I was recently looking at the size TSW6 takes up on my disk: nearly 200GB! I haven't even got all the DLCs enabled... And then I had a loom at MSFS 2024 - the best looking game on my PC - 8GB! I know this is very, very far-fetched, but wouldn't it be amazing. Of course, cloud - based gaming has its setbacks, and TSW6 is now on GeForce Now (basically buying a game that you could loose access to as soon as Nvidia's servers crash), meaning you can play it cloud based. As-well as that, you'll need a good internet connection. Well, they all say it needs to be good, but my internet is pretty rubbish, around 45-60 mbps download, and MSFS runs fine. I am curious to see your thoughts on this
Whilst usually I try and avoid any cloud based gaming, my install size is so monstrous that this would be very handy.
It's a no from me. A lot of people already seem to be sensitive to micro stutters, adding streaming latency to the mix isn't going to help.
No go here. Not going to sit and wait while the route and layers download each time. HD space is relatively cheap and while a SSD is ideal, a mechanical spinner will do quite nicely.
MSTS could cloud sync it because the player is usually nowhere near or interacting with the ground, and even without internet the offline data does not have a big problem, whereas you'll go mad when the ground is blurry in this game; Also plane tracking is possible on the server side which is not possible for this single player game.
The downloads for Microsoft Flight Simulator's detailed terrain are huge, and the internet speed requirements are daunting as well.
You do not buy games on GeForce Now. You buy a subscription to GeForce Now that allows you to play the games you already own on Steam/Epic/etc on Geforce Now.
Nvidia Geforce Now used to be great, until they introduced the 100 hour per month limit for everybody. I tried TSW6 on XBOX Game Pass Essential (the lowest quality of XBOX Cloud for brokies like me) and had no crashes, which was actually quite good considering. Trouble is, Microsoft are introducing free cloud gaming with ads, capped at a 5 hour limit per month, so I ultimately think that cloud gaming is going to go the same way as YouTube.... Just another way for companies to force ads down your throat, while providing the bare minimum in actual gaming performance.
I tried Google Stadia back a while. It did work wonderfully well, but you need at least the best internet available, and the little input lag could also be quite annoying, depending on the game. They stopped their services and paid everyone back (could keep the controller and chromecast though) I somehow expect the same with those new services
A budget 1TB SSD cost me about $62. Space isn't an issue at all. However, the lack of mods in GF Now completely offsets the gaming experience.
I get 1TB SSDs sounds like a lot but nowadays, it really isn’t. I have two main games installed on my computer: TSC and TSW. Both of which take up around 250GB with mods. That leaves 500GB left, and I’ve filled it up with development software. I get if you’re all about TSW, don’t want to develop anything, and have all the DLCs, 1 TB is fine. But in reality, people use computers for other things and have other hobbies like Forza, for example, which takes up another 150GB. That’s why I made this thread to see people’s opinions.
A much better solution to the space issue would be seperating off the rolling stock from their routes. For example, to get the East Midlands 158 layered into Riviera Line you need the 4GB Midland Main Line route installed, but the Scotrail 158 DLC is only 143MB in size so it would be technically possible to split the East Midlands 158 from the Midland Main Line and free up nearly 4GB. The freight wagons on Riviera need the 6.1GB SouthEastern HighSpeed and the 7.4GB Euston to Milton Keynes routes, whereas Cargo Line packs are typically 175MB, so maybe 350MB of rolling stock rather than 13.5GB of routes. From a route entitlement perspective it would just mean buying a route unlocks both a route DLC and a rolling stock DLC, buying the new Dresden also unlocks the old one so that part is completely doable. Actually splitting up all the old DLCs would take a bit more work.
just save up more money ansave up mnre money and buy a 2tb or 4tb ssd something like a Sandisk SSD Plus (TLC) 2TB or an Sandisk Ultra 3D 2TB with cache ram prices are not too high
I have a separate SSD for the TSW. If 1 TB isn't enough, I'll need to buy a 2 TB SSD. It's that simple.
I personally don’t see, for now, the need to have more than 2 TB of space on an SSD. I only have 2 M2 slots, so when the need arises, I'll just replace the system one with a 2TB or 4TB one, if they're on sale.
Worth noting that if you’re on Xbox then you’re stuck having to use their hideously overpriced proprietary SSDs.
Those are curious because as a physical media format, they're a pretty neat innovation, they're just really not being made use of to their full potential. A card running on a cfexpress interface at PCIe4 speeds with an integrated heat sink in the slot sounds like the perfect thing for a handheld to get the most out of.
Physical media that needs online verification checks every time you switch on your console. When the servers get turned off, kiss your digital purchases goodbye forever.
Count me in firmly with the "no" fraction. That's just the thing. Not everything has to be cloud-based, just makes everyone even more dependant on external servers and external factors than they already are. And it probably would create ridiculous amounts of traffic, leading to even more issues with stuttering and blurry textures. And I won't even think about the loading times. No thanks, I'll rather invest in some neat SSD instead of handing the fate of my TSW over to some cloud, reliable servers and a halfway stable internet connection. Disk space isn't that expensive anymore
If it was done well i'd be all for it as an option. Cloud gaming has improved leaps and bounds over the past 5-10 years and if it weren't for the monthly playtime cap i'd probably be playing via GFN rather than on my borderline-spec laptop. Those UE stutters are pretty darn minimal on a 5080 server. Additionally, the storage footprint for TSW if you have all DLC is atrocious imo. It could also possibly mitigate or even eliminate some of the ridiculous duplication of assets that are required to maintain the current spaghetti of code and entitlement tracking. I understand the "what if they turn off the servers" concerns but tbh that's already a concern for every version of the game (what if Steam, PS, or Xbox cease operations)?
Personally I’d be up for a cloud based TSW even under a monthly subscription model. I get that’s an unpopular opinion amongst many but on average I’m dropping £30-40 a month on DLC so a sub in the £20-.£30 price bracket with access all content would be saving me money
if you think you'd have access to all the dlcs for a single monthly fee, you're very, very wrong in the end, you'd have to buy the dlcs and still pay a monthly fee to be able to play them so it's absolutely a big no for something like this
No to cloud base. No to subscription. I’ll buy the DLC according to my wishes and if need be buy a bigger HD.
Steam also demands it does checkins online now and again or games stop launching, though it's a bit more haphazard and inconsistent (and hopefully in the next decade they'll fix the Y2K38 bug in it that breaks all your games in offline mode if your system clock is set past 31/12/37). 's why I grab 99% of my games via GOG, for a guarantee of standalone offline stuff that just works. My point being that as a physical medium you could instead directly sell games physically on, the design for the xbox memory cards is, from a technical standpoint, a really smart practical solution to a problem that they never applied it to. They'd solve a bunch of problems in handheld gaming regarding thermal management and having a high speed interface for removable media that's not limited by the standards of microSD. As a basic bog standard plug and play game cartridge, Switch style, it's exactly what you need for a slim device that chucks out a lot of heat. Which would actually track with their leaked plans from back when this generation of consoles were in development, wherein presumably we'd have seen an in-house handheld version of the Series S at around the time in this console generation that the manufacturing costs come down, which of course never happened post-2020, leading to a very different development path where we're instead getting the third party XBox Ally.
Two inside my laptop, two for mirrored backups, a pair for media like my GOG installers, and one in my handheld here.
Google maps/Openstreetmap equivalent and cloud based FS2025 looks OK from altitudes above 3000 ft or so and at 30000 ft under IFR, it hardly does matter how the surface looks, if even visible at all with clouds. For detailed VFR scenery, you cannot rely on the general algorithm that populates the map with approximate buildings, trees etc. Any scenery involving well known landmarks has to be custom rendered and is mostly sold as DLC. An Openrailwaymap and cloud based train route will have to be 3D rendered at a much higher resolution and likewise needs to be populated with custom buildings, trees, cars, people and what else to make it look 'the ultimate in realism' DTG strives for, flat Street View won't do. Look already how poorly done the NYC, LA skyline is. So that's a no from me. Negative to subscription either, TSC subscription model seems a failure. For console players, they are already used to Game Pass kind of subscriptions. Would these take out another subscription? But let's be honest, how many of those eagerly collected games do you really play?
I’m not saying that TSW should generate scenery the same way as MSFS. Just the cloud based part of it.
My mistake re automated scenery generation along the tracks like in MSFS. Is it generated 'on the fly' every time or streamed pre-generated from their servers? There is terabytes of XPlane 3D scenery available to download to your PC. However, AI could be used instead of hiring a Mumbai code factory to decorate the scenery along a route once out of the city, string catenary to pre-defined rules, etc?
Rural scenery should be based on what is actually there in real life, why should only cities be accurately represented?
I think generate it, generally check it over, and leave it to us to find the issues. They come out with world updates every now and again when they have actually gone in and made their own scenery. This is what I get out of it at least
