‘extended Period Of No First-party Releases’

The WTT is great until you run really late and back trains behind you which could then cause a jam.

 

I agree - to use the old cliché: no plan survive first contact with the enemy. In this case, no railway runs like clockwork, not even Germany or Switzerland and a platform alteration at a station either en route or at a terminus could be required for any number of reasons, out of course running, a points failure, broken down train etc.

 

And what about those that maybe force on extended vacation, due to fact stoppage of work on DLC
I doubt that DTG, like any other company, will keep people around doing nothing, so while the work on new DLC is stopped, the one that are not needed for the that will be done during the stoppage, what will they be doing

 

They will be kept busy, attending to fixes on current DLC, helping do QA on those fixes, and dare I say it, working on aspects of new projects such as the board games that are in early development. I doubt anyone will be laid off or sat there with nothing to do.

 

Of course. It's not uncommon for a company to reassign employees to an area where extra staff is needed, if only temporarily. DTG will be no exception.
This would tie in with the " extended period of no first party releases ".
All( or most ) hands to the pump, so to speak.

 

So, nothing that's in TSW...

 

In theory yes but actually late running can easily occur if the player is a bit tardy or you decide to go and have a pee during a station stop. The fact is a simulator should not be a perfectly choreographed run each time. If we are talking German stuff here then Zusi 2 actually allowed the timetable compiler to specify the percentage chance of being switched to an alternate track at key nodes or a different platform, as well as rearranging the order of trains if you started to run late. That’s what a living railway is all about, not a sterile never changing experience. So if an early 2000’s era sim essentially programmed by one guy in his spare time can encompass that level of dynamic randomisation, why can’t a contemporary game with the resources of a significant software house behind it even begin to scratch the surface?

 

It can't happen because it's "a niche product and that feature is triple A levels of quality that isn't doable at the prices of dlc for tsw2". This is an opposing argument I bet someone would say or something similar to be honest.

 

I think a lot of things are technically possible in TSW but DTG won’t commit to it because of either:

a.) They don’t have the time or resources to add such features
b.) It will add little to no financial gain vs something else
c.) A mix of the above

 

Nail on the head there, I suspect that they don't want the backlash of people's sessions ending early or being extended massively. I was most disappointed with Clinchfield after some late running that and got a Mexican standoff further on for my trouble.

Having had many years of experience
Real life experience of ops in the day job the single most unrealistic thing is the complete rigidness of paths, platforming and lack of randomness in general. The railway simply doesn't work like TSW2 and for that matter MSTS and TS 2XXX decipt it. Timetable mode with all its positives is let down by basically being 24 hr scenario that you can jump in and out of. Zusi is the one that provides randomness but even then its with decade old graphics and 2D cabs. Could anybody play Gran tourismo or GTA and cope with having the AI do exactly the same things every time the game is fired up. Unfortunately it only seems to get a murmer from the development guys now and then and it gets lost in the noise over brake timings. Dostos and when is the full length 2022 WCML being released for 14p......

 

I agree with those who think that TSW could be so much better as far as randomness, weather, AI and loco density, real world background, sound and lighting, just to name a few niggles, if the developers would commit to spending the time and resources to make it so.
Of course, I realize that would lead to higher prices and probably abandoning the notion that everyone can play the game irrespective of his/her level of hardware. Heresy it may be, but......

 

This whole sarcastic "it's a niche product blah blah" comment is getting very tedious very fast.

 

Funny thing is that I've just installed Train Simulator a couple of days ago, which was in my Steam library since 2013. Just a little comparison to see what it can offer compared to TSW. I didn't expect much, but I invested in some Armstrong Powerhouse stuff, and man, it makes such a huge difference. With RW Enhancer, the game looks very nice, comes very close to TSW. Longer routes, no dispatcher issues (so far). The only thing I miss is timetable mode. I don't look at it as an inferior product anymore, quite the opposite. It proves that TSW could be much better. It even has a guard, which rings the buzzer. I mean Dovetail Games could've learned quite a lot from TS to make TSW the best product ever. I hope this pause will change the game for the better. With SoS coming, the only option is to succeed.

 

I mean, I keep going back to TS and discovering why I really hate it and barely ever play it any more: The other day, TS crashed 3 or 4 times. TSW2 has crashed twice in 18 months. In that sense, TS1 can in no way be seen as the better product. Also you're having to use mods to make it better than TSW so it's not the fairest of comparisons.

 

Right?! I got a new laptop recently, decided to boot up TS to see how it would run, and immediately got an out of memory error...in the main menu.

Finally was able to get into a session and it just hasn't aged very well at all. I was like, oh i just need to install that lighting mod, and that sound mod, and try to find that asset pack .....then i was like, this is why i stopped playing TS five years ago and promptly uninstalled it.

Also nothing in TS touches TSW's service mode for me. Yes, the dispatcher needs major improvements, but the fact that I can go through a whole day's services (with appropriate AI traffic) without seeing a menu if i choose is a big point in TSW's favor.

 

I've tried to play TS because it offers greater variety (theoratically, if you manage to sort out thousands of packs, mods and their dependencies), but I just can't get into it. I remember playing it's first versions when I was still a kid, but somehow I just can't get into that game now. TSW is absolutely the better product on most aspects (with for me personally only the variety caused by the number of 3rd parties standing out as a notable difference, though as previously mentioned, I can't actually get myself to use that due to it's complicated systems in TS), even if it doesn't use it's full potential.

 

The main reason I go into TS now is if it's because I want to drive something that's not in TSW.

 

agreed, I just wish they could stop hiding behind this “it’s a different game” mask to avoid delivering longer and more engaging drives. I don’t want a 10year old game with obsolete graphics to feel like I’ve head a good drive

 

I know what you mean, I pretty much only play it to run the GEML or Liverpool to Manchester. TSW has its faults for sure but TS doesn't quite engage me in the same way.

 

Sorry, but the lack of freedom with TSW2 keeps me away, when every consist has the same formation, and every timetable mode is mostly the same A-B run at different times, it just gets boring....

At least with TS, I have the freedom to make my own stuff, and I have more flexibility in my own scenarios.

 

You made good point. While i personally think the 24h timetable is the best improvement can happen to a train sim, (not saying tsw2 procedures are like irl, but in real services repeat in a certain frequency, and thats what it is about in this mode), i still think dtg has little to nothing improved on routes, about making people coming from ts to tsw.

Looking at things inside routes, there has been many nice improvements like pis etc.
But when its about thinking ahead, dtg cant even manage to get all cl377 of the same version apply to all routes. They create nice timetables, but in a way an extension takes so much afterwork, that it might never gonna happen.

So yea, players are stuck in tsw with a good short part of many routes, harlem is the newest example of a really nice created route. The fact they just created only 50% makes this dlc for me the most uninteresting of all. Not because i expect the other 50% for free, but DTG doesnt extend, so im stuck with a product, reminding me every time at north white plains on dtgs halfbaked philosophy.

They need to activley ignore a market because their "unimproved" internal processes. To me it looks like they want to keep every dlc self contained, which is ok but does make tsw to a nice parallel product to ts classic, but not truely a successor yet.

The 24h timetables has heavy benefits. You can have multiple of them with all the vehicle changes in the route era.
The way this mode works, it gives you a high variety. Next time you might gonna see a freight train on that spot, or you running late, so things happen different again.
Tsw has its scenarios, and to be honest without the timetable mode i would not spend a minute in the franchise.

 

It really depends on the route and what layers you have. This may be better on the UK and German DLC, for example NTP with the heavy freight add on, TVL with the 20’s and 31’s or GWE with Diesel Legends all offer a bit of variety. For the modern routes, well most passenger trains run as multiple units or fixed formation these days anyway.

 

The routes are definitely better if you buy each on the basis of £25 for route and £50-80 for the dlc (other routes , trains ) to pad it out

 

When DTG first started TSW back 5 years ago, did they really think 5 years later that theyd still be support TS classic in 2022?

 

I personally think TS Classic should be abandoned so that all creative effort can go into TSW. Imagine the possibilities.

 

What possibilities? People not used to programming in the language or using the tools used in TSW suddenly being plunged into using them?
Your comment makes no real world sense

 

They’re not beyond training/learning/developing their skills.

 

Not quite the same... would be like going back five years and waiting whilst everyone learns all over again

 

Why abandon ts classic? That game still has a passionate group of players playing it

 

Exactly... It's a different software on a different platform (DX rather than UE) so I don't see any reason for them to stop working on it completely

 

Exactly. They are two different games. What's next, DTG should abandon their fishing game and their upcoming board game so they can only focus on tsw2? Sure tsw2 has alot of potential and with the help of consoles has got money pouring into their Kent offices, but that doesn't mean other games should be canned especially when the programming is different

 

I think people's thoughts is generally "Well, both games involve trains so people should be able to dev both, right?"

 

I think that would upset a lot of players. Especially hardcore players who have spent a lot on add-ons. Not only that, but I don’t think third parties would be too happy with DTG abandoning it.

Long story short, DTG aren’t going to abandon TS1 anytime soon.

TSW also has a lot to catch up on. Not only content wise but feature wise.

 

I don't think "abandoning TSC" means removing it from people's computers so the players wouldn't be too affected, nor should DTG remove it from sale. If anything I would hope people are talking about ceasing further development of routes and assets rather than "turn it all off"

 

I mean haven't they already done that?

My impression was that the change to TSC means the end of active development by DTG and that any future content would be from 3rd-party devs.

If that's correct, I'd sure hope at least some of the artists and route builders have been moved over to TSW.

 

No. In the announcement article they put:

 

My mistake then. Just yet another re-branding lol.

 

TS20XX won't last forever it creaks under the weight of some of the dlc now and although the enhancer mod does bring it some benefits its a very old engine now. I can see DTG closing the door behind it sooner or later. With MSTS Openrails was developes so that a more stable game engine could work with the mass of content. Maybe something like that wil occur again?

 

Are things like OpenTTD, OpenRails, OpenRCT2 just fan-made open-source recreations of the respective game or is it the developer publishes the source code and a community builds on it?

 

Definitely agree with you. Although it sucks that there has been a lack of content releases, I am all in for seeing the game be much more stable. And hopefully, by fixing up various issues with the game, DTG can learn how to make the game more robust to prevent these issues from occurring. In the long term, this will heavily benefit the game.

 

With any luck, they'll take the opportunity to reverse all of the UI changes made in Rush Hour. They are all terrible; either they are slow, broken, ugly, pointless, or all at the same time.

 

No.

I want the time each service takes to be kept in, and I'd prefer a picture-based route selection that fills the screen, not a big list shunted off to the side.

 

Better yet. DTG should just give players options to design the U.I how they want it to be. Its a win win for everyone

 

Alright then, all bar one of the changes made.

You are very much in the minority with opinions on the new route menu though.

 

To be fair I do also prefer the picture based selection of routes and knowing roughly how long a service will take is quite useful, so there are some elements that should be kept. However I do see why many people do complain about it though.

 

Would be really nice if they could give us native joystick support,

Even better a way to read the data out of the loco like we can in TSC, so we can get things like the trains GPS location and have working auto updating EBuLa's, MFA panels that mimic the ones in the cab (i.e. the speedo, traction meter, sifa/PZB lights displayed on a second monitor / android tablet... like TS-MFD does now in TSC.

Giving us access to call out data would allow things like CobraOnes joystick interface to work with TSW2... then they don't even need to make native joystick support, as his program does way way more than just map joystick inputs to the trains levers.

 

Much as the UI could use a LOT of improvements, I wouldn't give it nearly the same priority as 1) fixing the QC/QA/beta process; 2) fixing the save routine, 3) upgrading the Dispatcher.

 

Totally agree. I don't love the UI but there are more important priorities.

 

Quality control doesn't affect the UI artist's time so the two can be done simultaneously
Save routine doesn't affect the UI artist's time so the two can be done simultaneously
Dispatcher doesn't affect the UI artist's time... you get the point

 

However, all of them then have to be run through QA testing......