Hi all, recently a thread by Gustavo - The RailWorker asked people what kind of things they would like to see people in game do. In this suggestion I'd like to list a few of the things that came forward in that thread, aswell as some of my own ideas. I've grouped this in different sections, which can be seen below. Passenger appearance Passengers on platforms Passengers during boarding/deboarding Passengers on trains Staff on trains Staff when and after deboarding Maintenance workers Workers in yards Not every aspect of behaviour is essential, the most important ones will be underlined. Passenger appearance More diversity Passengers in TSW could do with a little more variety. It would be great to see disabled people, children or even people with tattoos (DTG ones maybe ). People also don't dress the same, there is a good mix of neatly dressed business travellers, holidaymakers, students and many others, and a lot of them dress differently, this would be great to see reflected in TSW Weather appropriate clothing It would be great to not only have passengers wear a larger variety of clothing, but also to change their clothing depending on the weather. Thick coats in the snowy winter, and short sleeves in the summer would be great. Carrying luggage Passengers usually carry some luggage. Students with backpacks, businessmen with briefcases and holidaymakes with suitcases. Seeing people with a bike every once in a while would be great too! Passengers on Platforms Doing something to kill the time Passengers can always be seen on their phone while waiting for their trains nowadays, for older routes like NTP newspapers would be a common sight. People could get a cup of coffee or a snack too. Standing and sitting where it makes sense Passengers on platforms should seek shelter during rainy weather, instead of just standing in the rain like a psychopath. It would also be fun to see them leaning agains walls and other platform attributes to make the (long) wait more bearable. Trainspotters Trainspotters can be seen around the world. No matter the railway, country or type of train, there is always someone that wants to take a picture of it. I'm sure many of the TSW community have taken their camera to a station or a scenic location along a route before. It would be fun to have a few locations on each route where trainspotters with a camera could pop up once in a while, definetely on the more unique routes like WSR and IOW, but also along the mainlines in the game. Passengers when boarding/deboarding Boarding I'd really like to see the boarding procedure gettin a little smoother, without people glitching up into space. In addition to that a running passenger in a rush to get on would make the procedure feel way smoother, people don't all move at the same speed while boarding. Deboarding People often stand near the doors before the train has even come to a full stup, impatiently waiting until they can leave. The deboarding procedure could also go somewhat smoother and more realistic. For added liveliness there could be some business travellers already running to catch a taxi or different connection. Passengers should all leave the train at the end of a service, for me running a train with passengers still in it into a yard for the night is a bit immersion killing. Passengers on trains Doing something to kill the time Whereas some passengers like to take in the view from outside the train, most can be seen scrolling away on their mobile phones, reading a newspaper (more common on older routes like NTP) or working on a laptop. Some passengers might even fall asleep. Seeing passengers actually do something instead of creepily looking around would be great! Standing Passengers, especially on busy tubes or commuter networks don't always have a place to sit, it would be great to see some of them standing during rush hours. Staff on trains Checking tickets Where appropriate, it would be great to see a staff member walking down the train checking tickets (or scanning thinks like Oyster Cards). Of course many trains don't have guards checking tickets anymore, especially in the modern day, but most long distance traffic still does, and it feels missing currently. Guards It would be great to see a railway staff member sitting in the guard's compartiment or caboose. They wouldn't have that much to do, but could keep an eye on signals and braking. Catering staff Some of the trains in game have restaurant cars, or come with trolley services in real life. It would be great to see a staff member behind the counter or walking down the train with a trolley service, occasionally stopping to make a sale. Staff during and after boarding/deboarding Overlooking boarding/deboarding process Often there is a guard overlooking the boarding process while standing on the platform and giving a signal to the driver when it's complete. The classical American 'ALL ABOARD' or a whistle would be great to hear. Not dissapearing after you take over the service Currently engineers dissapear after you take over the service or when they've finished theirs. It would be great to see them head out to the staff canteen or something of the kind with their briefcases or backpacks in hand though. Maintenance workers Inspecting along the line Everyday an army of orange makes sure the tracks we drive on as players are safe and properly maintained. It would be great to see maintenance workers inspect electrical cabinets along the line or observing a switch. It might be difficult to get them to do actual maintenance, but seeing one or two somewhere along the line every once in a while would be great. Their location and appearance should be randomly generated, giving players a possible surprise every time they play a route. Workers in yards Observing and walking around Making yard workers actually couple coaches, apply handbrakes or set switches might be too difficult to model, but it would be great to see at least some standing and walking around, looking at trains being coupled or going to a signalling tower. Conclusion There are a lot of possibilities for improving the behaviour of people in game. Correct and varied behaviour could massively improve immersion and player experience. Some of the things suggested above would be to time intensive to be worth the effort, or would make consoles or even PCs fall over and die as Sam would say. This is just a suggestion and not a demand after all. If you have any more things to add that I have missed, please let me know .
Definitely support this great suggestion. Passengers can act very unrealistically and seem more like robots than humans - this tremendously solves those problems as well as add more realistic AI.
The most important thing (most immersion braking) I think are the passengers sitting in a train that's supposed to be empty. Second immersion killer for me is passengers standing in the rain or snow with their T-shirts. And I guess the overal quietness on bigger stations, there really should be way more people at anything called a Hauptbahnhof. :P
I think also in railtour services & scenarios it would make a lot of sense to have Trainspotters, or a lot of people out just to see the train.
Good idea. Still think Köln-Ehrenfeld via Köln Hbf and Wuppertal Hbf to Wuppertal Oberbarmen (with Rhein-Wupper-Bahn) is an excellent route suggestion, especially with the DB BR 101 and IC Coaches (when the loco comes out in the future).
I agree with this post, it is often immersion killing when u see a passenger teleport from his seat out to the door, it would be nice to see them actually get up, put away their phones if they had one out, grab their backpack, and head out the door.
Being used to MSTS and RW, the only thing I would care about is workers along the line (to help the world feel a little less dead) and people not being into the DoStos I'm shunting with the 363 or coming with me to the depot. I see everything else as wasted resources I'd like to see for other improvements. Seeing people on their phone or standing near the doors before deboarding would add extremely little to experience, although a larger number of passengers, especially during peak times on busy commuter routes and on the BKL would make more sense IMO, and when it comes to passenger I think I'd enjoy more a lot of them but more basic and stupid. At the end any computer trying to imitate human behaviour without putting into it a huge amount of performance will fall short. People will always make the same robotic and repeated movements, seeing 5 people with the exactly the same pose doing the exact same thing on their phone would be as much alienating as seeing them looking out the window. About clothing, if that could be done with little resources, fine. I can understand how that is an immersion killer. Again, in my opinion the passengers in RW did a better job, they all spawned on the platform before you arrived (giving you the idea of a full platform), they all walked towards the door of the train and then despawned, opposite thing for the passengers getting off the train, no need to model each individual separately with its logic and behaviour (a computer will fail to emulate anyway).
I'll take all of them to simulate the real world although the German routes require FFP2 Masks if DTG wanted 2021 with COVID-19 Pandemic and in British Trains some have a Face Mask paint like 395 002 & 395 017. Their version of 2021 without COVID-19 pandemic
DTG have already said there will be no face masks, TSW is an escape from reality and people don't want to be reminded of Covid when they play a video game.
For me a very simple umbrella on the rainy or snowy day would be a great and simple way to immersive in the game. Also I vote for workers.
Why would they require face masks? A lot of routes are outwith 2020/21, and the game is COVID-free, it's an escape from reality.
Thanks for telling me about this and there's no trains that have one to reflect reality like 395 002 017 which are supposed to have one. If Sleeper Trains are in the game you might find the train attendant setting up the bed