(pc Wip) - Great Western Express Enhancement Pack

Hey guys.

Just to let you know, I'm currently working on enhancing the look and feel of Great Western Express, which will complement the route following its recent preservation crew update. This will all be part of one pack, which will be uploaded to the Train Sim Community website.

I've done a couple of things already. Let me know what you think of it

Now out! Download here

New station signage and branding for all stations:


New Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) textures:


New platform texture for London Paddington:

 

That platform looks amazing, can't wait to download

 

Man I wish I had a competent PC...

Especially love the improved platform, I travel to Paddington a lot and it looks perfect. Keep up the good work!

 

Wonderful work, as usual. Thanks.

 

what are the squiggly green lines under the Southall sign

 

It's like a different language or something. Not sure

 

It's punjabi. Southall has quite a large punjabi community so it has bilingual signs.

 

Those platform textures look really good.

 

Congratulations for your nice work enhancing GWE!

 

Thanks for all the comments so far guys

 

Looks great. Ever thought about removing the OLE?

 

There are already mods that do that

 

A few more things I've been working on tonight:

New lamppost texture with faded looking paint:

Branded CCTV cameras with additional wear and tear:

Custom Royal Oak signage:

 

Incredible work, thank you!

 

New palisade fencing visuals, which shine nicely in the sun. Also branding added to the grit bin, as well as new traffic light visuals..

 

I'd love to know why DTG can't put this much love and attention into their routes.

 

Time is money, and adding all these small details is time consuming and requires a certain knowledge about the local situation, dedication and attention to details that really matter

 

Great work!

 

I know, but DTG pride themselves on being a true to life simulation, and if one person can do this in their free time then you'd think a team of people would be able to achieve it. I know this kind of detail takes time, but it doesn't exactly show up well for DTG.

 

Because they cannot be ar**d. Thank goodness for the free mod makers. Although there are a lot less in this game, compared to others i play. Good work lm, sadly too modern for my tastes.

 

Cracking work londonmidland !!! Fantastic to see.

 

That argument has more force for a German, US or even Northern route- but it's not like a field trip around London is all that big a deal.

 

I honestly don’t mind making these improvements, as it is something I find quite fun doing. The comments and appreciation from the community also encourages me to do more. The end result is well worth the work in my opinion. Not to mention that you guys can benefit from it.

However, I understand not all of you can have access to this, if you are playing on console and/or do not use mods.

 

Unfortunately, as I'm on console, this is not available sadly. But, with your continued impressive work, I've often wondered, is there any chance do you think of DTG making use of this and other similar mods by the community available to all on consoles, like say your sky mod - or was that an exception? I know there's technical challenges etc, but your work is superb, and great to see such passion.

 

Realistically, I’d say it was an exception. This mod, I doubt DTG would include officially, as it involves a lot of branding and logos which DTG probably do not have permission to use/copyright reasons.

The textures I use are also higher resolution, which will no doubt cause memory issues on older consoles.

 

love the faded / worn textures, but it's missing the pigeon shits...especially on the cctv cameras :p

 

I’ll bear that in mind

 

Well, yes and no. Some of londonmidlands enhancements would require licenses. Like the Siemens cameras. While you don't necessarlily need a license for a free-of-charge mod, you'd need one in an paid environment. That's why DTG can't just use them.

Apart from that, don't forget that GWE is the second oldest route in TSW. So it can't be on the same level as today's standard.

And my last point: The pres crew worked once with londonmidland. Who say's they can't work one more time together, to make sure at least some of this very outstanding enhancements can be part of the game itself, so that console users also benefit from that?

 

These are great additions londonmidland
Much as licensing is a pain in the ass at times to DTG it really does make the route when you drive past a building which is modelled as per real life in game and the correct branding is on them. Really does make a huge difference.

 

Oh sure I get that for the FGW and Siemens branding, but I really think DTG should be getting the OLE and platform textures right, especially the latter, as that is quite a big part of Paddington station's feel. My hope is the same as yours- that like the improved skies DTG can work to implement at least some of these improvements for all to enjoy.

 

This all looks fantastic, thanks londonmidland

 

These are looking very good. In response to some of the other comments, there are two different things here. Say the faded paintwork and the railings are making it feel more lived in, the branding is just a bit extra. DTG couldn't use the branding but the weathering is really where their details lack a bit, that could be done and is on some older routes but not often.

 

I'm not sure where the idea came from that you can't reproduce buildings. The Empire State building is nobody's IP. Neither is the Pan Am/MetLife building, if you leave off the logo. But their absence makes the Manhattan skyline in Harlem look- wrong.

 

That is not quite true. The design of a structure can definitely fall under copyright protection, and there are rights holders out there who actively monitor use of and enforce protection of their IP.

This is the case for the Atomium in Brussels but it applies to other buildings as well.

And then there's special cases like the Eiffel Tower in Paris: a daytime photo is free use, but a night time photo is not because the lighting of the tower is copyright protected.

 

While that can be the case, the owner has to affirmatively file for the copyright- and in any event, when the ESB and the PA/ML Building were built, there was no such provision under US copyright law.

Certainly you can buy little ESBs at every souvenir stand in New York!

 

Some more screenshots of my GWE Enhancement mod coming along nicely..
New additions include:

• Brand new high resolution platform textures, which have a lovely looking reflection when exposed to direct light sources
• New PIS colours and textures representing a 'new installation' look
• Slough station brick textures have been replaced with a higher res, more realistic looking variant.

 

Oh man, I'm so hyped for your mod, I just can't wait lol, but nice job!!

 

I’m taking my time with it, to ensure that is of the highest quality possible

 

so coool

 

I'm excited for this, it looks really good!

Now, if only my GWE didn't crash all the time.

 

A few more from me:

• Graffitied lineside cabinet boxes
• Lamp posts now 'bare' metal following a new installation look
• All PIS screens and supports sport the black & yellow combo
• Cars now a neutral black & silver colour with diggers now a faded yellow colour

 

That's amazing. I'm gonna download this mod right away once it's released.

 

Just a quick question about the car colours. Am I guessing it’s a finite choice of colours (only 2) you can have selected at any one time?

 

That’s correct. Currently only two car colours appear in GWE, blue and red.

 

Another observation. The piles of rich orange sand around Acton and elsewhere. Do you think they would look better as a paler more aggregate looking colour?

 

I’ll see what I can do.

 

New ballast texture for GWE, resulting it looking less dark. Thanks to a fellow modder for allowing me to use his ballast texture within my mod.

 

Million-dollar question - is this going to basically over-ride JetWash's GWE modern enhancement pack from 2021 that he has on TSC?
Amazing work as always!

 

I wasn’t aware such mod existed. Could you link me to it please?

 

I know it's asking a bit, but if there are multiple types of digger you could paint some of them the blood orange colour which is the alternative to yellow