I have two pieces of news - good and bad Let's get it over with. THE BAD In some parts of the route, the optimization is dramatic. It's not even about fps, but about the slide show, we are witnessing. My LENOVO ideapad 330 is a relic, but I have not had such performance problems in TSW yet. There have been several theories on this subject - I am not going to present them here. People with equipment at the level I mentioned should be patient. Lowering the resolution and graphics settings doesn't help. On better hardware, this issue may not occur, but I felt it should be mentioned. This is the worst optimized route in TSW. By the way, in my opinion, this is the nicest route in TSW. On the other hand - she's not so pretty as to behave so badly (I know a few prettier and more polite ) The issue is official. I am not able to lower my grade because of this (it is so good on the other aspects!) but the Fun is sometimes spoiled. The look. THE GOOD Everything that has a beginning also has an end. Riesa - Dresden also has a middle or even a few. Stations are a very important part of the game. Epic misty morning departures and satisfying punctual arrivals in the pouring rain - we all love it. The artwork must be appropriate. There are several places in the virtual world of TSW where I like to be and stare at the trains. Such magic is a combination of ICE and SKA. We pass beautifully modeled railway stations along the way, and at the end of the journey, we are welcomed by the spectacular Köln Hauptbahnhof or the equally beautiful and intimate Aachen Hauptbahnhof. All the interesting places along the way are the milestones. Thanks to this, the game is not boring, because there is something nice waiting at every turn. We wish it were so. Some routes are more successful in this than others. This time it is beautiful. The scenery is varied, comprehensive, and polished. It's hard to fault something. For me, this is the # 1 German DLC. I would like to say this is the best DLC to date overall, but there are a few others that are so good and so different that it would be risky to make such comparisons. No doubt Riesa - Dresden is a pearl. It looks crazy sometimes. So well done. Dresden-Neustadt is legendary! I am considering staying homeless and moving to Germany Still, the best "German Hbf" in the game is... Glasgow Central? The sound. THE MELODY Where is the reverb effect? The BR Class 314 EMU rolling along the Glasgow Central platforms sounds epic. Is it impossible to achieve this without Armstrong Powerhouse? Schnellfahrstrecke Köln-Aachen can do these things! This is not a huge downside, but a small disappointment - maybe? Meh. But Dresden-Neustadt is truly, truly legendary \o/ BR 146.6 sounds phenomenal (re-done) BR 143 sounds very good (re-done) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BR 442 sounds good (unchanged vs SKA in my opinion) BR 406 sounds phenomenal (unchanged vs SKA in my opinion) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BR 363 is probably the same as the red one what means very good, probably BR 185.5 sounds controversial. For me? Very good but could be irritating for some people. I think this is exactly the same mix as the RRO version. In addition, it should be noted that the Germans like concrete mixers and pneumatic hammers. And no kidding - the audio quality is at a very high level. I'm very happy. Good job. The lighting. THE NEW ATMOSPHERIC LIGHTING. This element is controversial, but in my opinion, the night has never looked so good at TSW. DTG is open to feedback, so we don't have to spare the most sophisticated invectives. I will not do it. The mornings and sunsets look amazing. Tastes are not discussed. I understand the other side's arguments, I understand, it can look quite surreal at times and the contrast is overwhelming in places. For me - WOW! I want the other routes, or at least the new ones, to look like this. You can calibrate it a little more, fix the weather, skybox, clouds. That's true. That doesn't change the fact - it's a big and unexpected change to the game's appearance. I extend my sincere congratulations to the authors of this success. Very moody. Beautiful. REFLECTIVE SIGNAGE. When we drive the car in the evening, the light of the headlights reflects off the road signs. This exact effect has been implemented in TSW. It looks spectacular, but I have two reservations. 1. It can look strange during the day. 2. In my case (resolution, graphics settings) this effect made the indicators very unreadable. Overall, I am like it. A very positive change, but needs some fine-tuning. The physics. THE CHANGE Several trains have been refurbished. The changes apply not only to sounds but also to physics. This mainly affects the brakes. I'm delighted. For me, this is probably the most important aspect of the game - I love playing with brakes. It makes me incredibly happy and the joy is greater than usual this time. No doubt it's more prototypical now, but most importantly - it's more fun. Some (few) voices of dissatisfaction come from the lips of the novices and they should be forgiven. Some irrelevant part is probably ignorance or sheer heresy. I will pray for these poor people. Sorry - these are obviously distasteful jokes. Of course, there were a few annoying mishaps on this occasion. It didn't spoil my fun, but the newborn "sehr gut" started coughing. Congratulations to DTG and all those involved in implementing these changes (trains involved: BR 143, 146.6, 442, 185.5). I also highly recommend reading this thread: Riesa-dresden: Tips On Driving Freight Trains Realistically. | Dovetail Games Forums The content. THE VARIETY 7 trains in the base package! This is a flawless victory. BR 143 | BR 146.6 | DoSto 766.2 | BR 442 | BR 406 ICE 3M | BR 185.5 | BR 363 "for free" Plus, payable-playable: BR 182 | BR 112 (both are substitution in some services) | BR 101 (layer) 5 types of services: S-Bahn | Regional | ICE | freight | switching | & IC (BR 101) as a payable* layer (25 additional services) * Worth mentioning some interesting news: link All of this together makes for an extremely successful mix. My exorbitant requirements were not only met this time - it is better than I expected. Looking for flaws by force: some technical problems and shortcomings, such as the inability to complete a few services (I met two), moderate traffic, especially freight and... I don't know. HMA has probably been dethroned. All these new features, how this route looks and sounds, a lot of content - a very good product. My new favorite one <3 We need some minor loco fixes and performance improvements! In the end. If you're born to be hanged, then you'll never be drowned. Make Way for Meißen (dovetailgames.com) SEHR GUT! BR o7
Excellent review of a spectacular route. I am only two services into this and I am quite impressed! I held off starting into this one because I knew that once I got started it would consume me. I love Boston Sprinter (such nice sounds and horns!), but it's going to be neglected for a while as I rack up the miles in this route. Thanks, DTG.
Nice review! The two things that stand out for me on BRD is the night lightning and the brake modes Especially the reflective signs are fabulous! Finally I am able to drive at night without using the HUD, as you are actually able to read where you are… The only problem with the brake settings is that I have not found a cargo service which is anywhere near heavy enough to play around with them. Anyone else have found one?
I agree. These are my top picks as well! Well, besides the re-done sounds and physics perhaps Not yet, unfortunately. But if I do, I‘ll be sure to pluck it into the Awesome TSW2 Service Mode Runs thread.
I agree with you. Wonderful road and amazing work in the details of the road. I totally like it. I'm amazed for the locomotives which have been reworked, it is the icing on the cake for me. And unless I'm mistaken, the 185.2 (with RSN i think) will also be reworked in terms of its sound; I believe I saw an exchange with Train Sim Germany on this subject. For pneumatic hammers, I made the same note, it builds a lot in the region
I think with the Riesa-Dresden freight service at 7:04, it weighs 1883.2 tonnes, with the BR 185.5 MRCE.
I look forward to trying this one. I have read through the Driving Freight Trains Realistically thread, but certainly not understood it all. If someone gets a chance to post a video of this in action, that would be great!
cwf.green has already done the calculations for you on this one, actually. With the German tables recently provided by OpenMinded in the same thread, I did arrive at a lower vmax (since I used 1.2% and 1000m pre-signal distance), but you still get to play around with the brakes no matter what. It‘s a nice and relaxing run all things considered.