Yeah I fully agree. The Thomas thing (I assume that's what you mean by toy) what's a joke to me. There's a time and a place and making that the highlight was ridiculous. What's the old route you are referring to, is it he GWR remaster because I am looking forward to that. The remaster team has been doing a good job in my opinion, Somerset and Cathcart are brilliant.
WSR has already been remastered and would have been automatically updated if you own it. Probably over a year ago now.
Well if rivet are making UK content then I ain’t buying it, end of. That’ll just about complete my migration over to TSC.
I hope this isn’t true! I have seen that Rivet have already closed their Website Forum. Too many negative comments about their appalling route scenery. Hoping the community will forget about it. Changing their name will probably come next. If Rivet are developing DTG routes l won’t be buying them either. I was looking forward to Cardiff but don’t want a route that will look like Garduff. Asking them to help with the locomotives is ok, but not route building with their duff scenery. We no longer want to see their poor quality work which is always unacceptable.
There is some debate to what extent Rivet were involved with Cathcart, possibly all they contributed was some of the structures. It’s also entirely possible if they did build Cathcart, that same route building team is not the one they currently use.
If Cathcart was that great in its original form, then surely it would have greater amount of players, like an equivalent older route like BML which still holds up as a route? Cathcart before the remaster was abysmal and boring. Sure you had some nicely modelled stations but that's about it... Outside of that it pretty much become one dimensional abandonware. Glasgow Central didn't even have digital PIS boards until the remaster! Cathcart has been completely transformed into one of the best routes in the game, with the remaster by Liam (Liam did this in his free time just to add, not DTG, not Rivet, were going out of there way to improve it with company money or time) but to suggest it was good beforehand it's scraping the barrel. If it was that great in its original form, why did it require a massive remaster in the first place?
Hot take, the only thing that holds BML together is the timetable. If it was as good as you suggest, why are people calling for a remaster? Also, didn't they have to go back to fix the scenery in places because it was so poor? Cathcart was well recieved and was generally a good route... when it released. It got its remaster because of the 380, it needed the TOD4 upgrade.
Actually to this day I don't think they did. You still have the gap in track at Redhill. Reigate looks like a half finished freeware effort. Part of the Quarry Line is still bereft of lineside fencing. I think they are just petrified if they put the "master" copy back in the editor, it will fall over completely.
It’s super easy for me; reward good devs like JT with a first day purchase, but treat sloppy devs with a 60% reduction or more minimum buy, maybe no buy at all. Do the maths and see which company will be around longest as a separate entity, and which one will be absorbed by someone else because their name has become sacrosanct with shortchanging its customer base by comparison.
Given the choice of either of the original routes in original condition I'd go for BML every day. Sure, BML does need a remaster to bring it upto TOD4 standards I won't argue with that. But even outside of the timetable BML was the better route. Like with any route there are room for scenary improvements and small bugs to iron out, but I'd argue overall it was the better route it terms of complexity, rolling stock, and being an better overall quality. Victoria station has very complex operations and on a different scale entirely and DTG managed to pull it off for the most part. I always found the original Cathcart uninspiring and missing stupidly small details such as the PIS at Glasgow Central and just being overall underwhelming for such a busy route. I'm not saying BML is without its faults, but overall it was the better route and far more entertaining. My only issue with BML is that Clapham Junction is poorly built and looks as if it's been ported across from TSC. The reason it needs a remaster is because it's clearly aged in comparison to other UK routes, that's not calling it shoddy or saying it's rubbish, it's just giving it an update to look it's full potential. NTP is great... But does it need an update. Yes... Does that mean it the original rubbish? No. Again, just giving it the potential it deserves.
It did have PIS at Glasgow. Few more if anyone would like to compare and contrast (loaded up 2O26 at 0951); I only downloaded the base game and Cathcart so no layers):
I'm talking about the large PIS destinations on the forecourt of Glasgow Central station. They were just blank boards as far as I remember!
Yeah those are the ones. Always surprised me that that it was left blank as an accessible part of the station!
I remember the station signs at Burntisland that Rivet made, saying Glasgow Queens Street and the route doesn’t include Glasgow. Bunch of idiots there.
How many players did it have then? I played it a lot before the remaster and it was hardly abysmal. The changes which were made were mainly to the timetable and lighting. If it was boring it was hardly because of Rivet's involvement, the re-master wasn't to correct Rivets work. It was well regarded at the time, scenery wise.
Yes, the main thing was the night lighting which was really awful. That was the main beneficiary of the remaster. Glossop and BCC suffer from the same apocalyptic lighting, but it doesn't look like they will get any more attention. And those routes have other issues, whereas Cathcart wasn't too bad in its original form if you drove it in daylight.
Compared the BML? Definitely a lot less I'd imagine. I obviously don't have the statistics that go into the thousands, but I do have a lot of friends in the railway scene and train simulators in general who have all said the same thing about the original being very one dimensional and repetitive. BML was still definitely thriving before TSW4, and seems still fairly popular now. Where as, the original Cathcart Circle seemed to be played once or twice and then the towel thrown in with it... Now it's been remastered and has AI traffic, had small scenary upgrades, brought upto to TOD4 standards, in its remastered condition is probably better then BML. Originally though, no way!
Well I can only go on my experience of actually owning it, from its release, the 314 was certainly more enjoyable to drive than the Electrostar. I like small network routes, everyone is different. The trouble with BML in my opinion is the lighting, it is far too dark, especialy in the deep cutting where you can't tell where a tunnel or bridge is, the scenery isn't that great either. I played Cathcart far more than BML. If BML got an upgrade it would certainly be a huge improvement.
But, how many didn't buy Cathcart because of the sort of route it is? Not everyone likes stop start routes. Same for BML, not everyone likes that sort of thing. People's wants in a route will have also played a part in which one they preferred - someone with a preference for high speed isn't going to buy a route such as Cathcart anyway.
