PlayStation Another Dovetail Direct, Another Absence Of Details For Console Issues

Well, with the Dovetail Direct now come and gone, i couldnt help but notice there was a rather noticeable absesnce of any details on how the work is progressing on the console front.

Has any progress been made towards solving the RAM usage issue?, the blurring textures issue?, the stuttering? how about the DLC mounting issue that causes some routes to randomly load or not load owned content depending on some arbitrary 64gb limit.

It was really comforting to see that the PC players are finally getting the performance uplift they werereally really deperately needing (/s), and it is nice to finally also see safties on by default as an option.

But i also cant help but notice all of these smaller and not so packed with jam this years UK core and UK roadmap content seems to be, is this how theyve solved the console issues? just use smaller routes with not so much traction or static stock?

DTG Matt said this issue couldnt take months to fix, it was an urgently needed fix. Cool, where the absolute flip are they then?

Even with the free starter pack making another appreance this year, i feel like this year was going to be the straw that broke the cammels back or the golden goose finally laying an egg. i am really really really depressed to say it just seems like as a console player, TSW7 isnt for us.

Dovetail dropped the 8th generation, and with seemingly nothing insight for the 9th gen, are we being quietly dropped too? Will TSW8 be PC only and back to what TSW2020's roots were? CAN Dovetail actually correct the course of the console build, or has the resource and technical debit grown so far beyond heir controll that the only way forward is to just not move forward and drop support?

Not trying to seem doom and gloom, but i just cant understand why DTG are saying how important these updates are, but also arent *really* seeming to treat them as urgently as hey claim to be.

The first "TSW7" major update isnt untill December...

 

yeah, all of these PC improvements and other bells and whistles are good, but the real question lies..


What have they done with console?

 

I really do think a lot of the smaller routes and less busy timetables will be one of the ways DTG have decided to deal with console issues.
If there arent many layers, DLC mounting isnt an issue.
if there aent many layers or a busy timetable, less RAM is used and blurring is less of an issue
if the routes arent very long, then the players map tile position thingy isnt being reset and less stutter

 

Well, the Nuremberg - Würzburg map is not exactly small and it seems to me that there will be problems with it on console, but I could be wrong....... In fact, I expect that unless there is some major optimization of the German content, the problems will persist..........
From today's Direct, I have a similar impression that consoles are a bit out of place, but that doesn't surprise me at all, almost anything else would surprise me.

 

I'm also wondering if FSR will be available for console, no word about that.

 

no, FSR DX12 and all those other cool goodies are PC only - there has been no mention of an Console specific updates/fixes/improvments despite them being promised

 

Yeah, the overall excitement for DTG Direct and new content was not great compared with previous years because of all the frustration with texture blurring.

The newly announced content sounds great and all, but I really need more reassurance it will actually work and look as intended on Gen 9 consoles - it's quite unacceptable to say the least that we even have to worry about this.

In previous roadmaps at the beginning of the year it really sounded optimistic regarding blurry textures. But, while some, but not all, new routes have seen some improvements, what about our older content which still suffers, Leipzig-Dresden for example - a flagship route from just last year with TSW 6 - is abysmal regarding textures on console still!

 

DX12 has already (probably) been in use on the Xbox Series S/X since they are listed to only use it, the PS5 doesn't use DirectX at all and uses some Sony exclusive graphics API, I believe it was FSR4 which is only RX 7000 + RX 9000 so maybe the PS5 Pro will get it but it likely would have to either be the downgraded FSR 3 on the base 5 and Xbox, the consoles are highly limited with too little RAM for the amount of GPU and CPU compute they have.

 

and DTG are still trying to optimise the usage of the RAM our consoles already have with their dogsbreakfast of a game

 

Yeah they've definitely bitten off more than they can chew with that one, I wouldn't have bothered with console in the first place.

 

my gut feeling is that we will perhaps get a token update, more than likely what was held back from TSW6, and then it wll return to the usual "we're working on it" or "we're making progress" - The number of times a DTG staff member has acted like console fixes were super urgent and of some utmost importance to only be forgotten entirely by the next roadmap - and heaven forbid you try and tag one of their royal highnesses to bring their attention to it... "theyre awareof the issues" you'll be told. yeah no shiz shirlock how can they NOT be aware of the issues.... do...they plan on.. fixing them anytime before the second coming of everyones favourite pretend friendin the sky

 

Frankly things like the Epic settings really rub me the wrong way in that regard, we have performance issues, and their answer is to add a higher settings option to a game which already doesn't run well. Like bare in mind, it isn't "consoles", quite a few TSW routes have gotten bad reviews lately because PC users that don't own top end hardware can't run them well either.

And honestly, even as someone running on high end hardware, I'd rather hear of something like a stutter fix above higher graphics settings. It hit me as I was playing MSFS that somehow that game on my system running at Ultra (Minus traffic being at medium) has very little stutter, yet stutter is no better on this system for this game than it was on my mid-end rig.

The ideal thing would be to improve optimization so much that you can just up the draw distance and detail across the board for everyone. No new "Epic" option required, the fact they're doing this suggest they really haven't fixed much.

 

or they have decided the "fix" is in the style of content (routes and locos) and are happy with the performence of smaller routes enough they consider it sorted and have moved on to the PC again

 

Maybe it's expected that in two or three years the new generation of consoles will come out and the problem will be somewhat less.

 

Yes I hoping for a new update on consoles. Especially as Gen 8 was dropped I was expecting something better for Gen 9. Perhaps we just have to wait until December or perhaps it's time to sell the Xbox and jump ship to PC. Really hope they can sort something soon. Pretty sure console is a big part of TSW's sales anyway.

 

It does seem curious that also, rather than spending some dev time on stutter or blur fixes for everyone, or even DLC mounting issues fixes - the Field of view was made changeable. sure that is something that has been long sought after by players, myself included.

Due to DLC mounting issues, i am missing all my freight locos on the Ludwgs 101 timetable, randomly havedifferent layers on the GWE/WCMLB2C/WCMLTV that change with each loading of the game. i still cant run voyager on the B2C without blurring.the stuttering is just awfull on most of the routes i play (not all of them, but more noticable on the ones i play mostly)

Why does Dovetail claim that this is an urgent issue to be fixed when their actions clearly dont convey that they believe that

 

waiting untill December is a bit of a spit in the mouth, and if only there was a way to move fromm PS5 to PC - without spending thousands rebuying all my DLC

 

The fix is to put us off until the 10th Gen consoles come out.

If the next Xbox comes out how they say it will we will be just using the PC build anyways.

 

Wonder why they have not bothered with PS5 Pro enhancements? PSSR 2 would have been an advantage in this.

 

In my opinion it is because DTG are planning to drop support for consoles, or potentially are bidding their time until the next gen consoles come out and they can avoid optimisation and improvement as they'll just have more spec headroom with a newer faster CPU and potentially more RAM.

Again, they will say its of utmost importance and needs to be worked on asap or (insert corporate speak excuses here) but dollars to doughnuts they gave the PC build an entirely new graphics setting with a whole suite of improvements and left the consoles, like an unwanted middle child, in the back with two saltines to satisfy us.

There is aparantly an update in December which has no details, and optimisation/texture improvement is also on the roadmap but again with no details or information to suggest it's console.

Heck, maybe PC is getting an 'UberUltraXtreme' graphics preset (/s)

But calling it now, for all the talk there has been very very little actually done to fix the plethora of issues that plauge the console build

 

It was a huge concern that there was no mention whatsoever about console improvements. It's fair to say that the X|S version of TSW6 is pretty woeful so I think it's equally as fair to say that the silence suggests all current issues are going to be brought forward into TSW7.

The thing I really don't get though is, if they can optimise the game to work on Steam Deck in double quick time (which is quite an achievement considering how badly TSW6 performed on the deck) then why the hell are they still fobbing off gen9 console users with this tiresome "can't do" attitude? They should be concentrating on getting ALL the current platforms up to standard first instead adding yet more things PC and pushing consoles even further to the very back of the queue.

I have some very happy & sad memories of the Guiseley > Burley-in-Wharfedale section of this new route and it should be a no-brainer purchase for me, but there's no way I'm even going to contemplate parting with my money if the TSW6 performance and quality lottery is continuing into TSW7 because it's just not worth the hassle....I may as well just continue my TSW exodus and/or wait until the 70%-80% off window arrives in 2027.

 

The enhanced lighting is PC only too, which only adds to my worries on console

 

I agree with the overall sentiment about consoles too. I am an Xbox X player and performance issues has meant two major changes for me. I play less and I buy fewer DLC. Previous core cycles have made me excited and I have been keen to upgrade. This time, definitely not as keen.

The announced routes and new features are alright, but the long list of things coming I take with a large pinch of salt. I mean, who knows if and when we'll see them or what they'll actually be. Announcing Kings Cross to 'who knows?' looks like a thought bubble at this stage.

I'll probably wait to see what happens before taking the free upgrade and maybe getting the core UK route later in a sale. I hope this means some of the TSW6 and previous DLC gets a few more sales so I can possibly purchase some of the 25 UK only DLC I have in my wishlist. But Xbox sales are another console issue...

 

I really don't think we are going to see any major movements in this game cycle. And I hadn't even allowed the Steam Deck to enter my calculus but that just makes it more apparent that PC is the main focus.

I suspected or hoped at least that with the 8th gen being dropped for TSW7 that there must have been some headroom that they could only get by moving the oldest (and still pretty popular) platforms and that this would mean TSW7 would have some solid improvements on the console.

I think this has likely gotten either more complex that first thought or gone past the point it can be fixed without needing a new engine (UE5) and higher hardware spec (10th gen)

 

All the enhanced lighting and epic settings are aspects of a mod and some ini file settings made official in the game, things that wouldn’t be in the console versions anyway and the enhanced lighting isn’t that great anyway if you ask me. There’s not much they can add for consoles that is a saleable improvement that isn’t just a fix and they aren’t going to put fixes into their big promotional video as it acknowledges there are problems. You don’t directly acknowledge the game’s problems in marketing to new players, even when talking of fixes. Nothing in the new settings for PC is a fix for a problem, just a saleable aspect of the game, it looks better (or just different… ooh look, god rays).

That doesn’t mean the work to fix issues on console has ended and that can be confirmed in later communications. Its omission in the marketing push isn’t of any concern as far as I’m concerned. I’m just happy the new features appear to be things that won’t stress consoles at all. Big graphics changes would have been and they are kept out of the console versions, there’s only the live weather connection via DTL and that won’t affect memory so it’s all good. Most optimisation is on the content side, with better textures and such so hopefully all new content from now on is made with better use of texture optimisation and we won’t have big blurry texture issues and crashes to contend with.

 

Can't argue against your point that omission of performance improvement in this promotion of a new game means it will be as bad or hasn't been done. I do also think that no mention of it amongst all the other info and with past experience means I feel uncertain about how this new game will perform. I think both can be true. Hence why I will wait and see rather than getting in early and pre-ordering like I have in the past.

 

To be fair, TSW7 looks like a decent package this time around with some well thought out and pretty useful features....but I couldn't help but feel the emphasis seemed to be on how much better the whole experience was going to be on PC, with very little regard towards consoles. Sure, we'll get all the advertised gameplay features but with little or no quality or performance upgrades (and the fact that new features never back port into older addons) there isn't really any value in moving content forward into the new 'free' version.

I have to admit though that If I were a PC gamer with a decent rig then I absolutely would be giving TSW7 some serious consideration, but I think "wait and see" is probably the sensible option where X|S is concerned because 'new version' doesn't necessarily mean 'better version'.

Fortunately, NASCAR 26 releases on the same day as TSW7 so any lingering fomo I had will completely disappear come mid September..

 

All the upgrades have been for PC not really anything going on with Console from looking at the Q&A.

 

I doubt they would be working to drop consoles since they make up more than half of the sales.

If they did production even on PC side would lessen and staff laid off.

But as a console user I'm not upset about the improved graphics for PC only, as console limitations should not hold back the game advancing for PC users.

I just want the blurry textures gone and to be able to use all my existing content and not have to manually cut layers for it to work.

I can deal with the graphic settings as they are just fix the blurries.

 

Someone asked about this issue before the release of Nurnberg - Ingolstadt and the answer was:

Does this route benefit from the recent optimisations regarding blurry textures?

• While the recent optimisations don't affect this route specifically, it is built to the known TSG standards and feedback regarding blurry textures during testing has been very good. Still, this is a core issue that continues to be worked on.

 

Yeah that was me
Although I haven't bought that specific route yet, as there was not enough feedback regarding the blurryness after release. It's quite sad as that should be an indication to how low the console sales actually must have gotten...

Back to TSW7, it's not the new content I'm worried about, but the sheer amount of older trains and locos that are not up to standard - just take the countless Dostos as an example, or even on newer releases just look how many locos still have Sifa bound to PZB acknowledge.

To me it's fine that this wasn't adressed directly during Dovetail Direct due to marketing reasons and that this wasn't the adequate space for it.
But I’m hoping for some form of transparency here, as that seems are better place for it.
To me personallly TSW is at a point where transparency regarding blurryness is key as it's the top issue that holds back purchases in the whole history of the franchise. Among the frustration about the ongoing issue there is also a growing desire to finally get enjoyment out of the game again - the heart wanted to preorder the deluxe edition immediately just to be stopped by the brain telling it's better to wait to avoid further frustration...

The short view on the roadmap with texture improvements being on the list even for january either doesn't help really on this occasion. Because as it stands it could very well be the case that the third year in a row it's all nice during early access and if all layers kick in we're going blurry again.

In an ideal world not only a 'we're working on it' but a closer look into detail and a expected honest timeframe would be really nice. If I'd have a free wish it would be because all the separate train versions are cleaned up as much as possible and the whole texture mounting / loading process is reworked aside the ongoing texture optimizations as well.

 

Have been a console player my whole life, slowly transitioning towards PC, taking advantadge of discounts on steam and slowly building my collection, and for the 1st time, for me this new interation of TSW is on PC. The game on pc is just different, you experience it and it's difficult to come to console, speacially because of mods. But I know, console is still a big market, and people who spent a lot of money buying content, shouldn't have to migrate to pc. Please DTG just fix the game!

 

The only let's say intresting thing about the "Epic" settings for us PC users is the ability to introduce an extra tier for Ultra Giga Mega 4K textures for the 16GB GPU crowd, so they are pleased they dont get downgraded textrues after release. Then DTG is able to tweak the texture sizes for below the Epic tier to address console blurryness without incurring the wrath of PC players. A lower res texture by default is still better than the blurry mess that UE falls back to.

We have seen numerous cases since the optimization work began of texture "downgrades" that they have said were mistakes and they are reverting, but I am fairly certain it wasnt necessarily a mistake just an assumption that people won't notice or mind them. Now these will be official and you need the Epic tier settings if you want the full fat 4k textures.

If this is what they have done I actually don't mind it, but it would only be fair to judge after new content is live, if the experience on console is okay, and the detail level on PC is on par with TSW6 content (when using Epic settings nonetheless)

 

Them gambling on 10th gen hardware is kind of dumb, Xbox is probably gonna be higher end, but also Xbox at this point is a distant third in the console race. Even when it does release realistically that's not gonna be a big platform, projections I see make the Wii U look like a smash hit. It being a high end PC means it's gonna have the market share of a high end PC, there's too much competition for them to make console numbers.

Meanwhile PlayStation intend on focusing on a handheld with PS6, and it kind of sounds like its specs are in line with PS5, if not lower. They also still seem to be doing a home version that might be more in line with what most here seem to expect. But then I suspect we'll see a similar Series S/X mandate from them, I don't see them wanting games only avaliable on one or the other, nor do I see developers wanting to willing cut out half the PS6 ecosystem. And either way, I suspect for most people they'll rather have the flexibility of the handheld, especially if the handheld is the cheaper console of the two as is rumored.

 

Texture issues will still be in TSW 7. That's another reason why I won't buy any of the core routes for TSW 7

 

Don't care about this years broken core features, rather they fixed what was already broken.

But they will continue with the model of pumping and dumping dlc till something drastic happens.

 

Have you played TSW7?