Hi Guys and girls, Just wondering would it be an idea to start the day off wih a squeeky clean train as some are driven through a train wash, but as the day goes on your train starts to get dirty. Depending on conditions such as weather and how you drive your train determins how drity your train gets. So, if you drive a high speed train or a commuter train they will get dirty, but it will be different due to speed and freight train would also be different. There are trains that are made to look old or dirty, but it is static. I think also it would be nice to have the ability to make a train look new, service the train. What do you think?
Not a bad idea. I mean in the rally games your car accumulates dirt and even damage. In Farming Simulator, your various equipment gets dirty as you use it and don’t wash it off. Can’t remember if Snowrunner also has dirt gradually clinging to your vehicles and trailers. This actually did come into my mind when playing with the new Mittenwaldbahn. The Krokodil is squeaky clean, like a Fleischmann model straight out the box and almost looks artificial. I guess there might be issues as regards the licence for showing trains covered in grime and filth but it’s a given result of running moving equipment through a natural environment. I mean, you should see the state of my car at the moment (lights and windows excepted) as it’s too cold to hand wash it and the car wash at Sainsbury’s is out of action.
Yes, this is an idea worth looking into, and if DTG could do it, and do it well enough that you can see the grime and brake dust from the shows and or Pads as you see it the "brake dust" build up on car wheels when it has not been washed in some time. You see it more so on Trucks as they go in for service as needed and are washed even less often. Even after a train wash how much really gets washed off on the bogies as opposed to the body?
I'm pretty sure Matt has said that licensors don't want messy trains. Quick forum search shows nothing from him on that, but aeronautic237 thinks he remembers the same from a TSW2 livestream, which would likely be where I got it from also.
That could be it, off-topic brings to mind the LIRRv2 and safety systems, but on the other side of the coin, it's starting to sound like the go-to excuse for what can't be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Indeed, Matt did say on a TSW2 Roadmap livestream that some licensors want to depict their trains as squeaky clean, some are ok with a tiny bit of dirt, and others basically don't care. It's for a similar reason that we get kicked out of a session after passing a red signal or derailing and why TSW crash compilation videos have the possibility to be detrimental to licences. Roadmaps were every fortnight back then so I don't feel like going back through all the livestreams... That said, I do like the suggestion. On an unrelated note, seeing this in my alerts made me feel really really special. Thanks for that!
Would be important though IMO to have dirt gather mainly in places it is prototypical - unsure how they could manage this across the game though. For example, on an LNER 80x you normally only see dirt gathered around the top front (see image) and nosecone, but very rarely on the sides. I have to imagine this is due to where the train wash normally scrubs perhaps. So for me, as I see these trains often, having dirt on the sides would be slightly immersion breaking because they are so shiny irl. (image credit https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/05/lner-agility-trains-and-hitachi-to-collaborate-in-relationship-charter.html&psig=AOvVaw34OZeiL0U8gzW_6vFrsPWd&ust=1739832473430000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCOCBi5ijyYsDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
There’s a difference between filthy dirty and a slight accumulation of “road” dust and grime. The train companies can’t put their heads in the sand and ignore train exteriors don’t stay clean for very long. Even running through a wash plant doesn’t remove all the dirt. Then there’s the faded appearance of the paint and coachwork that inevitably sets in after a few months from new or ex Works. Certainly no reason why the older classic stock in BR etc. livery (for the UK) couldn’t attract a bit of weathering. Wasn’t at all unusual in the summer for the bright yellow ends of locos and units to be covered with a gross fly spatter.
Yeah, I suppose, some racing games are allowed to use shiney new high end supercars and hypercars on the strick condition that their cars are not deformed in anyway including from crashes, thus you only get a scuffed bumper from that 190 mile an hours crash. However, a train getting dirty that will get cleaned at the end of the day anyway? Is that such a big deal? And it could be another part of looking after the trains. Yes, you could have a filty train, but the player could lose operational points for it, so it encourages you to keep your train clean.
Although a nice idea I feel this could be tricky to implement. While I could be proven wrong, I’m fairly sure the majority of the player base often only complete one run / service on a particular loco / route before moving onto another - leaving the difficult decision of whether you opt for an increased / accelerated rate in which dirt appears throughout the service, or opt for a more realistic rate in which it probably wouldn’t be too much different from what it already is. To counteract this - perhaps as part of each livery for each train there could be varying levels of weathering applied, and the game randomly generates which level to apply to each train (AI included) for a more dynamic experience (Similar in a way to which the game currently randomly generates CC liveries) This is obviously dependent on what the licensing / operator’s requests are - as others have mentioned previously, some operators generally wouldn’t want their brand to be perceived as one that doesn’t take care of / clean their stock
The railways are a lot cleaner than they used to be, but still see some really dirty trains on the Southeastern network. Inside and out. If toc's don't want to see dirty trains represented in tsw, perhaps they should keep thier trains clean in rl. It took refurbishment to get rid of the grime inside the 395's!
With regard to how dirty a train would be when you start driving it could either depend on how it would work, you could get a squeeky clean train every time or you could get a random train where it might be clear or not or it could go by the timetable, so you drive a train at 8am in the morning your train is fresh, but if you drive the same train at 4pm it has a lot more dirt on it. Some train companies want their trains to be clean and other companies do not mind, both can still give players a nice varitey to play with. There probably should be an option to switch dirt on and off and probably weathering as well to give plays a choice and also help reduce graphical loading. The varied dirty train option might add a bit more strain on systems instead of the base train having fixed dirt or weathering. It is a further evolution of TSW, but DTG need to have it in writing that they can use dirt on trains or they need to have a conversation with train companies again, this could lead to further conversation about additional routes they want authority to use as the lines of communications are reopened?
