Wcml Preston To Crewe Discussion

I have to say this seems to have been the worst JT launch by a considerable margin, notably it's their first TSW product on Steam to have mixed reviews.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/..._Preston_Route_AddOn/?curator_clanid=45756039

I hate saying it, but I really do think JT screwed up here, the route looks amazing in screenshots, but if the comes at the cost of it running well on mid to low-end machines I'm not sure it was worth it.

 

Please note this also happens on Preston-Carlisle when resetting physics, not sure if it's just the AC electrics or all locos. It is therefore not a new thing with this Crewe-Preston route.

 

There air braked mate

 

Dont there tell you on the wagons I cant remember.

 

I suspect the real issue is that we're reaching the limits of what the core is capable of in its current form.

There must be common factors between the blurry routes that can be identified, assuming the will is there to fix them (instead of, say, jumping to UE5 or some other engine and starting all over again). If not, they could still be used as guidelines to scale back on devs ambitions to mitigate this happening in future...

If that's not realistic, how about looking at some of the more problematic recent features that were introduced and backing them out of the core to free up machine resources? I wonder if all AI trains have to simulate the suspension physics, for example - would there be a way of stopping that, if so? Or how about removing the random faults? They don't really bring anything to the game IMHO. If we're already struggling to run the latest routes, what new "features" will TSW7 bring that'll break them even more...?

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the last letter that dictates breaking type, i think its say the wagons designation is HKA and the last letter being a means air-braked.

 

Yup, A = air brakes ... more details here: https://www.ltsv.com/w_ref_codes_tops.php

 

Meant to say in my earlier post that clearing the shader cache really made a difference on my PC - FWIW, it's an i7-10700 with 32Gb and a 6Gb rtx2060 GPU - nothing fancy, but it's good enough to run TSW. I wasn't experiencing any major problems with the new route but thought I'd do a bit of spring cleaning anyhow, and I was surprised by the difference after clearing out the shader cache. PITA to do it, mind, as you have to reboot a couple of times etc, but it was worth the effort. YMMV of course

 

Some interesting thoughts in there, for sure. Ther performance isn't great on this route. In fact, I was somewhat shocked on my first run just how bad the performace is. Felt like SPG on PS4 with its 10-15 FPS all over again.

It needs to be adressed. It's no use having a super impresssive route that runs poorly (or not at all for some). I certainly don't have any easy answers as to how it can be addressed, but this is not a standard for the future. JT have undoubtedly a lot of goodwill given their general quality and choice of vintage traction that DTG almost ignores, but that goodwill can also be lost. It would be a shame if their otherwise high qulaity stuff gets dragged down by performance.

 

I've posted what we're doing in the feedback thread for the route but we've making some headway with things which is great.

 

It's a bit harsh to blame JT for performance issues which arise because of DTG's crappy coding abilities (I'm surprised they aren't a government contractor at this point) and the poor core optimisation allowing bad performance issues to arise on consoles and low spec PCs.

The only performance issues that I experienced was some brief stuttering during my first run through Warrington but it's been fine since and also low resolution textures at distance due to DTG's so called "fix" or "optimisation" though that needs to be reversed as sitting at Crewe and not being able to read the blurry number of a 47 parked three lines over is unacceptable, but again, that's on DTG.

 

FWIW if you’re on PC clearing the shader cache does make a difference. Personally it runs well for me, but it sounds like I’m in the minority sadly.

 

In the process of giving that a try. Even if it just squeezes a few more FPS - though of course I guess the downer is that TSW will be rebuilding the shaders on every route the first couple of times you run them.

 

That's the flash mob choir Easter Egg.

 

Runs fine for me as well… doubtful you are in the minority, Just those that are having problems are doing the most comments as they should. The rest, we are enjoying the route

 

Bit the bullet and bought preston to crewe (series s)

Was expecting constant crashing at crewe so i spawned an 87 to see how it was (not sure exactly which service) and it ran smoothly on 4K with only a slightly low FPS. Switched over and am now driving 9K03 part 1 from Crewe and almost perfect frame rates and no blurring through crewe

Granted it definetly seems there is some static stock missing but it's a lot better a result than what i first expected. I'm pleasantly surprised by this as i expected it to run horribly on my series S after what i heard about series X.