Route Linke Rheinstrecke - Feedback Thread

Seems that the PZB indicator lights of the Karlsruher Kopf are too dim again. That had been fixed on BRO some time after the release and was fine at LFR ever since, too, now it’s back again at LFR. It’s barely impossible to read them in daylight, even in cloudy conditions. No clue how DTG manage it to make those long time resolved bugs come back again. And the thumbnail in the train selection menu is wrong, too. It shows the red KaKo from BRO instead of the mint blue one from LFR.

 

I absolutely agree on that.

And it is understandable. I have moved from buying anything long time ago and trying to focus more on stuff i really want (mostly german content). For me it was the increase in pricing, which i still think is to much especially given problems like mentioned before.

Still, LFR is one of the beste german routes. And that single reason alone is why it deserves to be polished up if you asking me.

Also, i would like to bring up the Idea of a modern Timetable version for LFR. There is enough Rolling Stock available and propably could use some services from the old time table aswell.

The Route hasn't changed that much over the time and didn't lost its flair, so just taking the Route as it is wouldn't be no problem either.

 

I just played another service on Linke Rheinstrecke (TSW4), these two AI trains (yes they are two different ones) both had only the upper light illuminated?!

Edit: And another one:
Problem is only on 463 cabcar, a 628 didn't have the problem:

 

So to check this I 've choosen to spawn on foot at 21:30 at Mainz Hbf knowing a train would leave at this time...

So this is the issue...
Checked BRO as well, it is working for the 463 their.

 

Yup, this bug exists since the update in which the headlights of the Karlsruher Kopf and the 110.3 had been made brighter. Maybe it will be patched some day, but I suppose it won’t since this is an TSW3 route now…

 

So we can only hope for mods which will fix this...

 

Or a fix by DTG. There are some annoying bugs left - some major, some minor - which should be fixed. This lovely route would deserve it.
Especially the missing advance signal between Uhlerborn and Heidesheim. But also things like certain wrong PZB states, wrong PZB magnet at Gau Algesheim, too dim PZB indicator lights in the cab car, too dim (compared to BR110 and cab car) headlights of the 103 to name just a few of them. And of cause the misspelled station names like „Gau Alghesheim“ and „Büdenheim“. Or the fact that Bingen HBF is still called Bingerbrück in the HUD.

 

Yes I would love to see all of this fixed too, the route is great and still have potential for the future, so could someone from DTG say something about that? DTG JD maybe?

 

I haven't bought TSW4 because of this. Bugs in Rheinstrecke are gamebreaking to me, because this addons is not possible to play as "simulator", mainly because of missing/wrong signals. This route is most beautiful one to me, but these bugs are so immersive breaking that I don't play it anymore. And these bugs are baked in most of TSW content and they were never fixed. If DTG will ever fix these, I will buy some more content then.
EDIT: Just quick-looked to Voralberg topic and it is still the same as it ever was - missing OHLE, wrong speed signs, indicators too bright or too dim, etc.

 

OT: how did you get that wide FOV in the cab camera?

 

I think I had zoomed out a bit (god mode is more possible zoom levels) + it is my ultra wide resoultion UWHQD (3440x1440p) which is 21:9.

 

God the route in the latest sale, and I do enjoy it, the atmosphere and the setting is great! Love the old german stock and the length is perfect.

But man, the scenery quality leaves much to be desired. Empty trackside area everywhere, just big blocks of repeating ballast textures... Noticeable even at 160 km/h when driving an IC service, but during slower services with the 110 and when stopped at stations it is really bad. Makes the whole route look unfinished.
Assets have noticeable LOD issues, tracks in snow condition looks horrible, some crossing gates don't lower, at other crossing cars drive through even when they are closed.
And despite the scenery looking weak, the performance it still horrible. It goes from 40 fps to below 20 fps for no apparent reason at places.

I like driving on the route, with a 50% sale it was an acceptable deal, but god does it scream horrible craftsmanship. Great setting, very good rolling stock and timetable, but horrible route building.

 

Which platform are you on? I’m asking because I just got it on PS5 and am having a completely different experience. Trackside scenery seems fine to me, definitely didn’t stand out negatively. And performance was satisfactory despite having all layers, I honestly can’t remember more than a few micro-stutters throughout my end-to-end timetable run.

 

I am on PC. Granted, I do have old hardware, so I am not expecting the best performance. But most of the time the route is running a good 30-40 fps, then in certain curves it suddenly drops to 20 or even lower. I assume it might either be the trees (when there are too many of them too close to the tracks) or the grass. A certain grass asset used to cause horrible framerate drops on Sherman Hill as well, I assume it might be a similar case here as well.

As for trackside scenery, just look at these screenshots. Note the incredibly ugly repeating texture pattern on the track ballast - it is a problem on many TSW routes, but not all of them. But if there are cases when they can do nice looking tracks, then why do half of the routes end up with such ugly track assets? This looks very bad.

And my biggest annoyance is the big emptiness between the tracks. It's just empty terrain texture, once again with an ugly repeating pattern. To makes it worse, the color does not even match the track texture.

On this screenshot below you can see it also, look at how empty it is between the tracks and the road. No detail at all, just empty terrain texture.


And very noticeable repeating track ballast texture everywhere you look.


It is most noticeable in big yards and at stations, where it's all just endless rows of ugly tracks with ugly terrain texture between, and no other detail. At least here they tried to include a bit of grass texture between the wide empty area between the tracks, but still, it looks empty and unfinished.


To present an exampe of how it should look, just take a look at Hmmsim Metro. Track ballast has no ugly repeating patterns, it blends in nicely between tracks and into the surround terrain, avoiding the model train track look that TSW has. Empty areas between the tracks are also nicely detailed with grass


Both games are train simulators running on Unreal Engine 4. TSW could also easily achieve this look if they spent a bit more time creating better looking assets (to prevent the repeating pattern texture issues) and a bit more care when detailing routes (honestly, using asset brush to put grass between tracks is not that hard). We know it can be done, because there are routes where the tracks look nice, also routes with areas that are well detailed. So this is just the case of carelessnes and lack of attention to detail.

 

There’s a lot that DTG can learn from Hmmsim Metro.

And that game is being developed by a small team. I guess it comes down to time, care and pride of craftsmanship.

 

I didn't know TSW3 had a Fallout route? Nice job on getting that nuclear blast style lighting. Your screenshots nearly blinded me!

 

This is the TOD4 lightning, bugged since day 1.

 

Sometimes station stopping points also seem to be weird? Driving the cab car for the first time, and there was a station where I was apparently supposed to stop at the long end of the platform overgrown with grass, before the paved section even starts. Does not seem prototypical to me?

 

The "range" of the stop is better solved in SimRail where you just have an "area" to stop, not an exact marker. But I think this comes down to the point system in TSW.

But yes, some stop markers feel widely placed, not only here.

 

There are points given and taken away in SimRail, too, at least in single player scenarios, but not for stopping precision, just for various other things, like blowing horn when passing appropriate sign, changing radio channel after passing another sign, arriving and departing according to schedule, opening doors at correct side, not rolling with open door, etc.
For stopping, SimRail is more like TSC (where you need to stop in what's defined as platform, but the whole train, instead of with subway/metro-like precision to align train doors with something, like screen doors, which aren't present in TSW).

 

This is what I meant, in SimRail you have an "area" to stop and you get points, in TSW you get points for how "precise" you stop next to the marker. The more precise, the more points. That's the difference.

 

Damn, that looks so good... now all that's missing is the firecracker, aka DB BR 141, at the end that's doing the pushing.
Oh, Dreams come true, Thanks for the great work

 

Such a shame the N-wagen does not seem to spawn CC liveries in timetable mode. Subscribed to this, but it never appears.

 

Interesting it uses unreal 4 and doest have the shadow issues of tsw

 

The AI trains do not use windshield wipers in rain/snow. Please fix.

 

Do they on any route?

 

A little Real vs Game comparison. It's not about the BR 141 here, although I'm certainly not the only one who would like it with the Silberlingen. What I noticed more here is that the trees are quite visible towards the Castle in the background. It's a shame a lot of the view is lost. If the route needs to be improved at some point, it would be nice if the area here could be adjusted a bit

Surely many people will now notice that the wall with the fence on the left of the picture is missing or that the form signals are not there on the right.
The signal is there "A few meters further behind the picture" but no longer the old one but a modernized one.

 

What year is the real life photo from? If it is an older photo, then it is quite likely that the foliage has grown over time. Though I'm not sure if such dense trees would grow in an incline like this. But it is a possibility that they took more modern reference material when creating the route, as a result the foliage being more dense.

 

You might be right. TSW does look closer to today:

21:03
As for the picture, it’s from 07.07.1981.
Couldn’t find a proper picture from the late 90s for comparison.

 

The picture is from 1981

 

40 years is enough time for a tree to grow quite tall.

In general, I find the hillsides in LRS to be too sparsely wooded. They should be dense, like in Clinchfield, except where the vineyards are.

 

I apologise for my previous lack of faith in this route.

Just rebought it in the sale and thoroughly enjoyed the drive from Mainz to Koblenz. The DB 103 is assuredly a magnificent beast.

Just a shame it will probably never get extended to Koln in the north and Frankfurt in the south.

 

Mainz-Frankfurt is very dull. The point of the route is the actual Rhine gorge.

 

Actually in the TSC version I found the approaches to Frankfurt and the tunnel section under the city quite fascinating. Complements the scenic section quite nicely. Though I would tend to favour extending the route towards Koln if that ever became a possibility.

 

Glad to hear you’re enjoying it
The 103 is fantastic after the update that fixed the blended braking.

 

TSW 4 - Using Steam PC
Drive with DB BR101 in FreeRoom - The Speed Indicator is wrong 136 km/h in Mini HUD is 101 km/h.
In the right Multifunction-Display is a date 06.01.2.024 ??? correct is 06.01.2024
Please correct it. Thanks.

 

Just bought this route in the January sale after contemplating the various reports of stuttering.

Am on PS5 and can confirm that in a handful of places along the route it stutters for a second or two. Not a dealbreaker for me, but all the more noticeable since on the PS5 most other routes don't, at least for me. Having spawned at one particular station, whenever I looked along a building towards the road and tried to move the camera, I could easily reproduce it.

It's a very pretty route but perhaps there is a little bit too much going on, causing these hick ups.

 

route is nice, would use extension(s), that's right, but it would use more locos/trains even more... and ICE 1 has too few services there... I like the fact it is long and nice, but then, more trains there pls... I know it is supposed to be set in the past, but still :P

 

Easy solution: Release loco DLCs. A 140 for starters, then a 120 with IR coaches, …
The possibilities are endless

 

Personally I would love a bit more freight alongside the route. There are quite a few yards and industry sidings, and it would be nice to have more variety than the 110 with only two type of freight cars.

 

would be nice if freight wasnt just A to B... but actually like... take this loco, go there, pick x wagons of y there and z elsewhere... take those to somewhere... like, actually doing freight, not just doing initial setup and then doing just passenger-less service through most of the map

e.g. like picking tanker wagons with raw oil, driving em to nearby refinery... uncoupling them there, and picking up wagons with gas and such...

 

If they want to be accurate, they would give the 120s (with 101 sub) the ICs, and put the IRs behind 103s (both beige/crimson and Orient red).

 

At this time 1997 you need to consider the fact that both DB Baureihe 101 & 103 ran CNL EN222/223 Donau Kurier. which itself would have been the predecessor of the current 182/1116/1293 Nightjet on the route. One more thing from that link which shows Long Distance Services from Koblenz Hbf there's the ICE2 service to Hauptstrecke München Augsburg ICE 511.

 

I found an error with the right windscreen wipers,this small black hole.

()

 

I already realised that. I wanted to post it first but you were quicker.
The problem only seems to be on the right side, so for me the left wiper runs without a standing point

 

It’s the ‘bolt’ that’s anchored. You don’t have that issue on BRO…

 

Sure? Becuse the other 463 from Bremen don’t have it.

 

That’s what I said…

 

Hi,

After driving many times manually controling the notches on the BR103 and 110 I wondered if there is an automatic mode where you set a notch and the locomotive works automatically up to the specified notch while accelerating ?

 

You mean like on the 155? No, they don’t have such systems. The real 103s had an AFB-like system originally but that was disabled due to various problems it caused and as such the 103s in TSW have not implemented it.