It's crazy, the lack of TSC being in Dovetail Direct this year is somewhat concerning. While I like TSW5, it seems all the focus is on TSW while TSC gathers dust. Hopefully I am incorrect on this and I hope there is work for TSC going on in the background but for there to be complete silence for months on TSC is not good. A little update from the devs on the current status of TSC would be great. At this rate, is TSW considered the true successor to TSC?
It is a development and commercial successor for DTG - but as a player, it's not, at least for me. After seven years, it's clear the game won't ever offer the variety and creative freedom TSC offers. It's an offspring, but not successor. The UE object oriented blueprint system shows its limitations for simulators (though it spawned the finest loco to ever be simulated in detail, the Expert DB BR 101). And stuff like rising development costs and more and more troubles with licensing add to the fact that TSC will stay the most versatile railway sim ever.
As far as the future of TSC is concerned, I really hope that the game is supported for as long as possible and when that is no longer possible, hopefully it will be allowed to go open source.
Well it has been recompiled on latest VisualC++, the old versions had no trouble with newer OS, no doubt it will be future compatible. As for Open Source, I doubt it because as long as DTG can sell their DLC, they won't give the code (and DRM protection) away.
Open source would be great. Custom forks with certain changes and improvements could be done. As for DRM and such thing it still could be closed.
I would like the same. At least give us an update to what is happening with TSC. The silence is deafening.
I second that. I have also spent 1000s of $$ in TSC I wish that these guys would reply regarding this issue. And let us know what is happening.
It would be really good if they did that. Releasing it as open source is always a sign of good will. There is so much content that has been released in the past 18 years. Its a pity to write it all off like that.
It really depends on Focus Entertainment's long term expectations. I sincerely doubt if DTG is autonomous. When profitability declines, things get trimmed and costs cut. The decision to drop route and asset development and use only 3rd party products (3PP) is telling. All that is left is QC of 3rd party content and core game management. By not updating the status it only, justifiably and unnecessarily, adds to speculation as to viability.
I think Focus are only interested in the yearly financial report. Are DTG working profitably or not? If yes, let them do. If not, call a meeting with DTG's CEO who will act accordingly to save his behind after being presented with the company goals. I feel as if someone evaluated the core udpate process and asked "How much longer will this be going on? What's our benefit here for 1,000-something players? Stop immediately and return to TSW, you're not making us money with TSC core updates, that's what our DLC library is already for!" The Gaming Industry is tough. Even indie giants like Codemasters eventually gave in to... EA.
I was discussing this lack of.. actually point blank refusal of communication regarding TSC from anyone within DTG with my Son who works within the games industry he even knows people from DTG and when I brought up the possibility of a gag order within DTG regarding anything TSC he was saying that it is a very real and plausible thing* and happens all the time within the industry. Due to the length of time since any communication regarding updates and the betas not fulfilling the ambitions they were hoped to achieve I think it's reasonably safe to assume we won't see any further development of TSC for the foreseeable future and certainly not before all hands have stopped bailing water from the rapidly sinking TitanicSinkingWoes5 simulator. Whether it's cost viability or the game has simply turned into a virtual version of Kerplunk where removing one straw (bug) causes a cascade failure of many other things who knows. All I know is the silence is deafening and speaks volumes. Edit for clarity: * When I say very real and plausible I mean within the industry in general, not that it's a real thing happening at DTG right now, just clarifying that my Son and I's conversation was purely speculative and neither of us know the current situation within DTG.
and not even a teaser........ Just get my turntables working again............ Last communication from DTG Steve June 27, 2024?
Almost 6 months since we've heard something official from the devs regarding the development updates with TSC. What are the current plans for TSC? I remember reading in the post for the development update that the devs were far from done with TSC and that we'd see further updates and improvements made to TSC but with no new announcements, it almost feels like TSC has been abandoned. Crazy because one of it's built in features, headlight flares is currently in a partially broken state. Why has it been so long since we've gotten any updates. I am sure the devs have seen the posts made here so why is there no response? Could there be big work being done in the background or has TSC been forgotten about in favor for TSW being the new and only train simulator that the focus is now on. I sure hope that is not the case
Literally everything you've said and asked has already been covered in this thread, only DTG can answer for definite though, and like I said before it looks like they're on a gag order. Ironic that Steve Dark has gone... well... Dark. Both myself and Spikee1975 have reverted back to v75.8a and honestly it's the best place to be right now.
Will be sad if TSC is mothballed. Still seeing bug reports in the technical forum and as noted we still have the headlights on AI oncoming trains only switching on at the last moment. The editor processes still need some love, as I noted in another thread just touching the track on a cloned route immediately broke each and every junction. Guess we will never see better terrain painting and blending tools at this point. In all honesty I think DTG are in a pickle for programmers who can understand and work with the source code and this is also evident over in TSW where “5” is in a bit of a state with all sorts of bugs, long standing and new, left untouched. Almost complete radio silence there too apart from a few bland platitudes uttered by the marketing and PR department.
I think the only one without a "gag order" would be CEO Mr. Rissik. DTG Jamie maybe you could ask him to release a statement which you yourself cannot make. For helping ourselves, as mentioned rolling back to v75.8a is the way to go. I have extensively tested all versions and this is the best overall. The easiest way is to download that depot and just copy it to your RailWorks folder, then reinstall APSWEP if you own that. The depot overwrites no Content or Assets except for Kuju\RailSimulatorCore. No need to delete files from there beforehand, as some repaints install InputMappers to RSCore, and other 3rd party DLC from RSSLO also hides some files in there.
Another disturbing thought I've had, and again this is pure musings and speculation.. One thing that would make sense for all of this... behaviour from DTG is if.. Steve Dark has left DTG. Think about the profound effect that would have on us, knowing that the one person employed by DTG who has the knowledge and enthusiasm to fix and enhance the performance in the game is no longer there. See this is what happens when you don't communicate with us DTG, wild speculations and hearsay, not a healthy community environment really is it...
Well if you go to the Dovetail Home Page and look under the "Our People" section there are precious few "coal face" personnel shown, mainly marketing and admin. Even Matt P doesn't get a mention as the EP of TSW - does TSC even have a dedicated Executive Producer these days? Obviously the day to day nitty gritty of hire and fire is an internal matter but it is slightly worrying when a game developer with 4 major products in their catalogue (TSW, TSC, Catan and the fishing games) doesn't give any prominence to the people actually working on the stuff. Or is is all just being outsourced to third parties in Eastern Europe and Asia?
Question for Spikee. I am about to install 75.8 sometime... I will be following the https://forums.dovetailgames.com/th...ly-install-old-ts-versions-next-to-tsc.71041/ guide as well. Which manifest equates to 75.8?
Code: download_depot 24010 24009 6124394136512064068 (15 Nov 2023 build) It will take a while (loose files are transferred 10x slower than .ap archives due to a large amount of parity checks and Steam will not allow full bandwidth for this command). After that, find it in steamapps\content\. You can just copy it over to your game installation and reinstall APSWEP afterwards. Again, don't delete anything as some 3rd party assets may have placed their DRM files in your RailWorks folders (TrainworX .bat files, JustTrains/RWAustria "font" dummy files and RSSLO .txt files).
Everything in your "Content" folder will remain untouched, as well as everything in "Assets" except for "Kuju\RailSimulatorCore" (which you actually do not need to copy, you'll just get the old menu shunting sounds back). Everything else must be overwritten. I have exchanged the background to my favourite official backdrop from TS 2016. (Place a 1920x1080 jpg in data\textures\frontend\background.jpg).
If that's not good enough reason to copy RailSimulatorCore over I don't know what is.. (I kept the original audio file when it changed anyway though).
I'm not wasting any resources so it's off all the time. Listening to music or podcasts in the background anyway.
Do I understand it correctly? You just copy the downloaded 75.8 it into your ordinary ...\steamapps\common\railworks folder and overwrite everything? No need to create a separate game install and Steam won't update it to 77.6b?
Sometimes Steam does a verification, so... Typically people create a full copy of their RailWorks folders to ensure a bunch of things. Stability. That said, unless they change the file structure, you can keep copying it. If you are really fancy, you could create a symbolic link for the Asset & Content folders and share it between the installs. Or the poor man's link, move it each time to whichever install you plan to play.
Yep. It will only update once a verification is triggered. Then you just copy over the depot again, 10 seconds and it's done (plus reinstalling APWSEP for the scripts and shaders again). You can of course make a separate installation out of Steam's reach, as described in the guide. For example, I am using a tiny v72.3b installation which just holds the required assets for the AHS Ashford - Lille line and that route folder, as its 9000 and 373's scripts didn't survive the core code overhaul and the dev shut down the site. Whenever some reports issues I can quickly copy over a route and its assets there to check if it's a core issue, or if it always was as reported.
Thanks for the replies. Already have a "restore" folder to quickly in case of a verification. But I haven't hade any problems with those since I started to use a bat-file with a del "verify_cache_key" in to start TSC with (I'm pretty sure that came from Spikee1975).
It's sad, while I also like TSW, I am annoyed because it feels like DTG forgot about TSC, it's like it's vaporware, on a shelf gathering dust
I definitely hope DTG didn't forget about TSC. If they have stopped development of the core, I am sure DTG would have made the announcement official by now. Remaining optimistic and hoping 2025 brings something new for TSC. The naming convention change from TSC to TSC2024 leads me to think we will soon enough get a TSC2025, which calls for optimizations to the core and other improvements to the innards.
Three things I'd like to see fixed as of the current things we've got access to: the flares issue, not being able to add trains into portals ( to spawn from portals ) and the signal issues.
Expect that they don't. There's more chances that development on a TSW follower (aka TS3) has started. Enjoy all the content that's out there waiting to be discovered. Roll back to v75.8a, but do not expect anything from DTG, to save yourselves from disappointments. My friend Coasty is using a separate v72.3b installation when making his workshop scenarios that need portal spawning (still compatible).
Do you know if there is a video tutorial on how to downgrade TSC from v77.6 to 75.8? I tried following the instructions that are linked above in a previous post. When downloading the depot ID, another installation of TSC appears on my boot drive but shows as V77.6 when I open it
Make sure to copy RailWorks\steam_appid.txt to any other location you want to run it from. Steam is looking for this file to identify the game, if it doesn't find it, it launches the game from its known location. I have just downloaded the depot and copied it over (except the Assets folder) to my full game installation, there's no need for me to keep 77.6b. Then reinstall the APSWEP for the script and shaders again.
Sounds good, thanks for letting me know. I hope my question is not crazy but what is APSWEP and how do you reinstall it? Lol, other than installing mods, I am somewhat new to manipulating or altering the files for TSC
It's the AP Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack, a de facto standard nowadays as it massively improves the odd old lighting via its own superior skydome and shader replacements, and gives you a different sky each time you fire up the game with the Clouds EP.
Gotcha, thanks for letting me know, I ran the executable for that mod a while back and must say it definitely improves the ambience and immersion of the routes. I reinstalled TSC yesterday due to some issues with other mods causing erors and made sure to make a backup of the assets folder incase TSC gives errors with the mods, so for now, running TSC in vanilla mode without the mods
Spikee this is one for you. Regarding headlight distance issues in the non beta version, because this was done as a core game change is there any way to find the line of code that caused this and correct it. The beta still shows the headlights correctly, however the turntable issue makes it a no starter for me. Could this be in Railworks/dev/scripts/engine scripts.
Agreed, there has to be a line of code somewhere in the files that changed the distance in which the headlight flares are visible. If it is in fact a line of code, the devs should have done an update by now. Hopefully one of the devs can chime in because they have been silent for months regarding the status of 78.1. I am sure one of the devs most likely have seen this thread but I am curious why none of them respond or let us know what is going on with TSC
No. It's in GameManagerVC64.dll, which is the game. You cannot change it unless you uncompile the whole thing which is illegal (and you won't understand it as uncompiled code has no comments - it's not just an overseeable Lua script where you could figure out yourself what does what, it's complex C++ code ). Just download v75.8a which doesn't have these issues and works perfectly with AP weather and turntables as well as SteamSoundsSupreme route signalling. Download depot, copy over (yes to overwrite!) and enjoy the best version. Noone here can change DTG's stubbornness and ignorance. I'm rather helping myself and enjoy the game instead of wasting any more time with highly unreliable DTG staff. "We're looking into it" and never seen again.
