Worthy I think of its own topic and addressed to DTG if they care to respond. The question was overlooked or ignored in the follow up to the Direct stream but this is the elephant in the room that refuses to die. Will TSW6 finally offer more than one save slot to store our progress? We are getting to a point where TSW is getting nearly as big as TSC with the amount of content with more on the way. Many longer routes, such as WCMLOS or indeed the forthcoming South Devon route, may take several sessions to complete a run. The current single save means you cannot break off and do something else that might also require you to save the game. Some time ago, the EP promised he was passing this (along with other save game issues) to the programmers (“Engineering) but nothing was heard since. If you are going to put a “6” on the TSW box, then this is one item that would actually make it worthwhile. Please say this is being actively progressed. We don’t necessarily need a save for each route, but three or even five slots would be a dramatic improvement on what we have now.
Surely it's can't be that hard to implement a few new save slots? Just a bit of UI changes and it should be easy enough to implement. Think this is much needed now days. Totally agree there Vern.
Game wise it should be mega easy to add, hell minecraft added extra saves pretty early on with a lot less resources that DTG has
This is an obvious, and necessary, addition IMHO. It would definitely improve my enjoyment of the game.
The fact no one from DTG has immediately jumped in here to say, “Yes we’ve done it”, sadly leads me to think not only that they haven’t but have little intention to do so. I await to be pleasantly surprised that we might get this worthwhile core update vs. a 10 second signal delay..
Something for a future update or release. I'm sure they've probably read this just aren't able to or have chosen not to comment at this time
When the save feature was removed and then restored amid an outcry from many players, DTG implied that they were still working on it. But that was so long ago ( 2,3 years maybe ) I'm close to certain that it's been quietly buried in a rusty old file cabinet in DTG's basement and labeled " not to be resuscitated ".
I would joke about this feature appearing in TSW 7 or 8 if it weren't so sad. The multiple save feature is really necessary.
Not that I would use it, I prefer not to stop in the middle if I can help it (although I did a near 3 hour service on Shap the other day and the 45mph speed put me to sleep), but it's weird that an 8 year old game doesn't have a fully functioning save feature or more than one slot, in 2025. 20+ year old games do, why not TSW?
Don't know if this is a common thing, or just a wierd glitch I got yesterday, but I saved a game whilst it was raining, loaded up said save later to finish the run, only for the game to have become sunny. I'd like that to be fixed, whilst they're at it, if it is a common thing
It does seem crazy that we still only one saved game slot, it is something that has come up quite a few times over the last few years.
As I said a couple of days ago, unless DTG are keeping it back as a surprise “bonus” for TSW6, I am getting a sinking feeling TSW6 is going to be any different.
I seriously doubt we'll see any change in the save function with TSW6. If that were the case DTG would surely have included it in the new feature set along with the usual PR blitz.
Periodic auto-save would help to mitigate game crashes, though I realize that the mere act of creating a save can provoke issues.
OldVern, I agree with you that having more than one save game slot is long, long overdue. There is a workaround for you as a PC owner, in the meantime: Tab out to Windows and in File Explorer navigate to Documents, then to My Games\TrainSimWorld5\Saved\SaveGames. Make a copy of the save game file ('TSWSaveGame_[username].sav'), then rename the copy to something you'll remember (I called a Cardiff one 'Cardiff.bak'). Then back in TSW you can save a different game state and it will overwrite the 'sav' file, leaving your backup intact. Repeat the process with that saved game if you want to, then when you want to resume your first save you can make a copy of that file (to preserve the original save, just in case) and rename the copy as 'TSWSaveGame_[username].sav'. You will then find that original saved game waiting for you when you restart TSW.
You Sir are the proverbial steel eyed missile man! Never realised you could do that. Whilst not letting DTG off the hook of course.
I can’t test this as I play on console. But assuming it does indeed work. That would proof that it really would only need a change in the UI to implement multiple save slots. If all game state is saved in just one file. You could have multiple of them. You would think this could have been done by now. As it is so frequently asked for.
It's a common practice on single-save and auto-save-only games, known as "save-scumming". Only way I was able to beat Nethack back in the day. I'd be cautious about using it as a multiple route save, though, because TSW's save is still designed as single-serving. So, for example, if some aspects of the current core state are also saved in addition to the DLC's state, what might get lost or glitched when moving between saves made at different times on different routes? I'd experiment carefully and keep a master backup of the current save before starting.
I'm probably not going to be the first one to dip my toes in this water, but I look forward to hearing about someone else's experience. I would hazard a guess, though, that the guys at DTG have already dipped into this ( it seems simple enough ) and found some problems with automating the process, which would be necessary in order to introduce it as a new feature rather than a mod.
Let's not forget that the existing save slot doesn't REALLY work as it is. Never works for me if i've continued on to a second service after completing a first, or after route-hopping. All objectives disappear and i'm basically in free roam after reloading. You could argue these are edge-cases but really that's when i'm most likely to use the save function- i'm not bothering to save in the middle of a half hour service. It's fairly bizarre behavior tbh- i'm no programmer, but almost seems like some game-state variables get reset or regenerated upon loading into the game and like it can't differentiate between initial load and loading from a save. What would be amazing imo would be a periodic auto-save that we could configure the interval.
That's the other key issue the EP promised was "being passed to Engineering" and nothing was ever heard about it since.
I tested it before posting: Saved a Cardiff conductor run Exited game, copied save file and renamed, then deleted original save file Restarted game, no save on menu as expected Started a BCC driver run, saved then exited. Repeated step 2 Restored Cardiff save Restarted game, loaded Cardiff save from menu and completed Exited game, deleted save file, restored BCC save Restarted game, loaded BCC save from menu and completed No issues experienced with either save.
True. Even without saving. Gamestate is broken after you finish a service. If you then choose to go into free roam and start a new service. In another train or by changing ends. The service will work and station stops will show up in the hud. But opening the timetable will still just show the first service. I basically have given up on doing multiple services like this. Also because it’s a 99% guarantee to experience some extreme blurry or even missing textures. A shame really because it used to be my favorite way to do something more of a shift instead of starting arbitrary services from the menu.
That's good, but my point is that it's kind of a work around. Most players are not going to go through that. They want a save feature that works automatically when they click on an icon, at least one for each route, well maybe it would be capped at, say, four or five. That's pretty much how it worked in MSTS more than two decades ago.
Then it gets worse. If you save that second service after returning to free roam, then load back in to resume all the objective data has been lost and the top L/H HUD with the information is completely missing. While that is a subsidiary issue to the lack of additional save slots, it’s another instance where, “referred to Engineering” has failed to bring forth any kind of fix.
Indeed, that's why I said it's a workaround for PC owners! I fully agree that there should be changes to the UI to allow for multiple save game slots, something other games have offered for decades.
This is one of the reasons i'm not excited for TSW 6 outside of GWE remaster, Riviera and announcements; old features have been left alone and in the case of save game, it is not only limited but it doesn't work, as in free roam uponbloading a saved roam the reversers of all the 80s Diesels from NTP, HF, TV, 20,33 and Diesel Legends are disabled (on WSR at least) With this, abandonment of steam, lack of proper documentation/official DTG tutorials for the Editor and amongst other reasons, whilst i'll certainly be grabbing the free upgrade, TSW is basically the definition of "one in, one out" when it comes to features so I don't expect an official save game improvement for a long time, if ever.
Hi OldVern, if only you could be right, it would be only normal (like seeing you driving your green cucumber on GWE, lol, but at least you'll see that!!!) Let's wait until September 30, 2025, and we'll know for sure, or if it's not September 30, then an update will arrive shortly, like the patches that are always necessary for a new version. Otherwise, indeed, it would be once again one step forward and three steps back, a shame and disappointing if that were to happen again!!! Sincerely to all of you, tof
I watched a majority of it and i dont think they mentioned anything about save slots. Then again I was nodding of during the stream.
Okay just picked this up from DTG Harry in another thread... "Will TSW6 be offering more than the current single save game slot? This isn't related to Morristown specifically, but I can confirm this is this is not something that has been added to TSW6, and we currently have no plans for this to be added." Well at least we have an answer though frankly this stance leaves me speechless. All these routes, many with runs that take well over an hour to complete and they still can't address this. Sorry to ping DTG Matt but what exactly is the problem with this - is it a technical limitation of the UE game engine, is it that your programmer(s) don't know how to do it? IMHO this should be given more priority than random delays or TSR's. TSC manages to give a save slot for each scenario and as stated previously we are not asking for that, just an extra 2 or 3 slots to offer more flexibility when it comes to jumping between different runs. I'm also taking it you haven't touched the other save game issue, of objective data being lost when chaining and saving then loading into another run. Absolutely ridiculous, if you ask me.
When virtually half the services on canon pass that can only be completed from the preceding service coupled with just one save slot means realistically the only way to complete these is to play back to back and ensure you’ve got 3 plus hours available which I simply rarely get. More save slots would alleviate this issue
You knew this would be the answer Vern, it has been for years. I don’t think the save has been that important to either DTG or players but it is becoming a tool that could be more useful, not just for saving timetable runs, but for other game uses now that Free Roam is established and used in marketing for alternative things you can do on routes. An example is given below… In the latest route article it states that players can spawn freight in the yards to do switching but it’s pointless if you have to lay out all the locos and wagons in the yards at the start of each session, a massively time consuming process if you want to populate a yard properly. A save slot would allow a start state with a populated yard to be saved for multiple switching sessions later. As it is, the marketing claim is useless. Nobody has time to populate a yard fully before starting playing, it requires a save slot to enable that kind of play. If a player was to do that (populate a yard and save it), and I would like to do that, one save slot is not enough for the whole game if your one starting state for one yard in one route is using the single slot up. DTG need to look into this and do it soon. The single slot is stifling play, play that is being suggested in marketing but isn’t practical in the game as it is.
Yes I expected this response too. I've long ago concluded that the " save game " issue has been buried in a filing cabinet in DTG's basement. It's been there for so long that no current employee has the key. Actually that same filing cabinet contains a lot of important stuff, like increased passengers for BML, banking com for CRR, a model of Yankee Stadium to name just a few missing or forgotten pieces of the TSW jigsaw puzzle. If it's not retrieved soon, it will sink into the Medway and then out to sea, never to be seen again. The Save Game ship has sailed guys. Wave goodbye!
They aren’t even leaving enough time between releases to get their marketable features fully implemented, so for something that essentially makes them no money, I don’t see this ever happening. It’s just another factor on the pile that’s turned TSW from a next generation train simulation, into a next generation cash cow. It’s really pathetic. Sadly TSW isn’t going to substantially improve unless a viable contender enters the marketplace.
It's embarrassing, frankly. The mind absolutely boggles at the realisation that we still won't have such a basic feature in the 6th iteration of the game!
My other hot take on this is that if, in the future on any other issue, we are told things have "been passed to Engineering", don't believe a word of it.
