Could You Pay Dovetail To Make A Specific Route? If So Which One.

Hello again Everyone!
Bit of a random one but always been wanting to ask just didn't know if I be embarrassed but going to go ahead anyway.
Lets say you won lots of money from Something or just wealthy.
Your a big train enthusiast and want a route and train that isn't in the game. You have the Money to Pay for the research, development, travel and as well as the Staff Wages. I am always curious how much it would Cost to make a route- Obviously changes depending on the Length and that.
I will go First. London Euston to Crewe Via Lichfield Trent Valley and Birmingham New Street.
Reason being, think it be nice to have the Fast Lines then the slow Lines. Gives tones of Variety
Remember I am just being Theoretically here.
Would Dovetail ever accept Money for a specific route if it covered all costs?

 

If I had that much money I'd rather hire a couple people and do it myself.

But to answer the q, Durham Coast with a 142 or 156, 66/6 and Metrocar. Preferably prior to 2010 resignalling. Could do EWS 60/37 twin pack and Grand Central HST as extra dlcs

 

Ahahah I want to assume your route be a Arriva route with a Pacer with ATS hahah. Fair enough mate.

 

I'd either like to see Waterloo to Southampton with Guildford and Hampton Court included OR Waterloo to Portsmouth with all the commuter routes to Guildford. I feel like it would need the 4CIG, 4VEP and 455 as fundamental trains. If we are going to Southampton, as addons it would be nice to see the 33 (from WSR) and the 50 (new) hauling MK2s for fast services to Basingstoke and beyond. I'd love to see 4REPs hauling 4TCs for some of the Weymouth services. Otherwise if it's going to Portsmouth I'd be happy with just the 33. Ideally I'd love for JT to do this though as I know they would give the route the justice it deserves.

 

I have already said that I stop buying any routes from DTG, only from third-party developers

 

Probably the full line from London Waterloo to Weymouth in a 2017 South West Trains setting, with the included rolling stock being the class 444, 450, 455 and 456.

If I won a lot, and I mean a LOT of money, then I'd also pay for a backdated extension of Southeastern Highspeed set in 2003-2007.
The HS1 line could be extended through the channel tunnel to Brussels, and the Chatham mainline would be extended to London Victoria and also the link to London Waterloo. This would allow the player to drive a full Eurostar service from Waterloo to Brussels. As well as the class 373 TMST, there would need to be backdated variants of the class 465 and 375, as well as a class 423 4-VEP. I'm not sure what was running around Brussles at the time. This route would allow for great variety on the Chatham mainline in a transition period from slam-door to Electrostar.

Edit: The ICE 3M and TGV duplex could be layered in since both fit the time period.

 

If i have the money for this i would pay for italy routes

 

Aberdeen to Inverness
Aberdeen to Dundee
Both can be any time period,
Would also like a steam rail tour pack for one these routes

 

Ooooooh this'll make some good conversation!

I'd ask them to make all the railways near my house. One of my favourite things is to see how similar TSW is to the real world, and it would be so cool to have my local lines represented!

Aside from that rather boring answer, I'd ask for them to make the entire London Underground. All of it. Can you imagine finishing a Central Line run at Ealing Broadway and starting another run on the District Line, abandoning the service early and visiting Heathrow on the Piccadilly? That'd be awesome! You could even try visiting every line on the Underground as fast as you can!

 

North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Pickering to Whitby, fully stocked with every steam locomotive appearing at this year's steam gala, all locos built and operating to the same level of exacting detail as the 101 expert.

 

Isnt this just another "what routes would you like to see in TSW" thread?

 

Aren't they already making NYMR

 

That route is currently in development actually, so you're getting 50% of that wish

As for my choice, it's in my signature. Severn Valley Railway under GWR or BR ownership, it adds something we've yet to see in TSW... A heritage line in it's heyday.

 

I wouldn't pay them to make a route.

I'd pay them to fix issues with existing routes. At the moment, that doesn't bring them any money, but chances are they'd do it if it was funded by someone else.

 

That's good news, is that a PC Editor project like Mildmay was?

 

I would create my own train sim and not on Unreal engine, open for mods (really), with dlss etc.

But to answer the question:
Basel - Frankfurt
Berlin Leipzig
Hamburg Hannover
Paris - Strasbourg
Paris - Bordeaux

 

The Woodhead route.

Then slap some yellow paint on the Class 77, call it an NS1500, and make another Netherlands DLC.

DTG love selling reskins, so this is an easy win.

 

Yeah, it's being made by another solo dev. If you search the PC Editor section of the forums, you should be able to find some WIP shots before the developer was picked up by DTG's third party programme. We probably won't see more updates until the route is properly announced now.

 

A Southern Region route during the transition phase between Slamdoors EMUs (MK1 VEPs, CIGs, CEPs) and modern sliding door EMUs (can utilise the existing 375, 377 and the 465/9s as they were refurbished in that condition to replace VEPs on Tonbridge Wells runs etc... ). Charing Cross to Hasting , ex NSE, ex Connex South Eastern, South Eastern Trains... A right mix of BR and privatisation liveries.

Or Charing Cross to Ramsgate set in 1990. CEPs, CIGs, VEPs, EPBs... Network SouthEast at its peak. Lovely jubbly.

 

I’d simply say yes. Like any individual that has the money can approach a company if you cover all costs. So a large agreement my need to be drawn up. Meaning legal fees. So I’d assume if you reassured a company in covering all cost and who would keep all profits from the sale of a game or DLC you paid for. Who owns the rights etc.

DTG has approached outside companies yet DTG is a company too. So it’s not a case of money really but rather a company is willing to do something which has no benefits to them as company making small profit.

Anyway gotta go.
Good Question tho
✌

 

I’d probably pay JT to do the full Cumbrian Coast line, Carlisle right through to Carnforth. Any era.

 

I wouldn't, I'd a third company like Just Trains to make an English Riviera route from Paignton to Exeter with the branch to Exmouth added...as well as the mainline to Plymouth.

Set in the mid 1980s with new build class 50 and a rebuilt HST with Valenta engine. I'd pay them whatever they needed and wait as long as necessary.

 

Early privatisation era could do with some love, fully acknowledging it's a licensing minefield. Some cracking liveries from that time.





Edit to add images.

 

Short answer to the OP is”no”. What’s really being suggested here is some sort of crowd funding or Kickstarter but none of that will help if DTG don’t have the resources in place to build it. Or worse outsource to a certain company with a less than stellar reputation for their route building output. Besides, with this proposition we don’t know exactly how much the typical TSW route with one new train costs to make, even before taking LAMPOIL into consideration. £10k, £20k, £50k, £100k? So ringing up Matt and offering £200 for them to build Fort William to Mallaig with a Class 27 (or Class 156), is likely to have him chuckling down the phone at you. And I don’t think the train sim community is awash with millionaire philanthropists who would chuck that kind of money at DTG. The closest that came was the former CEO instructing them to make SoS to relive the glory days of steam at Crewe. And we know how that turned out…

 

Totally understand you Vern, respect everyone for not being rude to me in this thread. It was just out of curiosity and see if they would and what people would want. Ofc unlikely would
happen but I find it interesting what people think.

 

I would love to invest lots of money personally in just one long route end to end.

 

If I had that much cash I would build my own railway and drive real trains.
But seriously I wouldn't be approaching dtg to build my route. Just trains or incredible trains would get the job.
And Ap if they wanted to make the rolling stock.
The route would definitely be uk slam door era. Which route though? I would need a few months to think about this.

 

You'll be wanting this then:

https://www.justtrains.net/contact-us

 

How about £50 for Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town?

C'mon DTG, snap my hand off

 

Hire some of the more proven third party devs but retain majority control over the project myself.. but I’d ensure there was a full route, such as a TPX Liverpool - Manchester - Leeds - York - Hull with loops, branches and depots.. nothing short of a full scale route network! Have a 7 day timetable (so a Mon-Fri, a Sat and a Sun), have time-of-the-day environmental differences, like amounts of people at stations, traffic on roads and workers on the ground (overnight closures) etc.. I’d ensure 100% of the possible stock was included, as well as departmental stuff, OHLE test trains, tamper machines and those long welded rail trains.. not to mention custom ‘spawn’ points, alongside the many many ones I’ve hand picked (choice of platform spawns at stations, junctions, sidings, depots, crossings and famous locations). I’d be open and communicative with the forum, taking criticisms and suggestions on board in the build up to release. I’d have collectibles that make a difference to the overall route, with scenery tiles that add gameplay to the route (such as a bus crash on a bridge with a TSR, or a unit tagged and sprayed by a graffiti crew). Stations would have all the generic and overplayed announcements.. all trains would have perfect audio and will come with dynamic ‘wear and tear’ (some units would be filthy, worn or newly refurbished) oh.. and if I haven’t already got carried away enough, maybe just maybe I’d open a server that allowed (through appropriate guidelines) an online multiplayer, purely to share sessions with other dedicated simmers!

I’ll take a breath now!

 

The more proven path would be to invest in a current set up with a realistic objective. Or start a new outfit which would need someone able to build in UE. I skimmed the editor once just looking at timetable mode. It's tricky from my observations but maybe not to hard for those out there who can use it.

Gave up development back in MSTS days. One moan about TSW is that it's too hard to develop for. Train simming could be the new model train hobby but making the editors so hard to use prevents that. No developer seems to want to tap into that world (apart from trainz). If I said what do people want as the next UK route the answers would be massively different which means many are dissatisfied when another modern EMU route arrives.

 

I'd pay JT to make Peterborough to York, in the late 70s. That would be the dream for me, would be a real throwback.

 

Deltic heaven with early HST sets. Where do I pay?

 

TSC was sort of okay but suffered from a limited terrain palette (unless you create your own, requiring a degree in... something) and even more limited tools to apply the texture. No copy or paste like Trainz and, also unlike Trainz not very easy to blend and mix. 3D modelling also a challenge if you want your own custom structures (Trainz has the huge resources of the DLS) as even though you can reference objects from owned DLC, these are often made as a complete unit (e.g. station complex) thus rendering useless for home hobby build. Then there's the Steam Workshop hurdle - you can only upload routes that rely on built in or Steam distributed assets. So not even any custom, station signs. Of course there are third party sites, but that tends to be erratic these days as they come and go (UK Trainsim was and remains a huge loss to community content).

 

I actually won the lottery Saturday so any devs care to take my 30 quid and build Dartford to cannon st with a 376 please? I'll throw in another 30 if you can do the Elizabeth line too.

 

At this point do they need more money, or new "people"........ seems the current "people" at the top aren't interested in quality.

 

I feel the community is still awash with talent. The mods on TS Community site are testament to that. Ability though to change certain things is frustrating. The fact a smaller train isn't able to sub for a longer one makes no sense. Along with virtually no routes or rolling stock being produced. It's 100% payware on that front.

 

I would probably request Southeastern Network Part 2. Charing Cross to Dover Priory with the Medway Valley Line included. That would give two new route hopping locations in Ashford and Strood. I’d prefer it to be set in 1990s but would probably make sense to have it in modern times so it fits well with the existing SEHS DLC.

 

Berlin to Potsdam with S-Bahn, RB, RE, IC, ICE services:
All photos taken by me



BML remastered with the 700:

 

If I won the lotto, Id commission some one to build me the Hull to Scarborough line, it probably wouldn't have mass appeal but I have found memories growing up on the line as my Grandparents brought Speeton station from British Rail when it closed in 1970, and I regularly used to play on the then fenced off platform as a young child..

Actually the last passenger train called at Speeton in 1979 a good number of years after closure to pick up my Grandparents so they could visit their first grandchild in hospital as they were snowed in and couldn't drive in to Bridlington to get the train to Beverley, that grandchild was me.

 

Have you ever asked this question then directly?. You would know for certain rather then only having probabilities.
You can start saving now lol.

 

What if you could build all that yourself?. Like a big model set that you add by DLCs, Houses, Trees, furniture etc. All that you have now for model building but in a game?. You could add what you like and build what you like.

Your own model railway with no high cost and no space needed.
So the question I would be asking is not what route they build for use but a game where we can build for ourselves.
We need a game that offers what modelling can so we have that freedom to build what you desire.

A Game not a route. A game can cover many if it’s free aspect, a route may only be wanted by one but not commercially viable for all.
Hence you may never see them unless you can build them yourself.

Could DTG make a game like this. I’m going to email Hornby to see if they would be interested in switching markets. From Modelling to Game development in what they know best. Modelling so one can make what they want in game.
How much money would they make by selling DLC content in the console market.

I will make a fool of myself and go ask them right now.

 

I wonder how much the research and development costs all in? For a uk based route anyway.

 

It depends on whether the team need to travel or not. I mean basic costs are going to be for travel and lodging if away for a couple of days. Decent hotel/motel in the UK these days probably looking at £80 per person a night. No one wants to stay in a seedy B&B these days with shagged out (literally) beds and smelling of 3 day old kitchen grease. So a typical research trip for two or three people likely to have a £1000 budget minimum. So assuming DTG’s take from a £30 route is £20 and £3 to £4 of that is allocated to the R&D budget then you need to sell nearly 300 copies just to cover those costs.

 

Don't forget pub costs. That's gotta push the bill close to 5k! I was thinking 15-20k including all the overheads. Wages, rent, taxes etc.

 

Cost, glad you brought that up. It’s why many things cost so much. UK rail infrastructure for example, look at how vast that is.
The cost of running it all, is why prices can be high. The higher a company cost are then this is off set by passing those expenses on to customers.

Every single penny spent all adds up.
✌

 

I managed a high number of staff, we cap them by having expenses. If they go over those expenses then they cover those expenses themselves. I worked as a traffic planner not keeping a budget aside for staff drinking.
No cost there. 1 Pint only if there was.

 

Again cost if you can arrange a set price for rooms. So Holiday inns across the Uk I I got on business rates. We have driver needing accommodations and they needed the business. So I could get a room with Meal and Breakfast for as low as 15 quid a night.
30 tops.

 

I’ve just won a fiver on a scratchcard. Can I commission Rivet to make a route?

 

ok i would pay dovetail like about £35.99 to make the Budapest Metro M3 line