Gathering Outstanding Issues

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by DTG Protagonist, Jun 5, 2020.

  1. DTG Protagonist

    DTG Protagonist Has left the building Staff Member

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    I'm in the process of collating a general picture of the state of the sim and where the biggest issues reside. As such, I invite you to submit the #1 item on your personal list for follow-up. Check through the list already posted before you add an item (repetition won't increase the level of importance placed on it).

    Around midweek I'll submit this first list to the development team for their feedback. I promise absolutely nothing from this exercise, but it's a first step, and should help to establish the boundaries between what is and is not possible (or likely).

    This won't be the last time we do this. Despite the age and breadth of add-ons available for Train Simulator, it is a living platform and as such worth looking both backward and forward in terms of improvement.

    For those with a bag-full of axes to grind, please restrain limit yourself to the largest issue you perceive - even if that issue is abstract rather than specific. This first exercise is intended to give a scope of possibility, I'm not looking for an exhaustive list.

    Thanks.
     
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  2. Mattg17

    Mattg17 Member

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    This might be worded a bit oddly, but the one gripe that comes to my mind is the way source material is referenced, such as incorrect layouts, platform / siding lengths / model sizes, and sometimes completely missing crossovers / tracks on some areas, which lead to issues with scenario creators having to amend stuff to work properly. The best example I can use for this is the South London Network route, where there's a few missing crossovers at Victoria and London Bridge can only fit an 8 car train instead of 12. Of course i'm not expecting content that is already released to be updated but this could be taken as a "moving forward" if you get what I mean...
     
  3. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    Train Simulator (TS1) has been a bit of a revelation to me, having first started with TSW... and to me it is very impressive overall. You can tell that it has matured over a period of time, and the general feature set is quite excellent. But I think (guess) that it hasn't been fully maintained with respect to internet connectivity with Steam Workshop. In short, the "Workshop" tab is manically unstable - real horror-show.

    Workshop Tab
    For example, there is some sort of routine that should be running in the background that scans your Workshop subscriptions, decides whether you have the pre-requisite DLCs, and then tells you what you need (by highlighting the outstanding DLCs) when you open the Workshop tab. It then invites you to purchase them (presumably via a link that is meant to work, but doesn't ever seem to). For every Workshop scenario in your list the UI will check every single DLC requirement, and if it finds one you don't have then instead of highlighting it (as intended) it sends a dialog box behind your active window (where you can't see it) and requires you to confim a "sync success" or "sync failure". You have to acknowledge the dialog boxes twice for each DLC (whether you have the DLC or not). If you don't have the DLC, it then successfully highlights it in a list after you have actioned the two boxes..

    But these are actually system messages that are merely meant to be logged by the UI, and then used to determine the highlighting. No user interaction is required, and the dialog boxes are completely superfluous. If you don't know that this is happening, then the messages stack up and you end up with an OOM error..... or TS1 locks up without a message/warning..... or TS1 locks up your PC requiring a cold boot. If you have ten Workshoip scenarios each needing two DLCs then you need to find these dialog boxes and confirm them 10x2x2 times (x40 times), whether you own the DLCs or not. Basically - the Workshop Tab is a no go area - as soon as you select it, you are doomed. It's a complete nightmare. I have sorted myself out with it, but I imagine most users would get completely baffled by what is happening with the Workshop Tab.... especially since the dialog boxes don't come to the surface... and if you don't clear them, you get locked out of the TS1 UI until you do clear them, so to most users it will look like TS1 has crashed.
     
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  4. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    There have been a lot of reports of scenarios that are not able to be beaten in a realistic fashion. While this is something I intend to test over time, it makes me wonder how much playtesting is done of the scenarios being prepared before they are actually put into packs. One example I was referred to in a Steam discussion thread was from Feather River Canyon Scenario Pack 02, a Quincy mission. Another was a scenario believed to be Scots Pine on the WCML North, where you have to supposedly chance an AI collision in order to achieve the full scenerio score (unrealistic, should not be so rushed). Yet another is the K1 pack, apparently, to quote Railfan, one scenario has you "dash about the yard like a terrier on steroids". These are experienced players telling you that the scenarios are not realistically beatable, yet they are part of paid scenario packs. Supposedly another one (I don't know where) is impossible because a train gets in the way, and you have no choice but to take a penalty for being late. In other words, the 1,000 points are never available to be earned throughout the scenario.

    So more scenario playtesting is necessary to make sure the content is beatable, and if content is NOT properly beatable with a full score of 1,000 points, then it should not be in the pack. If a scenario already published is not able to be properly completed, it needs to be replaced with one that is, whether an updated version or a different scenario, and the update sent to buyers, possibly with an updated manual if the scenario is changed. This kind of thing is something the beta testing team should have experience with, and they should be able to tell you if the scenario can be beaten or not without going into something like Ts-Tools to remove an offending train or prevent an AI collision you can't control in the game. I know I personally have a clip of South Wales Coastal scenario 5 ending in a train collision, see this clip where I refer to it in chat as a "M0zzy" after another streamer.

    EDIT: Adding two more I learned about. Shildon to Darlington from Weardale/Teesdale, you have to apparently drive dangerously to leave the yard without a time penalty (assuming you even pick up the coal wagons), which qualifies as unrealistic. And Hialeah Hustle from the CSX AC6000CW (it came with the Humble batch, so I have it and Miami-West Palm Beach) apparently has a similar issue, expecting you to be a madman for the first two tasks, but then you can ease back and take your time. Again, potentially unrealistic. These also can be added to the testing queue.

    EDIT, June 9: Another one. Electric Revolution is from the GG1 pack. I'm told the passenger stop at Philadelphia 30th Street is impossible to make as you get held behind a passenger train just outside the station. So yes, the timetable says you should do this, but then you get penalized for not being allowed to do it. 1,000 points are not available by this logic unless there are 1,000 points elsewhere in the schedule. Woodhead scenarios in general seem to have impossible timings on them, as well.

    BTW, I am well aware that a discussion I had with Steve might actually have been the inspiration for this thread, and I know I brought up the BNSF restriction cutting off Canadian content in some packs, so please excuse me if you consider the scenario playtesting as a second. I'm sure others would agree on that one, and I won't contribute beyond this. :)

    Editing to add support for this. I only subscribe to things I have all of the DLC for, but I have been getting a lot of system prompts and even was forced to cold boot my computer by holding the power button one time because the game locked it up and kept the game window going over my desktop even after I tried to stop the process. I now know workshop scenarios appear on the main scenario pages and do not use that tab unless loading new subscriptions, then I get out.
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2020
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  5. Dazzlegette

    Dazzlegette Member

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    I know it's not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, but on behalf of all the USB audio interface users out there; please let us play your game on 64 bit. I shouldn't have to plug directly into my computer just to use one piece of software.
     
  6. Peter Hayes

    Peter Hayes Well-Known Member

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    The biggest issue for me is the OOM's that we get with very little indication as why they happen.
    We may need a better term then OOM if possible. Access Violation or similar.
    The workshop interface needs fixing as many OOM's occur as TS20XX loads and saves the scenario database.
    Some simmers have sound issues but again the cause seems obscure and may need investigation.
    There are timing issues in many Career Scenarios and the penalties are maybe too severe.
    Overspeed limits are too restrictive and need to be set more leniently.
    We should bring back earlier F4 HUDs as these were much more intuitive on upcoming signal aspects.
    AA need improvement if possible.
    pH
     
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  7. Bekns

    Bekns Member

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    Issue: Tile Stuttering

    Several things help to improve this (like an SSD for example) but what would be really nice is if the entire route, rolling stock and scenario could be loaded into memory (RAM). I consider myself an above average user of this sim and I understand this will not be viable in all situations or maybe even possible but certainly a look at the tile stuttering situation would be nice.

    Regards
    Bekns
     
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  8. StratPlayer62

    StratPlayer62 Well-Known Member

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    Physics being consistent, they are all over the map. I realize some locos have more power than others etc, but some are wildly different with power, braking, dynamic braking, wheel slip etc.
     
  9. jrnyfan4life

    jrnyfan4life New Member

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    The scenario editor needs looking at, and specifically the dispatcher and how trains are prioritised. For example, a Class 1 (Express passenger) service should be given the highest priority when pathing a route. And I think portals could be looked at too, as these have a tendency to not work as they should, especially when your using them to spawn AI services. Now the biggie; A full conversion to DX12. If SCS can do it with ATS and ETS2, then it should be possible for DTG to do the same with TS, as well as much needed optimisation for newer hardware.
     
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  10. Bekns

    Bekns Member

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    Issue: Rolling stock being invisible after sitting stationary for a period

    This one is sometimes referred to in the community as memory leakage but no idea if that is accurate or not but for me this is definitely immersion killing. After sitting for a period of a time (like in a loop siding etc) rolling stock will come through showing only couplers and you have to switch views a couple of times to get the stock to show up. Just to make sure this is not to be confused with missing / corrupt geo files

    Thanks
    Bekns
     
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  11. hightower

    hightower Guest

    There are too many to mention. If I had to pick one, right now, it’s the dumps being reported as Out of Memory.

    Beyond that (and possibly connected) would be to see the game engine brought into the last decade to use a newer version of Direct X, at the very least.
     
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  12. Justgeoff

    Justgeoff New Member

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    It would be a considerable help to route builders and scenario creators if an automatic 'save' every 3 or 4 minutes could be introduced.
     
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  13. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Out Of Memory is a big problem for a lot of people irrespective of Computer Specs

    Something that distracts from the driving part is the passengers.
    They will cross thru mid air between platforms as you pass thru and too many of the same person walking around looks stupid
    Could some of the passengers be seated on benches - they don't need to move?

    Could more time be allocated to getting the trains correct
    There are some very good routes that RSC/DTG have released over the years but the trains that come with the have visual faults which do spoil the enjoyment of running those trains.
    Example
    Class 89 mod.jpg

    The Buckeye Coupling is missing the part that moves to engage
    Buckeye mod.jpg

    Example 2
    The TGV Duplex was released the the Marseille - Avignon route and apart from a lot of features not working in the cab it is ok.

    Then the TGV® Réseau and RDuplex was released
    https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/ts19-réseau-renaissance.14205/
    The model had faults from day one apart from even less features in the cab actually working the Pantographs were set to rise too high and go thru the wires and DTG has been telling us since December 2018 that a fix was coming - we are still waiting

    It is the little details that can spoil a good model and a number of them seem to have been rushed in the past few years

    Peter
     
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  14. hightower

    hightower Guest

    I think one general rule which covers many of the issues in these threads, is “take more care when developing content”. It is unforgivable to release DLC at this point in Train Simulators life with the basic errors that blighted Fife Circle, for example. As Peter said, passengers floating through the air and across the screen from one side to the other is amateurish, and should have been picked up during the route build.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 6, 2020
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  15. samsonbo

    samsonbo Member

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    Broken scenarios and Achievements not registering
     
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  16. KoeleKoen

    KoeleKoen Well-Known Member

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    Updating the engine for ts2020 would be the main thing. The constant OOM crashes.. The consist builder and steam workshop interface not working properly.. The cursor disappearing.. Issues that even happen on your streams. The game isn't running, it's barely walking on high end pc's, not using all cores etc, the 64 bit version does not help. Having pc's that run triple A games on ultra but choke on ts is an issue, i much rather have no new content for a while and have it optimized than having new content that crashes randomly.
     
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  17. IronBladder

    IronBladder Well-Known Member

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    Eliminate or reduce frame rates collapsing when new scenery tiles load. Installing an SSD helps a bit, but it's still far from good. For me this is the single biggest immersion breaking fault affecting TS2020 and is the one thing that makes me consider whether I should explore competing products.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  18. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    Direct X upgrade (multi-core CPU support) and tile stuttering.

    Literally, these 2 core items would ensure TS2020 stays on the map for a long time to come. If I could fix these myself, I'd be on it right now rather than typing this forum post.

    Thanks Matt & Team.
     
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  19. frank351981

    frank351981 Active Member

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    For me the biggest problem seems the bad quality control or beta test and that for a lot of known problems DTG don´t releases any updates for their DLC´s. There a lot of routes where scenarios can´t be driven or accomplished correct because of not correct working signals, KI on the wrong line and other stuff. But not only scenarios, sometimes there are issues with assets too.
    Examples: 1) Mittenwaldbahn: Garmisch Partenkirchen - Innsbruck => QuickDrive from Innsbruck in direction Garmisch - there you will have a encounter with an KI-train coming from the opposite - on single track!!! Collision, scenario aborted.
    2) Köln Airport Linke Route Extension => a lot ot Quick Drives are not working because of errors collisions and resuming errors. Additional, too much red signals without reason, and false working switches which it makes impossible to drive in those direction it should be. (Some of these switches are not shown correct centerpieces too). That´s why it is one of the badest route DLC´s (look at the comments there), but has something updated? Not as I know. Nothing!
    3) Clinchfield Route: a new route and right behind the start of the Haysi branche there are support legs of a bridge IN the tracks! They had to be put a little lower under the bridge. It can´t be overlooked when it was testet proberly, because you drive through it!
    These only three of many examples. Many routes has such failures, bugs and stuff. Its one thing when a DLC comes out with some issues. But when nothing happens by DTG to resolve / correct these issues thats really worse in my eyes. And I cannot see why this should be better in TSW (so I will not play TSW). As I heard from other developers, who are realeasing their routes on steam they had a big list of points they have to change, correct and so on. There seems to be a "quality control" in any kind. At DTG stuff I miss these "quality control".
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  20. hightower

    hightower Guest

    An idea being floated is perhaps paying for a proper core upgrade. Would you be prepared to pay £25 to justify the business case for TS to get Multicore & Direct X support?

    Given how much I’ve invested in Train Sim, my answer is ‘in a heartbeat’.
     
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  21. rfletcher72

    rfletcher72 New Member

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    UK distant signal functionality. Keeping it brief, these do not work in line with actual signalling practices.
     
  22. malikrthr

    malikrthr Well-Known Member

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    Below is my wishlist for possible ways to make TS2020 better. I am confident that while our issues are being looked into, the next iteration of Train Simulator will be much better and even more optimised. I look forward to the progress of these fixes possibly occuring sometime in the future.

    1. Upgrade the simulator's graphics engine to efficiently take adavantage of the latest hardware. It would be great if we can get DX12 and have some graphics improvements if possible. Perhaps a cross graphics wise between TS2020 and TSW. It will be great too if the sim can handle multiple cores well, instead of being a single core application.

    2. Every few seconds, there are microstutters that occur (E.g. Hudson line just before reaching Yonkers station). Optimize the simulator to run with smooth fps where there are heavy AI traffic.

    3. Platform textures fail to load in a few nightime career scenarios for the Hudson line.

    4. Officially extend the Hudson line to Poughkeepsie or even further. There is a great unnoficial extension of the Hudson line but it would be great if DTG can officially create the Hudson line in it's entirety. If the New Haven mainline goes from GCT to New Haven, I think the Hudson line should go atleast to Pougheepsie and not end at Croton Harmon.

    5. Fix the speed penalties that occure a few miles south of Rahway on the older Amtrak NEC route. The limit can be 110mph and out of nowhere, you lose many points as there is no speed indication that the speed reduced to 60mph. This pretty much causes your grade to be in the negative numbers causing you to fail the scenario.

    6. Perhaps a different set of sounds pertaining to each locomotive/rolling stock. I find that there are some innacurate sounds on rolling stock or recycled sound files being used on multiple train packs. Mods can enhance or improve upon default sounds but it would be great if physics and mods can be correct from the start

    7. There is an issue for every route, where if there is a train that is travelling adjacent to you, it appears to quickly jut forward and back. I am not sure how to describe it but I think it is a glitch with the AI traffic.

    8. Please allow multiple save states in a career scenario. I find that if you save a scenario once or twice, if you resume, at random, your train can derail. This would help as I can imagine, some of us may not be able to use the simulator for 240 minutes straight (Eg. Donner Pass route).

    9. Fix the memory access violation issue. I have received these messages in the past but am not sure if there is a real fix for it. I am not sure if it can be due to mods being installed. I sometimes find that unsubscribing from workshop items, removing mods, and uninstalling the Train Simulator gives you a fresh start but you lose your stars for the scenarios that you completed.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  23. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    I'd happily pay £25 for a core update, and I'm confident that the majority of TS players that have invested a lot of money in the TS platform would also happily pay for a substantial core update. If only we could have it tomorrow! :)

    fry.jpg
     
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  24. MJLevy1118

    MJLevy1118 Member

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    I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for, but I think a better game camera system would greatly improve the train simulator experience. Specifically, it'd be great to have full XYZ control in the first-person cab camera, so that you're not "bolted" to one or a few pre-determined spots in the cab - you could adjust the camera's position indefinitely, just like how in real life, you could move your head and neck up and down, forward, back, left, right, etc. This would help the immersion factor rather than always having to cycle between camera views, which are often frankly not useful or poorly determined - if implemented at all.

    Similarly, it'd be great to implement a "drone chase" camera in the train exterior views. Kind of like how in Train Sim World, the "2" view centers the camera like a helicopter around a train vehicle, and the "3" view gives you keyboard arrow control and lets you control the camera angle with the right mouse button. It'd be wonderful to implement that same TSW exterior camera system into Train Simulator, so that you could chase the train and still look forward, or backward, or to the side. Hope that makes sense.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  25. SJA

    SJA Active Member

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    Yes I would. I believe I have spent somewhere in the ballpark of £500+ on DLC from Steam and third parties down the years for TS. Therefore an extra £25 -- for the sake of prolonging/improving that DLC and helping with new DLC created either by DTG or third parties, would not be an issue for me personally. Yes, people would rant on Steam and on social media but they'd rant anyway. They still buy the content haha. It can be an expensive hobby at times and we all end up acknowledging that.

    We've been asked not to repeat one another in this thread and that it won't alter the perceived importance if we do. But at the same time I'm not sure how else perceived importance would be defined, as ultimately it all depends on dev feedback regarding feasibility both practically and in terms of cost balancing. People are still clearly buying plenty of DLC for TS20xx, and DTG plus third parties are still clearly creating increasingly diverse content for it, and it's still going to sell.
     
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  26. Reef

    Reef Well-Known Member

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    South Wales Coastal = Withdrawn
    North Wales Coastal = Withdrawn
    North Wales Extension = Withdrawn
    Swansea Expansion = Withdrawn
    Welsh Marches = Withdrawn
    Virgin Trains First Gen Pack = Withdrawn

    I get that because of licencing issues these were no longer allowed in their current liveries, what I don't get is why unlike other game devs (like SCS Software for example) the liveries weren't just patched to unbranded.

    So, Outstanding Issue? DTG's failure to re-brand and re-patch some outstanding and still sought after content (I believe this also happened with some US content, BNSF or something? too)
     
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  27. ChiefJackYT

    ChiefJackYT Member

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    The major issue I see in TS20xx is something I’m sure most active players would agree on: the core engine needs bringing up to modern standards. The game needs bringing up to a newer version of Direct X, with multi core support, so the sim actually runs like a modern game should. This will also help another major issue: OOM crashes. The game will have access to more cores and RAM, so this crash should happen far more infrequently. 64-bit was a step in the right direction, but now we need the rest brought up to today’s standards.

    As others have said, I’d be more than happy to pay for a core upgrade if it helps solve these problems that have been blighting us for years.
     
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  28. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Despite my prior comment, I'm going to throw this in, because seeing complaints about missing content and workshop issues leads me to think this might be an idea. Let's have another Humble Bundle, but this time, let's put in the routes that have been taken down. Go to the original rights holders (BNSF, Virgin, etc.) and note that you want to set up a charity item as Humble often does, and ask for permission to include things like BNSF loco packs, the Virgin Trains First Generation Pack, North Wales Coastal and its expansion, etc. Also add the old Portland Terminal, Cajon Pass, Marias Pass, and more; maybe even have Bessemer & Lake Erir updated with the Pennsylvania Steam updates and put that in there as it's now a free DLC with full functionality (a lot of these are for workshop use, BTW, as items still require these routes). But go classic and add a lot of Railworks content that is no longer included with the game. How about a trip up Hatchet Hill Quarry? A journey along Up the Junction? Maybe even the old Port Road that is now in Western Lines of Scotland? How about getting the three original routes now posted in the workshop but with their scenario packs? Let's go a step further and add some really old loco packs like this Canadian package that seems to need the Castle Rock route for scenarios with a Canadian ES44AC and SD40-2 - and yes, include that route, too (I think it's one of the three now on the workshop)! This way, it's a limited time special, and the companies hopefully don't have a problem with recycling things that used to be sold as a special way to incentivize people donating to charity (SURELY these companies want to be associated with charity), and this can also get other people interested in the game. Right now, such a pack would be important to include the SD70 V2 and the GP9 loco packs as I have learned, like myself, that many Canadian players are put off by their content being blocked in those packs by a BNSF restriction with very little Canadian content available as it is. This way, while the BNSF issues in our area are sorted out, people can in the meantime get the items there and be happy. BNSF content is extremely important as it gets a lot of workshop use; Marias Pass alone has around 1,500 tags in the workshop, meaning it's vital to get that available somehow worldwide, however that can be done, even if it means putting in a non-marked ES44AC - but putting it in a special Humble Bundle instantly gives people a chance to pick it up in the meantime. You have a LOT of old content, and even content still for sale, and you can create Humble Bundles to your heart's content if you can get the permission to do so. You might not get much from it, but you get the happiness of donating to charity with it and people DO turn around and start getting other content to enrich their experience; look at me now owning 106 DLC.

    So yes, call it something like the Train Simulator Classic DLC pack. And let's go a step further. MAKE EVERYTHING WORK IN 64-BIT. We should not have to change the version of the game we are running in order to enjoy another scenario. Sherman Hill and the Gas Turbine is a huge example; the introductory scenario must be run in 32-bit, as must others, or the train derails immediately. Make updated versions that do not derail. A lot of the scenario completion problems might very well be related to the version used. I don't know because I have not tested yet. But DTG is making money from every route being released on Steam by third-party devs and things come out WEEKLY, so have the team that does one or two new routes yourselves but have the rest of the team fixing the older content to be fully compatible with the game. Fixing scenarios does not require going back to other content unless you modify the locos themselves, which you might need to do at some point, and you may consider it a wasted and non-profitable exercise. Rather, the non-profitable exercise is the extraction of players who stop buying content because they are convinced you don't give a damn about quality. That's when the game turns into a non-profitable venture. Keep content up-to-date and fix any scenario errors that are brought up, or ask the third-party devs to if it's theirs, and push immediate updates when things get fixed (get the beta testing team to test and approve fixes, it's their job to break everything proposed as a fix. not yours). This is a very simple thing that keeps your customer base happy and coming back.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  29. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    My primary issue (as asked for in the OP) would be to update the core game engine to a newer version of DX which would allow for greater modding of visuals, multi-core CPU support and better graphics handling

    Other issues could cascade from that but that would be my first move.

    In answer to someone else's question of would I be willing to pay £25 for a core engine in the newer format? Yes I would. I have spent hundreds of pounds in DLC from various providers and would happily pay to have an engine that is supported and works consistently on Windows 10

    If I did have a second possibility it would be to quote someone else on this forum in that DTG content should be protected from "contamination" by others... ie all content should be .ap packed and steam verified at all times. This means if you have a DTG scenario then it works, always, and cannot be enhanced or changed without copying it outside of the .ap, in which case the original will be available as well as the amended, enhanced version.
    This would also help in diagnosing issues like the OOM because the DTG version will always work unless DTG mess up (LED lights) so we'll know where to look first
     
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  30. hz1061106

    hz1061106 Active Member

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    I will in short explain my issues with TS 2020:
    - Random frame drops and stuttering. I started malding so hard because of this issue. Game running smooth for minute or so, and then boom! 4-6 fps next few seconds. All the time! Non stop! This issue is on all routes. I have very good PC, and I dont like that performance.

    -Out of memory game crashes. Another issue that triggers desk slamming in rage.

    -BNSF content. Now I am little annoyed. Montana Hi-line was released with "censored" BNSF locomotives and rolling stock. Fantastic, I was so happy. Also, Raton pass has "censored" Santa Fe stuff. Now we now that locomotive without BNSF markings can be sold outside US. Why not remove BNSF logos and markings from other DLCs? I would buy every BNSF related DLC without markings and logos. EZ money for you :) !
    Sorry for my bad english, and I apologies if i did some stupid mistake!
     
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  31. Meeper5

    Meeper5 Well-Known Member

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    not a huge problem but with the njt gp40, the headlights and ditchlights look like they are LED lights which aren't on the real thing and it doesn't have flashing ditchlights on the real thing either like it does in game

    and the NEC NY- Philly route just needs to be rebuilt, random speed limit changes and the scenery isn't accurate there are a lot of things about that route that the real one doesn't have
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
  32. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    I'd vote for that. It is absolutely amazing that this wasn't a core design principle in the first place, to ring-fence the OEM content, including protection of the core software itself, as well as the content. ;-O
     
  33. hightower

    hightower Guest

    A picture speaks a thousand words. If you ever needed a better illustration of everything that is wrong with the TS engine (and why I’d be willing to pay to get it sorted) then look no further. Look at how it's using my machine..."no load" on the graphics card (a 2080 ti) and 6% of the CPU (Ryzen 3900X) being utilised and it's giving me 25fps. It's utterly ridiculous.

    Screenshot (31).png
     
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  34. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    Although this is ridiculous in its own right... the thing that I really take exception to is the perpetuation of the myth that you need vast amounts of power to run TS1. If someone has spotted a problem or glitch, the stock answer to reach for often seems to be "Well, you know you need a next gen PC really..., and an advanced SSD.... it's not the software..... no... it's probably your PC....".

    When I got TS1 to run perfectly well on a (recently new) sub £300 laptop with an energy efficient down-rated CPU, no GPU at all.... and 8GB RAM.... I was genuinely shocked. Nicely shocked. But shocked nevertheless. Then I just stopped believing the hype - all of it.
     
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  35. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    If the game is ever modified to a multi-core, then what DTG would need to do is get all the issues fixed outside of that in this version, STOP working on this version, and quietly start working on a brand new release, with their beta testing team and any new invites to people who may be helpful in quality control testing, all under an NDA of absolute silence, and then everyone who participates can test all of the various DLC they already own to see if it's compatible with the newly written engine. Any that are not tested can be granted on a temporary basis to said testers for the purpose of testing (I've seen things like "Item Five Hundred and Sixty Three for Beta Testing" as a package on SteamDB). This way, they can determine routes that are already primed to work with the new core, release the new core as a brand new product with a brand new manual, and advertise that these route DLC will work and other route and loco DLC will, over time, all work. Creating a new game engine would also give a chance to revisit the licensing issue as this will be for a brand new product, and maybe the DTG team can be more aggressive in looking after itself with that in mind and try to actually hardball negotiate in some cases to get things like the Virgin Pendolino and the BNSF Dash-9 back up and available worldwide. While creating this new core, DTG can also develop new routes that are automatically included with this version - not even as separate DLC, but in the core game - and those three or four new routes and a batch of locos can be available for all purchasers as part of the main game.

    I know, you're thinking Train Sim World was supposed to do this...but we can't use our existing DLC. I say forget TSW. Make the new Train Simulator core and make it something that is a stand-out unchallenged leader.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  36. Tomas9970

    Tomas9970 Well-Known Member

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    I'll pick three things.

    First are the loading times. It takes quite a while to load a route and it's quite annoying if you want to depart on time. This could be solved by having an option to start the scenario/quickdrive paused.

    Second thing is the lack of support for custom assets on the Steam workshop. This is quite a large and annoying limitation that in the end doesn't make any sense in a way it is now. Support of custom assets on workshop could be handled a lot better without sacrificing security. For example the uploader could recompile any asset packs from it's source to verify that person uploading the content made them.

    Third thing is paying for AI trains. It's very annoying to have to pay for trains just so that AI can use them in a scenario (when it's something you don't want to drive yourself). This is anoying both from the scenario creation as well as downloading point of view. Most other games are set up in a way that AI can access all DLC content regardless of wether or not player owns it which I think is a pretty fair approach.
     
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  37. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely. Look at Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Switch respectively. You can battle players on DLC stages using their owned DLC characters even if you don't own them. Everything should be automatically accessible, you only have to pick up the route you're driving on and the train you're driving.

    EDIT: On posting that, I realized that this might be very taxing on the memory with some hundreds of locos plus any third-party DLC that would need to be registered for this purpose (see Armstrong Powerhouse, which uses easily 20 trains in a single scenario). So what would be needed is to try to have lower-taxing versions used for AI, or better, being able to automatically unload everything without having to clear the cache like we do not so that each load is a clean one, and memory issues should not result. Therefore, only what is being used in the current scenario is in there. So even if the route comes with a GP40-2, if the scenario uses something else and none of the train are on the scenario, you don't load it. This would require changing how DLC is bundled, and having locos install separately from the route.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  38. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Apparently this part of the original post went over most people's heads.....
     
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  39. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I am trying mostly now to only reply to things posted by others. Maybe that's not helpful and I apologize if that's the case, I'm just theorizing about them.
     
  40. Ben_Broomfield

    Ben_Broomfield Well-Known Member

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    Issues with TS1 for me:

    One of the main & most frustrating issues is the scenario editor, especially the dispatcher. It either works or doesn’t. Needs to be looked into. Sometimes swapping a locomotive just breaks a scenario, or it doesn’t like the most simple of paths. Really irritating & does prevent me from trying to create some scenarios.

    Another one is stability:
    The crashes on 64bit can be frequent, even though I have a pretty decent PC. Editing a scenario can sometimes crash it. The most frequent is OOM errors even though I have 32GBs of RAM. The game needs to be optimised to utilise the performance of people’s PCs.

    They’re the main things that are bugging me but I’d like to see more consistency within your DLC lineup.
     
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  41. Reef

    Reef Well-Known Member

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    Can I suggest that Sam (or another moderator) set up a "Gathering Outstanding Issues - Discussion thread" and this one cleaned up and the "discussion" elements moved over to the new thread, this would need to be done quite swiftly though as it'll only become more difficult the larger this thread grows and posts get even more intertwined due to quoting.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
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  42. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    I might actually make a summarizing video talking about the various and most brought-up issues. I think that might be helpful.
     
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  43. Bristolian

    Bristolian Member

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    One long-standing issue for me is not being able to correctly use the AI spawn marker settings to select which percentage of ai consists should appear when in 64-bit mode. The tabs for Page 1 or Page 2 cannot be clicked on.
     
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  44. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Loading times and extreme stuttering annoys me most, I know it's old but it runs so terribly on my high-end system compared to in example TSW
     
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  45. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Well-Known Member

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    My main issue is how the Dispatcher handles routing in qd. Sometimes it simply disregards the markers the player train or ai trains are routed by.

    This has some sideeffects.

    It leads to AI crashes (error: “unable to resolve crash” even if trains are just traveling on twin track routes where they never leave their respective tracks. I had this error on the Gotthardbahn just hours ago). It leads to the dreaded “an AI train has left the path” error. How can an ai train even leave the route set up for it? It leads to switches being switched against the player train, which again leads to getting stuck behind red signals with no chance of completing the scenario.



    And it may be related to such problems as signals not working properly like on the Kiel Lübeck route where even in a qd with no ai traffic you have to tab to pass 5 times. Or else this is a problem with the dtg german signal script and not a dispatcher problem. Still frustrating when signalling does not work.

    But as i said: Dispatcher code issues.

    On another note: I am so happy to see that TS is an ongoing platform. I have much money invested in dlc and am happy to see it still developed.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
  46. fcsflyboy

    fcsflyboy New Member

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    I feel besides the OOM issues (which I believe will be resolved) I have 3 main points and I will post in what I deem order of importance....

    [edited by Protagonist - preserving the points, changing the tone:
    1 - The pricing is felt to be too high
    2 - The inability to reassign key commands
    3 - Not given, user had exploded on the keyboard

    FCSFlyboy - there's nothing wrong with your feedback or the passion behind it, but please try to remain calm even if you feel strongly about something.]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 8, 2020
  47. Michael Newbury

    Michael Newbury Well-Known Member

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    I would like to see the issue with BNSF to be solved so that those who cannot gain access to the branded stuff can one day get it..
     
  48. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Pricing is fair for what it is, you don't need to own EVERY SINGLE ROUTE that is released, and no one is FORCING YOU TO BUY THEM NEW, as most players will wait for a sale down the road to pick up a route. Not to mention each DLC has a percentage that goes to Steam for every sale, now you throw in 3rd party developers, now that $40 DLC profit is split between Steam, Dovetail and the 3rd Party Developer. This is why Searchlight Simulations didn't originally want to release anything officially on Steam, as they would lose a good chunk of profit for the work they put into their products.

    Also in comparison to Trainz 2019 and Run8, route pricing is about the same, as both offer full length routes priced around $40.
    aaa.png
    aaaa.png
     
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  49. Reef

    Reef Well-Known Member

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    Wow!

    Your tirade was completely uncalled for, however, I will take away something from it and re-emphasise it in a mature grown-up manner.

    Core feature here so aside from what I posted earlier regarding re-branding I feel this as I said Core feature really should be looked into..

    Controls/keybinds I understand a lot of content producers like to add custom commands and functions to their creations but really the core functions of these controls should be controlled centrally from the core game and not from each individual loco, i.e. if I change the horn to the [Insert] key then every train whether it's a kujo a DTG or a JT or even a AP enhancement then that central keybind should take precedence and the horn would be [Insert] on everything I drive.

    Content creators should still have custom control of additional functions which they could still add in the same way but even these can be changed and overridden in other sims so why not with TS?

    Please... Centralise all standard keybindings and allow the user to change them in-game on the fly.

    This would also make controllers (like the RailDriver) a much more viable and stable platform too I should imagine so it's a win for everyone.

    Thanks again.
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2020
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  50. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Regarding keybindings, yes, I like the ability to reassign our own keybindings. Content creators should not have the ability to change what we're used to. But we should be able to use our own bindings and the in-game control guides show what we have assigned. Manuals are another story.
     
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