All I'm saying is there's no need for anyone to get wound up about it. I assume correcting a non native English speakers grammar is acceptable though eh?
I’ve seen politics destroy several great forums. Before you know it a small civilwar breaks out, and what really should be a knowledge based train simming community has one half having the other half on ignore, while others walk away, taking good knowledge with them. Only because some inconsiderate posters can’t help themselves. Politics do not belong here. Period.
Again, my point wasn't about the content, it was about you getting very irate unnecessarily, you were the one swearing remember.
Good morning folks, I want to take a moment to address some of the concerns raised in this thread. First and foremost: all opinions are welcome here. Our forums are meant to be a place where players can share their thoughts, ideas, and feedback openly. We know that not everyone will agree with each other, and that’s perfectly fine. Different perspectives are what make a community valuable. However, what is not acceptable is when discussions cross into personal attacks, disrespect, or behaviour that breaks our forum rules. When moderation actions are taken, it is never because of a political stance, “woke culture,” or any other outside agenda. It is always because a user has violated our community guidelines, whether that’s through inflammatory language, repeated argumentative behaviour, or disrespect towards other members. We’ve issued many reminders over time about keeping conversations respectful. When those reminders aren’t followed, warnings or temporary bans may be necessary. These actions are not taken lightly, but they are essential to ensure the forum remains welcoming for everyone. To be clear: You will never be punished for your opinions. You may be reprimanded if you express those opinions in a way that is disrespectful, hostile, or against the forum rules. We ask that everyone please keep discussions constructive and kind. If you disagree with someone, focus on their ideas, not the person behind them. Thanks to everyone who continues to engage respectfully and helps us keep this space enjoyable for all players. All the best, Jan
I think that what is important is that our hobby connects people enthusiastic about an interest. I imagine a lot of people interested in railways and our train simulation hobby come from a range backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and circumstances. I actually find writing that a bit uncomfortable however believe that it is a reflection of the world we live in and the politics that focus negatively on difference, divide and suppresses people, whilst giving some privilege and power. The important thing about a community is how the interest can get people engaging and sharing with each other in what is common amongst them, and the world of railways and train simulation can be one of those communities bringing positive connection. Perhaps many people have more that can connect than divide them whilst not loosing that which brings uniqueness. The real railway itself is the result of diversity from those who design them, build them, make them and run them; diversity in skills and knowledge, and the people themselves who make it all possible. I'd like to talk about TSC. I'm looking forward to contrasting the Just Trains Class 220 with the new 220 for TSW6 amongst other things. I enjoy all the creative things you can do with TSC when building scenarios and the likes. It's also good fun to combine a journey across the two simulators. I do hope there is a future for TSC.
I do not see any major product changes or DLC coming out for TSC. It already has a wealth of product already available. We need to just enjoy what is already out there.
I have tried TSW but was not much interested in that simulator but when TSW 6 comes with Czech routes and locos I am gong to have another try. Have always been interested in the Czech ralways because of the beautiful scenery. I also own 1 or 2 routes of TSW 5 with 2 or 3 DLC locos. Right now I do not play TSC. It is uninstalled. Played it much before but kind of lost interest of it. But maybe I will install it again some time later. But have the full game on an external SSD disk so do not need to download it again.
I have played TSC since its beginnings and still play it from time to time due to all my US freight DLC. I mainly use Trainz22 now due to its great route editor and good selection of payware US freight content from Jointed Rail and RR-Mods. Sadly, with TSW5 not having a real route editor, no new US freight power, or freight routes I really don't play it much and do not plan on purchasing TSW6.
I've not played it this year, I got a new gaming rig last November and setting up all of the DLC and custom content has turned into a chore - missing assets from sites no longer around. It's a shame as I pumped a large chunk of change into it and I do find that a lot of the trains themselves look much better and realistic compared to TSW, but TSW has timetable mode and that is a big one for me - I can do end to end then reverse running, something I can't do in TSC freeroam :/
I think these stats must be quite worrying for commercial DLC developers that haven't switched to TSW. Current peaks are only 25% of the all time peak and for most months over the last year there's been a decline in players. Maybe it will stabilise where it is around hard-core players that won't switch to TSW, but I think there's some further decline in numbers to come. If I was Armstrong Powerhouse or Caledonia Works, I'd be getting anxious about my commercial future, especially if it was my main source of income.
I personally don't read too much into these stats as they can just be a capture in time on one platform as opposed to actual overall usage. e.g. At the time of my posting TSC is pretty well up there on comparison with TSW considering it is only available on PC and not consoles. I personally have had both installed on my PC for a long time now :- Playing Time:- TSC 10,251 hrs Playing Time:- TSW 15.9 hrs I know which one I will still be using in 10 years time. I would like to think that the likes of CW / AP / PLD / ATS etc. can see a loyal band of TSC clientele that will continue to purchase a premium product for many years to come ((maybe at a premium price) niche market quality as opposed to mass market cheap rubbish)). whereas the TSW players are more interested in running round stations replacing maps and collecting goodies that in my fading memory were not part of a train drivers job description. I just have to question in which direction TSW is going. Their venture into Steam Locos was an absolute joke, and the latest announcements seem to be about releasing re-vamped DLC that we have had in TSC for years. I do not currently see the longevity in TSW that TSC has enjoyed, and continues to do so. I personally cannot remember the last time I fired up and ran a "DTG out of the box TSC route / scenario", but with the available 3rd party tweaks and add ons TSC (to me) is way more immersive, realistic, enjoyable, editable, than TSW will ever be. Until such time as the 3rd parties such as CW / AP etc are allowed to freely create and share their skills within the the tightly knit framework of TSW development it will never come close to the TSC experience of today. Just my penny worth to this thread, but wished I had not invested the amount I have done in TSW which has given me nowhere near the the enjoyment and experience I was expecting. "LONG LIVE TSC" (Lyrics written, just need to work on a melody) [EDIT] I have just finished running https://alanthomsonsim.com/downloads/jr-6n80-0914-york-thrall-europa-whitemoor-yard-l-d-c-gbrf/ into Whitemoor sidings, and the day TSW can get anywhere near to the Ai traffic in those sidings I will doff my hat and convert. Oh bum you need the London KX - Kings Lynn - Cambridge - Peterborough Route. Is that available in TSW yet ???
Instead orf worrying about these questionable stats I would just introduce any quality product and look at the sales.
TSW really isn't a replacement for TS and likely never will be, so I won't be dropping TS for a very long time. There's simply too many glaring issues with TSW and not enough reasons to look past them. And even if every third party developer stopped making things for TS (which isn't going to happen for a while), we've still got more to drive than we'll probably ever be able to.
Not worried. I have enough stuff for TSC to last a lifetime. The only worry is if it's somehow removed from Steam and then can't launch, but I'm pretty sure there are workarounds for that... in fact I recall someone posting something recently. All my stuff is backed up to a second drive, then also routinely backed up to a RAID server, then that RAID server is mirrored to another RAID server in an outbuilding.I'd need 6x independent and simultaneous drive failures to be an issue. The only thing I can think of that would result in that would be so catastrophic that I'd probably not survive it any way.
Well out of a sense of longing for some of the rare routes (and eras) which will never surface in TSW, I reinstalled TSC yesterday evening along with a curated selection of content, which may grow in time. Part of this was my interest being piqued in trying a Czech route and rolling stock, but straight away run into the age old TSC problem. Once you step away from Steam and the store/Workshop, things get very murky. My attention drawn to the thread regarding the Zilina route which sounds very good. First check is that the original links are dead going, at best to a hosting placeholder at worst something that might send me some malware. Later in the thread there is a link to a forum post to (maybe, if not also dead) further link to a new download location but you need to register to access the information. No thank you. So having successfully downloaded some CD locos and stock from another site which did work, for now I will content myself with making up some consists and free roam or scenarios on existing German or Austrian routes. I spent so much time on this scavenger hunt I didn’t get a chance to actually fire up TSC and do any driving. Which is, for all its many flaws, where TSW does win. I can open the game and get going in a few seconds and all the DLC is in one place should I decide to buy it. No chasing around potentially dubious websites or forums trying to get routes and the assets.
There is plenty of DLC content available which allow one to get the game going in a few seconds (just like TSW) via Steam. As you mentioned there is also a lot of content available outside of Steam (the mirky part) which TSW will never be able to provide. Good luck in your hunt for the Czech route. Not something I am personally interested in otherwise I could send you a copy from my large repository. Respectfully
TSW5 now fully uninstalled - Waiting for TSW6 (and hopefully more entertaining events during timetables). Still crunching through my 269 Routes / 835 Packs / 8703 Scenarios. I guess I am still playing TSC
It always seems strange to me where you buy a game - run it for a year or so then bin it to buy something new. I had the original TSW the one with the CSX route and the Paddington - Oxford - then TSW 2020 where I purchased the Manchester - Leeds, a DB route around Dresden, Darlington - Saltburn and the West Somerset railway. But DTG wanted people to keep buying a newer version of the game for other routes. I decided it was too much of a cash cow.
I am almost certain that they revealed it was in order to keep it "fresh" in the storefront, particularly on consoles. I'm almost certain that they did let it slip ahead of TSW5 due to the quite intense backlash over the announcement of yet another new version. Yes it came as a free starter pack but they had to, given all of the DLC that had been churned out, even the storefront operators would have kicked off as they'd get a lot of heat over it. Even with the free "upgrade" it's a massive ball ache for long time players as of course all the DLC has to be downloaded again and it's evidently now an annual ritual :/
Another case (I’m afraid) of where TSW sometimes outperforms TSC. Finally got going on the “Freight To Villingen” scenario on the original Konstanz to Villingen route, yesterday evening. The challenge at the start of this scenario is to stop short of three defective level crossings to be cautioned across. Unfortunately the first one is right after a sharply banked curve which has to be taken at around 30 km/h in order to stop at the marker. This started to generate “ride quality” warnings with XP draining away so within a few seconds 1000 XP was stood at -730. No chance of recovering it. Surely whoever created the scenario, 1. Tested it and should have found this and/or 2. Should have gone into the scenario scoring parameters and reduced the ride quality penalty to next to nothing or off altogether. I know XP isn’t everything in TSC but the whole point is a benchmark to judge how well you completed the run. It is incumbent on scenario authors to understand and use the parameters to give a fair chance. Exactly the same as happens in passenger scenarios where you start getting docked 1000 points for being two minutes late.
I think a lot of us play less as the novelty wears off. I know many people who only really play when they purchase something new, have to see what Green River causes. Also, due to various issues with each version of the game, people have learned to play offline to keep their mods and game state safe. Steam review count has definitely gone down over the years, but I wonder what percentage of players were ever delving deep beyond the yearly package. I did hoard a whole lot of content - and halted because my game got hogged, also it lasts many decades now - but the vast majority of my workshop subs are actually core. My Steam acquaintances stopped sharing TSC screenshots, and the top likes are much lower as well. What surprises me most, though, that there is hardly any new content represented in screenshot threads. My defence is using a slightly inappropriate laptop which reinforces my old decision of playing my purchases sequentially by release date.
Im still playing and probably will continue to as i like the ability to build my own routes, although i have ordered tsw6 as there is some nice stuff coming out for it soon. I do agree with a lot of what vern says some of the scenarios are just impossible with either too tight time schedules or docking points for the slightest mistake and im sure a lot of us dont have hours to sit around trying to get it right.
And quite rightly! In railways, whether real or virtual, punctuality is king, and poor timekeeping should always be punished severely.
Sorry this is utter nonsense. Apart from maybe Japan most countries have a certain performance buffer for late running before delay penalties kick in. This is supposed to be a game, for entertainment purposes and finding you have lost 600 points for being one minute late or, in the case of a Standard scenario, fail the whole thing, is not exactly fun. The defaults for scenarios have been set far too rigidly and I suspect many authors simply CBA to go in and change them, if they even know the feature exists. Anyhow TSC just got uninstalled again. It won't run from either the desktop shortcut or launching from within Steam not got time to mess about with it.
A bad workman always blames his tools! TSW works completely from opening the box. TSC requires more love and care (plus adding of certain bits from outside of the Steam environment) to get the best out of it. If you expect TSC to hand you everything on a plate then you are playing the wrong simulator. If you are willing to get under the hood (bonnet) and acquire addons - it far outpaces TSW. I have 95% TSW and almost everything commercially available for TSC so I feel that I am in a position to compare. Lets see if TSW6 brings in the extra spice or whether it is challenged. Regarding the Career Scoring - just switch it off in the settings. Its all about having fun and driving the train. scoring doesn't really mean anything. With the scoring switched off or just running a Quick Drive you get more pleasure out of the simulator. Back to playing TSC.....
No idea what's wrong with it. Not changed anything since last night when it worked fine. It has been intermittent whether or not it ran from the shortcut for a while but t absolutely should start executing from within the Steam Library. Anyhow it's gone again for now, probably another six months until I maybe think of reviving it. Say what you like about TSW at least it's relatively stable. Anyhow now off to play Snowrunner which also starts and runs without any faff.
Both TSW and TSC run out of the box directly from the Providers Executable (in my case Steam). I have never tried to run it from a shortcut (nor do I intend to). If you are attempting to execute it from outside of Steam you may have broken some of the expected executable code that Steam expects to see to be able to compile the run menu configuration. Everything resides on your pc and can be easily modified/broken if not run the way it is intended. Sure there are ways to defeat this code and run independent outside of Steam. If you are not familiar with the MD5 bin file structure you would be best to run 100% from activating from the Steam Run Command button. Best to perform a Steam File Integrity Verification to make sure you have not inadvertently corrupted any of these files by attempting to run outside of Steam.
No I have never attempted to run outside of Steam. However there has always been an issue with the shortcuts in that, unlike other Steam games, they do not automatically start the Steam jacket (particularly the 64 bit version). Have always made a point of starting Steam before TSC. Anyhow when the red mist recedes I'll give it another go with a clean install.
I'm getting old and I don't understand some of this. I was under the impression you had to have Steam running - even in Offline mode - to start TSC. I start TSC with a Desktop Shortcut to F:\Railworks\RailWorks64.exe -fastload (not sure if the -fastload is required)? But if I try to start before starting Steam it says Log in to Steam. I never use the Start options in Steam itself Peter
I actually got a bit fed up with just how much time I felt I was loosing trying to get stuff form Armstrong Powerhouse working on Trains Simulator Classic so I had a go at running exclusively from what was available on Steam. I made some interesting scenarios with liveries that were used a bit form period accuracy, and I made use of the Armstrong Powerhouse Class 158 that comes with the Huddersfield line. There is some nice stuff from Oovee. I then started trying to make some YouTube videos about Edinburgh Crossrail and the North Berwick services of past. Limitations soon caught me up so there is now a load of Just Trains and Armstrong Powerhouse stuff installed. There is just too much not right about a lot of the Steam available stuff like the Class 170, Class 158, IC225 and the likes and the Armstrong Powerhouse enhancements or packs put things to perhaps how they should be. Because Train Simulator Classic can be a bit of a monster if you need to reinstall I've gone to the extent to put it on its own SSD inside the Steam directory through an NTFS mount point. The good thing about this setup is I can backup that one drive and transfer it when I build a new PC.
On my new RTX5060 PC: TSC for me will not run "directly out of the box" even with only one DLC installed. TSW5 works well. Old my old RTX2060 PC TSC looks great - and is the best option for me - but then it does have a 1000's of hours time and several £££ invested TSW5 is appalling and looks / performs horrific!
I likewise have a separate SSD for TSC and one for TSW. Regarding the Steam app. Once I have it open I initiate the session from within Steam using the Library Start green button. I never use the desktop shortcut. Guess there are more than one way. Steam likes to keep its data set updated after every run.
