Unsure if anyone will want to read/even care about this but I decided that the £11 price tag was low enough for me to try out TSW4 for the first time. Not only does this (Finally) open the way for me to try out BPO finally but also for the 104 pack when thats released! My last two days of TSW consisted of really hating the American voice over in training centre. I did two shorter runs in the 801 up ECML which honestly was really not my cup of tea. But it was nicely modelled and the scenery was great. Bit stuttery on Series S in places but easily playable. But I just got a little bored. I then cracked open WSR for my eagerly anticipated 4F good trains run. Which honestly I really enjoyed. At the slower speeds the 4F sounds great and the new route looks beautiful. Honestly it was surprisingly good fun! Despite my inability to get the safety valves to stop blowing no matter how poorly I drove it and the questionable steam physics. It felt good to take it for a proper run! Hopefully the 104 pack will build on this! But at the end of the day it came back to the old faithful NTP where yet again I had the most fun. Running a 45 up to Manchester Victoria as the sun set messing with photo mode was great fun. The sound of the 45 wide open, the clicking of the rails, even the scenery was beautiful. Seeing all of the variety and traffic coming past just made me smile and its made me even more excited to finally get on BPO for myself! I think I can honestly sum up my first TSW4 experience as: Its crisp, its clean and its modern. Some of the features like the minimal hud and photo mode are good. But I still can't stay away from the old routes and thats where I have the most fun. As nicely modelled as the 801 is, there's just something I prefer about the old, big, blue shouty train instead.
I must agree that NTP really is a golden oldie and even with me having BPO, NTP still gets fired up as it is such a great route. Glad you have enjoyed it so far mate; you will love it even more with BPO! Can't beat a big blue diesel (especially a Peak) making a racket through beautiful English countryside!
NTP is a great fun route, Running between 2 major terminus’s where even the express services take about an hour is always welcome, it’s definitely a route I enjoy coming back to and the countryside scenery in particular I think is rather well done for the routes age. all the DLC’s for it is a bonus, freight pack is worth picking up in my view. I’d probably say the biggest weakness of it is the timetable is pretty quiet a lot of the time but apart from that it ticks a lot of good boxes. though must admit, I’ll happily drive through that 2 mile long tunnel not much problem, but no it gives real shivers to walk near its entrances, if I was on a train in that tunnel and it broke down, you would never get me out of it by walking.
Great review coursetim (and freely and ashamedly I accept my only personal bias -# just try and change my mind) that NTP and agree matt#4801 it is an absolute Gem of a route even more so with The Heavy Freight Pack. To open up up either the 40 or 45 up miles platting and after Stalybridge is a joyous thing (double headed 40's on full tankers more so, simply operatic!) to finally being able throttle off though Standedge and listen to the 'thrumb' or 'flutes' is something I'll never tire of. The variety of services is absolutely (again Heavy Freight says hello 08!!) fantastic. Both vac and air brake systems. For sheer variety it was the pinnacle In British routes, TVL comes close (needs the 20 and 31 though to really shine) and BPO deserves a mention (142's hold a personal attachment) and an excellent representative although personally I can't get over Preston without AC electrics on Platforms 3 & 4! Edit: Bugger WSR yes, spot on, absolute peach of a remaster, much respect to those involved, enough said. NTP remaster...Deltic addition....after it released for ECML tours that is!!!
NTP is one of those routes I've been getting back into lately, and I have to say, it has aged well. Just a shame we don't get routes like it anymore.
NTP is good, but I do prefer TVL due to having more/better freight routes to play with Also I like Diesel Legends on GWE, sue me
I love the 31 on TVL, good fun as you say with the freight! Finished the TVL journeys to gold so working through the NTP ones now. Both routes are probably my favourite by a mile!
TVL, NTP and BPO for me are three that I constantly return to. Really hope both the former are updated to TSW4 standards to include the loco expansion packs. I've been collecting UK routes, but couldn't pass up the opportunity for the deluxe TSW4 pack. Already had the UK routes and the FS. Thought £27 for 6 routes i havent got and 1 loco was great value. Struggling to get into the German/Austrian stuff though.
NTP would really have benefited from another DLC. Either a loco pack to add the Class 25 or another DMU type.
Well all those golden oldies like NTP, TVL, SPG and GWE could benefit from a refresh which will unfortunately never come. But I'll take them as they are because, even in their original state, they are much better than the routes we've been offered recently ( BPO excepted ). It's telling that we're talking about routes that are several years old as the apogee of TSW.
Fawx made a new timetable for TVL in the editor, which you can download here. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe it would give TVL the spice you're looking for.
Great pictures - the 45 is a fantastic machine. Blackpool, Transpennine and Tees Valley are my favourite routes (probably in that order). It’s great that, although DTG seem to have surrendered it, we now have Just Trains making routes for that fascinating era. May there be many more.
Well I have great respect and admiration for those who create mods, but I don't use them myself because I believe it's up to DTG to improve their product, instead of relying on unpaid players to do that job for them.
Northern Transpennine really is a great route. I bought it to try out the Gearbox Multiple Unit, but am loving the 45 - especially when I set the seat height to its lowest setting so I can see the dials, and fold the backrest of the secondman as payback for being utterly useless and judging my superb driving! Details like this are simply lacking on newer routes (London Commuter's 377 removed the folding functionality of the secondman's seat - something that is still possible on the East Coastway). The only thing preventing me from playing NTP more often is the darkness of it. Everything feels much too dark and gloomy even on the brightest of summer middays. It could really do with a TOD4 update (if nothing else). As for the timetable - it is a little sparse for my liking, but I believe the in-game timetable is actually slightly busier than the real-life timetable, so I can't really complain!
It would be good to see the older routes get TOD4 updates, anything pre TSW3 now seems very dark and gloomy, Cathcart and London to Brighton seem the worse for it. I do agree the older routes still have much magic, I drove on TVL last night for the first time in months and it was very enjoyable. One thing I can't understand though is why the platform marker at Darlington is right on the far end of the station away from the overall roof and where passengers would be standing. Did no-one at DTG look at that and think that looks ridiculous! I definitely would think NTP, due to its popularity would be a good candidate for a TOD4 and timetable upgrade.
Just as soon as they stop putting so much bleach in the wash when running routes through the TOD4 cycle!
In principle I agree but I’m always nervous when they ‘upgrade’ my favourite routes. When they ‘upgraded’ Tees Valley the only noticeable change was that they messed up the timetable and gave us those horrible odd-number arrival and departure times!
TSW4 was £11.99 on Steam the second week of Feb. It's why I picked it up then, since I was going to be riding the LNER Class 800 up through Edinburgh towards Inverness the next week, and wanted to simultaneously drive it in TSW4 between Edinburgh and Falkirk while I rode that stretch of the route.
It can be a little overbright (especially with rain) but OTOH it's literally pitch black at night in the old lighting. Personally i prefer TOD4 on average
I literally cannot play TOD4 routes in the daytime, the time most services take place, without major engine.ini changes to make the lighting more natural, which come at the acceptable to me cost of darkening the nighttime runs more. Come to think of it, my photo there actually showcases what I think one part of the issue is, that so many games in pursuit of appearing "cinematic" behave more like a camera than a human eye, as of course when I took that, the outside of the train was by no means anywhere near as bright to the naked eye as it appears in the photo. In actuality my view out of that train looked far closer to the NTP lighting showcased above. Murrayfield just looks that way in a photo taken inside the train because of the limitations of how camera lenses work.
