Random thought... If some routes (should you own the routes that are capable) , have the ability to route hop wouldn't it make more sense to merge them into one big route? Just did a timetable run on Maintalbahn with the BR 642 and noticed you can hop to the Main Spessart Bahn route, immediately identifying the route branch off that would lead to Milternberg. Why cant we merge it? And also noticed there was no BR 642's present as AI Only services to add a little traffic variety to MSB Aschaffenburg? Im guessing this is down simply to hardware/software for consoles? Has there been clarification on this in the past? If so, I apologise in advance!
Yes there was a statement from Matt with many reasons why this is difficullt. Just the ones i can remember: 1. For some routes performance would be impossible to handle. Especially on Consoles. 2. Stations that would be the connection are different for every route as they have slight changes or things like tracks or signaling done a different way. 3. Timetable. Both routes have different timetables with different rolling stock or AI services. For example the Br 422 runs on Hagen in RRO but no in Hagen in RSN. 4. Its not just copy and paste to merge them. Its not rebuilding the entire thing but to make everything work gets close to it. In the end even if its possible, to merge a route like Frankfurt Fulda to Kassel Würzburg would destroy even gen 9 or future gen 10 consoles. One thing i also can remember is that in many cases you wont have end to end runs on the merged route as the original ones already share the realistic end services so you would have to switch to a different one anyways. (except for long distance/freight of course). This is all i can remember. Maybe forgot a thing or two.
Aww dang... Would be amazing for the future but I'm sure it be a LONG WAY OFF should it ever come to fruition. Another route(s) would be the Scot Rail bunch as they all seem to have the centre point being Glasgow. Ah well, it was a random thought. Even then if it hypothetically was a thing I'd guess it be a PC Exclusive function as compared to a console they have ALOT more power to handle stuff.
It would be a great feature but i dont think that most of the PCs could handle a route like this. I think i can say i have a quite good PC and even i have sometimes performance issues. Not as heavy as others report but once or twice in a run to Fulda i have a 5 second screen freeze. Surely high end ones could handle this but the average PC wont. Not even Train Sim Classic has this feature except for some third partys doing anything they want and TSC isnt even a performance heavy game like TSW. As stated there are other features which would be more important to the game and we at least got route hopping. Close your eyes and there you are. Not the same but it wont turn your console into a campfire.
Aye in the grand scheme of things I dont fancy causing my console to spontaneously combust :P Appreciate the response though buddy.
I think a simpler and less performance tanking option would be merged services on compatible routes. You drive the train to the end of the service on, say, Cajon Pass, and get a loading screen, then you continue on with the same service in San Bernadino. Less immersive, but I'm pretty sure it'd be less technically challenging.
If this feature were to see the light of day, which I ardently hope it will, it would probably be this way. Until then, I simply won't play TSW anymore. I like long runs. As for imagining a merging-style solution like in TSC, that seems like a dead end: let's not forget that in Flight Simulator, the entire world isn't loaded into memory at launch...
Another reason for the specific example you mention: Maintalbahn is set "today" (early 2020s), whereas MSB is set in 2016-17 when the Spessart-Rampe was still in use, before the bypass tunnel opened.
It's not about PC vs. Console power. The signalling system is the blocker. You can't just slam multiple routes together and expect the game to magically solve train pathing and timetable conflicts on the fly. When you have two trains in deadlock at a red signal, Your I9 with 64GB RAM and an RTX4090 is going to be just as screwed as a Playstation 4.
It seems to me that there shouldn't be any signalling issue except for the player's service, which could be late or anyway "unexpected" on the track where it appears on the "second" route. As for the AI services, you don't merge anything at all : either they appear on the second route (in case they've been implemented in the second route timetable), or they simply disappear. Better that way than nothing I suppose, at least to begin with.
Route merging is possible. Just look a wcmls where part of the bakerloo line was re used. And fife circle that was added to the Edinburgh to Glasgow route. From what I understand is that once a route is cooked, you can no longer add the the infrastructure of a existing route, we'll not make the new infrastructure work with existing infrastructure of the cooked route. But if you have the original route before the cooking process, then you can add or copy and paste parts of another route to merge them. There would need to be work involved on the signalling to make it all work I think. And a completely new timetable created, which is where you hit the brick wall with dtg. It's become quite clear that after they produce and sell a route, they have no interest in the route whatsoever. Apart from a few members of the team that will upgrade older routes in their spare time. It's been mentioned a few times on the forum and some members have been dead against it and made it clear they don't intend on paying for routes they already own to be merged. Strengthening dtg's excuse that it's financially unviable. I remember when the same was said about TSC and route merging being impossible but there's plenty of merged routes nowadays.
This should be an option, I have a nice PC and would defenitely run this. Also 5 second freeze on a high-end PC? Get that sorted lol.
High end is also a term with a wide range of perspectives. Just because your pc is capeable of doing something like this doesnt mean anyone is able to do it. Most here are on consoles so a merged route from Wiesbaden to Kassel wont be possible as Kinzigtal alone already struggles performance wise. Not to mention your pc wouldnt be able to run this either.
I mentioned this in another thread but this is probably a better topic...Despite being on PC and have no issues with any of the DLC, including FTF which others seem to suffer with ? Im ok without route merging.. but there's always a but, what I would like DTG to be more conscious of is to stop pulling lines up short where they can/could run the extra 30km or so and join with other DLCs to utilize their "route hopping" feature more.. This way the player can cover a lot of track without the need to go back to menu! For me I don't want all these linear routes, I want variation but if we cant have it in one DLC, at least join them up from a start/finish station , utilize the "route hopping" and please align them with the TTs, so basically what you see on arrival will mirror to dep +/- a couple of minutes when you route hop to the next DLC... Example of this is FTF from Hanau with one of the routes that go from Aschaffenburg. They didn't and I find that frustrating as once again we could have covered a lot of track on "one TT" thanks to route hopping if they extended the short distance! But when they do join them the TTs are all over the shop. Since its what we've all been discussing recently, S-bahn is going to be a DLC that through their route hopping joins multiple DLCs, so technically you are going to be able to route hop your way through a lot of track. Awesome! While that is great, the issue I take with that, is that none of the TTs across the DLCs will align! Lets take Linke Rheinstrecke out of it as its not the same time period for rolling stock and scenery, though they could bring that up to modern day scenery with some Station upgrades to existing assets and now use the station they have developed for Mainz (but unlike some well known flightsim developers who will do that to their airports, unfortunately its not a DTG practice for TS!) but that aside, if the rest had an aligned TT, you are going to be able to complete S-bahn Wiesbaden to Frankfurt route hop to FTF, basically what you see on arrival will mirror to dep +/- a couple of minutes, pick a service that goes to Fulda and same again for either going to Kassel or Wurzburg...imagine they had either of the Aschaffenburg DLCs go to Hanau, that would then basically equate to 6 DLC all joined together with Route hopping with an aligned TT, for me and my 2c that's just as good as one DLC combined, with over 400km of track and many TT services to cover! They also have a great opportunity to do: Munich to Salzburg route with the run to from Munich to Rosenheim - 153km (95miles) across 3 DLC BBC (Birmingham NS) with WCML - 161km (100miles) across 3 DLC Essen to Wuppertal - 44km and links 4 DLCs in total Either Frankfurt to Bad Vibel (probably go to Friedberg) or Hanau to Nidderau linking Niddertalbahn which then links into the 400km+ I mentioned above now spanning 8 DLCs! MML with the ECML - https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/skyhook-midland-mainline-north.91514/ **insert any ive missed*** While on the aligned TT front: Fife and Glasgow to Edinburgh Dresden - Chemnitz with Dresden - Riesa I know TTs can be a lot of work to align, maybe they can look at doing them as a TT only DLC in their own right and sell it.. TT- Germany 2024......TT - Britain 2024...etc
an in cab route hop would be good, it was something i mentioned in a post back in January. i used WCMLS as an example, that if it went to Birmingham or further and used the same timetable maybe it would be possible and a good work round on performance. you can do some of the loco swaps on WCMLoS at Preston on the London Euston Blackpool services and route hop over to BPO and run the train to Blackpool where the 2 timetables do match up to each other.
