The G6 - Appreciation And Constructive Feedback

Being a beta tester for a developer of scenario packs for TS Classic, and as stated, several years in flight simulations and a few experiences with TSW, I can attest to problematic saves. It isn’t always a problem as can be seen by your experiences and when you save can make a difference I have found. But enough people in these forums have experiences different from yours, I do hope the save process is investigated at some point.

In TS Classic saving when stationary at a station usually is OK, but if their is a lot of scripted AI, then problem can arise. Saving when on the move in TS Classic usually no problem except with advanced “Pro” locomotives where it appears the state isn’t being consistently saved on some.

I have also had times where saving and loading the save has cleared signals that were stuck on red. Interesting stuff.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Because I use a keyboard, I don’t use that way of changing internal cameras.

 

I've been playing with the G6 and overall it is great. I love the small things like being able to fold the seat under the desk, and the door handles not moving when closing the door. One problem I am having is crashing in the scenario hibernal heaven. It has crashed for me twice now. I do use mods which might be the problem, but crashing has never been a massive issue for me and this has been the first crash in a very long time.

Btw why don't DTG make the door handles on their trains not turn when the door closes. This has to be one of my favourite non gameplay feature of any train, it just adds to the realism. Seeing as I've seen the developer in here I will direct the question at you, how do you make the door handles only move when opening the door?

 

That's on investigation. Seems a problem with the jumper-cable logic that was never expected and never happened while my testings. It's not clear yet if it is really the G6 or a different train from the route.

That depends a bit on how the door animation is made. Some doors need animations instead of pure bone-modification because of complicated moving door pieces and the handles are withing this animation and therefor visible when the door is open AND closing (basically a flip flop animation style). The G6 does not have animated doors but pure bone modification and so i am able to move the door handles independently from the door itself. It's done on other vehicles too already, but not on all.

 

Just to clarify, I removed most of my previous posts in this thread, though parts can still be seen in quotes, as it is the first and only time I have been made to feel unwelcome on this forum. The G6 is a good loco and a cut above most of the other content we have seen so far in TSW, but the last thing we need is an outbreak of N3V style protectionism. The title of this thread is constructive feedback and at the time of making my posts I had nothing else in mind but that.

 

Unfortunately, because something is better than the standard issue, some people may not accept that there still may be issues worth mentioning. Your feedback on all things TSW always appears to be considered and honest (and constructive) and I hope you don’t feel the need to shy away from giving it on anything in the future just because it’s not received well by some other members. I, and many others I’m sure, value it and the forum should never become an echo chamber.

 

Thanks for the quick response, and I have noticed the doors working in the same way on other locos like the class 101 which I know you worked on too. The G6 is a seriously good loco and I can't wait for the class 420 and 232(which I loved in train sim 20xx).

 

Agree. The 232 one of my favourite locos in Zusi 2 and I still take the 430 out occasionally in classic TS.

 

In love with this dlc, however i always get derailed with the 08:42 service on a non manual switch, anyone else had this?

 

It has been described and acknowledged by TSG over here (Post #5):
PC - G6 - A Great Loco, But A Really Buggy Timetable Mode | Dovetail Games Forums

 

This DLC is amazing, it shows how good TSW2 developers can be and TSGs work is impressive! Can't wait for the BR 420 and the BR 232!

 

Great. But the main problem for me is that the loco is for the RRO route. That is the bad route for me. Main reasons are unrealistic gradients and curvatures of the rails. Also does someone finds that this loco lacks running sounds?

 

It's a very quiet loco isn't it, but it's a lightweight shunter so I didn't expect many running sounds anyway

 

Actually the grinding and clattering through points and on curves seems very good, to my ears anyway.

 

most trains in Germany are very loud when going round corners, Having it in TSW2 makes you feel like your actually on a railway, not a low textured buggy mess.

 

But its around 60 ton loco. So it should make noise

 

Also depends on the wheel type, certain types of wheels are designed to make less running noise and over track points, those wheels are usually fitted to shunters that work in rail yards close to neighborhoods, it just so happens that RRO is set in NRW a VERY busy part of Germany. Maybe TSG took an extra step in realism and based the G6 wheels on that type

 

Concerning running sounds, I think the G6 has some of the best in the game right now. Especially considering that it seems to be a lottery whether DTG locos have them at all. For those thinking they‘re too quiet: Have you played around some with the audio settings or tried different speakers/headphones etc? Audio levels are, of course, subjective - maybe I‘m just easy to please

 

The G6, even more than most locos (and all are helped), really shines in hi-fi headphones (no, not your MP3-player's earbuds). Really nice through a good audio system as well. It could I suppose be argued that DTG's sound mixes are too oriented towards high fidelity (audio mixes are probably done using good headphones), and ordinary little computer speakers simply don't reproduce a lot of what's going on.

 

Its surprising that one person can make better sounds than a whole team of people

 

inadequate simplification of this issue, probably resulting from ignorance
without the proper source recordings, even 300 Maiks won't do anything
BR o7

 

I have Sony gold headphones. The G6 engine is roaring really hard there. As I climbed the hill, the engine could be heard well at full speed. For me, the g6 sound is very good.

 

I have good headphones and the sound of the G6 is fantastic: acceleration, braking, compressor, squeal, railroad switch... In the cabin, even the windows / doors were closing, I hear what is happening, I really have the impression of being on a train; which is often missing in TSW.

 

I agree with the above on the sounds, they are absolutely fantastic! I use a pair of Airpods Max in noise cancellation mode, and the first time I ran this loco, I had to take my headphones off as I thought my windows were shaking…turns out it was just noises from the loco, so immersive and so impressed with this little loco!

What I don’t get is why no one else has been able to get this sort of quality in a TSW addon? From what I understand, TSG is a one man show that outsources some of the work…or are they a small group? Anyways…how is TSG able to produce such quality while medium to large teams can’t seem to get it right….I don’t get it, and I just don’t understand.

Well done TSG on a fantastic DLC, worth every cent.

 

You can get the answer to that by following Maik Goltz‘s comments across the forum:

Essentially, TSG goes above and beyond what any other studios put into TSW. This is not meant to attack these studios - I want to be very clear about this point. They mostly do what is economically sensible while TSG is willing (for now at least) to take a not negligible risk in terms of time investment. Time will tell if it all works out for TSG economically on a long-term basis.

 

I assume shunters sells less than other locos. I still have to buy this DLC, can't wait to get in that cab.

What I would like to know, is how TSG or other third party developers selects the products they will build. Is it just "I'd like to make certain loco" or there's a talk with DTG about what loco/routes they can create?

 

I guess a bit of both. And I think it highly depends on what the 3rd party dev can get as reference material.

 

Thanks for the info on that.

In my opinion, I think the G6 will pay off. Looking at the reviews on Steam, and the comments on the forum, I think it will do quite well. When it launched, I thought I would wait it out until a sale, but after seeing all the positive reviews and comments, I decided to go ahead and purchase it. I somehow don't think I am the only one.

The question is...does it make economic sense to do quantity over quality? DTG have so far not released anything at this standard of quality, so yes it might seem more economically viable to release more often, but if you never test the alternatives, you wont really know for sure. The difference I think would be, release often, but lower quality...more mixed reviews and comments...less people buy at full price (I will only buy DTG and other third party stuff on sale, never full price). Or, release less often, but much higher quality...more positive reviews...more likely that people will buy at a higher price (This is the first DLC for TSW that I have ever bought at full price, and that is purely because of all the positivity around it). Since no figures are released to the public, I guess we wont really know until TSGs next release, if he puts in the same amount of work as this one, then we could assume that this one did really well, and was worth taking the extra time to get it pretty close to perfect.

 

You forgot one thing to differ between what DTG does and what I do. I have no pressure to pay any employees or whatever other than my own bills. DTG on the other hand need to run a 200+ people company. If i fail, no one cares. If DTG fails, 200+ people will loose their jobs.

 

Very true Maik. However, there are ways of experimenting without risking so much. For example, DTG could put a very small group together where they spend longer on a project, but try get it as polished as they can, then when they release it, compare sales of this one really great project to how other routes/locos sold within that time frame. This is just one way I would think of doing it if I were managing something similar, but maybe DTG don't have the funds to do that...I do not know their situation, business plan, etc...so I can only speculate and give my opinions.

 

After seeing Maik's contribution on the G6 but also on other German locos, I was thinking that I would definitely be willing to pay more for quality content like this. And much less for horrendous stuff like the BR 187. Anyone feels the same?

 

What about giving us a choice? Maybe release the normal product for the usual price and then do another product which has some specials to it. For example some additional scenarios and / or some liveries. This would maybe be a little more expensive than justified dor the little extra content (for example the usual 14 € for the normal add on and 20 € for the Deluxe Edition although you only get a little extra) and people who want to support the developer of the add on can do that with this proposed "Deluxe Edition".

 

It is commendable that one person, in his first solo TSW project, is able to realise many wishes of fans that three companies with hundreds of employees find so difficult to realise.

My humble opinion is that this proves that others could do much more. Most of the time we ask for things that are perfectly doable but unfortunately we get too many excuses in return as to why they are not done.

 

the G6 will it work with the raildriver? cant get it to work with mine

 

Yes, I’ve been driving it with Raildriver and it works very well.

 

That's not a good idea. People will start to complain about all stuff should be included with the cheaper add on. Remember that most players are casual, not hardcore rail fans.

 

Personally I think £11.99 is about the right price pitch for a single traction or rolling stock add on. Price any higher and you may find only the hardcore fans of that particular item will buy it. Must admit I’d never heard of the G6 until it appeared for TSW and prefer older German diesels anyway. But at the asking price it was worth a punt and glad I bought it. Just wish there were some scenarios or layers on other routes without having to use Off The Rails.

 

I can't really agree. It is "reasonably doable" if by "reasonable" you mean "invest an ungodly amount of developer time." Whether that means the same number of devs working more hours, or hiring more people to work each the same number of hours as before, that all has to be paid for; and I can't see DTG putting as many man-hours into a loco DLC as Maik has and not winding up losing money.

 

About quality. Bought the thing today on the Festival of Rail Sale. The first thing I've run into is the localization bug and it's not some spelling inaccuracy, it's a good old bug preventing important information appearing on the screen.

 

About quality. The g6 is one of the best dlcs i have when it comes to realism, features and the experience it self.

I dont know what causes your problem.