for not going to Crewe, but you are still getting some major stations such as Piccadilly/Manchester Airport/Stockport/Wilmslow and Alderley Edge.

The only scenery bug is at Heaton Chapel not sure how that slipped the net!


Signals

The unique Ansaldo signalling operated from Manchester South area brilliant modelled and nice to see their inclusion.

Stations are nicely modelled all unique, such as Handforth/Alderley Edge/Wilmslow and Stockport the main ones to mention.

Timetable

Now my main gripe the timetable. While I completely understand why ATS went for 2018, for AI purposes. I think this was a mistake and a better experience would have been the present day timetable which has existed from December 2022 which would have made far better use of the star of the show, the Class 323!

For example the current service pattern

2 trains per hour Manchester Piccadilly to the Airport (express/stop at Heald Green) (from Blackpool) mostly formed of 2 x 323 units

1 train per hour Manchester Piccadilly to the Airport all stations (from Liverpool) used to be the odd 323, now all class 331 units.

1 train per hour to Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe (Alderley Edge) via the Airport formed of 323/331 units.

1 train per hour Manchester Piccadilly to Alderley Edge via Stockport formed of 323/331 units.

1 train per hour to Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe via Stockport formed of 323/331 units.

The in game timetable doesn’t have the Wigan - Alderley Edge services implemented which would have been formed of 150/156’s at the time and later 769’s. So I think this is a bit of a let down. And 142’s would have still be used too.

Also there auto generated timings on the 158 EMT services - why are we still doing this?!

But I won’t take away from what we have as there is a very extensive timetable already!

Overall, a very impressive first route from ATS, and I hope they continue to expand their exploits in TSW and they’ve done a brilliant job. A 331 would be great, just saying. I can see a lot of playability in this route as it has so much to offer and barring my personal timetable gripes, I’m very happy.

8/10

 

Had that on Fife line black screen except compass train at wrong station

 

Hmmm. Once again, far too many ‘crazy’ issues slipping out because of developers rushing to release. Another route I was very much interested in, another route not purchased. Disappointing.

 

Should have gone to Crewe

 

I like the route, it's not the finished article but after some improvements it hopefully become even better.

Tried a drive from the Airport to Picc on the LNWR train and the panto wouldn't come up.

Also did a Sunday drive from Picc to Wilmslow via the Airport and the timings didn't seem in sync, had to wait for 10m at the airport which resulted in trains backing up and not being able to get through.

Did notice a couple of things needed to be added to Stockport, first up the football ground around the Edgley area isn't there.

One thing which needs adding and potentially could have it's name changed to be a bit tongue in cheek is The Hat Museum which you normally see sat on the left hand side going south bound over the viaduct.

This should be added and renamed "The Matt Museum" to avoid any copyright issues.

 

I have tried a few jobs from weekend timetable and im just getting dumped somewhere along the route not even in a train. Next it happens I jot down job numbers.

 

I do wonder sometimes:

How long does a route need to be made for before people say it wasnt released to early?

5-10 years or when everything is perfect and a bug free utopia.

It feels a lot of people walk up and put their flag out there but dont know some of these routes may have had 2yrs on them.

Assume you have a small dev team of 8 working 45rs a week. That's 360.hrs of dev time a week multiplied by 104 weeks.

That's over 37,000hrs of dev tim8e....

Peculiar feedback. , particularly buying that time for £20-30.

Thanks for making me smile. By the way if anyone wants to decorate and work for me for 2yrs for £20 I'll happily on board.

 

really impressed with the route but the use of AI posters is a bit dissapointing to be honest. It ruins the illusion slightly and i think it would be better to put something else there. The plane doesn't even have an even number of engines on each wing...

 

chieflongshin
Everyone is entitled to an opinion, right? If you don't like that opinion, that's totally fine, but I feel like your response somewhat undermines someone's right to express what they believe.
Sorry, no hate, but an opinion isn't a fact—it's just an opinion, right?!

 

Had my first crash to Home Screen whilst playing the last 350 run on the Sunday timetable. Was just approaching Manchester Piccadilly the game froze and crashed. I’m on Xbox series s

 

This is at Heston chapel

 

I have noticed a few missing sections of OHLE at East Didsbury and just outside Piccadilly, as well as platforms at various stations overhanging too far and interfering with the train.

There is also no reverb under bridges and I can't seem to observe a drop in line supply through the neutral section near Styal, although this was in a 380 (why not) so I don't know if it needs to have the correct stock.

In terms of rolling stock, I just encountered unit 323228 with coaches 64006, 72206, and 65006. However, unit 323228 should be 64028, 72228 and 65028. The individual vehicle numbers refer to 323206 which was a West Midland Railway unit. This error also applies to "Class 323 NT" off Manchester - Hadfield/Glossop as well as "Class 323 NTR" off this route but it has still not been corrected after the previous version of the Northern 323.

On a plus, the air tank that once used to supply the pneumatic points system outside Piccadilly is present which I did not except due to the time needed to model it and it is a single item that would easily go unnoticed, even IRL.