Train Sim World 2 - A Year On The Rails

Link is broken - correct link is https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-sim-world/articles/article/tsw2-a-year-on-the-rails (hyperlink doesn't currently point to article)

 

End the Year with a Joke.

 

Can we expect any last update/patch before Christmas, or the game will stay in current version till January 2022.

 

Exciting add-ons like the core update and Rush Hour? hahahaha

 

Brighton and Dresden are two of the best routes DTG have ever released. Pity about the bugs, but I have had loads of fun playing them both. (Also, the lack of the RH passenger system in Brighton shouldn't be an issue for PC players, since we can control that with an .ini command anyway). And 2021 also saw the release of Clinchfield, DTG's best route EVAH (and that despite the known bugs).

 

That's true but I was taking a more overall view with the different platforms. Still can't understand why the 166 didn't get RD support for the Brighton route.

 

Layered locos are taken from their parent route verbatim, without change. When (if) the 166 gets RD support it will get it on all routes in which it appears.

 

since rush hour im slowly losing heart in this game with all the bugs and nothing being sorted out now until after xmas. how can you run a railway when all speed boards on the routes show 0.

 

What a FANTASTIC year it was for TSW2 and it’s community! We received some really great updates and dlc that continues to build on what DTG started with TSW. The addition of 3rd party developers also has been tremendous for everyone! Thanks for all the hard work DTG and the 3rd party teams have done to create the best train simulator on the market!

 

Fantastic is a bit of a strong word in my opinion. I say this year has been up and down for dtg with good releases such as clinchfield, Cathcart, the Class 465 to name a few. Sherman hill seems like an ok freight route but could use an improvement or two. The G6 is getting praise as well. The DB BR 101 is good but it's an incomplete train set since it doesn't have the cab car which probably affected sales. But then you had Southeastern High speed which was the first route released this year that was rushed to meet a deadline with the terrible looking hs1 section, The arosaline being an absolute train wreck when it released, Cane Creek being a bit too bland in my opinion and having things like floating rocks in the route. Cane creek got mixed reviews. Hamburg Lubeck which had mixed reviews due to the pzb issues and the wrong Dostos, the 4.26 update which brought a butload of issues to the core game, rush hour which was nothing more than rushed hour with the mess that it brought to the game from memory crashes to a broken atc system, the DB BR 187 and 1938 tube stock being arguably one of the worst loco dlc releases in the history of Train Sim World, Diesel Legends getting mixed reception. Personally that was an unecessary dlc in my opinion. The release of the first Preservation Crew update which despite bringing in some new features, it left outstanding bugs like the m7 audio not fixed and introduced some more issues. Then you had the announcement that the creators club to share liveries and scenarios is locked behind a paywall which is a bad business practice in my opinion since no game does that. All in all dtg have gone off and on the rails this year. This has not been a good year overall in my opinion. Definitely not fantastic. The article doesn't even mention all the issues that have plagued the game this year

Here's hoping next year will be a better year for dtg overalll and that Spirt Of Steam won't be the mess that rush hour was

 

Honest personal opinion is that this has been the most disappointing TSW year yet. The article only talks about the DLC released in 2021 but the back story of all the issues we have had isn't mentioned. We even had DTG streams dedicated to all the issues so I'm not making it up...yet no mention of it at all.

 

Well i guess we now know horseshoe curve won't be out until 2022.

 

Is it April Fools Day already

 

It seems to be lol

 

I agree with you about Dresden, it's generally of very high quality, despite the lighting. But I cannot agree about Brighton. Without the RH passenger component, the route feels lifeless. And 2/3 of the player base cannot use .ini commands and some PC players, like me, don't want to. And why should we have to in order to get what was promised.

As to Clinchfield, yes it's pretty good, if you only drive in daylight because the locos do not have headlights for all intents and purposes. As I've posted elsewhere, DTG have yet to sustain the quality that is clear for all to see in Sand Patch Grade, still the standard bearer, in my opinion, in terms of modeling and lighting. I wonder, do they still have the people who made SPG?

I love the game and will always support it, but I do not wear rose colored glasses, like a few on the forum. 2021 has been a very mixed year for TSW. I hope next year will see a real effort to fix the major bugs, sort out the awful QA process, which manages to miss the most elementary mistakes, and take the time to really focus on quality, starting with Harlem.

 

I have to disagree with ‘fantastic’.

I certainly agree that there have been some great DLC’s this year, along with Rush Hour and the next gen builds, however even the best bits are let down by certain issues, London Commuter is yet to see a healthy patch, along with rush hour passengers, regardless of what can be done with mods, we shouldn’t have to depend on those to get a route to where it should be.

The G6,465, Dresden, Boston, 101 and CCL have all been good additions too, minus some issues.

Overall though this year has been one of the worst in terms of TSW at its core, Xbox sound issues, PS trophy & DLC cap issues, last gen becoming more and more segregated, poor performance, large increase in bugs across the board, rushed content, a shoddy release schedule for patches and generally I feel like each DLC comes with a side dish of DTG saying they were unable to do such a thing by release but they will add it in the future.

So, there are certainly some good points to the year, but overall it’s at the very least disingenuous to say it’s been “fantastic”, especially in an article which makes no mention of the plethora of issues we’ve had to deal with, and in many cases, are still dealing with.

 

Well, we'll have to disagree. The zillion trains an hour make the route anything but lifeless for me. I don't care all that much about how many plastic zombies wander aimlessly around

SPG uses "Hollywood night," which to me looks completely fake. What is needed has not yet been done: a combination of genuine pitch darkness with prototypical headlight brightness. I agree that CRR, for all I love it, I only play in daylight for that very reason.

 

TSW2 is my favourite game by far. But putting out a post calling it a fantastic year when you’ve just introduced a bug of the level of the speed limit issue just before a holiday. Is really quite insensitive to the community.

As a sometime PS5 player, I can think of several more accurate words but I think the language filter would probably just filter them.

So I’ll just say it was a promising year. Riesa Dresden and London Commuter show enormous potential and even Arosa turned out ok in the end.

Fantastic though? No, definitely not.

 

You could easily and perhaps more fittingly replace the word fantastic with frustrating. Alongside some of the best content, the delivery of it and the core of the game has made the year quite the rollercoaster ride. The kind of rollercoaster ride where the operator releases a car with paying customers while there is still a test car stuck half way round the track, with some disastrous results. It becomes less fun at the fair after that. Many players are just trying to enjoy what they can before the next crash.

 

Wow, you from DTG are sitting in your bubble and celebrating what you have achieved. Yet all the great DLSs are full of errors and bugs. Not only with the new DLCs, but also and especially with the old DLCs, existing bugs are not only not fixed, but more are added with patches.

Before you start celebrating yourself, you should get to work on fixing the old bugs.

 

I must admit, if there is a single word which characterises TSW's year of 2021, it is this: Bugs. Nothing else has so dominated these forums, nothing else has proved such an ongoing annoyance. High-entry Dostos, night lighting and crossing gates got nothin' on it; and bugs are what came close to derailing, and almost certainly hurt sales of, Rush Hour.

If there is one New Year's resolution DTG must make, it is to shake out and completely revamp their QA/QC/beta/patch-release system, because, as it is, I fear it is losing them customers and revenue. I still play TSW because it has potential to be great, somtimes for stretches is great, and because I am indulgently forgiving of all the many, many issues one must work around. But many aren't such a soft sell, and I would hope the sense of frustration expressed in the posts above is palpable to DTG staff who read them.

 

It definitely hasn't been an incredible year for TSW unless you're kidding yourself and/or putting your heads in the sand.

The best way to describe it is that the road has been very bumpy with lots of unexpected twists and turns. We still aren't off this road yet and won't be at the start of the New Year.

The biggest thing that needs to change for TSW is the way updates are rolled out. We're waiting far too long for them.

 

I can agree with what some have said, 'there has been some good releases this year' but saying that even some of those have issues. Is it me or does the games industry get away with a lot in terms of quality. Goods in the real world would never get away with such errors and poor quality.

What is frustrating to me is that TSW2 could and should be a 'fantastic' game. I'm not an idiot DTG and know minor bugs persist but when you release such fundamental fixes and updates like the core 4.26 and Rush Hour and still haven't fixed it, or updated the Preserved routes, still haven't addressed the station lighting, poorly looking weather, second rate sound despite creating a department. Then there is the XBox sound issue, PS save issues and all the other console issues suggesting it other than a poor year or 'must do better year' is verging on arrogance imo.

 

I am going to agree with Londomidland as to the best description - Bumpy - the proverbial two steps forward one step back.

Yes there are many long standing problems which some find more irritating than others as is always the case. But we have seen improvements as well, while London to Brighton might not have loads of milling about NPCs, the schedule and amount of services is outstanding. We are seeing the Passenger Information Systems where before there were none. I have run into the frustrating red light problem on a few runs but what is nice, I have a load of other routes to choose from where I have not run into such problems.

I gauge a simulation’s success as how much time I am willing to spend in it despite the problems. And this year, TSW has far out stripped my time spent in TSCLASSIC. Even with MSFS 2020 constantly improving, TSW still tops out my limited time I have for simulations so that says something to me, even with all the warts, it still provides me a lot of satisfaction and I find it enjoyable.

 

Is this sarcasm by any chance?

 

No, actually not at all. It is my opinion though. Hope you find something positive as well!

 

You have every right to your opinion of course. I'm generally a glass half full person myself, too. But your effusiveness seems to me to be way out in left field of a very large ball park, considering the bumpy road we've had this year. Let's hope your gushy outlook is borne out by next years' developments if not those of 2021.

 

All things considered I was having great fun with the game until my PC broke

I've done a little bit on my old potato Xbox One (not an S or an X) and it's a different game entirely feels like the console is struggling to keep up the whole time

I love the game on PC but on the old bog standard Xbox One it's not worth it

As for the game itself, I've had very few issues on PC, however, due to financial reasons (and me only buying British content) so the only DLCs I've bought from this year are Southeastern High Speed, the 465, Diesel Legends and the Cathcart Circle.

Now the Southeastern High-speed I only really like half of because the Javelin and High Speed section don't really interest me very much. The 465 however is one of my favourite trains in the game, one the real standouts for me in the game.

The Diesel Legends add-on was alright, I certainly wasn't opposed to the concept but the Great Western is probably one of my least used routes after the Bakerloo Line and IoW. I do like the Blue Class 52 with the nameplates it's a really nice product even if Western Region locos aren't my favourites. The 08 of course was essential to the pack to make it functional so I can't really complain about that. The 101 has become one of my favourite units to drive but I do wosh it was i the full blue livery. I do wish even more that a more appropriate unit was chosen for the route though I do understand why it wasn't.

As for the Cathcart Circle, despite the Scottish railways not being particularly interesting to me I really like this route. The 313 is definitely one of my favourites in the game and the route, I think at least, is one of the best looking I've played. Okay I might be slightly biased on this one because it's a PEP and an overhead electric, but I really do like driving it.

So of the four DLCs I bought from this year, the Cathcart Circle is top, then the 465, then the Diesel Legends and at the back is the Southeastern High-speed (mostly because I play it specifically for the networker).

However, that being said, I think one of the best things to happen with the game this year was the Preservation Crew update to the West Somerset Railway, which truly brought the route to the next level, I can't wait to get back to it.

I know this year has been a rather frustrating one for many, particularly for Xbox One and PS4 players and I greatly sympathise, I certainly hope very much that the prevailing issues can be resolved and everyone can get back to the business of enjoying trains.

Fortunately I have avoided any real major issues this year which have not really impacted my enjoyment of the game, most of my current grievances with the game are trivial in comparison to others.

In all, for me personally it's been a good year and I got to enjoy lovely new content, sadly for the forseeable future I'm not going to be able to do so as it'll probably be May at the earliest when I can replace my PC, but I'll stick around on the forums in the meantime, I really do love this game and I'm going to really miss playing all my routes I've got on steam. Ah well, c'est la vie.

 

Ah, I had completely forgotten about that and you are absolutely right. Adam and his crew deserve enormous credit for their outstanding work on WSR, one of the highlights of the year. It certainly shows what can be done. If only the rest of his work had been given enough recognition so that it reached the players. Sadly we're still waiting for most of it to be released.

 

Aye, I feel like we're all chomping at the bit to see the Preservation Crew's hard work be released.

I'm very much looking forward to the updates to TransPennine and Tees Valley, I reckon there's some decent potential there for new layers and AI services hopefully.

 

Overall i enjoy the content of tsw 2, and i like the dlcs came with the year 2021. Many of them are fantastic, others not that much. I Also think rush hour was the right project to do, its just impressing with such a high amount of services. London to brighton is my favourite release of the routes 21.

About the bugs, im patient. It has to be a bigger problem about the red signals & speedboards, else we would have the fix by now. In the end, real projects have always the unexpected things appearing in the wrong time. Its just how it is. Tsw has grown to a high amount of dlcs, so bug fixing wont be a "quick thing", im ok to pay that price for more content as long as i know the bugs get adressed.

So beside that, im looking forward to the rampe and the curve. For the 2022 i suggest dtg to priorise the bugs, especially the old ones.

Second i expect devs to keep up the QUALITY without making shortcuts in the backdoor. "No train lenght counter at the sd70, no modeled engine rooms on a gp9 anymore", things like that are highly disappointing to just name those 2 examples. The g6 vossloh shunter from tsg is how a loco addon should be. Detailed in features, if devs have to raise the price, im ok. Rather pay more than for a basic generic vehicle.

Well i think DTG should enjoy their holidays now, so they can start the new year with fresh energy and progress tsw to the best, most impressive train simulation ever.

Also thanks to the community for the interesting discusions here in the forum. In the End we pay money for a product, so its not wrong to have expectations.

In diesem Sinne, frohe Weihnachten

 

I’m sorry it’s been such a bumpy road for you, it hasn’t been for me! Hopefully the next year is a little better for you!

 

It was a year that saw the release of my 3 favorite locos: the 465, the F7, and the DB 101.

The complexities of the BML and DRA timetables were major achievements and I spent many hours enjoying them; all I had to do was delay a run for 10 minutes and everything changed.

There are some things that could have gone smoother, but TSW2 provided some much needed escape time for me and I am grateful for that.

And it was the year that DTG nailed the North American diesel horn!

 

This year could have been a lot better, 2021 had so much potential but all of it went down the drain cause of rushed DLC(SEHS), 3rd Party DLC being a train wreck(Arosa Line), a concept that was POORLY executed(GWB, but the Class 52 in BR Blue was Nice), or DLC that was extremely well model but the sounds were absolute garbage (1938 TS(not sure how the reviews on Steam are Mostly positive) and the DB BR 187) not to mention there have been Amazing Routes London Commuter, and HMA. But BOTH of those routes have one issue that has YET to be fixed on all platforms(Optimization) HOWEVER let's not forget the Great Loco DLCs released. Personally I liked the Class 465(the ONLY reason I got SEHS), Class 313, and the DB BR 101.

In my personal opinion this wasn't a fantastic year, this was a decent year, BUT a year filled to the brim with missed opportunities and cash grabs. I wonder what 2022 has in store for us, personally im looking forward to the Harlem Line since I am a New Yorker and that my favorite line and the M3A has always been one of my favorite EMUs.

But DTG Fantasic is a bit of an overstatement, I would call this a Decent year at most

 

Well, let's all sit here in our rose tinted glasses and just pretend everything is ok and carry on blowing smoke up our derrière.

Yes there have been some great things in the year but this article is a little disingenuous in the way there is zero mention of any issues.

I personally think DTG are hugely lucky to have people like Matt, Natalie, Sam, JD, and Adam who will go on a stream and give us a realistic impression of where the game is at riding both highs and lows.

Whoever wrote this sensationalism needs to be employed at the daily mail, start using capital letters on key words and generate some positivity in their rose glasses to combat the current fear mongering

 

What I can't understand....well I can.....Why DTG do you NOT check properly for issues and bugs before release. Who beta tests these?. us!!!. There are issues which are still relevant since TSW was released, these are still evident now, since the release of Rush Sour I really am starting to loose heart like quite a lot of us, its very frustrating that loads of issues from every route still have not been addressed. We pay for these products, OK no we do not have to buy them, however, its the only train sim out there on Playstation but it is constantly let down by disappointing bugs and issues which frustrate the hell out of people. But I applaud DTG for bringing us a great sim, but please sort the bugs out before release.

 

I agree . Dresden and Brighton would definitely be the 2 best routes in TSW if it weren’t for the crashes and low FPS

 

If want to have it all, it is a lot of money. Maybe there should be subscription model that entitles you to get all routes but then with a decent discount. 11 routes, 6 loco DLC and two game packs is a lot.

I agree with some comments that quality is below standards. To many bugs that prevent completing services and scenarios, the total lack of documentation in any form (I do not consider Matts game play as documentation, though they should be appreciated). I think we do not get all the value that all this content has. To many undocumented features, to many bugs that are not solved.

 

Started off strong, ended in utter shambles. Routes still unplayable due to red signals, London commuter scenario still broken, took rivet a year to sort out the timetable for Arosa, multiple shafting for ps amd other console users. You need to pull a golden rabbit out of a hat next year

 

You know what maybe the Rhb anniversary pack sums up the 2021 tsw2 dtg year perfectly...I can't think of a poorer way for tsw2 dlc 2021 to end the year,instead of going out on some kind of high note they choose to finish 2021 with the least exciting dlc they have ever released.

It's like saying here's one for the road and instead of a pint of something tasty your given a glass of over-priced water.O joy.

 

The highlight of the year for me is how hard it is for this community to find anything nice to say at all, even on an article focused on the whole year so close to the holidays, yet some how it still becomes a cesspool of constant sewage waste spewing from your mouths. I personally wouldn’t even attempt to create good content for this community as all the extra work would still be drowned out by the constant complaining and nitpicking. Never have I heard of a more ungrateful and mean community then this. Happy holidays!

 

Well it is interesting that Rivet seem to think it has been a fantastic year, and im sure it was a good one for their wallets with all the DLC they released.

 

Here's the problem when the list of issues that need fixing is so long one can't read them all with out feeling depressed by it,knowing almost ever attempt dtg make to fix issues ends up braking things that where not already broken,plus seeing that for all the testing they say they are trying to get better at not much has changed.It goes both ways many more would praise them for efforts when deserved.They have put forth some decent efforts this year but just because some people will buy anything they release doesn't mean everyone will accept just any sort short comings in there work.Games are a chance to escape reality for some fun but even fun can ruined by a broken effort.Why should anyone who expresses there displeasure with what they ended up with be made to feel guilty for it.

 

Well I've been both positive and constructively negative this year. I agree that there has been some totally unnecessary comments in the past year. There is a report button and an ignore list for that and believe me, my ignore list has grown substantially this year. However DTG ask for all feedback good or bad and so long as it's constructive then they should be fine with it.

I don't find overly negative feedback useful at all when making a decision on whether to buy stuff. However I don't find overly positive stuff useful either. Pretending all is well in TSW land really doesn't help the game get better. In extreme cases it is damaging as someone might buy a route based on it and be put off the game when they find out what it's really like. In a year when I've been unable to play on PS4 for a period, can't have all my DLC loaded at the same time on PS5, (I don't care about achievements but they are limited as well) and experience crashes, red lights, newly broken scenarios that worked before and now the speed limit 0 bug across Playstation and PC, then sorry, but that is not a fantastic year.

As I've said already, it's my favourite game and I think Riesa Dresden and London Commuter show great potential for the future. There have been 3 real highlights (The G6, the DB BR 101 and the Class 465) But as someone who has paid for all DTG DLC's on the PC and my favourites on Playstation as well. I'm certainly not going to sit back quietly when something I've paid for (sometimes twice) gets broken.

Constructive feedback is a good thing. If something is good, say why it's so good, but if something is bad, report it. So long as it's presented in the correct way. It's how the game is going to get better.

 

It isn't hard for the community to say positive things. The Class 465, Cathcart, Clinchfield are routes that have been praised. But here's the issue, there are routes that have issues. Some that are gamebreaking. Trying to sugar coat it and call the community ungrateful for giving feedback on routes that have not been good isn't helping anyone. Pretending all is well in tsw frankly is misleading as well and can get people to buy a route that may not be good. Some words used in this article are frankly misleading. Yes there have been good routes, but there has also been inconsistency in terms of the quality of routes, dlc's that have had missed potential, dlc's that have been rushed and two rush hour routes that many players can't play because of instability and memory crashes. Not to mention the buttload of bugs. If you think the game is good, that's fine. Your entitled to your opinion. There have been good dlc's. But when people give feedback on routes that have not been good or missed the mark, saying that it's just a bunch of sewage waste or people who do that are just complaining by giving feedback is disrespectful and helps nobody. People who buy a product especially at these prices deserve and should expect good consistent quality routes, not routes where your game will randomly crash or rushed routes. If a person feels like there is a problem, they'll give constrcutive feedback which is good for everyone so that dtg can improve which benefits everyone in the end.

Do you want people to just keep their mouth shut when a certain dlc has an issue like London Commuter with it's memory crashes then since telling dtg that would be ungrateful and a bunch of sewage waste coming out of our mouths?

Also if you don't like what some people say, just ignore it.

 

A Turbulent Year On The Rails.

 

Yep still with plenty of fixes needed such as all the issues with London commuter still crashing and the issues with 150/2 been nothing like a sprinter

 

I literally spat my coffee when I read the first line, 'fantastic' is the last word I'd use- as others have said 'frustrating' or 'annoying' is better suited.
Yes there has been good moments, but they are by fair outweighed by the negatives. Couple to that DTG's legendary customer service and it's light years from fantastic.
I feel like the commuter stuck at red on a unheated train outside Brighton on a cold December day with the guard just shrugging his shoulders and saying look out of the window there's one of the new trains with warm heating being introduced at the minute!