Ts22 - Bnsf Routes Releasing Worldwide

I am so hoping Clear Creek will also be released world wide. Challenger3985, thanks for the info

 

The Kansas City route is a Union Pacific product, the BNSF ban never affected it.

 

This is a surprising bit of good news! Thank you DTG.

 

Clear Creek is available worldwide, but those outside the US have content branded as the Colorado & Central, not the Colorado Southern.

 

Whoops. I knew I'd accidentally put a non-BNSF one in there somewhere.

It is my assumption that yes, they will be made available. But there's a catch: the train used would have to show up first. Otherwise the pack is useless until it does. As the BNSF train at stub 24012 appears to be the one needed (it's an ES44DC after all), that's what we're waiting on, I believe.

 

So, my question is to all Stevens pass route owners. Is "winter hill climb east" scenario still broken? I mean blocking of train by inbound consist in Cascadian tunnel

 

Wow! THANKS!!! I go for Marias Pass first, definitely. Because it is one of the greatest classics of TS along with Stevens Pass, which I play in the fabulous backdated GN Cascadian version (for sale on G-Trax site), so I can wait for that a little bit longer. Tehachapi... well not that urgent as the route is already there for everyone (and rebranding was fairly easy to accomplish). And yes the GP9 Pack, F7 Empire Builder and BNSF Loco Packs must be released too outside the US.

That's a real pretty Xmas present

 

I just learned of the Southern Pacific F7 "Bloody Nose" and a scenario pack for The Racetrack. Those would also need to be included at some point.

 

For the same reason my friend, Something personal from DTG, A new base, And not a scattered one out there that requires so much process to obtain it, And obviously that it is up to date

 

Really hoping that the locos that are only available in the USA also become worldwide.

 

I believe they will, this poll is asking what to make first. Tehachapi would be an odd choice. I am surprised it was in here.

 

I would like to also see some locomotives that were released before, besides the GN Empire Builder, SW1500 and GP9 packs. But the BNSF SD75M and SD75I, as well as the BNSF Locomotive packs, like the GP38-2, F45 and SD40-2. The BNSF ES44DC, SP&S E1 Northern 700, Or even a ATSF FP45 passenger and freight locomotive. That would be awesome! I'm so glad that the BNSF Routes are coming to Train Simulator 2022 worldwide.

 

My vote's Marias Pass. Classic route that everyone around the world can enjoy and where it's an older route a whole slew of Workshop routes and scenarios will become available.

 

Yippee!!!

To quote Phil Collins:
I can feel it coming down the tracks tonight, oh lord
And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, oh lord
Can you feel it coming down the tracks tonight, oh lord, oh lord

 

Person over 50 identified?

 

just by a hair...

 

Marias Pass for sure! I want to be able to relieve my days of playing MSTS.

 

Wait does this mean we'll get the great northern F7 Empire builder?

 

Well done all!
This also opens up a huge amount of workshop content, which previously has scuppered me on many occasions.

 

Marias definitely as that has many useful assets for third party route building.

 

Just asking. Will the DASH 9 and SD70 packs be available too?

 

This is a POG NEWS! I really like bnsf routes im glad marias and stevens are finally available to non-us players like me tho i alrdy have marias a long time ago with the bnsf loco pack. Gonna get stevens now since it is required for some workshop routes so I decided to vote that. Hoping to see the BNSF loco addons especially the Dash 9 and the chicago sp available worldwide soon.

 

Just for those unaware, BNSF didn't have an issue with their logo being used overseas. It was something along the lines of DTG not having a license after the rebrand from RSC (though do take this all with a grain of salt). In any case, it's great to be able to buy Stevens and Marias again.

 

For those who have Stevens and Marias will there be some update on it or it will be the same as it was in 2014 before it was withdrawn?

 

Will likely be the same, Stevens is apparently a pretty good route as-is.

 

Having already lucked into a copy of Marias, there is one "co-op" scenario called "Hauling the Harvest Grain" that, from my view, appears to be unavailable. I have submitted a suggestion to change the type of scenario involved. I mean, why have a two hour co-op scenario when there is another 110 minute scenario in the set already, plus a 190 minute run - listed at 165, it's wrong - on Donner Pass?

Other than that, I would expect it to be exactly as is already there. Just like Tehapachi, Montana, Arizona, etc. will be exactly the same except for the addition of the US assets to replace the non-US ones.

 

That would seem like the easy fix, although the store pages would probably remain separate just to keep things simpler. Except the racetrack & raton, which have shared store pages as far as I can tell.

 

Nah, we can already see the U.S. version of the page in many cases. We just can't buy it. So all they have to do is turn off the non-U.S. one and have all users use the current U.S. one. The question then comes to be what happens to the non-U.S. owners. They have to get the upgraded items, too. What could very well happen is that the Non-US Assets file is updated with everything in the U.S. Assets file. The problem, though, becomes what happens if the BNSF license goes poof once again, They would have to recreate the entry. So while it might not be feasible or easy, finding non-U.S. owners and giving them the U.S. one, then revoking the non-U.S. one from libraries, might be a move. The thing is that a miss on this switch can result in a purchase that gets completely revoked with nothing retained. This is where a customer service complaint with a record of the purchase would verify a mistake in the switch. And a switch seems like a good move here.

 

Question is, would anybody want to keep the unbranded entries?

Your option is fine, but Steam is also capable of updating profiles en masse. It happens occasionally as is, I just got an item a few months ago (the Mk1 pack) because it got attached to Woodhead. They can flip the... repository item behind the sub. Never know those particular terms.

It would be cleaner to update user profiles en masse and let Steam software sort the updates, as the unbranded can be completely removed afterwards. Maybe issue a recommendation for everyone to verify files if they find anything weird. Imagine they fix the brake script on Tehachapi, and they have to verify the unbranded version even if just five players keep that because principles.

(They might also be able to keep both subs but link it with the same artifacts. But as you say, flipping back might be funny and worse, if some move in / out of the states, they'd be sort of mismanaged.)

One reason for not upgrading is (lost) licensing fees, but maybe they sorted it out already. (Also unclear how many people have unbranded BNSF content. I have about zero. So maybe it's miniscule.)

 

yup over time and i hope it get updated well the sd70s with tsx features. unless DTG is too worried that updating models will break the game. then we know this game is extremely extremely fragile state.

 

Really? I don't seem to be able to view them

 

That's what I'm talking about, en masse profile updating. Then if something goes wrong, it gets sorted out later.

Since the US items and Non-US items have their own stubs (1515067 for instance represents "Arizona ROW Assets"), they could just remove the ROW stub and replace it with the US stub. But since the paths of similar assets in a DLC are shared (which is why you only see one copy of the Content folder, and the main Assets folder, shared between both versions in SteamDB depot checks), it's not possible to keep the unbranded livery unless the developer goes back and actually adds an unbranded livery. Which might be part of why DTG wants to split the releases up. It gives time to test and make sure there are no problems. So maybe US assets file is also being replaced by one that also contains the unbranded one. We'll have to wait and see, but Tehapachi is one I might keep an eye on now to see what happens when its turn comes. Maybe Arizons Divide and Montana, too.

I doubt the models in the loco packs will be changed. But yes, that GP9 Loco Pack you see and all its juicy liveries, plus the quartet from the SD70 V2, will all become available for the rest of us too. And the SW1500. And the BNSF Dash 9 which you cannot see, and bundles a NS and CN with it. And the BNSF SD75, which does NOT bundle CN, but for which a CN livery - the only other major carrier of it - exists (I am so happy right now).

Clearly, you need to use The Force...

They actually used to appear because I do remember looking at them. However, I just tried Montana and Arizona, and both are invisible now. They must have cleaned that up at some point.

 

Yes, you used to be able to. That is correct. Regarding the depots wouldn't it just be easier to update the ROW depots with BNSF logos instead of faffing around trying to swap them?

 

Changing them might break scenarios one way or another, but

There is (was?) a bit of magic.
If you are not logged in, you can view some on Steam, but it will say that it's not available in the region.
If you are, it auto redirects away.

 

Not now. I just tried a private window (no logins saved) in Firefox and it instantly kicked me out.

 

For sure I will wait for see which of this BNSF route win and get relased for then buy it a Christmas.

 

It will be Marias Pass indeed

 

Hi, will the third party US routes that currently do not have brands be updated in the same way as for example the Marias Pass route when they are made available in the UK?
Thanks Fred

 

This was basically confirmed in a later post by Jamie. All routes with US branding separated will be updated to include them for everyone at some point. I suspect the reason for splitting it up initially was to focus internal testing on the one that seems to be leading the poll for the week, finish testing after the poll closes, and out it goes. Thing is, Marias doesn't really need additional testing, so they're probably testing Tehapachi with everything unlocked for everyone. If anything needs changing and testing, it would be making the co-op scenario a Standard or Career (or both) offering, and make sure that works, and that wouldn't take two weeks.

Mark my words: with the new Chatham extension route announced today, and streaming on Wednesday, that's next week's Friday release (or earlier). Marias will not show up until Christmas week, possibly before Friday since the DTG crew needs to make sure it works and everyone's not on holiday with something not operating correctly. Though now they'll just make it available instantly on the 14th to make me wrong.

 

To everyone outside the US who've been missing out on BNSF so far: once everything gets released and updated, look forward to downloading the combined Marias Pass - Hi-Line Sub on the Workshop. That massive Workshop route encompasses the entire BNSF Hi-Line Sub as it stands in modern day with crews working all the way from Whitefish to Havre (many years ago the crew change used to be at Shelby but now crews work all the way through to Havre). If I ever feel like doing a run with BNSF that's where I tend to go since that is the only route so far that features the entire length of a single crew district. I really recommend it.

I used to make BNSF scenarios for the Workshop way back when Stevens Pass first came out, but after the whole thing with the BNSF licensing issue started, I lost the spark since I was bummed out that any scenarios that I made wouldn't be available to folks outside the US and I haven't posted a scenario since. With this announcement I very well might get back into it.

 

I am looking forward to the merged route, are there scenarios in the workshop for it?

 

Please do! I may be willing to play one or more on a video if they are interesting.

 

The route was merged by a user named Danny and it comes with QDs but I don't know if there are many scenarios in the Workshop for the route.

What is your channel so I can follow you?

 

Also the Workshop route I think is still considered Work In Progress so I won't be able to publish scenarios for that particular route until it's finalized, but I'll still be able to publish scenarios for Marias Pass and the Hi-Line separately.

 

Should be at youtube.com/CycloneGU

Right now I am working on some Maria’s stuff to launch with the route release back to worldwide, then grabbing a couple of Christmas themed scenarios. I have three options, but two are on routes I have introduced, so may stick with those.

 

Why would Southern Pacific be relevant for this? They became part of UP.... Yeah they went through an attempted and failed merger with ATSF in the late 70s, but I don't think that matters in this case

 

The SP F7 uses the Great Northern Empire Builder F7 model, which was banned outside the U.S under the previous licensing aggreement.

 

This was the exact point which made the entire ordeal funny.
As people noted above, we didn't simply denied BNSF and its predecessors, but virtually everything that didn't come with a route, given the early US DLC have been loco megapacks. One of my soon-to-play workshop scenario uses the UP SW1500 on Sherman Hill, while RBJets was kind enough to reproduce his Canadian Mountain Passes scenario using the default ES44AC instead of the CP SW1500.
I also made of point of making RWA funny as their non-US offerings were most of the time useless.

The good news is, silly times are over.

While by now all of it is old content, it might be still worth it to pick some up for a bit of fun, enabling workshop or simply photograph a bit more realistic and interesting yards. Would be even nicer if they'd create slightly updated versions with higher fidelity textures and sounds, wherever sensible.

 

I wish they'd remaster the Dash 9s and SD70ACes if nothing else to officially fix the spongy couplers and over-powered dynamic brakes which automatically triggers wheelslip and can derail trains (trust me, I've piled up more than one train in TS with a few Dash 9s on the head end because I decided to try and use the dynamic brakes...). They're simple enough fixes (I've already made fixes for my own stock) but we don't have mod support for TS so I wouldn't be able to make Workshop scenarios with my personally "fixed" stock.

The models are old enough that there more than likely isn't any profit incentive to open up the packs and "fix" things, but it might make more sense to withdraw these older packs from the store, remake the models to modern standards (better textures, headlight flares, no spongy coupler, balanced dynamic brakes, working console screens, and realistic air brake scripting by Mike Rennie aka Mrennie aka Smokebox). I'd pay money to buy a rebuilt and improved version of the models. I already did so with the Black 5, Jubilee, and the Big Boy so why not the likes of the Dash 9, SD70ACes, and the SD75Ms?

 

Each to their own but I'm really not a fan of that brake script, the way it will latch around 20% when I realise an upcoming speed change and have to wait a few seconds for it to unlatch is very counter-intuitive in my opinion.