PlayStation Another Dovetail Direct, Another Absence Of Details For Console Issues

All the screenshots featuring the new lighting is incredible.

So when will we see the screenshots that console users will get?

 

I imagine itll just be the same as we've always had on console.

There are plans to introduce the enhanced lighting on console, wether or not it'll happen is anyone's guess, but Matt P on the roadmap stream wants to bring it to Console.

 

Presumably it's because they don't want the expense of proper console development, so just do a bare minimum and then reap the benefits of being quite literally the only game in town. As I've said somewhere else: competition or some kind of refund system for consoles would give them pause for thought and maybe get them to make the effort. If sales numbers dip I'm sure they'll just cut some staff to re-balance the books in true videogame company fashion. At the end of the day they're trying to satisfy shareholders, not customers.

 

Meanwhile the silence is deafening,no input or any sort of comment from dtg or the community people.When the news about one of the threads disappearing they were on there like a shot interacting,same as when they pulled people up for being rude,which is fair enough,but you know what i mean.I guess we will have to wait and see.....

 

I was just going to post the same - it amazes me (read - well, not really after all these years) that when a thread / genuine concern from DTGs customers / community like this is talked about - we hear NOTHING. * Silence *. Why have Community Managers etc, when you ignore the community? For the love of christ, will someone from DTG PLEASE respond to our genuine concerns / queries about the console versions.
(And don't get me started on the years and years of ongoing bugs that still haven't been fixed whether it be console or PC - like the fact everytime I load into a timetable to walk around and board an AI train, the left movement analogue stick never works (I'm stuck to the spot) - and I have to 'restart' the scenario EVERYTIME! (PC or PS5)

 

All they'd need to do is a stream on PC to show off all those fancy features, a stream on a base PS5 and a stream on a Series S. But rather than just showcasing new features play the game for a couple of hours. Create a scenario, go for a walk around one of the routes in free mode. Do some freight hauler on a different, older route, really push the systems so console owners know that they can safely buy TSW7 on September 15th and it run properly. .

 

It is a case of what they want in an ideal world and what they can actually get across the line.

We still don't have the full Sbahn timetable and the fact the consoles would 'blow up' is understandable as to why we don't but again, it was something they really wanted to get onto the consoles after release.

 

To Dovetail's credit, they've been doing previews on an Xbox Series X which is awesome.

People will argue the semantics of 'yeah, but how many DLC is installed' or 'is it a devkit' blah blah, but it's a step in the right direction imo.

PlayStation devkits are offensively expensive from what I am told, and iirc you can't run a non publicly released DLC/Game build on a retail kit. So Dovetail would need to get their hands on one of those before they'd be able to preview any content on a PS before release.

To me it begs the question, does Dovetail have console devkits?

 

If there was something in the works, heck, even a statement to that effect would work wonders.

Keep in mind according to the roadmap the next 'update' is in December - 3 months after tsw7 launches seems a fair wait for our next Class 390 optimisation pass. Who knows, DTG might be able to save another 10mb... (/S)

 

I can understand that fixing blurry textures on the back catalogue will take time. But going forward especially with TSW 7 routes we should be buying the new content with confidence that no blurry textures will be present. Alas this probably won't be the case. I won't buy any new routes or locos until I see positive feedback on the forums and from someone like British Ace on YouTube.

 

On top of the route optimization problem the game has to deal with multiple versions of the same locomotives, such as different Class 66 variants, each of them reducing available memory.

Why not separate locomotives from routes and load only the assets that are actually needed? A more modular approach could reduce unnecessary memory usage.

What is also frustrating is that blurry textures are often "discussed" (That's to say "We are aware of it", "We are working on it blalabla...") at the very end of DTG streams, when most viewers have already left. And DLCs are generally demonstrated on PC to hide the true situation.

Finally, blurry textures are not the only long-standing issue. Passenger behaviour and other immersion-breaking problems have also remained unresolved for years.

DLCs for console players should be sold way cheaper as the expected quality showed (on PC) during the streams is not there.

 

I will probably get the new version when this happens or miss a year for the first time (the latter option will save me money anyway since I would also not worry about the DLC, especially since I have a good back catalogue anyway). Most likely it will be just another broken promise that eventually makes it into the next version in another 12 months. I am so hoping to be proven wrong though.

 

What's FSR?

 

No, FSR is not available on consoles.

What is FSR?
In the gaming sector, FSR stands for FidelityFX Super Resolution, a technology developed by AMD for image upscaling.
How FSR works: Lower-resolution rendering:
The game is rendered internally at a lower resolution (e.g. in Full HD instead of native 4K). Upscaling:
An algorithm upscales the image to the higher monitor resolution. Sharpening: Special filters and image data reconstruct lost details and sharpen the image.
Better performance: As the graphics card has to render fewer pixels directly, the frame rate (FPS – frames per second) increases noticeably.

 

It's a shame DTG didn't implement it on the console version. Other games make use of it, the current TAA isn't the best. Most likely we will get FSR4 support on Xbox in the future, that can be a game changer, so wondering if DTG will implement this later on.

 

I'm sure they'll look into it once they've dealt with all the other bugs.

 

Yeah lets continue hoping.

 

Still no word from Dovetail Games or any related persons or parties on this.
Again just want to point out theyve popped onto the forums to defend their "customer experience" position and stop any missinformation but have as yet NOT said a single word on if TSW7 has any improvments to the console version of the game, if the console blurring and DLC mounting issues have been fixed or improved, if the crashing has been improved or fixed.. not a single word..

I cant make the comparision i would like to, no matter how valid it is, because some poor soul at Dovetail will surely not understand its the company here that is being compared, nnot the employees, but the actions or rather inaction and callous disregard is.... curious...

 

It really does feel like "pay your money, take your chance". You can't really go for the free update as you can't gauge whether the live weather will work, so do you commit to redownloading all your DLC? Do you take the chance that it's going to work and pay for the base edition. Again I reiterate that if the XBox and PlayStation stores had similar refund policies to Steam there'd be a lot more incentive to properly optimise routes. Tadami Line for TSW6 had to be delayed on release day as it wasn't optimised, but is magically ready to release two weeks after TSW7 launches? Handy. Can we get them to work on optimising everything for TSW7 if they can do it that quickly?

 

there is no reason for Dovetail to do anything beyond it being the right thing to do.
going by the majority of the comments on the forums and various discords most console players are just going to "pay the money" this year, same as the last year, and the year before that.

as long as people are willing to let Dovetail get away with selling a different product on consoles, and not holding them accountable when they sell a broken, bugged or not as advertised DLC. why would Dovetaill bother spending the money or dev time to fix something they know they can get away with just leaving.

Really, what are we going to do as console players? go play another train sim game? LOL
Dovetail know they have the only game in town, Dovetail know we have nowhere else to go and bank on the fact each year.

 

people have forgotten already, the entire saga that was the Class 90 on console, Dovetail saw absolutely no issues in continueing to sell that DLC for full price to any unsuspecting soul that didnt happen to be a part of these forums or chance across some ambassador content.
how many TSW youtubers are using the Class 90 now even after its fixed? how many were talking about it while it was broken (besides that one muppet who kept ranting about it non stop like a broken record - oh yeah that was me lol) and now its fixed everyone forgets how keen DTG were to allow us console players to get reemed.

by their own actions, or lack of action, they allowed console customers to buy a known absolutely broken product.. does this seem like the actions of a company who cares or even thinks about console as more than a fleeting passing afterthought

we were people who had dollars to extract, and they only cared as far as extracting those dollars - support or a patch... nahhhh, you can wait a few months while we sell a few more of these 90's

 

Yeah, they're quite literally the only game in town in console unless you want to play any number of shovelware "train driver simulator 2026 realistic passenger freight railway game" or whatever they call those asset flips nowadays. There is Trainz, and Simrail but I hear the console versions aren't great. They know they can't drop console completely because it'd lose them even more money, but it feels like more and more of an afterthought.

 

and i will also again point out that it been how long since the Dovetail Direct, and we have had ZERO statements on this.. Staff can jump on to squash other "rumours" or "missinformation" but not this... so i guess its confirmed then lmao

 

All we need is a preview stream on each console to show how it runs.

 

they already, to their credit, have begun showing some DLC previews on an Xbox which is an absolutely brilliant first step.
but that also just shows content going forward *might* be solid - it doesnt do anything to fix DLC mounting issues, blurring or crashing or anything caused by core game code issues.

Again, i am only asking for Dovetail to do exactly what they promised they were going to do, which if they are to be believed have been working on for a while now and have made good progress towards...

I would be willing to bet even my life that we wont see anything by way of fixes to these issues inn TSW7, as i suspect the scale and scope has grown way larger than even DTG thought it would. the issues compounding issues compounding issues. This is going to be a LONG project and Dovetail cant say that out loud, now as theyre getting ready to launch the latest edition of their game.

But you watch, we wont get any of these new features, even the less intensive ones, because DTG will claim consoles wont be able to handle them. we will continue to have reduced layers and removed content because DTG will claim consoles cant handle them.

Genuinely, how many roadmaps have we gone hrough where console improvments and fixes were promised as coming, being worked on or as having great progress/learnings being made and we STILL have had nothing save for some Class 390 optimisations...

i mean, at what point does it go from being "just give them time, theyre working on it" to actually just taking the absolute mickey

 

Alex has on the Diacord Q and A's has said the texture issue won't be fixed by TSW7.

For what they need to do. Go over every route and loco looking for waste. And at the same time work on the core coding and how that distributes dlc and manages the VRAM.

That is easily a 1 to 2 year project if all goes smoothly. So as I said prviously TSW9 is the one we want.

And thats IF they can fix it

The problem is there is no other game like this on console where the DLC amount is way larger than the core game.

So in the end it just might never work on consoles the way its set up and it will take a complete rebuild of the core from scratch which would be a 2-3 year project.

Either way it even sounded back in December it was a multi year project then and they just couldn't admit it. It sounded like they were hoping it was just a quick fix.

And yes they need to fess up and just tell us its the long haul. But if they do a whole bunch of console users will probably walk away for a few years and maybe come back. If we haven't found something else that we are into by then.

 

THIS!!!!! THIS!!!!

 

so for the forseeable future at least, the only way to get squiffy DLC to be stable on the consoles would be to remove layers and content, which DTG will do as required.

So another 12 months of having an objectively worse experience for the same money as PC - goddaymn!! not going to buy me dinner before you B.M.O i guess.

 

Well, at least it's some form of confirmation of what we all expected - thank you bakedpotatos.jm for sharing this for us non-discord- users.

Regarding TSW7 it's for me quite obvious to go for the free edition a 3rd year in a row, maybe look up for the special one when it's 60%+ off in January and ignoring the german routes until there's some sort of fix in the pipeline. The number of potential interesting upcoming DLC is drastically reduced to maybe the Dutch one as well of course since every other will be blurry or empty, but then that's the way it is I guess.
Looking forward to permanently enabled safety systems, TF3 and GTA VI instead.

 

Well, I for one will NOT be buying anymore standard editions of TSW (just the free update) from now - as I think the way DTG is treating their customers is shameful and disrespectful. I used to watch the live streams regularly, and be part of the DTG experience, now I don't. I also contacted a community manager a week ago in a dm with a genuine query - and have been ignored. Why have community anything DTG?

 

i think the best and fastest place to get help from Dovetail is probably the Discord, it seems to be where most of the activity is happening these days. it's a shame, Discord is great for friend groups and smaller chats, but it moves so quickly things get lost in the sauce so easily.

 

Are third rail flashes / arcs new ? Just done a 700 service (free roam) on BML and there are bright white flashes bottom left and right of the windscreen. Ok it's a good detail but they are very distracting and go off on the side there is no third rail.

 

i think pantograph and shoe sparking was a TSW5 thing, i dont remember seeing them in TSW4 but i think it has to have been before 6 - 6 was the TSR's and signal/train faults

 

Or maybe dm a community manager - which I did, but completely ignored. I posted a follow up today asking for the courtesy of a reply, and 3 minutes later it shows the community manager being on (obvs after getting a notification) - and still complete ignorance and no reply. Why do these people still have a job? It's a bloody COMMUNITY MANAGER, and yet nothing.

 

I can't be objective here as I already have an opinion about this company that is so low, you would need a bucket excavator to find it - I think it is fair to say that most 'staff' only show up when someone needs to be moderated or when someone is actively posting disinformation or misinformation (that directly harms the company) otherwise you really just don't see them around.

 

"you would need a bucket excavator to find it"
Lol, that actually gave me a chuckle. So true though. Terrible company.

 

Welcome to the club mate

 

This is a question for the community managers,is there any chance of an update on the issues on consoles,blurry textures crashing,or a timeline of when they might be fixed.Any news is much appreciated.
I posted a similair message at the end of the DTG price thread and got pulled up for hijacking the thread.I only posted on there as DTG alex had left a few comments regarding the dlc prices,thinking he might reply to my query.

 

Well we could try to cite some Slipknot lyrics in order for a CM to jump in (Surfacing and Custer come to mind) but the silence is probably most likely because a solution is so far off the horizon that even a timeframe is out of scope and that would ruin the positivity among the upcoming release. So it's rather a case of telling nothing instead of telling a unwanted truth.

 

What a joke DTG are. They even police your freedom of speech. I just posted something about how little they truly must think of their customers, and used a word beginning with 'sh' - had an '*' instead of an 'i' - and ended in 't', and the system automatically changed the word to 'LOVE'. Things are obviously that bad and regular in the forums, that they have had to build in policing of words/phrases - because they know people are constantly going to use them. I wonder why that is?

 

Maybe it's to keep the forums family friendly. Just a thought.

 

It’s even worse when they try and silence you if you point out their flaws on the discord

 

So to clarify, a fully layered Wurzberg - Nurnberg has no blurring?

 

Matt has previously stated multiple times over that developer and retail X|S consoles are vastly different and as a result never know exactly how the launch version of a route/addon will perform....with the excuse for any failings always being "well, it worked all right on our build". So, with that in mind are you still going to guarantee "not much, if any" is an accurate description for what everyone will purchase on day one (or day three)?

 

Thanks for the update,much appreciated.

 

Tbf Blurry textures is one area that seems to be in a far better place, I haven’t seen any for a while, even on legacy routes with a lot going on. But crashes are becoming more frequent especially on BML and ECW. It would be nice for BML to get some love or at least an indication that there is still some ongoing support for it.

 

Just on a separate issue Alex, can you explain why after over a week (!) you have ignored my DM to you regarding a genuine query in relation to your new product? Nothing to do with the frustrations we are all used to on these boards, but a genuine query in relation to TSW 7. Is it any wonder we get wound up when an apparent senior community manager totally blanks a question from the community he is employed to serve?

 

You do know it's against the terms & conditions of this forum to create an account if you're under 16? And under 18 I think you need parental permission. So being family friendly isn't a reason (we know the real reason). Either way I don't think putting an 'sh', then '*' then 't' would be considered offensive. That's the very reason I censored the word.