Thoughts On Train Simulator Classic's Current State

Oooooh...touchy. Pardon me for indulging in a little word play.

 

Cor blimey, i've still got a box of ye olde MSTS Addons lying around!

 

So, the new TS 2024 with the core updates is here. The old music from 2014 is back and there have been a couple of tweeks according to the logs. But what was promised over a year ago, was not achieved: no multi-core support, no noticable performance increases and no restructered UI. Was it worth it to stop DLC production for this? In my view a big no. DTG please start making routes again for TS 2024...new DLC is the lifeline of this game and it would also bring in some money for the company.

 

First of all, no one said DTG was done with core updates. Last I remember seeing in Steve's posts, this was to go into 2025.

Second, I can't see DTG going back to creating content in TSC. I honestly can't. I also would love to see them return to making routes in this game, but DTG as a company (think of the company as a separate entity like you or me) has decided that it's best to put TSC in the best state it can be for devs to continue using for their own projects and instead work on TSW projects instead. I disagree with that decision, and feel it's an incredibly wrong decision, but this is a decision they seem to have made.

 

The game has been multi core aware for years, and it's more a function of the operating system than an application...

 

"Do as the Snamor"...

 

Chanson Snamor?

 

It was a Red Dwarf quote, episode is Backwards

 

I only have one thing to say to this.

 

DTG in 2022: Hey everyone, we know updating Train Sim 20xx with a new name every year is really bad so we're stopping it today and calling it Train Sim Classic from now on

DTG in 2024: Welcome to Train Sim Classic 2024 *facepalm*

 

Yep, is great the year is back !

 

"Train Sim Classic 2026: The Ultimate Finale Live From the O2 Arena with Music by the Gratefully Dead"

Obviously, I jest. It would not be the "Ultimate Finale".

 

Except they never said anything of the sort they just changed it with no fuss no bother and no announcement as to their reasons, and they certainly never said the year suffix was "bad"...

Facepalms on you for projecting fiction mate.

 

In fairness, they did wait two years this time!

 

Maybe they got a cease and desist from Coca Cola

 

Of course...keeps it binary y'see

 

I would joke that it's clearly a problem with prime numbers. However, "2023" has six factors: 1, 7, 17, 119, 289, and 2023 itself. Therefore, my joke would have fallen flat.

That said, if we're still versioning the game in 2027 and DTG hates prime numbers, they will not create a version then.

 

Everybody loves primes...Optimus is my favourite

 

Very prime he is. Or it. Whatever.

 

I have updated to TS Classic 2024. I was surprised that the update was only 200mb!!!

It now takes 4 minutes 45 seconds from clicking, play 64bit until the career mode is available and takes 57 seconds to close down.
I know l have a massive amount of content but had hoped this procedure would become a bit quicker.

Also during the start up procedure l received a warning that threw me into panic mode and nearly rebooted my computer.

Steve at DTG, what does this mean and what texture am l missing?

 

This HAS to win the award for biggest “Missing Texture” ever spotted in Train Simulator Classic!! It’s the entire menu screen background that’s missing isn’t it, so it’s covered the entire screen!

 

Blazin, thank you for responding, I assume this is normal on everyones start ups or is it just appearing on mine? As l haven’t a clue, as to what texture I am missing, so will open a ticket with support if it’s just me!!!

 

It’s not happening to me, but I have seen a couple of other reports on various Facebook groups, so you’re not alone. Probably best to raise a ticket anyway.

 

Odd, my update was only 41MB

now my game is pretty much borked.

 

No issues at all on my end!

 

Matt has nothing to do with TS Classic, Steve's the boss here.

Validating your files via Steam will solve this.

 

Just updated here, and taken a couple of my units out and about for test runs. No issues as far as I can see.

Not too shabby this time around.

 

In contrast to others, i would like to have the game core further developed. And then being a paid upgrade. There are so many things that could have been done with “the potential of TS unleashed”. Just imagine having better loading distances etc… I would gladly give a full repurchase price for such an upgrade. In the meantime other developers are still putting dlc on the market, so no problem if DTG didn’t.

 

I too am looking forward for more core improvements but I think locking a major improvement update for the game behind a paywall would be incredibly scummy in my opinion, people already have a sour view of DTG and if they did that it would be even worse off.

 

I don’t know much about games, but doesn’t Fifa20xx always cost money. Or TSWx? If DTC should do so once in the lifespan of TS, so be it. The now canceled “unleashing of TS” was the very thing that was going to futureproof the game. It’s incredibly bad news, and people don’t realise it.

 

Yes the FIFA games cost money each year, and they tend to suck, and everyone is fed up with how they charge such high prices each year. People also complain when a new TSW game comes out; a year after the previous and they have to fork over more money for a barely new game that only came out a year after the previous. It felt like yesterday TSW 3 came out, and now TSW 4 is already here. TSC has never really been like this and is a reason why I’ve always stuck to it.

Also where did you get the message that the core updates / future proofing of TSC is now “cancelled”? It’s still going, this is just another core update of hopefully many more overtime to make the game better. Have I missed something?

 

Read the developer update thoruoghly. Canceled because there is no money to be earned doing it.

 

I know this is a specific German problem, but third parties are not helping with mainline German routes. U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Brockenbahn. Germany has massive holes in it´s network unlike the UK and Austria. Even the Dutch and Eastern Europe have covered alot of mainline stuff through gigantic freeware projects. DTG was the only producer doing routes like Dresden-Leipzig or Karlsruhe-Straßbourg for German TS. You might bring up RSSLO as a counter to this, but they exclusivly do routes in Bavaria. My wish would be for DTG to do some TSW German stuff in TS Classic. They could port over the assets and save some work in this case. TSW has alot of German routes, that would be great to see in TSC.
Germany is lacking big time at the moment considering we are 15 years in to TS history: Hamburg-Berlin, Hannover-Berlin, Hannover-Dortmund, Hannover-Würzburg, Frankfurt-Würzburg-Nürnberg, Offenburg-Freiburg, Dortmund-Bochum-Düsseldorf. Places like the Ruhrgebiet and Stuttgart are in no form present... the list goes on and on. There is no place in TS to run the ICE for 2-3 hours unlike the UK with the entire WCML and ECML covered.

 

Ah I see; thanks for pointing me towards that.
In simple terms for me to understand easier, so am I correct in saying there is a Phase III currently being worked on and will be the next major update?
But from what I hear there was a Phase IV update that was cancelled, something about multi-core was involved. Apologies for my lack of knowledge on developer topics like this but what was Phase IV going to include and what is this “multi-core”?

 

Well it is what it is. DTG new management are driving a new marketing strategy. Since there is a large gripe about not radically changing the ability to run old DLC and also focusing the game controller market into the TSW product we will have to make do with what is provided. On a good note groups of enthusiasts can still band together and fill in the holes in the market. ATS is an example as well as SimTogether. Let us make the most of what we have.
Respectfully

 

I tend to be a cheapskate but I have to admit that without regular DLC sale cuts, there isn't much incentive for DTG to update the core.
Coding people are in high demand, meaning expensive.

I see two huge projects - replacing the UI and parallelizing at least render & update.
I think both of these are required to move forward. The UI is obsolete and the single core calculation (explained yesterday) limits performance levels - what little we gain from hardware smarts we lose to resolution or small bumps in texture fidelity.
And so these tasks are easily in the 100k € range each - who will pay for them?

Review counts are so low on new DLC - I don't know whether AP et al. share their profits with DTG (symbiosis of sorts) but without it, TSC is on its last leg. I mean toe. Nail.

 

Everything in regards to big performance gains is cancelled.

 

Thank you Spikee1975, tried this and unfortunately it still remains. I sure it will change soon, if not l will report it

 

RWA Route will not load in 64 bit. Freezes at loading screen. Loads OK on 32 bit. Logmate shows this. Anyone knows what this means? If it's referring to a D: drive I don't have one on my rig.
2024/05/22 08:01:58.304 - [RunTimeError] - Verify failed:
2024/05/22 08:01:58.304 - [RunTimeError] -
2024/05/22 08:01:58.304 - [RunTimeError] - D:\RGBuild\CoreRelease\Code\DLLs\DataManagement\cBlueprintSet.cpp : 343

 

Maybe hard coded D: drive into RWA script?

 

If you use the console to download a separate install of 24010 - or perhaps even 24009 24010 to get a freshly reset version on a separate install - my understanding is that you can take some of the files from that and replace them into your main install to fix everything. Even so, these are weird issues, and while I have not updated or played yet since yesterday, I may have to learn how to use the Steam Console if this occurs with me.

 

Well that is off the table because DTG assumes we wont pay for it. As i said it’s INCREDIBLY bad news for us. Because without this, what we will get is developers shying away from making DLC. It was now or never if TS was to have a real future, and the ball has been dropped.

I would wow to say that the vast majority WOULD actually pay for a core update. The core has basically been the same for what? 15 years? So this once, people will shell out.

 

Or maybe just make DLC again and earn money.

 

You want new DLC short term, or long term? Without room for improvement in what TS can do, it’s going to fade faster. I, as you, would love to see large amounts of the German Bahnnetz covered. But we WONT get that if TS is not an attractive place to be. And the way to make it more attractive is to “unleash the power”, so we could get better looking textures, better loading distances etc etc etc. Because without that, the capabilities of TS will be forever locked to what we have now, and that will not attract developers of DLC. So focusing on DLC now, instead of substantial core game improvements will achieve the opposite of what both you and i want.

 

Kim Olesen Yeah, I don´t believe there will anymore big changes to TS to be honest. The last year has shown that this update did not deliver most of what was promised. So I would rather see DLC again.

 

In the short term we might get a few. But with no room to grow, no future for TS. Bad news for us all.

 

I think TSC has potential to be fine, between examples like the updated PDL with its quite fantastic scenery and the pretty nice enhancement options like weather, shaders, what have you. And of course there are lots of high quality assets in third party offerings.

So, in my view there is potential for TSC content be great, the compromise is that people with budget gaming equipment should minimize AA and a few effects. My old PC lasting 9 years was quite a stretch and with Win11 becoming the minimum requirement, I don't see much obstacle. I was using 1080p@60 with MSAA, Blazin appears to be using 2160p with SSAA (judging by his smooth OHLE and fences, covers...) and enhancements. The biggest risk is overshooting asset quality - we should just accept being at the limit and design for 60fps with certain settings.

Blazin Do you have the old E18 pack? What happens to you if you look at a proper train, or rather two, with your settings?

 

TS is perfectly fine how it is. I think the death of TS might be staff working on free core updates (making no money for the company) and people losing interest because there is no new DLC. DLC is the lifeline of this type of game.

 

I hope i will be proven wrong.

 

There seems to be a lot of doom and gloom regarding what seems to have been a fairly successful update. No doubt that represents a significant investment by DTG. But then again, perhaps I should not be surprised; some people have been foretelling the demise of this game for the last fifteen years, yet here we are.