Upcoming Release New American Content For Train Sim World 3 - February 21st!

Well that sounds pretty reasonable. Layers would be nice but the actually driveable part of the route is more important to me. That is why I am not too bothered about a quiet New Street, or Waverley as you don't really spend a huge amount of time there.

 

In the early 80s they started running the Amfleets with more legroom as "Metroliner" service that had fewer stops. It went all the way to Boston and was slightly quicker of a ride than the regular service. Of course, they had to change to a diesel engine in New Haven back then.

That may not have lasted all the way to the Acela introduction, but they at least tried it for a while.

 

This is false, they did run as far as New Haven when they were still EMUs. See https://passengertrainjournal.com/the-metroliners/, there's a great photo of a Penn Central set at the old Stamford station. They also ran as EMUs outside of the sections you're describing; they ran regularly between DC and New Haven, and as they got older were frequently run on the Keystone Corridor.

As Thelonius described above, as the EMUs started getting less and less dependable the Metroliner name shifted from the trainsets to the actual service, with AEM-7s (and GG1s) running "Metroliner Service". The service is what eventually became Acela service as we know it today. Acela trainsets did not directly replace the EMU trainsets, as there was the interim period where locomotive-hauled trains did that honor.

Today the ex-Metroliner cab cars run north of NYP on Springfield Shuttle trains and Vermonter service.

 

When they do the stream this coming Thursday they should spend a good amount of time streaming the NY- Trenton route as well as the Acela, and less time of the US Freight, because we have to know what is the route like and will it be worth it, so far its a disappointment of no LIRR LAYOVER in the Sunnyside Yard and very little AI Traffic from what we heard from the community. Hopfully they will change it before next week.

 

Am very surprised that there is one single preview stream next week. There are 3 things being released and we know they leave the ambassadors to do the release streams now, so all three DLCs are being covered in one stream. Really poor for me.

I think they could have done 90 minutes on the new NY-Trenton route maybe showing the Acela but also the other NJ Transit vehicles, could have done another 90 minutes on the new Boston and Sherman hill lighting and upgrades showing the UP pack on Sherman hill and a scenario with the Acela on Boston, but no.

 

After doing some math. That if you want New York - Trenton + the Acela and already own Boston sprinter. Then you are better off waiting for their relese. As their individual prices ads up to 53,98€ and the bundle price is 53,99€. Not a big price increase but still an increase.

 

And once again... preview mere days before the release... of three DLCs... nothing will be fixed and in this specific case not much of each will even be shown in the typical stream length.

 

I have a theory about this. It is likely to avoid having to do any changes between the preview and the release as there always things to fix afterwards as well. There is now a new guaranteed review period and patch after release, so they may want more feedback from players after they get the route and rely less on what they get beforehand just from what people see on a stream, thus having more feedback to assess what to fix in the review phase. It kind of makes sense as the feedback will be more complete but it does rely heavily on people buying it and feeding back having seen less. As the DLC always sells a certain number there isn’t much fear of nobody buying it. Some players do tend to want to buy on release day and there is always a big list of issues, errors and observations that come quickly after every release, so why not let that be the bigger proportion of the feedback by reducing the time between preview and release. Just a theory.

 

That's a plausible theory, and to some extent is how software works. You don't really know if something works well until its distributed. The problem I see here is where DTG is at right now, this idea turns us, the paying customers, into essentially external beta testers. There are too many things that are somehow "missed" in QA/internal beta testing that shouldn't be and released anyway. To clarify, by "missed", I don't only mean QA/beta possibly missed it, but DTG didn't act on the feedback and pushed the release anyway. They have picked up some on the shortly after release patches, but there's still things that never get fixed because they just move onto the next thing and the back catalog of things to do is so large. Maybe that improves in the future, but that's how it is now and especially with the price increases, isn't how it should be.

 

But if first buyers keep getting broken products to test them and hopefully get them fixed, their patience will sooner or later run out. Early buyers will constantly be barraged by unfinished DLCs...

 

Ahh right. I forgot that they didn't electrify the New Haven to Boston section until around the turn of the century.

If you're in America, you save $9 if you purchase the bundle beforehand as opposed to buying Trenton + Acela.

 

Hasn’t that always been the case though? It’s usually inconsistencies, missing scenery items and timetable feedback that occurs prior to release, along with the usual feedback on sounds, and then after release the bugs are added to that list. It starts from the first screenshot and ends a few days after release.

How much have the community actually been able to change things in the period between a preview and a release when previews were earlier and the routes were in a slightly more unfinished state anyway (always a dev build) with just promises that things would be fixed? The routes still released with many issues.

In the absence of a bigger beta rollout the claim that the players are the beta testers may be true but now DTG may get better feedback with a dedicated window to fix post release. I’m not sure having the previews later makes that much difference to us but hopefully DTG benefit and can give us better products without an increase in dev cost. I don’t even know if this is what they are doing, or if I’ve explained what I think very well, or if it will actually help if it is what the plan is. Who knows?

 

There will undoubtedly be post release patch (es ) in short order to fix minor scenery items and maybe some issues with the locos that are raised in the inevitable post release threads. I think you're right that DTG to some extent expects and relies on these reports as a kind of beta feedback.

But there won't be any major changes either between now and release or immediately after release. No additional layers or subs and no changes to the timetable. I think they're making that very clear in their forum responses.
Down the line, there might be something added as a paid dlc pack, but it'll be a while if ever.

DTG will, for the foreseeable future, always stop short of fully developing content and timetables if they impact performance on one or more platforms.
9th gen and PC players will have to live with that.

 

I hope there are no scenery bugs on this route, because I'm looking forward to it...
Are there any up-to-date expresses?

 

It is very surprising that the developers stupidly cut off an entire section from New York to New Rochelle (another failure: it was the perfect moment to return and add a 10+ miles to the route, kek)

 

I would say, if recreating the line to New Rochelle, it makes more sense to terminate at either Stamford, Bridgeport or better yet, create the entire length of the line up to New Haven where New Haven line Metro North trains terminate. I say this because in the NEC route released years ago, no Amtrak/Metro North train terminates at New Rochelle. Trains need to atleast run to Stamford or further northeast

 

Brand new loco NJT getting 41 passenger service each way from /to Penn station…..still can’t get over it. Insulting. I think is the worst representation on any route besides another US route the LIRR route. Hiding the route with a bundle release. Smart on their part.

 

41 is just a few shy of how many there are in real life each way(NYP-Trenton) so It’s not unrealistic.
I’m curious if we’ll get services for Jersey ave, Secaucus shuttle etc.

 

according to the NJT schedule there's are trains running pretty much 24 hours a day.

 

Granted some of the services are with the dual mode and the arrow. But this hasn’t stop Them before to substitute the locos

 

well, if DTG want to do a loco-DLC, it is better to let the slots open for it, than make it only substitute later. (Was bad with the Class 465-DLC. But then DTG should also say: "We plan a loco-DLC", and not let everyone guessing, what is going on)
But if they don't plan a loco-DLC, they should try to use other similar trains to drive in their place.

 

Exactly my thoughts as well. If the currently lackluster timetable is because they have left plenty of space for future content, then I can somewhat understand it. But then they would need to get on making that add-on in the near future, while the route is still relevant.

 

I wish TSW DLC's were priced at between $11-$19 I just think $39 for every DLC is a little too much I think $11-$19 is a good price and the sweet spot
it would be nice if DTG had an optional pricing for DLCs the optional prices would be between $11 and $19 I just think 39 for every day I'll say is too expensive!

 

I seriously doubt the dual-power will ever come for this route - there's nowhere to use it as the branches are not included. So it would need it's own route to come with and therefore it wouldn't be loco DLC for this. And in that case I would be more than happy for ALP46s to be used on DP services here.

 

If the DLC is NYP - Trenton, why should they include New Rochelle? It would be nice, but what would be the point?
Sunnyside is imperative, but I don't think New Rochelle is for this route.

 

I agree. Even though a handful of NECL trains use ALP-45s, they're in electric only which would defeat the purpose of making them.
Then you would have people complain "why can't I switch to diesel!?"

The only "locomotive" DLC I think would make sense, or at least have the most demand are the Arrow 3 MUs.
It might be a while before those are made, IF they're made. I remember it being a long time before DTG made M3s for LIRR.

 

Here's my take on the upcoming NEC: New York-Trenton and Amtrak Acela route/train respectively. Please keep your responses respectful, relevant and necessary. For those of you wondering I took a long hiatus from the forums as I had external things to tend to. Plus taking a break from the forums is a great thing to do every once in a while. I hope everything has been going well for everyone since I left several months ago.

The original TSW 1 NEC: New York-Newark International Airport route from 2018 had pretty good lighting for the Amfleet cars. They were bright and accurately represented the cars during that time. However the HVAC sounds were not present for the Amfleet and it sounded really quiet. In TSW 2 with the Boston-Providence route the HVAC was present, but the lighting was too dim and was unrealistic. I wonder if that "Upgrade" for Boston-Providence will include updated lighting for the Amfleets and ACS-64 updates.

Let's hope DTG can give NEC the justice it deserves after not being in the game since 2020. I still to this day think it was bad of DTG to not remake the old NEC for TSW 2/3. I can understand that the coding was old and it was not compatible. But it's like people who bought it lost their money's worth after TSW 1 was replaced. I was and am still a huge fan of the NEC, especially the NYC region. I'm happy to see it partially return. (hopefully for the better rather than worse, but it's DTG. It can go either way)

The Ex-Metroliner Cabcar is a nice return. Hopefully it's not completely broken like it was in TSW 1. NJ Transit is a welcomed surprise to TSW as well. I am excited for this route. I hope this can be the NEC that the old TSW 1 NEC was supposed to be.

The Acela is an amazing addition as well. that's something I am excited for as well. As a whole the new NEC route that partially replaces the old one and the Acela is something I am willing to try out. The Acela price increase to $22.99 from the standard $19.99 I can live with. $2-3 increase is fair given the current circumstances. Hopefully that extra is going towards better sound and quality for the Acela.
But $39.99? for the NEC route, I'll still buy it, but I guess this was the result of the 2022 end of year survey DTG gave out. One of the options was to have longer/more detailed routes/trains but at the cost of longer development times and a price increase. I want to see if that holds up here. It's a bit steep, but I'll try it only because this part of the NEC is famous for railfanners and train enthusiasts alike. Especially for the speed and Exp/Local services and unique equipment moves.

 

Not sure if this thread was aware of the information we received about the services for the NEC NY-Trenton on the other thread. This was from JD:
Hi folks - wanted to jump into this thread with a little more explanation. Wanted to make sure we had the full picture before responding on the stream last night.

So, the full details are as follows:

• There are 289 total playable services on the route on release, broken down as follows (SSY = Sunnyside Yard):
  • Amtrak (total 123 services)
    • Amtrak Northeast Regionals: 37
    • Amtrak Keystones: 21
    • Amtrak Silver Meteor: 2
    • Amtrak Vermonter: 2
    • Amtrak Crescent: 2
    • Amtrak Pennsylvanian: 2
    • Amtrak Silver Star: 2
    • Amtrak Carolinian: 2
    • Amtrak Cardinal: 2
    • Amtrak Palmetto: 2
    • Amtrak Deadheads to/from SSY: 49
  • NJT services (total 121 services)
    • NJT Including but not limited to service types 31XX, 37XX, 38XX, 39XX and deadheads not visiting SSY: 82
    • NJT Deadheads to/from SSY: 39
  • Amtrak's Acela services (total 45 services):
    • Amtrak Acela: 32
    • Amtrak Acela Deadheads to/from SSY: 13
• There is no LIRR layer - these would be only available at NY Penn Station.
• There aren't stationary CSX locos in the yards, as we determined they would hamper performance for something which, ultimately, isn't playable.
• All players (8th- or 9th-gen) will receive the full timetable

In all, we wanted to make sure we focused on the main, playable trains on release and ensuring the new signaling system worked with these, before throwing too much more into the mix.

We will, of course, be monitoring feedback, both pre- and post-release to see if there are further additions and changes that can be made to the timetable after release, but *gets Roadmap voice out* there are no plans at the moment.

Hope this helps to provide a little more information.

 

Hopefully some changes will come after release since lots of feedbacks were brought foward

 

If it was priced that low, then I don't think dtg would really make a lot even if more people bought it.

 

New York to Philadelphia would've been worth $39.99, but for just NY to Trenton? I'll wait for a sale like I did with Cross City.

 

Now that I think of it, the distance between Trenton and Philadelphia is approximately another 30 miles. Based off of a run I did in the TSC, New York to Philadelphia route, the Amtrak express services can take roughly 45-60 minutes to reach Trenton from Penn Station, as there is almost 70 miles of trackage to cover. I can imagine NJT local services can take nearly 75-90 minutes to complete from end to end approximately. For the distance of trackage that we are getting (approximately 70 miles) excluding the span from NY-Penn to Sunnyside yard, is pretty good, compared to other US passenger routes we have gotten. This route is going to be the farthest US passenger route that we have received so far from what I can tell. This is good indication that future US passenger routes may be approximately the same for this route or even longer.

 

The idea is good on paper, but we all wish it was executed a bit better, especially since the line covers the entire NJT NEC line (Minus the moves to and from Morrisville yard). Not to mention pretty much almost everything on the line could of been represented one way or another. (NJT, Amtrak, CSAO(Who leases NS and CSX equipment), and the LIRR.). It could of been the most complete US route Passenger route to date in terms of simulated trains.

Throw in 1 Amtrak DLC for switching and long distance viewliners, and 1 NJT DLC for one of their pieces of equipment. And boom.

 

I agree, the Morrisville yard was definitely a missed opportunity. I really hope they find a way to introduce the NJ Transit Hudson yard just east of Harrison and the MMC (Meadowlands Maintenance Complex) over by Kearny. If they do that, and feature the roughly 3 miles of track between Hoboken Terminal and NJ-Penn Station, that will also introduce more variety of service patterns. Of course though, we would need different variants of rolling stock and locomotives, (Comet V, Comet IV coaches, Comet IIM, NJT ALP45-DP, F40PH-2C, and NJT GP40-2) but the other locomotives would make sense if they were being ran on a line such as NJCL which is a dual mode branch or another branch that is diesel only such as the Bergen/Main lines.

 

Do be realistic. New York to Philly is 95 miles; not gonna happen.

 

New York to Philly was recreated 10 years ago in TS2013, now TSC, with much older tech at the time. TSW is more than capable of handling New York to Philadelphia. The devs just need to optimize the game so it doesn't stutter which they are aware of, seems to be a programming issue with the code of the simulator. TSW can definitely handle a 95 mile route.,We are already 70 miles with the trackage from Sunnyside, Queens to Trenton, New Jersey. It's only another 25 miles of track distance to cover from Philadelphia from Trenton. With TSW being a 64 bit application, it could make use of the max RAM allowed for Windows 10/11. For Home use, max would be 128GB but the average user wouldn't utilize or have that much RAM in their system. TSW is being held back by the need to produce for consoles. If TSW was a PC only application, we'd see far better quality in terms of routes.

 

If DTG made the NYC-Philly route for TSW, then there would be complaints about the lack of SEPTA stock or services. (Due to DTG not wanting to do unbranded stuff for TSW).

 

Length has never been a question of memory. It's a matter of development time. TSC is MUCH easier to program than TSW, hence its longer routes.

 

Route building itself is actually supposed to be easier in TSW than in TSC. TSW has more user friendly splines with more control, asset brush, 3D Google Earth overlay, etc.

Sure, rolling stock building is more complex, but the TSW tech itself is supposed to make route building easier.

 

It's not about optimization but also how long it takes to build that length and how much budget/time dtg have. There are other things to build as well such as the timetable and the usual route building and its complexity.

 

That's the whole point. Not everything is possible and there difference between time and the money That's needed to create a 90km long route. If it's not matching the budget they have to make choices and skip some parts.

For example... Bremen Oldenburg was nearly half the size off this upcoming route....

 

I like longer routes too, so I'm hoping for an extension.

 

Extensions are not in mind to by DTG.... You have to do so much that's interesting for a fair price and quality range

 

95 miles isn't completely unrealistic. All the TSW3 core routes were 90+ miles with Kassel-Würzburg being over 100 miles. Obviously there were aspects with those that made them easier to develop. Cajon was a pure freight route, Kassel - Würzburg had very few stations, and SHS was an extension of a current route, but DTG have shown us that long routes are possible from a game development perspective.

 

Ahahah moi j ai acheter GTA V j ai jamais payer un seul DLC toujours gratuit DTG sors 20 km de route et tu raque 30 € quand vous aurez compris que vous etes là pour payer et tant que ça marche tant mieux pour DTG mais au bout d un moment on vas tous se casser sur simrail ....

PS: quand vous voulez la prolongation Avignon ---> Paris

 

I agree, I like those locomotives. But when was the last time you saw an Amtrak Dash 8 between Trenton & NY? Let alone in Phase V paint?
I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but it's RARE to see them on that stretch. You might see a P42 once in a blue moon, even that's rare.
Last time I saw one in person, it was pulling a Pennsylvanian between Philly & Pittsburgh, that was 7+ years ago.

 

I just think increasing the prices is just too expensive I just think if they go back to the price $11 to $23 then they would make a lot of people happy and make more money or having $11 to $23 being optional pricing

 

Well said, after all the hours and dollars spent, I am feeling disrespected by DTG with these current US Bundles.

 

I watched the British Ace played the route and he was playing in North Jersey coastline service that ended at Rahway both ways

 

No offense to some people on the forums but £9.99(for 6 UP repaints and 6 scenarios)is reasonable for an add on that has taken time to create and which,in my opinion, the liverys are to a standard that can't be achieved in creators club.
Two cups of coffee and some cake would cost more down your local Costa FFS.
People need to get real and realise DTG are a business and need to make some sort of profit to survive and continue bringing us these routes that in the main we enjoy playing.