Dovetail Games Ts Classic Update!

Does this mean dx12 experimental is gonna remain experimental for the foreseeable future?

 

This is great to hear, one of my questions for the new update is,

1. Will the headlight flares issue be fixed for the upcoming Train Simulator Classic? It is a bug that was introduced in TSC 2024, (build v77.6b) where headlight flares would turn on a very short distance instead of being visible from far away

2. Will there be updates to the sky textures, silverlining?

3. Will DTG be creating routes again soon for Train Simulator now that there is a joint route in the works?

 

I read between the lines there will be no core updates 'because they break more than they bring', correct? And a complete overhaul isn't commercially viable considering TSW and the console market.

The UK and Germany route seem sensible choices, Konstanz-Villingen is a gem, TSG quality.

Saluda is useless, difficult, slow and incomplete, just included for HIS' reputation as a 'core developer' status I think, and incomparable with the other two.

Amsterdam-Hilversum is like 25Kms, 5 commuter stops or so. But perhaps a kernel which can be extended to Almere-Lelystadt and Amersfoort?

I already have all routes in free or payware, so what's the deal for newcomers exactly, while the subscription model is still being continued?

 

I am really hoping the headlight flares issue has been fixed in the new update

 

If you read the post one more time you will see that there won't be any core update. It's just a name change and a new route bundle.

 

Australia when?

Got my hopes up when I heard a new country was coming to the game!! Can you tell I’m desperate?

In all seriousness thanks for the update and clarification on what is happening with the game. Much appreciated.

 

I saw but I am sure many know the headlight flares issue is a fairly annoying bug, atleast that should be fixed

 

DTG's reasoning for no more core changes is an excuse, nothing more. There's still so much they could do with TS but don't want to, including the UI overhaul that was listed as a potential upgrade by DTG a while back.

As for the routes, three routes doesn't make much sense now. Undoubtedly they'll need to pay the two third party developers for every copy of TSC sold, so they won't be making as much money with this release as they were with the last one. If they were including DTG routes only, they've already made their money on them so they could give away loads of them with the game which would make it a much more compelling package. They did that to an extent last time, but didn't include the extensions they released for the routes that had them. It would have made that package much better.

I don't know why they went with a High Iron route when they could have gone with a route by literally any other third party developer. With that said, the Chatham Main Line is a good choice and Konstanz Villingen is an absolute banger of a route. The Dutch route is interesting - Danny, before he deleted his account, said that DTG were working on a TSC route which was cancelled and he couldn't talk about it. I wonder if that is the route that was announced today? We'll probably never know.

One more thing - the cover art looks really weird to me.

 

not me, is it on all locomotives?

 

Its on everything that uses headlight flares with the "fade end distance" set to a low value. I have always looked at this value as the distance from the loco/train that the flare will stop the fade (from small size to big size) Somehow DTG have used this value as the render end distance.

It could be fixed by editing the fade distance to a much higher value, and change the size of the flare.

 

Not all locomotives but I notice the bug is on most trains that use the headlight flares option. Disabling headlight flares turns off the light completely. Below are trains that have this bug with the headlight flare

- Metro North M8
- Metro North M7
- LIRR M7
- LIRR M3
- Metro North M2
- NJT F40PH
- Amtrak F40PH
- NJT GP40-2
- NJT Arrow III
- Caltrain MP36
- MARC MP36
- NJT Comet IV cab car
- New Haven FL9
- Amtrak P42DC

 

Our dear TSC has officially become abandonware. Sad sad news indeed.

 

I think it's really weird to offer a Dutch route DLC while these have been a big thing you can download for free or barely any money (especially comparing it to your price tags) for literal years. One of the first games I ever watched videos of is either Train Sim 2014 or Train Sim 2015, and trust me, a big majority of these routes were able to be purchased/downloaded.

I actually don't know if TSC is a completely different game, and if most of these routes are even in there, but it's for sure a big slap in the face for people who have offered all these routes for barely any money, if any in the first place for all these years.
I know Zwolle - Groningen sold really well in TSW, so why not just add it to that game? I assume it's because it will take a lot longer to develop because mainly graphics and detail wise it's a lot more work, but it's a disappointing move. Besides, I would rather have quality over quantity, and quantity is what it rather feels like to me. It's like you guys want another Dutch DLC asap. Trust me, we also want another one, but I personally am likely to NOT buy it in TSC as this is the easy 'route' for you to take.

This route could be worked on to bring a new audience to TSC... but I feel like that audience is already there, or at least used to back in the day when you still had TS14, 15, 16 etc. And I don't think people would return if they would suddenly have to pay a lot more for a route which they can also get for cheaper

 

Thanks for breaking flares and just leaving it that way. We really appreciate that.

 

Come on DTG... Make it open source.

 

It's very difficult to release the open-source code, there are 894 DLCs ("steamdb.info") where they can still get some resources, very different from other cases where the open-source code was released.

Grain by grain, the chicken fills its crop.

 

The DLC doesn't need to be made open source (there's not much about them that could be made open-source anyway), just the core game.

 

Decompile parts of the game's core and you'll be in for a surprise. Now imagine the open source code being released.

 

Hey even a fix of the errors in the latest public would be something. Make the signal scripts work again.

 

It would be really great if they can fix what was once working such as signals and headlight flares

 

The point of open sourcing isn't excessive magic, but even small things like adjusting some numbers (flare distance) or refining some error messages can help.

With careful review of changes a trusted collective of the community could gradually improve TSC. There have been several really helpful people, such as Spikee, likely willing to test the newest version.

Just adding a small change every 1-3 months sounds fine. Say, fix headlights first, then update the snowflakes second (trivial but explains the point), and so on. Could also update some content, like fix references in All Aboard content or replace the white doorframe on the Kuju SD40-2. Emphasis on small changes.

 

Eh? Route and scenario DLCs are just BIN files which you can open and modify at will already. Train DLCs are the same for the most part, but any custom scripting will be encrypted in most cases. Not that it matters, because not many people care about DTG Lua scripting from ten years ago.

 

You're not understanding where I'm going with this, there is nothing with lua codes or silly codes in bin, the DLCs on Steam will be exposed with the leak of the open-source code, this is not in the company's interest.

 

You can fix a lot of these yourself by editing the bin files.

 

What an absolute white flag post. After nearly a year of silence, this is what comes out?

Unbelievable. My expectations were low but to simply admit that you’ve stopped working on the core code is one thing; to say you’re doing it as a service to your customers is another. As someone once said, “Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining.”

Looks like the bugs, like the aforementioned glare effects, are here to stay. Looks like the graphics engine, dated at best, is here to stay. Looks the the physics engine, bearing little resemblance to reality (show me how to break a train in half on that upcoming 4% grade and I’ll consider it improved), is here to stay.

What’s the chances I won’t have to modify the scenarios because they’re buggy And have impossible objectives while still adhering to railroading best practices? It’s not zero, but it’s close.

As a long time player, this is heartbreaking. A game like this thrives on a healthy third party ecosystem, but that ecosystem has to have solid, well-maintained, and continuously updated foundation. In transitioning TSC to abandonware, the collapse of that ecosystem is inevitable.

 

dose that mean that since there no core updates public beta forum might be removed.

 

It's not much of an update is it - you've got what you've got, but here's some new stuff to buy. It's really disappointing to see that not only has the beta work been discontinued, but the "reasoning" is that, "yeah, it might break something, stick with the broken thing you've got" is worse.

I was really excited when Steve talked about the opportunities for extending the life and experience of TSC - it very much feels like the rug has been pulled out from under the community

 

I don't recall their being a year where TSC has not been upgraded. I hope the TSC core stream provides some insight to what the future of TSC is looking like

 

Don't hold your breath.

 

It’s very unlikely that their stream will go against what is said in the article. The future is that all development is off.

 

I don't think there's any likelihood of the stream contradicting the announcement. I think that for now at least (and probably for ever) there will be no more DTG development of the core.

If you want your light flares back then revert to any earlier version of TSC.

 

Just edit the headlight blueprints and change the "fade end distance" under the Head light flare component. This will make the flares visible until this value is reached.

TSC didn't get any core updates between 2015 and ~2022, at least no features or bug fixes. I'm glad that DTG took their time to adress some issues after 2023, but the latest public beta has some important fixes that should have been implementet before they end the project.

The signal issue is probably due to the crawling fix, I could live with trains crawling. Its been like this since 2007 and it hasn't prevented people from enjoying the sim. So if they could just revert that, and leave the rest of the fixes in 78.1a I think it would be better.

 

Again, eh? I assume you mean that the content in the DLCs would be made open source, which wasn't part of the equation (but I wouldn't mind seeing the source files for them being released as well).

DTG's 'interests' aren't relevant, because by making the game open source they are relinquishing their exclusive rights to the game entirely. You haven't made your point very clear.

The physics are dependent on what the author of the wagon or locomotive has set up, and the overwhelming majority of the time the core has bugger all to do with it.

Once again, it's dependent on the author, generally not the core.

I don't think TS2017 or TS2018 had any core updates from what I can remember. I could be wrong though.

 

Oh yes it did have core updates. One HUGE one even. The 64bit update for the code.

 

That's true, almost forgot it. Was it in 2019?
But in my opinion the development until 2015 and after 2023 was more active with new features and bugfixes, until it died last year. I'm 100% sure it has to do with the new owners of DTG.

 

Would there happen to be a guide or instructions on how to fix the headlight flare and the end distance. If this does not get fixed, I would like to learn how to fix this myself if possible.

 

TS2019, so late 2018 to be exact. TS2016 did see a UI update but it was minor stuff between those two releases.

 

See message #35. Use notepad or TS-Tools Maybe someone can make a guide to do this. It isn't that hard but you need to be careful and make backups before editing anything.

 

just switch headlight flares off in the settings?
They look bad anyway, the default texture is poor, rendering a circular flare, while most camera lenses produce a star effect flare.
They always render to the same graphical center of screen no matter the angle you look at the approaching train.
Plus, twin sealed beam high intensity headlights, as common in US locomotives, should have two flares, and even higher intensity wide angle ditchlights should have their own flares ....

Like other suggested, just play around with some settings in TS-Tools, and check more refined locomotives from Searchlight Simulations for their interpretation of headlight flares, and you can do away with the RGB pure white DTM seems to favour.

 

I might not be understanding correctly but the problem isn't the appearance of circles but that virtually every loco (except for archaic ones, such as the Virgin HST Buffer) has no headlights until really close. Moderately annoying during the day except the moment it flips in, but distant and even zoomed screenshots are rather weird due to it.

In the night, it's worse. Driving on straight track and suddenly a Class 68 pops in right in front of you.

 

This is why you can change the view distance, but you can also change the flair type as well.

 

come on DTG, revert the build to the last stable one! Armstrong Powerhouses' weather no longer functions properly and there are signaling problems. I am more than happy you are no longer messing with the code but please revert it to the last stable one!

 

Are you using the public beta?
Haven't had signal issues in the latest stable version, but I don't play that many routes.

 

By default, DTG should fix this. We shouldn't have to fix something that they broke that was once working. It might be a pain to fix ourselves but DTG broke it, they should fix it. I second that, if they can revert to 75.8a, that may be in everyone's best interest. Agreed, it's much worse at night. Disabling the headlight flares causes some headlights not to function at all like the Metro North M7a

 

They are not going to fix anything. They are done and moving on with other things.

 

That is unfortunate, definitely interested to hear what is covered tomorrow in the stream. I just think a feature that was once working and something that we the customer pay for should not be left in a broken or a messed up state. For us to have to operate trains, and passing by AI trains with lights configured incorrectly is messed up. While there are work arounds, that doesn't fix the initial issue at the root of the sim. If there are people who play this sim who may not understand how to backdate to a more stable core or may not understand how to modify the flares, then they are stuck

 

Undoubtedly it'll just be a quick drive on the three included routes. Any interesting or important things would have been announced in the article. There is no reason to watch the stream.