It is just so sad to see that TS2022 have more route and rolling stock, and train compares to TSW2 which have less. Why is this the case for TSW 2, is it much more harder for the developer to make as many routes as TS2022? I really do hope to see eventually all of the trains, rolling stock, and routes from TS2022 would come to TSW 2. Really do hope so.
There's quite a few reasons for that. Firstly, TS22 (as it is now known) has been around for a very long time and uses old software. It was previously called railworks and then changed to TS. A lot of routes and assets were from the original version of the simulator. Secondly, because TS has been around for a long time and also has tools to allow users to create their own routes and scenarios, many freeware and payware routes have popped up along with 3rd party creators and vendors (Just Trains, Armstrong Powerhouse and Alan Thomson). Thirdly, yes, it's harder to develop for TSW because it is built using unreal engine. This is partly why there aren't may developers for TSW2. Fourthly, because the game is developed using unreal engine, the creation tools have to be licenced through Epic games. Dovetail games can't distribute the creation tools to just anyone. This is another reason why there is no route creator in TSW2. Fifthly, and finally, TSW is relatively young. It's only about 4 or 5 years old and has been evolving since it started with only 1 route (Sand Patch Grade on PC). It takes a lot of time and effort to build routes for TSW as well as the other assets such as locomotives, carriages, shunters, buildings, timetables and signalling systems. Will TSW continue to evolve? Probably. Will TSW ever catch up to TS in terms of content available? Not likely.
Railworks actually started out as Rail Simulator ~2007 so “TS” has been going in one form or another for 14 years.
Simply, adding trains and content takes time and TS22 has had a lot more of it. It also takes longer per train / route developing for TSW2 than TS22, and there are less people doing it.
Simply put, Train Simulator is older. It's had 14 years (in one form or another) to expand it's collection, and a plethora of Freeware, Community Shared, 3rd Party and 1st Party routes. 3rd Parties are something that would be good to get into TSW more, here's hoping . Also, TSW - due to having a lot more interactive features, more detail and other things, takes longer to make.
The salient point here is that the older train sims (Rail works/Train Simulator - 14 years; MSTS - 20 years) have editors available publicly and so have benefited from limitless community creativity and very large 3rd party industries, both commercial and amateur. The lack of these elements has certainly hampered the development of TSW. Part of this is undoubtedly due to the choice of a proprietary game engine. We don't know if this will change in the future, but if a public editor ever becomes available, a great game can become even greater with the kind of individual creativity that has enriched its predecessors.
By my own count I have collected 412 dlc ( routes and separate locos) in TS since it actually launched in 2009 ( plus some between 2007 and 2009 for RS ). So in 11 years, I have collected an average of 37 - 38 per year ( I stopped purchasing in 2020 ). In the last 4 years, I have purchased 42 routes and locos for TSW/TSW2., about 10 per year. A lot of factors account for the disparity, but a major element is the quantity of 3rd party development. Of course it's early days yet for TSW, but unless licensed developers other than DTG get in the act, it will never catch up with TS's output and variety.
