Is This The Smoking Gun Pointing To Tsw4?

So this popped up on my FB today, now usually with software a new lower price (rather than a sale) points to the release of a new reiteration of the game coming soon. Does these mean TSW4 is coming this year not next as many of us expected?

 

Yea if there is a Train Sim World 4, I'll pass unless its a free update

 

Proves nothing except that the price has come down.

 

Well I did a thread on this a few weeks ago and the general consensus was that it was too soon and next year would be more in line with DTG release history. In a way I think it would be sad, as TSW 3 has a few things that need tweaking to make it a great sim. Having TSW4 would probably mean DTG wouldn’t get around to fixing things on TSW3, which is what TSW2 players are finding now.

 

The only way they could pull off TSW4 this year is via a free core update, subsidised by new route sales as per the TSC model.

Still think it could be plausible given how tight lipped things have become and with Focus in the driving seat, probably behind the scenes for several months already, who knows what's being considered.

 

I still think that the only reason Rivet updated the whole of their back catalogue was because there's a big update coming and there was compatibility issues. Whether thats TSW4 or just a big summer update to TSW3 only time will tell.

 

Personally I’d like to see a big update to TSW3. If they get all the potential out of it they won’t need a TSW4.

 

I'd like to see them ditching the number system like TSC and just call it TSW.

 

It means that they make most of their money on DLC’s. Same as most companies now. The base game is nothing more than a vehicle to make you buy the extra content.

 

I cant see TSW4 this year they still have plenty of fixes needed to TSW2 and 3 unless they intend to scrap the patches for them. They need to get TSW 2/3 into good shape before moving on. No they wont fix all bugs but just major stuff and the trophies / achievement glitches

 

All I know is PS5 players will freak out if tsw4 drops in September with “add on manager coming soon after release”

 

That's going to confuse users even more. There's multiple different tsws and calling it just tsw is going to cause some confusion

 

The only reason dtg might do a TSW4 sooner then later is to get us to pay up for TSW3 fixes.Look how good it worked with TSW2

 

I'd pretty much guarantee TSW4 will be coming out this year.

 

Except TSW2020, TSW2 and TSW3 are three seperate games, while TSC is one and the same game, regardless of which of the anual vesion you buy.

 

Interesting thread. Ignoring the detective work and guesswork for a moment..
What would everyone's feeling be if DTG is now moving the TSW core to a yearly paid release with updates/fixes ala FIFA/Football Manager, etc?

 

Would be relu

Would be reluctant to partake in an annual paid update. As I said above, TSC with free core update and the carrot of new quality DLC is much preferred. Even MS have left a respectable 4 years between FS versions and N3V usually 3 years before wrapping Trainz in the Emperors new clothes.

 

I’m not sure I’d want to pay yearly for fixes, the game should be fully playable on release (in an ideal world) but as for updates, it would be depend on what quality those updates were.
Personally I’d keep TSW3, fix that first before moving on.

 

Honestly, I hope that DTG stick to one title (like they have with TSC) and roll out DLC as standard with free annual updates.

 

My attitude would be if I wanted the included routes and felt they were value for money at the price point offered I'd upgrade. If the routes didn't interest me or where poor value I'd probably skip that years update.

 

I'd probably buy it either way. I'm a fan of the genre and will probably only play the most recent version of the game, provided that my collection gets preserved along (and that is hugely important, I still haven't forgotten about the old NEC from TSW2020).

Depending on the new features and the routes in the bundle, I might buy it right away or decide to wait for a sale. I guess DTGs motivation as to why a new game is needed, rather than an upgrade, would affect to how I feel about it. An upgrade (like Rush Hour) would have my preference, but with the right explanation I can understand why DTG went for a whole new game instead.

But then again, even though I'm not always happy with the way DTG handles things, TSW is pretty much the most enjoyable train simulator I've been able to find, so I'd buy their stuff regardless.

EDIT: When talking about 'upgrades' I refer to new features, not to bug fixing. I think it's pretty bad that some TSW2 content still is bugged, and some promised updates still aren't there. Releasing a new TSW4-game with TSW2-issues still unresolved wouldn't make a good impression on me.

 

Oh well that's final then....you've convinced me

 

I'm in the same boat as Purno. I wouldn't be a fan of yearly paid releases but realistically, where am I gonna go? I'm mainly a console player - TSW is the only product there is. Even if I was mainly on PC, there is no product that offers me the same immersion factor as TSW.

 

Get where you're coming from that. Bought several routes for TSC in the last sale but barely touched them. Not having a comprehensive timetable or the Journey mode which I quite enjoy is a major disadvantage IMHO. There's also the issue of the recent updates which borked many scripted items, not sure if that's been cleared up yet.

 

Exactly. The lack of a timetable and reliance on a multitude of 3rd party stuff really turns me off TSC.
Zusi has a timetable and excellent physics for the most part, but the graphics are really out of date and the picture-overlay-cabs are not great.
Haven't tried Run8, but have seen the graphics. Also, I'm under the impression that there's no timetable either. I'll probably try it at some point though.
Diesel Railcar Simulator is a great little toy for what it is, but that's about it. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but hardly in the same ballpark as the above-mentioned.

One of the most important things though for me is this: 1st person movement. It might seem silly to some, but being able to walk around in a 3D space around and in the trains does wonders for my immersion. No other simulator I've tried offered it and it's a major reason they cannot hit the same spot as TSW for me.

 

Zusi operates the most like a real railway. Random routing such as re platform or junction regulating , signal faults and decent physics. It also has a huge amount of stock and timetables are chock full of different train types. To put it in perspective a version of Zusi has been used by DB to train drivers so in one sense it pretty high up in the simulation league.

It lacks the graphics though and cabs are flat also the learning curve is steep.

TSW could do with having a Zusi style dispatcher/signaller and the random faults then it would be hard to beat.

 

I would much prefer DTG to take a leaf out of SCS software's book and release updates to the core game for free and have this payed for by selling DLC whether that be routes or trains. Just like SCS do with extra states or truck addons in ATS/ETS2. It seems to work well for SCS software so why cant it work for DTG?

 

I recently gave TSC a try again, but was dissapointed quite fast. I guess I got spoiled by TSW. Doing a run with the BR155 on Köln-Koblenz, which was one of my favourite TSC locos and routes, realizing that the BR155 with a freight train can apply brake pressure and release it in an instant... and then there's the graphics, the timetable (I used to play quick drive a lot but it now feels rather empty on AI traffic when compared to TSW timetable mode) and the ability to walk around the loco and push a multitude of buttons...

And then there's the limited content they have. Run8 only features US freight, Diesel Railcar only has UK content, and as far as I know Zusi focusses on German content.

The only other train simulator I know that has a good variety of content is Trainz, I tried that a few times but the graphics look worse than TSC.

 

To answer your question, just compare the player numbers, which should give you an impression of how many copies they can sell...





Plus I suppose creating a 1:1 virtual copy of a railroad is a tad more expensive than creating a 1:20 map of a country with plenty of artistic liberty.

 

I'd go one step further. Zusi is not pretty high up, it's pretty much the highest there is. As far as I know, it's the only one that's mainly a real driver training simulator with a hobby version for us enthusiasts. I love Zusi dearly.

 

I don't think that is a fair comparison A 1;20 map of the entire state of Texas takes much more time and effort than a linear route of approx. 60 to 70 miles. We are talking about the core game here which should have all the basic operating components in there already. Any DLC routes should only have to utilise these components. As for the number of players argument, SCS also started from scratch with their simulator and built up their player base over time by creating quality products.

 

Personally I am glad tho that TSW is different. While it would be great to have TSW be the same kind of realistic and authentic, I'd take TSW's graphics and on-foot-gameplay over any other train simulator out there.

If I'm going to spend hours looking at the same cab and train stations, they better not look like something I'd hardly feel any immersion in.

 

Did you take into account that 60 to 70 miles route is an exact copy of the route, which requires research for the exact track layout and the precise location of every single signal? That's way more detailed than SCS does.

It's money from DLC which pays for any updates to the core.

How SCS or DTG managed to build up their player base isn't relevant. The size of the player base is relevant because it gives an indication of how many copies they can sell. ATS playerbase is roughly ten times that of TSW3, which means that they can sell roughly ten times as many copies of the entire state of Texas, than DTG can of their 60 to 70 miles route. Even with Texas being roughly half the price of that of a TSW route, that means SCS still has 5 times the income to spend on development compared to DTG.

Number might be off a bit, but I hope you get the general idea of what these player numbers tell us.

 

Are you sure you're comparing properly here?
Track layouts including yards, industries etc over a 60 mile route would end up with hundreds of miles of actual track, all of which is laid out in 3 dimensions with elevation and banking taken into account. Then you have all the junctions, switches, signalling, pathing etc
I'm not sure if SCS make their junctions work appropriately, but even if they did the signalling on a railway system is more difficult to implement than on a road network where for the most part one set of signals doesn't talk to another a mile up the road, as well as things like shunting and call on signals, feathers and gallery boxes etc etc

 

Please beware this kind of infromation is totaly wrong... TSW has a lot more console players and ATS/ETS dind't have this playerbase. Its written so many times.....

For me a reduction of price isn't any evidence there is a new game upcoming. This is quite normal in summer period.... the weather creates less interest in gaming.

 

True, I forgot about this. Still, DTG once stated that PC/Xbox/PS is roughly 33%/33%/33% equally divided, I don't know how PC players are divided into Steam vs. Epic. If we'd assume it's 50%/50% for Steam vs. Epic we could multiply the Steam stats by 6 to compare them with ETS2/ATS which seems to be exclusive to Steam. That still leaves TSW3 player numbers below that of ATS/ETS2.

But I admit that comparing them isn't as easy. Let's not forget that in this topic, I wasn't the first person to compare the two studios behind these games

 

I believe the quote predates the Epic release

 

Thats pure youre speculation without any formal information this kind of speculation is useless

 

A lot of the point of forums (especially related to games) is speculation...

 

I believe I'm pretty transparent in where I speculate, do guesses or make assumptions. Either way, this whole thing is going off-topic more than I wanted. All I wanted to point out is that we can't just assume that something that works for SCS is also going to work for DTG, when another user came up with a comparison between the two developers.

 

One thing to remember re. core game updates is that the TSW2-->TSW3 update required every existing DLC to be recooked by DTG and redownloaded by the players (was it the same for TSW2020-->TSW2?). This is quickly going to become unmanageable. At some point DTG is going to have to either cut loose a number of old DLCs rather than making them compatible or find a core/DLC format that allows DLCs to be used by future TSW versions as-is. I assume the latter would be preferable to everyone.

 

If I remember correctly, it took several month post-release to make 'preserved collection' available from TSW2020 into TSW2. I doubt the TSW2 release went as they originally planned.

I believe I'm not the only one who thinks that building up a virtual collection of trains and routes is a huge part of the hobby. Not having content carried over to future game versions would be a huge downside IMO, and would make me far less likely to invest in expanding my collection.

As far as I'm concerned, preserved collecion isn't negotiable.

 

It was worse... the move from UE4.16 -> UE4.23 caused major issues in the DLC and this is where the preserved collection or special project team was formed, to get those DLC working and then bring them up to TSW2 spec (and further in some cases)
This work is STILL ongoing, if you consider some of the GWE assets are still not available in CC

 

Without stoking the speculation fire too much... DTG noticeably absent from openly commenting in this thread. Obviously they're not going to proclaim TSW4 ahead of an official reveal, but nor have they hastened to post that, "No, TSW4 is not a thing this year", ...

 

Surely because JD will leak TSW4 sooner or later

 

I wonder if this is why streams are infrequent right now, cant leak something if you arent live.

 

Yes all the little clues are starting to add up, what's the cliche about eliminating the impossible leaving the improbable no matter how unlikely?!

 

Same every year now all goes quiet, loose statements about some fixes and then bam! 3 new routes for 39.99 and the latest core download and all the jazz that come with it. Starting to get very predictable....

 

TSW should drop the number system IMO, keep it as TSW2023 and do a free yearly core update

 

I don’t think we would get 3 routes for 39.99 this time…….