Midland Mainline - Skyhook Feedback

Thank you Marc!

For me the MML is all about riding behind peaks on Sheffield to St Pancras services. Its why (and I don't know if you saw the live stream) our lead train programmer Tom put those Peak specials in just for me

 

I did, it was a nice touch. I don't know if you download scenarios on content creators club but shortly after the release of the route I created a couple, A peak hauled service from Nottingham to Leicester, recreating the 1970s, and then a class 40 hauled Derby-Nottingham recreating the Manchester-Skeggy Jolly Fisherman services.

 

dtg_jan You censored me instantly for a phrase made in jest when I was expressing enthusiasm for a DTG DLC. I am sure you did not realise it was in jest. Unless it stops now this stuff about jane needs sorting immediately. Where are you when really needed ?

 

Give the moderators a chance, the day has only just started and it's Sunday as well.

 

Definitely driving the 158 for me, on any service. I would love to see MGR coal trains with class 56, 58, 20 and 60. Some of my happiest early memories were watching these in West Yorkshire locations.

 

I personally don't care about the back story of a forum user/3rd party developer, whether its good or bad, I will judge on the quality of the product.

At the moment I am still waiting for the 'imminent' full patch as the route is still broken in a lot of areas on PC due to their 'missing files' screw up. Hopefully Jane can provide an update on this on Monday when people are back to work.

I am encouraged by the added services being a huge step in the right direction for MML but I will reserve judgment until I get the full compliment of fixes. Hopefully this will be very soon.

 

OK, Apologies. No wonder the poster used the cover of nightime !

 

Thank you so much for letting me know. With my head down at work not had a chance to look at creators club for a while. I am downloading now. That is part of my Sunday sorted, thank you Marc!

 

Now I can't choose one occasion so I'll do a top three:
1. It would have to be the occasion I mentioned on the other page as it put a massive smile on my face.
2. It would be running the Peak up and down the line both on the railtour and with a CC scenario ( I think it was marc's one so a massive thumbs up to him too)
3. Driving that HST up and down the line, it's just a shame it ends so soon(hint, hint for the future!)

 

Could you also remove the (equally as off-topic now that the offending posts have gone) responses on the subject submitted by Jane please.... I personally don't want to read about any of it - irrespective of who posted it.
Thanks

 

I am really grateful for you giving up some of your Sunday to sort this. Thank you DTG JD really appreciated.

 

I loved reading about that timetable experience Matt! It was exactly what I hoped would happen for people.

 

not

not a hint (honestly) that we are doing anything, but I miss the Class 56 from being in TSW. I used to spend a large part of my childhood watching them thunder through Doncaster station.

 

Same. Used to get a West Yorkshire day rover and spend hours at Knottingley. Doncaster was a treat when my Dad used to take me. Holgate Junction at York too. There used to be a great place to park right next to the tracks.

 

Being a fan of the SIAM traffic control games (though not the price of some of them ), Aire Valley 90 is one of my favourites when you are managing the area around Knottingley including allocating the 56's and 60's on the various MGR services. Always thought that would be a great area and era to represent in TSW, with the constant flow of MGR traffic to Drax and Eggborough plus Kellingley Colliery.

 

Oh yes. Maybe one day hopefully.

 

I agree completely. Was incredible when I spent days there Vern. Used to dash across from Hull, where I am originally from and hang out in Knottingley for the day.

 

i agree with you for the most part however the gold medal thing like with achievements matter to some people and dont matter to others, both of which are completley valid view points

 

My favorite thing was the guard feature on the 158. I always enjoy the realism in train sims. I also enjoy how it's not just an a to b run. I like having routes that have branch lines over a linear route.

 

In my childhood, on Sundays my Mum, dad, brother and sister would go over my Nana's in Syston, we'd often meet our uncle. After a big lunch we'd go for a walk if the weather was nice and end up on Barkby Thorpe Lane (Which is recreated in the game) and do a bit of trainspotting. We'd often see 56s thundering past on various freights as well as 58s and 60s. Absolutely wonderful times

 

Ditto

 

I have no idea what the removed posts are about, but the amount of them and the "I hope I do not have to name them publicly" language instantly makes me think something's being covered up. It's probably some personal drama of no consequence (God knows there's plenty of that in the gaming industry), and I don't care enough to check, but jeez. I wasn't expecting words like "High Court" and "damages" to come up in this thread.

So anyway, what I actually came to report, before the multiple removed posts caught my attention, is this. You know that thing in the "Can't Make Your Mind Up?" scenario, where the Spondon stop doesn't trigger, so the scenario can't be completed? Well, I decided to get past that using commands and check what comes after (and hey, I wanted my achievement!). This is the next and final stop at Derby:

So it's not just a misaligned stop, the entire second half of the scenario is wrong.

I'm putting this up in case the team thinks only the Spondon stop needs fixing and misses the Derby one.

 

Really appreciate you sorting the situation out especially as it's the weekend. It was getting out of hand.

 

I really appreciate the info, thank you. Will pass to the team in the morning. Thank you ever so much.

 

I'm loving the 158. I've been using it on the 'off the rails' for the tees valley route as they use the 158 now the Pacers have gone. Loving MML and looking forward to the hot fix and future improvements. Really appreciate the time and effort you are putting into this forum and MML.

 

you are from Hull too?

 

Well at the moment I am happy and amazed at the amount of pathways available in Scenario creator for Midland Mainline...... This is what Scenario Creator should be. I haven't really looked into if there are any that finish in the Toton Depot area yet. If not hopefully Toton will appear soon. But loving the 158's and HST runs. need to look at the freight side of things at somepoint. I'm really looking forward to seeing if we can get some moves to and from Toton and hopefully get into Radcliffe Powerstation for those Heavy MGR trains....
Looking forward to the day wne we can runa 56 or 60 along the MML...

On a side note Janes personal life has nothing todo with anyone else on this forum, We dont delve into Matt's, JD's, Jamies, or any other person here from Dovetail , Rivett or any other of the 3rd party devs personal lives. So those of you that have been pushing on this and other agendas should really rethink on whether you should still be in the community!!

Regards
Hentis

 

I enjoyed the route before the patch (reflected in my Steam review at release lol), but even moreso post-1st patch. If I have to pick, then the sunrise/just after sunrise passenger runs are my favorite. Being that a good chunk of my ancestors emigrated from Leicester/Birmingham pre-1900 to Canada I've a somewhat weirdly vested interest in the area lol. Anyway, I'm looking forward to whatever SHG brings to the MML table.

Kind regards,
Dave

 

I am eagerly scouring this afternoon for scenarios, once Marc pointed out he had done some. I have found some great scenarios which will eat up my day!

 

More missing trackwork. Don't recall this particular instance being posted before. Wonder if this is in the "missing" files.

 

thanks Dave, I like the sunrise stuff too and hopefully we get to do more content at that time. I find it so atmospheric. I used to love being on the west coast mainline on TSC, going over Shap early morning.

 

I think you have found something new. Thank you, I will pass it on in the morning.

 

I've been away for a few days so I'm a bit late to the party, but at first glance I'm really impressed by the update.Not only is the Roundhouse in Derby there, but Pride Park and the Arena too! Thank you and well done to all concerned - I can't wait to explore the rest of the route!

 

Hi Jane will the missing patch be released this week coming

 

honestly Mark, right now I dont know but will find out more tomorrow. Its not something I am involved with, so get informed only. I certainly hope so. Once things leave dev, they are out of my remit, but I try and get the info for you guys as much as I can.

 

Cool.

Its a three parter on the on the MML and then there's a part 4 based on the GWE
Hopefully finish the first one this week somewhen.

Hentis

 

Really grateful for your comments. The tech and art teams both worked really hard to update the route. Let me know how you enjoy it.

 

Thank you and no worries

 

I do have a hope that the power station will be brought online with appropriate freights to bring and remove the coal and fly ash hoppers. This could add a lot of services of the freight variety. Not being from the UK, which way the extensions go is not a matter as much as we do get some so the HST will have more room to stretch its legs. That 158 is a pleasure to drive, it gets back to the old school of having seperate power and brake handles so you have to think about what you are doing, not just move a handle up and down.

 

My favourite experience has been the Hst’s they are one of my favourite trains and great to see them in EmT livery. It terms of future content I really hope class 222 and Sheffield are developed in the future

 

thank you for this Sharon, really appreciated!

Jane

 

I agree that gameplay is the priority, the route needs some MGR and other power station freight activity.

And the 158 dmu is a much better experience than the electro stars that seem to populate every new route these days, though it's still too easy to drive. Give me a first or second generation dmu every time.

Overall, though, this route is a big step up from the recent A-B, one cookie box offerings that I've had to pass up lately.

Unfortunately the next UK route looks like it may be a step backwards.

Got to look forward to the " new " NYT and the next US freight route.

 

One thing that would be good, probably for future routes rather than the current one, would be some areas to explore on foot. It doesn't need to be anything major, but something I notice on a lot of routes is there are often some quite distinctive footbridges that it would be nice to be able to access, or vantage points that are good for screen shotting. I think Peak Forest includes something like this, and of course you can wander around the training centre. If Skyhook was to take on Hope Valley (I can only "Hope" - sorry, I'll see myself out) for example, you could allow the player to explore a small scenic area near a staion, or access a popular spotting, er, spot (I swear that one wasn't a deliberate pun).

 

Had about 5 journeys since the patch dropped and while from a gameplay standpoint the route has much improved, I have had 2 crashes on PS5.

So very sorry to say the route its still not up to scratch at this time

 

Been really enjoying the route, both pre- and post-patch. The 158 is already one of my favorite trains in the game, and the addition of the guard buzzer is really cool- hopefully this can be added to other trains/routes where appropriate (i'm from the US, so my UK operations knowledge is very limited).

Regarding the future of MML, i'm just excited to hear that it HAS a future- personally, i'm a huge fan of networks, so anything approaching what DTG has done around London/SE Region would be great- with it being planned in advance, perhaps it could be even more cohesive and well-crafted. The specific locations for expansion aren't that important from my perspective- though opportunities for layering existing stock should be taken advantage of.

For operations, i'd like to see more freight shunting, and local (drop-off/pick up) freight, if and where that's appropriate.

I'll leave it to those more knowledgeable for DLC ideas.

 

After the update, I gave this route a shot, and it's pretty solid. Definitely a potential there, and would love to see it get more content.

Not sure about the safety systems yet, some of the penalty brakes seem really weird, especially with green lights ahead and no alarms prior. Also noticed one little timetable error - IIRC, only two ROG 37s exist, definitely only two numbers in the game. Which ends up creating duplicates on the white 375 service.


Also, Jane, could you share with DTG the dynamic weather magic that's been done here by your team? It is SO much better than previous routes, not just going "worse-worse-worse-snap-good again". Truly a variety of what can happen to the weather. A dynamic session without a storm is such a lovely change. It also has a lot smoother transitions. The first time I've seen the fog slowly creep in instead of popping up out of nowhere. The settings used here need to be brought back to all other routes. Good job on that one!

 

That's fantastic news, Jane. It'll really help Skyhook routes stand out. There's a big section of the community who have been crying out for this for a long time (our usual hang-out is the pinned "Awesome TSW Service Mode Runs" thread) and I really think that once others experience the variety and interest created by this approach they will love it too.

 

Interesting, loving the non-green runs. Can I ask which signal sequences have been updated, because the only one I've seen is the one into Derby. There are a couple of outstanding ones that haven't been updated in the update that I received (Trent North and South junctions I believe).

 

I struggle a bit to remember how the signal sequences at each location used to be before the update. So far on the updated version my approaches to Derby, Leicester and Nottingham have all had correct signalling sequences. I know Derby used to be wrong. I also remember having an incorrect sequence approaching Nottingham before the update, but I don’t think it happened every time, so I can’t say for certain it’s been fixed.

In terms of the Trent Junctions - I think the 3 corners of the triangle are Trent South Jn (nearest Leicester), Trent East Jn (nearest Nottingham) and Sheet Stores Jn (nearest Derby). I’ve experienced Trent East Jn approached from Nottingham and had a correct signal sequence, but I was held at the red due to a Down HST passing so I don’t know whether I would have had a correct sequence if the route had been clear. Sheet Stores Jn approached from Nottingham also looked correct. I’ve also experienced Sheet Stores Jn (signalled to Leicester) and Trent South Jn approached from Derby, and they seemed correct. Finally, I’ve experienced Sheet Stores Jn (signalled to Nottingham) and Trent East Jn approached from Derby and they seemed correct.

I should say that I don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the possible signal sequences which actually apply currently at all of these locations, so I’m accepting any sequence which COULD be correct (in the sense that it would be compliant with the regulations) as being correct.