I'm probably gonna be swearing in the church but why does every route has to be a real route? So much effort is going to recreating stuff. Some stuff can't be done because of licence issues, and probably some stuff can't be done because it's is too complex. What about fictional routes and trains? Aren't they easier to make? Is the view not stunning enough? Make the cockpit windows bigger and add more mountains or architecture. Not fun to drive? Add extra stations and a steep climb and make the train sound faster. I have a lot of routes now and none of them I have ever driven. They could be made up for all I know. Boston, London, ..? They sound like fictional places to me So would you buy fictional routes if they were better looking and more fun to drive?
I probably wouldn‘t. Playing TSW is all about the immersion of feeling like a real train driver for me. Can‘t feel like a real train driver if I‘m driving on a fictional route.
I probably would, because realism can be turned to a good story if the back story is deep enough. I think we have seen some good examples of that in TS.
Yeah sure I get that but there are trains you probably never have seen and places you never have visited so how would you tell it's not a real train or real location without looking it up?
Because I know Boston (for example) is a real city? It‘s not about whether I know the places myself - it‘s about knowing that these places are real and I could see them in real life. Anyways, I‘m not trying to start a fight. I can certainly see the appeal of partly or fully fictional routes, but I don‘t think they‘d be for me.
I voted no, because people already roast Dovetail enough for how bad Real Routes are sometimes. If Dovetail made a Fictional Route, they would go out of business
I don't think I'd buy any fictional routes, certainly not unless they come with a particular piece of rolling stock I want, even then, I'd be a bit miffed it didn't come as part of a real world route.
The couple of times they've done this for Train Simulator, it's seemingly been wholly unsuccessful, mostly for the reasons people have stated above. Even fantasy routes like the Christmas or Halloween ones don't seem to sell very well, despite receiving good reviews. Basically if someone has a choice between something like JT's Marsdonshire or somewhere that actually exists, why take the fictional one?
I am part of the small minority who want fictional routes. They're basically the only thing I enjoy in Train Simulator, as unlike with real routes, I can do whatever I want with them. I play JT's Valley Corridor route quite a lot and one day it doubles for the ECML, another day it's the WCML in the 90s, in a few weeks it might be a new route for Southeastern, and tomorrow it might be a French LGV route. I get more involved in fictional routes than real ones, because I can make up my own stories and lore. For me, it has a similar appeal to Lego.
Not in the sense of a traditional DLC release, ie; DLC with 1 new unit and 1 reused unit, then being forced into believing that it’s somehow real but also not. JT’s valley route I have also played, and is very good, albeit fictional, however the benefit of that is that it can be anything you want it to be, just as Doomotron mentioned, however in TSW such a route would not work, because it would come with a set combination of trains, and the only way to change that would be in scenario planner, which is terrible in TSW. So if it; A) it came out and was actually an appealing route (such as the valley route), B) had a busy timetable, and C) had a simple and easily customisable timetable, then yes I would buy it. Will any of that happen? No Do I want DTG to waste time pursuing such a thing? No Has it ever been successful in the past? No Even the good ones don’t sell well in TS, so I don’t see it being much different in TSW, and due to how limited the editing & customisation is within TSW, it would likely be even worse.
So this exists in Train Simulator and it doesn't sell. Then I got my answer. Any links to videos of routes in train simulator that look impressive?
The problem with fictional routes is that you don't fell immersed into the game, you just think about what this route would look like if it was in real life, let alone the realism. However, wouldn't it be nice if we could drive around Sodor
I guess part of OP's question is about if we can't recognise the route from our knowledge (experience or looking up) would it matter if it was fictional. For me I sometimes stumble across the game-real photo comparisons that people post. And to be honest although I see the shape of the real place in tsw, very often I'm left feeling 'well that doesn't look like the real photo does it' The recent Reigate pictures are a case in point (ignoring station building and crossing gates- I mean general background) it's Reigate, but it's also not. So I think there's debate to be had about how far a route can be different from real life before it is too much.
I'm not a fan of purely fictional routes. However, I'd be fine with realistic routes that never came to be real, such as the North Somerset Railway DLC for Train Simulator. So at least I want my routes to be based upon real plans, even when the planned railway was never built.
Thanks! After seeing that I want a route creator in TSW2 Not gonna ask it because they have work enough but I would want it
if we are talking fictional I think a route based on the Fictional route of the NWR From T&F Would be Interesting to say the lease, probably wont happen due to copyright but we can only dream of such
This would be one fictional railway I'd be perfectly fine with having in TSW so long as it's all based on Awdry's original maps, notes and references rather than the TV series. Unfortunately, I imagine it to be a licensing nightmare! I'm not opposed to fictional routes in general as long as they follow prototypical railway rules of the countries they're based off of. I'd still prefer real routes over them though. On the other hand, nobody would be able to get their pitchforks out and complain at DTG that the ballast is in the wrong colour or a tree is in the wrong place.
You thought about fictional routes. I can imagine those horrible fictional trains. My head !! Aah !! Keep that for TS, ok ? I think this game have fictional routes. No, seriously i don't think fictional routes are a good idea. Maybe TS fictional routes are pretty good. Idk, i didn't see them. If they are, TSW one could be but i don't think this is a good idea.
Fictional routes with fictional scenery and a fictional signalling system... Otherwise people would still say it's too close to something or another Personally I only buy UK routes and all of the routes in TSW I have been on, lived near or know enough about the area to make an educated guess as to what it's like. I would presume many other railfans (if not rail nuts) would know similar. Then again not everyone has (or has seen) Geoff and Vicki to do an "All the stations" for their country