Upcoming Release Us Passenger Bundle - Acela's Arrival Into Train Sim World!

I won't be buying anymore US or German DLC's until Add on manager is fixed, I'm getting nervous with all the UK stuff to come.

 

That's all they do for US content, lazy attempts and crappy shortcuts on purpose....welp this look like another poor job in an attempt.

 

LOL!!!!

 

I mean… if LIRR is a major railroad operating out of NYP in real life, then it should also be a major railroad operating out of NYP in NY-Trenton’s timetable as well, if it impedes traffic then that’s just realistic

 

The difference is that in real life, Birmingham Cross-City isn't all that busy (setting aside other lines running into New Street) and the game reproduces every BCC service in the RL timetable. Whereas with NY-T we are only getting a limp pass at what IRL is the busiest rail area in the United States.

 

Looking forward to the Acela, and driving it on the re-vamped Boston. But will hold off on Trenton till I‘ve seen some actual gameplay after release. It seems quite underwhelming from the information and screenshots at hand.

 

I just hope Matt was mistaken when he said on the roadmap stream “only minor touchups” to the original NEC NY scenery

 

https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-sim-world/articles/article/tsw3-sehs-a-timetable-deep-dive

If you care to compare the "Us Passenger Bundle" article to the above linked article, I think you will find there is no comparison. Let's put aside the very weak NY-T timetable for a moment. The article put out today cannot even be bothered to list the breakdown of the few services that this route does provide, while the SEHS article goes into great detail concerning the why and how of so many services. And of course, if you are interested and want to find out more, simply click this link and it will take you to a thread that is hyper-critcal of the entire endeavour!

At this point it does almost feel like DTG is trolling some of us. The article from today does not appear to add anything to the conversation, except some inane hype. I am actually concerned that TSW is not doing well with an existing player base that is perhaps not big enough, and struggling to attract new players. This might be leading to a quantity vs. quality strategy, and possibly not just a US route thing; after all, it has been mentioned that recent routes, including BCC, while nice looking, are sparse on gameplay. Although, if we are looking at the roadmap, there is no mention of any upcoming routes which could serve to fill out some of these gaps, and make DTG more money.

Whatever the reason, if the question becomes, does LBN, and a few others, represent some sort of high water mark for the TSW franchise, then I suspect these recent and upcoming releases may provide our answer.

 

Is funny you mentioned "almost feel like DTG is trolling some of us". I was about to say the same thing. I feel once the route comes out that will be it. Nothing will change. It will be another US route in the books and forgotten about. What a waste of opportunity. All that feedback wasted......

 

Someone linked a dlc In train sim earlier whereby an update from what I understood was promised in 2019 still had no update in terms of release. What the mary Queen of Scot's is going on here

 

I used to be disappointed when original NEC never came over to TSW2/3 then I thought it would be a good opportunity to leave it, so if it ever returns the scenery would have a complete overhaul, however hearing that stated makes me rather less optimistic on that front unfortunately

 

Releasing all this content at the same time feels like a mistake. The negativity of one thing overshadows the rest of the content,and less people will probably buy multiple items

 

I'll be picking up the Acela on release (it looks great and layers into Boston which is enough for me; also I want to encourage the development of more loco DLC) but I think I'll wait and see how it goes with Trenton as the timetable doesn't sound as busy as it should.

Can't say the Sherman Hill livery pack does much for me but I'll enjoy the free upgrades to the route lighting and scenery anyway (American freight is the last bit of TSW I'm struggling to get into but I keep giving it a go every now and then as that's how I got into all the rest of the non-UK content!)

 

The only thing that really attracts me is the Acela to Boston, because the new route is out of the question...

Why is DTG not addressing the extensive feedback it is receiving on the forums? What is the real problem for not meeting community requests?

 

I’m fairly confident they’re listening, that thread is really hard to miss lol

I know DTG isn’t a company you can rely on, but with the exposure that 600+ message thread got (heck it got featured on the official dovetail live article), there’s gotta be some sort of discussion going on internally. It also seems like JD and Alex are frequently viewing the forums too now.

 

This is the saddest and most grotesque pre-release article I've read so far on TSW. It says nothing new and doesn't even contain a new screenshot. The link to the thread highlighting the shortcomings of this route and the dissatisfaction of the community plus the recommendation to buy LIRR and M3 I can only interpret as them laughing at us.


A very fitting article for what looks set to be the most embarrassing release since Oakville Subdivision

 

Funny you bring up Oakville- this gives off very much the same vibes- IIRC, it was announced shortly before release, had baffling design choices, and was generally regarded as rushed and not nearly reaching its potential.

The big difference, with no disrespect to our Canadian friends, is that NEC is THE premier US passenger route, not just a seemingly one-off experiment.

It deserved the care given to BML and Dresden. Very disappointing.

I'll be getting the Acela for Boston, which, if the update delivers the promised fixes, should finally be up to the standard of the best routes in TSW.

 

Would someone at DTG please tell us if TSW2 players that own the Boston Sprinter route will at least get the bugged safety systems fixed in an update without shelling out cash for something we don't want? That would be spectacular.

 

Same here to be honest. No matter how good the Trenton route looks, and I suspect it will look very good, if there are so many services missing it isn't really a great representation of reality, which I thought was an aim for a simulator.

 

Yes, it really should have the " BML " treatment. I will wait for the stream on Monday before making a final decision on which parts of the package to purchase on day 1.

 

I'm torn between buying the Acela for Boston (which I think will be wonderful, especially if the promised signal fixes are as good as they seem; and, importantly, the sounds, which should be good as they were able to record them), and not wanting to further support DTG's reaming of American commuter rail fans.

 

I won't tell you how to spend your money, but i don't know that a blanket boycott helps all that much- personally if it's good, I'll buy it, and if it's bad, I won't.

If they see a huge disparity in sales between Acela and NYP-Trenton, they'll have to know why that is

 

Noooooooooooo! No CSAO OI-32 and ME-02 aswell as static freight wagons and freight trains appearing near the North River Tunnel Portal?

 

What the hell?
This article is woefully terrible. My guess is that with all the negative feedback so far, DTG has given up even trying to convince us to buy the new Trenton route. Delaying the stream to the day before release is also quite ominous.

 

That is my view, if I like it I am not going to cut my nose off to spite my face. I don't think any on here, well most at least, want DTG to suffer as that isn't in any of our interests.

As you say it will send them a message if something doesn't sell as well as predicted.

 

Would they have had the courage to promote the original NEC in the article if it was available for purchase?

Trying to sneak LIRR into the article to get people to buy it at full price when it's been broken for years and those of us who have it have not been able to play with it.... hahahahahaha. It's just that with DTG you have to laugh. There's no emoticon for crying with laughter? I'll put it

 

DTG behave like small stock market corpo ... Ive been here for 3 months and I just have growing feeling of less and less passion and more and more rush for profits... I didnt buy any of the last 3 DLC, and Im loosing interest in game slowly, due to its unreflctive attitude.

 

German and British content is better. Of the last 3 routes, I would only recommend the Bremen-Oldenburg one. BCC is ok, but not at full price with it's single train.
The trend of "let's see what we can get away with" has unfortunately been here longer than 3 months, and it shows with buggy and incomplete releases, lacking overall polish and not getting fixed (Tharandter Rampe still has derailed service and floating tracks one year after release). UE4 crashes seem to be getting more and more frequent.

Trenton is shaping up to be a hard pass for me. Repeated screenshots and a video preview one day before release are very suspicious. The number of services is also disappointing, I would imagine a 4-track mainline would be much busier than 289 services... 80 or so of them being to and from the depot.

 

Here’s my take. If after they confirm the amount of total services which is 289, of which 101 are yard services,of which NJT has 82 total passenger services, no LIRR, no freight, re used scenery, has a stream the day before launch that will show 5 new locos(including the cab cars), 1 new route NEC NY-Trenton, Boston with new lighting and signaling, Sherman hill with new lighting, 6 new redskins, launch a article that says nothing new and doesn't even contain any new content,have a link on the article to the thread highlighting the shortcomings of this route, plus then promote to buy LIRR and M3 on the same article when you are not including it on the time table, if after all that they manage to make good sales on the this, I will tip my hat to them and know that all bets are off and any hope of the future content quality, amount of services,will just be that a thing of the past. This is my opinion based on previous US content. I would love to buy this DLC, but in its current state there’s no way. What message does that say if I just blindly buy it. Once the route is a the state that it should be then it will be purchased. Until then my money will stay with me.

 

Diesel legends was more embarrassing imo

 

I have it but played it hardly ever, so unrealistic imho, F7 in Cajon is worst though So we have embarasing contest here it seems...

 

Yes agreed, it my area and era of interest but I have never bought it. It is an historical anachronism. A shame as the thought of driving a tatty blue Western along the GWML is very appealing.

 

I actually first read the thread title as “US Passenger Blunder” which is kind of true when thinking of the PR disaster it is when saying that there is something in the bundles for existing players when there clearly isn’t. It’s embarrassing.

 

The reduced timetable is surprising, when it's been clear that the strongest routes have benefited most from their rich timetables. A busy Penn station with constant NJT, LIRR and Amtrak services are what make this as Train Sim *World* and not just a Train Sim. Hopefully DTG reconsider - they have before. It would be a shame to build a route with so much unfulfilled potential - there's already enough of that in TSW, achievable improvements that could make such a difference.

As a PS5 user, it's a while before I can get this anyway but... if this is the case I may be waiting for a sale.

 

I intend to buy the three new releases for both PC and Xbox, but pre-order deals looks more costly. Is there a pre-order bundle available of the three, or will they be able to be purchased on release. I assume Trenton is £29.99 Acela will be £14.99 and the UP collection £9.99.

Or do we have a buy a bundle to get them all?

 

There will be no bundle for the new dlc only. You can buy them separately at launch

 

"Both of these routes and US Freight trains are covered in two separate Bundles for new and existing players to enjoy"

As an existing customer I'd love DTG to clarify exactly which bundle I'm going to enjoy? Because from where I'm standing it looks like there's no bundle for existing customers which own Sherman Hill and Boston Sprinter.

Is this just sloppy inept misleading marketing or is this just a lie to try and trick existing customers into buying either of these routes again?

Either way once again I'm questioning if I can believe a single word written by DTG?

 

The passenger bundle does, in fact, save you about 10 bucks if you pre-order as opposed to buying Trenton and the Acela separately at launch ( $53 vs $63 ), even if you already own BPE.

There's nothing to be gained by pre-ordering the freight bundle if you already own SMH, as far as I can tell.

 

With regards to the bundles, I think it’s great that they’re offering opportunities to “entice” new players with more options, however it’s getting to the point where any existing players shouldn’t be expecting any sort of bundles like these despite many reasonable examples they could be.

with regards to NEC Trenton I will be waiting till preview stream to see it more, but have 0 plans of making any purchase for it any time soon regardless. I’m also in more than half a mind to avoid it for the main reason it seems to encourage “lacking” content not taking on feedback…

I also intend to wait a bit for the freight pack, whilst I think livery packs can be great opportunities, this one seems rather over priced. Especially considering American freight isn’t always my ideal go to thing.

finally, the Acela I’m considering launch purchase for Boston Sprinter but that depends on what may be picked up in the stream (Bugs)

 

Sadly in sterling theres no such benefit. Passenger bundle £44.99
Trenton £29.99
Acela £14.99

Excluding BS the bundle is a penny more.

 

The big difference with the UK stuff missing traffic (example: Birmingham New St being pretty empty) is because they don't actually have the rolling stock in game. That makes sense, I wouldn't expect them to build entire trains and locos just for AI traffic. People still complain of course but the reasoning for the missing stuff makes sense and DTG has set the expectation that we shouldn't expect to see services layer onto a new route unless the proper rolling stock already exists. Sometimes they even bend the rules like having their 612 appear in Bremen Oldenburg when IRL the services are actually a totally different DMU, I think a DB 648 or something.

In the case of Trenton, the missing stuff (LIRR and NJT services) DOES have the rolling stock in game. We've had LIRR trains forever, and most of the NJTs services could use the new ALP-46 and bilevels. They decided not to do that. That is why people are looking for a better explanation IMO. This is the opposite of what DTG does (usually they put any pre-existing stock that fits into a route, into the route).

So far they haven't given a real explanation other than somewhat vague comments related performance. And people have pointed out there are much more complex timetables that seem to perform OK at this point so again people are looking for explanations I guess.

My guesses would be:
1. Some sort of performance FPS issue unique to the route.

2. A technical issue where the signalling/dispatcher can't handle increased traffic. In real life this route is congested and often I think has backed up/late trains. Maybe that was too much for the in game dispatcher to handle?

3. Lack of time/resources to include more.

Personally I can live with the lack of LIRR and freight static stuff. I also don't like the suggestion of putting static LIRR at Penn because thats no more realistic than them being missing (IRL they don't sit in the same spot tying up a platform all day). But it will bug me if the NJT services are significantly less than IRL. DTG is not perfect but they have set a pretty high standard with timetables where we all expect it to be pretty close to IRL, including playable AND non-playable AI that branch off the route, because that's what they've been doing for the last bunch of routes.

 

Well, the problem is that DTG and its partners have gotten in the habit of deliberately choosing to develop routes for which they know there is only one viable player train. So it's not a question of building AI stock.
They should be selecting routes that require them to build at least two drivable trains, as they generally used to do up until post- Rush Hour.

So, as you point out, even when they have two drivable trains, as they do for Trenton ( albeit one is a paid download ), they decline to include AI traffic which they have in their catalog.

So the explanation that people are looking for is simple. DTG have increased the price, while making the candy bar smaller. Anyone who shops for consumer products is familiar with this strategy.

 

At least in terms of rolling stock, introducing the ALP-46 plus two cab cars (which are almost as hard to build as locos), as well as the NJT bi-level coaches, is more new rolling stock than we have seen come with a new route in a long time. London-Brighton came with "two" EMUs, but they were just reworks of the existing 377. Riesa-Dresden came with none at all (although admittedly we got new, significantly improved versions). The last route to come with three new driving cabs plus coaches was.... West Somerset.*
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Having said that, there's no excuse for not making use of the new RS plus the extant M7/M3 in a decently realistic timetable.

*I'm not counting MSB, because the 146 and 185 are really just variants of one another, and the cab car and Dostos came from RSN

 

Im afraid there is no holistic common system for all dlc, no common standard and no datasheet for physic, signaling etc. each dlc is separate ecosystem just made on UE4, and the issues will grow simultaneously with growth of addons numbers...

 

Yup - DTG were once talking about how TSW came to be, one of the points Matt made was that they wanted to escape the mistakes made with TSC.

I can only imagine that how bloated and compartmentalised the TSC engine became overtime, leading to DTG stopping work on the TSC core - surely this is one of the things they’d want to avoid with TSW, but with how they’re going about each DLC being it’s own little thing, separated from everything else, they’re headed right into the same trap.

 

I suddenly remember someone said before, Each TSW Route Addon is acting like separate games, that's why if you fix something here, something there on different route/addon will broken, so on and so on...

 

It's hard to see the desired modularity ever being possible given the above two posts. Yes it's hard to develop new features and keep everything up to date, its a constantly moving target. As soon as the preservation crew finish one sweep there are new routes with new features that need backdating etc and so on. But with each one functioning separately then there are never any real economies of scale to be had from either developing or updating content.

 

Same time of year too. Maybe the long holiday break tends to take up a lot of development time.

 

It does seem that that first release of the calendar year seems to have ... issues. NEC New York (2018), Oakville (2020), SEHS (2021), Harlem (2022)*. The one exception to the trend was MSB (2019), and at the time it was much criticized for its distant scenery.
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*The excellent Dresden-Chemnitz was released in January, but that work was almost certainly done before the holidays

 

I think the Acela and Boston upgrades will probably be the highlight of the new releases. The route still has too unknown atm and the UP Heritage unit pack doesn't offer enough for its price.