Koln Aachen Tod 4 Remaster Discussion

So in the newest announcement where we got the gwe remaster date comfirmed we also got new info that both koln aachen and east coastway are getting upgraded to TOD 4 and im honestly excited with koln aachen since the new timetable got added for it. What are yall thoughts about it?

 

Finally a chance to enjoy the "new" timetable.
Didn't even play it after I got blinded by a Desiro's headlights on my first and only run since that god awful mix of trains with different lighting versions is a mess to my eyes.

 

Thats why I stopped playing the lights were horrible.

 

It makes a lot of sense to me investing the time in making the remaster for this route.

There is a lot of stock that runs as layers on Koln-Aachen with the new timetable (thanks Joe), so I think many new players will want to buy the required DLCs (now or over time in sales).

As Dal said in the previous post, the lighting was the most noticeable problem the route had.
Just fixing that is a great step, and anything else they add will be the cherry on top.

 

I'm always down for remastered older routes! As others have mentioned already, the lighting is a mess right now. At the moment, it's one of the few German routes I barely ever drive on, but this might change with a (hopefully well done) overhaul.
But with the way things have been going lately, I can't bring myself to get hyped

 

Ever since Stuttgart Heilbronn released with its E40, I haven't been driving much else really. Did a decent run on RSN, was even able to get a cool screenshot out of it, but it's as dated as KAH.
KAH I did the runs needed for mastery and that was about it. Cool newer stuff that subs into services were tempting in the beginning, but I don't dare to take an E40 on this route at the moment.

AmityBlight I feel you, I can't get really hyped as well, even though it looks good. Considering the update backlog we still have from DTG I'm not as chipper like I used to be before the release of Stuggart.

I guess time will tell. I still have hope since I know who does the remaster, but that doesn't affect DTGs update policies.

 

AMAZING!

This is a lot of free stuff to announce in one go! I'm all for it!

 

Will Cologne-Aachen be released from the Bakerloo and Sand Patch package or not?

 

Super glad to hear it. SKAs new timetable is great, Köln is an amazing area for everything trains, and it was the poster boy German route for TSW 2. I hope Aachen gets a bit of love in terms of the proper cityscape. Can't wait, same for East Coastway which has a very chill, relaxed atmosphere!

 

SKA remaster is fantastic news. It remains a solid route, especially with the new timetable.

 

It has been for quite a while now!

At least is has on Steam, anyway.

 

When I install Koln-Aachen, Bakerloo and Sand Patch are still included, and on the TSW Steam homepage where it says "Manage these (number of DLCs you own) DLCs.
"Of course, you just need to leave Bakerloo and Sand Patch uninstalled, but they're still there.

 

Oh I see. I didn't realise you already had them. I'm not sure then,

Sorry!

 

No problem.
Yes, bought this DLC when it was released for TSW 2.

 

Any chance the expert 101 can be slotted in?

Lets hope Rhur Sieg Nord gets something as well as Munich to Augsburg....

 

The Expert 101 substitutes the normal 101 in the new TT. The catch is that you cant drive the cabcar.

 

Ahh yes, I meant with cab car as per real timetable.

 

I wonder if there's any pending bugfixes that've been considered to be released together with the (mostly aesthetic, it seems) remaster...

Also, since I see no mention of it, will the KAH/SKA BR 406 get the multisystem capability of the MKN one?

 

No mentions about train/station announcements, temporary speed restrictions, guard mode, faults and the new railsinging seems quite concerning. Same for the 406. No info about if it will be upgraded to MKN 406 standard or not.

I would say that DTG either forgot to mention these features or trust us to know what "remaster to TSW 6 standard" means.
The question is why they listed them for the other 2 routes.

After all, i do not think FolezzWorld did anything close to a poor job remastering SKA.

 

I'm happy about this as it's one of my favourite German routes and a rail corridor I've used many times in real life.
Look forward to trying it out!

 

As long as the remaster of this route is way better then the Dresden - Riesa Remaster and the crashes are fixed with the revamped timetable, I most likely will be happy. SKA is one of my favorite routes, with a lot of different type of services and trains.

 

I thought the remaster was brilliant for Dresden-Riesa

 

Two Things i Wish for with this Upgrade.

First, I hope DTG will removes the ugly Pringles Ads and second It would be nice if DTG could swap the Dostos of the Main-Spessart Bahn with those of Frankfurt-Fulda or Frankfurt S-Bahn. The old Dostos simply don't look good in Tod4.

 

I also hope dtg will swap those planes at koln hbf with real a321 neos for better realism

 

I got info from 1 of the managers in the discord and she said it wont come at all for SKA

 

They didn't touch the vegetation enough or at all. With the new lighting everything is more highlighted, that's why trees look off color wise, compared to the original. Also many fields near the tracks looks bland with no detail, with the darker looking original this was less noticeable.

 

Thanks for pointing that out.

Dont get me wrong, but i only trust statements from the involved devs. If she only got a list of features FolezzWorld wants to point out, this still could mean there is more to come.
The article mentions "many further updates are coming as part of the second phase for this remaster".
Could be a hint for the remaster releasing in parts, with it being split into the overall route remaster and at a later point updating the feature set to TSW 6 standard.
If this isnt the case, i cant change it, so i wont complain about it.

 

I'm really looking forward to this, it's a favourite route of mine in TSW and IRL. A few questions:

Will the underpass at Koeln Hbf be made more realistic and expansive? This wasn't done in TSW days but is now, so it'd be nice to see Koeln look realistic.

Will the timetable be exactly the same as the updated one, or will there be further updates? If so, might I suggest:

* OEBB coaches (or a mix) on the Sleeper trains
* IC 118/119 (AI train) with OEBB coaches.
* 403 rather than 406 on most AI at Koeln
* RB27 could be 143+3 Dostos, as these ran the route until recently
* RE9 (AI) could be 112+5 Dostos, as these ran the route before National Express
* Some of the diesel AI RE/RB services towards the Eifel line could be 21+n-Wagen, as these used to run these routes
* New trains such as the 140 and 294 could appear

 

Honestly, a free update of any sort is more than I was expecting for a route that I already love anyway, so I don't much care for the absence of the new TSW6 features specifically. Hopefully though some actually gameplay impacting things get solved.

 

Is the new timetable worth picking up for this route? It’s cheap as cheese in the PSN store, so if the feedback is good I’ll buy it.

 

The timetable was a free update.
I cannot recall hearing anything about it being linked to any addon besides the route itself.
If you are talking about the Br 423 for Köln GP pack, in a sale its worth it as you need it for most Sbahn services.

 

after visiting koln hbf irl back in september i gotta say the under pass feels so empty without the stores and mcdonalds and other stuff there in the tsw version

 

+1 on the Underpass point - walking between platforms in Köln just feels so wrong. It's probably quite a lot to model but we've seen that level of detail in recent add-ons.
Köln simply shouldn't have a generic underpass, one of the bigger let-downs in the add-on IMO.

 

Looking forward to this as any remaster is welcome. However I venture to suggest routes like RRO or Rancid Transit should have been up first. RRO needs the gradient transitions smoothing and the signalling issues that prevent some G6 runs being completed, sorting. RT just needs a thorough sort through and the 1442 given decent sounds.

 

I think Rapid Transit needs more than a remaster - now that we have a model of Leipzig Hbf, perhaps a v2, LIRR-style, would be in order, with the full terminus, plus an extra branch or two.

 

I'm pretty sure DTG has a few Surprises up its sleeve for this Upgrade. Do you think there's a Chance that the Trains that were previously only playable via other Routes will be added with the upgrade? Like a dedicated BR146, Dostos, BR185 and BR425 for this Route?

 

Indeed. The whole Leipzig S-Bahn has been turned upside down since the release of the route. Leipzig Essener Straße needs to be added for starters. The S2 now terminates at Connewitz, nothing terminates at Gaschwitz anymore these days. Adding the S1 as an extension would be fun and not too much route length. Allthough I think that doing Dessau was a poor choice from the start. Should have gone to Halle (Saale) via Airport and Schkeuditz. But that´s just my personal prefereance.

Anyway, back to topic: Aachen-Köln. Not my favourite for a remaster, but I guess it makes sense to go "all the way" after doing Joes timetable. I´m still no fan of the ongoing 2010 theme throughout most German routes. No modern Emus and no modern timetables.

 

what im wondering now is this remaster for koln aachen was done by an 3rd party dev aswell meaning is it high change we get more tsw 1 and 2 routes remastered?

 

I was kind of surprised when they released the updated timetable that it didn't come with a ToD4 upgrade as it added alot of newer trains whose lighting doesn't really work right in ToD3. Cool that they are updating the route.

DW

 

well upgrading a route to TOD4 + making detailing with scenery and rails way better takes a while so this was def in the makings for a while rn

 

I don't think so. The current layering will probably stay in place, unless other combinations can be made to reduce the number of DLC dependencies.

 

What should I expect from this remaster? I was hyped for about a year about the GWE remaster, and now all of a sudden another remaster drops this month without any hype. The hype for GWE was real, but I have my doubts about SKA because of all this. What is considered a remaster? Is just TOD 4 considered a remaster, or does a remaster mean a total visual overhaul?

 

I believe it will be a visual overhaul and upgrade to TOD4. Normally it would also mean a timetable update, but that has already been done.

 

Hopefully this will release soon now the GWE remaster is here.

 

Usually a remaster is an upgrade to the current TSW version standard with all new features etc.

SKA will be a Tod 4, scenery and track remaster. Looking at the points mentioned in the article, it doesnt aim to bring in all features like conductor mode etc. , but concentrates on overhauling the route from a technical standpoint, which might be even better in the long term.
(Not that GWE didnt receive any of those, just not to the same extend afaik).
For the train/station announcements, we know how devs often explain for this feature to usually be very time consuming to implement. Looking at the 4000+ services, i dont think its important to have.

 

To be fair, the current Conductor Mode doesn't make sense on this Route. All Trains (ICE3, Talent 2, BR423) coming from Cologne - Aachen run in double traction, meaning two Trains coupled together without the possibility of moving between them, and so far there hasn't been a single Route where Conductors Mode were present in this Situation.

 

I'm 99% sure next week! The preview stream is on monday so it makes sense next week.

 

Yeah it is! Monday evening 1 hour later than normal. Before is a small preview for TSC. So 8pm UK time

 

Thank you