I have to ask this question because I’m seeing lots of complaints about performance and I’ve been looking at mildmay videos all evening and the choppy gameplay and other issues is a bit alarming. Are DTG even listening at this point? Doesn’t seem to be much interaction in here? There’s some major bugs that need to be addressed and quickly. Can anyone at DTG put people’s minds at ease over these seemingly core issues?
It doesn't seem like they're listening or even care. I expect the only acknowledgment might be they move this thread to the troubleshooting forum where they ignore it along with all the other threads they move there.
Due to the real world taken priority in 2025, I have done only a small handful of hours on the game and forums and now time is becoming available again I find that the game is still just as choppy as it were when I last played when the whole message of performance is the priority to get fixed thing were being chucked out in their articles, yet literal months later I see no evidence of these fixes.
They are either, aware of the issue, or looking into it. Doesn't ever seem to get any further along than that.
Key issues on Xbox; - Zfighting affecting multiple loco cabs (since tsw 2 rush hour and continuing on new content) - Audio popping on some locos - Blurry textures
I honestly haven’t actually noticed any of this except a tiny bit of blurry textures on ETG but that was probably cause by me having a livery on the class 43 and it shows up as ai layers, this could just be because my Xbox series X is less than a year old or maybe just godly luck, I did have these issues on my old Xbox One S so I don’t know for sure
I would like to see an EP try playing the game only on a Series X for a month with all the DLC applied. Not a dev kit either an actual off the shelf Series X. I guarantee a fix would come quicker. Or he would break and move back to PC before the month was over. In fact all the key employee should try it I'd like to hear their feedback. They obviously don't realize how bad it actually is. I have been a supporter on Xbox since day one and after getting Mannheim that the blurry texture and crappy distant scenery yet again in play on another route. Ive decided to pass on anymore DLC until either A) they fix it. B) at least acknowledge that is the worst the game has ever run on Xbox. And coming from someone who buys everything day one normally that is pretty bad. I have even sent Microsoft a list of bugs that are currently in the game and how long these bugs have been going on as I believe this game currently fails Microsoft Certification standards. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/g.../console-certification-requirements-and-tests Perhaps if they are made aware they could force DTG to fix it or lose certification. But I doubt it. But 6 months in since release and the same issues are still around no closer to being fixed. If they think I will pay for a new version in September with it like this they can keep dreaming i own enough DLC to keep me busy on TSW4 for years still.
What I’d like to come back are the preview streams on console they used to do years back. As it stands, they can just gloss over stuff like blurry textures and crashes on stream when they play on PC. Not so if they actually show on stream. Imagine a Frankfurt - Fulda preview stream on PS5 that showed blurry textures for half the route before crashing approaching Frankfurt. That would have been an honest preview of what to expect on consoles.
Even their PC streams have evidence of poor performance, like the sound squelching when they previewed WCML Over Shap. But instead of meeting the problem head on, the EP seems to have gone into hiding, refusing to read the forums when he should be reading the riot act to the programmers and telling them to get their act together. The Community Managers aren’t doing much better. They should be out on the forums gathering the information, making it clear in no uncertain terms to the EP how the room is being read and coming back with details of the action plan to fix it. Ultimately this wall of silence and denial about the problems won’t help the future of the game. I was probably never going to buy Mildmay anyway due to its electric bus stop nature and curtailment at WJ, but the performance issues sealed that for sure. Ditto Cardiff and the Dutch route. I’m not going to spend £30 a pop on routes that stutter and squelch along. All the above assumes of course there is still much left of the programming and development function for TSW within DTG. I just get the vibe things have been pared to the bone either because TSW is no longer bringing in the expected revenue stream or perhaps due to deployment on other projects. It wouldn’t surprise me in a year or two to see TSW go the way of Flight Sim World, the Fishing games, Catan and TSC. I really don’t want to see that happen as for all the flaws and my whinging I really like TSW and the type of gameplay it brings. But for fudge’s sake Dovetail, sort your software out.
This paragraph caught my eye: "Title Integrity: Users must be able to complete all game modes and the title must provide a consistently playable experience for players. A playable experience varies per title, but generally means no severe drops in frame rate, no freezes, impasses, bugs causing major progression hindrances, or graphical corruptions."
The audio popping is more prevalent with certain locos, example of class 47: Same with z fighting, some locos seem free of it..... whilst others:
The Class 87 on Shap is probably the worst example of the popping/squelching. I really can’t bring myself to play it. Makes me so annoyed after the great work JT did, it’s been butchered by the core issues.
Yep pretty much this is why I've pretty much have stopped playing the game haven't touched it almost 2 months now and see no reason to go back The quality of the add-ons are going down with the amount of bugs and glitches and the price just keeps going up and I'm just not willing to support it anymore I'm hoping either for something to change or for some competition in the train sim market someone who will show customers respect and not continuously jack up prices well having the quality take a downward trend I've also been around this community since the beginning of this game like the very first ones so this means something I would think coming from me
Yup, I already know about this article: It's the one you have to reference when challenging a denied refund. In particularly: " Xbox Quality Standards: Games on Xbox consoles must function correctly across game modes in a variety of scenarios to meet player needs. Title Integrity: Users must be able to complete all game modes and the title must provide a consistently playable experience for players. A playable experience varies per title, but generally means no severe drops in frame rate, no freezes, impasses, bugs causing major progression hindrances, or graphical corruptions."
It's actually your consumer rights page but very few know it exists and generally accept the "refund denied because you've played it" (basically the equivalent of the first - and worst - offer in an insurance/compensation claim) excuse, which is a flimsy fob off anyway because how are you supposed to know if something doesn't work properly without playing it first?!
Sticking their head in the sand seems to be the flavour of the last few months from DTG as if the silence will die down. At this stage, whether they are taking a back seat and not concentrating their resources into the game properly because they are working on the summer release or next title, or they are struggling with mammoth size of the core issues that are proving to be hard to resolve... I don't know. But I assure you one thing whatever they are doing they are only damaging their own image in the long run. I was always a keen supporter of DTG and always defended them, but the last 4 months has just left me disgruntled with the whole game (if you couldn't tell already!).
I grabbed the free TSW 5 starter pack (Xbox series X) but I have only played my back catalogue which all run fine as before. Reading the forums it seems to me all the post TSW 5 releases have had quite a few issues especially core ones. 6 months on the new routes are coming thick and fast but the core issues have not been resolved (yet). There are new routes that I want but I will wait for future sales and by that time hopefully things will be better. If not at least I haven't paid full price. As I mentioned I have plenty of great older routes to keep me occupied.
Well it looks like few of the concerns raised in this and other threads plus the Q&A, were addressed properly in the roadmap. Once again just the pink headphones and overdone marketing fluff to coax more money out of us. I’m not going to declare I’m never buying anything again for TSW, but nor am I rushing to buy any further DLC either. The EP and his cadre of marketeers need to realise failing to address the core issues even barely acknowledge them, is starting to wear thin.
I'm still playing TSW 5. I'm playing the old DLC RSN and MSB. I'm running the handling trains in free mode. It's a lot of fun, planning shifts and not delaying passenger trains. I won't buy any more DLC until the texture bug is fixed. Yesterday I took a picture of an interesting locomotive train. The DB186 is pulling a diesel locomotive of the 742 series.
Can always leave a review on trustpilot. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/dovetailgames.com If the corporations owners see it has bad reviews they'll be encouraged to take action to stay ahead of competitors closing in. I'm not trying to damage Dovetail's reputation, but there's a track record of issues that go unfixed, I'm not even sure opening a tech support ticket fixes anything. I remember problems in TSW2 which I've just moved from that never got resolved. Simple things that can hardly go un noticed, like saving and resuming only for a stack of trains waiting at signals for miles at the end of the route
I would also say Focus Entertainment maybe need to get more hands on, if the TSW project is seen as going adrift.
I play TSW since the very first beginning on Xbox. The GWE route was so stuttering and slow. Now the game is much better. But for the price this company asks for every DLC it should be flawless without all the bugs and frustrations. And why does it take soooo long to make the onboard announcement system work? It should be part of the Simulation after all these years. Tramsim from Viewapp is also a complete mess and crashing all the time. And nobody is even responding from that company. I am running out of patience as a loyal customer. The Dutch route better be good.
I suspect Focus are just looking at financials. I doubt DTG have seen financial losses. At the end of the day you get publishers/devs who care about their reputation & others that don’t. Success for the latter is purely based on revenue streams.
You are probably right there. And if TSW does start to see diminishing returns, whether as a result of core deficiencies, lacklustre DLC or overpricing, all Focus would probably do is pull the plug and send those responsible down the road!
I would say almost half the stream last night was devoted to Q&A particularly about 55 minutes onwards. You can't complain about DTG not listening if you don't even bother to listed to their answers. From the answers it looks like they are trying to devise fixes to go into a patch. Everyone wants a fix ASAP but the worst thing would be to release something that doesn't do enough to fix it or creates new problems. So if you've read or listened to the answers and don't like what they say or they didn't pick your question, that's fine to complain. But to say they're not listening when you don't even check what they've said is not really fair.
I think something similar happened with the Mud/Snowrunner series. They tried to move from Snowrunner to that Expeditions title which didn’t do so well, now Roadcraft is on its way. Focus have their fingers in a lot of pies, from FPS games, to simulations. They’re less bothered about the hobby aspect & more about claiming their little corner of the market. IMO that just means they will be more inclined to push ahead with a casual approach, rather than defining a next generation Train Simulator. I think it’s a theory which correlates with recent patterns in development (excluding third parties).
I think you should take your own advice & listen to the last 12 roadmap streams, or even the 12 before that. You’ll notice some familiar questions & answers.
Haha. I don’t laugh at other’s hardship. It just makes me feel nice knowing that I’m not alone in my frustrations.
I think you need to fully understand the back history of Dovetail Games before casting any aspersions. When it comes to the broken stuff they're world class at talking....but not particularly good at doing. So unless you want to discuss price, release dates or preview stream times then the Q&A bit is just meaningless noise. Oh, by the way. Whilst I'm here I was wondering if the Crayola Crayons team are any closer to fixing the yellow cursor covering the yellow text (making your menu selection impossible to read) on TSW2 menus? After all, you talked about it quite a lot!!
The way I see it is DTG always give the same kind of answers. They seem like politicians at this point and unfortunately you have to take everything said in regards to core issues with a huge slab of salt. The issues raised have been there since at least last summer and numerous updates and patches haven’t fixed them. What confidence can there be that it will get sorted asap if ever?
As I said, if you think the answers are not satisfactory that's fine. Just not a fan of comments saying they're not listening or refusing to read or listen to the answers. If you had a customer saying things like that to you you're far less likely to take them seriously. My experience playing has been that the most significant issues that affect gameplay do eventually get a fix though I accept YMMV on what you deem significant as different things matter more to different players. It seemed clear from the stream that they were taking the blurred texture and passenger issues with appropriate seriousness in order to get a fix asap. It's typically the more minor annoyances that seem to go on forever despite how often they're raised on the forums.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the comments people are saying. DTG have little choice in the matter. If they don't do something about it it might not impact them initially but further down the line it will. Seen it happen a whole bunch of times. Eventually people walk away. Trust is massive in a B2C relationship and it can take some battering before its eroded completely.
In fact look no further than the Fishing or Catan game forums here, to see how quickly stuff gets dropped. Or the adopted City Tram Simulator, from a developer who makes Rivet look like consummate professionals. And while it's ancient history now, don't get me started on how they handled Flight Sim World...
Ah, CTS. If there was an emoji for 'hang your head in shame for foolishly believing that ViewApp had changed their disgraceful attitude towards the consumer' then, erm, I would rather embarrassingly be using it.
