So i'll just get right into it. What Dovetail adds in TSW 2020... #1 Improved Graphics #2 Improved tutorials that teach you how to master the rails #3 Custom dioramas (wow really) #4 Action Point scoring that rewards accuracy #5 Post-scenario performance analysis A brand-new USA west coast route will also be launching on August 15th! Available to "BUY" individually or as part of a special Digital Deluxe Edition meaning lets see how much money do you have in your wallets. I say this all because nothing is changing in game it's the same old same thing as Train Simulator 2019 is doing. I love this post it truly shows how obtuse DTG really is. I really Love how they listen to us players what we want in game. So I'll do it myself and ask the question to a VOTE. If you read this far do yourself a favor and make a vote here "Lets show them all what we want" Would you rather see one of these listings below be added now or would you rather wait for Dovetails TSW 2020 Edition for stuff No one asked for ever. The FANS List #1 Multiplayer online #2 Editor Mode Route Builder #3 Free Roam #4 Steam Locomotives #5 Mod Support NONE of this is in game why ? TSW is know different than Train Simulator just prettier Graphics sad.Reasons why I pretty much stopped playing.DTG is like hmm lets make another map DLC freight NO I think players would like another passenger route yeah that's what they want should we make a poll and ask them NO that's how I see TDGs
I don't want anything in your poll. Just a better variety of routes from different countries, preferably New Zealand.
But how would that work? I mean, you need signals and points to be set for you to go a certain way, but what happens to AI trains then? Suppose I want to take a train from Old Oak Common to Paddington and then out to Reading. I will have to set a signal to clear myself onto the main line. But if an AI train wants to use that block, what does it do? Services have routes programmed for them in advance, so how do they interact with me manually changing things as I move around? Or are you saying that in free roam mode there would be no other traffic on the line?
It's not meant to simulate real life, so you have to suspend your working knowledge of how railways work in practice and just "allow" for the fact that a random train is doing random things whilst everything else works around it
I understand that. I'm just trying to get an idea of how the game would play while you're doing this. Are you saying you'd be free to pass signals at danger, without it ending the service, or a TPWS grid stopping the train? Or would you be able to set routes for yourself via something that looks like a signaller's console? How would AI trains 'work around' what you're doing? Would the AI dispatcher recognise that you've set a certain signal, and re-set it to allow the timetabled train to pass after you've gone? I mean, in a sense you can 'free roam' right now, in that you can board any train and drive it, and set switches in the yard, but you can't change a mainline switch or signal. So it sounds like what you're really asking for is basically... signalling?
I think "Free Roam" is just yourself with free use of all points and some locomotives, coaches and freight parked up here and there for you to use. There would be no AI traffic since I don't think the system could cope, it would probably grind to a halt. So it's go anywhere do what you want mode, which is probably ok for awhile but I think may eventually get a little boring once you've "explored" the various branch lines and sidings that you normally can't access. Most likely it would work best on a route with plenty of freight yards.
Free roam would be your able to do whatever you want. If you want to slam a acs-64 at 100mph into a CSX gp38-2 on track typically unaccesse able then do that it's literally in the name "free roam."
Yes, I think we all sort of intuitively understand what's meant by 'free roam'. I didn't put the original question very clearly. What we're trying to figure out is how the game mechanics of free roam would work, if we were to make specific proposals for DTG. There are two main issues that occur to me right away: AI trains, and signals. They're interlinked, of course. I just learned that there used to be a 'free roam' mode in TS1, though it's been phased out since, and MattP explains how it worked here: Essentially, my two questions are addressed like this: AI trains. There are no AI trains. Signals. All signals are green. So I'm guessing that for people who want free roam, it's roughly this kind of thing that they're talking about. And a 'free roam' scenario would be pre-programmed by the route designer to include a start point, starting loco/consist, bits of stock lying around on the route, and so on, to make it interesting. There are a couple of other questions that follow on from this. Can you run any loco/stock on any route, or are you restricted to only to what's 'allowed' in the current game? And what happens if you drive off the edge of the map? I don't know the internal technical details, but I would make a fairly confident guess that the way the game is currently implemented, you'd be restricted to the choice of locos/stock currently available on a given route, just as you are for scenarios and services. This is set by DTG based on whether a certain loco would be 'appropriate' for the time period/location (no class 166 on NTP, for example, because they didn't exist in the Eighties), and also whether the loco would physically work (no electric locos on non-electrified routes, for example; that would be silly). As for driving off the edge of the map, you can do that right now, by riding an AI train. What happens is that the train de-spawns as it leaves the map, depositing you on foot on the track (or in an interestingly glitchy place out of bounds). I think this would be quite a nice feature, especially on routes with lots of branches. However, TSW routes are largely of the "A to B" type, so free roam wouldn't really open up access to anything interesting that you couldn't see otherwise. And for me a lot of the fun of the game is seeing and interacting with AI trains. So I think we're unlikely to see this in TSW 2021 or beyond. Here's a slightly different idea, though: "choose your own adventure" scenarios. Imagine taking any existing scenario or service on a route, and customising it: adding or removing stops, picking up or dropping off cars, loading or unloading. Or create a new scenario: pick your loco, start point, and destination, and add stops as necessary. It would fit in with the existing service timetable, so AI trains would continue to run as they do now, with the dispatcher recalculating routes as necessary. This would go some way towards fulfilling what people want from the editor, I think.
For the AI train part it would be logical to have the engines and cars spawn in yards without ai though that would be disappointing.The signals would be green as well. Though the rest of your points are logical so I'm not sure how free roam would work.
"Free Roam" is a type of scenario available with most routes in Train Simulator. Here's its description from the TS2019 User Guide: "These scenarios are for free exploration of a route. They normally feature several locomotives in the vicinity of the camera when loaded up, allowing a choice of trains, by clicking on a locomotive to use it." I've only used this scenario type to check routes for defects as a favor to friends. Typically, AI-controlled traffic does not exist and all switches are driver-controlled. Essentially, it's for those who just want to drive a train without any instructions, destinations, etc.
I’m going to throw my two cents into this. I do not like that I only get one train line to begin with, and it’s some stupid one in England. I was really hoping for some New England routes, maybe some Boston to NYC, or maybe the T-Line through eastern Massachusetts. Maybe even some cross country AMTRAK. But no, just some crappy England rail service.
Don't know which format you only get one route with but Steam and PS4 you get at least three depending on the package you buy, but don't forget that this is a simulator, and sims generally come with very limited assets with the base package (ie the bit which has the inputs, menus and layouts but no actual content), reliant on expansion packs (or DLC) to provide the actual content.
