. PERFORMANCE (BIGGEST ISSUE) The problem: One of the heaviest routes in the whole game Constant: stuttering frame drops CPU overload (especially near London Victoria / Clapham) Even players say the route pushes systems hard and exposes the limits of the dispatcher/AI What needs fixing: Better AI spawning/despawning Smarter timetable optimisation Reduce background traffic load Proper next-gen optimisation pass (TSW6 standard) This alone would transform the route. 2. GRAPHICS / LIGHTING (OUTDATED) The problem: Built on TSW2-era tech Looks flat compared to newer routes No proper TOD4 lighting upgrade Community literally asking for: “modern graphics” “lighting update” What needs fixing: Full TOD4 lighting upgrade Better: shadows skybox night lighting Updated textures (especially stations + track) 3. SCENERY & IMMERSION The problem: Large areas are: empty low-detail “just trees” in places What needs fixing: Denser London suburbs (especially Croydon area ) Better: buildings trackside clutter landmarks More realistic station environments 4. TRAIN VARIETY (MAJOR WEAKNESS) The problem: Mostly just: Class 377 Class 387 Feels repetitive Players constantly ask for: Class 700 (Thameslink) Class 455 / 456 What needs fixing: Add a proper Southern + Thameslink mix More AI layers = more realism Different service patterns 5. DISPATCHER / SIGNAL LOGIC The problem: Already at its limit Adding more trains breaks the flow (too many yellows/reds) What needs fixing: Modern dispatcher system Better pathing for: fast vs stopping services Less “AI chaos” 6. ️ BUGS & SMALL DETAILS Examples reported over time: broken lighting in cabs platform gaps signals/scenery glitches What needs fixing: Proper bug sweep Fix legacy issues that have existed for years 7. ROUTE POTENTIAL (MISSED OPPORTUNITY) This is where it could become the BEST route in the game: What people want: Extension to London Bridge More service patterns Better integration with other routes Right now it’s: amazing foundation… but unfinished feeling The truth (no sugarcoating) London Commuter is: One of the BEST timetables ever made ❌ Held back by old tech Without a remaster, it will never feel like a true TSW6 route Final verdict What does it NEED? Performance overhaul TOD4 lighting New trains (Class 700, especially) Dispatcher upgrade Scenery rebuild
Agreed. Especially with the issue surrounding locos. Really needs to be at least 2, not 3, sub-classes of the 377 included on the route, the /4 isn't the only one. Ideally should add a proper /1, with the original headlight configuration, instead of relabelling some of the /4's. I'd like to see the /3 and /2 from WCMLS included as layers. The trains should be brought up to Firefly's standard in MVL, as they've really shown how to implement realism into it, from the audio to the features. (Fully functional GSM-R, CCTV screens in the Guard Panel, accessible toilet etc).
Would be nice but we already had east coastway remastered so I would like them to fix one of the 1980s routes first
Quite a few routes need care before BML. Northern Transpennine could be a classic if made advantage of since-released stock and got an overhaul. TVL likewise. On the European front, HRR and MSB could do with them (the former to complement the upcoming 3P route)
I don't think we'll see any further fixes of optimisations in its current build... Reading between the lines from a few threads and comments from DTG, I think eventually we will get a complete remaster as it is on the 'radar', but it's how they would remaster such a complex route that is the hurdle.
If we get the Esk Valley Line (apparently in development of some sorts) then I reckon perhaps a TVL remaster would coincide with the release of that.
That's a good point. I do think (certainly from what we saw before it was silenced) that it's a modern day route but nonetheless it would be good to have them complement one another somehow.
I think the official way to "optimise" it is buy an RTX 6080 for like £5000 or whatever inflated price they'll be.
All the RAM at Samsung HQ couldn’t get BML to run efficiently in its current state, nor would a magic wand optimising the TT’s and assets on the route. The rabbit hole is too deep on this one. A start fresh approach would be the best choice. I do smell a TSW7 core route extension incoming though. If only Paddy Power gave odds for this summer spectacle that may or may not happen, I’d stick £50 quid on. That’s how confident I am
Considering the optimisation work that’s been done since, I feel like they could get it working well with a remaster.
BML remains a route DTG seem utterly scared of. They couldn’t even go in and do the snagging outstanding on original release - whether that be the sorry state of Reigate, missing track at Redhill or the absent lineside fencing on the Quarry Line.
I'd like a different version so voted for "Start from scratch" however, I think DTG should give some serious consideration to having the route set in the early 2000s with 319s, 377s, 423s and 455s. I think that's probably an unrealistic proposition. Maybe a new one with the routes to London Bridge and/or Blackfriars which includes the 378s and 700s.I wouldn't want to just see them spending time on an updated version of what we have. But that's a selfish point of view based on the availability to us PC users of in-game mods and alternative timetables that really improve the base DLC.
I'd settle for the rush hour passengers that were promised, given this was at the time the main settling point of the "Rush Hour" season pass. The main causes of of the issues with this route are the usual DTG problems , a lack of appropriately scoping the project that allowed a dream timetable that was wholly inappropriate for the expected hardware and a complete lack of oversight of the progress of the route allowing the poor state of some areas and leading to stupid issues lime collision detection being enabled on all the third rail which causes compleatly avoidable memory issues. The only "Rush Hour" of this route was to Rush it out the door never to be fixed.
DTG in "developer not perfect" shocker. I think London Commuter was a big learning process for them, it is far from perfect but it was an ambitious project in what were still the early stages of TSW development. There will be miss-steps along the way and that is perfectly normal in software development. There will be better and worse comparisons that we can make across the simulation game genre. To say it will "never" be fixed is a big assumption on your part. Perhaps it's just that DTG are waiting for optimization targets to be met before it's worth returning to the project. They are slowly remastering routes and it's strongly rumoured that another one is on the way. None of us outside of DTG knows for certain that London Commuter will never be fixed.
False, I have just 16GB of DDR4 and it can handle this route quite well, I always like to point out that WCMLS runs worse for me and is not as criticized for performance as BML is. Add to that I still run on i5-9400F with intel's stock cooler and it still holds, would have upgraded my PC but recent RAM issues made that out of scope, so if I can't get better hardware, I will only pay for software that can run on my machine.
Not entirely false, as console players have the a worse experience than PC users. I bet you don’t get 20-30fps coming out of London Victoria on PC I could’ve picked this up in the steam sale, so it’s like I couldn’t have bought the superior version, it just looks too outdated for me now to enjoy. Unless it gets a major face lift in the form of a remaster or extension I won’t ever play this route again.
They have been dropping hints that it might be line for a remaster, they know it's a popular route. Many seem to have a problem running it. On my current PC and my previous one I have never had a problem running the route including the community timetable with the class 700.
Runs fine on my middling PC ( I7, 3080 ). A remaster would be good, though my personal preference is to set the route back about 40-50 years to the slam door era, include some freight and the " Brighton Belle ", basically copying the TSC version. Absent either of the above, sprucing it up and correcting the errors would be acceptable. If nothing is done, it's still one of the better UK routes.
I'd honestly like to see Just Trains take a crack at this in an older time period. Preferably the NSE-era and with slam-door stock and Class 73-hauled Gatwick Express service. We are quite overdue for a backdated Southern Region route.
I agree. Part of my frustration with their NW England roster of content is born out of pure jealousy. I desperately want mid-1980s Network South East routes in the SE and East of England, I know if JT do them they will be brilliant and my inner child wants to stamp his foot and say it's not fair that the NW gets all the best routes in my favourite British Rail era.
Agreed, personally I don't even like the time period that much so the JT routes don't appeal to me in that regard, I'm not old enough to relate to it in any way by a little. But something about NSE I find cool, I really like it and always have done, along with Intercity to some extent. I think we are definitely missing out by not having any NSE.
jeez, thats a lot of typing and hard asking my for my eyeballs. 'I would like a remaster' sums it up better And yes a remaster would be appreciated.
I thought they did? I haven't played it in a while but last time I did (PS5) it had been majorly improved over the years. No more crashes and FPS pretty stable.
Runs great on my Xbox Series X. Most of the time the dated graphics and scenery don’t actually bother me because it’s such an immersive route.
