Is The Game Dead?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by VirginTrainsIsGreat, Nov 10, 2025.

  1. trevkiwi

    trevkiwi Active Member

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    Your work PC probably has a bottom-end CPU. My 5-year-old PC takes less than a minute to boot up on Windows 11.
     
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  2. OldAlaskaGuy

    OldAlaskaGuy Well-Known Member

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    A lot of delay depends on what is starting at boot up and if you have quick start enabled. Look at your taskbar/system tray and see what is there. You can also use WindowsTask Scheduler to set a delay for programs that run at startup this allows your OS to load faster. Just be careful not to delay Windows system or Security applications.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2026 at 9:21 PM
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  3. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    I don't have any problems with Windows booting - you are the one complaining of a slow boot.
    10 seconds or less between me pushing the start button and the seeing the Desktop
     
  4. rodney

    rodney Member

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    Wandering way way off track.
     
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  5. michaeloward

    michaeloward Member

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    Well, many agree with my view.... .. is just one of thousands of YouTube and other videos and articles rubbishing Win 11
     
  6. Wivenswold

    Wivenswold Well-Known Member

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    My PC is 5 years old. It still boots within 30 seconds.
    It's showing its age. When I use TSW or MSFS my box sounds like it's about to take off.

    PC tech development isn't as fast these days. 20 years ago a 5 year old PC would be totally obsolete and would even struggle to load a new operating system. Nowadays so long as you get a decent motherboard and power supply you have a machine that will last 7-8 years if you take care of it, keep software/hardware programs up-to-date, maybe replace the GPU halfway through and make sure you keep on top of bloatware and programs you no longer need.

    As for Windows 11. It's not great but this is the norm for MS. Vista, Win 8, Win 11. You get a good version followed by bad one. Windows 12 will be better.
     
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  7. mindenjohn#8353

    mindenjohn#8353 Member

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    Sometimes it is better to take a step backwards and go forwards at a different angle. Forwards for the sake of it is not a good choice.
     
  8. trevkiwi

    trevkiwi Active Member

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    On Steam, 64.85% of users are running Windows 11 64-bit. 25.36% are running Windows 10 64-bit, and 0.08% are running Windows 7 as of March 2026.
     
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  9. KeithG

    KeithG Active Member

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    Would that be the railway track ?
     
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  10. rodney

    rodney Member

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    No it would be the subject of the thread which is "Is TSC dead?" not some torturious explantion about how to get your computer to win11.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2026 at 2:08 PM
  11. IronBladder

    IronBladder Well-Known Member

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    rodney is right, this thread has gone way off topic.
     
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  12. Thor-Ulf Ståhlberg

    Thor-Ulf Ståhlberg Active Member

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    Absolutely right
     
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  13. Wivenswold

    Wivenswold Well-Known Member

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    "Is the game dead?" was a silly premise anyway, no wonder that we drifted off topic. Born of the modern notion that everything has to be summarised with a binary choice that pervades social media these days.

    If something is "dead" then it no longer exists. Which is a considerable distance from the truth because loads of people still use it and there are near weekly third party releases.

    Is TSC dying? No, it's become more niche. But again, that doesn't fit the need to grab everyone's attention with a "hot take" does it?

    Nuance on the internet is dead, TSC lives on. That's my lukewarm "take" on the issue. There, that's an on-topic "torturious explantion" (sic) for you.
     
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  14. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    The Game will be dead when you cannot play it any more
     
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  15. ---DMY---

    ---DMY--- Well-Known Member

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    And that will probably never happen, as we could then use an emulator to run it if needed.
     
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  16. Double Yellow

    Double Yellow Well-Known Member

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    As long as Steam HQ doesn’t blow up, we should be fine.
    It’s still a scary thought though. Just like Steam, other big Corporations, Sony, Microsoft could pull the plug at any moment and we’d lose access to all our digital games.
    That’s why I’ve started buying some games on GOG now.

    I believe in game preservation too, software like RPCS3 that allow me to back up my PS3 game collection, which I fully support.
     
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  17. michaeloward

    michaeloward Member

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    Even if Steam HQ did by some rare event go offline, if third party developers sold direct then TSC could still flourish. Even games that date from the 1980's still have a cult following. My favourite game from that era was Microprose's F117A Nighthawk which still has a niche following even now. Not from me, though, I prefer TSC! I wonder if the Linux environment might provide a way to run TSC to an equivalent standard as Windows 10/11, on high-end but non-Win11 compliant hardware. That would future-proof TSC.
     
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  18. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    What is GOG?
     
  19. Double Yellow

    Double Yellow Well-Known Member

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  20. operator#7940

    operator#7940 Well-Known Member

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    If you go by Steam figures of players, it's at about half the average players of what it was in 2020. It's about 1/4 of what it was in 2014.... but there's a lot more GAMES out there now. People are still picking it up, but fewer with other titles available.
    However, to be fair 1,000-1,200 players on average is about the same as TSW 6. New content is coming out all the time, and you don't tend to sell new stuff if the game is "dead."
    I think it's more continuing as the very niche game it has always been...only a smaller slice because there's more options out there to divide the rail fans into.
    If you stop seeing new content at all, then you might have a point.
    Until then it's just odd fearmongering lacking substance.
     
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  21. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Well-Known Member

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    Steam wont even count me, as i always play in offline mode, going as far as to disconnect the ethernet cable. I am probably not the only one.
     
  22. vodka#2734

    vodka#2734 Well-Known Member

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    TSW6 has an ace up its sleeve: it's available on consoles. They probably have twice as many players.
     
  23. operator#7940

    operator#7940 Well-Known Member

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    They do, but you can't track consoles on SteamDB, so I don't have data for them.
    Just like there's no data for offline players of TSC.

    I still don't think they'd keep releasing content if the game wasn't selling or being played.
    It is however getting dated and some of the original players are starting to drift off.
    So there is a measurable decline... but the game is far from "dead."
    The rail sim market is only just so big, so having a lot more games than existed 12 years ago is fragmenting the existing playerbase.
    I give it another 5-10 years at least.
    At that point given current trends there will still be hundreds of players online at any given time, but the third party creators will decide for themselves when it's no longer worth it to make new content.
    When the new content stops....then the game dies.
     
  24. vodka#2734

    vodka#2734 Well-Known Member

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    It's unlikely that many new players are joining the game. DLC purchases are likely coming from existing players.
     

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