Dovetail Games Tsw February 2026 Roadmap Q&a Thread

Hey folks - just wrapping up the thread/questions and timestamps, be back shortly!

 

Hello everyone,

The February 2026 Roadmap is timestamped, which highlights all our discussion topics, and answers to many questions from this thread.

February 2026 Roadmap Livestream


(Thank you to our team, chat moderators and some of you in the community who have provided answers to many!)

Just a quick mention that anything regarding new content that we've not yet shared details about, we won't be able to answer directly. Many of the questions in this thread were directly answered on the Roadmap stream above, so please be sure to skim through the timestamps to see if you got an answer!

Key Discussion Topics
This Roadmap, we continued to address frequently mentioned topics in the community, mainly related to the health of the game, and key issues that players are finding limit or harms their experience. Please use the links below to hear from our team on these areas:

• State of the Game - Feb 2026
• PS5 Mounting Limitations
• Xbox Series X Crashing
• Blurred Textures & Optimisation Work

Additional Community Questions
Q: Why is Wonders of Sodor getting a forum section, but Metro Rivals isn't?
Put simply, we're looking at expanding the audience for Metro Rivals in a different way than we are for Train Sim World, TSC, and Wonders of Sodor. The forums community here is still very important to us, but it's worth acknowledging that the general audience we're trying to target with Metro Rivals extends out of our usual range and reaches closer to a casual-gaming market. These groups don't tend to utilise dedicated forum structures, as much as they use social-led platforms.
Realistically, would we ever consider adding it in the future? Maybe - that's not closed off, but we're investing more of our growth in dynamic spaces for the time being, and seeing how this helps shape the community as we're starting out.

Q: Why are certain routes harder to remaster than others?
Generally speaking, no route is made the same - and the scope can vary wildly depending on what you're hoping to achieve with the remaster. As a basic example, let's focus purely on lighting - this is something that needs manual implementation across the route, and then focus on busy/built-up areas. With this is mind, a route that's 25 miles long, compared to a route that's over 80 miles, may be quicker, but then you also need to consider stations and other POIs - the more dedicated focus areas you need to light up and detail, then the more work required.
It's a case-by-case, and the example given above just looks at one aspect (lighting), and now you need to consider all aspects added in (announcements, suspension, stock included and potentially other features like guard mode etc).
So time really is the key thing, the more time required, the bigger the task, and effectively the "harder" it is to approach. It's worth saying that so far, many of the remasters being released have been built with passion and love first, and bron from personal time poured in.

Q: Any restrictions from Stadler that are preventing developments?
Nothing I can comment on, and in truth nothing that I've personally been involved in. Unless we state more obviously on news/roadmap posts, I would raise caution about jumping to any conclusions.

Q: Will rail singing be a standard feature going forward?
Not something we've confirmed as a TSW standard feature, but it's great to see the positive feedback!

Q: What improvements have been/are being made to train faults and temporary speed restrictions?
Currently, outside of fixing any issues we've seen, there's no direct work being inputted to "upgrading" these systems just yet - our priority with engineering time is on performance, blurred textures and other critical issues we're hoping to address in the next couple months.

Q: Why are there projects/trademarks that the community have found and we've not publicly commented on?
I've re-phrased the question, for obvious reasons - and put simply, if we're not talking about something, that *maybe* certain community groups have awareness of, it's likely because of a couple of reasons, namely:

• We can't due to licensing or other issues
• We're not ready to share news yet
• It's not something that impacts the community of our games/titles

It's worth confirming that our teams will not engage in any discussion with these topics, so whilst I appreciate the curiosity, we often can't even bring up the questions without somewhat implying an existence we don't want to do. Hope the vagueness makes sense!

Q: Why the sudden urgency to remaster 3 routes in quick succession? Player feedback or a new approach?
I suppose both feedback and a new approach come together on this, but I think the best answer here is that we had an opportunity to do something special, and coincide that with our major publishing event (Festival of Rail) - so, why not? I mean, GWE Remaster and SKA Remaster both landing during the biggest sales we have only means good things for the community, they either get free updates with discounts on layers they may be missing, or they can pick-up these older-now-renewed routes at a great discount!
It's not just about sales though. I hope this year it's clear that we've taken Festival of Rail somewhere new - it's not just "the sales weekend" anymore, it's big news on our projects. We've done this in the past too, but every year we look at improving ourselves, and this year I truly feel like the event has shifted into something that I hope players can actually look forward to in years to come!

Q: What are DTG’s plans for the future with TSW - Most new DLC seems only to be coming from 3rd parties?
This is an evolving discussion, with many reasons behind it, but truthfully - our teams are looking at a range of projects, whether that's working to reinforce the TSW core (Performance/Optimisation), bringing new technology to life (UE5 and Multiplayer with Metro Rivals) or creating something new entirely (Wonders of Sodor). We are still dedicated to creating TSW Add-ons from our own teams, but the world of how we support TSW has changed over the years, and I think the rise of more third-party development has helped us maintain that growth really well.
As a note, I think it also gives us opportunities that our own teams may not be able to achieve - for example, Tadami Line and Liberec StaraPaka have brought TSW to regions that I don't believe we'd have the capability and experience to deliver, or Just Trains bringing a whole era to life from the 80s with a range of historic and detailed content. There are many examples, but ultimately the more we grow our wider partner programme, the more overall development TSW gains - so it's a win-win for us, and hopefully a win-win-win for players being able to get new types of content, from a variety of developers, each of which can offer new skillsets.

Q: With the Wonder of Sodor announcements, why not put that talent to use expanding steam content in TSW?
Just to confirm, there's definitely a difference of skillset required between these two projects, and what's expected from players on each, but truth be told, our understanding of what players currently want in TSW hasn't dramatically changed, and Steam locomotives don't typically rank too highly when compared to other enticing options we could be exploring. That's not to dismiss the desires that do exist, but our teams, or external partners, are looking at creating Steam content, they need to consider what audience sizes they can attract.
Hopefully, with news of the new BR 23 German Steam train in development, it opens the door to what's possible again, and maybe re-defines the appeal we see from players - this also comes with a range of other content, so it's not just "get the Steam add-on", it's "get the add-on, which will offer alot of traction/gameplay, and also features Steam".
Obvious acknowledgement to the fact that, perhaps Steam interests are lower because the simulation doesn't offer what players are looking for, but this quickly becomes a self-fulfilling loop, and there's a real risk of us missing the expectations even with any developments here.
All of this to say, it's not an easy decision, and just because we have available skillsets, doesn't always make it the best option we can explore.

Q: Why is there no longer an official TSW screenshot competition on the forums?
Being candid, it's been a wildly busy start to the year for our whole group, and I think we've dropped the support on a couple of community areas like this, which I'd like to ensure we bring back properly. Our Discord competitions were also put on pause, so it's not a forum's choice, but rather a resource issue with our group.
I'm working with the team to make sure we bring competitions back, they're great fun, highlighting players is always a good feeling, and I want to try find news ways to make the competitions feel rewarding/appealing

Direct Responses
cabbepe#2092 Noted your mention of the Fife Circle Class 158 announcements - I'll check in with the team

ffabio89 No worries, glad to answer - appreciate your response, there's more I'd like to do here, but I'll admit there is other priorities that demand time from both myself, as well as the development partners, which does often make it difficult. It's not the answer I enjoy giving, and truthfully we had grander plans when we shared the Editor, but the doors not closed - if I can get an opportunity to do more here, I will.

Thank you everyone!