Route Wcml: Crewe - Preston - Feedback Thread

I think it’s pretty fair. As customers we don’t get to apply any caveats to third parties in terms of how much we pay for the product, so I shouldn’t be expected to just be fine with a worse quality product on the back of a frankly unacceptable development process.

It’s down to the third parties & DTG to get a grip on the overall building, testing & publishing of content. It’s not on us to keep pushing aside issues.

 

Just done a run on full timetable with most layers installed. Frame rate is awful around Warrington, but was decent (albeit with stutters) for most of the run.

No blurry texturing though. I can deal with temporary low FPS, the textures killed immersion. Good improvement, still needs work though

 

Thanks for the response Benedict. I hadn't seen mention of it or a reason why etc hence me asking but hopefully it's something that can be worked with in future iterations of the game.

 

You paid £30 and you got a product that works on your PC and that is good for you.

I paid the same £30 for something that is unfit for purpose on a PS5 and I am stuck with this currently hated useless purchase as I cannot get a refund and need to wait for performance optimisations that given past experience may never come or be hidden behind a paywall. That is HARSH!

I really don't give a damn about the trials and tribulations that poor little Just Trains had to go through to put this hobbling turkey on sale for the PS5. Fact is they were quite happy to grab my money and then hang on to it whilst I am stuck with this useless abomination of a product.

I do not believe for one moment that they are incapable of basic quality testing of a route on the PS5. Many other games I own seems to be able to run on multiple platforms with no problems. Heck, the two other routes from Just Trains run really well and I am delighted with those full price purchases.

Companies like JT should be aware that customer trust and loyalty is not something they can take for granted. There is no excuse for ever taking people's money for a product that is in such an awful state as to be worthless and the end result is I will NEVER buy another product from them until it is at a massive discount and has solid positive feedback from ordinary (Non Ambassador) users.

That is not harsh, that is market forces at work.

 

PC Steam Using the full timetable



Service 1M44 22:54 departure from Preston........ I get a signal passed at danger message and returned to menu around a mile and a half north of Wigan every time i play the service. I'm not actually passing a signal at the time but am various similar distances from a double yellow signal on the approaches to the Wigan station stop.

I even tried spawning on foot at Wigan at 23:00 to wait 4 or 5 minutes for the service to arrive and take it over but the same message appears as the train approaches Wigan whilst I wait on the platform.

I'd driven the service down from Carlisle so was a little disappointed i couldn't get any further.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience but from most players experiences on the PS5 the main issue was blurry textures which with the patch we released has gotten a lot better.

We're aiming on doing another pass for optimisation and we'll try to reduce the amount of tris being drawn and reduce draw counts which will help everyone's performance (not just PS5).

I don't know where you're getting that we'd be charging for the update from, we released a massive timetable update to Blackpool Branches recently and that was free and that had some core route changes too.

 

I think they're referring to the fact that TSW4 was only a paid-for upgrade, so to get the latest routes (such as Blackpool Branches) one had to pay for TSW4. Given that the last two versions have had a free starter pack, I'd be amazed if DTG reverted this for TSW7, but that isn't stopping some people referring to this as a possibility.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, and this is quite minor, but I drove a Manchester to Llandudno service with the Pacer, and I was surprised it didn't cross over to the slow lines at Winwick Junction - instead it runs on the fast lines until WBQ. Surely it would get in the way? Particularly with the approach control at Warrington. If this is what happened in real life then happy to accept it but it seemed odd to me.

 

DTG have been very open in stating that the re-release of the [same] game every year is the biggest driver of money for them.
(plus its when the most new players join the eco-system)

But I doubt very much that they would remove the free core upgrade path, as the 150+ DLC for the game bring about a steady revenue throughout the year. Removing this might see some players stop at TSW6 which would mean all future DLC would not be compatible.

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply to.me.

Unfortunately phrases like "We're aiming on..." and "we'll try to..." are not very reassuring being just a vague promise with no time scale to when this product will be at the minimum level expected when bought.

Whilst the quality of the route scenery is undeniably very good, it is wasted when the performance is so abysmally poor as to make me want to delete it rather than suffer the dreadful constant choppy rendering, stuttering and at times complete frame freezes.

In no other walk of life would I be expected to spend £30 on a product that is unfit for purpose and not be given the option to return it and get a full refund.

I will be looking at the options available to me under retail law including contacting Sony Playstore.

Addendum : PlayStation store will not refund because it has been downloaded. Strangely, that was the only way I could judge how good or BAD the product is.

 

So why are you critical of this route when almost every route has its problems some worse then this one. Witch by they runs pretty good on xbox . And ps players have said its good.

 

It is now. It was really bad at launch. Still needs work, especially around Warrington Bank Quay. Feels like single digits around there lol

 

Are the all-over blue and blue/grey Express Parcels coaches (Pictured below) that are used on this route and WCMLoS Livery Designer compatible and if so which model are they in LD?

 

Another one you can't finish:
47/3 7M21 pt 1.
You can't shunt forward after uncoupling as there's another train in the way.
Reduced TT.

 

Please read my previous detailed posts about why I feel the way I do about this purchase as I am not willing to repeat myself again. I couldn't care less what other console users think as it is my personal experience on a PS5 that I am giving feedback about but for what it is worth, many other customers on various platforms have also expressed unhappiness about the poor performance of this route.

I have 32 routes currently installed of which I am contented with 31. There are few little problems here and there and the occasional performance drop and stutters that I have grown to accept from TSW but Crewe to Preston is by far the absolute WORST regarding choppy graphics, irritating stutters and awful frame freezes lasting up to half a second. It also has a useless timetable mode that doesn't include an ETA at destination and is so unstable and prone to crashing that It is a gamble whether I will actually complete a service.

I have never asked for a refund before on anything I have bought on TSW but I will not tolerate the shoddy quality on display in this route and am not prepared to wait for what could be years for fixes if previous experience with TSW is anything to go by.

Stuttering gameplay has been the Achilles heel of TSW since I first got into the franchise in 2019 but in the last two years I have seen a huge improvement thanks to work done by DTG. This led to me making frequent full price purchases and feeling very contented with what I bought but I am NEVER going to tolerate anyone trying to go back to the awful low performance standards we suffered years ago and this route does exactly that.

 

why are there bizarre speed limits in the middle of nowhere ?

 

Couldn't replicate. When did you arrive? I arrived at 6:52 and there was nothing in the way.

 

If that’s the slow lines South of Wigan then I believe it’s legit although I’ve not been able to find the reason why the limits were in place at the time.

 

PS5 general stability seems better but still sitting at less than 20fps around Wigan/Warrington. That pared with the never-ending stuttering it makes for quite an unpleasant experience, particularly when trying to manage the AC locos at high speed.

I think I’ll be sticking with Over Shap for now.

 

Running very nicely on XSX, finding no blurry textures anymore and frame rate seems pretty consistently decent. Quite the turn around from how it was on launch.

 

Tried again, arrived 6:52, same result.
Looking on the map when starting, it is 6E56 pt 2 just arriving at the same time. It fails to uncouple and pulls forward and gets stuck.
Strangely, just spawning on foot, it behaves as expected.

 

That's the slow line south of Wigan, it's 20/30 from Bamfurlong Jn down to Golborne. It's not that slow now but I believe when they were getting the details for the route the Up Slow was indeed 20/30 (from memory it increases to 30 at Kelbits). The Down Slow had a lower limit but not as low as 20 which is why it makes this one stand out.

To be fair there are very few services which run on the slows, the Kelbits tanks obviously being a massive exception

 

I had an unusual one recently a Morning Birmingham to Glasgow off Pl6 at Crewe 0909 or there abouts I spawn on foot and take it over. Lock doors and notice instead of Yellows or green to proceed I have the cats eyes. Have a look at the map and its routed me on up fast to Winsford (Wrong direction move). Then crosses it over to the down line which is were it should be. Single line working been put into the game on the sly? Or random routing? Which is something I have asked for many times. Or just a gremlin?

 

I can't remember what service it was but I took an 87 north out of Crewe and was brought to a stop a way up the line on the double track section. To my surprise an 86 hauled down express passed me on the up line and then crossed over ahead of me. I didn't know what to make of it but when I got a clear signal I moved off, then the game crashed.

 

I was running a double headed 86/4 freightliner and after a signal stop the second loco gauge stuck like this unless both needles were higher than that notch level.... Once the lead loco gauge dropped below that notch point the rear loco gauge just stuck at that amount.

Was this a bug or is it meant to signify a fault or something on the rear loco?

 

Forget the head code but I was doing the second part of the Deepdale freight run and as I entered Arpley Sidings at 10mph I spectacularly derailed out of nowhere. On XSX.

 

I've not noticed that but there are a few anomalies with the 86. You'll notice that the Train Heat Light is on even when coupled to freight wagons and it can't be turned off using the button on the desk (reported to JT elsewhere in this forum.

 

Sorry if this has already been mentioned. I can’t start any service from Crewe. TSW6 is the only game I have installed on my XSX. I’ve also uninstalled all non UK routes. Lowered the resolution to 720 and still get a low memory screen. Appalling.

 

Changing the resolution won't fix any memory issues as the bottleneck is the CPU side of things

 

It may have been that one.

 

Yep that’ll be it. Mine was with the 47 but think that service is playable with both.

 

Apologies if mentioned but I couldn't finish "Thunderbirds are go" on PS5. Game asks me to pull into platform 4, the bay platform but the points don't change and force me onto platform 5. Looked on the game and map and couldn't find a manual points lever to change it. Reversed to signal hoping it'd sort itself then got stuck behind a red and Spad. Was over an hour into the scenario, literally the last thing I had to do.

 

The res was mentioned on the message so I thought it was worth a shot. I really looked forward to this route,now I regret buying it.

 

Had the same issue on XSX.

 

Me too on xbox x

 

Does anyone know if there's a way to stay in the 20s whilst the AI shunter does the reversing moves? It seems to expect me to get out of the 20s to drive the 08 but I don't think that's what happened in reality.

 

I feel similar. Not quite regret but it's clear it's not been tested properly. Reluctant to start a service without confidence I can finish it without a crash. Was surprised to read a post that said it didn't get tested on consoles. That's just negligence if true.

 

JT Benedict Is this something that is known about at all? Or being worked upon as part of the optimisation?

I'm on PC Steam with a Lenovo Legion Pro 5 laptop i9 14900HX, RTX4070 8gb GPU, 32gb RAM and SSD.

I get instances in locations like Warrington and Wigan (and the surrounding yards) where during gameplay the framerate will drop to less than 20fps and stay there. At the same time the GPU rises to 99/100% and GRAM rises to it's maximum 8000Mhz and also stay there which is shown in the first screenshot.

I have tried pausing the game at which point framerate goes back up to 60fps and GPU drops back down to normal levels whilst paused. I've tried staying paused for various lengths of time but as soon as I un-pause the framerate drops again and the GPU shoots back to 99/100%. If I save the game and exit to main menu instead and then load the save game straight back again though as can be seen from the second screenshot performance is back to normal.

This happens on every single scenario that goes through these busy locations and in fact during the Thunderbird scenario it occurred four times!!! but very rarely happens in timetable mode (although this particular instance was in timetable mode driving 6F32 to Arpley Yard).

The only common thing I can possibly find is there does seem to be a lengthy AI (Seems to be usually class 20 hauled) MGR or HEA coal train running through the area when the framerate drops drastically. It's as though something memory/GPU intensive gets stuck/glitches when the AI coal train spawns or appears on tile you're on etc..... and instead of clearing once loaded just stays stuck and hogs the GPU but then is cleared when you save, exit and reload.


Also note the framerates shown in the images are from the Nvidia HUD and are inclusive of Smooth Motion frame injection so in reality the lower framerate is actually 8/9fps which SM is then doubling to what is shown.

 

I encounter the same strange framedrop too, on a laptop, not gaming laptop so its a frame in 5 seconds, but same effect.I usually pause until it is over. I haven't noticed anything that can trigger it. I mostly think its my graphics card failing

 

I cannot edit that post to 'non-gaming' instead of 'not gaming' as i seem to be a spambot dtg_jan

edit: can make new post though

 

No as per my post says pausing for a short while doesn’t solve it as it does with normal busy area load in drops in frame rates. This stays like this till the game is saved, exited to main menu and reloaded.

 

ah, i misunderstood.
In my case when i hit 'escape' the game somehow recovers after a while.

 

That sounds to me like your laptop is overheating, and pausing it lets it cool down. Often with laptops, the vents are mostly on the base, so one tip (if you use an external keyboard and mouse, of course!) is to prop it up like so: /\