Playing on the base PS4 with all dlc installed on a 4 TB external drive, except for Cane Creek and Diesel Legends which I’ve been to cheap to buy for some reason. These are my thoughts on my playtime so far, other players might/will have completely different experiences. After today’s update I finished up the Brighton Mastery Challenge level 2 with three timetable runs. I felt that the slowdown that I experienced when I first played the route was reduced almost entirely. There were plenty of trains passing me as I drove and everything was pretty smooth. Were there hitches in the frame rate occasionally? Yes, but I felt no more then what I feel I’ve been dealing with for years. I didn’t get the severe slowdown that I got several days ago. I still don’t have a lot of passengers on my trains but if it makes the route worse then keep the amount of passengers low. I’m still getting occasional pixelated textures on trains that pass me, but it’s not that bad and it’s not all the time. So I feel that my London route has improved. Maybe other timetables or scenarios still have issues but I’m just reporting on my experience today. I hope people keep trying the route and send feedback to DTG because that’s how games get improved when we all work together. Still having a lot of fun….
Agree with Ace. After gathering up enough coal to fire up my ancient PS4 slim it magically grabbed the latest update (1.53) down the telegraph line and I then rebuilt the database before trying out TSW2. I went straight in the deepend and loaded a timetable service, the 11:42 Gatwick express to Brighton IIRC. The frame rates in Victoria definetely improved as did the graphics of trains arriving as I set up the train. Saying that it was still below the levels I would consider acceptable or enjoyable but definetely BETTER than before. The run to Clapham also revealed a reduction in stutter and passing trains did seem smoother but again not to the point where I would want to drive the route on a regular basis. Onwards to E Croydon and the improvements were noticeable. Arriving at Croydon I was met with the awful popups and screen stopping stutters as buildings popped into view especially the hideous sudden appearance of those "twin towers" at the Southern end of the station and that is as far as my timetable service test went. Defintely improved but still a long way to go. I then went back to the scenario planner where I have a few drives setup and tried a nonstop London to Brighton speed run with a handful of differerent AI trains added as eye candy. This was much more enjoyable! The update definetely improved performance. I got out and wandered around Victoria and the framerate was excellent. Driving the train was actually enjoyable especially after opening up the throttle beyond Croydon. The approaches to Gatwick and Brighton seemed smoother too and I finished the journey in 44 minutes using an "off the rails" 387 drawing power from imaginary overhead lines. Next up I set up a return journey using a Class 47 from Brighton to Clapham with a stopping Class 101 Preston Park to Victoria service ahead of me. I was interested to see how the signaling dealt with the lovable old snail train in front of me and it was a very interesting drive cut short by a SPAD entering Croydon! I don't recall passing yellows but as it was getting late and I'd had a few beers I can't rule out driver error as opposed to a signalling problem. I will rerun this scenario later, minus the ale. I have come to the conclusion that this is a really interesting and beautiful route but given the limitations of the PS4 I may never be able to use the massive timetable mode. There are some bugs and visual glitches and being limited to scenario planner is unfortunate but I still really like BML. Looking forward patiently to the next updates though I realise these will take some time to implement, test and release. Edit: Rerun the Brighton>Clapham scenario with slow train ahead of me and found no signalling errors. I have noticed some discrepancies between the hud speed limit notifications and actual line speeds.
Thanks Ace, I was hoping there would be some good news from this latest patch. I walked away from the game for a bit until things got sorted out a bit better, and will play it again but I wasn't sure how long it would be until I tried again, your post has made me hopeful that it will be sooner than later.
