PC Play Vanilla Tsw Vs Tsw With Mods

Good Morning everyone. I hope all is well. For PC players, I wanted to get a general idea of how players play TSW6. Are mods preferred or is vanilla without mods better. I know I go back and forth with this kind of topic and have used AI lately as well to try to weigh out pros and cons of playing TSW6 in vanilla format (no mods) vs playing TSW6 with mods installed. While I enjoy playing TSW6 with no mods at times for stability and performance, and appreciate how the devs intended TSW to be, I also enjoy the creativity from the modding community regarding patches/sounds/enhancements/timetables/mastery layers/and realistic weather. A few days ago, I had roughly 180 mods installed from Train Sim Community and surprisingly TSW6 was still running smoothly. I spent a few hours, downloading each mod I could find that was appealing, and referenced Train Sim's society's curated list of mods. I also categorized folders on my external backup drive and created a schedule on when to check back in on the train sim community site, so I don't have to constantly check if the mods get updated

 

I couldn't play TSW without mods, Vanilla mode is just god damn awful, that's why I'm glad I'm fortunate to play on PC and not console.

 

Hahahaha.

But seriously, mods are non-negotiable. God Mode turns something I wouldn't play into something I do.

 

I play without mods. I'm just not looking forward to fiddling with files manually and be worried something breaks with every update Steam pushes through. I'm sure I'm missing out on some awesome stuff though, but I really like the comfort of Steam keeping everything up to date.

 

I’m a console player so it’s vanilla for me. However there’s plenty good routes in the game that don’t really needs any mods. It’s more the Rivet Routes I get jealous of lol. On PC there is a beautiful Fife Circle mod which gives the route a nice new look to it. Unfortunately for me I can only play the original version with the horrid brown muddy looking ballast which really does have an effect on the routes appearance. It’s just inaccurate.

It would be nice though if mods could come to console like what Fallout did. It would be very welcome.

 

I play tsw with no mods and it's not that bad

 

You're missing out then unless you're on console then youve got no choice.
How anyone plays this vanilla is beyond me but most sim games, even things like msfs2024 need mods to make the games great.
Look at ets/ats, without mods that game would be nowhere near the game it is today although the developers are very pro active and take onboard feedback and try to implement things the community generally wants, DTG on the other hand lmao

 

I have played without mods for the life of TSW, but now I have 1 mod ( the sound mod for the Class 700 ) because, like many electrics, it was released with virtually no sound at all. The mod works well and I might use more in the future,, though nothing that requires messing about with ini files.

 

Could live without mods but the scenery pop-in gets pretty distracting without a few ini tweaks. Anyway, we are fortunate that we don't need to live without them.

 

I play on pc (steam) and i've always have played tsw without any mods nor engine.ini tweaks
and like I said, it's not that bad

 

Roughly the same as me. Only other one I've got is the Riviera Line lighting mod. With my old PC little point in having God mode as it can't support the more high end ini alterations.

 

Why did I get replied to here?

 

I play with mods; I couldn't play without them because it would lack replayability.
Just the timetables mod alone are something in terms of replayability.
And even god mode saves me from so many things

It's the mods that keep me playing the games, even buying routes ,without the mods, I think I would have given up on the game.

 

I used to have a lot of UK mods installed but these days I just can’t be bothered to mess around with files or deal with the occasional mod induced crash.

I just stick with vanilla now, game runs perfectly fine and I don’t feel like I’m missing out.

 

Always play with mods. With god mode and Jetwash's Ini settings I have no pop in and barely any stutter. Then there is real time weather so that it never suddenly gets foggy. Then there are the Timetable mods such as the OTS Winter timetable for WCMLS which actually has a decent amount of Class 90 services.

I don't have any issue with the vanilla game. I sometimes play on PS5. But I wouldn't play on PC without them.

 

Everyone on PC should try out a few mods. Find an area of the game that you're interested in and search for mods in that area. In most cases you just add one file to your game which you can always delete if you don't like what it does.

In my case I always like scenarios but was shocked by the lack of paths that came with routes and the whole 'emptiness' of many stations and yards. So I did something about it and created a few mods that changed this. Now I can create scenarios that have full sidings, multiple services and different formations. None of this can be done on a vanilla installation.

DTG don't want to develop the core game, other than adding gimmicks, so it is down to the community to do it instead.

 

Was it your goodself who created extra paths for NTP way back when? I remember I was able to create some scenario's that made the route more alive but if I remember correctly, I was having problems around TSW4 or 5 onwards, not sure if it was compatible for later versions of TSW

 

Not me I'm afraid but I do remember the mod (i think it added 19 extra paths to NTP) and, although I never used it myself, it made me realise that these things could done. It was then a gentleman in Canada that pointed me in the right direction to make a Paths and a Formations mod before Liam, at DTG, gave me the final pieces of the puzzle. However the tweaks can only be made using the unofficial editor and, as you have pointed out, this has become more difficult to use (well for me it has) with the change to TSW5 and TSW6.

Currently testing a mod I have just made for Mildmay for Scenario Creation.
I assumed this wouldn't work but, for some reason, it has Scenarios-Mildmay



The Scotrail CL37s are just me messing about but this screenshot answers the OP's original question.

Use a mod if you want to change Scenario Planner to see trains of your choosing, painted in liveries of your choosing, running on parts of a route of your choosing, at times of your choosing. Timetables, no matter how good, don't allow this.

 

I can't play any Unreal Engine game without a custom engine.ini
TSW I will use mods to hide the horrible glowing cones which take me out of my immersion, and I also use an older version of the map backdrop because the TSW6 one is unpleasant to look at.

 

I always play with mods, i think at last count I'm running 143 mods +TSW route and weather

 

Playing on PC, but I've never felt the need for mods, though I do use some engine.ini tweaks, as that is very easily backed up and recreated clean if needed.

 

I play without mods on PS5 obviously, but having the luxury of some on-board train announcements, god mode and Jetwash’s improved lighting mod on PC, I wouldn’t be able to go back to the vanilla version. I have better picture quality (OLED) and 4K on console, which why vanilla looks better on there. I use a very basic 165hz non 4K monitor on my PC, the mods really make a lot of difference I find.

 

I play with mods, mainly some of the BHP mods which beautifully enhance the trains in the game and God Mode due to DTG's annoying Power Supply system especially when it comes to trying to take the TGV into germany.

 

I've been a PC gamer since the days of Windows 98 (in fact I've just found out ToCA 2 is available as abandonware, so yoink!).

As far as I'm concerned, playing a vanilla install is the same as playing on console in terms of the gaming experience. I've owned a fair few consoles since the 90s, including 5 which are currently sitting under my TV mostly gathering dust or awaiting repairs, a couple which I sold or gave away, one which I lost (a NES!) and a GameCube serving as a shelf decoration. Despite the comfort of playing games on your living room sofa, or on the compact TV mum and dad let you have in your bedroom if you were lucky, I've never been able to top the satisfaction of tweaking PC games to get the best performance and gaming experience out of them, and by extension getting the most for your money. This has applied to most games and definitely all train sims I've played since the MSTS modding community was born, and although I occasionally go back to a vanilla TSW installation for troubleshooting or checking if mods are causing issues, I find myself quickly activating them again as I now find the experience underwhelming without my favourite mods, in particular JetWash's enhancement pack and Foobian's God Mode mods. So to me playing vanilla makes no sense, unless the game is flawless and perfect out of the box (which I'm not sure can be said for TSW).

Engine tweaks, extra timetables, UI mods, proper reskins (as opposed to the Creator's Club which has quite frankly become cluttered up with utter junk)... I can't help but feel I'd be frustrated playing TSW as a vanilla game, or on console, which is pretty much the same, and being restricted to the core DTG releases and not being able to use community improvements and fixes.

In fact I now have the best of both worlds with a brand new high-spec MSI gaming laptop plugged into my TV, and a PS3 controller which I've remapped extensively to work with Steam and TSW to allow me to use keyboard shortcuts using key combos (something like 40-odd actions remapped to a 17-button controller). Also, I've gone through the rigmarole of setting up UEVR and occasionally run TSW in hugely immersive virtual reality mode with my Quest 2 headset, another TSW experience which you can't get on or with a vanilla installation.

I really can't imagine myself playing on a vanilla setup on PC as it's essentially limiting your gaming experience for no good reason, considering help is always available on the forums or on trainsimcommunity if you encounter issues.

JB

 

Couldn't play without God Mode and JetWash's lighting mod. And to name just one route, Fife Circle is halfway decent with its enhancement pack.

Even just God Mode and ticking the Zoomier Zoom option is a much better driving experience.

 

Using around 350 mods myself, don’t think I’d play TSW much or dare I say at all without them.

 

I use timetable mods and their dependencies along with the weather app but that’s as far as my mods go. I tried God mode but I had 3 services incomplete-able due to stuck services (which I was able to complete on vanilla) and just uninstalled it as it seemed far too much hard work to get working.

 

Im 100% down for ini tweaks.

Modding is good, but i seem to be using less mods than a while ago.
This is mostly due to clashes with new routes and content (ie the PIS mod).

I use some enhancement mods for older routes that need updating that havent yet been remastered yet (HINT HINT - Northern Trans Pennine).

A few sound mods and some mods that change timetables. I think the most common mod is Godmod, which is basically a super ini tweak but with an in-game function, which actually makes it into a mod.

None of the the mods are things I cant live without.

However, I cannot play the game in anyway without my ini tweaks though.

 

I also play with mods , mainly sound mods but others as well . I also make my own sound mods.
Most of them they greatly improve the overall experience and add realism

 

I do use mods and would find it difficult to go back to play vanilla tsw, but to be fair it's only a few that are actually game changers like god mode, a few sound mods and a few timetables

 

I'm using very few mods. Just counted, I've got 3 custom timetables, and 5 other mods, mostly visual improvements like hiding the route hop markers, more variety in container trains and such.
And I've tweaked my engine.ini a bit, if that counts. That's all, and it's quite sufficient

On a sidenote: Sometimes I feel like the only one around here who isn't using Godmode...

 

The only mods I play are the excellent timetable mods which add so much free content in new services to the game. Otherwise I don’t change the vanilla aspect too much to avoid unnecessary conflicts and a mammoth reinstall when the new version of the game appears.

 

I’m in the quite odd position of purposefully playing TSW on a console & modding was actually a big factor in that decision , mostly in that I didn’t want to deal with it.

I’ve played a significant number of hours across titles such as TSC, ETS, MSFS & OMSI2, all of those I extensively modded, because it’s an undeniable fact that mods turn sims/games into a much better version of themselves.

The thing is though, the more you mod, the more you need to ‘manage’ a game & the more you do that, the less enticing it can be to boot it up. Along with mods I’ve got a pretty significant setup in terms of peripherals from MOZA bases to TScontroller modules, which IMO are as much an improvement factor as mods. Ultimately it all adds up & yes, if you are going to play a certain game every time you boot your PC, well worth it. But if you tire of a game & don’t touch it for one or more update cycles it can mean a significant level of fixing on the user end, be it from simply removing a mod, to isolating problem mods, to having to replace entire packs of mods for the sake of compatibility. In many circumstances you can easily turn a title from a game into a project & eventually the side effects of that will catch up.

With TSW, I think there are massive issues with design philosophy that put me off modding, I’m not prepared to turn it into a project when most of the routes can barely offer a 60 minute run. As things progress & we start seeing the ability to stitch WCML sections together, I’ll likely consider it, by going after mods that are fully compatible with that experience.

On the other hand you’ve kind of got this perfect console style experience of being able to boot up a route & have a couple of hours of train driving.

I absolutely agree that you can make TSW a better experience through modding, hell I could make it much better by just playing it on my PC which runs laps around my PS5, but I think TSW is designed to just be something that gives you a quick fix for a train sim itch & until the core of how TSW is developed, I just don’t think it’s a title worthy of trying to endlessly mod into a fully fledged simulation, because it’s just not designed to be one.

 

That's a good point and I agree.
Having some experience with quite heavy deep-dive modding, I can say there's this point when you don't start the game to have fun playing it, but just because you feel the "obligation" to tinker with its mechanics. And it's even worse when it's not about modding, but troubleshooting.
Modding can be lots of fun, but more often than not it starts shifting from being fun to being work at some point.

Mods or no mods, the game should stay fun