Substitutions are a big thing in Train Sim World. They're great, you're not limited to just the BR 185 on freight services, or you're not limited to just the F40PH on (some) Caltrain services. It gives a bit of variety on some routes, so it's not the same thing over and over again! But there are some choices for substitution that I don't really like. Mainly with the Sand Patch Grade. The inclusion of Union Pacific locomotives is nice, but they appear way too often for a CSX route. And then there's the Clinchfield SD40, which is ENTIRELY unrealistic for a route set in modern day. But some people are fine with this, and would probably dislike it if these were removed. So on to the start of the suggestion, where I think it would be a good idea to let the player choose which locomotives they want to appear on specific routes, or even specific services. So basically if some services allow multiple drivable locomotives (for example, a CSX service that uses the SD40-2, AC4400CW, and those pesky Union Pacific and Clinchfield variants), the player can choose which locomotives they want to appear, and which ones they want to not appear. This is sort of confusing to imagine (and I don't know how to use photoshop), but basically, imagine a menu where you can view all of the locomotives that you own. You can select any locomotive, as well as any livery for it. Then you can get a list of routes that the locomotive can be substituted on. Here's my interpretation of that menu, through text: BR185.2 Ruhr-Sieg Nord [ ✓ ] Main Spessart Bahn [ ✓ ] Rhein-Ruhr Osten [ ] Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr [ ✓ ] Schnellfahrstrecke Koln [ ] This is the absolute simplest thing I can think of. At the very least, this simple menu enables and disables substitution for locomotives on certain routes. It could probably go further, as there are some locos that operate both freight and passenger services (would be a nice option so that you don't see a freight train with a BR 112). And what about the Class 465? What if I want the Rainham and Gillingham services on SEHS to have only the 465, and not the 375? I would like to see this as well, but I personally can't think of an option that doesn't require manually selecting a bunch of services just because I want to see more 465s. Mainly I would just like some sort of thing where I can pick some services on, let's say, Sand Patch Grade, and tell the game that I want these locomotives (CSX SD40-2 YN2, CSX SD40-2 YN3b) to appear on these services, and I don't want to see those locomotives (UP SD40-2, CRR SD40) on these services. Perhaps some of you folks would also like it. Maybe one of you is always thinking about how much you absolutely hate the mere existence of the Class 08 on West Somerset Railway, or you go into an uncontrollable rage when you see a BR 112 pulling a freight train on Hamburg-Lubeck.
I support that fully. I believe in one of the streams, it was said that they can assign likelihoods for substitutions, e.g. how often they will appear. It would be nice if there was a menu with some sliders for example, where could adjust this to your liking. Don't want a certain loco, put the slider on 0 and it will never appear. Only want a certain loco, put it at the other end and it will be the only thing around
I fully support this. Whilst i haven't experienced too much of the issues of substitution, it is sometimes a bit annoying, same goes for liveries showing up randomly
Yes! I remember thinking about a slider before, which would decide how likely it would be for a certain loco to appear in substitutions. So if I wanted the Union Pacific locos to be somewhat uncommon, I could slide that wonderful thing close to the left (or whatever direction it goes). Perhaps there could even be multiple sliders, in case I like seeing a loco on one route, but not as much on some others.
I support this Enabling and Disable Substitutions feature, substiston on static consist, sub class 150 on moving and static class 101 on NTP/TVL/DLGW service, should be wagon/carriage substitution slider, replace WSR MK1 stock with NTP/DLGW MK2s, and replace loco hauled class 101 dmu for WSR MK1 or NTP/DLGW MK2s. sub liverys on specific locos/units/carriages/wagons number is great idea
I really don’t want to see lots of UP locos on Sand Patch. I don’t yet because I don’t have Cane Creek yet but I do see Clinchfield SD40 and it doesn’t seem right to me that it should appear at all. Some kind of option should be introduced before this kind of unwanted subbing becomes a huge issue. It’s one of the reasons I don’t use livery designer either as there is no option to choose when and where the locos appear with liveries I might create.
Indeed. I was hoping that the Union Pacific locos would be uncommon on Sand Patch Grade, but unfortunately they seem to be just as common as the CSX locomotives. It’s also the reason why I didn’t get Clinchfield yet, because I don’t want trains from 1980 running on on modern CSX route. I can also relate with not using Livery Designer, because while I could probably try out some cool liveries, I don’t want to get rid of the realism on some routes. But it seems that some people like the unrealistic substitutions, and I’ve even seen some people ask for the F7 on Sand Patch, or Union Pacific trains on Oakville. So if the player has a choice over which trains they want to see, then everyone can be satisfied.
There should also be an option for freight car substitution as well, at least for SPG on manifest trains, using stock from Oakville, Peninsula, and Cane Creek. (Still odd why Oakville is the only route that still has it on by default). Also, definitely need an option to turn off UP SD40-2's, and CRR's SD40s from subbing into SPG. UP SD40's no longer are on mainline trains and the CRR SD40s were long repainted or retired before the turn of the century. The AC4400CW is fine, as some UP mainline locos can end up on SPG.
Agree with this. I just bought some of the DLC and noticed now Sand Patch is plugged full of stuff that doesn’t belong on it. Very stupid and almost makes me regret buying the extra DLC. Not sure why it’s only sand patch that does this. It seems like almost every North American freight locomotive is now on my sand patch other than CN and the F7. The worst one like you said is Clinchfield. Sand Patch basically looks like a UP route when I load it now. They are all over the place. Totally ruins immersion. Personally I’d like to see most of this just removed… the Clinchfield SD40 should never exist on SPG and neither should the UP SD40s for the reasons described above. I’m not enough of an expert to say how frequently the UP SD70s or AC4400s should show up but if it’s a CSX route I should be mostly seeing CSX stuff. TSW is a sim and DTG seems to be pretty good overall at realism so this almost seems like it might even be a mistake/bug?
It annoys me a bit more each time I remember how Sand Patch Grade was messed up. It’s genuinely such a great route, and it’s supposed to be a CSX route. It was already annoying seeing the UP locomotives from Cane Creek back when I got it. Now since I’ve gotten Sherman Hill and the Clinchfield Railroad, that just sucks even more. It’s possible to spot a train on the route containing zero CSX locomotives. The route literally LOST a CSX locomotive with the YN2 GP38-2 being bugged. Overall a very unfortunate fate for such a great freight route. I wouldn’t be surprised if the route will see Norfolk Southern locomotives in the future, adding a THIRD non-CSX railroad. Fortunately, it seems like this suggestion may come to life sometime soon. Mounting and unmounting will become a feature in the game, which means that we can disable the UP and Clinchfield routes whenever we play Sand Patch Grade! Quite excited for whenever this feature comes, and it’ll even bring performance benefits! Good stuff.
Yeah hopefully that simplifies it… I was thinking about deleting the UP/Clinchfield DLC when I play SPG but that would mean I’d have to do a full redownload of them when I wanted them back again (because of how PlayStation works) which is a lot of wasted time. I think the best way would be to communicate with DTG as a specific suggestion that SPG gets some attention for realism on the subbing… get rid of the Clinchfield 80s loco, get rid of the UP SD40s which wouldn’t be in the area in real life… for the other long haul UP locos they seem to be a more realistic presence so it would just need to be an adjustment for how often they show up. Just for an example I just loaded Cumberland yard at a random date/time and sure enough there’s 6 CSX locos, 3 Union Pacific and a stupid Clinchfield SD40 sitting there.
