Upcoming Release Announcing The Holiday Express - Runaway Elf!

Discussion in 'Dovetail Live Article Discussion' started by DTG Alex, Dec 8, 2022.

  1. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    Granted lighting at a miniature scale are different to regular sized ones - just look at tilt-shift photography. Unless DTG applied a filter or redid the lighting entirely to make it look like Hot Wheels Unleashed, the DLC will have weird lighting like the original Holiday Express did.
     
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  2. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    Looking at the TV, radio, and gen3 games console, it would seem to be set in xmas of what? 1986? So we're talking the tail end of a recession with 6% unemployment, pretty sure christmases around then were pretty tight on my parents.
     
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  3. Lamplight

    Lamplight Well-Known Member

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    I'm not going to read too much into this. I'm in a festive mood, love my model railway, and think the idea is cute. I'll probably pick this up at some point and have some fun with it.
     
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  4. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    Probably this is the proper approach in these strange times :) BR o7
     
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  5. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    It's not mean spirited at all. Its frankly justified when a company continues to make the same mistake over and over but then presents a shiny new product.

    You may not like the reaction but not everyone is gonna just forget about a track record of a company and act like everything is all golden. Kinda what happens to EA alot of the time
     
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  6. eldomtom2

    eldomtom2 Well-Known Member

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    No, but more routes means more stuff for them to test and bugfix.
     
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  7. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    I bought micro machines on steam for 79p recently.
     
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  8. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    This is great! A Christmas puffer-billy!! ( I hope this is not the US route that's in preparation! )

    No but seriously, this could be the initial hub of a giant network, with added dlc locos, branches and extensions all over the house, everything we've been asking for lo these many years. I hope there are station stops to come in the kitchen and bathrooms. The gradient would be pretty steep up to the second floor bedrooms. It would need switchbacks and helpers and don't forget the banking com, DTG.

    Really looking forward to this. Day One purchase for me, with or without pre-order discount.

    I predict this will be DTG's first completely bug free release!!

    Merry Christmas, DTG and forum members!! :D:D

    ( Crawl back under the floorboards all you grinches!! )
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2022
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  9. Random Railfan

    Random Railfan Well-Known Member

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    Definitely better than the new German route :)
     
  10. traindori

    traindori Well-Known Member

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    This also explains the numerous negative ratings on Steam for Bremen-Oldenburg, seconds after publication. Like bean counters, like little kids. "Mostly negative!" That just doesn't do the DLC justice, there's love in it. In the vehicles and on the track itself. You're welcome to say that. Especially since there were already two updates after a short time, so they are working on it.

    Maybe they just wanted to do something nice, small and sweet at DTG. You don't have to buy it, but for the first time this year it got me into the Christmas spirit. Thanks DTG.
     
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  11. Jonne1184

    Jonne1184 Well-Known Member

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    Pretty sure there is a whole bunch here which buys the DLCs directly at release just to be the first to find the errors.
     
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  12. Sparmi

    Sparmi Well-Known Member

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    ...also an opportunity to bring the subject of model railways into TSW, all in all a great idea! Choosing the 80's brings a bit of retro style into play. But Christmas decorations have hardly changed in the last 100 years anyway. In fact, nowadays there are only energy-saving LEDs instead of light bulbs. You can even have your entire train collection drive through the Christmas room using the scenario editor. Because the model railway tracks correspond to real track geometries, I paid close attention to the roadmap stream yesterday. Incidentally, great festive headdress at Matt, but shouldn't slip down the face at the end. Definitely one of the funniest moments of a live stream ever! ;)
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2022
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  13. Stephen Crofts

    Stephen Crofts Well-Known Member

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    Am I the only one feeling that Sam might have a presence in what the special projects team is up to?
    Love the concept. It’ll have to wait for me- I’m struggling under the PS issues. But it’s a good idea for reaching out to new and maybe young train fans.
    would love to see one more in the model style, that of a serious roofspace model layout with scenery. The creativity of track layout that would be possible, dramatic changes in scenery style, seeing behind the scenes as you drive off stage to the fiddle yard, would be fascinating. The gameplay and the limits of the width of the baseboard being part of it all. Sounds like good fun in amongst the serious work of simming.
     
  14. erg73

    erg73 Well-Known Member

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    You don't show yourself to be a model of maturity either when you care so much about the opinions that a few anonymous people express on a forum and you reproach them for what they have written because it is not in line with what you think :)
     
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  15. fabienlimp95

    fabienlimp95 Well-Known Member

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    Because in the end we all love to be Beta testers, and furthermore we love to pay to be Beta testers, right?
     
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  16. OnlyMe1909

    OnlyMe1909 Well-Known Member

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    Will this F7 have the usual controls like an IRL F7, or will this have a controller with the big circular knob like like model trains have. Kinda hope it's the latter :)
     
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  17. Stephen Crofts

    Stephen Crofts Well-Known Member

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    Yeah it would be one of the harder trains for any budding youngster to control otherwise.
     
  18. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Well, I'm no "youngster", but I can't think of anything more fun than waking up on Christmas morning and taking this tiny train on a run around the living room.

    After the ho!idays, we can all get back to moaning and arguing about the problems with TSW3.

    And I wish I could unwrap the new US content In time for Christmas.

    But, in the meantime, it's good to have a bit of casual fun while the turkey's roasting in the oven.

    For a sawbuck, it's a steal.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2022
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  19. rennekton#1349

    rennekton#1349 Well-Known Member

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    It's using simple controls, probably similar to what we have in tsc. It was mentioned in the article
     
  20. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Probably similar to Trainz DCC mode.
     
  21. Disintegration7

    Disintegration7 Well-Known Member

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    That's totally fine. I respect your opinion.

    I don't expect people to be in line with what i think, but i'm gonna share my opinion when it's something i feel is important*, and i do think the increasing negativity of the forum is something that warrants discussion. We all have our bad days, and pet peeves, and i'm certainly guilty of venting about stuff, but it just seems to have gone to a new level recently.

    Maybe i'm overreacting? It's possible.


    *obviously it's all relative- nothing in TSW is as important as real life stuff.
     
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  22. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Or the famous Clinchfield Santa Train
     
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  23. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    ....and is being rendered on the fly at 60+ fps, whereas when they made Toy Story each individual frame took hours for a bank of parallel computers to render, one at a time. Without anything like raytracing or ambient occlusion, or for that matter much in the way of reflectivity mapping.

    But then in the early 90s a big hard drive was 500 MB.....
     
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  24. docsnyder1911

    docsnyder1911 Well-Known Member

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    You meant toy railways instead of modelrailway, because most modelrailways are more authentic than this holiday train. -:)
     
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  25. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    See my post in Suggestions. Think it would be great if we had an offshoot featuring some complex and interesting model railways which we could shrink in to and drive/explore.
     
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  26. andyscotland

    andyscotland Well-Known Member

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    Sorry guys but you've got this all wrong, what most of us want is for the existing routes bugs to be fixed, and there are many. I don't envy you because I can't even begin to imagine how difficult writing routes for this game must be BUT PLEASE fix the issues in game before releasing gimmicks like this eh?
     
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  27. Redbus

    Redbus Well-Known Member

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    Totally agree but the bean counters would argue that fixing bugs doesn’t bring in hard cash, even though it does indirectly - if stuff works better people are logically more likely to buy. Another reason DTG need to fix bugs is public image; their reputation is as broken as some of the content.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2022
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  28. RedTiger SA92

    RedTiger SA92 Member

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    We'll get probably threads about Christmas tree lights not working next week, lol :D .

    Don't take it to serious. I agree with people who are mad about all the issues. I think the only way to change this is by not buying any DLC (at release), or refund it. I personaly never buy games at release nowadays and first look at the reviews and wait. I think allot of customers who bought DLC at release are probably fine with the experience and pricing and never write something down on the forums or internet. So it's basically take it or leave it.

    Have a nice day and Christmas already!
     
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  29. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Some of us are OK with the price, can deal with the issues and STILL come on forums and write down the issues, discuss them etc
    I've got every UK route and asset and understand that some things need fixing, but that doesn't mean my life is at an end if they're not fixed (yeah, hyperbole...)
     
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  30. Raven2156

    Raven2156 Member

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    Do we know if this route makes any sense or it’s just driving around without any purpose?

    I mean is there any virtual stations, scenarios or services?
     
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  31. rennekton#1349

    rennekton#1349 Well-Known Member

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    We don't know anything yet. The main goal is to find the components, delivering them and catching the elf. There are stations we can stop at if we want to, there's free switching, no signals, safety systems or anything. So it's more of a free roam type dlc. All we know is the price which is less than a 10er so there probably will be differences between this and a regular route dlc. It's not a real life route so I don't think there would be like an official timetable. we won't know until it releases
     
  32. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    I don't see how you can apply a timetable to a floor based model layout.
     
  33. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    If you stop for 3 seconds to think about it,the trainning center comes off like a glorified model train layout then this dinky thing.

    Note:Just so you know it would still be a great train layout either way.(All manual switches and no redlights...this is a dream layout). Trainning Center...
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2022
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  34. jack travers

    jack travers Well-Known Member

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    Late april fools right :|?
     
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  35. Dinosbacsi

    Dinosbacsi Well-Known Member

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    I think it's cute, I loved the concept in TS as well. I would love to try it, but honestly not really feeling like getting TSW3 yet. It would be nice to have a standalone version, like in TS (or a starter pack, like with one of the recent routes).
     
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  36. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    Face it everyone as we all know most players will buy anything dtg releases (no matter how unbelievable broken),And this may be the most ironic purchase of all for many because this has to be the shortest route ever produced by dtg.But it's cheap festive and weird so let the ho ho ho'ing begin..
     
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  37. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Screenshot_The Holiday Express_0.00623-0.00327_20-00-13.jpg

    Interesting to note that the F7 has the same Branding of "Richie Rails" as the TSC version. Guessing another case of DTG wanting to throw back to TSC I guess.....

    Who is this Richie anyway?
     
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  38. Kangaroo Conductor

    Kangaroo Conductor Well-Known Member

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    My far, far thrown out guess is that it is a reference to Richie Rich, the movie, where the main actor is the same from the christmas movie home alone?
     
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  39. eldomtom2

    eldomtom2 Well-Known Member

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    Lionel Richie. The joke is that Richie Rails is a parody of Lionel Trains.
     
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  40. Lamplight

    Lamplight Well-Known Member

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    Correct. Matt explained as such when the TSC route was released. For reference:
    upload_2022-12-12_10-38-39.png
    [​IMG]
     
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  41. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    Figured it was based on Lionel by the logo, but now the Richie makes a bit more sense.
     
  42. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    So does this route come with any trains or must you own trains from other routes to use it.
     
  43. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    It seems like it only comes an F7 in a fictional Richie Rails livery.
     
  44. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    What about the caboose and the flatcars with blocks on them.
     
  45. rennekton#1349

    rennekton#1349 Well-Known Member

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    It's its own dlc so you don't need to own any other dlc. It is not dependent on a route. So the caboose and flatcars are part of the dlc
     
  46. Yerolo

    Yerolo Well-Known Member

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    Check out this video of when a similar thing released for TS in 2014....I think it will be along the same lines. I wouldnt expect anything more tbh

     
  47. SHINO BAZ

    SHINO BAZ Well-Known Member

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    The biggest downside to this dlc is that it's selection of included trains is likely more impressive then the TSW version.
     
  48. JetWash

    JetWash Well-Known Member

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    Ouch mate.

    You can’t think ’of anything more fun than waking up on Christmas morning and taking this tiny train on a run around the living room’.

    Really? What an entirely depressing notion. I truly hope you can find something better on Christmas Day than this.

    Wouldn’t it have been nice to have modelled something like the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and their ‘Santa Special’ instead? A very short route and an opportunity to utilise steam again alongside a couple of the BR Blue locos.
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2022
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  49. byeo

    byeo Well-Known Member

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    What time does the Holiday Express release on Xbox?
     
  50. marcsharp2

    marcsharp2 Well-Known Member

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    Why not just let people enjoy something?
     
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