PC A Hypothetical Question To Pc Players: Would You Still Be Playing Tsw If There Were No Mods?

While PC gaming and mods are nothing new, as a console player it's always been something that's intrigued me - and, of course, I'm envious as many modders have done such fantastic work, especially for TSW.

Anyway, my question - obviously purely hypothetical but I like hearing other players' opinions and debate etc - but would you as PC players still be playing TSW if just vanilla, in this instance, with no mods for absolutely anything? Of course, I assume not every PC player uses mods for games anyway, but still. For those of us who play TSW on console, it's a matter of having to enjoy and accept the game as it is, despite the many frustrations, though to be clear, always championing for improvements to make the game better for all.

 

I don't necessarily think that the modding scene currently is at the point where mods are deemed "Essential" as they are in something like fallout.
It's small improvements here and there, pretty sure we don't have modded trains just yet.

 

Maybe, but I'd get bored much faster.
Especially since mods aren't just patches; there are also timetable mods that add gameplay, I play a lot of routes with timetable mods.

So in a world where TSW PC doesn't have mods, I'll buy a route that interests me, I'll play the route two or three times, and then I'll abandon the game for a long time (without replaying the route because I'll realize I've done it all) until I find a new route that interests me , I don't buy every route that comes out; it will take a long time to get back to it.

I find that mods really change everything.

Edit : I didn't see that I wrote in French because Google Translate failed, sorry

 

I would still play it and I’d still enjoy it. However Mods do increase that enjoyment a lot.

I play on PS5 as well as on PC and the difference is huge with the mods I have installed.

Sometimes though a relaxed evening on the sofa in front of the PS5 with no mods is preferable to staying at my desk. So I do still enjoy the game without mods. The question for me is would I bother to play on the PC at all if the experience was exactly the same as the console. I don’t know, but I suspect I’d use the console a lot more.

 

Although I have great respect and admiration for those who create mods for TSW, I prefer not to use them myself, partly because I don't feel the need but mostly because I feel that DTG should be improving the game and to some extent modding gives them a pass and an excuse not to work as hard at doing that as they should be.

In other words, if a modder can improve the look, sound and gameplay of a route or loco, why can't DTG.

Or at the very least, show some appreciation by buying the mods from their creators and incorporating them into the game.

 

I'd say it depends from route to route. A route like the Goblin Line or the remastered Cathcart Circle would still be really enjoyable to play even without mods. But other routes such as ScotRail Express or WCML South do require me to play with mods to get a decent experience.

Mods are only 'required' if there are fundamental faults or errors with the route in question. ScotRail express for instance has an underwhelming timetable and horrible sounds for the Class 385. Mods fix both of these issues. WCML South's timetable was a joke at launch and the LNWR branding was stripped from the route. A modded timetable and a Branding Patch fixed both of these.

That's my take on it anyway, it just depends on the route I'm playing. Some require mods to be enjoyable and others are perfectly fine as they are.

Would I still play TSW without mods? Probably not. If I did though it would nowhere near as often as I do at the moment.

 

I pretty much play vanilla, no mods not even the environment one.

I have tried some sound ones from time to time but, without mentioning specifics, while fixing one issue sometimes they create others.

 

If I could not edit engine.ini the game would basically be unplayable to me at this point. It's part of why I switched to PC.

 

I play other games without mods so yeah I guess so.
Whilst it most often gets more life out of games and the graphical upgrades. It can sometimes be really frustrating. Like dtg have just launched an update and now something don't work! Now I have to clear my mods folder and place them back 1 by 1 testing the game each time!!!!! Etc...

 

Do you class that as a mod? I've always looked at it like hidden settings.

 

I mean, it is me manually tweaking the files in a way that is not supported within the ingame menus, and is only possible on the PC version, so it's definitely altering the game in a way the devs did not intend when scoping the game's customisation options.

 

I've used mods before but only run vanilla these days. Just too much hassle for me personally especially once they all start depending on one another and aren't always updated immediately.

I wish for DTG to be able to incorporate some of the best mods into the official game, so that they could be mananged entirely in-game and so they'd be available on consoles too. Pretty sure Bethesda has something like that with their games.

 

Some DLC has become "acceptable" with community mods, For instance Fife Circle. Some DLC have been improved upon what is generally good out of the box, for instance MML. I would have bought less DLC if no mods existed, because some of them are frankly not fit for purpose, and sadly the community have helped DTG to make money when DTG should have set themselves high standards in the first place. Unfortunately we all know that people like DTG Matt strive to do good, but have restrictions placed upon them, which ends up with bugs/unfinished content being published. It's a bad business practice. If I went to my local supermarket and they'd only filled 80% of the shop, then I'm pretty sure after a while the Shop Manager would be looking for a new job, but at DTG an 80% finished DLC is considered fine to publish, I'm going to call out Cardiff City Network, it should go to Barry Island, and the fact that it was cut short slaps of disinterest in customers. One day another Train Sim will come to market, and the demise of DTG will come as a surprise to no one.

 

I've tweaked engine.ini some according to the suggestions in that thread, but I've never used mods and have no interest in them.

 

Hell, going around many of the quirks (read:bugs) of this game without even just the God Mode mod? Nah.
I'd still be playing, admittedly, but perhaps a fifth of the time.

 

Likewise. I'd be playing because I wouldn't have known different, but playing with mods makes a huge difference to my enjoyment of certain routes, and to the graphical fidelity.

 

Since route hopping was added, getting rid of those godawful light beams is something mods have been a must for.

 

I’d still be playing but I wouldn’t have bought any of the routes where significant trains are missing, example BML with no 700’s. So modders have actually done DTG a big favour.,

 

God Mode is one of the saving graces of PC TSW, at least for me. Not having it would reduce my small enjoyment of TSW even more.

 

I'm a PC player and I've not used any mods at all.

 

Would I drop TSW if it had no mods? Not at all.

I recently decided to go back and stick to playing with a vanilla install, just for simplicity’s sake. With a vanilla install, I find my game performs better at 4k +120fps now

Mods are always a subjective thing, if you want to use them then go for it! They’re not absolutely essential to TSW experience though.

 

I'll say this: I would still play TSW as a whole without mods, but there are some routes (BCC for example) I wouldn't bother with were it not for mods enlivening the traffic.

 

Noooooooooooooooo

 

50/50....I would like to see more TT mods where they can use operators not in the game (rolling stock availability permitting), create special liveries and max out the services without restrictions but understand that creating these takes time and effort.

 

PC player here, never used a mod. So voted yes.

 

Never really bothered with mods, and TBH I don’t know what I’m missing. Interesting thought though - is there a list of “wow” or “must have” mods out there?

 

It's mostly for me a matter of accessibility, convenience, and above all else fixes.

 

JetWash's lighting and graphic enhancement mod. It adds so much to every route.

 

The lighting needs SO much work to be tolerable ever since they added the utterly borked eye adaptation implementation.

Still for the life of me cannot fathom how to be able to make out fine details ahead of me, I need to stare DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN. That's....not how eyes work.

 

It really is one of the worst features. Eyes don’t flash like a cheap video camera when transitioning from light to dark or vv. Basically it was a poorly conceived and executed solution to the previous issue of lighting making everything look like the ground was covered in sticky black tar. Instead of sitting down and working out properly what needed to be done and/or then adding a far greater selection of graphics options in Settings.

 

I kinda like it. On clear weather anyways. Tunnel transition still looks bad when foggy.

 

The eye adaption and lighting ruined the game as far as I'm concerned. You should not have to keep looking at the 3d map to know what aspect upcoming signals are.

 

It's a narrow "yes" from me. Without mods I'd certainly be on TSC more than TSW when it's about 50/50 at the moment.

Routes like the Electrostar fest that is London to Brighton and the Cross-City Birmingham route that somehow makes our second city feel totally lifeless. I would have stopped driving those long ago without mods. WCML South would have also worn a bit thin by now.

If someone were to make an ECML timetable with a mixture of HSTs and IETs I might start driving that route again.

 

Oh do I agree with that. Apart from anything else, it causes me to momentarily look away from the screen every time it occurs. It's just awful, an unnecessary feature that totally misses the mark.

( That and that silly snow kick up effect which convinces no-one. )

 

I thought I had a graphics card driver problem the first time I saw that effect.

 

eye adaption should have been an menu option from the start
never liked it never will

 

Tinkering with the lighting settings in god mode it seems to be baked at that level. I mean mess with the contrast etc and it naffs the lighting right up on other parts of the route/trains.

Same goes for the eye adaption mods.

 

You three reflect my stance on mods pretty well.
Right now I can count the mods I'm using with one hand. And two of them are timetables. The others are minor fixes and improvements. If mods would stop working all of a sudden, I'd be slightly disappointed, but could very much live with it.

 

Don't use mods.

 

I'm interested and certainly not judging you for keeping your installation of TSW pure, life is certainly easier that way.

But is it because you're happy enough with the routes or just don't want to start installing stuff from unofficial and therefore possibly risky sources. I don't think I've ever had a problem with the more well known mod sites, if that's of any reassurance.

 

Both and convenience.
Having experience with SCS and DCS and things "breaking" every time there's an update, it just seems like a lot of hassle for very little added value. It's great for people who find them useful, but it just doesn't seem worth it personally.

 

I am using mods , especially for US freight , which improves the enjoyment to a big degree. I could play without mods but much less time and for sure would have bought less DLC's (some purchases were made only when some mods became available). I also think that most mods should be implemented by DTG as standard as they mostly improve the experience overall , and especially for console players , who don't have access to them.

 

I can't imagine this game without Foobian's God Mode, Jetwash's Lighting and Graphics Enhancement, and Lossless Scaling.

My first thought was yes, but I would stick to mostly German routes. But, looking over my Task Play's Mod Manager, I realize that I have 75 mods installed right now and while they are mostly skewed towards US and UK routes with sound mods, I have plenty of German stuff installed as well.

It would be interesting to uninstall everything and see what it is like, but I don't think that is an experiment I want to try right now. Thanks to all who take the time to create the mods!

 

Thank you everyone for taking the time to provide your thoughts regarding my question - it's been interesting to read.

I'm just trying to think, but can anyone actually remember any examples of this actually happening? The only thing that comes to mind was London Midland's sky mod all the way back in TSW 2, if I remember correctly?

But yes, I agree that I'd love to see some of the best mods become official so all of us on console has an overall better gaming experience - obviously anything that makes TSW better in general in a win-win in my opinion.

 

Mods are kinda niche. Most of the player base can't use them on PS or XBox and they're not an integrated part of the game (like the SCS or MSFS, FS 22, etc mod managers) so it's very much an individual thing. So it's a niche of players on a niche of simulators (train sims) which is itself a niche market.
While normies are just playing Fortnite or Dune or that game with the half naked girl running around stabbing things.
To each their own =-)

 

Do you mean Stellar Blade? Looking beyond its visual presentation, it’s actually a really good game. I got the platinum trophy on it for PS5 last year. Amazing soundtrack to boot as well

I do agree with what someone said above. Some mods should be considered by DTG and implemented into the game itself.

LondonMidland’s UK signal enhancement mod is a prime example, it improves the signal colours on UK routes and allows you to see them from twice as far away which is more realistic, especially at night. DTG could implement and adapt it to improve German & US signal colours too.

 

No, I need the extra FOV that God Mode provides to make 21:9 usable.

I use a bunch of other mods of course but that one addition is the difference between bothering to play or not.