With DTG apparenty abandoning TSC, some 3rd parties have already closed their shop. Some commercial developers, some freeware devs like Michael Stephan who has been around since MSTS Given it is now winter in the southern hemisphere, is there any news from Diesel Workshop and Machine Rail? I've checked their web pages and no news has been posted for like 6 months already. Also, Searchlight Simulations has been very quiet for quite some time already too. I assume there still is a market for quality DLC. I for one am very pleased with my purchases from the afore mentioned.
Milepost Simulations has a new USA route coming out called Green River - Kemmerer. They said that it would be sent to DTG to check over by the end of July. Milepost Simulations FB page. (2) Facebook
Searchlight Simulations have been working on various projects which have been time consuming. They have said that they are still working on TSC releases.(info from RWA forum)..
Milepost routes are 'more of the same' single track running through sparsely populated areas with little operational challenge and the provided rolling stock is only so-so. Diesel Workshop and Machine Rail rolling stock has good price-quality and fills some nice gaps in our USA rosters. UK and Germany will be well served for a few more years I suppose given their large player base. But ChrisTrains, SimExpress etc serving much smaller markets with quality DLC might soon find themselves without a viable market without a steady stream of new routes from freeware developers. Wait and see what surfaces to market I suppose.
Diesel Workshop is developing a GP9 and Searchlight Simulations is coming out with Soo and Milwaukee Road SD40's.
Yes, as per the announcements, a new route is coming from Milepost Simulations. Green River Railroading!
I believe milepost stated on his Facebook a while back that the MILW route would be his last in ts1, obviously that has not been the case but he may have said something similar about the new up route. On the initial topic itself, while the US scene has definitely quieted down, some very impressive freeware have been released, with SPS releasing some incredible freeware sd70s for the modern crowd as well as gp30s for those more interested in interesting periods https://www.switchpointsimulations.com/mobile.html Additionally a number of route revamps and upgrades have been released on the tsc website, including an upgrade to tomcat's classic Cajon Mojave
What is the tsc website? Thx. Ah the https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/ and NOt Train Simulator Classic.
I have both The SD70's and GP30's and i can say , they are very high quality , especially for free adds on
Apparently there is not. At least according to comments from German third party creators. Digital Traction is also closing down for the same reason (this was discussed here a while ago). Just Trains and Train Sim Germany switched to TSW years ago, citing the same problem—there’s simply not enough money in TSC. It’s mostly slowing down and fizzling out. Freeware is continuing, though at a slower pace, and a few third parties are finishing up some projects. The only three companies I see still going strong for TSC are ATS (UK), RSSLO (German and Austrian content), and Jasksoft (older German rolling stock, though at very high prices). Everyone else seems to be on the way out. The Dutch community is still active as well, particularly with freeware. But that’s not a huge problem—there’s so much content for TSC that you couldn’t play it all in a lifetime. In the future, TSC will likely see occasional passion projects (mostly freeware), and that’s perfectly fine with me.
Schnauz apparently is not available. Here is a run through of the DLC w/o commentary It looks pretty bland scenery wise, which probably goes with the prototype location. Whether worth full price is up to you, since the same reservations apply regarding most of the re-used assets and rolling stock.
I often dislike his style of reviewing. While the faults he comments on may be real, he tends (in my opinion) to exaggerate their importance and doesn't look at the positives of the product.
It is supply and demand. USA is just too big, not enough TSC users who really care and all energy has moved to TSW where the demand is for more European products. I see RSSLO still have users who care about Germany/Austria. I see ATS still have users who care about UK. I would suspect that this is going to be the last US route to ever be released by DTG. Lets face it US transportation centers around aircraft due to the vast distances between points of use. Not enough of a user base to warrant any more time and energy put into it with the amount of time required per route being more than in Europe.
Whether Green River is great or not, it's the only new commercial route for the US and likely to be last one in TSC. My suggestion is that you enjoy it for what it is, as there won't be anything else.
As Schnauz pointed out, so many opportunities were missed to make this a worthy 'farewell to TSC' DLC on the part of this developer. All those offside lines leading to nothing, instead of an industry to serve for greater operation and more game play. I think, most eager buyers will play a few provided scenarios and then forget all about this route. Are there engine service facilities, a fueling point, a turntable, a small maintenance track at the division points? Are there loading and unloading points? How are the provided scenarios? Do these make use of all the rolling stock? A rushed and unfinished job, sadly, like most USA DLC of late.
Will note, on a TSW article from back in February this was noted. While the 1st part says that JL will be a part of the HIS TSW team, the 2nd part said that he will develop TSC content under his own brand. Which I cant tell is a typo, or if JL is now handling HIS's idea's that they never got to on TSC.
I suppose that's a typo. We'll soon learn what kind of 'quality' they intend to bring to TSW, and whether any previous 'accomplishments' will be repeated by those 'experienced' developers. How many of this team are actually residing in the US and have a good first person understanding of US train operations? What will their focus be? 21th century/present day trains familiar to the console player? What kind of routes and operations to please the thumbstick crowd, up-and-down-the-mountain again? Do we get more GP38-2, SD40-2, AC4400CW, ES44 by the likes of DTM, TBT etc. to compete with the ones already in the game? Are DTG's famous Simugraph physics even capable of 100+ car trains, DPU operations, PTC and other features of modern day US railroading?
I feel like TSW is getting to the same point as TSC was when HIS was originally formed and started to publish on steam, people are so starved of US freight content, that they'll take any type of content instead of quality.
We'll see how HIS and crew will try to please the dominant console market and how they will cater to the average attention span of the thumbstick player. Crawling up-and-down-the-mountain or trundling along some single track in a barren Western US setting at 35 MpH instead of bus stop commuter routes? Freight locos need already more player action on the controls than the typical one handle plastic commuter EMU, unless the operations and physics are reduced to Thomas's toy train level.
[Deleted; insulting - DTG Harry] By your own admission, the market isn't for hyper-realistic train simulators, so commercial developers aren't going to go there. If you're not happy with the realism given by TSC or TSW, take up Run 8, model railways, or get a job on a real or heritage railway.
Indeed, Run8 offers the most realistic and immersing simulation of big freight railroad operations. Controls, physics, operations, faults and errors, dispatching, cooperative multiplayer, everything is quite well executed by a small crew who know their stuff. In graphics, Run8 is obviously lacking, esp their older locomotives and rolling stock, the urban jungle that is SoCal, but the v3 cabs do look nice. For Run8Studios it would probably be easier to upgrade their graphics level than for DTG to upgrade their level of simulated of operations. TSW is completely reliant on complicated scripts, and given the lack of save slots and faultless resuming of a saved activity, this is IMO the weakest spot of the whole TSW. A typical 30 minutes of game play won't get you very far on the typical US freight route. So we'll wait and see what HIS and crew create for TSW, an iron horse route like Tehachapi perhaps?
TSC USA is cooked. I doubt there will ever be a commercially viable train simulator which can cover the whole USA network due to its vast size. In addition due to the nature of US rail services there are only small pockets of passenger trains and sparse areas of long distance slow moving traffic. This leads to a very small population of users who wish to enjoy this experience. I am not hopeful for anything substantial coming from DTG in the US vein.
Why on Earth would anyone want a sim to cover the entire US? There are not enough days weeks months or years to run all that? If a individual loves a particular stretch of railroad then model it. Otherwise just enjoy the thousands of miles already done.
Mr Rodney I am guessing you have never taken one of the several Amtrak trips. There is so much to see in the USA. Taking a train across the Rockies in either a Freight Loco or Passenger train is a wonder to behold. Of course the save button on TSC comes in handy. Luckily I have my own 30ft Airstream and have actually driven the 48 contiguous states and 6 of the Prairie Land Canadian states.
Some of the routes in the US are ok but others are a bit boring. Travelling along open plains does nothing for me I prefer some scenery to view out of the window I got Tehachapi but running at 23 mph for miles on end does nothing for me I have Soldier Summit but just for its assets. Give me a route that passes thru big city's and suburban areas Sacramento Northern is a nice route - if you have a sense of humour The thing wrong with real US Railroads is too many mergers and common locos on most routes Its only the passenger locos that give you some variation This was on my first trip
For me the selling point of US DLC was always the variety of scenery. They're pretty good if you have a collection and visit each route for a few drives every few years. I also tend to appreciate routes more after experiencing or watching something similar in person. Be it a Nordic forest route or rural US. Unfortunately a lot of content comes with tiny window driver views, I've gotten fond of Shift+2 as of late.
