I know how everyone loves to criticize Skyhook for everything under the sun. But the Horseshoe Curve is probably the most beautiful US route in the entire TSW so far. You can talk about the poor quality of the rolling stock. Especially about its sounds. But. The route itself is beautiful from a visual point of view. All this grass, flowers, bushes and trees arranged with love. Stone ledges, river and stream banks, overgrown mountains. With the mod for new lighting, I just visually relax on this route. And first of all on a single-track branch, where the arrangement of greenery, its variety and quantity pleases the eye. I can't even criticize it for the boring 20 mph. Cuase scenery is pleasant. Not TSG level of course, but definitely above the visual level of DTG(I mean US routes), especially considering the release date.
i have played it is a good route but certainly not the most beautiful I can name 3 other US routes which are as good looking as Horseshoe Curve
I would say SPG and Clinchfield beat HSC for scenic quality. Cane Creek too if you ignore some of the odd errors and floating boulders.
SPG yes, just ran it last night. Clinchfield....hard pass. Not even in the same universe scenery wise. Very disappointed in that one. But yes, HSC is one of my faves too. Too bad it isn't as extensive as the Run 8 version. That has the Holidaysburg branch line and industries fleshed out. The lines are sorta there, but nothing is on them and there's nothing to move on them. Like so many DTG products they create everything up to the point of usability (laying the tracks, doing the scenery) but then don't fully use what they built. So many branch lines to nowhere.
Picked it up in a sale not that long ago. Put off buying it because of all the bad feedback. Can't see what's bad about it.
My only real issue is the old lighting and lack of bridge/tunnel reverb. And that the locos haven't gotten the updated suspension. No Hollidaysburg branch is disappointing too. So a few issues i guess lol. But most of that is core TSW stuff. But yes, having been there IRL a bunch of times as a kid (especially around the RJ Corman interchange in Cresson) the scenery is done really well.
clinchfield while being a great route has too many scenery bugs flat trees to close to the tracks (not a lot but very noticeable) texture gaps on ground and mountains (plenty of those) badly placed house and or cars (floating)
It is pretty but as someone who spends all of my time in the cab, quality of the locomotive is the most important thing. That’s what has the biggest impact on my driving experience.
The scenery is a big part of the driving experience though. I will say that while SPG is a bit better scenery wise, but it's also super LONG, whereas HSC has a lot more variety in a smaller space. Not "better", just a lot different. (Although to be fair, the only thing I really don't like about SPG is the loco horns. So awful. They should be more like the ones on Oakville Sub..or better.)
I agree with you about SPG and CRR but Cane Creek is, for me, tedious in the extreme, not helped in the least by the agonizingly slow speeds and straight track. I guess, if you're not from the US, the Utah desert looks spectacular, but, believe me, there are more interesting parts of that state. I will say, though, that the Colorado is modeled beautifully in the parts that show it.
It kind of has an iconic appeal as it was one of the routes in Trainmaster 4, which as some might recall was the first "proper" cab view sim featuring US railroading, though totally eclipsed by MSTS less than a year later. But yes, the speeds are one of the disadvantages of running the route, if you want to do it properly.
For me HSC is about the right length for a US freight route so it gets played a lot. Most other similar genre routes you need to commit 2 hours+ for the majority of services, something I frequently cant do. I wouldnt say its the most beautiful but its certainly well above average.
I always liked this route too, for the most part. I've been to most of these places in real life (Altoona, the curve, Johnstown) and it is amazingly accurate as far as general look, placement of appropriate buildings, and scenery. Gallitzin looks a bit off but other than that it is surprisingly accurate especially considering it was made by people in the UK. Also when it comes to US freight routes I much prefer forests/trees/towns vs wide open plains and deserts so that means HSC and SPG are up my alley.
Same here. The freight work on Boston - Worcester really makes it a top 3 U.S route for me. Hopefully the future updates to horseshoe curve that skyhook are planning are going to bring the quality up.
MBTA is the opposite. It's TOO short and TOO flat. If I'm gonna run something like that I'll just stick to Oakville, which although quite dated now still has better stock, scenery and scenarios than most North American routes. The GP9 and GP 38 are among the best in the game sound and systems wise. The map itself is very well done. Lots of industries and action. Just a pity it hasn't gotten any love in years and there's a few bugs still broken (like the ethanol loading scenario) If they could remaster THAT it'd be great, but I don't hold out hope. NA Freight is just not high on DTG's list. It's more or less abandoned at this point. It is what it is. Too bad they couldn't get the GO Transit license and then they already have the stations modeled and the motive stock in game to run that by updating the timetable. It'd just be a matter of adding the liveries.
For my taste the main pros of the HSC scenery is the flora. How DTG make forest areas - there is trees, sometimes small grass. Its look like artificially planted trees in parks. On HSC - many young growth under the trees and on the edge of the forest areas, many bushes, flowers, etc. It looks so much realistic. There is also a problem that many of these flowers do not have LODs and appear out of nowhere 10 meters in front of the player. But this seems to be the case on all routes.
I've noticed a good variety on West Somerset too. SPG isn't bad. But yes, most routes aren't that great in foliage. There's just that one spit around the middle point of the route by that school with the soccer field that has some obviously 2-D trees in it. Just one patch that stands out given how good the rest of the trees look.
Back in TSW2 days when there was Adam and the preservation crew there were plans to put the baby bullet on the GO services for passenger runs. It got quietly binned and the pres crew disbanded.
Probably had to do with branding. That would liven the route up though and bring in the commuter loving crowd (which are the majority of TSW players) Even as we said before, if it were just colored similarly but "unbranded" I still think it'd work. We have the "baby bullet" and the map. Remaster it, release it as a bundle with "new content" (new loco and timetable.) Tons of layers available on it too, and other DLC possible like the Amtraks that run through there irl. That would then carry over onto other routes of course, filling the Amtrak hole in TSW.
I like HSC but wouldn't say it is the best looking. I remember when it came out I was expecting SPG level visuals or better but I think it actually falls short of SPG. The landscape textures don't look as detailed and there is a signifigant lack of detritus around the tracks. I always thought some of the trees were an unnaturally bright shade of green, almost fluorescent. I like the route length and the topography of it though, not too long and not a huge amount of super slow climbing like other routes. As others have said the ES44AC is a bit of a letdown in regards to audio and the way it's dynamic brakes function. Fixing those issues would go a long way to bringing it up to snuff. This is the first I've heard of this, are there any details of what they are planning yet? DW
Same here. All the indications are that SHG are no longer actively doing route projects which includes patching up previous content.
Midland Main Line has had a lot of love from Adam and the team at SHG so not sure where the indications are that they aren’t patching up previous content has come from? Hopefully the same love can be shown to HSC in the near future.
Nothing definite just a hunch, but certainly when the prospect of further routes have been mentioned in the context of cargo packs, Adam has ruled it out. He slammed the door on a much needed extension to MML and there was certainly a conversation where one of the more interesting and scenic freight routes, the Marches Line, was dismissed as not being a viable project.
DTG, PLEASE give us a P42DC before Skyhook get around to this, so we can have the Pennsylvanian in the timetable and I don't have to run it with my Amtrak-liveried F40PH That way madness lies, because sooner or later I am going to need to properly populate those Altoona-Johnstown scenarios with Conrail trains for verisimilitude...
HSC is just a route that wasn't bad, but not really spectacular. The issues with the ES44 really don't help (Which sucks that SHG's haven't come back to it and took some things from DTG's C4 to help it). Rolling stock isn't bad but IIRC the low gondola doesn't appear very much (If at all) in timetable services, same with the 89ft flat car (Which is only used in 1 very awkward formation with Euro semi trailers and trash containers in 1 train....) One positive thing I can say is at least the Heritage Unit pack paints for it are on point and put's DTG's UP one to shame. The route could definitely need the P42 to help out with passenger services, but with DTG still digging their heels on that, we really have to wait for the mod to come out (Which may be a long time)
A glimmer of hope, but service updates don’t necessarily mean giving the route a buff or fixing wonky physics on the locos.
I see everyone mentioning SPG. I decided to refresh my memories. Yes, the SPG looks great in some places. But what really pisses me off is the same model of ugly tree - it's everywhere! It may differ slightly in shape and size - but it's the same ugly tree all of the route. And also the ground texture, which blends together so poorly that you can see how it consists of small square patches.
Frankly I don't mind. Don't even notice it. It's one of few routes you actually have enough trees to make that an issue and that's nice in itself. Might just as well complain that the sheep are "too similar to one another" on Shap ;-) I mean... they're sheep and trees. Now Horseshoe has more variety but then again, the forests do have more variety there as I recall. Some places do have less variety, and it's not that important. HSC I notice the trees more than SPG because of the variety... and it's not done the same in all places. Some places they're clumsily done. I still enjoy the route, but some are definitely not the same quality (old 2D stock even in there) so while it's "varied" it's not "better." SPG the trees aren't as varied but their individual quality is pretty good and there's enough trees period that they sort of blend in. You also get "vistas" more where you can see further, which many routes don't have. So many routes are "blocked" by being in a trench or with dense trees on each side blocking seeing much. While that's accurate probably, it makes it less enjoyable as a player to drive. SPG and HSC are nicer in that way they have open areas (esp the Horseshoe Curve itself) where you can appreciate the more open spaces. It's not "wrong" it's just a personal preference, but it's a big reason why I keep going back to SPG and HSC.
Well, that sucks. Hopefully we get a major update some time in the future but I’m not getting my hopes up honestly..
And I'm a fan of good looking greenery in games. And if it looks not just bad, but also cloned, then it really gets to me. On the HSC the trees look normal and what's most important is that they are different to each other.
