What Type Of Gameplay Do You Prefer? Scenarios/timetable/journey Mode

This is a poll to see which choice is the most popular and where DTG could better focus their efforts. I rarely play scenarios because they often lack realism and aren't designed with replay value in mind. If you feel the same, please respond maybe then DTG will take a closer look at how they’re currently implementing this in the game.

 

I like what tsw offers only thing that doesn’t interest me is the empty free roam mode

 

sophieclarke1983 Oh right, I forgot 'free-roam'. I’m going to add this now! Thanks for you're awnser

 

Your welcome glad to help

 

I obviously cannot go into specifics, but I can tell you now that Timetables already receive maximum effort, as do scenarios and journey mode.
We try not to (nowadays, at least) do A-B scenarios. Journey modes are something we could probably look at getting community feedback on as to what they prefer weather-wise, etc.

 

KTL_Rob Powell
Rob, thanks for this response as a developer, and it's great that this is now a point of attention. In reality, the gap is still a bit too big for me between the other modes and timetable mode.

 

Gonna discount journey mode because it isn't really a mode - rather just a curated selection of tasks to do.

Timetable mode definitely. The problem with a lot of scenarios is either that they can be a little tedious, and in some cases are entirely uncompletable due to a bugged ai train getting in the way or a bugged signal.

 

I'll have a word with the community team when I return from Annual Leave and discuss with them and Matt the possibility of creating a journey mode master thread to gather ideas and suggestions for improvements to that mode. - No promises, mind you, I'm just a gameplay Dev

(And I'm always looking out for feedback, good or bad, even if I don't reply to everything. Feedback done constructively is always invaluable, whether it's praising or bemoaning something )

 

KTL_Rob Powell
Very good to hear. It really needs some prioritization. I imagine creating a scenario is more work, but in my opinion, it also offers a lot of opportunities. There’s a lot of potential that, unfortunately, isn’t being tapped into at the moment.

 

Indeed, it includes many elements of timetable mode, but scenarios are also incorporated into it. I think it deserves a spot on the list, since it's also about what players prefer something the developers can work with.

 

Timetable is the raison d'etre of TSW but as I've said elsewhere a few times recently and I don't know how much clout you have with Matt etc. to push the issue, but we absolutely must get the service chaining working properly with and without saving the game as you go. The appeal of TSW should be the ability to take the train back out on the next working or make your way across to another train and take that over after returning to free roam, but impossible at present as you lose timetable data and in the case of the save game, the objectives on subsequent runs totally vanish.

 

I actually like timetable mode but I wish you could have an option to use in an unknown occurance..track closure etc just to throw in a little more real life.

 

I mix the timetable and journey mode, according to my mood)

 

In my case... despite I use most of them, I voted for Free Roam.

The less one I uses is Scenario.
Due to normally you need more time to run it.

Timetable is my second one.

But after any new route appears, after doing some timetables, I like to create a "Free roam" one.
Mainly because you have other traffic around, and you can do several changes about which on which tracks I drive.

One type of Free Roam for me is:
- Select a locomotive / train of the time table.
- Then I add another train with free roam tool, which will be the one I will drive.
So I will ensure to have yellows and reds ahead, to make the drive more interesting.

 

That's a very good suggestion, and I fully agree with it for 100%!

 

i use all of it

 

Thorgred I've add the option to choose more options so go ahead and select all that you prefer

 

I voted for the timetable mode because it's the one I played most often, but that's not why I preferred it...

Timetable:
I have all the routes and vehicles and always drive according to my mood. I adjust the time and weather accordingly, depending on where I am at the time. That's very important to me. Although I try to avoid night trips because of the poor lighting.

Journey:
I'm torn! They often seem inconsistent and arbitrary to me and rarely reflect what I imagine a journey to be. It's not a bad idea to include scenarios with tasks that spice up the journey. A journey should be somewhat understandable to be engaging.

Scenarios:
Scenarios are great because they allow you to do things that wouldn't otherwise occur, and you can really make the most of TSW's capabilities! Sometimes, though, they seem a bit strange or unsatisfying to me. There would be many more options here...

Freeroam:
I honestly haven't tried it yet. But that's more due to the convenience of the timetable and a lack of knowledge about what options are available to me. It's been requested frequently, but hardly ever used? Maybe because people just don't know exactly what it can offer?

One mode is still missing - Guard Mode:
I find it quite interesting, as I also like to travel as a passenger, and playing conductor isn't a bad idea. But as already mentioned, it needs to be revised to fulfill its purpose and appeal.

One mode I'm also still missing here is "quick play":
It should refer exclusively to the timetable and have a filter for additional options. I would use this mode all the time if I weren't constantly being offered scenarios! I want a ride - not a scenario! I choose these deliberately or they are integrated into the journey!

In the end, I think the timetable mode should be left as it is. It would actually make things worse. Then it would be better to work on the other modes that offer exactly that.

All in all, all these modes have their place, which is what makes TSW so interesting and varied! But here, one needs some reworking.

 

Timetable mode for sure. I've been playing since CSX Heavy Haul, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've played a scenario. I'm not even too sure what journey mode is, and the only time I've ventured onto free roam is when there is an error with a custom timetable mod, and the timetable won't load correctly. For me, Train Sim World is defined by the timetable mode.

 

Always timetable mode, although if I'm in the mood for something different, or out of the ordinary, I'll choose Journey Mode.

 

I play journey mainly to help with picking of services. I do wish more thought was put into journey mode - for instance clinchfields day in the life style mode was excellent!

timetable is then a close second.

 

Journey is or should be the “Editor’s Choice” of what the route has to offer. Of course that doesn’t always play out and in some cases it’s just a randomly strung together sequence of timetable runs in the most appalling weather. Another potential of Journey is to actually build a typical driver’s day or shift on the route, but we rarely see this.

 

Guys: Do not use free roam; instead use explore on foor otherwise there will be no AI

 

Freeroam as selected from the menu gives you a completely empty map, no services running at all and you can (or should be able to) place trains at will, available memory permitting. However you can't set routes for any of them besides the one you are sitting in and controlling. Its a means to simply wander around the map in whatever fashion you choose without anything getting in your way (besides the dispatcher)

 

I deliberately did not add that because in the game you go to the timetable section and then you choose to drive or be a conductor. I do not see that as a special version that you can choose. Conductor mode is also in a timetable. But i will add this

Quick mode i will add this! Good point..

 

Free roam does not give you any objectives or AP, though.

 

Free roam. I can do ECS moves, special services, freight runs from the south to north and vice versa. Spawn a freight train and slot into some busy timetables, be held at signals, moved into sidings to let other services past etc.

 

I play timetable mode pretty much exclusively. Free Roam sounds nice, but it's too much of a hassle to set up a train with multiple objectives like a stopping service unfortunately.

I also like the predictability of Timetable mode. Trains are always set up exactly the same so you know which steps to do to prepare the train. Objectives are simple. Scenarios have the habit of introducing annoying objectives like switching a lever you don't know where it is (so you need to turn on objective marker just for this) or walk to a specific point (and again, you need to turn on objective marker purely to know where you're supposed to go). Always hate that in scenarios.

 

Timetable mainly. Haven't bothered with scenarios.

 

I'd say a healthy mix of weather and seasons in every journey. There's been journeys focused purely on winter with bad visibility, that gets boring quickly. But there's also been journey modes with sunny weather almost exclusively, which also gets boring.

 

That's not free roam

 

I'm almost exclusively timetable mode. I believe it's one of the crowning jewels of TSW that we can have busy timetables across a 24 hour span (dispatcher/signaller issues aside).

I occasionally dip into Free Roam just to run trains where not normally supported (like running a 390 up the WCMLoS).

Journey mode is a bit of a nothing for me, too - I tend to pick a timetable service then match the weather to the real-life conditions at the time I'm playing. This means I get a good variety of play over the course of a year.

 

I mostly play scenarios. They feel more engaging than timetable. timetable gets boring overtime because it is essentially the same thing back and forth. i may have played free roam a couple of times. Haven't tried conductor mode. i don't bother with journey mode as it is essentially timetable mode in a specific order and with specific weather.

 

Well it is kind of. Free roam on foot in timetable mode. I can spawn a train and go where I want.

 

It’s really hard to vote because I enjoy several aspects, the choice of scenarios and TT is important, I wouldn’t like a game with just one or the other tbh.

 

Timetable is my go-to option.
I occasionally play a scenario, like last night, but get put off because it always seems to rain, even when the scenario itself isn't about 'battling through bad weather'.

 

Coming from many years in TSC, I naturally gravitated to the scenarios and still do try and complete them when I purchase a new route but like timetables, especially those that chain together well - depot moves then the run. Journey mode is fine since it is useful when you are not sure what you want to run. Even have been known to use the “quick drive” where it randomly chooses for you, especially when I have limited time - just chose the 30 minutes or less. I haven’t spent any time at all with the consist or scenario editor since I would rather drive then create runs.

In general I like most of the modes which gives one plenty of variety of ways to interact with the sim.

 

Scenario Creation / Development is definitely the area of the game that has been neglecting by DTG as it pushes all of its Focus (pun intended) into Timetables. It is almost criminal to see what DTG have done to the game in this regard as it has taken away creativity and imagination for much of the game.

The number of forum posts that say "why can't I run this with this?" is amazing because, in nearly all instances, the answer is "You can" but only if you mod your system. Yet DTG could've fixed this themselves with remarkably little effort. For some reason they just choose not to. I have no idea why.

 

I take umbrage at this statement.

We put a great deal of effort into planning and developing scenario work. Timetables are handled by the gurus, while other members of the gameplay team work on scenarios and tutorials.

Considering how you feel, what do you think we need to do to improve?

 

Timetable should be the obvious choice, but I voted for journey mode. Sometimes I just like the randomness when deciding what to drive, although not as intuitive as timetable mode it still represents a mini story mode that keeps me invested in choosing the route I’m playing at the time.

 

1. User created scenarios

A. Scenario editor tools are pretty basic and have limited possibilities. The good old TSC had way more flexibility with making scenarios. The UI for scenario creation is also worse IMO. You can see it's all tailored to be used for consoles, which is fine, as long as PC users gets an UI tailored to PC. The current tools make it harder to create fun scenarios. Even though I have created quite a few scenarios for TSC (and in general with good ratings from the community), the UI and limited possibilities in TSW has put me off creating scenarions for TSW.

B. Creators club is pretty basic. One thing I really miss is a rating system. Without it, its hard to find good scenarios. I've tried a few, but they were quite boring, barely any AI traffic for example. Which could be the creator's shortcomings, but more likely, shortcomings of the tools TSW provide to create scenarios. Having a rating system would help find the gems of the community, between the masses of scenarios which are average at best.

2. Official scenarios

I try to avoid scenarios made by DTG or third parties. One thing particularly what I hate is having to toggle on/off the objective marker. I hate the objective marker when I'm driving, it sits right in the middle of my screen and ruins immersion, and once you've checked the switches on the map and the route is set (either by the dispatcher or by yourself), there's no need to use the objective marker anymore. So I have it turned off by default. However, in scenarios I often find myself needing the objective marker in two cases;

A. Walking. When you need to walk to an objective (such as a train to enter, a switch, or an NPC) you cannot rely on simply the map, since your avatar doesn't follow the tracks and a path you set out. I often find myself needing to toggle on the objective marker, not because I like it, but because doing without can be a real pain (having to guess the direction of the objective simply by the distance to objecive going up or down).

B. In-cab switches. Sometimes scenarios want me to manually flip a switch, control a lever or push a button I normally don't have to use in Timetable mode. So I generally have no clue where that button is located, and after searching for a minute I find myself in a position I need to turn on that annoying objective marker again, just to find the location of the switch/lever/button. After which I cannot be fast enough to disable that objective marker.

C. Tutorials. Tutorials force the objective marker (and stop marker) settings ON. Which makes sense for the tutorial itself, but they don't revert the options back to their previous settings when the tutorial is finished. When I play a timetable service or something else, after a tutorial, I'm confronted again with the objective marker with which I have a passionate love/hate affair.

Personally I'd help me if it was easier to manage the objective marker to my own desires, for example by having a hotkey to quickly toggling it on/off without having to browse through several menus, and with an extra setting which enables the objective marker when on foot (not in the cab seat). That might make me enjoy official scenarios more than I currently do.

 

The scenario planner. Enable more platforms and portals to be used. For example Barking on the Goblin line. I would like to make a scenario that routes traffic on the C2C and underground lines but only platforms 7 & 8 are available to use and none of the necessary portals are enabled.

 

Really??? Are you absolutely sure about that?
TBH I'm gob-smacked by that statement.
Are you aware of what we used to be able to do in MSTS over 20 years ago and how little of that we can do now in TSW (without mods).

Purno and LazLong above me have given you some pointers of what is wrong with Scenario Planner. There are many other things wrong with it. So many that it probably isn't really worth getting involved in a detailed discussion about it because, deep down, you must already know this. Still, in the interest of fairness, I'll give it a go.

Start by looking at the links to my mods in my signature. None of these should need to exist but, due to the inadequacies of TSW, they are essential to getting half decent scenarios out of the Scenario Planner. But anyway, as you asked so nicely for me to give some examples, here are a few to help you with your umbrage.

1) Scenario Planner works to 5 minute intervals yet GMT works to seconds. Why have you not corrected this? A modder has given us the ability to set Scenario timings to 2 second intervals so why hasn't DTG been able to do the same?

2) All routes (and I mean all) ship with the absolute minimum of paths. Absolutely no thought, or umbrage, being given to off the main route portals, to loops, to sidings or to other places of operational interest. I think the best example of this so far was EDN-GLA which from memory shipped with just 6 paths (3 platforms at Waverley to Queen Street and 3 platforms at Queen Street to Waverley). What are scenario creators supposed to do with that? My EDN-GLA extra paths mod takes that number up to over 100 paths (link in my signature). Creating a new path takes about a minute in the Unofficial Editor (cooking it takes longer). So we are not talking about development time here. Just a lack of interest or awareness methinks. (ie Manchester Airport route - no paths available in Scenario Planner to Longsight depot at all....Why not? Why build all of those sidings and then not make them available for scenarios?).

3) Creative Centre is a nightmare to negotiate. The Word Processor facility (for inputting text) is a joke. Try editing something that has disappeared from view in the text window.....not a chance without MENSA like counting skills. Then, if you do manage to key all your text in correctly, Scenario Planner ignores all gaps between paragraphs making everything almost impossible to understand. Finally there is the Search Facility........What Search Facility !!!

4) The Scunthorpe question. AGAIN. Try using the word Passenger, or Class, or Liverpool or SNCF (???) in any scenario text and see what happens. Does the text editor tell you this as you type the word in? No of course it doesn't. It waits until the very end of your input and just fails the whole scenario......without telling you why. Very frustrating, very time consuming and very umbragey

5) On most routes 90% of the service starting points are station platforms and the only formations you are allowed to use are those that are shorter than the station platform itself. Why? Why can't I start a 400m freight service from a 100m long passenger platform at a through station? What has the length of a station platform got to do with anything other than the length of a passenger service that might stop there?

6) On a vanilla system we can't place loose consists in sidings using Scenario Planner. (No rakes of passenger coaches, no rakes of coal wagons or no rakes of any combination of suitable wagons to fill up sidings or empty platforms). You would never see that in real life. I have worked out two ways of actually doing this but both ways require me to create mods to make it work thus ruling out Console players. So if I can do it, why can't DTG?

7) There is a complete dearth of formations in the game. DTG produced Formation Designer (or whatever it is called). Not only did they launch it late but they then did nothing to either upgrade it or to listen to the many questions / complaints that TSW Users posted about it. Just go and look through the various threads in the Formation Forum and count up the number of responses from anyone at DTG. Abandonware at its best
(By the way my mods will add the best part of 10,000 extra formations to the game, formations that have loaded wagons and that will take community liveries too, so please don't attempt to say that it isn't possible for DTG to have done the same).

So there you have it. 7 very good examples of why Scenario Planner in its current form is not fit for purpose. The good news, for PC Players, is that it can be improved with mods. The bad news, for console players, is that sadly you really are on your own.

So, for the benefit of LazLong in particular, who I really hope is a PC Player, here is a video of what he could've had with GOBLIN if, in DTG, we had had a company who gave the same Focus (there's that pun again) to Scenarios as they appear to do to Timetables.
(LazLong if you are a PC player then please message me and I'll explain to you how you can bring the C2C lines and LU lines at Barking into play with Scenario Planner).

TRAIN SIM WORLD 5| TSW5 | BUSY BARKING
(Thanks to all the livery creators who's stock was used in this scenario. Including "Mr SNCF" who's User Name was rejected by Scenario Planner for "profanity reasons". Allez Le France?)

The fact that it is impossible to create the above on a Vanilla installation or, if you are a Console player it is impossible to create it or play it at all, is the real thing to take umbrage over. Anything else is, in my opinion, faux outrage from people who really should know better.

Perhaps TSW6 will resolve all of these issues. Let's see
Perhaps TSW6 will stop my mods from working. Let's see

Apologies to Rob Powell for the length of this reply but (a) he did ask, (b) I am quite knowledgeable on the subject of scenarios and (c) I have actually tried to do something about it with my extra paths & extra formations mods. (It's just a shame that so few people know they exist).

So nothing personal Rob and I hope that you are able to push forward the well-needed changes/improvements to Scenario Planner and, of course, to Scenarios in general in TSW6 and onwards. Changes that are, IMHO, well overdue.

 

Telegram for Mr Elliott

 

I try to play most scenarios at least once, almost never twice. Timetable mode has much more replay value. That's why I like a lot of variety in timetables within a DLC (high speed, express, stoppers, freight, shunting, ECS) > the new Köln Aachen timetable is spot on in that respect.

 

I find a lot of scenarios are rather fiddley in terms of having to use a mouse to either walk around or select items, plus quite a few are quite buggy and if you dont do things in a certain order or by a certain time they can break (not so much newer routes admittedly). I used to play predominately using journey mode but that limits what you can drive (no layers, only base trains) so now I've switched to purely timetable mode.

I hated conductor mode from the moment it was first introduced on Glossop and its holds no interest to me and also I've zero interest in quick drive (seems biased to scenarios).

 

Free-roam.

While I absolutely love timetable mode, and have since TSW2020. I've also been playing timetable mode since TSW2020, and so it's become a bit boring.

Free-roam however, allows me to take whatever train I want and allows me to enjoy the route the way I personally want.

 

Timetables are my go to, but I do like to do a scenario when I want to mix it up