Is Train Simulator Still Being Developed?...

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by Mattty May, Jun 16, 2020.

  1. Mattty May

    Mattty May Guest

    ... if so, why?

    Wasn’t TSW supposed to supersede it? It seems strange to have development teams stretched across both games.
     
  2. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    It will be a very very long time before TSW/TSW2 supersedes TS1.

    I very much hope that there is still significant resource being used to develop TS1. Apart from anything else, some serious maintenance needs to be done to the TS1 engine, before it is stabilised.... in the event that they do intend to retire it.

    Remember also that DTG has expanded quite a lot over the last three years.... so it is not just "the old TS1 development team" that works on TSW and TS1 (I guess).

    Also - at some point..... someone will surely have to to fix the sounds on the traction motors for the recent Class 89..... ;-)
     
  3. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    Other than both having trains in them there is very little common ground shared between the two titles. It may have been envisaged that one day TSW would offer everything TS does but with the extra things that are unique to TSW as well but that looks unlikely to happen any time soon. The two titles have very different focuses and features and TS has third party and community made content. DTG could stop making content for TS and keep it just as a place for third parties and community content but that would be a mistake I think. There’s room for both in the DTG factory.
     
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  4. samuelbrookes1

    samuelbrookes1 Active Member

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    TSW was not made to supersede TS. They are both two separate simulators.
     
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  5. UnlimitedMagic

    UnlimitedMagic Well-Known Member

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    How do you know that?

    If it wasn’t they probably would have given up on TSW by now. But they didn’t.
     
  6. fabdiva

    fabdiva Well-Known Member

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    There's still people working on TS Classic, but mostly content creation (though with an emphasis on publishing third party content but still the occasional in house) and ongoing support, I wouldn't expect TS Classic to get any major updates and the majority of the DTG people are on TSW now
     
  7. longo239

    longo239 Well-Known Member

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    TS1 is as close to a train simulator you will currently get.

    TSW is a train driving game which is more about looking pretty and running around placing fire extinguishers, maps, cones and fixing fences.
     
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  8. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    But that is not necessarily a bad thing. But yes.... TSW ideally needs to be more "simulator" to justify having "Sim" in the title.

    And maybe this will happen with TSW2, with adhesion implemented, plus simulation of CoG for each individual vehicle. CSX/Sand Patch grade will be the ultimate test - this route (and the physics/features) has now taken six years to develop. It should be the show-case for what they have achieved - and for those willing to part with £25, they'll find out.

    If there is no difference between TSW2 and TSW on physics/handling, then yes - TSW2 will just be a train driving game (like TSW) - it would be less of a simulator than MSTS or Trainz.
     
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  9. longo239

    longo239 Well-Known Member

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    Not something necessary in a true simulator. You don't see Flight Sims where there's the option of running round the airport putting "Wet Floor" cones or the like.

    A train simulator is about driving trains, not being the station janitor or maintenance person. Next thing there will be hidden power ups giving you added traction or speed boosts!
     
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  10. longo239

    longo239 Well-Known Member

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    Because there is also a huge community of creators. If, you think they've had complaints and uproar over TSW2, imagine the complaints if they pulled the same stunt with TS1.
     
  11. Plastic Pal

    Plastic Pal Well-Known Member

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    Dmitri gave an explanation for the presence of the "jobs", which was along the lines of "If you just drive the trains, then you don't get to see the artwork up close". And I thought that this alone was good enough reason to have the "jobs" - it's a nod to some of the effort put in by the team with that artwork.

    But, aside from that, I also like the presence of "jobs" because:

    - walking around is actually quite immersive - there should be more of it, in my opinion...; and,
    - it's a nice activity for kids - it helps introduce kids to their parent's hobby (and this is something that model railway companies have been doing with their marketing for decades.....), and it is perfectly okay to make a game with broader appeal, as long as the critical boxes also get ticked..

    The thing that I find bemusing though, is that one of the jobs is to put up route maps.... but you can't actually bring up exactly the same texture in the UI menu as you drive (or via a hotkey/button).... and the place names are not on the 2D map - this texture should be made available from the map screen, as an absolute minimum..... The absence of a route map (with labels) is a shocking oversight.
     
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  12. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    The station janitor and maintenance person are essential personnel in the running of any successful railway, as important as the train driver. They aren’t fully simulated in TSW but they are at least recognised. There may be preconceived ideas of what a train simulator is and isn’t and anyone so rigid in their belief of what shouldn’t be in one of them is just being elitist in my opinion. It’s not as if you have to work your way up to being a driver by placing all the maps and fixing all the fences, something that might even be more like real life on the railway, at least in the olden days.
     
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  13. longo239

    longo239 Well-Known Member

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    Oh please! So you are telling me that you bought a train "driving" simulator because you wanted to be the janitor or maintenance? You bought it to drive trains!

    No one is saying there jobs are not important, this current climate has shown us that the people in what have previously been considered "minor" or "less important" jobs have been more important than ever.

    And as for being elitist!
     
  14. Alexandra

    Alexandra Active Member

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    I like it that the hidden tasks encourage exploration. When I began the Great Western I was very taken by the variety of designs and ended up taking a walk around each and every one -- doing the tasks as I went. Of course, some rail lines have more interesting places to explore than others, but there you are.
     
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  15. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    No I am not saying that.

    It is true that I bought it to drive trains but the extra features are there to be enjoyed if I like. To use those extra features as an excuse to say TSW isn’t a simulator is being elitist and rigidly sticking to the preconceived notion of what a train simulator should be. I was making the point that if it were a ‘true’ simulator you might have to work your way up to being a driver by putting in some hours doing some prep work. Luckily for us train simulators aren’t true to life and you can dive straight in and drive the trains and that smashes into the air any argument that relies on simulators having to be realistic. Clearly they don’t, so the features of individual train simulators aren’t set in stone, and can therefore deviate slightly from one another in terms of content and functionality. Extra features don’t mean TSW isn’t a simulator. It may have some features missing but that is not the argument that you used. You said it wasn’t a simulator because of the extra features. Elitism in train simulation.
     
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  16. longo239

    longo239 Well-Known Member

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    You make some good points, in which case cater to the elite as well.

    Put in a proper career mode where you have to spend time before moving on to different locos and routes, if that's what you want to do. But from my elitist point of view, I do see the adding of things like collectibles a "dumming" down of the simulator to more of a game.
     
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