Ambassadors And Lack Of Console Previews

I've read a few things around this in a few of the posts I do feel like this deserves it's own thread though.

Is it really true that Ambassadors weren't allowed to do preview streams of Birmingham to Crewe on console?

Because that's absolutely shocking if true. TSW used to do preview streams on consoles all the time. From the start of the timetable deep dives I've been asking how this is running on consoles with regards to worries about texture issues, Crashes and performance which seems to be getting worse with each release.

I know we have Beta testers on Xbox consoles so we must've been aware of how this was running layers or not?

This is incredibly shady (if true) from DTG to push the product in this state on consoles with the wrong build (again) and prevent ambassadors from previewing it on different platforms. Especially when AABS have put in so much work to create something that when it works looks very good.

 

Genuinely starting to think the Beta testers either only test PC or don't even exist to begin with

 

Whatever Birmingham to Crewe was tested on, surely the AI SPADs now being reported must have manifested? And if so why was nothing done to identify and eliminate the cause and why did DTG not throw a red flag on release until this was sorted.

 

As an Xbox player, I don't think I'll be buying anymore routes in TSW in the near future. The fact that blurry textures is becoming a game feature rather than a bug is really disappointing, especially when routes like Birmingham-Crewe have clearly had a lot of time and effort put into them. The solution of turning off layers really isn't good enough, when one of the main selling points of a route is the amount of layers, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that this feature will be present on consoles as well. I'm hoping this can get fixed or else future TSW routes will likely be a "buy only in a sale" sort of thing for me.

 

The blurry textures is a DTG issue, not a 3rd party one. DTG Matt needs to get his team to fully focus on the memory leak. 12 months and it's only getting worse.

 

I'm tired of Xbox issues... blurry textures, crashing, z-fighting, audio popping etc

But what's more frustrating is a lack of response or commitment to act from DTG. Ignoring the issues, not keeping us updated, allowing issues and bugs to continue into new DLC and versions of the games etc etc just make me feel like a second-rate player.

 

Honestly Im not sure the beta testers know what a. they’re looking at and b. what they are supposed to testing!

 

Unless the Beta testers are reporting stuff that isn't being actioned upon?

Either way something somewhere has gone totally wrong

 

Those guys that stream early access (I refuse to use the word ‘ambassador’) apparently are sent a key for PC only for the early access previews as this is the one format that can be verified - for want of a better expression - as the final consumer build.They are then given keys for consoles once the build is stabilised.
As far as understand it AAS sent out the right build for consoles but somehow an older version got released. Standard tardiness from DTG again!

 

Dunno, but I do not have much faith in them tbh.

 

I used to do QA testing for 'project 360' all those years ago, at a sister company for microsoft. If there really are 'testers' then they would see such issues easily. I was in a team of 5, with 5 teams total. We did QA for COD, Halo 3, FIFA, Need for speed, dynasty warriors, 360 demo discs (remember them?) ES oblivion, fallout 3 and a fair few others. How so many issues get passed the testers is utter mind blowing

 

Oh surely not. What developer would do such a thing?

 

I used to test games for a living years ago. Honestly if they have testers they WILL know about the bugs but just release any way. They need to bring the bugs under control and fix them or eventually TSW will fold under the weight of all its issues

 

Rivet or have you forgotten about them

 

This is the most likely outcome. Even on the official stream AABS acknowledged the timetable needed more work and they could easily have done the honourable thing and deferred release to sort it out, And I can’t believe they weren’t aware of the AI SPAD issue either. Probably where a more experienced developer would know how to debug and investigate the cause, but a rookie outfit doesn’t.

 

Money. Almost certainly the powers that be (i.e. Focus Entertainment) would not allow them to delay release.

 

Ahh well. Another apparent brilliant route blighted by core issues. DTG, you need to remedy this. Can anything else you’re working on until these issues are sorted or else we console players will vote with our wallets. I really like the game, but the way releases are handled is appalling.

 

If this keeps up, they won‘t have a console player base left to take money from.
After the TSW6 core routes performed reasonably well on PS5 Pro for me I really thought we were heading in the right direction. But this has blown my confidence out of the water again. No console preview, no purchase until I know everything works. I was looking forward to this route alot. Lets see what fixes come and if we can ever run it with proper textures.

 

I remember ATS saying their big delay was because they initially built something that turned out to need major optimisation to make it run ok.

It is abundantly clear that TSW isn't in the least bit optimised and new third parties need much more support on getting the most out of the game without it crashing or descending into a blurry mess.

 

Couldn’t agree more. Sadly I got flamed for suggesting this yesterday but having been around these games for over 25 years I know you can’t just keep adding stuff to a route and it still run without issues on other than high end hardware. Obviously in this case the 350 may be the culprit, but did the AABS route builder overdo stuff like high poly grass or vegetation too far from the trackside where it will never be in player view. Or some sort of rogue asset which I believe was the cause of BPO crashing in the Preston area, until JT figured it out and fixed it.

 

I have to agree with the comments here. As a console player (Xbox series X) the blurry texture issue should be absolute priority for fixing. I drove the 323 on the Birmingham cross city route ( Enhancement pack included) last night and blurry textures on the speedometer, power controller etc was constantly dropping in and out. No chance of driving hudless! Along with z fighting and audio popping it's getting very frustrating. No more new routes for me unless in a sale (so that won't be many). I'm almost tempted to reinstall TSW4.

 

What an absolutely shambolic decision.

The console side of TSW is an absolute wasteland of bugs, poor quality & frankly inexcusable mess. Not only do DTG not provide previews to something that half of their entire user base is expected to buy, but you’re now removing the one measly avenue of foresight we do get.

Shameful.

 

Do you remember the days when Matt would actually use a Xbox once in while in preview streams? It has been ages since that last happened.
They are well aware that the console versions are not in an acceptable state. So maybe they are indeed testing on consoles. But just are not able to fix the current issues.

I'm not sure if that's worse or better than not testing at all.

 

Its been said before and I’ll say it again…until punters VOTE with their wallets nothings changing!!!

 

Isnt a development build just an xbox dev kit on a PC, not an actual xbox?

 

Honestly Jan, if the game was any good then DTG wouldnt need ‘ambassadors’ in the first place!
Add in the fact that there is no real competition for DTG in this space either and thats where the complacency & sometimes arrogance comes from in my opinion.

 

Alex, you as a company are literally releasing the wrong builds anyway. You cannot be serious with this reasoning, it’s ridiculous.

Jamie is literally tripping over himself & build numbers in another thread, axing the single preview method for console users is not the solution to the problem you have with outdated builds.

 

There were several upcoming DLCs I had my eye on, but after patch for Riveria Line made the 150 worse and Birmingham-Crewe DLC being essentially broke on consoles. I will be voting with my wallet. Not purchasing anything else until major repairs are made and I have zero faith DTG will make them.

And for anyone who says "Just upgrade to a PC", If those people are willing to give me the money to purchase one that can handle TSW until then, it's not an option.

 

So ambassadors aren't being given access to content that "isn't suitable for previewing", but paying customers are still sold content that isn't suitable for playing?

 

Again you’ve made the exact same error that Jamie did & assumed that patch changed the build, which it did not. It is another patch that obviously wasn’t checked.

As rich above said, you won’t let us preview the content as it’s not suitable, but you’ll release it to be bought anyway?

As a separate issue the build & patch release system you guys have is shambolic, but as I said to Jan, axing console previews is shameful.

You can justify it to yourself as a company all you like, but the crux of the issue is that you’re embarrassed by what’s being shown & frankly you should be, as what gets released is often even worse.

 

Do you guys even double check things before releasing because it looks like you don’t or this stuff wouldn’t happen

also I think it’s fair to say we want an proper apology and development plan for the future of this game

 

Reality is though is that you didnt provide keys to the console version as you knew it would be an accurate preview of a route that was simply not ready for release

You also knew it would hurt day one sales which was the real reason you pulled any chance of previews of the console version

Sorry Alex but think you will find that DTG have pushed one lie too many and we are simply not buying it anymore, or even worse for you, wont be buying your future products

 

The fact that there was absolutely NOTHING said in relation to the known state of the console builds before release, is absolutely shocking. Transparency is key, and it cannot continue like this. Tell us, be honest and say “the route has some optimisation issues for PS5/Xbox but we are working on a number of fixes and they are….” Or words to that effect. £30 is a lot of money, especially when the content is broken.

If us console players are more than just a cash cow to you, we deserve better.

 

I don't know how other countries fare as I stopped buying them over the general quality and performance decline, but in German content - maybe aside of FSN - I don't remember any official preview stream done usually one day before release in last two years that wouldn't be full of "oh, that will be fixed post release", "huh, never seen this bug before", "it's something we would like to fix but no promises", "I thought we fixed this long ago", or simply ignoring glaringly visible bugs and turning the camera away from them.

If this is what you consider a build "suitable for previewing", I really wonder how bad the others are...

 

I've noticed that you can be very literal when reading other people's posts. I'm sure 99% of readers recognized mine as sarcasm.

 

You have to be a special breed of person to speak read and text in fluent sarcasm. It also takes lateral thinking, some members of humanity definitely are lacking of that skill......

 

Honestly seeing people on these forums it’s hard to tell if it is or isn’t, I also just normally struggle with understanding sarcasm in real life

 

Sarcasm? Where?

 

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic there or not Monsieur Krusty

 

All part of the magic Fred my class 20 chum.....

 

I can't speak for this route which seems a BIG problem at the moment, but....

Playing the game on Xbox Series X is not nearly as bad as some people would have you believe in MY experience.

I have a multitude of UK routes, some with all possible layers that exist enabled and the game by and large performs very well.

I occasionally get the blurred train controls, which is annoying, but it is very rare to be honest.

The other things I don't really notice too much, a little bit of stuttering when switching cameras quickly and the odd bizarre lack of sound that pops back into sound when moving around/moving the camera around, but not much else.

The gameplay bugs with trains functions/speed limits/signals/menus/options not working etc... annoy me much more I must say!!

 

I've played hundreds of games over the years and only one has consistently sent out the wrong build. Once is an accident multiple times is negligence.

Not to mention even on the correct build the blurry textures and AI SPADs are still present

 

We’ll have to agree to disagree on that Alex!

 

DTG, probably.

 

There's an entire industry of streamers who thrive from getting free keys to games from publishers, so I wouldn't really knock DTG on this one. I'd much rather have them than just the official DTG stream. I think they do a good job on the whole.

 

You've sent the incorrect builds out for people previewing the routes?

The jokes write themselves at this point.