On the Tees Valley Line dev stream yesterday, Matt confirmed that the TSW editor will not be released on consoles. Routes created on PC editor "might" be playable on consoles, but not confirmed. Can't remember the exact point in the video where he mentioned it, but am pretty sure it was while Dmitri was driving the class 101 near the end of the stream. So unless you like endlessly replaying tutorials, scenarios and services on TSW routes, i think there might be a lot of bored console owners soon.... Time to buy a PC guys.
This isn't really all that new information. The editor is an advanced tool, not a game, and is thus not really made for consoles. It's essentially just a collection of tools for the base Unreal Engine 4 editor, which, of course, is not on consoles.
I didn't think the editor would be available on console, but it's been shown with mods on skyrim and fallout that it's possible for people to add things to console editions. No reason dovetail can't work on a system where we can download things
I had honestly expected them not to come to console, but I sure was hoping they would in some form. The one thing I do think is both PC and Console have the same experience minus CSX Heavy Haul but I really felt like the quality that the PC has was starting to show in the console versions so it feels more then ever like one big community and I feel like the editor will divide our discussions even further. Although that is a bummer as long as dovetail continue to add content of their own then I’m happy. We have seen DTG expanding on concepts with the much needed substitution system recently, which is easily one of the best things to be added to the game.I would like to see them keep expanding through route extensions and scenario packs in the future. A scenario pack of unique experiences Whether it was a few every couple of months or a paid dlc pack, I’d look forward to adding more to something I consider a hobby. Dovetails other game Fishing sim world is releasing a huge update in July that adds a new career mode featuring pro fishers, I’d love to see perhaps a Train Sim world career mode that featured unique varied tasks and a linear path through the routes. I don’t think the editor tools were made to pass off the work to the PC community and I do believe that we are going to start seeing more content from DTG in the near future then there ever has been, as long as they continue to make quality add ons that are fun and varied experiences the community will support them.
The main issue with publishing mods to consoles is copyright. DTG would have to ensure that every bit of content and it's updates are copyright free, which would take a lot of effort. Another issue is CSXHH which would probably become the goto place for finding generic assets due to their quality and also because it's the most owned route on PC. The final issue is the fact that you will have to load packages from your game's directory which you can't do on a console. I don't think that the editor will be that hard to run when working with cooked content only. You will just need a lot of RAM and a graphics card that can run the game (maybe not even that if you just want to make scenarios because you can close your 3D viewport which you don't need).
Created 3rd party content submitted to DTG(routes, scenarios). Using approved assets. To be released on all platforms? Also create an edit mode to handle loco livery templates, station signs, billboards. Using the image to console via usb.
The problem is that you can't tell if a route uses custom assets. Every asset becomes a .uasset file no matter what it is. I don't think anyone would like to make a tradeoff of using only stock assets to be able to publish a route on consoles.
If you were perhaps to use a DTG mode that could be published cross platform. Meaning that all your assets were DTG?
For me the most important things is to be able to create our consists and run any train we want on every route not designated
Which sadly DTG seems to be focused on an authentic experience and sadly have stated the only way to do this will be through the editor.
This is a shame, even a heavily stripped back version of the editor would open up the experience massively. Just the ability to adjust consists and locomotives across routes (although, I can see why DTG might want to avoid that as they could sell us the same locomotive numerous times across new routes) set way points and create scenarios. Even a livery editor would be appreciated. The 2K WWE games (odd referance I know) have a brilliant "community creations" suite where you can view, upload your own and download other players creations. I can imagine something along those lines working really well. Considering editors, In one form or another have been on consoles before, as far back as the PS2 era (Timesplitters had one) up to the recent far Cry map editor I don't think it's impossible. DTG would probably have to build a new "console" version of the editor from scratch however, which would be time and labour intensive.
Is there any reason why you can't use the Unreal engine 4? You literally don't need the 3D viewport (you can close it and replace it with the 2D route map) for creating scenarios and reskins and it's text based layout is quite lightweight. Only thing that might be necessary is an easy way to quickly upload content to your console for testing. You will need a lot of RAM for route building and playing the game in editor.
Am I surprised? No. Am I disappointed? Not really. In RW, for every good freeware route there's about 10 awful ones. I don't think I'll be missing out, nor does this give me an excuse to play on PC.
I like the authenticity idea, but would love to pick a consist and locomotive of my own to run where it wouldn't kill realism. So Locomotives unique to their country stay there, but I could run a class 66 on WSR as both period and location match. As happens on diesel gala days across many heritage lines.(I know that WSR does not have a mainline connection in real life for this to occur, despite the tracks ending up feet apart.)
But the west somerset does have a mainline connection... Its connected to network rail at Norton Fitzwarren. I believe one of the class 33 scenarios mentions this, as the train originates its journey from York in the scenario. I too prefer the realistic approach dtg have taken, but we definitely need more options for customisation.
Well I stand corrected! Thanks for that information, it's been many years since I was there and remember there being a campaign to try andand it reconnected so they could run services through to Taunton! A quick look on the internet shows they have run these very services at times....