High Iron Simulations Thread.

after watching the review, it became clear that it's worse than I could tell from exploring the locos for 5 minutes lol

 

Sounds like another blinder all round!!!

Honestly, when are they going to stop rushing out these half finished bug ridden products?

When we stop buying I guess...

 

Same, i giggling a bit when Sean was showing the new hoppers.

 

so my final feedback after watching the review and play the scenarios/timetable services all night long

the santa fe pack is a total failure... 18 months for this?
I was so hyped for it (as I was for F59PHR and ALP-45DP and both are excellent IMO, kudos to DTG for that) but I was very disappointed, a total disappointment indeed with this pack, not even the C40-8W livery is acceptable
the only thing that saves it is (maybe) the horn (which is the only difference compared to the SPG version and is also the same one used on the SD40-2, which shows a clear laziness on the part of the HIS team)
not to mention the copy-paste of the SPG C40-8W (the cabin is literally the same, meaning it's clearly just a reskin of an existing loco, and that applies to the SD40-2 as well)
I wanted to ask for a refund, but I exceeded the time limit for requesting a refund
anyway, from now on I'll be more cautious when deciding to buy dlcs produced by HIS
that, for the same price, I (as an unconditional fan of diesel locos) could have gotten the DB BR218 (a masterpiece from TSG)

edit: was wondering why DTG, which do preview streams of all upcoming addons, didn't preview this one? well, I think we have the answer now

edit 2: forgot to mention that neither of the two locos in the pack seem to have suspension... which is, once again, disappointing

 

Well, it seems with that along with the appointment of a staff member dedicated to US content and the introduction of HIS into the DLC market, DTG hasn't given up on the American customer.

It also seems HIS has been given a privileged position to provide this market with DLC, just like in TSC. DTG's main subcontractors for the previous decade in US locomotives and cars have been DTM, TBT, Reppo under various guises, all of South American domistice. Route builders are USA based AFAIK, and all now managed by HIS (Gary Dolzall, who I think to remember as a historian and writer for Trains magazine).

But should we expect better from this crew, given their stubbornness in not improving their TSC products despite years of feedback and criticism? HIS, like already remarked on this forum, is known for his arrogance in dealing with non-positive remarks on his own social media channels. This attitude won't help HIS in TSW either, given the negative first day reception of their first foray into TSW.

Now it all depends on the humble will to learn and improve, and not make these mistakes again, doing the cut-copy-paste from TSC or rinse-repeat-forget cycle that already seems to prevail in TSW.

 

Yes, a lot of people are happy to give DTG a pass on these third party releases. Of course the 3P developer has to take responsibility for its work.

But, just like in the literary world, the publisher should look at the product, edit it if necessary and even hand it back to the 3P to be corrected or adjusted if it's not ready for prime time, especially for consoles.

It seems that these steps are not being taken and 3P products are just tossed into the market willy nilly without being run through the testing gauntlet. I mean this particular product has been in development for a year and a half, for goodness sake.

 

but you and I both know that DTG QA is exactly like that, they let everything through, I've never heard of them blocking any dlc release (especially since they get their cut from the dlc sales)

"as long as it loads and the train moves, it works" credits: jack#9468

 

I could swear I remember DTG sending a DLC back to Rivet or someone for more work and even mentioning it in a stream. If I'm not imagining that, there's at least precedent.

 

Im hoping that the GP60M would be better, given it is a Reppo model, but unfortunately, it wasn't his best 3rd party work on TSC and I think it may have to do with influence from HIS. On top of the ATSF version being sold at a later date instead of being included with the BNSF ones.

Not to mention the early modeling on the spine car has this, like come on we cant actually model the springs? (I know its still WIP but....)

 

It would be good if they fitted it with the Metrolink the engine of the EMD Rebuild F59PHR, as the sound is similar. I know how difficult it is to get the sounds, but at least they have a sound that matches the locomotive. The problem is the bell, because the Santa Fe locomotives had old bells, and now that they're painted in BNSF colors, they have an electric bell. At least the BNSF EMD SD40-2 has an electric bell. The horn would be a K3LA. I don't remember hearing Nathan K3LA horn.

 

That part lacks Realism.

 

Given that these are on the cars in this pack already, I expect no improvement.

 

The new public facing staff member (and I mean no offense to them personally) is neither here nor there. If DTG is serious about improving TSW all they need to do is read the many many threads in this forum by paying customers pointing out the game's serious flaws and shortcomings and get to work fixing their increasingly broken flagship product. Having yet another staff member on hand to placate customers with soothing nothings and empty hype doesn't inspire confidence that things are going to get better. I'd rather they quietly hire some additional developers behind the scenes and just get to work fixing the b****y game. An improved TSW with noticeably fewer quality issues will speak for itself.

 

It's worse than that, some of those modifications they made to the C40-8W make a straight reskin of of the CSX unit almost more desirable. The fact bits of the cab are clipping out the roof and that door gasket floating in the air are worse than just leaving it if you ask me. On top of the ATSF skin itself being much lower quality than what the CSX one had years ago. It's ridiculous how decent the weathering on that unit is compared to the Santa Fe version.

It's worth noting is what Hello Games exactly did with No Man's Sky. They basically shut themselves in, feeling no sort of PR response was gonna do anything worthwhile, and just got to work. Took a massive penalty at the time in public sentiment, but it clearly paid off long term with how beloved that game became after said updates.

 

In terms of loco variants and liveries, we have been very spoiled by Train Sim Germany and Just Trains. Heck, TSG even created a free blue/ivory 218 with a period-correct 80s cab!

 

Not only that someone at HIS somehow deleted one of the traction motors from the model

Photos from ngc on the TSC discord, but you can see the middle traction motor is missing on the ATSF unit.

 

So thats whats tsw becomes now..., very very amateurish. Looks like the same mistakes than skyhook did with the cw44.

Rear bogie is still the wrong way around. The hype didnt catch me and wheres the point im supposed to spend bucks for this low quality halfhearted approach??

It looks like he noticed the error and didnt want to start from scratch....

Tsw uses alot of harddisk space by now, so this peace isnt coming in my steam library for sure.
A dev should care about his first release, this one seems to waste peoples time and money.

No thanks!!

 

it just keeps getting worse...
18 months of waiting (and hype) thrown in the trash...

 

Mind you we all know what a "Lessons will be learnt" speech usually means here in the UK.
Perhaps it is different in the US?

 

That means that instead of adding realism, they're taking it away from the locomotives and carriages. What's wrong with Train Sim World? They started well, but now they're going downhill. It seems like they're doing it on purpose. What's happening? They should update the pack of Santa Fe. The Locomotives sound good with the horn and bells, but they have a problem: the GE C40-8W's engine squeaks and hurts my ears; that's noise pollution. Not to mention that the GE C40-8W's cab is nothing like the ATSF version's; they used the same one as the CSX because the gull-wing section of the cab isn't the same as the ATSF's. I looked into it, and they don't match. The exterior of the locomotives looks excellent, but there seems to be a problem with the numbers.

 

Even the exteriors are sloppy. Pixelated markings, off colors, striping that doesn’t fit the base mass

 

I think that they will fit right in among most of the DTG's 3rd party roster.

I seem to recall that High Iron's first TSC packs were quite good. Is there a reason for the decline? Have all the original devs left or something?

 

My own views on the subject. Been around since the TSW beta and there's thing from that which blow this out of the water.

The really only halfway decent stock is the grain and cement hopper by DTM (surprisingly)

I reviewed the locos, my partner did the cars. He's better at that.

https://www.youtube.com/live/9koRBZy1_A4?si=R2N69s05GVNEKyf2

 

I have a friend who's crazy for all things Santa Fe, and he caught some additional mistakes like the 40-2s needing longer snoots, the colors, and the freight cars. Also, I find it strange HIS didn't use Dovetail's Warbonnet colors, as those are a lot more appropriate to the IRL colors
I really hope HIS fixes the issues with this pack, because for almost $20 and 1.5 years of work, it's crazy how sloppy this work is...
Here's a link to his thread since there's a lot: https://x.com/DoomerTactical/status/1986606721461092456

 

The assumption we came to on the discord was that they may have originally set out to make the B40-8W, the 4 axle variant of the 40-8W, which only the ATSF ordered (Amtrak got 3200hp variants) and somewhere along the way that idea was scrapped and the decision to keep the C40-8W was made. With the general lack of changes made to the units in the pack, I take that explanation of what happened as the most likely, and with the rest of the "effort" it feels like HIS put in, I can definitely see them not reverting the changes back to the original truck from the CSX unit

 

Possibly- but the B40 would have a different trucks and a slightly shorter frame- really a ground up rebuild of the C40.

 

Speaking of alternates, I thought we read from some source that the C41-8W variant was going to be present in this pack. I don't have the dlc yet. Is it there? Probably not as I haven't heard it mentioned.

 

no, just C40-8W is present in the pack

 

TSW + VTuber? Oh, I'll be seated and tuned in tonight!

 

Who said anime girls and trains dont mix

 

Potentially, but it is worth noting that SpaceyKat (The person behind that TSW P42DC model that gets seen from time to time) was able to throw this together by herself, of course its not a full blown loco DLC on its own, but it would of been possible to do if HIS wanted to put the effort in.

 

My point was that in early development someone may have attempted to cut off the middle axle and attempt to work on creating a 2 axle truck, to start working on a conversion from the C40 to the B40, then the decision was to scrap that idea (who knows maybe that model is hidden in the "scrap" folder of 30 unfinalized UV maps that for some reason got included in the DLC) and just keep the C40-8W.

Who knows, maybe a B40-8W is going to be the loco of choice for a ATSF route and we will get a clipping gull wing cab with CSX controls on 1k texture resolution B40 frame

 

My favorite thing so far are the UP timetables.

 

PLEASE!!! On a console here PS5.
Can someone with the skills please upload some weathered skins to the creators club using the assets from this new DLC.

Thanks

 

Didn't know BNSF did C4s in the 90s

 

Pretty sad that a lone modeler can do better than a 3rd party developer.

 

Well having watched a YouTube review from Train Sim Society, the only reviewer I really trust as he tells it as it is and is not dependant on DTG, I won’t be buying this one for a long while even though I quite like the content.
I’ve a feeling it will come to sale a lot sooner than some of the other dlc.

 

Do normies care about most of this? The majority of the player base are normies who can't tell you much about trains, let alone the details.
It's good enough for me for the price.
Honestly most of the stuff pointed out by the reviewers I didn't even notice as a casual player, and don't bother me at all.
If you're an aficionado of Santa Fe C40s, then you'd notice the red paint shade, the speedometer or the font but they mean nothing to me as someone who has not spent years researching ATSF.

Calling them a "failure" for a few minor things is missing the bigger picture.
Most players will ask "does it work? Is it fun to drive?"

You're free not to buy it of course, but it's not a "failure" any more than buying a cheap import car is a "failure" because it's not the domestic car you personally prefer.

If I can't drive it, the game crashes or the scenario won't complete... those are real failures.
If the ATSF aren't the right colors at all (maybe green and red?) or the train horns are from a Toyota not a train horn... those would be noticeable faults.

The stuff I've seen so far are insignificant. You're valid to point out details are inauthentic, but they're insignificant in the greater whole of the value of the pack for the average normie.

 

Train Sim Society also did a shorter review. This DLC is really poor and then DTG have the nerve to say that freight doesn't do well when they have no problem publishing a low quality DLC and then wonder why people don't want to purchase freight content.

I don't understand why DTG allowed this to be released. It shows that they don't care about quality. They just want the quick buck. High Iron Simulations already have a poor reputation in TS Classic so I'm not suprised at the quality of this DLC

 

I would forgive the flaws in the exterior. But how can you safely travel on a mountain route if both locomotives don't have a HOTD device in the cab? How can I find out what the pressure is in the brake line at the end of the train? I would even forgive them for the Dash 8 from CSX if it had a working HOTD device, which also does not work in this version.

 

How did they do on Cajon Pass before EOTD were invented on Cajon Pass?
Before the newer, shallower route opened?

 

Thanks so much for saying that, I really appreciate it! Steam really needs to give us a longer refund window though, because the 2 hour limit is just not enough, especially for content like this where you really wanna take time to explore every nook and cranny. 3 or 4 hours would make way more sense for a game built around long services.

And yeah, it’s honestly bittersweet for me. As rough as this DLC is, it’s the most interested I’ve been in US freight in a long time (because we usually don’t get anything LOL), and even with all the flaws, I’ve still ended up having fun with it simply because I’m stuck with it now. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, but I’ve been making the most of it.

OT: Nobody asked, but last night I actually managed to get 10 million pounds of train down Cajon without completely losing it. That’s a milestone for me (eventhough that’s really a baby train lol) because I usually fail and quit. It was a ton of fun trying to manage the braking the whole way down. I just really want more US freight content going forward… but I don’t want High Iron to be the ones making it.

 

I'd like to see the GE P42DC Model created by Digital Train Model. I first saw it in Train Simulator Classic, but in its GE P40DC version. I liked seeing that complete reconstruction because it looks more like the locomotive

That would be another excellent train for the Cajon Pass

 

That's true, but remember it's a simulator that has realistic features about how to drive trains.

 

I do get this view and for most parts it could be applicable, but the clipping and mismatched outside/inside of the door are straight up horrible. I hope even normies would mind THIS. Otherwise, it should be no surprise to us that the quality of everything is tanking.

 

Clipping is noticeable. Gauges not working at all would be noticeable. Knowing it's supposed to be a digital gauge instead of a dial... not noticeable if the analog gauge is working.

 

Sorry you had to take the hit in buying it at full RRP because your reviews are so thorough and detailed you overrun the 2 hour return window. But that’s what makes your reviews hold water, the fact you are so thorough and prepared to not get a refund. Plus the fact you are not in any way attached to the company but completely independent. that in my book makes the perfect reviewer.

 

ii suggest you watch the review, it’s not just basic stuff there are graphical glitches like around the door and the cab that an amateur that knew nothing about trains would be disgusted to see for the price. Not to mention the scam in splitting services down into 3 or 4 parts and trying to pretend there are 250 odd services.
If I pay top dollar I want top quality, it’s the prerogative of the consumer to insist on that. if you start accepting this sub standard content then it becomes a slippery slope.

 

There was a brake van at Clinchfield where you could check the tire pressure. That's nonsense. There's a device that should work, period.

 

We call those a caboose over here.