Enough Is Enough!!!

Just to let you know, the Red Light / Save bug is alive and well on Tharandter Rampe going back to Jan 2022 (although the game bug itself was already reported in TSW 2020). I could put it on those dedicated threads too but, you know - like to contribute here lol

 

I don't think anyone is underestimating the potential of both Simrail and Train Planet, but the latter has already been unofficially touted as a direct competitor to TSW and when you look at the bigger picture it is kind of clear that it could take years before that becomes some sort of reality. Again though, Train Planet's biggest issue is Unity. There's no denying that the game looks pretty tidy with Ultra this and Ultra that settings but take a look GTUK's stream to see exactly what happens when those settings are switched to a more console appropriate 'medium' quality.
Lighting quality takes an immediate hit, tree rendering is all over the place, detail draw distances are shockingly low (some of the platform sign details draw in quite literally as you pass them at a few mph) and pop-in is once again the order of the day. So yeah, TSW without the extra features.

What makes things worse though is once the game is given those 'living world' assets, things could potentially get even worse (take a look at HDC on XBox to see exactly what happens when the Unity ask becomes too great)....and you only have to look at the likes of Fernbus, On The Road and a whole bunch of other demanding games to realise that no amount of optimisation will get around Unity's limitations.

Much as I would love to see a genuine alternative to TSW I really can't see it being Train Planet. A welcome distraction for sure but (in a similar manner to the majority of those who go off and play Simrail on PC) invariably you'll just end up returning to what you know best in the vain hope that these 'lesser' games will prompt a change of direction from DTG.

A vicious circle really, isn't it?

 

But hey, with every decision they make, DTG is trying to help us break that circle. I still haven't bought TSW4 and am currently enjoying my first-ever CP77 playthrough while eagerly awaiting Ty2 from SR to see how they handle steam.

 

Thank goodness your opinion is just that. Your opinion.

 

That train planet looks the nuts!!!!! 1000% better than DTG tsw. As a console player, I cant experience it like pc players.. but the detail!!!

 

Seriously? I just bought this in the Steam sale, but even at that price I can't be doing with that.

 

The only way DTG/Focus Entertainment are going to address in game issues is if us punters STOP paying for inferior products! Simple really!

 

Or they go out of business and tsw no longer exists considering the sentiment is that almost all the products are inferior

 

We do not owe them a living and at £30 a shot for a route DLC, I don't see a need to treat this like a charity where the poor dears will go out of business if the acolytes desert the church or get more selective about what they buy. They are quick enough to cut corners or pull tricks like abandoning steam traction without the courtesy of a full official explanation as to why.

And news flash, TSW ain't the only rodeo in town these days.

 

Or they produce higher quality products which aren't full of missing gaps and shortcuts and are actually worth the price increase *cough* BPO *cough* and as a result have a happier growing customer base that aren't complaining about the same bugs for a year straight.

I haven't and don't intend to get TSW4 which is a pain because I want to support JT for the way they actually did the game justice.

As said they aren't a charity, they've treated their customers awfully over the last year or so, selling products with features that never came (literally all of steam content) and they haven't even been able to talk to us about it and tell us why and apologise for the mess they've made.

 

The higher quality a product is, the more likely people are to purchase it. Its as simple as that.

You're more likely to go out of business if the quality of your product is poor, rather than if you take the time to make it good.

 

ooooh, nice

when you mention regulations and such... a nice recent example happened when they were doing an upgrade on Bratislava - Galanta - Nové Zámky corridor here in Slovakia... it is pretty much flat and mostly straight, so perfect for like 200 kmh speeds... but to upgrade it into that shape, they would have to eliminate grade crossings (for under or overpasses), install safety/sound barriers at places, and whats propably the biggest hurdle - they would have to equip the line and locos with ETCS (here, any locos/lines that go 160 or above have to be ETCS), which would cost a LOT... not to mention that except a few rental Vectrons no carrier in Slovakia has stock capable of over 160 (and very few locos capable of even 160)... so what they did was give the tracks some love and repair what they could and upgraded it into 140 kmh, which is still nice and decent (87mph) (Vectrons are allowed to go 150 kmh, which is a bit over 93 mph, in case they need to cut their delays)

anyway, I admire Austria greatly for what they are doing right now, and their plans into the future... I mean, framework deals for 540 Siemens Mireos, over 20 Stadler Kiss 200 trains, and probably some more Vectrons and such to come, many corridors being upgraded to 140, 160 or 200 kmh (eliminating grade crossings on pretty much any upgraded or new line as a standard), Semmering Tunnel being put into service in just a couple yrs, Brenner Base Tunnel making huge strides, Koralm Bahn being like halfway done (half of it being already in regular and highspeed operation, the other expected to gradually open service between 2025 - 2027)... putting ETCS where they can (including Vienna Stammstrecke; also noticed they are going to lenghten Handelskai hub platforms to almost twice the length, allowing for either longer trains or even two trains into the station)... almost if they wanted to get to Swiss level of awesomeness in leaps ))

 

Couldn't have put it better myself…well said!
It’s a shame that the DTG fanboy’s can’t see further than their noses!

 

Appreciate the support!

Despite appearances I quite enjoy TSW and have actually been playing it almost exclusively the last few evenings, either taking lucky dip on quick play or catching up with some of my favourite content.

But the management of the franchise at the moment has reached an all time low, whether it’s the decision with regard to steam traction which no-one in a senior position has yet had the guts to come forward to publicly explain and apologise. Low quality releases like Maintalbahn, their tacit support for Rivet’s half a route with Bernina Line, the uninspiring short one handle train Goblin Line and of course the sea chest full of broken promises and outstanding fixes yet to be delivered. If anyone is contributing to the demise of TSW it’s the management and directorship at DTG, not the customer base who is eager to support quality content and actual commitment to making the product the best it can be. TSW is not some freemium five minute distraction game on the iPad, it’s a significant and ongoing investment for those of us who have bought into it.

 

Yes, I have spent almost £2000 on the base game(s) & DLC’s since the first version of TSW according to Steam! I now consider every purchase of content from DTG as most are of inferior quality…a game has to be more than flashy graphics nowadays!
DTG may think that they are ‘open’ with their monthly roadmap streams but when the answers to most questions are ‘we can’t talk about that at the the moment’ its pointless.
I know that there are a lot of people that are happy with how the game is right now but for me the time is coming to move away from the game unless there are serious improvements. We have all had a chance to complete this years survey and I seriously hope DTG take notice of the answers therein.

 

The US freight probably the most challenging in TSW because of the length and tonnage you got to master gettig started and the proper braking whengoing down mountain grades stopping etc people need to give it a try challenge your self if your up to it ...even its fustrated me at time s when ive had problems setting the train up esp the IFC set up screens on the newer US locos ..sometimes the braking fustrates me when i have hard time getting the timing right either brake too soon too late use too much or not enough braking slowly gotten better but still dont got it all downpatt yet

 

TSW is pretty much in the bin now for me, Writing stuff for TSC again and enjoying it far more. That's despite the aged graphics and dubious dispatching and predictability of Scenarios. Good that rivals are on the horizon. DTG had to realise they would not be the only shown in town for ever. The fire and forget policy from one theme to another and mixed communications will haunt them if another product arrives. I must note that the stuff I am doing in TSC mainly used 3rd party products and DTGs core game is the only part they play.

 

Hey, I have an opinion as well… if you don’t like US content, then just DON’T BUY IT. Problem solved.

 

I don’t!!

 

TSW and flashy graphics? Maybe it was the case at the time of TSW2020.
Now, except for train models maybe, the rest of the surrounding looks like taken straight from Playstation 3 era. Game is graphically outdated as well.

 

This particular thread is a breath of fresh air, and I'm happy to know I'm not the only one who feels like their requests are falling on deaf ears. Dovetail runs their company like a political campaign. Promise everything people want in the next term, then not delivering on that and somehow making it worse. Then doing it all again next election day.

 

Good for you, so why do you want them to stop developing American content? If you don’t buy it, it should not be a problem for you then.

 

And just when you’re feeling better disposed towards TSW, it bites you on the backside… again.

Running from a save game on Vorarlberg last night ran into a red light lock up at Feldkirch. Yeah I know save game, yada yada yada, but this was all supposed to have been fixed. And of course as the run was in Journey mode, DTG’s solution of trying to delete errant trains to unlock the signalling doesn’t work as some bright spark decided not allowed in Journey.

Really beginning to think £58 for Zusi 3 (or hopefully £45 if I can hold out for the Easter sale) might be quite a good deal after all. And thoughts of purchasing the Salzburg to Rosenheim route are diminishing, especially after watching a clip of the DB 111 in Z3 and it sounds nothing like a 103 or 110.

 

Wait, in TSW they reused 110 sounds again for this?

 

Btw this:

from the Rosenheim update sounds so dishonest these days. When was "highest quality experience for our players" in consideration in the last year? If this was now said with the upcoming release after all the mess that got through recently, the route is probably in shambles.

 

It could simply be smoke and mirrors in a bid to walk back on 10% discounted Steam preorders?

 

I think that would be a bit too much self-inflicted damage for 10 % more money from a couple of people.

 

No, not in total. These sounds are new:

 

This is DTG though lol.

 

Don’t know yet but there is a suspicion. Guess we will find out in a week or two. One of the things that’s keeping me from a Day One purchase.

Of course we don’t know how accurate the Zusi sounds are either, need to track down some footage of the real thing on YT.

 

As said in my post above, some sounds are definitely new, some sounds are - i guess - reused.

 

I have a new look for the new year lol

 

The $64k question then being how well they have been mixed to emulate the 111. If TSG have done the audio, there’s a chance it will be acceptable. DTG in house based on recent efforts, Class 700, Azuma etc., don’t hold out much hope.

 

Isn't tomorrow a preview stream? Then we'll know

 

Who has done the 103? Wasn't it him as well?

 

It does fit the self-congratulatory vibe of their streams. Remember, it's not a lie... if you believe it

 

I don't think Maik was involved in the 193 afaik.

 

Br 103, not Br 193 (Vectron)

 

Oh sorry, misread it. Yeah 103 was by Maik.

 

Good point! It was fairly widely asserted the 103 was largely a clone of the 110, with the intrusive and constant fan blower kind of covering over the rest of the sound.

I do wonder though with the route being pulled from pre-sale what state things are in with it, whether the route itself or the train elements.

At the moment my finger is poised over the Zusi 3 buy button, just need the final push to make me part with £58.

 

I just made a run with 111 in Zusi to see, and aside of the very satisfying thumps from all the levers, there is nothing special about its sound there, nothing easily recognizable or special from other einheitslok era machines. And at speed it sounds like a vacuum cleaner with recognizable loop every three seconds. So I wouldn't call Zusi all-mighty either.
That said, it's fun as hell to drive it there!

 

Zusi 3 does look interesting, but I fear I wouldn't have the time to properly dive in.

TSW ticks a lot of boxes for me. As long as the safety systems work as they should and the scenery is okay, I'm good. (On most routes, as long as you don't leave the cab, the scenery is okay.)

The pricing is another matter though. There are a lot of brand new games you could buy for the price of 1 route, and they're likely far more polished than TSW DLC.

 

83 pages so far . They should make this into a film !
It really does show the state of DTG that this thread has reached this with ease . A sad state of affairs

 

Yes. From videos I've watched, zusi looks complicated and unless you know what you're doing, you're going to get punished a lot by the safety systems and stuff which is why I don't plan on buying it. There is an easy mode but idk how much easier it gets. It's a focus on more hardcore simulation than casual play. Of course I don't want to spend $70 on a sim I might not enjoy

 

Honestly, you need at least some basic german to play Zusi. Not as much for the game itself anymore, but all the supporting forums, tips or apps that surround it are in german only. http://www.zusidatenbank.de/ for one, the main source that will help you pick a service, there is no easy menu in the game. In zusi, you need to first select a timetable (from around 90 of them) that determine place and period you will play in, and only then you have some selection of particular trains with only their number and traction vehicle displayed until you open each of them.
But if you are willing to invest time into learning it, you get more than enough content for your 60 euros, there is a lot of different routes to play including a giant Hamburg-Kassel spanning half of Germany, new ones come for free, and all that just for price of two TSW dlcs.

 

Zusi 3 added to my collection.

Wish me luck!

 

I thought that "complicated" was supposed to be an asset within a good simulator.

 

Get that chaos/irregularities slider turned up! It's great for throwing curve balls....

 

Good documentation is needed for good complexity, and that seems to be lacking in Zusi.

 

Makes me wish we had a Zusi 3 type sim featuring US routes. I'd probably snap it up.