West Coast Main Line: Trent Valley From All Aboard Studios

Indeed. All other considerations aside, I'm quite relishing getting back on there later on and continuing my Pendolino odyssey through the sweeping curves.

 

That's what Vern is saying though, in "do they really have to replicate Network Rail's linear forest quite so meticulously" - in other words, it's too accurate (for him) both in terms of aesthetics and (perceived) performance hit.

 

Again you misunderstood. It doesn't have to be 100% as IRL. Just because Network Rail have decided no one needs to see what's beyond the boundary fence doesn't mean that should carry over into the game, which is primarily for entertainment. Just in the same way as regards sounds. I would much rather have the option to hear the IET traction sounds in cab, rather than the dull realistic rendition. It's called using a bit of artistic licence - as I said, this us to entertain and a bit of escapism not a training tool.

 

I took the plunge on this one as it promises so much. Still does. Blurry textures are still a feature and I had a CTD on approach to Crewe in a 350-4 run. I'm on xbox series x. I was hoping for more but probably fearing far worse so overall I am happy. I think. I did consider refunding straight after my CTD but I think I will keep hoping for the best with the updates promised.

I thought it might be boring and too samey samey, but it actually is very and continually interesting for such a long run.

I think if you are an Xboxer and still on the fence, consider how happy you are with the known performance issues, particularly blurry textures. If you think you'll put up with them for an otherwise decent DLC then go for it. If they are unacceptable to you, then leave this alone.

 

Has anyone noticed seemingly random double yellow signals popping up? I did a full run in 1U25 until I had a CTD outside Crewe and had double yellows without any explanation. They weren't followed by singles ever, weren't on approach to anything and I looked ahead on the map and I wasn't following anything. I am not an experienced player and have no route knowledge, but this seemed rather random. Happy to hear if anyone knows anything.

My brother drives this route and I've asked him, but he's drinking beer in Europe and hasn't responded.

 

it might just be a placebo, but crewe-stafford looks better than the b2c version. has this section been upgraded?

 

Liking what I’ve seen so far…just a small point, why are the Everos pathed for 115mph, when they’re limited to 110mph?

 

I watched the interview from TSS.

I have massive respect for AABS for their transparency, integrity and accountability for B2C. I have to admire their honesty.

on the B2C preview stream, the stream was done on console, something which is rare to find on routes we’ve seen before.

I think they’re passionate and honest, and that’s every reason to believe they’re good at making routes.

it’s evident from the release of Trent valley that they have learnt their lessons from B2C, and this release has been much smoother and less bug ridden.

 

I'm really pleased with this add-on, much better than the Birmingham - Crew dlc. There is a lot to do and many big stations that are a long your path. Also a very nice container Terminal. performance is very good, I had on the first run a few dips at Stratford and crew, my Vram was at 100%, maybe investing in the future in a better video card with more than 8gb. Well done allboard Studios!

 

This is great route on PC. Glad I went for it. Also seen some of the TSS interview and it is sad to hear ABS say they are no longer doing long routes and pivoting to 20-30 mile routes that perform well on all platforms moving forward. Maybe DTG can sort the core out and make more progress on optimization, allowing 3rd parties to do what they actually want to do.

 

I can’t pretend I would have bought this on release because I simply can’t afford to be buying all content at full price but I haven’t bought the Birmingham-Crewe route even in the PS sale. I just have no confidence in these detailed and busy routes working well enough on my PS5, the console these things are supposed to work on. I’m not prepared to be playing with massively reduced timetables, or disabling lots of layers, reducing the output resolution, or uninstalling a load of other DLC to get routes to half work well. I’d rather not bother.

For this route to have all the services, buying the Birmingham route, the Class 805 and upcoming Class 70 are necessary, and that’s around £100 for all that All Aboard content at full price. That’s not an issue in itself as it’s how TSW content works, building the content required, but it is an issue if it doesn’t work well. Even with a 20% discount buying all of these as they come up in sales it would be £80 and that’s a lot of money for me to spend on something I have no confidence in. There’s no realistic chance of a refund on Playstation so I need to be confident before buying. I’m not. DTG and the developers have a lot more to do before I buy any of these recent releases.

The current feedback for this route is all before the Class 70 is added to complete the route’s timetable and it’s already not been great. It will get worse once that DLC is released.

So far I’ve only bought one TSW6 DLC and that was the Stuttgart route in a sale and I bought that with vouchers I got for my birthday. I’ve not spent a single penny of my own money on TSW6 DLC. I’m not boycotting anything, I just don’t want broken content.

 

they can actually do more than 110, they’re capable of 125mph but because of their lack of tilting the speed limit is usually lower. a lot of the west coast main line got upgraded recently so that the MU limits are now suited to the evero fleet, not just the 350

 

I'm on a base model PS5...

I was absolutely blown away at how excellent this route was. Naturally I started in a Class 390 on a fast Manchester run only stopping at Stafford on the way to Crewe.

For the first time in a modern route (this is with the exception of JTs Preston to Carlisle which is in a different era), in the games history I really felt like I was on a engaging InterCity run. To have 108 miles to play with at 125mph in a Pendolino A) Makes you feel like you're packing a genuine shift in on a high speed service. B) Really hits that sweet spot for the perfect gameplay timing without feeling in anyway short changed. In WCMLS just as you're getting into the route, you feel like you have been short changed on Class 390 runs (MKC to EUS, and Tring to Euston in the 350 are the only services that give me a sense of satisfaction on WCMLS).

The run I had upto Crewe was absolutely phenomenal, and I'm not exaggerating on that either. The high speed running over such long distance really was engaging, and I also felt it was the first time the Pendolino could be truly enjoyed for what it is designed for, with high speed running, sharp curves and a decent length. A real highlight on my drive was coming up to Rugby up and around the sharp curve on the approach to the station at full speed which felt absolutely awesome!

For such a long route the detail is also meticulously done whilst being highly optimised. One thing that generally goes unnoticed is that incredibly pleasant and natural lighting system that AAS have implemented across the route.

I really would recommend this route to anyone who likes a large network style route and one capable of running intercity services or long distance regional services between 2 logical start and end points. I never doubted AAS work at any point and knew this would impress me. I even think impress is a understatement, as playing the route in person is phenomenal.

Now, I do have 2 pieces of feedback, none the less. The first is (although I could be wrong), the Class 390 cab desk feels as if it has been tinkered with slightly for optimisation purposes. If I zoomed in on the desk, the cab panels look slightly less detailed than I remember them. This is not the buttons, or text in the cab that remained unchanged and consistent. But when zooming in on the speed set in the 390, I noticed the cab panelling had lost some of its original sharpness. Am I seeing things? Do I have false memories, of something that was already there? I don't know. But it didn't feel as sharp as it originally did.

The second piece of feedback is to be expected and is just me being transparent to feedback where blurring did occur... For the entire run upto Crewe I had absolutely no blurring issues what so ever. It was only when I reached Crewe itself that that blurring occured. I've only done one run so far, so I'm wondering if this was more to do with my PS5 console building a cache of memory because it was my first run. I'll give it another go down to Milton Keynes later and see if it has fixed itself. But overall blurring was practically non existent so whatever optimisations had been carried out have been fairly successful.

Hats off to AAS, this is one phenomenal piece of work and one to be proud of! I finally felt I was getting a full game and full route with this... More often then not some DLC can feel like small dioramas that end with illogical points, but this is the complete opposite and gives you a highly satisfying feeling of a bloody good run, on a bloody good route!

I never doubted AAS talent for a second and have been rooting for them since B2C, and this just shows me that my enthusiasm for them and their talented team was well founded. Now, I've seen the rail replacement bus, are we on the way to Shrewsbury next?

Well done fellas. Complete respect from me.

 

Have you got a source for that? As far as I’m aware, no non-tilting stock can exceed 110.

 

So far the route is ok, good level of detail, and getting a locked 60fps (with jetwashes ultra settings on 4070ti super) i would say my only criticism is the traffic seems very light, we still have passengers preferring to walk under platforms than on them, but i think that's more a DTG problem than route problem, I'm both hoping and looking forward to a mod timetable like WCMLs to really bring this route alive, so to conclude I'm happy with the route, was it worth the £32.99 i would say no, for no other reason than it is let down by the intrinsic flaws and problems with the core game itself which is not all aboards fault.

 

Not on this route but hst can go 125 and I dont think they tilt.

 

HSTs don’t tilt and therefore limited to 110 on the WCML

 

the source, is the speed boards throughout trent valley. the 805/807 are multiple units (MU) so adhere to the MU boards

 

damn shame they never expanded the C-APT system, we could be sitting at 155mph instead of 125mph by now :-(

 

Does the Pendalino have announcements on this route

 

No

 

Encountered quite a bit of stuttering for a few moments earlier today, was on the 153 run up to Crewe and was passing through Stafford, it just happened that two 390s arrived simultaneously and that combined with me thrashing the proverbials off the 153 having been held outside the station caused a fair bit of stuttering as I passed through the station (no doubt the door opening sequence on the 390s didn't help). Evidently even the PC master race can get the occasional stutter haha Aside from that it was a nice trip, plenty of thrash and there was other traffic, still felt immersive enough

Tempted to take the 323 out for that very long run, might need a packed lunch first...

Regarding the comments about the lack of traffic, what times of day are folks using? early morning is supposed to be quiet, it picks up later on though of course we are missing freight (yes the 70 will bring in more and the 90 well....) but the real WCML is like that nowadays, very quiet on the freight front. I must admit I bought the "other" Hitachi unit under duress simply so I could have as much traffic as possible, the irony is I couldn't point it out of a lineup against the other one that came pre-packed with the route so I don't actually know if I'm seeing one or the other...

 

I suppose my comment was mainly aimed at Crewe, bearing in mind the last time i was at Crewe was over 30yrs ago LOL, it seemed to be alot less busy than i thought it would, especially compared to Birm to Crewe ( i also think I'm a bit spoiled by all the Mod timetables i run, where they make the routes feel alive) it feels more like a regional station than a national hub on the mainline.

 

The biggest immersion killer is Crewe, yes, it just has no static stock and it really makes the place feel empty. It is a shame as I spent 20+ minutes wandering around killing time before the next time trigger on my service and it was pretty decent seeing stuff coming and going, it did feel like Crewe in that regard but I may have just been lucky with the time of day. They do need to put in static stock for the yards though as it's ridiculous.

 

Am I the only one who's seen floating textures twice?

I'm driving with the 3 key and positioning myself in front of the locomotive. But every time I go through a tunnel, I switch back to the interior view. Could this be fixed?

 

Mentioning no names. On the feedback threads, how can someone say they have no intention of buying Trent Valley because of how poor B2C was… Reading further on into their comment you discover they don’t even own B2C or the 805.

No wonder the devs stay away from the forums.

 

As much as i appreciate the detail the put into stock and the stations, and to some degree the surrounding buildings, driving past empty sidings, and maintenance facilities is more immersion breaking than seeing the correctly modelled building that you maybe catch a glimpse of for a couple of seconds while leaving or arriving at a station, for me, it's the small little touches of lined up empties or passing freight trains sat in the loop waiting for right of way, i understand why they don't add them as they take up resources, but personally i would rather have empty stock in sidings and waiting trains in loops than a perfectly modelled high poly church sat on the hill, as long as it's the right shape and colour (if I'm familiar with the route in real life) that's good enough for me, as I'm looking at what's in front and nearby not the scenery so much.

 

As a entirely neutral party, if I had to try and make a argument for whoever you're talking about you can get a lot from previews. Especially the visual and audio side of things, really the only aspect you need to own the route to properly judge is physics, them not owning it isn't a red flag on its own.

Also just saying, lot of people would argue that if you already own it any criticism you have for it is moot anyways, you're giving the product you claim to hate money after all. (In their mind at least)

 

There are plenty of reviews which are positive. Maybe that person is ignoring those. If they have a low end console that might be the only reviews they are looking at.

Personally I couldn't say B2C is a bad route by any stretch of the imagination and I think there are still some who are going on the original release which was a bit problematic.

Some people just have an axe to grind.

 

In that case, Everos won’t hit anything beyond 110, as they’d need to be cleared for EPS to reach 125.

 

Well said. My only big criticism is lack of freight. Crewe seems really deserted, even the platforms feel a bit empty.
I’m a bit of a purist for realism, so I often spawn some LSL stock and pad-out Basford Hall before driving north!

 

Very interesting run on 1U29 Milton to Crewe (350/4).

Adjacent platform at Milton was an Avanti, for whatever reason it got the signal ahead of me and this put about 3 late start on 1U29. 1U29 then lost further time due to other Avanti stuff being put in front of it. Excellent. Very realistic.

of note were random 2 Yellows after Rugeley with nothing in front on map. Seem to remember a similar issue on Peterborough Doncaster.

also, station announcements are still a bit odd. First time of listing stations it lists all then it says calling at ‘xxxx only’

I can’t seem to see any 350/4 1Uxx journeys on WCML(S) which is annoying.

well done AABS this is a good route but there are tweaks to be made for sure.

 

The double yellows on ECML were due to the level crossing timers being set up incorrectly. Not sure if that would be the case here.

 

not true. 110 isn’t the maximum authorised speed for multiple units on the wcml, many sections go slightly faster. it was set at 110 because that was the maximum speed of the 350s so it never really needed to be any higher

 

Probably the signal delay feature

 

I remember when the press used to slate BR for being 2 to 10mins late, i cant remember the last time the in-laws or my mum came up to visit in the last 20yrs without being late, having to catch a bus because there's a line problem or a train was cancelled, i now understand what my grandad always used to say about don't knock it till its gone LOL when i was a kid.

 

To be fair it takes one look at the feedback threads or console streams to see that the textures are horrible. I'm sorry but I don't have to own B2C or the 805 to see that they aren't very well optimised and don't run well on console. It's especially annoying because besides that the routes and locos look amazing, it's just the poor optimisation that lets it down. I'm also not spending nearly £50 just to prove that the route and loco suffer from crashes and blurry textures when I think thats pretty obvious.

 

It's really more of an afterthought in most routes. That's why I'm saving the money for Preston-Crewe.

 

There are issues with the signalling on this route. It appears (away from flashing yellows) that they’ve missed how approach control works. Unless the WCML is somehow different it should not be 2 Yellows then 1 Yellow with route indicator. Should be 2 Yellows, 1 Yellow and approach released route indicator with a non red aspect.

 

To be honest I’m glad they’re going that direction - IF it actually works, for example MAC is on the smaller side & that can be temperamental.

Frankly as a console user the state of the game has been too poor for too long now, with the odd DLC carrying it. As far back as RushHour & the whole PS5 add on limit, probably even further back for Xbox and the myriad of shenanigans that platform has been through over the years. It’s clear that DTG pays little attention to the platforms they’re developing on & that’s not translated well at all to third parties.

The current state of content being released seems to be pushing the boundary of the majority of users’ hardware before it’s even released, by the time it’s actually out & people are wanting to do things as simple as use exterior camera & seeing their content drop to sub 480p resolution as a result, is just unacceptable. If DTG won’t fix it then yeah, good on the 3P’s for working to produce quality even if it’s less expansive. I’d rather have an enjoyable 30mile run that looks good, than a 60+ mile run that’s just a waste of £30.

Firefly have shown that you don’t need flashy mainlines with triple digit mileage to produce top of the range content.

The only thing that concerns with AAS is their rolling stock, the 350 is really problematic in terms of straining console performance, the 805 seems to be quite precarious too from what I’ve seen.

 

That describes what I posted and I didn’t put it in the feedback thread, I put it here in the discussion thread started by a community member. In order to have the full timetable on this route I would need to buy all of All Aboard’s content, none of which works well on PS5 based on feedback. I’m not giving feedback on the content myself, just saying I have no confidence in the quality of the content so don’t want to spend £100 on it until the situation on PS5 improves. I’m allowed to say that. I normally buy everything, have done since TSW2020, but based on my own experiences lately, feedback from others and the well documented issues on PS5 I am currently not buying. I don’t post things like this often and you won’t see me banging on about stuff like most but I think it’s important to comment on it here. Everyone else is having their say, some people over many many posts.

DTG are working to improve things and they will tell you themselves they are not quite there yet. I’m not spending my money on content that doesn’t work well. It’s a perfectly reasonable position to take.

 

Yep, this as well, I mentioned this a couple of days ago, at Rugby and Stafford I saw in the streams (110 to 40mph). Shame, as weirdly enough it's put me off buying the route at the moment (as I like to play hudless and the signalling doesn't slow you down enough). Maybe at other locations it's fine, not sure.

 

I think some forget that unlike steam, there’s no refund option on PSN, unless you go to extreme lengths to get your one refund per year.

 

It's strange because they have managed to implement at other junctions. From the preview and ambassador streams flashing yellows are implemented at Nuneaton, Tamworth and Stafford when approaching from the south, so why not in other places?

 

Since I’d been having unavoidable CTD’s at Crewe on Series X, went for the reduced timetable today for a southbound 807 run. Obviously much quieter (but not totally deserted in fairness), but extremely smooth and stable. Not ideal but will be sticking with this for now until if/when the crashes are fixed.

Crashes aside, the route is incredible. As others have said you have a real sense of actually going somewhere on your journey. I’d put it right there with Shap as not only one of my favourite long distance high speed routes, but favourites full stop.

 

I still find it odd that people are discussing content they don’t own or have any intention of buying. I avoid 99% of all German content on day one, as I have no interest in it.
Whether it’s broken or not, I don’t voice my concerns as I don’t feel I’m obliged to do so without testing the product for myself.
People’s opinions are just going off hearsay and what they read on forums.

For someone who has tested the products in question from AABS. B2C and Trent Valley are all running perfectly as intended for the platform I use (PS5 Pro). AABS have done a superb job improving the performance on B2C, before the patch the FPS was a bit choppy, not anymore though.

If people want the best version of the game, they should be investing in a PC already and not complaining about the limitations of a console. Theres only so much a third party dev can do to optimise for console.

 

This for PC users and a bit off-topic, but i recently installed the new mod timetable for ECML (https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/m...-east-coast-main-line-december-2019-timetable) previously i kinda dismissed this route as boring, but i have to admit with this new timetable, it feels alive, so far I've done about 800 miles on there since it launched (the mod timetable) so i have 3 routes instead of 2 for that nice high-speed running itch i get after running freight.

 

Im going to try it out see how it is on my series x

 

Yes, strange really. One thing's for sure, it's not an easy fix unfortunately. We're still waiting for the signals in MAC to be fixed as well, how long is that taking!