Yes and as usual it’s the same old names coming along to inflame discussions. Don’t like the points people are making? Discuss the good ones. Make the feedback relevant. The only comments you’ve left is about wanting to antagonise people.
Not at all, just saying what I see with my own eyes, you see claiming I can't give my opinion of what I see but you and many others can vent because you don't like what what you see or things like Thomas coming to the game, just proves the comical hypocrisy of people roaming these virtual halls.....
Not everything needs to be said with a literal word, context and phasing can say more than a thousand words.....
There’s always bad on both sides of the coin, you have those that will bash EVRYTHING DTG does, no matter how good it is. But you’ll have those that defend DTG to the very end, no matter how bad the content is. again, CC for instance, Matt said it was “far too much work” to model the concourse. Why? Like, I’m sorry, but that’s just pathetic. The route is based around this station, this station is the MAIN station in Cardiff, and wales for that matter. To leave out the main concourse because it’s “too much work” just shows the mindset that went into the route. You’ve done 95% of the station, why not just finish the main entrance and make it complete? It’s just a big hall with a couple of retail units, a ticket office and a stairs/lift up to platform 0. The retail units being M&S by the stairs to 0, WHS, UpperCrust and a bakery. now, I’m no modelling expert, but when you’ve already done this much work, is it that much harder to add the concourse? I suspect not. I’d imagine this came down to time, money, and “can’t be bothered” attitude.
Agree. A small route gives you the opportunity to go to town with the detail. I mean look at JT and WCML Shap, they packed an insane amount of detail into an 90+ mile route, even signalboxes you could go inside. This is not some freeware effort but a payware route being sold at a premium price compared to others of that category. DTG should be ashamed of defending these shortcuts and sadly indicates to me a complete lack of pride or interest by those who built this thing.
The kicker being, the building itself would’ve been modelled… they just had to add an interior… corner cutting at its finest, I fear about this teleporting feature.
Your post was clear based on what I saw with my own eyes. You accused people who "vent" of hypocrisy for not allowing you to not have an opinion when nobody said that you couldn't have an opinion.
Oh, canton is also barebones… but I guess it’s acceptable… but that’s the bar that’s been set… still peeves me though, that canton has been utilised as an “everything” depot. Only TFW stock is maintained there. Nothing else. Why they didn’t use the sidings outside is beyond me. it feels like the “research” trip was more of an all expenses paid holiday for the DTG staff.
Routes like the Suffragette Line is another example of a good quality route. With DTG is just quantity over quality
I am yet to watch the stream still, however from what I am reading here it is not looking great. I can understand that things won't be perfect, but some things pointed out here are just unacceptable. DTG's last release were WCCL which were questionable in multiple ways, so its not like they have not had time to knuckle down and focus on this DLC, they can't even use the old excuse of fixing core issues because that is no better either. Anyway I'm going in with an open mind...
I seen plenty that looks great - but some really glaring issues. definitely watch it and make your own mind up. But Matt did use the “fixing core issues” excuses….
I am aware. DTG can make good quality routes and have done so in the past. The problem is that they just lack consistency and just have a tendency to rush things out the door sometimes. When Rivet is involved, quality goes down
It is such a shame to be where we are now, two years ago I would still be shedding praise for how well DTG did on the route I know rather well as it was done so nicely, and I now find myself seeing glaring issues in routes which I hardly know in the real world, yet it is still obvious things are wrong. I wish I had such an effective book of excuses for at work, though mostly at home for with the Mrs!
That's the problem you can't set the bar with a fantastic route like the GOBLIN, which was fantastic in many more ways then one and really set a standard as to the quality we should expect in TSW5, and then backtrack and produce following routes to a appallingly 2 steps back way. We know the reasons why, but when DTGs content is built solely in house we can see what they can achieve. And with GOBLIN it was pretty damn good! WCMLS and this looks VERY mediocre at best and that is being generous...
Cathcart though is the odd one out. Rivet helped with that & think it was the original short but nice looking route (at least for the time, though I do remember lighting issues). I think there’s a combined issue of Rivets route builders are using an old editor/asset library, their stuff looks like it’s come from TSW2 & their timetabling is along the same lines. Then you have DTG clearly cutting back to squeeze more money from each DLC. It’s a combination which is not yielding a good result. Now on the flipside I do have a theory regarding the 153. We know 2 things, that it was recorded in Scotland where Rivet IMO are much more likely to have sourced said material & that Rivet did train setup for the DLC. It’s entirely possible they did the 153, much of it & that came out well. Now personally I think that Rivet have shown enough times they’re in dire need of…help, however at the end of the day if a good product releases then yeah, I don’t really care who’s name is on it for the sake of spite. Personally I think one of Rivets redeeming qualities has always been they’ve done something different. Ultimately though, Rivet & DTG don’t appear to be a great combination. Rivets struggle to grasp TSW & DTGs rush to release & dodgy core are quite symptomatic in their combined works.
It seems to me that DTG rely on Rivet to fill a quota for the year. This means Rivet has to keep producing. And they obviously don't have the resources to meet that. Therefore, they rush whatever they do and leave everything else they don't have time for. Because of this yearly cycle of TSW releases, DTG need to spend the majority of a year on that release (presumably as they are creating a new game as well as 3 new routes), and have capacity for maybe one short route in between. Rivet are there to fill in the gaps. That's it. And, because they produce more, their stuff ain't up to standard because they cannot afford the time. Basically, Rivet is a machine for DTG to fill a quota. Does it sell? If the answer is yes, then Rivet have done their job. Is it good quality? Well, it doesn't need to be as long as it sells. Because at the end of the day, all DTG and Focus management care about is sales. And as long as those sales keep coming nothing will change.
Another thing I have found a bit lame was the non-aninated crankshaft underneath the train. In a game that simulates brake block animation, I would expect the visible crankshaft to be rotating as well.
The 153 has a rotating one however, I assume because the 150 is clearly still a very old model. Honestly, seems like they haven’t bothered to update it.
And of course all this is still just based on the preview stream etc. God knows what the poor sods who buy this on Day One are going to find on top of what’s already been spotted. Anyhow IMHO there’s two things DTG can do between now and Tuesday to salvage the mess this DLC is going to be. 1. Drop the price to £20, I mean what bright spark in marketing thought £30 would be the price pitch for this. Most of us would feel much less ill disposed towards it if not being charged only £3 less than Shap or Mittenwald. Failing that, drop in a pre release purchase 33% discount which would amount to the same. 2. Last minute Simugraph fix to use the 153 physics and sounds on the 150. You can compensate for the different vehicle masses in a patch. As it stands I’m stocking up on the popcorn for Tuesday evening and I’ll eat an apple pie if this isn’t 40% off in the Steam summer sale and 80% off by the late autumn/winter sales.
I in a fit of confusion bought last tonight the 380, the Scotrail 158 and E and G which I have knocked for a long time. Make my own mind up I guess. So far I spent most time on Cathcart checking out Glasgow Central. Looked stunning at night (I am modded up heavily) A few mins on the E and G and felt a bit underwhelmed though....needs the big timetable mode which means buying the Fife Circle......
The 380 is quite nice and better than that awful 385, just the braking is still off having supposedly been patched still too harsh. IMHO the Scotrail 158 is the star of the show which is why, there should have been a three way conference call with DTG, SHG and Rivet so the latter could get the 150 right. Or DTG should have taken it off Rivet and either in house or let SHG have a crack at fixing it.
As I’ve said several times! However even if DTG are actually reading this they are too arrogant to adopt such a sensible suggestion. Though I mean technically, there’s nothing wrong with the OG sounds for the 150 as they were bought in from AP. It was Rivet’s incompetence as how they mixed them and the physics in Simugraph which has been perpetuated, too proud to ask for help and DTG too weak minded to say, “Not good enough.”
Matt knows himself the 150 isn’t up to scratch. That’s something I noticed in the stream. Some of the sounds between the 153/150 are different. Maybe that’s because I work both near daily that I notice it? I don’t know. Truthfully, I don’t think they’re different enough for most people to notice though.
A 153 working hard is quite something. Back in my ATW Control days, I managed to escape for a jolly up the Central Wales Line. Climbing up from Cynghordy to Sugar Loaf with the 153 was a helluva thrash. Though in retrospect, I would have turned back the clock for a cosy Class 120 power twin! I just hope there is something else in the pipeline to give it more of a workout than Cardiff Bay.
Saying that, west wales branches…. Pembroke, Fishguard and Milford would be nice, but again, probably too much work
Wow he actually said that? That’s is very poor from someone who holds the role of EP. Doesn’t that just speak truth of the quality of UK content we’ve been getting.
“None of the front area has been modelled, that was a lot… out of scope. Huge amount of work modelling that so it’s not been modelled.” 1:19:03 in the stream.
I managed to force myself to watch the stream, it's OK in places but my god where it's bad it's BAD, you just know who were involved with the bad bits, reeks of it. I didn't find the 150 sounds as bad as WCL, infact seemed passable, the 153 sounds were very good, however, due to constant talking through sounds when braking, I didn't hear if there were any brake rub sounds? I think I may of heard them on the 153 but when I turned the sounds up when Matt was braking, Jamie's mic was way too loud for me to hear the sounds. Disappointed with the excuse of not modelling the concourse, unbelievable, was code for "couldn't be arsed" - same applies for having to teleport to a different platform, pure laziness! £30 is way way too much for this very short incomplete route, should be no more than £20. I'll wait for a 50%+ sale just to pick up the 153 Poor effort guys, poor effort
With you on that one. Think this will be a route I shall wait a sale on which I don’t normally do but the price tag is not justifiable at all
There needs to be much more quality control from Dovetail when these third parties (Rivet, lets face it) are involved. Accepting mediocrity and in some case down right shoddy route building is simply not acceptable. Tuesday evening will be very interesting indeed. I bet DTG wish they had Johannes and his ilk in house at their place. That kind of talent is clearly not in abundance in the TSW community, thus having to put up with sub par routes. Unless Mattel get involved, then it's all hands to the pumps. Money talks, but maybe there should be more of a balance.
40% is my trigger point. I refuse to pay full price for this rubbish! Also, had the modding community not decided to stop producing route EP’s I may well gave bought it that staggering £30 price point but with no prospect of a pack then its a no from me until its in a sale.
I'm not sure it's even fair to call Rivet a 3rd-party at this point- they seem to be exclusively under contract to DTG. DTG/Focus seem happy to let Rivet pump out the highest volume/lowest quailty content possible to pad the bottom line, and then try to hold their hands up like, "third-party dev ladies and gents, it's all beyond our control", when the customers rightly complain. Verry convenient arrangement imo.
Read every thread with feedback about Rivet by players and then read the glowing review DTG give them for reference. There seems to be difference between what the players are saying and what the developers say... Whatever professional context, or partnership they have (and whether it is sincere or not), it just goes to show you how willingly out of touch DTG are with their player base. Interestingly some of the EP developers have also said they will not be doing enhancements to the same extent for this route... It all speaks for itself.
