every year the talk of tsw’s successor grows larger. ue5 at last, better console performance, improved lighting, you name it. but i’ve been thinking to myself recently, whatever the successor is could still be 4+ years away. i imagine work on a new game won’t start until gen 10 consoles launch, but then the uptake of these will be so low initially that dtg wouldn’t make enough money from selling this new game and new dlc. i’ve accepted that tsw probably won’t change significantly anymore, if it was going to it would have by now. but the move away from tsw still won’t be for a few years, so how long do people think that’ll actually be?
At least 2-3 years if they start now. And thats if the new Iteration releases with 3 new routes. Keep in mind TSW released with a single route initially. And if what they say about having to redo everything from square one we will all have to start our collections again. Also no 3rd parties until they learn a new editor for the new engine. And since UE6 sounds like its not too far off maybe they should wait for that.
Transport Fever 3 is replacing it for me for the next couple of months... I prefer building over driving anyways.
I don't think I'd be interested for the first few years anyway... I have to many investments and a vast library with TSW alone. Unless they were able to port the current routes, into a UE5. But would that be a practical and realistic expectation? If yes then great... I'm onboard straight away. But if not, then I'd certainly wait for it to get some traction and content behind before I made the jump.
I'm actually not sure we need a successor. After a couple of weeks enjoying Airedale Wharfedale on TSW7 I've jumped back in time over the last couple of days, loaded up TSW4 and spent a few happy hours chipping away at a grindy XBOX Achievement on Main Spessart Bahn. To be honest that route still looks and plays pretty damn well on TSW4 running on an XBOX Series X. It does however highlight how little substantive difference there is between TSW4 and TSW7, at least from my perspective - most of the upgrades since the TSW4 days haven't made a significant difference to the core gameplay experience or my enjoyment of the game. So if DTG made a successor what might we expect? Probably a modest upgrade to the graphics, although I think it looks pretty good already and we've already entered the realms of diminishing returns appearance-wise I think. Maybe the blurring issues will finally be banished. Maybewe'll get longer routes? I'm not sure however that the core gameplay would change much, and it seems to me that those calling for a successor are doing so in the hope that it'll sort out some of the long-running issues, but that's really it as far as I can see. Maybe I just lack imagination, but I'm struggling to see how a successor would meaningfully improve on the gameplay experience or provide more than a modest incremental difference in graphics. Flame away!
decent shout that. i’ve always been of the opinion that dtg should’ve withheld tsw3 for a year or two and built it on ue5, not whatever weird ue4 coding they did to make everything look overexposed
same thoughts myself. i’ve spent over a grand on dlc, and there’s no way i’d want to leave that behind. but at the same time, that’s very difficult for dtg logistically. if they could port over all the routes, then it would be a lot of work and someone’s got to pay for that, presumably us, the players. alternatively, if all those routes could go no further than tsw which is the most likely scenario, there would be demand for those routes to be remade in the new title. i wouldn’t mind that, but would existing owners have to pay again? if not, brilliant. but if so, which i suspect we would for it to be financially feasible, then i’ll just keep the tsw version. i doubt the audience for the newer, paid versions of routes would be big enough to justify all of that work, especially with the amount of people who already own whichever particular route that would be
That´s never going to happen. Matt has explained it countless times on streams that you can´t just "port things over". AI might build routes in the future. DTG has said a while ago that AI already auto generates some of landscape on the routes.
There's really no need for DTG to produce a replacement until: a) a competing product starts stealing sales. There's currently no sign of that. b) general gaming expectations mean that the graphics/features are seen as very old and it starts losing sales because of it. I feel that's still several years away. c) licensing or support problems with a core element prevent it being sold. I'm not aware of anything likely. d) DTG lose the code for it. Very unlikely.
I'd add to that the main reason for me, which is if it's possible to create routes that can't be done (or done well) in TSW. For example, there are no plans to produce more Underground/subway/metro routes in TSW because of the complications of light baking, but I can imagine a UE5 (or beyond) train sim set in different subways of the world.
Absolutely not a realistic expectation. A new game on a new engine means... well.. a new game. With no compatibility to another game. Shouldn't expect anything else.
Absolutely. Having already argued above that I don’t see much upside in a TSW successor, the one thing I didn’t address was the potential downsides. The fact that I would need to start my collection of DLC from scratch, having accumulated well over 100 items of TSW DLC to date, would massively outweigh any incremental benefits in terms of graphics (likely modest at best), performance or features.
The biggest issue with TSW is DTG. If the new game doesn't fix that then it would just be another 10 years of farce.
I remember a couple of years back when Train Simulator Classic was finally getting to a point where it was rich with rolling stock, routes and mods. TSW is starting to approach that point now and some people are crying for a new game. Let´s start all over again with Rapid Transit, Sand Patch Grade and Great Western Express, an HST and BR 143 in a new game engine with maybe better optics and maybe some new features. Could not think of anything worse to be honest! I guess some people just want shiny new things all the time. Be careful what you wish for. Let´s pay for the all same stuff a third time around and have limited options of traction and routes for years and years to come. Countless customers paying thousands of Euros once again for all the DLC. Dovetail would love it.
It's not at all "some people just want shiny new things all the time". TSW is fundamentally broken, it will always be a stuttery mess, 10 years into TSW it really doesn't matter if it can't be fixed or they can't fix it, this is how it will be. So we look to the future game that has a better chance of not being a stuttery mess.
Are you sure it's AI generating the landscape? I'm pretty sure TSC can also generate real world landscape as long as it has the relevant SRTM files. I'd have thought it's the same for TSW, maybe with a newer file format. Unless you also include distant scenery.
i’m sure ai (or si as it’s now apparently known) will have a bigger and bigger role in the coming years for tsw, i don’t think a 100% ai generated route will ever be a thing but i can see how it would be useful regarding workload and time constraints. the advancements for that kind of thing don’t really exist on a big scale yet but they certainly will before long
