Thoughts On The Long Island Railroad Update

I just wanted to share my thoughts on the LIRR update that came out and offer some constructive feedback on the update. Feel free to share your thoughts as well.

It is nice that the LIRR finally got a update but the fact that it took almost 8 months to be released in my mind is unacceptable. I would've preferred if the route was tested prior to release as it shoud've been and had most of the clear as day issues sorted before release. It's initial release made me feel it wasn't properly tested and just released as is with not a whole lot of care.

My thoughts on the update that there is still room for improvement and that it's not perfect. I was happy when it came out but as I learned more and more and played, I became a bit disappointed. For starters the Bombardier M7 EMU still has some audio issues that this update was supposed to fix. The audio cut out issue is still an issue. When I am in free cam in a station and when the train starts to leave the station, the sound in the middle part of the train would cut out and then pop back in again. When I go to rear cam, the rear of the train won't have audio. This was the same bug that was there when LIRR released for tsw2 in September and was a bug that was supposed to be fixed in this update but it hasn't been fixed. I've even had in one instance when I was heading to Penn Station the sound of the train inside the cab of the M7 cut out. All I could hear was the wind. This had happened when I was in free cam trying to get a screenshot but I went back into cockpit cam I had just entered the tunnel and train sound cut out. When I got to penn, I wanted to do a return journey so I went to the other end of the train to do a return journey back to Hempstead, there was no noise from the electric motors. It makes it feel like your floating. This update was supposed to fix that very issue but clearly it is still a bug. The alerter on the M7 is too quiet. The alerter isn't that quiet in real life. I almost got an emergency break applied because I could barely hear the alerter. All they had to do was get the M7 to tsw2020 standards but they took two steps forward and one step back with sounds. I feel like that should be fixed as soon as possible although I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

When I was at Hempstead starting a service, there were passengers that got off the train but had part of their bodies spawned underneath the platform. I thought that would be fixed as well.

The PIS system is a carbon copy/paste from SEHS which is not realistic at all. From what was said in the streams about how the pis for lirr needed to be remade differently because of course it uses a different style system and how it actually took longer than the rapid transit one made me think an accurate looking system would be there. Instead they use the same system from sehs and put it in lirr. Not realistic whatsoever. I use the Long Island Railroad Hempstead Branch often to see family and the pis doesn't look like that whatsoever. I wonder why they couldn't make a more accurate looking system if the pis was pushed back for that route.

I do like the implementation of the tsw2 skies. It makes the route look a bit better. The older clouds were absolute garbage. I also like how when you do Hempstead to Penn Station services, when leaving Jamaica and heading to Penn, you go on the express track. It would make sense to do that since you wouldn't be stopping at Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Woodside and I think that's a nice touch

Improvements that I would want to see are sound fixes to the M7. The sounds weren't fully fixed. They just seemed to make the train a bit more quieter and not really fixed the sound cutting out issue some players had or probably got some sound settings wrong.

A update to the pis system to actually look like the PIS syatem on the MTA Long Island Railroad and not a u.k system.

Fixes to the signaling system. It would be cool to get the signaling system fixed so more services could be added because unfortunately the route feels quite dead. It would be cool to get a accurate timetable for both the Ronkonkoma and Hempstead Branches that are in the game.

All in all, this update was a long time coming. I am glad that it's finally released and I am glad that there is a team that goes back and works on older content but this update seemed to cause some new bugs and existing bugs were not addressed like the audio in the M7 for example which is disappointing. If they had just gotten to the tsw2020 audio quality for the m7, that would be fine. I just hope the M7 sounds get fixed and the PIS for the route is improved to match reality. It doesn't make sense that they got the pis for lirr wrong in my opinion for a game that claims to make things as close to how it would be in real life. I also hope that at some point the signaling system is improved so extra services can be added. The MTA Long Island Railroad is the busiest commuter railroad in the U.S but the game doesn't replicate that unfortunately.

 

I have the same sound issues that you have with the M7. For whatever reason, sometimes I get no motor sounds, which I've had happen prior to this update as well. These are pretty game breaking issues in my opinion, as having a train making no motor sounds or sounds at all in your case makes it undriveable.

 

Credit: alamy stock photo For me, the update made lirr terrible
Terrible sounds, ore obvious looping, no cab running sounds, the m7 textures make it look like the bolts on a class 153 Oh and wait a sec... I’ve found another silly thi)g- inaccuracate pis

 

I 100 % agree with above posts. For me the sound is completely broken to the point where its back to good old TSW2020 version. Beside the mentions audio cut in / out, the lack of a bogey running sound (rumble) inside the cab as it was clearly present in TSW2020 kills it completely for me. It makes you wonder if the audio fixes where implemented at all in this version.

 

I kinda like the update, there are however a few things that really bothers me:

- The wistle box: why not placing them? It's not like there are a hundred level crossing
- The visual looks god and with trafic on the road it has improved, but with the sporadic services, it still looks like a post apocalictic lirr
- The destination board on the train, why not?

 

I can’t see how they need so long for the Updates, I can’t see any better thing as before.
The Sound are the same broken stuff as before and the PIS System is 1/1 from SEHS.

There more bugs now like on Penn Station with the Train on the Station.

 

The sound fixes disappeared from the roadmap not because they were included in other fixes, but because they skipped them completely. It's the same in RT.

 

The fixes are listed in latest patch notes

• Improved the exterior air conditioning audio on the M7.
• Improved the alerter audio on the M7.
• Improved the interior air conditioning audio on the M7.
• Updated the horn audio on the M7 so the horn is louder when the window is open.
• Improved the axle audio priority on the M7.
• Improved the horn audio on the M7.

But if they are in the actual patch that we got its another story since the M7 is as broken as it was before on the audio department. Real shame, they went trough all the trouble to update de route just to have the same broken sound.

 

I am thinking about buying LIRR now that's updated, can I ask you a few questions?

- Is the sound bug only present if you exit from the cab, or do you randomly hear the motors getting quiter or louder as you drive?

- Does ATC still work like before, is it better or worse?

- I hate the wrong PIS, I'd rather see no PIS at all, are the screens noticeable as you approach the stations or can I happily ignore them?

 

When every LIRR users hope for a busier timetable, what we've got is a crapload of updated items but without the buiser timetable... another disappointment

 

It was stated in the roadmap stream that Adam tried to add more services, but that an upgrade to the dispatcher was needed

 

Thanks for responding and I'll happily answer.

The sound bug isn't present when getting out of the cab and walking outside the train. The sound issue is something you won't notice when in the cab but if you go to free camera and accelerate out of a station, you can hear the middle part of the train not have audio. If you go to rear cam as well, the train won't have audio when driving. When the train passes by at speed in free camera, the motors in the middle won't make noise but will then make noise again. The alerter when you have the safety systems on is very quiet which makes no sense so you can barley hear it. I had a instance though when heading back to the cab from free camera with the train where the audio from the motors cut out. As I said in my original post, all they had to do was get the sounds to tsw2020 standards. They didn't have to make new sounds but they seemed to not fix certain issues and made some sounds worse. I even had a go on my Gaming laptop and had the same sound issue

The ATC system itself is the same however it will throw you into slower speeds even though the track is clear. I am not sure if that was intended but it is quite odd.

The PIS is noticeable if you stop next to a station. I don't like that they modeled it wrong especially since I use the railroad in real life.

I would advise not buying LIRR until additional bug fixes come. At it's current state it is not worth $30 and it is unacceptable that the sounds were not fixed. Hopefully, a quick patch will fix this issue. As to why they weren't fixed is anyone's guess

 

But adam said that no new services would come for the route because of the signaling system. It could come once they fix the signaling but don't hold your breath on that

 

It is very immersion killing to not have audio. The fact that this came out almost 8 months after release and still has the same broken sound is frankly unacceptable and I hope a patch will come to fix this issue

 

Well adam's team couldn't work on the pis for the m7 as they didn't have a person fully trained to fix them hence why it didn't come in this update

 

I received a response to the support ticket I opened, and they replied by mentioning apparently some parts of the update for whatever reason, did not ship on Tuesday. They advised to wait until the full update is out which should be by tomorrow (if I'm interpreting it correctly) when the new German route releases.

 

Thank you for the info. We will wait until tomorrow then for the last part of the update to be implemented.

 

Ohh ok. Hopefully that actually includes the proper sound fixes. I wonder why it didn´t ship it all out at the same time. Doesn´t make sense. I'll give a revised version of my thoughts of the full lirr update

 

Well that's great to hear. Will give it a go tomorrow as well, and I'm really hoping it will be better than it is now. Fingers crossed.

 

Pretty disappointed with this update. I was really hoping with the audio updates that the M7 traction motors would sound better, they are still the insane high pitched noise copied over. The M3 still has the same horn as the M7, another copy over. Still waiting for the correct RS2M sound to come so I can have a reason to get it, unless someone awesome makes a mod for it.

Also to mention, signals are broken with the ATC. Arriving near stations puts a 40MPH yellow at the previous signal, which can be a fair distance from the station, forcing you to slow down way too early to a 15. You are supposed to come into stations with more speed. This issue here made this update not enjoyable at all. Its absurd that this took as long as it did. Is this the entire update or is something going to come out of nowhere to fix it?

 

darn I hoped that they actually fixed stuff...
everyone who can submit a ticket please because I really, REALLY want this route but all these problems are annoying.

 

Many of the old bugs in LIRR are not yet solved. Stations lights are in some cases not producing any light at all during night, the Alerter sound still bips when alerter is disabled in M7, Penn has two phantom signals displaying all aspects at once at platform (#18 if I´m not wrong), etc, etc. It´s an update but still not the end of the journey for the corrections needed in this route.

Cheers

 

I don't think that one is a bug. It just bips to signal you that there was an ATC speed limit change - even if you have the ATC turned off and it won't penalize you for it.

 

Apparently not. My LIRR .pak file was last modified on Tues May 11- nothing new today.

 

When I submitted a ticket, I got a response that the full patch should come out sometime this week. Don't get why they couldn't release the full package on Tuesday but it is what it is. So perhaps Tommorrow

 

What they said was that the "other half" of the patch would come out with Hamburg-Lubeck: that is, today.

 

Ohh. I haven't gotten a update on my Series X yet though

 

Two patch updates were definitely issued this week. 1.33 on Tuesday and 1.34 on Wednesday. I suspect these are both parts of the update.

 

I saw people reporting a second update downloading for RT, today but nothing regarding LIRR for me neither.

 

Just to be clear, on PC there wasn't any update today

 

In other words, at least on PC LIRR isn't going to get any better than it was on Tuesday.

 

Unless the "second part" does come in the next days. But if this really is all there is to it, then... then that's just damn sad and pathetic.

 

I didn't get an update on my Xbox. DTG shouldn't release part of a update. Release the update in full or don't release it at all. Don't get why they do this tbh

 

I have also waited for second part of the patch on the pc (Now updates come like movies, in 2-3 parts just for safe measure lol). As Hamburg went out no patch in sight for LIRR. At this point i doubt they will release an update just for LIRR in the next days so i think this is "all she wrote" for our route.

 

I own both Rapid Transit and LIRR, and nothing on my end downloaded today, and I restarted several times and cleared my Steam cache as well. Seems like we were misled and lied to unless there is another issue with Steam downloads.

 

Steam is fine man don't bother, i have updated 2 other games via Steam today.

 

Well it's still only thursday, the rest of the patch could still download tomorrow or maybe even on the weekend. But even if it downloads, I wonder what will actually get fixed by it and what will not.

 

It was supposed to be downloaded in conjunction with HBL

 

Welp all we could do is just wait

 

Yes, but some information would be good to know when this second part is actually coming, and what it actually includes.

 

0 statement from the devs regarding all the issues. But seeing how LZB is broken on RT and 182, Hamburg has PZB broken (missing 500 magnet) and other issues i have a bad feeling about this and when it might be resolved.

 

Spoilers: there never was a second part of the update, the person who responded simply wanted to close the ticket with the minimum amount of effort.

 

Well Sam mentioned in the new routes's launch stream that on tuesday they are going to have a "talk" about "fixes", so I suppose they know this is a goddamn disaster and we will get some insight into the situation.

 

Dinosbacsi dbrunner#4864 Based on the post by DTG JD this morning, my understanding is that there isn't a second patch coming for PC.

I encourage you to feedback unresolved issues with the May 11th patch through the thread I created specifically for that purpose. It also includes a link to JD's patch update:
https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/may-11th-patch-unresolved-issues-thread.40308/

 

I got a response from customer support as to why the full lirr update was not released in full. The reason was because of download scheduling and an effort to reduce single download sizes all at once. I understand the effort to reduce download sizes but I have 45 games on my Xbox Series X, some of which that have larger update GB patches than tsw2. I am pretty sure most players don´t have tsw2 as their only game so I just don´t get why they are so hesitant on not releasing the full patch. Yes people pay for wi-fi. They may not have an unlimited fixed plan in which you can download as much as you like and will be charged a fixed price like I do, but there are other games that have larger gb downloads compared to tsw2 and if a player doesn´t want their game to update, they don´t have to update it. Games update a lot. That´s part of the gaming industry and other game companies don´t mind releasing 10-20GB updates at a time so why can´t dtg. Either release the full patch, release a patch with the list of things ACTUALLY fixed or don´t release it at all

I was also told that the full patch should be out by now but I am not home at the moment so I am not sure if tsw2 has updated

 

As per my post just above, my understanding is that the LIRR PC patch was delivered in full on the 11th. There isn't a "part 2" incoming. Follow the post above to see the update by JD this morning.

If there are issues with LIRR and / or other content related to the patch, I encourage you to flag it with DTG so Adam and the preservation crew can fix them whilst the routes are still fresh in mind before moving on to other routes.

 

I don’t see any Sound fixes on the Trains on Long Island Rail and Rapid Transit.
It’s still broken as before.

 

I sitll have some hope left that there was an issue with the update and a "second part" will be coming soon. But if not, then this really is just sad and pathetic that this is the state of LIRR after the "big update" for it.

Well in any case, there still is nothing on Steam/PC.

 

Too late; they've already moved on. LIRR is as good as it's ever gonna get.

 

I agree that these fixes should have been implemented soon after release, but we also need to realize that no fixes or updates especially of this size ever came to routes post release. I think the fact that they are willing to go back to a route that is 8 months old to fix and add as much as they have is tremendous and shows how DTG has made changes internally that will make our experience as a whole much better.