West Coast Main Line: Trent Valley From All Aboard Studios

https://store.steampowered.com/app/...rent_Valley_Milton_Keynes__Crewe_Route_AddOn/

Coming soon, already seen on Steam (source: train simulator driver on YT)

 

It looks fantastic but im on xbox so really skeptical about this route. Because b2c was so bad and still is . But really want route. Finally we stretch the pendolinos legs. Hope this has good amount of freight jobs as well.

 

I'm going to hold out on buying until I know if it has blurry textures or not (PS5).

 

so, according to the announcement posted a little while ago, there are no streams scheduled for this week, so we should assume that trent valley won't be releasing this week
so, why on earth did they put the trent valley steam page up?

 

I’m also a bit surprised by how the whole situation is progressing. Why put the page online when you can’t even pre‑order it? It raises a lot of questions.

 

Could be that someone at steam hit a button too early.

 

but the person who "presses the button" is someone from DTG, not steam

 

I wonder if this is some sort of experiment to see if by doing this and presumably releasing either during or shortly after may madness sale reduces the hit of releasing a new dlc during sale periods. I certainly have held off on a possible sale purchase because I’m very likely to want to use those funds to by this on release (the usual caveats apply), I don’t know if that’s DTGs desired outcome but for me that’s where my head is at. although had the Evero been in the sale I’d probably have picked that up as well and it’s actually surprised me a little that it’s been excluded from the sale all things considered

 

Its a recent addon, I hoped the Evero would be on sale but imagine my shock when every route and its own personal loco was on sale EXCEPT the one I wanted, its like they know how to get more money out of me.

 

Yes I’m keeping my fingers crossed that some sort of bundle comes out for these on release of TVL

 

More hype for the content I’d wager. It could be a new thing DTG will do with upcoming releases.

 

I guess the lighting effect of headlights is wrong, the devs might have confused the positions of headlights and marker lights. The scrrenshot shows that the lighting effect comes from marker lights instead of headlights, as well as they did on 805. The effect of LED lights should be white rather than yellow. The decelerating audio is way too quiet and inaudible. Also searchlight models for pantographs are missing. Hope AABS can fix it at some point.

 

Are you sure about that? Then why do we have to wait for steam to open before we get access if they are the ones pushing the button?

 

The reason DTG chooses a time when Valve’s office is staffed is so they can get support in case any issues arise. It’s not that Valve has to activate the sales process. Otherwise, DTG could have released the BR145 Expert this early as well. It’s purely about having a support team available.

 

Well it would be if everyone used the correct phrase, but a non-zero number of people have already referred to it as "Thames Valley lines", so that's yet another TVL.

Ironically, a quick search reveals you as one of those people! https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/thames-valley-lines.97885/

 

because DTG likes to have guaranteed contact with steam technical support in case of any problems with the DLC release
but DTG publishes the DLC, not steam/valve
just watch a tutorial video on how steamworks tools work

 

From memory I believe with Rapid Transit it was that you could close the doors early but the signal would stay red until your departure time. I know this has been the case with at least a couple of routes, and if they really wanted to "force departure times" then this would have been the more realistic way of doing it as opposed to implementing a system that almost looks like a bug.

Assuming it still isn't actually a bug that is...

 

Im ashamed of my actions :/

 

For the sake of those who are intending to buy on Day One, I just hope this hasn’t been rushed to the finish line to bolster DTG’s coffers, following on from the glut of less than sterling content releases in late March/early April. Particularly with the sudden May Madness sale (have we ever had one before?), can I be forgiven for thinking DTG are more than a little cash hungry at the moment.

 

Here's hoping the stretch from roade cutting by blisworth onto weedon and by the M1 motorway is realistically modelled and I'll be looking out for the now defunct gayton crossing ,Ive done alot of trainspotting in theses areas for years so that's why I'm very interested to see how this comes out in the sim

 

Back in the mid 70’s living in Northampton, I used to cycle out to Banbury Lane level crossing for an hour of train watching. There was also a foot crossing near Milton Malsor which involved dragging the bike over a couple of stiles and fields to get to, that was another good spot to watch the trains and (sshh) flattening the occasional 2p coin! Well I was only 14 at the time.

Still a shame Northampton isn’t included as well, even in its more modern guise.

 

Haha, no need mate, but it does go to show that acronym confusion is easy to succumb to.

 

as an xbox user im worried that this will fail miserably. the 805 crashes on b2c as it is , never mind over 100 miles with multiple layers. i shall sit and wait this one out for a week or two.

 

There was a May madness sale last year

 

Every TSW sale the dlc seems to get more expensive.

 

You could do what I did and switch to PC. Costs money but my PS5 was not running the new routes anymore, cant even fathom how my PS4 ran it until 2023. Had so much stuttering on WCML South on PS5.

 

Was your PS5 full of dust? I have a PS5 I bought in 2021 and it runs most routes with minimal stutter. (Just the blurring issues)

 

Looking forward to it releasing; can’t wait to try it out on its own and then do a through run from Euston via route hopping or return to menu… either way, gonnna be great and deffo day 1 guinea pig

 

Hopefully this will be one of the rare breed of routes (like Medway) that releases without any bugs or issues.

But, if those of you buying on day 1 find it’s as unreliable as several other releases I implore you to get it refunded and put the impetus on DTG et al to fix it. Don’t just keep it and wait for an update if it’s not fit for purpose.

 

Because every year inflation goes up everywhere?
If food, gas and rent goes up, why wouldn't video games?
The biggest cost is people and people need food, gas and rent.

 

How dare you bring economic reality into this discussion! Don't you know that TSW DLC exist in their own little economic bubble and must never go up in price?

 

that doesn’t mean tsw dlc should increase at the rate it has been- look at NY stamford, half reused and costs the so-called ‘premium price’

 

Can say I'm looking forward to this, I do hope the bugs are a minimum though.

 

When was the last time DTG had increased the addon prices? So not 1 addon but overall as a standard price?

 

Who said this was a premium price? Perhaps this will become the base price going forward.

 

It's not half reused. Did you watch the streams on it and listen to the devs?
They said they had to recreate it.
If you don't like the price, wait for a sale or don't play it.
I have a lot of DLCs on the wish list waiting on sales because I think they're overpriced normally.
No one is putting a gun to your head to buy any video game.

 

It’s all gut‑feeling chatter what they do. You can’t just throw things on the table without actually knowing the facts. That’s why I asked when the last real price increase was but of course it stayed quiet, because then you’d have to admit that it’s actually not bad at all.

 

I blame the hippies and turtle necks blowing their vape smoke into the atmosphere. No wonder we get hail stones in June.

 

Best way to protest don’t buy it
Eventually DTG sales figures will indicate they’re being too greedy with their prices and they’ll lower them.

In general if a sale price is at its lowest, it should stay at its lowest and not increase.

I own about 95% of all content on PS5, but I was looking to add a few UK routes to my steam collection, as I dabble from time to time on PC. Terrible sale prices as per usual. I hope the next one is better.

 

I’ll say this, when it comes to actual route building AABS are a top studio the quality of b2b was amazing, however it could’ve been better optimised. That’s imo what stops it from being the best British route in TSW

 

With no hate but...
This is the average complainer in a nutshell… Always whining and complaining, yet owning practically everything. DTG knows this is how it works, so the sales numbers don’t change at all. So the complaining is mostly symbolic so far. (And it will stay that way for sure)

 

I can confirm that! Im on pc so it's not that I experience big issues but the route looks amazing. Can not wait to spend my money on it.

 

Yes, this in a nutshell.

The vociferous complainers keep buying DLC and then complaining more.

 

And then when you point this out to them they reply things like "well if you don't buy the DLC they'll go out of business". No they won't, they'll improve the product to make sure it sells, just like any other business would.

JB

 

I too fall into this category, but as a buyer of dlc and supporter of a company I expect some special treatment from them, from time to time. After all the money I’ve spent on this franchise I expect a gold bullion mailed to me with my name on it.

 

I respect your opinion. I will say though complaining helps, as otherwise a company won’t take notice or change their ways. Some people see complaining as a negative, I see it as a positive. “The customer is always right” and that’s how it should be. Without us they are nothing. There might be a lot of property owners in the comment section who don’t share or value that statement though since they’ve experienced a lot of harsh circumstances or refunds in their lifetime.

 

I have become much more discerning about what I buy.
Didn’t get North London Line, though I might once the extension gets released.
Didn’t buy MIA and having seen the laughable attempt to fix the track clearance issue via a Hornby 2nd radius curve in a recent TSS stream, don’t think I ever will be.
Didn’t buy Wonders Of Sodor which to all intents and purposes is a TSW add on outside of TSW.
Didn’t buy the 145 Pro or the 147.
Didn’t buy the Class 90.
Didn’t buy the NEC Stamford route.

Unlikely to Day One the Trent Valley route either, partly because I have a suspicion it’s a bit rushed behind B2C and partly because it’s probably going to coincide with the release of Running Train. In fact, the only DLC I might get on Day One is Preston to Crewe but even that’s not a dead cert.

 

DTG doesn't set prices on third party content. The creators set prices, ideally based on what their costs are. Again, pushing everything onto DTG as one easy target misses the mark and is counterproductive. It's easy to just blame the distributor, but with third parties that just absolves the creators of responsibility which defeats the purpose.
Criticism of price or content should be direct at those who created it to be the most effective. Likewise, praise and suggestions should go to those responsible as well.

 

The pricing for all the routes, rolling stock and scenario packs is pretty much always the same, barring a handful of exceptions. Do you think all of the third-party developers coincidentally choose the same prices as DTG? Do you also think a third-party can decide to sell their new route for £100 and DTG will just accept it, spend money on QA, marketing and previews and then list in on the store for that price knowing it won't sell?

Pricing policies and ultimately which content gets made are decided by DTG. If their TSW business plan for 2027 features a Class 91 pack that they want to sell for £29.99 and you turn up telling them you're halfway through making a Class 91 pack that you want to sell for £25.99, you can be sure your pack will never be published on the stores and that the developer agreement prevents you from publishing it anywhere else.

JB

 

£100 gets us QA?