I agree the sound on the 150 and the West Cornwall scenery is appalling. St. Ives looks like it was, in 1750 and Penzance is designed in a forest. Taking on the Bernina Express route one of the most scenic routes in the world is not what I wanted to see from Rivet. The design of WCL and others they have produced are very poor, so just wish this route would have been made by someone else. I am not confident that Rivet can make a route as special as this, hope DTG won’t allow them to release it, until it looks acceptable and accurate. I don’t want to see a lot of criticism of their shoddy, shambolic work again for this route and sincerely hope that they produce a more than decent acceptable design. If they do, then there will be no excuse that they can revisit their previously released appalling routes and correct all the deficiencies.
Well ISTR Rivet are at least loosely associated with Thomson who did the TSC version, so hopefully the two will liaise closely and any suitable buildings etc from the TSC route can be reused simplifying the building process.
Well the announcements sound like that because doing the real thing requires licenses rivet could not obtain so they had to create their own recordings
So for me: Until now they not convinced me very much in any of their products for TSW. The Edinburgh - Glasgow was ok (and their "best") but that was it. Their first mountain-route Arosa was far beyond good, especially at mountain scenery. That it can be better done has already shown other DLC´s (although it wasn't the Alps). Now with TSW4 the level goes higher as seen in DLC Vorarlberg. A single Preview-Picture dont say much about rest of route, because of course they took the best places, best daylight, ..... Sound of their rolling stock has also been rather disappointing so far, especially at Arosa. With Bernina I would assume it could bring us the Allegra. If so, and they do again bad sound into it, they can keep it themselves even if the Bernina would be graphically a great route. When a train makes no fun to drive why I should need a route for them? And Bernina would be the only infact of the bad mountain scenery in Arosa. And then the route length may make a decision for me clearly: some shorter stuff than that who they brought into TS, then it´s NO. Generally I dont understand why they bring us in TSW again a route (weather if from DTG or Rivet, or another) that we already have in TSC. OK - they have already some information about the route so it needs less researching, people would like to see those iconic one in TSW especially those who dont have TSC, but for those who have it, why I should by it "again" if train sounds becoming bad once more (which is unfortunately what I have to assume based on my experience so far), or route has same or less length than in TSC, or. .... (and to remember: in TS the route was splitted in two parts!). There are so many beautiful and interesting routes in Switzerland beyond the Rhätische Bahn - in narrow gauge and standard gauge. And still in TSW too, no route like the Gornergratbahn, Matterhorn-Gotthardbahn, or Wengernalpbahn exists. That would be some inovation (with a superb made landscape of course) (but I think we will never see them in any simulation)
If they only created routes never done before, almost none of the routes would be in tsw. There would only be a couple and that's it. Licensing is also a thing
Also ruling out every TSC Route for a new TSW route would mean almost no UK mainline route could be made anymore, as most of them exist in their entirety or mostly in TSC. Austria has also a pretty big coverage of pricipal routes, funnily enough germany not so, there is a map visualizing all TSC routes somewhere
Cop out from Rivet as they are only doing a third of the Bernina express. Not starting at Chur, not even starting at St. Moritz starting at Ospizo, which dramatically shortens the route and they will still charge £30. Rivet, please give up route designing as we never get value for money .
The Bernina railway line is only 38 miles, and they aren't doing all of it? That's got to be a joke right?
Wait till you hear about tsc and their splitting of the Bernina Express, finally a TSW route thats longer than its TSC counterpart. And itll still be a 1h30-40 ride, long enough for me
Is there a link to the source for the screenshots and route info that has suddenly appeared? A partial representation of the Bernina Line is not going to be a viable option and starting at Ospizio is literally in the middle of nowhere. They really need to go back to the drawing board on this. Certainly needs to come through to Pontresina at which point you might as well go the extra few km into St Moritz. But this is a bit like starting the Inverness to Kyle line at Achanalt!
I just copied my post from the roadmap, so forgive me my "lazyness": The route starts basicly in the middle of the bernina line. Again a route with nonsensical endpoints, why cut off the 20km to st.moritz? Or did i miss something? Ill pass on this one. (Even the announcement of the route is creating annoyance at my side. Thats not a solid reason to spend money at. Clearly not the news i was looking forward to)
Isn't Ospizio Bernina the highest point on the line, and the main tourist attraction? If so, I understand why they chose that as an end point, if you have to split the line somewhere...
And you miss the spectacular climb up through Morteratsch (sp). Yes we know how hard the TSW Editor is to use but Rivet route builders are accomplished at this sort of thing and I just can't begin to imagine what thought process went on when this was whiteboarded. Obviously they wanted to focus on the descent into Italy but frankly it's a very poor show for a commercial project. No purchase for me certainly not on release or at full price, Jasper_Rivet care to explain why the decision was taken to start at this location rather than St Moritz or at least Pontresina, the latter being a focal point for transfer of freight wagons and through passenger coaches to the AC RhB network.
This is probably the most scenic section. However, it does seem to take a really long time to complete which isn't what im really interested in
I'm not worried about the time, I'm worried about a route being so short it's lacking variety. It's already just going to be a single train type. You can have partial runs like Antelope Valley line has, we also have the ability to save. I routinely do 4-8 hour long flights in MSFS, so timing doesn't concern me in the slightest.
I know what you meant. I also don’t understand why the route isn’t continued to at least Pontresina- but they will have their reasons. I just think that to many people here are just looking for something to justify that they are not buying the route. Just give it a chance and take a look at the stream in a few weeks or let Rivet explain some things! At the moment it looks like the biggest fails from Arosa are not done again and if that’s not cool, then I don’t know what is.
I mean, why are they owed a chance? It's a business, they are asking for money. Their previous track record has been bad to put it mildly. Nothing about this route really inspires a want to buy it. It might have great visuals, but a short route length, with a single train, with rivets train physics and audio is a really, really hard sell. Like today, they just announced a livery and scenario pack costing £9.99 for the Scotsrail express route. The route that still has bugs, and hands down the worst train audio of any train in TSW.
I really can't see a logical reason not to go to Pontresina at least. It sounds like someone came up with the idea for the route, given a time deadline and came up with this bizarre start point. And unlike TSC where they split the route at Poschiavo (and I believe the two can be joined in a mod route) we know quite nicely the chances of a TSW route getting extended once released are next to nowhere. IMHO they should pull the route back and spend the extra time needed to run it through to Ponty or SM and we can probably forgive any little flaws it might otherwise have. At this point in TSW's existence there is no excuse for truncated routes especially on such a short stretch of line (where much of the distance is the line folding back on itself which reduces the scenery mileage anyway). The journey time should not be an issue either, as noted we have the save game which works well enough, or as stated if need be some services could have been split A - B at Alp Grum or Posh.
Man, the screenshots look pretty lovely. Really happy that River upped their distant mountain scenery. But... another incomplete line, really? Should have really gone all the way with this one. Making it to Chur would have been perfect, considering we already have Chur from Arosalinie. I get that the current seciton will be already a 1,5h runtime, but so what? Is it a law that every TSW run has to be between 1-2 hour services? Also while I understand that the Allegra was widely requested, I just can't be interested in a modern EMU. I wonder if the GE4/4 will be driveable on the route? Also while I am happy to see Arosalinie gets some love as well with the new livery+freight car pack, it is kinda annoying that assumably it will be a TSW4 DLC only, despite the route being what, TSW2? And these freight cars were leaked way back in the TSW2 times... Also, why does it have to be a separated timetable again? Couldn't it work under all in one, do we really need 3 timetables for the same route?
7 years into the franchise and we still get routes with one train that are cut out in the middle, even if their overall distance would be managable. And the overall feeling of 80% good, 20% bad and the missing 20% would lead to an overall really good product yet are denied again and again also isn't as funny anymore as it used to be. While it was a learning process in the first years it's a different matter nowadays. Quick money ftw. On the other hand the Allegra looks really great. Also the screens of Ospizio and Tirano Show a lovely and accurate scenery - despite not being there IRL for about 15 years I recognized many things immediately. I genuienly hope Italy isn't represented by a Lamborghini- style acceleration here (those are often AWD, hence I didn't refer to Ferrari ) and there are no shopping cart sounds. And I dream about the Arosa wagons getting an update here too although it's about as realistic as my local club getting Bundesliga champions this year. I still hope the RhB gets a proper representation in TSW and haven't lost hope it may be this time... let's see whats still to come.
It's the same for me as well. I have the time to play routes for a long time. Time isn't a concern. If a player doesn't have the time to complete the full journey, they can save the game and come back to it later just like in literally any other game. But the fact that we don't get the full 38 miles make this route an easy pass. I don't need to give a chance to Rivet Games either. They have shown that their DLC's are a miss more times than not. They don't fix issues with previous routes and a short route with 1 train which I bet they will sell for $30-40 isn't worth it in my opinion. We are 7 years into tsw and we shouldn't be getting routes that aren't long in length cut back to places that make no sense
Let me be clear.... The route the most interesting from Ospizio to Tirano..... From St Moritz to Ospizio is boring...
That pack is a little low on content if you ask me. New liveries of the same loco and a single freight car. And I doubt the timetable really offers a different experience than the current 2 we already have.
Boring? My man, we are talking about a train simulator, the whole thing is boring. A section being less interesting is not an excuse to cut the route in half. It's still something, especially since the route could use more freight stock, since the sidings are there. But I just can't wrap my head around it being a separate timetable.
I hate it when I have to criticize at this early time and I would rather be hyped, but if even the first screenshots aren't really convincing, what will the rest be like? Will the sound be convincing this time? Unfortunately, this is also a matter of opinion, depending on what your expectations are. The screenshots don't "blow me away": Let's just take the (strangely chosen and why?) end point of the route: bare mountains (yes, I know that no trees grow there anymore) and otherwise a rather dead area (although there is probably a lot going on here for tourists). As a comparison, a real picture of the area. Then a likely highlight of the route and what's on here? Constantly repeating buildings with strange black roofs, boring and empty track areas / textures and a lack of mountains in the background. Real and I don't see a single house with a red or black roof. Speaking of sound: This is what it has to sound like and with so many curves there has to be a lot of creaking and crunching. Can Rivet offer us this?
You have a point but thats the limitation of a game! The houses are in every route a point of critism but it always the same point... Never it will realistic. And the hills in the background could be a limitation as well due the performance. Things in the distence always go away if you far enough away... Thats how the rendering is working with load and unload parts
Strange decision to cut the route. And the use of a modern EMU over classic traction is quite a turn-off for me, personally.
Hardly. Pontresina is a major depot on the Bernina Line and an interchange node. The climb up on to the high moorland after Morteratsch is just as spectacular as any other section of the line and features some stiff gradients. You are missing a significant portion of the experience omitting this part. I love the Bernina Line and have travelled over it several times, though not for about 20 years. Once again, Jasper_Rivet please reconsder this strange decision and give us the entire route yo enjoy.
Nope, unfortunately not. The Berninabahn has a different voltage system than the rest of the RhB network. That’s why the only trains you see there in reality are the Algra we are getting and the ABe4/4 III. The later one has been the standard loco for the Berninaexpress but will turn out of service this year afaik. My guess is we will see this one in a loco add on with the Berninaexpress wagons in a few months- maybe for 20€ with the additional kilometres to St. Moritz?
Wide and undetailed right of ways around the tracks must be one of the worst thing in TSW route building. Why is it always so wide on pretty much every route?
It’s 2.5hrs because the absolute maximum speed is 65km/h. Not because it’s long. Track chainage is 61km from Tirano to St Moritz and scenery length is less as the route is so indirect.
You don't have to explain to me how the principles of rendering work. Well, I can only partially agree with that. It is clear that houses are never depicted 100 percent realistically, especially the mass objects in the background. I don't expect that at all. But if a place looks completely different in terms of color scheme than in reality, then that is not a limitation of the game. You could also put more effort into placing different types of houses. This ist something I noticed on the left Rhine Route too, where there were only one or two different types of old town houses. It's logical that not all the mountains can be shown in the background. But Vorarlberg in particular has shown what is currently possible. Maybe we'll be really surprised. But I'm not hyped at this moment. Unlike the JustTrains route, it'll probably be great, as will the pacer's sound.
So it seems like the part of the route they chose is at least a good one, and the services are still relatively long. Hopefully the end station has something cool to offer like an accessible path to the lake or something.
Huh, really? I've been there just this year and I think it's quite the opposite. The most interesting part of the route, in my opinion, is from Alp Grüm (or Poschiavo) to Pontresina, and they've cut most of that. Past Ospizio Bernina you have the lovely high altitude drive along the lakes, the cable car stations Bernina Diavolezza and Bernina Lagalb, the alpine pastures, the beautiful descent towards Morteratsch, larch forests and one of the most interesting stations on the line, Pontresina. Sadly, they cut exactly the part I've been looking forward to the most and I'm quite disappointed. And frankly, the least spectacular part of the line is Poschiavo to Tirano, which is like half of what we're getting. I'd much much rather axe that part if I had to. Otherwise, the scenery looks great in the screenshots. It's a very very tough route to get right and they've done great from what I can see. I'm also very excited to hear the announcements, them being in three languages really reflect the interesting culture of this area. rip Pontresina never in TSW
Well it's nice with something modern and besides the Rivet gameplay pack for Arosa will reuse classic traction
so, I did some research. The baggage coach we are getting with the route, is actually not allowed on the Bernina line ... Will check the other coach types tomorrow.
