Dovetail Games Wcml Trent Valley Q & A

at least one run that doesnt have the fog turned up to "Victorian era nightmare" please

 

Will the product that is being shown for sale end up being the actual product you sell or will layers or services be removed after the stream but before it goes on sale on the various platforms

 

Hopefully the questions in this thread can be merged to the official Q&A, if there is one.

Some of my thoughts have already been raised so apologies if repeated, but here goes…

This route is coming very close behind B2C which launched with numerous issues, some still not resolved. We can be forgiven for thinking the even longer Trent Valley has seen a rushed development schedule. For DTG, what oversight have you brought to bear to ensure past mistakes are not repeated?

Following on from the above, what steps are being taken - not necessarily detrimental to the overall experience - to optimise performance?

What’s the LAMPOIL here? To me this is just another route using the uniquitous Class 350 which is getting boring now along with yet another variant of the Class 8xx, quite possibly one of the least interesting trains to drive in TSW.

Length caveats aside, why have you ignored Northampton? This is a key location for the outer suburban services including the stabling depot.

How accurate have you depicted one of the most iconic structures - Kilsby Tunnel? Does it feature the correct architecture for the portals and the two very distinctive large ventilation shafts encountered passing through the structure? Or is it a generic copy and paste from stock structures?

Why ultra modern? This route would have been arguably more interesting set in the BR Classic era with Class 81 - 87 hauled express services and Class 304’s or 310’s on the Trent Valley locals. Nuneaton would have seen Class 31 hauled services on Norwich to Birmingham and DMU’s on the Leicester locals.

How will services that skip stop or don’t call at MKC or Crewe be represented?

 

should we expect blurry textures/crashing after:

A) hours
B) minutes
C) seconds
D) before the service has even loaded

 

Going forward and starting with this stream can DTG tell us what ‘build’ is being shown for the livestream. It’s important for punters to know whether its pre-release or final.

 

not sure why the original thread couldn’t be kept, maybe there were too many questions involving the shambolic state of this game. anywho, my question, more of a request actually, is can dtg and aabs outline exactly what has been done to reduce blurry textures? every time there’s an update to try and reduce them it’s described as ‘optimisation work’, but what specifically does this mean? what precise things are done to fix the problem?

 

Please, DTG, show the WCML: Trent Valley route in the livestream without all that fog.

As paying customers, we want to see exactly what a route has to offer so we can get an unobstructed view of it. That’s all we customers want to see in a preview stream.
We don’t want to see fog, or hear laughter and constant chatter; instead, we want to be able to hear the sounds that have been added.
If you stick to your usual standard for this livestream, as you have in the past, I hope that many users won’t buy the route right away, but will wait until the ambassadors show us unaltered videos.

 

Why does the route (both Birmingham - Crew and the new Trent Valley) not have a russian translation and what is the reason for this? With politics or just reluctance to translate content into an "enemy" language?

 

Will the 807 be added to WCMLS and B2C on release? Or will they be added later.

 

One further question from me… As you have ignored Northampton, how will the outer suburban services that run beyond MKC be shown? Will these be driveable to Wolverton? Will they then reappear at Hilmorton having passed through Northampton and Long Buckby as AI, then call at Rugby before heading off towards Coventry?

And what about freight booked via Northampton? Will this only be driveable north of Hilmorton/Rugby and AI from the Birdcage to MKC or will some be pathed via Weedon to allow a full length drive?

You see what I’m getting at - coming south of Rugby but not including the Northampton Loop considerably hobbles the route.

 

With Medway Valley line being released by firefly without blurry textures, has the same attention and care for the performance been considered with Trent Valley, or should console users expect the blurry textures feature to be present on this route?

 

Has the route been comprehensively tested on console? Has the developer been able to test the route on console by being enrolled into the beta program?

 

Has there been proper quality control applied to the route before release or is it another case of release now patch later?

 

Why decide to make a 100+ mile route keeping in mind the current state of the game right now? I worry it may be too ambitious given how blurry textures are still common.

Is it possible to just have one universal timetable instead of several?

 

What is your main inspiration for making content/routes on the WCML?

 

Has this route been well optimized and the blurred textures been taken care off for this route on PC, Xbox and PlayStation?

 

Is anyone going to do something about the rubbish sounds on the Class 390? I already know the answer but what the hell.

 

One more from me, being the devil that I am...

Can DTG confirm or deny whether or not this was in fact the Mystery stream which was supposed to happen last week but got cancelled?

 

How optimised is route hopping between WCML and Trent Valley? Would be great to see how seamless it is moving from one service to the (same?) service, or just generally how the feature is integrated between routes

 

Watch this not get answered:

“What level of QA has been done on this route prior to release? How many hours?”

 

And more to the point, where is the QA being done? If it's outsourced to India or somewhere, what's the chances of them understanding railway stuff, let alone UK operations?!

 

Have they kept the God awful doors can’t be closed prior to the departure time ‘feature’ they decided to introduce on B2C? If so it’s going to be a sale item for me as I find it infuriating having to relearn how to play TSW and it destroys the immersion for me

 

How many minutes would be a more appropriate question*

 

Happens in real life at Birmingham New Street. Albeit 30 seconds prior and the signal has been changed. You wouldn't close the doors on a red, signal given then close then RA given to the driver

 

Now that ATS & AABS seem to have buried the hatchet will we see the class 90 on the timetable at some point or will that be left to the modders again?

 

Will the Class 807 have black squares in place of the buttons like the Class 805?

 

What is the speculation regarding a release date 4/6 or 9/6

Will it be confirmed on the stream? Price too £32.99?

 

Wow... that's vague to the point of uselessness as a question.
"Promise me everything will work perfectly with your product every time."
Think of this as if it were YOU selling your OWN services.
You know a company can't answer that.
It's like trying to answer your wife asking "do these pants my ass look fat, or is this belt?"

 

With how the Trent Valley section of the WCML is busier than the Bham to Crewe section, how much of the route will have blurry textures?

 

What layers will be included?
What DLC will be coming out to support it?
What makes this route stand out from other WCML routes such as WCMLS and Crewe/Birmingham?

 

that’s not the original quote at all, you’ve just completely reworded it. the op simply wants to know whether there’ll be major issues such as crashing and blurry textures, or if they’ve been resolved. it’s not a useless question, it’s a very important and relevant one. no need to paraphrase like that

 

Also, Birmingham to Crewe released in a state for consoles that meant it was a coin flip if a run into Crewe would crash your game, many services spawning you on foot and not in a train as well as missing or non functioning AWS magnets and missing sections of OHLE

With that in mind, asking for some kind of guarentee that this release wont be the same is a more than fair question.

 

Has the timetable been made in a way that the Class 70 will appear at a later date, when that DLC is released ?

 

Is the track to Rugby Cement in place, and is it usable?

 

Yes please show route hopping in action at MKC. Having to wander off and find the marker only for the AI to drive off in the service you have arrived in would not be ideal.

 

Kilsby tunnel is featured in the video preview and looking promising, although no cab view yet

 

Does the 807 have speed set?

 

Does the route have working Neutral Sections?

 

Does the cargo line nuclear layer into this route?

 

Now we know it’s out next Tuesday!!! Will it cost £32.99?

 

I just don't think I can bring myself to chance a Day 1 purchase on this for this price, unless there is something really special about the route that I'm so far missing.

I would also like to know if they've changed anything to do with the door closing issue. It was conveniently ignored in the 805 Q and A so I suspect it will ignored again. It's an unnecessary restriction on how to play the game and I wish they'd just left it the same as every other DLC. It may not bother some, but It's enough to stop me buying the DLC as I find I don't enjoy Birmingham Crewe because of it.

 

Not specific to this particular piece of DLC but a general question as to why there is no 10% discount anymore on Steam pre-orders?
As I understand it DTG sets the prices and not the Devs. Something to do with recouping money with all the complimentary copies of the game DTG give away?

 

I really want to buy this route so please could we ask about optimisation and how it runs. I’m not talking particularly about the known blurry textures and things that are being worked on overall, but more if the brilliant work that Firefly did around minimising asset and texture sizes for memory been something that has been noted and used for new routes? In-Particular, Firefly said they worked hard to make it so the game runs well on lower spec machines.

I only play on a steam deck and many routes are brilliant with fps between 30-50 using lossless scaling. Routes like Medway Valley, GWE remaster, WCML South, Riveira etc (picking new ones) are all perfectly playable and enjoyable + most of the older routes. The exceptions are MildMay and Crewe to Birmingham, which are pretty much unplayable on the steam deck. It’s not a criticism, but I can’t afford to part with money if it has not been well optimised.

The Steamdeck itself is incredibly well optimised, which is why it plays the new 007 First Light perfectly with a few settings tweaked. I can play every AAA game and enjoy it for what it is, but those routes mentioned where I have spent money and simply can’t play them are a real shame. I’m hoping that MildMay will be much better optimised once the extension and update is released.

 

- So as I’ve mentioned a couple of times before, assuming you DO NOT own WCMLS, B2C, the Pendo or the Evero, then how do you expect 13 Class 807’s and 10 Class 350/4’s to make up the ENTIRE timetable on its own?? Really, the Class 305/1 or /2 should have been included. No doubt if you’re one of those ones who do not own either of the aforementioned routes, gameplay will soon get pretty boring.
- I saw in one of the roadmaps the cab of the 350/4, and noticed it had an improved cab desk (TPWS MK4 etc), will this be backdropped onto the 350/3 from B2C?
- Will there be improved traction/ running sounds for the Class 350, and if so can this at a minimum be backdropped onto the /1,/2 and /3 from B2C?
- Any updates to the TMS screen on Class 350 in terms of functionality. I noticed some errors for example the option to turn off the saloon lights however this does not work. Would like to ask the same for the 807.
- Speed set added onto the Class 807? If so, will this be added to the Class 805 in a future patch. If not, is this being investigated?
- In the Real WTT, there are about 3 tph to Manchester Picadilly,, one stopping at MKC and another at Nuneaton. However, they will only ever make one stop on this route, so asides from including them as AI, will there be a way we can drive these services from say MKC to the portal where the line to Manchester diverges off? I feel this is really losing out on gameplay for players if something like this isn’t implemented.

 

£33 for a new set of blurred textures and system crashes?! How on earth can DTG continue to roll out new DLC's when there's so much wrong with the core game??

 

Is £32.99 the new standard price for routes from now on?

 

Can you do the livestreams on a console?
Xbox or Playstation, either way?
Just tell us what specific model/version you're using and then we have a baseline system to know to compare with since they're a known quantity.
ex. "Xbox, Series X, 1 TB," etc
I think that's fair because the majority of TSW players are on console after all.
That would be the "average" experience by definition.

Not only that, but most issues are going to be on platform from experience, and also any delays in releases tend to hit for consoles, so if it's on a console in the livestream we know it's running on console and they can released together.

That seems like a fair request to me.

 

Being carefully with what i say who will be brave enough & Stupid Enough to buy this after Birmingham to Blur ( Crew) & a Scenario that was left unplayable ( unit exchanged ) & There proven failings that have yet to ifx on the BR Class 90 i feel that i am not trusting DTG any longer higher prices for low performance & low Standard products