Class 171 & 377/3 Pack

I may be overthinking this, but with the introduction of the Class 171 & 377/3, perhaps the dream of having an East Coastway remaster/extension to Hastings or Ashford might be on the cards in the not too distant future.

 

It feels like it may not even be upgraded at all which is a shame really.

 

will these trains layer onto london commuter?

 

I suspect not sadly. It's not a Rivet route and I doubt DTG will do it for them, same with the TSG 218 and Hamburg to Lubeck.

I would love to see ECW updated but I don't think the lighting seems as bad on it as some of the other routes of the period.

 

I took it to mean that the AI will be added at Brighton on ECW, not that the AI will be added to Brighton Main Line.

 

Oh yeh my mistake it isnt on London Cummuter

 

They abandoned Brighton Mainline for so called "preformance issues" a long time ago, I doubt they will ever touch it without any rework involved.

 

Sadly it looks like East Coastway will still have the old lighting, which is a shame as I think the newer system could make it look really good.

Funnily enough BML is one of the best performing routes for me.

 

As is for me, but I guess they just don't want to do anything with it and just try to find excuses.

 

Same here it’s only Brighton and London Victoria which is FPS heavy which is understandable but part from that it’s fine.

 

They are making new sounds, if you read the article correctly, you'd have seen that.

 

I see that now! I have to admit I was sort of rushing through the article on my way home.

 

That's fair enough lol

 

Well this has already happened when Rivet released a newer version of Isle of Wight with class 484 and back then it was £14.99. If they sell these as a pack together with the extension it could cost the same , probably more.

 

This is in the roadmap article:
"Currently, Rivet Games are also investigating any further changes to the East Coastway route alongside this pack, and we'll keep you updated once we can confirm and share more news."

I'm wondering if it's a lighting upgrade.

 

I think Matt did say they are looking into what they can do with East Coastway. Wait to hear back from DTG or Matt before getting your hopes up, but they are at least looking into it, so fingers crossed.

 

Actually did a run on it last night. Did enjoy it but the morning sky and overall lighting looked terrible, not to mention the way random buildings are just plonked on flat ground with little to no texturing throughout. I can’t help but hope for a remaster and even better an extension up to Ashford. Dor a time I grew up on the Romney marshes so that would be a dream come true.

 

ECW is long overdue a remaster its a nice route tbf

 

Matt said East Coastway was an old route now and it uses TOD 2 lighting not even TOD 3. I think DTG are looking into what tricks they can use on it, anyway they can improve it, but from what Matt says, it takes about a month to upgrade the lighting on a route. So the fact it is an older route, would it take even longer for DTG to do it and who pays bill? An extension would be class, but DTG would have to rebuild the whole route in order to add a bit onto it, asking the player base to pay twice for a route may not work.

 

IMO the older 377 should have updated sounds, PIS, GSMR, better rain effects, suspension and announcements as a minimum.

 

I would think they would not just upgrade the lighting to TOD4 and do the scenery as well with more foliage and the usual scenery upgrades we get.

 

Same here and hopefully they will update the sounds on the ECW 377 as promised when the London - Brighton route came out.
Edit: Which was 3 years ago……

 

If this DTG's feeling, i think they should be pushing back a little on third-parties releasing content for ancient routes unless that 3rd-party or DTG are willing to fund upgrading them to current standards for lighting/sound reverb/etc.

We've already seen it before with the BR218 and Hamburg-Lubeck- the loco itself is great, but as a customer it annoys me that the "main" route for it, with the bulk of timetable services, is quite outdated.

I think it's just a little sketchy, especially for newer players who don't necessarily know that or why ECW (for example) wouldn't be up to the same standard as the loco DLC that is currently be released for it.

 

I feel if they don't do it now they won't do it ever. It'd be a great shame, especially since /3 sometimes couples up to the /4 to make 7 and 10 car trains.

 

I would happily pay £30+ if they remastered it with an extension.

 

That’s very true, maybe they might update the ECW 377 when the pack comes out or if they do an upgrade for ECW might be along side that.

 

cant the route be remaster? Or would due to when it was made, its impossible to remaster or even extend?
To be honest if they were to extend, I think they would go as far as Ore or something. Obviously extending all the way to Ashford would be awesome so we can drive the full Class 171 run.

Though to be honest this we Rivet we are talking about and this is only the train packs... i am really worried about how many bugs they arent going to fix... and a very desired 377 variant which is much needed in TSW is concern if bugs were to affect it heavily

 

Eastcoast Way and London to Brighton both need a remake then a remaster So they can both merge and be extended to Ashford and London Bridge

 

I think you both are underestimating how much effort would have to go into remastering or remaking the route. Liam's been at the GWE remaster for well over a year at this point. As people already pointed out, even a "simple" upgrade to the lighting would take around a month, although they have said they're looking at options to improve the route