March Roadmap

Oi train nerds,

Whens the next road map coming? Is it tomorrow (Thursday)?

Looking forward to hopefully seeing more of the class 90 and maybe the class 70.

 

I think they are aiming for the 10th

 

During his charity stream Matt said that they were aiming for next week.

 

Kinda hoping JT’s Preston to Crewe is imminent as it’s outside the 0-3 month window now.

 

I think of myself as more of a train chad. I'm not a cigar smoking kickboxer, but I can get stoned and fall over which is basically the same thing.

 

Much appreciated guys, thank you

 

hope we get more ny-stamford news and screenshots

 

Same. Hopefully it’s next perhaps. Seeing how much has cleared from the previous roadmap

 

Hate so say it but it feels like they have quite a few blogs worth of content left if BB and WCMLOS were any indicator, and the speed they are putting them out it could be months still.

 

You’re probably right. Just seems a little strange they would announce a new route without getting this one released first.

 

I can easily imagine a preview of the Medway Valley route the week after the Czech route release... then a release the following week...

And then we can talk about Crewe to Preston... at least I hope so.

Class 90, Trent Valley, Class 70... all that is really not for the immediate future.
But better to wait and have something polished than a whole bunch of bugs I guess !

 

Hudson H9 lessons being ignored here. Playing a JT route and NOT having every run finish with it snowing for the first 3 months is going to be weiiiiiiird (I am a recent convert to TSW Route Annotations so it wasn't happening anyway).

 

Hi ---DMY---

I don't really believe that.
Because tomorrow, on 5 March 2026, there will be a livestream about DLC 145 Expert.

So I assume that DLC 145 Expert will be released a week later, after the Czech DLC is released.

 

We've still got Liam's HST Farewell Pack as well which, can't be far off?

Got a feeling Medway may be end of this month.

JT were still working on their timetable for Preston - Crewe only a month ago, maybe April? Wouldn't then surprise me if Whitehaven ends up not coming as far behind it as we may think.

 

Hi Emmy_MAN !

You're certainly right, I'm not aware of everything that's coming and I forgot about that 145 DLC.
I just got the impression there was roughly one new item per week, a preview and then a release the following week. Maybe it will speed up along the way.
This is just speculation, wait & see as usual !

 

See this is my biggest bug bear that we as a community have created with these monthly road maps. Not saying you are, but there will be elements of the community that will be pushing for this to appear now that the "release window" has been missed.

Personally I think that DTG need to stop putting DLC's in a release window, and just go back to the general pool of upcoming products, and have the developers update when there's something big to share with the DLC, like a feature set, or that it's ready for release.

 

The one thing that stands out for me in the 0-3 months section is Medway Valley. I have always been a big fan of SEHS, and what we have seen so far seems promising.

Edit: almost forgot about the HST pack... That too of course

 

I agree, I said in a different thread that perhaps they have various sub teams working on the projects so that once the main layout of the route is built by one team it can be passed over to the next, meanwhile that first group then start on the next project (in this case Whitehaven).

I do worry that the timetable is causing the most issues for them given the very complex nature of the coal workings, they are not standard MGR runs but involve shunts and loco swaps in various places, something which might just cause the dispatcher to turd the bed when it gets too busy or delayed.

As for the 0-3 month window, that expired in October!

I must admit (but wasn't going to make a whole thread ranting about it, given there's plenty of those already) that I am rather "over it" now, I was hyped up and mega ready but now I'm pretty much fed up of the whole affair and pretty disinterested (mostly for my own sanity of course). I've got a stack of games recently acquired on Steam to invest my time in to as well as a few items waiting for release on my Steam "wish list". Pity really, aside from Manchester - Wigan (via Atherton) this is the only rail route I've wanted (and it's also set in my era) but feel so jaded, I probably won't look at any new blog updates in the meantime though naturally will buy it the moment it is released and all shall be forgiven

Before anyone jumps in there, yes I fully expect that they are bug fixing and working on QOL fixes for us as well as last minute polishing, I'm not saying that they should release a buggy mess, just that I'm officially wiped out hype wise as it's been so long.

Seriously DTG - even "S star star T" is changed by your filters, this isn't a Thomas kiddie forum FFS!

 

WRT Preston to Crewe, got a feeling this is heading for late Spring (maybe). But I'm nowhere near as hyped for this as I was Blackpool Branches or Shap. Even with the freight workings, it's a dull mundane part of the WCML and with the only "new" loco being the Class 86/4 (not a Roarer or much sought after Class 56) it's going to be hard to justify at full price.

As to the rest, well I think Trent Valley unlikely during the reign of TSW6 more likely autumn and we'll probably still be anticipating Cumbrian (part) Coast this time next year. Hopefully Medway will be soon though and funds already allocated on Steam for that.

The other dark horse is the new TSG steam route but again I get a vibe this might be after TSW7 or whatever arrives in September.

 

I definitely think we will get more NY-Stamford news next week. I am really looking forward to it

 

As we are now in March, we are probably 3 or so months away from the next train sim

 

Nah. Probably six months till TSW 7

 

Seventh time lucky for Network South East and/or East Anglia?
It's okay, I've already got that familiar sinking feeling. It comes on in the face of stark inevitabilities.

 

I think the Wherry Lines are a strong possibility going by what's been said in this thread ..

https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/wherry-lines.92551/

 

Crikey, how did I miss that? Thank you so much.

Fingers crossed then. I can see GEML coming to TSW eventually. It has its fans within DTG but we might need an optimised core before we have what's a very busy route through some densely populated areas. Maybe TSW 8 or 9.

 

I hope we get a nice update on Tadami Line this month. It’s probably going to end up being a TSW 7 product at this rate lol.

 

Medway wasn’t even in the 0-3 months in last roadmap so won’t be anytime soon.

 

FTFY...

 

Yes it was

 

Let’s see where it is in the next one stud gets moved around all the time

 

Sure. But that was not what you said. You said it wasn't in the 0-3 months section in last roadmap, which it was. Right?

 

Hope to god not, we don’t need another bloody version of the game, they could easily pull off a tsw 2 rush hour with about the same amount of success

they keep saying they know are pain of having to re-download our whole collection but yet they haven’t done anything to stop it

 

Like death and taxes, just another guarantee in life that it will happen

 

I wonder if that is the Spring Rivet/DTG UK route. Whilst DTG may be working on the core I can't see them and/or Rivet not releasing a UK route around the Spring as they usually seem to.

 

I'd kind of like a more broke down roadmap/DLC matrix by feature.
Have different aspects (teams) being "in progress" or "complete" then we can sort of judge for ourselves what is coming out when.
When the art team is "done" when the physics/assets team is "done", etc then when it's "released to QC testers", etc.
Not an exact date, but more a status report.
If something only has one team "done" then we know it's nowhere near release.
If it's "with QC" then we know it's closer.
By being more transparent, it's less judgement calls and unfair blame on people for "holding things back."
Instead of having to explain why it's "releasing late" or something and have to "apologize" they can simply say... this isn't done yet. They're not trying to chase estimated dates to get product out the door.
Instead of "It'll be within 3 months" or "in a couple weeks" it'll be "well whenever the art team finishes polishes and then it goes through QC" leaving off the actual "promise" of a specific time window.
It could be problematic if an independent team doesn't communicate with DTG regularly, but that's then the "tracker" just doesn't get updated. If the team doesn't report any progress, then at least people aren't hounding DTG about it. They can see that the devs just haven't reported any progress on their project. Saves a lot of repeated endless questions about "what is the status of this project" too.

"Well when are we going to see the Class X?"
Go look at the tracker and... devs reported 6 months ago they were working on the exterior artwork, the interior work and main systems are done.."
It's a bear to implement, but then makes for a much better communication tool in the long run rather than "I think we might see something in 0-3 months." That's just very subjective and subject to unforeseen delays, with the onus on the person making the estimate to "deliver or disappoint." Then if it doesn't deliver, there's a huge debate based on no facts about "what it's delayed by?"
Whereas, putting it into context you can see the progress and know what is still in progress and what needs to be completed still.

If I were to GUESS, there's at least one employee at DTG that probably already does this as their job and has a spreadsheet or tracker board in their office for just this purpose. It'd be from this that those "estimates" come from anyway.

At least that's how it was on my projects. We'd keep it as open as possible for leadership to come in and make an assessment of current progress for themselves in a quick glance at the board. The individual sub-project trackers would be more detailed, but a big matrix of each current project would be posted visibly for staff to have access to.

Obviously classified or confidential/sensitive info wouldn't be included on the big wall tracker, but it was useful for general assessments by anyone who came into the room. This just takes that idea and lets the customers have limited access to it.

Should this be in a suggestion thread, or is this close enough?

 

The downside with these things is that it can also lead to more uproar. Imagine the outrage if something is moved backwards in the timeline when it fails QA

 

Well then you can't say DTG doesn't check and reject things! =-)

 

operator#7940 I love it when I read an educated, reasoned hypothesis.
Hypotheses on any subject are the gateway to understanding, it's how science evolved, it's how we learned about the very complex notion of being and it's how we'll eventually understand and hopefully avoid our demise.

Back to TSW, it's a complex business nowadays. In the beginning we had two or three releases per year, now patches, updates, improvements have to be carefully timed within an increasingly packed release schedule. There comes a point when just the mechanics of the operation at DTG become so intriguing that I'm minded to send my CV to them so that I can learn and be involved.

I'm like that with the real life railways too, every day something happens on the network that I want to understand better and learn from and makes me want to get back into the industry. I was obsessed with how music festivals operate, so I organised a few. Then moved on to the next "Thing", the next project.

Maybe I overthink things. This can happen after 4 years of therapy and also befriending philosophers, even dating one for a couple of years. I have vivid dreams that present different versions of reality that when I awake I want to go out and embrace. Then I feel pain in my joints and remember that I can't leave home today and in any case I need to sort the washing out and decide what to cook me and my wife for dinner tonight. Grilled Mackerel and Dauphinoise potatoes is looking favourite at the moment (in case anyone was wondering).

 

I couldn’t agree more, something on the lines of Rush hour in TSW2 would be suitable. I have all the content released to date and having to download all my content is more of a pain on a slow internet connection, it’s a blooming nightmare!!! I live on top of a hill a couple of miles from the exchange and it takes about two hours to download a route. So far l have only managed to download just over half my TSW6 content. SO PLEASE DTG please keep TSW6 and add to it in the future. This practice isn’t done with TSC, so why can’t it be the same with TSW.

 

Nwp, can you suggest a better marketing tool to replace the TSW6/7 iteration?
It's a huge money maker that would have to be replaced with something equally useful.
It also lets them release new features all at once in a new "version."
You'd need a replacement for that too.
I get that if you have bad internet it's an issue, but that seems to be a rarer and rarer issue for most people.
I'm not bothered at all and I don't have fast internet, I just let it download in the background while doing something else.
Your solution to maybe help a small number of players would have to be a marked improvement over the current system for the majority of players. That's the challenge.

I'd be with you IF there were no new features released and no significant new content along with a solidly marketed event to replace the annual TSW release. Could you brainstorm that a bit and come up with a good solution?

 

Downloading the new game. It's a couple of hours once a year.
Think of all the things you can do in those couple of hours. Sort out the sock draw, tick off a dozen of those 5 minute jobs needed around the house.
Whenever I get a new phone I have to download nearly 400GB of music files to it because the alternative is not having immediate access to my music collection wherever I go. It sometimes takes 2-3 hours once every two years. Rather than sitting here watching the file transfer I call a friend, we go for coffee and a chat. It's not a chore, it's just part of the process.

 

And to add, I usually only start with the base routes of the new release and all applicable layers. No need to download more right away. Makes it less of burden.

 

I get what you're saying, but there is no actual need to do this. DTG could just create a version that can be updated with a big patch, and the routes would just work. Some people don't have the time or bandwidth to download over 450GB (if you own every route) every time DTG decides to release a quality of life patch, sorry new version.

 

"Every time" being once a year like clockwork at the same time?

 

Whatever works best for the game is fine with me.

My Steam account suggests I've played MS Flight Sim 2024 for 85 hours but 84.5 of that involved the initial download and a recent attempt to bring my files up-to-date. They set the gold standard for ridiculously arduous downloading that makes my annual TSW update seem as inconvenient as making a cup of tea.

 

Yes I again get what you're saying, however the way Unreal Engine works, you just update it, you don't need to rebuild the engine and release a new version of the game every year, it's one of the most versitile game engines in recent years.

DTG for whatever reason, have decided to release every year, but what I'm trying to say is that there is no reason for them to do this, and make all the DLC's incompatible with the new version.

 

Of course there is a reason. Commercial, technical or otherwise. Why else would they do it? To annoy you?

 

We've told you the reason repeatedly.
For marketing since it puts the game at the top of new players' lists for a week every year as a "new game."
Old games don't get the same "buzz."

As I asked before, how would YOU suggest they replace that marketing bonanza?
A significant part of their revenue and their appeal to new players happens because of the new "version" ever year.
You have to replace that with something else.

Since it's your issue and you want the change, it's up to you to suggest a better solution.

 

This is getting off topic however, and there are already MANY threads on this issue it could be moved to.
Post on any of those or create a new one if you have a solution to improve the game =-)

This is however specifically the March Roadmap discussion.