Train Sim World 7 - Discussion

There’s an argument that Sheerness should either be free to those with Medway or SEHS or very cheap in comparison due to the route length. I don’t doubt Firefly bringing out another piece of jaw droppingly stunning content though. In my opinion everything now should pass the Medway test, heck I’d even have Firefly as the main QA people if I could

beyond the initial sounds issue on ps5 which was nothing to do with Firefly at all, I’ve not had one issue with Medway every time I play the route I’m amazed again by the sheer beauty of that DLC

as for Sheerness I’m most looking forward to running my repainted 313 in grubby run down Connex 508 livery on the route

 

I was expecting the route to run from Kings Cross to… well…the gas works tunnel.

but no, in all seriousness, the MAC route was excellent but, of course a little short.

I expect ATS will be looking to excel following the class 90 debacle.

 

I have to say the content on offer in TSW 7 is enticing. I looked up all the routes and locos and they're all interesting, even though from the same three countries as ever. The developers paywalled the Deluxe content with good insight, making the more expensive version even more interesting, to me at least.

But the pricing is just insane, it's off the charts and I'm not sure the TSW franchise should follow the industry trend of making everything more expensive, especially with such a battered reputation. All editions are overpriced in my opinion. Let me not even comment on the "Ultimate" one.

The roadmap's "major update in December" line also tells me this game is not yet completed if it needs a major update three months after release.

With ongoing performance problems on consoles, STILL no support for dynamic resolution scaling, forced native 4K, stuttering and blurry textures, I will only be interested in buying TSW 7 if these problems are solved or at least mitigated on consoles, and only then at a steep discount.

I still love simulators and I find TSW enticing but the lack of polish and improvements over the years eroded my trust. I will wait and see how this one goes and may be back someday down the line.

 

I'm on Xbox Series X and I haven't bought anything since the release of TSW6. I just want the performance/quality issues fixed because then I might start buying again. I'll download TSW7 Starter (I'm really happy about the safety systems option) but there is no incentive for me to put good money after bad. I need to see meaningful results rather than tinkering around the edges.

 

Seven years and still only a handful of countries with routes. I just wish someone made a sim with routes from all major rail countries around the world, the visuals of Running Train, and multiplayer. Can I bribe devs of TSW, RT and Simrail to join forces and make that?

 

Because it’s easy money. Realistically why bother actually putting serious time and money into something when a flashy video every year and a menu of overpromising and under delivering is lapped up and folk continue to empty their wallets. This really is the final chance for DTG to either prove themselves rebuild trust or just pack up and call it a day IMO

 

Running Train is absolutely stunning. Would love the dev to break into the UK market. Visuals are stunning, gameplay seems flawless and audio is consistent and nicely balanced and that game is a one man band!!!!

 

Hi, saw the announcement yesterday. Will the progress and completed scenarios from TSW6 carry forward to TSW7?

 

Just incase people haven't noticed, the roadmap Q+A thread is up; https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/train-sim-world-7-august-2026-roadmap-q-a-thread.99172/

 

Is this lighting the same as you released with your mod and on the Medway valley route?

 

l think you are right as l cannot find any mention of it, apart from 19 stations are included which won’t include the KWVR.

This is disappointing and a shame as having the Railway Children Line would be very exciting as the 56th anniversary past recently and there is a lot of interest not only in the KWVR but heritage lines in general. As it is only five miles in length it should have been included to make this the whole route.

Perhaps DTG Jamie or DTG Alex can give information as to why KWVR is not included.

 

If the KWVR had been included I would have bought the route. As it is, this will be yet another modern route picked up for peanuts in a sale, driven a couple of times and forgotten. At least we have Whitehaven to look forward to and the NTP revamp.

 

Unfortunately it is what it is,From my short time on here it looks like some of the issues have been going on for a long time so cant see them being fixed any time soon.People keep saying its being looked at so be patient but you can only wait for so long.

 

That’s exactly how l feel, Tonto62. I have never travelled on the route but have visited KWVR quite a few times since the Railway Children was made, such an iconic route that l cannot see why it shouldn’t be included, especially as the KWVR route has been included in so many films over the years.

 

After thinking this through for a day, I thought I'd give my two cents on what I thought of the TSW 7 announcement.

Overall, I wasn't all that impressed. The new features didn't particularly excite me. The option to have the safety systems enabled by default is a nice addition, as is the live weather, but I don't really care about most of the other features. I'm also cautiously optimistic about the graphical updates. From what we've seen so far, they make the game look quite hazy and brown to me. I know the new lighting is more in line with the Medway Valley Line, but I'm not a huge fan of the daytime lighting on that route at the best of times.

I feel similarly about the promised passenger and texture improvements. The improvements themselves are very welcome, but the question is whether DTG will actually deliver on them. The blurry texture issue in particular has caused me to lose interest in a lot of new TSW content as a console player. After Frankfurt to Fulda and Leipzig to Dresden, I'm understandably cautious about getting excited about another new route only to encounter the same problems. It was also a little disappointing that Dispatcher Mode wasn't included as a core feature.

Below I shall give my thoughts on each of the core route and deluxe locos.

Nuremberg-Würzburg & ICE 4
Of the three routes, this looks the most promising to me.

It appears to be a busy and reasonably long main line, with some good route hopping opportunities on to Kassel-Würzburg and Nuremberg–Ingolstadt. The scenery looked decent, and I'm particularly glad that the Alstom Coradia is finally coming to TSW in the form of the DB BR 440. This opens the door to future Coradia units like the NS ICNG or even UK diesel units like the class 175 and class 180. I also really like the mixture of S-Bahn, regional and ICE services. The ICE 4 is another locomotive I'm particularly looking forward to, and I think it will be a great addition to the game.

However, after my experience with Frankfurt to Fulda and Leipzig to Dresden on console, I'm cautiously optimistic about the route. Hopefully we won't be seeing another round of blurry textures.

Tri-Rail & GP49
I have mixed feelings about this one.

On the one hand, I'm glad to see a US route outside of California or the Northeast. On the other hand, the route doesn't particularly excite me. The scenery didn't look especially interesting from what we've seen so far, and it's a shame that the line is cut short at Boca Raton.

I'm also not the biggest fan of US diesel locomotives, mainly because I find them quite heavy and clunky to drive. However, I do have high hopes for the locomotives themselves. Tri-Rail appears to have been exceptionally helpful in giving DTG access to its locomotives, and I'm particularly looking forward to the GP49. I don't think I've ever seen the audio team at Dovetail Direct get quite so enthusiastic about a locomotive before. The amount of shakes, rattles and other details they've modelled for it sounds really promising from an audio perspective.

Overall, I think this could actually turn out to be a decent route. It's just probably not going to be my cup of tea.

Airedale & Wharfedale Lines & Class 333
I have a few more concerns about this one.

Let's start with what I like. The route appears to be an end-to-end network-style route similar to Cathcart Circle, rather than being cut off in the way Cardiff City Network was. I also like the sound of the freight workings.

However, it's a little disappointing that we're getting the Class 66 once again. Hopefully AABS' Class 70 will eventually be able to layer onto the route.My wider concern is the lack of diesel units. As someone from North Yorkshire, I'm very aware that much of the North of England isn't electrified, yet this route appears to be launching with only electric passenger trains. That means a lot of the diesel services you would expect to see around Leeds simply won't be represented.

Nevertheless, the Class 331 looks promising, and I suspect the reason it isn't being used as the Deluxe Edition locomotive may be because it's effectively a rebuilt version of the SNG Sprinter from Zwolle-Groningen. If that's the case, I'm personally fine with it. The SNG Sprinter is already one of my favourite regional units in TSW. I do also hope that this unit can be layered into Manchester Airport Commuter at some point with the existing 323. The Class 333 also sounded surprisingly good in the preview, so I'm looking forward to driving it. The only issue is that it will not be able to layer on to very many routes as unlike the class 331, it doesn't run outside of Yorkshire. What I would have liked to see, though, is a Northern diesel unit on launch. Until the Northern Class 158 eventually arrives, Leeds is going to feel noticeably quieter than it should. This is made more apparent by the absence of TransPennine Express services and Northern Class 170s.

I understand that TPE and Northern 170s don't operate on these particular lines in real life, so I'm not suggesting they should be there purely for the sake of it. My concern is more about how busy the route will feel within TSW. Glasgow Central on Cathcart Circle, by contrast, is incredibly busy thanks to the amount of layering. Leeds is just as important a railway hub as Glasgow, so I fear the route could end up feeling like an inferior version of Cathcart Circle without the additional Northern and TPE diesel services. To be fair at least all Northern EMU services will be end to end runs unlike Cardiff City Network where only one full end to end branch was modeled (two if you count Cardiff Bay).

Perhaps that's why DTG kept comparing it to Cardiff rather than the considerably more impressive Cathcart Circle...

Conclusion
I'll keep this brief, but overall the routes and new features don't really blow me away.

Nuremberg-Würzburg is the standout for me, while Tri-Rail looks like it could be a decent route even if it isn't really my thing. Airedale & Wharfedale has plenty of potential, but I have more reservations about how busy and varied it will feel in TSW.

The texture concerns are the biggest issue running through all three routes for me. I'm glad DTG is promising improvements, but until we see evidence that the underlying problems have actually been fixed rather than simply having new graphical settings added on top, I'll remain cautiously optimistic at best.

 

I’m not confident TSW7 will run well on console. It’s great adding live weather etc but how will that affect performance?
There’s been no mention or update on blurry textures as far as I’m aware and adding new features surely isn’t going to help any?

Personally the routes are underwhelming but that’s just me. Passenger improvements sounds promising but I’ll believe that when I see it.
Free version it is then!

 

There were texture improvements written as part of the first major TSW 7 patch. However, that was the only place where they were mentioned. I'll believe it when I see it!

 

For me its the best bundle we got so far and will ever get.

Nürnberg-Würzburg itself is a great route and makes Kassel/Koblenz/Wiesbaden to Ingolstadt runs possible.
The 440 looks incredible and finally ends the constant recycle of the 425.

The 412 will probably be my favourite loco in the game as its by far my most favourite ICE.

Otherwise i find both UK and US routes very interesting and fortunately will pay even more for that upcoming Expert Railjet and NL route.

For the features im not sure about what to think of this freight mode, but everything else especially the graphics update is straight up peak.

 

I dove in and pre ordered the ps5 standard version.. will buy the Tri Rail gp49 after release day..had thought about the deluxe but not really interested in the ICE 4 or the 313 uk loco dlc s at this time..will play the uk germany routes with what they have plus any layers from other uk german routes i own

 

I don't believe the older DLCs are updated to the extent that they require a full redownload, if they are updated at all.

 

If the new texture improvements to lighting etc are being deployed on older routes such as London to Brighton and SouthEastern High Speed, that will really help bring them more to life, particularly at night where it can be too dark. Medway again excelled at this. Shame TOD4 can't be patch rolled out but I understand the mechanics as to why that's not how it works etc

 

Yeah it is but only for the Epic preset so for high end cards as the RTX 5070/5080/5090 or AMD equal. If dont have a card like this you did not have the new lightning.

 

Because it looks like UE3 DX10 demo-scene. One primary color - brown. The other colors faded, just like in DX10 era. At least on the shown screenshots it looks bad.
Also it looks similar to "we don't need beter graphics - we have reshade at home".

 

I do have to admit the "Enhanced Lighting" looks very good from the screenshots they've shown. Finally shadows and depth are visible when there are clouds in the sky.

 

I fear this is a case of "look over there" graphics tweaks.

 

Not sure that's accurate.

The FAQ lists enhanced lighting as a separate toggle from Epic graphics setting and claims that has "little-to-no performance impact"

 

Could I just reiterate some things for those complaining about having to re-download all the content for the new version and the "hassle" of it all?
1. First, this happens with games that have regular updates. Try Football Manager or MS Flight Simulator 24 (the latter of which is updated nearly monthly and those downloads can take hours).

2. Compare that to real life, how many regular jobs around the house only need doing once a year and take about a hour. Try my lawn-mowing simulation game that involves a real lawn and a real lawnmower. That's about 3 hours a month in normal summers. Like the hour or two it takes to properly wash the car every month. Cleaning out a teenager's bedroom because they're too entitled to do it themselves, multiples of hours every year, the hours spent going to buy the shopping every month. Now those are hassles.

3. You don't have to sit watching a new game download. It's a brilliant concept, really it is. You can start the download and do something else. Like mow the lawn, wash the car, clean your bedroom, help around the house generally. And here's some really wacky ideas for things you can do while the new game is downloading; Go and buy some essential shopping, make and eat a nice dinner, go out for a walk and get some fresh air, socialise with real people, go and see a relative or friend who can't get out very often, they'll really appreciate some company.

4. If all of the above aren't possible, download the routes as you use them. I always just do the new ones and a few favourites at first if I'm in a hurry to try the new game out. Does anyone else remember having to download an entire game from a cassette every time you played it back in the mid-1980s? Even long/busy scenarios in TSC, back in the day, you'd load it up, go and make a cuppa, hang the washing up and come back to find it's still loading only for it to crash to desktop and then you had to start all over again.

TLDR - If the time it takes to download TSW7 is something that angers you enough to complain about it, you are a very lucky person. Life doesn't stay that easy forever, I promise you.

 

Yeah you're right! It's a bit strange how it's bundeld in the FAQ but it's seperate yeah....

FAQ:
Epic Settings:
Allows high-end PCs to push the visual fidelity of the game further than ever before.
Extended Draw Distance / Extended LOD Draw Distance / Increased Shadow Quality / Extended Shadow Draw Distance / Improved Colour Ranges / Improved Skylight Intensity.

Enhanced Lighting:
Adds light rays to the sun
Indirectly lit areas are darker for a less “washed out” appearance.
Subtle shading helps objects blend more naturally into the scenery.

You have Enhanced Lightning and Skylight Intensity changes what is a bit overlapping each other

 

Base routes look good, although from what I remember about Miami on "Driver" is that it's as flat as a pancake. Like Holland.
Nice package of new trains and routes, one of the better ones in recent years.
Freight driver mode is the highlight for me.
Still the free update and wait for sale and fixed a bit. Deluxe.

 

Sorry if mentioned before but is the Live weather optional? I usually keep the weather in game sunny as I think it makes the game look better so I don’t really care for the live weather feature and hopefully it doesn’t have to be enabled

 

Lots of fresh new players every year, keeping the game alive.
That's the reason.

 

Are the 3 core routes and deluxe locos gonna be priced at £29.99 and £12.99 each seperately? I'm just tryna see if the deluxe edition is worth it.

The "ultimate edition" is literally pointless if you already own TSW6 deluxe

 

It is optional. Previously you could choose between "static" and "dynamic" weather. In TSW 7 you will get a new option, "live" weather, but the two other options stay available as they were in TSW 6.

 

Oh good I’m glad about that, thank you for the reply

 

That’s my view on TSW 7.
Personally, it doesn’t exactly blow me away.
DTG has included a few nice features and, it seems, improved on existing ones too. But whether it actually works as it should is, as is the case every year, another matter entirely.

I’m not at all interested in the ICE 4, as I’ve never driven an ICE train in TSW. The new German route could be something if there are enough freight trains running on it, and the BR 440 is something new and worth having a look at.

I don’t drive on British or US routes at all, so I don’t care what’s released there.

Now that DTG has also incorporated the Epic Graphics features, I’ll probably have to take my PC apart before 15 September so I can finally fit in my RTX 5070 TI OC 16Gb, as well as the new motherboard and the new processor – which have been lying around here for about six months now, all still in their original packaging.

I’m still thinking about which version to get – the free one or the Standard version – so I’ll need to watch some videos of the new tracks first so I can make up my mind.


Update:
If anyone needs a second-hand Zotac GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity OC 10 GB DDR 6, please feel free to contact me via private message.

 

I guess I don't have a good grasp of just how slow internet service is still out there. 150-200GB takes me minutes to download at 1Gb/sec. 400GB might push an hour. Let's say your service is 1/4 the speed and you have every single DLC. You're looking at 4 hours of download... That's kind of a worst cast scenario isn't it? How many have internet below 250Mb/sec? If yours is slower than that, that's kind of a you issue - a lot more than just this game is going to be frustrating, like major updates for all your other games.

When I look at games receiving major content that do progressive upgrades, the amount re-downloaded with major updates can be quite high. I don't know how much the TSW maps change between versions but it could potentially be such that you might only save half the download time or less by retaining old files.

I totally understand the frustration at the release model being used but the odds of DTG changing it now seem very small. They have been nice enough to offer a free upgrade which really solves the problem for the most part. Would I prefer it were just a "TSW" that gets updates over time? Absolutely. Nice thought, but it's tilting at windmills to expect that to change now.

 

i'm wondering since tsw7 support dlss 4.5 dose that mean tsw8 will support dlss 5.0. that be cool.

 

UE3, DX10 demo? Ok.

It’s fine, just don’t use it. That’s why it’s optional.

 

It's not just the time involved, it's also unnecessary wear and tear on your drive. DTG have shown that they can drop the year and just do core updates with TSC, and this was when they were still adding features to that game. Other companies have managed to have a base game, and provide updates to it while releasing new content, and providing incremental updates to older DLC. There's no reason to continue with this silly numbering system, especially when the core update is already being offered up for free..

 

I know. If it weren't optional, I'd be raging all over the forum now.
I don't deny that the problem is with the screenshots. It might look fine in different weather conditions or at a different time of day. But based on what they showed on the stream, it's not worth it.

 

Maybe just wait to see for yourself eh?

 

You don't have to spend all these hours pedaling or carrying "packages" by hand, running kilometers to the server. Just leave it downloading and go about your business. I remember in 2009 I was downloading GTA 4 with my very slow internet for a whole week. And while I was downloading, either an update came out, or for some reason the files got corrupted, so I had to download it again. I remember being furious. And now people can’t wait for a few hours.

 

You're making it sound like I have other options. Is anyone going to let me try it right now? Obviously not.
It would be great if I was wrong. And if not, what difference does it make if it can be turned off.

 

Here is the totally strange and out of the world idea I had for downloading. Start the download, go to bed, wake up 8 hours later. Done.

 

It's what I'll be doing, stick my PS5 on rest mode when I go bed and let it all download.

 

I can only assume you weren't online, because this was all a big talking point among 360 & PS3 owners about how bad post launch updates were, one of the most hated parts of that gen. Had people who bought Wii's and PS2 and bragging about how they didn't have to wait for online updates, which I always found funny.

Even after it became more normal, you'll still see backlash toward games which force massive launch day updates. There's been a lot of push back to physical releases with no data, that's never really died down. Notably you had the Switch 2 Game Key Cards get massive, vocal pushback, which seems to have caused a lot of their parties to back off using them actually. DTG would actually reconsider if more people would actually put their money where their mouth is, part of the reason I'm still on TSW5.

 

I think sometimes people just need to whine. Any excuse will do. This is one of them. Almost 20 years have passed since the events I'm describing. Internet speed has increased by an order of magnitude.

 

This won't work for all but consider having a word with your ISP if download speeds can be improved. I managed to get mine updated to the fastest in the area at no cost by having a chat and agreeing to a new deal. Again I appreciate this won't work for all.

 

With regard to the enhanced lighting, I think it definitely is a massive improvement. I’ve been a user of JetWash's ini presets for years and I don’t think I could play without them. So it’s great to see them come native in the game settings alongside native DX12 and DLSS. In my view those three features right there justify upgrading to TSW7 day 1 even if it’s just through the free starter pack.

Here are a couple before/after comparison shots for the enhanced lighting feature. (Captured from Jetwash's recent video). These two shots here are a literal night and day difference and I don’t see how anyone could argue otherwise. It fixes the biggest problem with TSW lighting in my opinion which is the constant overexposure. I admit in some instances the enhanced lighting appears to wash out some of the saturated colors in assets, but you could argue that some TSW assets are oversaturated to begin with relative to real life.

 

If you remove the rays, the main difference is: it was blue, it became brown.
The "before" version looks more realistic in terms of color tone. Yes, the lighting is a bit off, but the tone itself is more natural.
The problem with the original DTG lighting is not in the color tone, but in the contrast and balance of dark and light.
But the cab lighting fix is absolutely wonderful. It's a shame it only works with the new lighting. DTG should have done this a long time ago for all settings (well, maybe except for the low ones).

DTG, please add the R G B sliders. I want to try the new lighting, but I want to keep your default color tone, which is colder and more natural.