Hello again, Today I am suggesting a timetable editor, I can’t really think of a different way to name it, if you can feel free to say My way of implementing this would be you could choose from 4 styles of timetable (freight focused, passenger [express] focused, mixed focus and passenger focused[commuter]) You would be to assign a livery to this service and a train, it would also have 2 modes: easy and advanced. Easy would be you select a service style, IE on ECW it would be seaford service. After selecting said service you would choose a train and livery and all services under that category would be done. Advanced, however, would allow for each individual service to have its own train and service [and livery]. For example on SPG you could have a passenger service (unrealistically, mind you) with a reskin of the MP36 and Bilevel cab car (and all others vehicles) in Amtrak whilst also having a freight run with 2 C40-8W and lots of coal on one run but a pair of AC4400s on a different one.
Theoretically, this is not possible due to the level of complexity of this issue, what DTG sometimes reminds us of if someone asks
I don't think it would need to be focused in any particular way. I would like it so that the player could not make changes to the default timetable but could make a copy to mess about with it and of course just to make a fresh one straight off the bat.
I don't really see much problem with scenario planner, however I think there should be an option to have your custom service run alongside normal services rather than being the only train on earth.
The chief issue with a complex timetable editor is probably going to be allocating stock and setting it up to manage next workings, runround moves for loco hauled etc. However should not be impossible - I believe Open Rails has this feature and I even used it to set up a days operations on my old MSTS Alston branch.
I have done a few for personal use in OR, Why we cant do it in TSW2 is a bit odd considering there is a livery editor, scenario editor and various mods unofficially around the scene. Its my major frustration with the platform along with signalling rigidity.
Not sure what I poll option I should've chosen. I don't think I'd use such a feature to create a timetable myself, mainly because I expect it to be A WHOLE LOT of work to create a full fledged 24 hour timetable with enough services to make it interesting. But, if user-created timetables could be easily shared through a workshop-alike system, then I would probably try some user-created timetables and thus I would benefit from such a timetable editor, even if I wouldn't use the editor itself.
I voted yes, for the general principle (however unrealistic it is, at this current time). However - all I really want (for now) is to be able to insert any rolling stock and consist that I own into any service on any route that I own, and run it with the rest of the normally timetabled AI in the background. So.... a "Substitution Editor for Timetables" or just a pure "Quick Drive" feature, working with Timetabled AI, would be fine for me....... However.......... such a feature would make "£15 Timetable Mod DLCs"..... (like the Legendary Class 52 skin GWE timetable mod DLC) even less attractive than they are now.... so DTG would not be able to make you pay again and again to use the locos that you already own. And it is important to keep paying again and again and again for the stuff that you already own, because that makes the Chief Financial Officer very happy. And you don't want to upset the CFO.....! Angry CFOs tend to wander around the office with a baseball bat, smashing up the furniture, whenever they get the impression that an opportunity has been missed to make money again, multiple times, for something that has already been sold. And then the employees have to pay for the replacement furniture - so it makes even more people unhappy. The only people that end up happy when features are put into TSW that let you flexibly use what you have already paid for (without further Pay To Play fees) are the players...... and furniture shops.
So long as you don't want specific timetables for specific era's I agree. If you don't want to spend hours changing every consist to something relevant to the timeframe, and then have the possible issue of conflicts and scenario breaks then alternative timetables should still be a thing. I believe DTG have already said that consist swapping isn't as easy as "I want to drive anything I want on any service" due to this scenario break issue, and I can see that swapping out a 52 for a 101 would cause issues in timings and interactions.
I agree, and I have mentioned it many times. "off the rails" mode enabled for Timetable mode please, so we'd get the best of TSW Timetable mode and TS Quick Drive mode combined. I disagree, considering TS also sells Scenario Packs, which similarly to the Timetable DLC add nothing another user couldn't have created. Besides, such a feature would probably increase the value of loco add-ons which are currently limited to only a few routes (and sometimes even limited to only one single route).
I certainly would like a way to either fit in a player service between other AI services (accepting that this may cause issues), or a sort of "body snatch" function where you can edit an AI service by changing the train and editing the scheduled stops. For example: On RRO you could take one of the RE services, change the name to IC XXXX, change the train to a BR101 + IC wagons and either delete some of the stops (which may cause the player train to have to wait for red signals) or add some stops (which may cause conflicts behind but that's okay). I'm sure there are potential issues here but something approximately similar would be cool.
What I am suggesting, um, is what I wrote - a "Substitution Editor for Timetables". You could even extend it to the scenarios maybe.... You could call it an "Off The Rails" function for choosing the consist that you drive in any given scenario, irrespective of the route's era (as built). I actually quite like the way cwf.green terms it as a "body snatch" function.... ;-) And if what DTG has built is a simulator, then the substituted stock will have to deal with traffic ahead, and behind, as originally simulated. This only really becomes a problem if the TSW timetable/dispatcher isn't actually part of a simulation, and is more like a script for an animated film...... with maybe even the actual locos used bound to them in an utterly horrible bespoke way.... --------------------------- And on the other issue..... well, if authenticity is king - then I don't understand why the £15 Class 52 Legs-End BLUE Paint-Job GWR Timetable Pack DLC, designed to simulate a 1970s British Rail Blue period, is run on a GWR branded route based in the 2000s.... Doesn't make any sense. And where did the £15 go.....? Rush Hour will include three complete routes for £25... complete routes and a bunch of rolling stock for £8 for each set...... Why does the Legion Dairy DLC cost £15.... when all you really get for £15 is a bit of the colour BLUE.....? Why does the largely broken, extremely inauthentic Timetable DLC for GWE cost twice as much as the new Dresden/Riesa route...? Doesn't make any sense. And....... well, if authenticity is king ...... some people are concerned that the Class 101 never really ran those services out of Paddington, and when they did run out of Padders, it was in NSE livery.... not in corporate blue/grey, even if some of them worked around Reading with a tiny letter L written on the front. And, you know, I use the Paddington-Bristol route quite a lot in my life, and I have never seen a Class 52 run out of there, but I have seen a Class 33 or two, and the odd Class 31, and Class 66 - so why can't those sub in....? They are far more authentic to me..... I'd like to run a Class 33 out of Padders, on an IC 125 turn, please.... and see how late it is into Reading..... ;-p ------------------------------ All I am saying is, give the player some choice about how to use the (extremely expensive) loco DLCs that they have purchased - add a bit more value to them.... and if the player chooses to go "Off The Timetable", then give the player the flexibility. Scenario Planner is an improvement on TSW, but the Off The Rails concept can be taken further with timetables - to add more flexibility.
The point I was getting at was if the whole run was written in such a way that the consist you're driving catches up the consist in front and thus you get yellows, but you swap out for something which is much slower so never does that... The written interaction would never happen You've also got platform length, scoring, awards etc to consider (unless such things get disabled for those runs)
