Part of me wonders if this would be something that has to do with voiceovers? Back on the first HMA/MAG preview stream, Matt was discussing how far the PIS system has progressed, with the slight possibility that they might look into tackling announcements on board trains and at stations (at some point in the future). Of course nothing is set in stone yet, but would it be a far stretch to assume maybe we'll be able to hear Sam's voice playing over the loudspeakers? I mean...surely I wouldn't be the only one who wouldn't mind that.. Or perhaps it'll be something like more in-game tutorials, with his voiceover? Maybe we'll see something akin to the academy mode on TS20xx? Who knows...
It’s ambiguous. They said the move to 4.23 was the big update they needed for steam trains but they would need another engine upgrade and bespoke Simugraph tools as well. That engine upgrade could just be the DTG bits or different plug ins rather than another UE upgrade, or they could have found that they don’t actually need another upgrade at all, just the Simugraph updates. There could be a beta release of a steam train before the graphics are fully how they want them to test the user interface and control methods. There has been quite a few mentions of how busy their UI artists have been recently, they could have been developing that side of things needed for steam.
Also the quote about another engine update referred to updates to the particle effects required to do justice to steam iirc. Would any of us really turn down steam at the moment, just because the particle effects wouldn't be snazzy enough?
I don’t think it’s really about visuals (although that’s important too) but it’s more about how much of a performance impact it would have.
Case in point, see what happens to your frame rate when you stick your face (camera) right at the exhaust of a diesel locomotive.
Personally I’d disagree with that. It’s just as much about visuals as it is anything else. What is the point in having steam if the steam emissions themselves look wrong? The diesel ‘clag’ looks iffy enough as it is. Either-way my guess is that whatever this thing is, it’s not steam.
Certainly the smoke particles need to look the part and vary with the state of the fire. I would accept a small compromise if it was temporary as long as the other aspects of the engine were realistic and immersive. For me steam can't come soon enough but it needs to be right really. I do wonder if it could be the secret, certainly something we wouldn't be expecting. I know it isn't the same but we were told the preserved collection couldn't/wouldn't have some of the TSW2 features. Or it could be something to do with the layered timetables but that has been revealed now.
My PC struggles enough already when there are a lot of particle effects on the screen, I don't think the poor thing could handle a steam engine
That’s true and I’ve even mentioned that previously on the forum when discussing steam and how the game’s not ready for it. That was a long time ago and things can change, especially if they have something up their sleeve. I just can’t think of anything that would be hyped so early and so cunningly that isn’t either steam or multiplayer and I’m using everything I’ve got within my entire being to steer any thoughts away from multiplayer. So I’m still leaning towards a beta release of a steam engine at some point next year. Steam Sim World anyone?
"Era changer" as in it modifies what period a route is set in? How would that work? Wouldn't that require data about how the rate had changed over time? (perhaps some stations are closed, perhaps some sidings are removed etc.) Plus maybe some livery changes. Would be a nice feature but I think it would need manual updates for quite a bit of it?
I see where you all are coming from with steam (and it would be amazing if it was steam locos ) but I think it would be weird if the news were about steam locos when the TSW2 FAQ talks about how steam is still quite a ways off. Just my 2 cents.
Oh come now, after the tempest in a teapot about too many trees and the wrong catenary on a section of a yet to be released route, and you think releasing a steam engine with less than spectacular particle effects won”t raise the forum to another level of frenzy?? You, my friend, have not been in this forums long enough...... <——— Humor for the humor impaired.
It wouldn't remove infrastructure as in track and stations but it would remove things like the overhead line and change stations signs to period ones. It has been done in MSTS on commercial and payware routes, the freeware Thames Mersey route had two versions and steam era one and a 1960's post electrification one and I think the Making Tracks Great Eastern had one. Obviously something which may have been possible in MSTS might not be possible in TSW. I only suggest it due to the news of this Western Region 1970's pack for GWML, which begs the question, are they going to just have this new pack run on the current and incorrect period route or have they come up with a way of changing the era of the route? I am probably wrong, but who knows.
Oh boy! Jesting aside, I can't begin to imagine the uproar that would ensue if a less than perfect Big Boy or Flying Scotsman were to be released. We'd need a whole new section of the forum just to field the onslaught. The trolls would have a great time. Not that I wouldn't welcome steam. Any train simulator worth its salt has to include it.
It does sound quite fun. Plus, there could be themes for signs etc. that weren't just based on time period perhaps.
Well, I have to be the bearer of bad news, and I will readily accept all the criticism that comes with this statement. The announcement I had lined up for you is 3 things: 1. Worth the wait 2. Postponed until new year 3. Going to be far less vague as a result of point 2 It's been felt that, rather than have everyone speculate about what my planned announcement would mean it would be better to not do that at a point where the studio was closed. This is a pure safety feature in case the imaginative among you take to the air of possibility and come up with something far more enthralling than we've got in mind. What we have is very good, what you could come up with might well go a long way past that. Secondly, it means that we can support the announcement with a lot more detail about what we're planning, so rather than it being a teaser there'll be some meat on the bones. Got a bit over-excited, didn't I? Could happen to anyone. Sorry.
How would steam trains work in a simulator. Wouldn’t you need at least two people? One to operate the controls, the other to shovel coal? Maybe something for multiplayer?
I don’t suppose it has anything to do with Raildriver support? I guess not as that’s now apparently an option in the menus.
In MSTS and TS1 you can either drive and fire yourself or select automatic fireman/woman which then takes over the firing duties, although the auto fireperson is not always that efficient, you can guarantee when slogging up a hill, already low on steam, the auto fireperson will suddenly decide now is the best time to inject water into the boiler and top up the fire! Then again reading books from steam engine drivers back in the day, firemen (as they all were then) could vary in ability.
I don’t see this as bad news. It may tame our speculation a bit. I’m happy to stay a little quieter with my own thoughts as we are already getting close to spaceships and unicorns territory. If you say it’s worth the wait to get a bigger picture then I’m more than happy to wait. If it was unicorns, the live streams would still be people shouting “HORN, HORN”. I await the new year...
I am thinking that all this speculation is pretty pointless given that it is blindly obvious what the upgrade will be. DTG have gone into partnership with Deliveroo to help us poor simmers get proper nourishment whilst train simming. Yes, at long last the return of Travellers Fare to your own home. Once again you can experience the joy of opening a small plastic carton of milk that contains a clothing proximity fuse. Thrill to the wide choice of Styrofoam sandwiches cunningly disguised to look like a thin slice of cheese / ham / a tomato. Weep with ecstasy as you taste a small slice of fruit cake that cost lightly less than this week's British Leyland's losses. Swoon as you fill a plastic carton with just enough brown boiling liquid to ensure the container falls over and deposits a small lake over your trousers.
Egg 'mayo', cheese and tomato, and some type of meat (probably corned beef). All accompanied by "a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea" © Douglas Adams.
From what I recall from "commercial" sandwiches from that era, the bread would have been like cotton wool and very dry!
Yeah.... Think I’ll pack my own sandwiches instead! As much as I want steam locomotives, I’m not going to hype myself up for that just in case. I’m going with this timetable feature with the “meat” being a preview of the Western Region pack. If not that, maybe something completely unexpected. Maybe Sam convinced them to do a Colonel Failure pack that includes the fictional route “The Colonel’s Crash Course” designed by Sam himself that includes a British Rail 101 in Colonel Livery, modified to reach 300mph allowing players to GRIP IT AND RIP IT!
Lol, Sam look like he would try something like that. Or I got something funny for y’all, it probably could be characters in the game that look like Matt, Sam, Natalie, Adam, and Jamie.
Sharing liveries probably isn’t it. They’ve discussed and hinted at doing this for a while, so it wouldn’t be much of a secret... This wouldn’t be as good of a feature as you think, for example, you won’t be able to share replica liveries (like an NS AC4400CW), and the TGV and ICE trains won’t be allowed due to licensing. It would be a huge disappointment for this to be the secret, in my opinion.
Just a guess, but as Anthony Pecoraro said, Sam was teasing / hinting at it in last night's stream, and they have been talking about it on and off well knowing it is a highly requested feature among the users. I'd love it, if this was the main secret!