PC West Cornwall Local: Penzance - St. Austell & St Ives - The Definitive Feedback Thread

Good morning, good evening, and good night (know the film?)

We’re 15 hours out now from Rivets latest route, the next uk route set in the 90s in beautiful Cornwall. Tonight’s the night we see the class 37 emerge again, see Rivets latest train and explore the route.

I have some questions I’m sure others do but equally I’m rather excited seeing this.

What questions do you have?

Mine are;

• What changes happened to the route (st Ives) after preview released?
• Most challenging part of route to make?
• What dictates the train choice?
• Will you commit to a future layer being added to this route? Class 43
• What part are you most proud of?
• Transparency question -What part of route isn’t quite there yet and WILL be patched, not just suggested will be patched?

 

You know what time it is.

 

Awesome, I like this!

 

HST yay or nay?

 

I plan to stream this as soon as possible, as someone who's never traversed this route in real life, what should I be looking out for? And is there anything in particular that you guys would like to see before purchasing the route for yourselves?

 

The official preview stream is on tonight so I imagine a lot of initial impressions will derive from that one and I'd imagine DTG have culminated a lot of questions for it. Good luck with your youtube channel

 

Still not a Day One purchase from me, partly due to no HST layer (MTU and GWR livery better than nothing) and Rivet’s poor track record. Various sales looming in the next few weeks - Halloween, Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Xmas and I'm sure it will drop a discount in one of those.

 

I can already answer some of these:
1. None whatsoever
2. Timetable, that's why it'll suck
3. No, keep dreaming
4. The money it will make
5. Most of the route isn't quite there yet and it will stay like that.

 

I have my fears but I, genuinely hoping they’ve had a good run at it. My fear is distant scenery and the sea if I’m honest. I’m just hoping it’s not too texture free and the waves look decent,

 

What’s the chances that they will blow our minds with the quality of this release and, following the recent DTG & Skyhook debacles, they will become everyone’s favourite developer?

Yeah, thought so. never mind.

 

Yep, looking forward to it, hopefully they cover what people are looking for and don't hide anything that they feel will be complained about. And thank you.

 

Some wise dude said: "The last thing you lose is hope".

 

I'd love for it to be great as i'm excited to drive the 150/2. I'm not getting my hopes up however, after their previous routes and lack of post release support I reckon this could be much of the same.

 

Nice to see they have actually made changes to the 37 beyond the livery.

(Would've preferred the red stripe variant but that's just me).

 

I don't understand why this isn't set during the GWR franchise, at least we would be able to have the GWR HST and 66 as a layer.

I've got no problem with the era they've chosen at all, I prefer than over modern day,.but without the IC HST or 47 + Mk2 aircons it's gonna be a bit dead.

 

And it looks like they may have changed St Ives - if indeed that is St Ives in the background


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1664931

 

Is it just me, or is that a little too bland for a Railfreight livery?

 

Bland in what way?
(here's a pic of a real one if you've not seen it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/37190-dalzell/49913538766 )

 

I thought they would at least a Two-Tone with a different symbol or the one with the red stripe underneath. This version just looks like, meh, too me. It's like the BR Blue but in Grey (but, still do like blue though).

 

Yeah, this was the original livery they started introducing in 1982 - it literally is Large Logo Blue but in grey. They soon added the red stripe: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Portrait_of_a_British_Rail_(Railfreight)_Class_37_diesel,_2010._-_panoramio.jpg

The two tone sectors livery came in 1987/88 when RF was restructured but it took a few years for everything to gain that livery.

 

How many miles is this route?

 

44 miles, 70km.

 

No playstation trophy support, no purchase from me I'm afraid

 

I am personally hoping that the driving characteristics of the Class 150 are correct. Specifically that the Voith hydraulic transmission is simulated correctly.
For example:
Engine revs rise before the hydraulic flywheel engages the drive and engine revs change when it changes gear at 45mph.

 

I've gotta say, the 150 and the 37 are looking really good, I'm looking forward to the preview stream to see them in action.

 

Isn't a bit short compared to other routes? I would love they made it up to Plymouth at least.
I played that route a lot in TS. Penzance to Bristol Temple Meads in an HST was my favorite.

 

Does look like they've made quite a lot of changes since the earlier pictures, judging by the shots on Steam. I'm still waiting for Arosa fixes before buying anything else from Rivet. But I'll be happy if this turns out better than expected. It's the most local route to where I was brought up,

 

Not really - it's about standard length (40-50 miles).

 

I have to say it looks like they've picked their feet up with these screen shots and I'm looking forward to seeing later.

Another question if I may - Is anything else layering into this or will we only see two trains from release running the line?

 

Then you'll be waiting a long time to buy anything, since Sony have imposed an arbitrary trophy cap.

 

I must say, I'm glad to see a more generic Class 37, I'll probably favour it a bit more than the metals sector livery we currently have. Though I too would probably prefer the red stripe variant, how common was the plain livery by the 1990s?

Either way, I'm sure the livery editor will provide plenty of variety for me.

 

This is already a giant plus! They made the effort to create a new livery for the cl.37 and changed the headcode box

 

It (the 37) is a slight bonus but still no substitute for a period correct HST for the main line.

I fear this DLC will become (in)famous for what it didn't include both in terms of the route mileage (up to Par at least) and the traction layers. With the 37 it was also crying out to include Fowey and the Newquay branch down to Goonbarrow at least in order to simulate the China Clay operations. In fact I would probably have preferred the Newquay branch over St Ives.

 

I wonder if they'll have the 37 running passengers at speed, they've done that elsewhere in the Uk IRL havent they?

 

Maybe they plan to sell more trains for this route in the future.

 

If so, it still looks vastly inaccurate. The hotel at the end of the Railway Station Car Park above the rocks, the Pedn Olva, is still missing.

I will watch the stream before I reserve judgement and hope Rivet and Jasper continue to work hard on it before next Thursday’s release. They have a wonderful opportunity to get all the detail correct and make this route really impressive, I hope they don’t overlook this opportunity.

However I doubt, after IOW and Arosa that this route will also be a huge disappointment too. I hope not and after the negative feedback from the images they have previously shown, that they release something worth investing in. Something that will be a landmark to the game. Don’t fail us again RIVET please.

 

I hope the physics and sounds are as accurate as possible. Not expecting perfection but I hope there isn't blatant poor looping or cutting out sounds etc. Also would be nice to see if the destination blind is changeable

 

Nice one!

 

Can't really blame Rivet or Dovetail for that one.

 

I agree totally about the HST. I appreciate they are adding variety with a freight loco but it is very limited in this route. However, I have to disagree about your choice of branch line. It is subjective of course but I find the Newquay branch a bit boring (I usually fast forward through this on the Video 125 Cornish Branch Lines DVD) but the St Ives branch is one of the most, if not the most beautiful line in the country in my opinion. Not necessarily ideal to let Rivet get their hands on it but we can live in Hope (coming soon for TS2022 from Just Trains!).

 

HST - Meh quite frankly, what I would love to see is a Class 50 or Class 47 loco hauled services including the night riveria (with correctly modelled Sleeper coaches

 

I've had a look on wikicommons, and there's a picture of one on the South Wales Main Line in 1991:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...ties_head_west_-_geograph.org.uk_-_843429.jpg
There's a couple from 1990 too, so it seems that the last few straddlers were put into to triple grey or engineers dutch in 1991/92. There are, however, a few undated pics.

 

Oh believe me, so would I, in fact I would prefer retro sixties/seventies with diesel hydraulic locos and Class 118 DMUs on the locals with the Class 121 bubble cars and trailers on the branch. It’s just that it makes no sense to set a route in the late 80s/early 90s without a HST to represent the main line is at best inaccurate.

This is where we could benefit from a proper timetable editor so we could use the traction resources available, regardless of livery etc. era, to set up something more operationally stimulating.

 

If Rivet had included the existing GWR Class 43 there would have been screams from the purists till the heavens cracked!

And building a correct British Rail Valenta-engined HST would have meant building one from scratch, where Rivet isn't in a position to build more than one loco for a route not to mention the research issues (getting to York during Covid, and then recording.... what? The NRM isn't going to take the one surviving Valenta out for a spin just so a game company can record sounds).

 

Overall it seems like a huge step up from Arosa, but the lack of flange and clacking sounds on the trrack are a big issue for me personally. The scenery however is great. I may be waiting for a sale depending on what's fixed on the day 1 patch. But I would like to say well done to Rivet as they've obviously learned a lot on using the engine.

 

May I ask what is so significant about PS trophies? I've never owned a PS, so I have no idea how the system works, I imagine it's the same as achievements.
Of all the reasons not to buy the route, this one seems strange to me.

For me it's the lack of content (only 67 services, I understand it's a local route, but still...) and the route doesn't look all that interesting to me personally to drive more than a couple of times.

 

First Impressions from the Preview Stream:


150/2:
I proudly work for GWR in the western region, i spend everyday with these units and overall Rivet seem to have done a mostly solid representation of the unit.

Fabulous model! - Rivet always create some solid vehicle models. No real issues whatsoever, bar the reverser which i believe turns the wrong way.

Physics - seems to accelerate far to quickly as if the unit has instant revs, instead of building them up when power is applied.

Sounds are a little lacklustre personally - no, ill rephrase; the way they've been implemented is a little lacklustre!
AP sounds are great but the way they've been used isn't the best. Personally i couldn't hear the distinctive high-revving engine sounds that the 150s are known for due to their transmission. (Edit: it seems there is, but its so quiet!)

No identifiable joint/point sounds, especially on the branch where there *should* be jointed track.

AWS sounds seem to be up in the air; sounded like there was both low alerter & the high 'ping' sounds being used for the AWS when coming across an adverse aspect.

Brake/Throttle levers move so slow? (mite be a result of the console controller)

Route:
Overall its great! Scenery is looking nice especially in the countryside areas, although some urban areas look a bit bland/unfinished.

Im a bit disappointed by the lack of services but is what it is.

My main issue; the dreaded 'close doors on a red aspect' thing is back. A real immersion breaker!

The ballast colour doesn't seem to blend well with the near scenery/landscape, or even the ballast texture painted on the trackbed.
No lineside fencing present in some areas.
There was some odd (what looked like concrete cable troughs?) randomly alongside the trackbed in some areas, which appeared to be floating?
No weathering to disused/overgrown platforms along the route


Overall, I'm really impressed with this one. Looks like Rivet learned a lot off the basis of Arosa & IoW.
The *new* Class 37 personally doesn't attract me, although glad to see some new sounds and new wagons.
Will most likely be a day one purchase, although hoping some of the issues are addressed.

 

I could only distinguish it when Matt revved it up while the brakes were still on, which I found very odd and didn't seem right to me as someone who's ridden on a lot of sprinters (admittedly 156s, not 150s)

 

Well if there is no track sound, that is a definite "non" from me. While most of the main line by then was probably CWR the branch would still be jointed and bullhead rail to boot. Even on the welded sections you should still get the occasional clatter of a block joint or expansion gap and over any pointwork.

 

I wasnt expecting to like it, but I do. The only over riding factor on whether I'll purchase or not will be if there is Rail Driver support or not.

Also really pleased to hear that Arosa timetable is finally fixed