I keep reading Underground routes are unlikely to come since they‘re too „difficult“ to make. Explain; how is an underground route, which is basically 90% of the same tunnel textures more difficult to produce then an open world map with mountains or a city like New York?
from what i gather it mainly comes down to light baking and the density of stations. light baking takes several hours and attempts, when dtg did the bakerloo line it apparently went way over budget which is presumably why we haven’t had an underground route since. ue5 eliminates the need for light baking and that was the point of metro rivals. and underground routes have many stations closely packed together, which take a long time to create and can hinder performance due to the large amount of assets in a small area
Given the state of tunnel lighting on several recent routes, I'd be very concerned for the prospects when it comes to underground ones.
that might be because tsw2 was on tod3, the lighting in general was darker so there was much less contrast. compare it to the washed out lighting of tod4, and light baking becomes a lot more of a challenge because of how much change there is
Still hoping the work they did on Metro Rivals will help them hit the ground running whenever the inevitable UE5 version of TSW arrives (if it's even called TSW). Imo a combination of UE5 and procedural generation (also something they talked about using in Metro Rival iirc) could make underground routes very profitable for DTG, and there's clearly a market for underground routes based on how many people are asking for the here. I'd personally play the hell out of an NYC subway route. Before people freak out too much about procedural generation- i think tunnels are one circumstance where it actually makes good sense as long as they go back and add unique details where appropriate.
This was pretty much what I was getting at. Newer routes and tod4 remasters have some serious quirks on tunnel lighting.
DTG did Bakerloo very good. The upper parts of the route look a bit aged now but the underground stations in my opinion still look very nice. It’s a slim to none chance DTG will do any more metro routes due to the light baking issue. But there could still be the possibility of a new third party later down the road who might decide to step in and give us some underground content. I actually don’t care what time period they would be set it in. They don’t even have to be modern. All Subway routes are very welcome with me .
They can't make any NYC subway routes anyway as IIRC there is a licence issue with MTA that won't allow it.
If you want a subway/metro type game, SubwaySim 2 is a alternative. I doubt we will ever get another Subway route again in TSW
Personally there's only any interest in the sub-surface lines for London. Bakerloo is night but I don't feel like any of the other deep-level lines would bring anything different enough to feel unique. The Sub-Surfaces - particularly the Metropolitan line or District - would be a unique offering. I'd even take the Circle Line or Hammersmith & City, as WOS3 (Circle Line) was a very enjoyable game and a modernised version of the Circle would be fun to drive. But the Victoria, Jubilee or Central lines don't appeal to me much. Northern, maybe, due to the branches and split in the middle. Piccadilly is alright but I think it's a bit similar to the Bakerloo, for the moment. A German U-Bahn (or Stadtbahn), on the other hand... That I'd enjoy.
most of those underground lines in London are automated these days only drivers needed for safety seems pretty boring to me to have those in TSW
