New Manuals

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by HeuF, May 16, 2021.

?
  1. Yes

    23 vote(s)
    95.8%
  2. No

    1 vote(s)
    4.2%
  3. Neither

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. HeuF

    HeuF Active Member

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    I'm missing new manuals from new routes. Will they come in the future or will they never come again?
     
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  2. GuitarMan

    GuitarMan Well-Known Member

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    Must admit I agree, we need manuals back. I’ve raised this almost every time we have a release without them recently. It could save a lot of time with people understanding things like the superslip of the recent 101 if we had a proper accurate detailed manual….
     
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  3. richard cooper

    richard cooper Active Member

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    I agree, I miss a manual. Sometimes I can't find switch to turn lights on, or aws controls especially on the older locos. A digital download doesn't stop DTG from providing a proper service to its customers. Having to search YouTube for help, or ask questions on this forum isn't providing value for money.
     
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  4. synthetic.angel

    synthetic.angel Well-Known Member

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    I absolutely agree with this - this would have prevented the super-slip misunderstandings with the DB BR 101. And given the ultra-premium cost of TSW 2 DLC, it would seem reasonable to have a good quality manual for all DLCs that the Chatham team make. Check out the fabulous (gold standard) one for Arosa Linie, done by the substantially smaller Glasgow team, which you can find here:

    https://store.steampowered.com/manual/1418843

    Writing manuals take a little bit of time, and would have to be done (completed) at the right time - and usually (in most organisations) it would be a simple communication exercise, to get the specification and reproduce it in a friendlier form, with some simple artwork, and make it available on release.

    But to be fair to the DTG Chatham team, in their case, writing a manual simply isn't possible. This is because no single person in DTG could ever sign off a manual at the point of a DLC's release (or even weeks/months later), because no single person in DTG knows the specification of the final build at release. To know that, you would have to go through the specification (if one exists), check it against a list of stuff, and then actually test the DLC to see if it is all there and working before it goes on sale, before you sign off the documentation. And that takes "precious time", and the use of organisational skills that DTG simply doesn't have.

    If you don't check the content before release (which seems to be the DTG approach) then you get the sort of manual that Oakville had on release, which indicated that the DLC had double the scope of what actually shipped. The original OSD manual indicated what DTG (probably) originally aspired to produce (I accidentally nearly said "planned" there....), but nobody could know that the OSD DLC had not met the specification upon release, because that would have involved checking the content first, and that wasn't possible when the push came to get the partially completed OSD DLC published, ready or not.

    Maybe the situation will improve when the new TSW Executive Producer gets hired, alongside a QA person, and hopefully they will have a different view on how to organise the development of TSW DLCs, document them (for internal and external purposes), and test them, before they go on sale. And this could create the conditions where publishing a manual that is not inaccurate (or pure fantasy) becomes feasible again, because maybe future DTG DLCs will get completed and tested, before they go on sale.

    We can only hope.
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2021
  5. Slemcer

    Slemcer Well-Known Member

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    The manual for the TGV has the same quality as that for the Arosa line. So it seems, also DTG can do it, but these manuals only address pc players .... :(
    (It's not that I need console specific informations, but it's something I noticed.)
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2021
  6. synthetic.angel

    synthetic.angel Well-Known Member

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    You are right - the LGV manual is the same format as the Arosa Linie manual - so they can get the manuals out there - at least, they aspire to. So, why, For Facebook's Sake, can't they just do it for all of the TSW DLCs....?

    I have a feeling that SNCF's branding guys mandated this - otherwise there is no way on Google's Good Earth that DTG would have spent any time on it.

    Maybe someone should write to Deutsche Bahn, and ask them to provide a TSW game manual for the DB BR 101*, and then see what happens.... ;-O

    ---------
    *NB: For now, there is a TS2012 manual on Steam.... ;-)
     
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  7. Slemcer

    Slemcer Well-Known Member

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    Two questions: 1) Can you provide a link for the TS2012 manual? (Yes, I'm lazy ...:P)
    2) You don't seem to answer PNs, do you?
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2021
  8. synthetic.angel

    synthetic.angel Well-Known Member

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    A1. It's a cheeky request, but assuming that you are on a device that makes it difficult for you to visit Steam (....?) and because I happen to be at a desktop right now (and just happen to have that exact page open in my browser.... ;-) ), here is the TS2012 manual for the DB BR 101:

    https://store.steampowered.com/manual/448194

    A2. Nope - you are just really really impatient - crikey, I replied to you the moment that I saw the notification...! ;-)
     
  9. Slemcer

    Slemcer Well-Known Member

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    I sincerely apologise for being impatient, and thanks for the link :)
     
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