When the update to peak forest comes with the class 104 will it fix the bug that causes AI passenger trains to malfunction at rowsley?
I’m really looking forward to the 104 being added to this line. Vintage stuff is as rare as hens teeth in TSW. Hopefully 3rd party devs won’t feel as restricted as DTG in doing older stuff.
Definitely would like more steam for west somerset railway the bigger locomotives can use the flying Scotsman firing physics while the smaller ones use the 4F's both locomotives work brilliantly with auto firing never had a problem the jubilee and 8F work best on manual firing just open the fire box and leave open door and dampeners and your golden throughout the service/ scenario
Would be nice to get some little locos like terriers and panniers, hopefully some 3rd party dev will see the demand is high for steam and take over. Who makes the steam in TSC?
The three main developers for the UK scene are Victory Works, Precision Locomotive Development (formerly Bossman) and Caledonia. Pete at Victory has already expressed his disgust at how DTG have left steam hanging and at one point had a little branch line project underway, apparently now shelved. Bossman supplied the Jubilee and 8F models but appears that was the limit of their involvement leaving physics and sound to DTG. Caledonia is an unknown quantity but as they seem to focus largely on pre-Grouping (1923) prototypes would not appear to fit in with the more modern paradigm. Though I personally would love to see a period Scottish or West Country branch line set in the 1920’s. Matrix Trains aka Gordon Mack also do a superb collection of passenger rolling stock which it would be great to see find its way into TSW, to populate SoS and PFR a little bit more.
Unfortunately because the physics are so broken (so I've heard) steam is sadly a poisoned chalice. I fully understand that players want 100% realism with steam but if the limitations of console don't allow then try to meet halfway as long as it looks right sounds right has real tractive and braking abilities I truly wouldn't mind if firing was like the 4F or Flying Scotsman never had a problem with those two on automatic firing
Really I’d be happy with more steam trains added on the current basis, like you say just a partial reproduction of steam physics for dummies like me would be acceptable, and even now they are fun to drive as long as you lift reality a bit and just enjoy the sights and sounds of those beauties. A nice change from one handled EMU’s too.
Caledonia Works have said they're not interested in doing TSW stuff of any nature because they're not interested in releasing through DTG.
I don't think that it's upset, simply that Caledonia finds it more profitable to self-publish and not have to pay DTG a cut
On the other hand, a potentially larger market in TSW (assuming a Utopia where DTG have fixed steam) could more than offset the royalties to DTG and Steam. And as regards TSC, I rarely buy direct from third parties. Much prefer to keep everything under the Steam banner where the content is always available if I need to download again, painless install and last but not least if the content turns out to be LOVE, within two hours I can get my money back.
I'm thinking of getting a gaming laptop but there's the whole lark of what year train simulator do I buy (preferably something with decent steam locomotive content and auto firing along with scenario planner) and how long will the laptop be relevant for till I need to update the hardware
I think there are a lot of reasons why steam has failed. Blaming consoles is a funny one. But seriously, DTG is the only one to blame here. Not that the "end of steam" for tsw is bad enough, DTG tried to silently sweep it under the carpet. It was the pressure from the community, especially here in the forum, that we eventually got an answer. It was then "discussed" in the stream.... Well it was more like 30sec in a 2h Stream : "yeah we're done with it, thanks, next topic". I found the way they handled that situation very poorly. At sadly, that wasn't the only time when stuff like this happend. I cant really see why consoles would have a bad impact on steam when it was really an underwhelming and poorly implementation of Steam engines.
…there definitely is NO problem running steam loco’s on console. The controller is largely set the same as for diesel/elec. (i.e. very easy to operate), the loco’s run beautifully, the wheel-slip is incredibly modelled ! …yeh there’s a few bugs (4F absent fireman, Jubilee whistle steam thru cab !) such a shame we won’t see the likes of 9F, Castle, Hall, Britannia etc.
Outside the silent locomotive hauled AI trains there's not much wrong I've seen personally. But I'm still hopeful as not everyone will have the money to afford a decent PC build for the steam locomotive content on train simulator
for me if the class 104 come for peak forest thre is chance that we get new Timetable for the route a timetable in the 60s (1965) for me it could be nice if we can choose btw a timetable in steam era and a timetable in BR blue era
…still reckon the lines saviour would be the Midland Pullman (if it’s licenceable), though the interior would be a challenge to model !
Yes that is the fix I am hoping for most when the class 104 pack comes out, I am not very hopeful though.
The 45 we already have but I'm guessing the interior for such a train would need sprucing up quite a bit the blue Pullman definitely looks nice
I think I read somewhere ( it may have been Matt ) that the Class 104 was the only thing that is coming. No changes or improvements to the route and no additional locos are envisaged.
Main challenge with the (proper) Blue Pullman would be doing the sounds. I have heard, anecdotally, that they sounded a bit like a more silenced MTU HST power car but that would need verifying. While there is some archive footage dotted about, even where that has sound you don’t know if the editor didn’t just dub something over previously silent footage. But if all we are getting (if/when it appears) is the Class 104 plus a couple of wagons then this is yet another route DTG have swept off to the abandonment dustbin.
What would be a good addition would be some livestock wagons and closed vans. then there could be some interesting freight scenarios. The most annoying bit regarding steam is the almost constant blow-off from the safety valves. Surely there could be some tweak made to the physics model (a feedback loop, perhaps?) that could keep them under control...
Such a tweak would be sacrificing realism because DTG can't be bothered to keep their promises and finish steam. The steam locos blow off all the time because the auto-fireman prioritises generating steam at all times.
While the safety valves going off constantly is a little annoying at times it's much better now they are significantly quieter. It makes driving a steam locomotive much easier as it means the power is usually there when you need it
…it’s a shame because the route itself (buildings, landscape & railway ephemera etc.) have been beautifully modelled & detailed. The Devs team at DTG have clearly spent a lot of time & care to achieve all of this. If it didn’t sell well initially maybe we need a ‘Diesel Legend’s’ pack similar to the Class 52 maybe using Green Peaks (with names). Surely there’s enough of us to make this profitable for DTG & would maybe encourage people to buy the route. Thanks Pinzadave for the ‘40
So... There is a web page that I have just found, that gives some background to locomotive power - https://advanced-steam.org/5at/technical-terms/steam-loco-definitions/power-and-indicator-diagrams/ Further pages on that site provide additional factors that can be used to produce a suitable equation that can be applied to each engine, and then used to control the fireman. It's been a few decades since I've had to use any applied maths, so I'd have to study it for a bit. What does DTG use for the current operational settings?
I love it for freight. Have to build my own, but agreed it IS very scenic and I love the period theme. You can even put some diesel on it (sacrilege I know) if running it in the 1960s timeframe. Same with SoS. All that work on a route just to let it rot? Sad...
No, that's all irrelevant and wouldn't help DTG tune the auto-fireman. The problem is that the auto-fireman doesn't - and can't, really - know about the route, the schedule, and most importantly how the driver is planning to drive.
Unfortunately diesel freight is slightly better than steam with the silent AI locomotive hauled trains still a thing still have hope it'll be fixed at some point. I'd love to do custom steam consist but non of the vacuum braked wagons don't have a loaded option
All scraped 50 years ago. There is a effort to rebuild one and they have an engine but it is a long way off it will ever happen
I'm not designing an AI fireman, I'm thinking of an approach that assists the driver. This is a game after all, perfection here may not be necessary to achieve a more lifelike operation. Like many projects the 80:20 rule would have to apply. The auto fireman has to respond to the actions of the driver, who would be "thinking and acting ahead", this could then be linked to or adapted from the principles used in the German AFB to manage the firing in up/ down hill areas. it is not a perfect solution, if the driver gets it wrong, then so does the fireman, but it might be better than the Full Steam Ahead approach that we have now. thinking about it a bit more. the fireman could "know" the route, the gradients and route speeds are shown when you press the<esc> key. Parameters can be created to take into account rate of steam increase/ decrease and then be used to adjust the firing ahead of the change; driver throttle/ brake actions would overlay on this to cover for signal aspects.
That would be a lot of work to code and could easily go wrong, all to solve a problem that would be better fixed by implementing manual firing.
