Do We Really Need To Go Through This Every Year?

The title pretty much sums up my feelings.

i'm on ps5 and i started downloading all my dlc add ons from tsw4 to tsw5 at 16:00.. it's now getting close to 22:00 and i still have 4 routes left to download.

there has to be a better way than this in the future, surely right? Next year can we have a 'rush-hour' style annual release instead of tsw6.. because as the years go on we have more and more dlc purchased, it just is so inefficient and frustrating the way we have to redownload everything every year!

 

It always turns into a mess for someone. This year they have buggered the xbox up so if I want to play on there it'll still be TSW4. Luckily my internet is relatively fast considering I don't live in a town or city so the time thing isn't a major issue for myself.

 

I'm looking at 30 hours for 100GB, but I have lots of patience, so it's not so bad. Also, I'm used to it.

 

When I finish my last shift on Sunday morning, I'll just load my Xbox up, buy what I'm looking for, and let it download whilst I sleep.

So not much of a problem for me.

 

Still assembling my Steam collection of routes, over 80Gb worth left to go.

The caveat is that the three new routes are keeping me occupied and the other factor this time is there's no great sea change in how TSW5 does things that there's any rush to look at the old collection in the new version of the game.

However yes, whatever happens next year someone needs to make an executive decision now that it won't involve this process again, with the complete shambles that seems to have arisen for console users. Keep TSW5 and just do a good value route and train pack with free core updates.

 

It'll get worse each year (add 15 DLC per year roughly)

And it's unique to TSW, no other game does this mass entitlement transfer thingy.

 

I’m stuck downloading my stuff on Steam, I want it all and have everything but the expert 101. Over 300GB to install now… started at 6pm, 4 hours later am 60% downloaded…

 

Better to just tick the DLC you want to play right now. Then add the rest one by one.

 

Agreed. This is getting ridiculous having to do this every year to download gigabytes of data even though there's no change between the versions I'm currently downloading and what I've just had to delete except for a change in version number because of "reasons".

 

I'm on PS5 also and have just discovered despite downloading all the pieces of DLC I own (think it totals around 40, but hard to tell with how cluttered the game content management screen is due to all the past versions) most have actually yet to be pushed out as the TSW5 version...

Deleted the whole thing in the end, then re-downloaded the PS5 TSW5 and selected all dlc from there, but again, still missing lots.

Definitely need a better way of doing it going forward.

 

Yeah the logistics of the…transition…need work.

Theres always critical issue preventing access to the add ons for at least one platform, another has some other obscure issue. Theres usually a couple that are just unavailable to everyone.

This year on PS5, all the DLC’s for TSW3, 4 & 5 have merged into one list, so if you ‘manage game content’ and try to download there, you get a list that enters the hundreds to sort through. To make it even more fun, some of the TSW5 DLC’s have the TSW4 logo…

If you go through the store to get them there, you have to then deal with it downloading a PS4 & PS5 version too.

I get that DTG isn’t in control of each storefront & how they work for each platform, but at the same they’re flooding the stores with a cataclysmic quantity of packs once a year.

This is now the 4th time we’ve had a transition & still DTG haven’t found a way to simplify this process.

If we carry on down this path, in another 5 years time we’re likely going to have double the content we have now, and honestly I don’t think I’ll have the energy to deal with it.

 

I thought about it, but I just like the convenience of being able to pick anything and know I’ve got all the layers ready

 

I am sure there is a way to have both, a new TSW game for those who haven't got it and an update for someone with the game currently.

 

just going to put this here

 

i haven't been on this forum for months on end for various reasons, but i downloaded the free starter pack, and can't import my save from tsw4. is that normal?

 

Try 255gb! Yeah kind of tedious

 

If you are on PlayStation and live in the Americas region then it's a known issue that DTG are trying to resolve, other than that then no, it's not normal.

 

Ah thanks. Yes I am on playstation in the USA. Couldn't find any posts from DTG stating it was a known issue.

 

The other thing is that a 300 GB game is not an optimized game, by any measure.

 

Wouldn't that depend on the game and its content?

 

True, there is a lot of DLC. But these each seem to be self-contained, without active shared assets, making for the huge size. On thegamer.com, the only current game larger is Ark Survival Evolved at 400 GB. Call of Duty Modern Warfare is a "mere" 235 GB, smaller than TSW if you have most of the DLC.

 

Even though, I have a small selection of routes on PS5 (80GB), and a few more routes on PC (110GB), I’m trying to keep positive but am somewhat apprehensive given my snail pace internet connection. Only possible over a weekend.

Since I’m on prepaid metered internet bandwidth, I can’t afford to redownload everything at one time. Exceeding my monthly cap, costs extra money. Also, I’m fast approaching my disk space limits (my flight sims take 10 x space). But on the bright side, no space = no extra purchases + no Hud = equals less routes overall = no extra purchases.

However, very happy about the free TSW5 Starter kit, so I will start with that and transfer over my favourite (old school) routes one (week) at a time. Only just updated to TSW4, so I have a year to update to TSW5. But I’m not sure I can wait that long

 

See all that extra fun DTG are giving you at no extra charge, you're blessed. Matt pretty much admitted that they need to do this every year for marketing the game to generate money, which is great for them and a pain in the ass for us and no more obvious than this year because TSW5 is nothing more than an updated TSW4, there is not enough features in 5 to warrant a new game. Not much good to you, but isn't there a loading advantage on not having too many DLC's on your system as TSW has to load all your DLC's on start up which takes ages on ps5 anyway and then your system has to dump them all bar the one you selected to play, I think that is a thing, I am sure someone will be able to confirm that?

 

There are fundamental issues with the design of TSW and I’m not sure there’s anything they can do about it at this point;

1) Each DLC is like a self contained game. The duplication of assets is insane, so if and when something is changed it needs to be changed on every route one-by-one. Not only does that use unnecessary disk space but it makes improvements take much much longer.

2) As I understand it Locos are essentially tied to routes, still. To enable layers on new routes I am needing to keep loads of old DLC installed that I will never really use anymore. That takes up a huge amount of disk space and contributes to this annual download fest. It’s got to the point that I don’t know what layers on to what so the only real solution is keep everything installed.

3) There are currently two different lighting systems in the game, so in WCMLS’s example, that came with a number of locos from routes that use the old system. The only solution with the way the game has been designed? Duplicate the loco so we end up with at least two copies. That means not only does the older route not benefit from the improvements, but it means we have to have it twice and our disk. I literally have no idea anymore how managed versions of the Class 66 exist on my SSD. 10, 15? Who knows? It’s a bit of a mess to be honest.

My download this year was 300GB, three times the size of FS2020 but at least Steam is quicker than the Microsoft Store. I really do think DTG need to think long and hard about what they do in the next couple of years with this game. It feels like there needs to be a core library of assets rather than duplicating them in every release. If they’re not careful we’ll be nudging 1TB of data before the decade is out.

 

Seeing again how DLC are handled on PS5 I really start wondering why we need to redownload all the DLC. Just update the DLC as the new version of the game automatically adopts your entire DLC catalogue.

 

I had to let my PC run over night and even this morning the download wasn't finnished ... this has to stop!

 

Us? No, but the shareholders need it, so......

 

I don't have a fiber line, so I do it bite-size; I download one or two routes every day. But my collection grows year after year, it is a hassle. I hope DTG can find a solution for this sooner than later

 

DTG needs to also understand that not all of us have the best internet connections highest download speeds etc my internet has data limits or allowance once i go over they slow it down . I will not be downloading all DLC to TSW 5 i only will download my most favorite routes first also until my data resets after billing cycle in next week i download. The routes with smallest file sizes first ..I plan to download. All my US routes then just some of my favorite uk eu etc routes ..i also keep older versions of TSW installed with various routes ..i have my own system basically. I never put all my routes in each new TSW just my favoites then i allow space for whatever TSW5 routes i purchase later

 

Well I've always been a predominantly offline player, so I can't blame anyone for my lack of commitment to a stable online connection. But it is self limiting in a good way, because it allows me to focus only on the routes & locos I am passionate about and yes it means I don't experience any loading or performance issues right now with my old school TSW4. from TSW3, from TSW2 content. I am a selector, not a collector. Analog dials only, no digital screens thanks.
Downloads can be managed with proper planning & lots of patience. I'm new to the DTG express train and my earliest thoughts are, how many routes, layers & locos can this TSW app actually handle? Where is the threshold? I spend a lot of configuration time, removing content I don't run. I worry one day, (hopefully later, rather than sooner), the cogs in my computer & PS5 may eventually misfire

 

I'm glad you have a decent internet connection, so celebrate your privilege but don't shame those who don't have it

 

The main issue is load time. With 300 GB content you have to wait a long time before the main menu comes up.

Why not have separate UK, European and US editions to keep down the size of individual installs? How many people want to run a Pacer in California?

 

I can only echo the sentiments of everyone here. My DLC folder is close to 300GB which continues to grow, it just doesnt seem sustainable to me
Obviously re-releasing the game each year bumping it to the front of storefronts outweighs the amount of work it creates for DTG to recook every PAKs annually

 

I removed "anything UK" and still have to wait for the 12hour download of 200 GB data is finished. Looking forward to the end of my work day ... ;-)

 

What a mess on PS5. To add to the nightmare you have to quickly cancel the attempt to download the PS4 version (unless you want to use it on PS5). Playstore always pushes the two versions into the download queue. Sometimes PS4 version first, sometimes PS5 version first.

I'm with JetWash here. This software structure is out of control. It has "Amateurism" written all over.

I'm not going to do this again next year for the eventual TSW6 launch.

 

+1.

The person you responded to did seem to display an unreasonable sense of entitlement. I have a very good Internet connection but for some reason (probably using Ethernet or my old mechanical HD) Steam is throttling me to 8 Mb/s which means it takes two minutes to grab 1Gb not allowing for the occasional drop in transfer speed or having to install/validate the files afterwards.

So as you can’t actually play TSW5 while downloading the data (something else they need to address), it’s going to be at least the weekend before I have all the content downloaded - despite the pak files having previously been sat quite nicely on the PC in my TSW4 install.

Surely it can’t be beyond the wit of DTG programmers and the Steam administrators to devise a system that will transfer the content over and sign it off as TSW5 rated, opening the pak and making any small updates before compressing it again. Or better still why can’t TSW5 just install over the existing TSW rather than being treated as a complete new game. It’s still all TS2 Prototype, for gods sake. Sorry for ping DTG Matt but this really needs some serious attention to avoid taking the edge off what should be a seamless update and getting on with enjoying our new content.

 

Let’s get this straight, it’s a poor user experience at the cost of the customer. At one point yesterday after trying tsw5 on gamepass and had tsw4 at a whopping 293gb on one storage and tsw5 with a whopping 170gb because half the content I bought couldn’t be downloaded.

It took me all day just to download that stuff. It’s not quite msfs but it’s not far off. It’s a poor system that doesn’t come up to modern standards.

 

Yeah, DTG has to put a high priortity to solve this problem. There must be another way, when everybody else can do this. I only can imagin, that publishing a "new" game, one must reload all other assets. If this is the reason, the strategy publishing a "new" game every year doesn't look so smart anymore.

 

The whole sorry saga of TSW seems to me that DTG really only do the bare minimum everytime!
It took me 6 hours on a 1gig fibre connection to download 302gb…crazy!
Seriously needs to be looked in the next 12 months DTG Matt please!

 

Im going to park this here, one of Matt's replies regarding this subject. It may have been missed by others. It seems like its more relevant here. This is a reply to my question about being able to make DLCs compatibile with the new versions

 

No, we live in the first world, but we just have third world internet.

 

I purchased the Deluxe edition yesterday, after seeing the very positive reviews of Frankfurt-Fulda, and had a 5 hour 250 GB download that made my girlfriend a bit unhappy because her laptop was experiencing internet lag. From Matt's reaction, I learn now that this is essentially unnecessary.

Elaborating further on this: as this puts a burden on both DTG and us, I think this is a big incentive for DTG to seek a different solution. Now that they have released the free TSW 5 starter pack anyway, they could essentially have gone this way:

1. Release a free patch to TSW 4, bumping it up to TSW 5. A new approach regarding naming will probably be necessary, e.g. just keeping TSW as the game name (as it was in the early days) and only applying the version number visually in menus etc.
2. Release the deluxe and special editions as "rush hour" style packs for players wanting all the new stuff or players wanting to enter the games universe without having to buy all the individual DLC's that have been released over the years.
3. Apply patches to individual DLC's that needs patching (as they do for bug fixes etc.)

I am no expert, but since they chose to release the free TSW 5 start pack anyway, I think commercially nothing is holding back this idea. I guess this has a number of benefits: no need to maintain older TSW versions (as everyone upgrades automatically), no unnecessary work at cooking and packing new versions of all DLC's... The benefits for the players are clear: no long hours of downloading, no wasted time in installing and managing DLC's (which is especially tedious on consoles it seems)...

The downside for DTG seems to be that a new version might result in fewer players having an incentive to buy one of the new packs upon release (or even pre-release). I think good marketing can counteract this.

DTG Matt , I think both DTG and the community would benefit a lot from a different approach.

 

Dtg do the bare minumum?......it's the dtg way!

 

Noted but to me that comes under the heading of, I want to hear solutions not problems.

And with deference to console players, if there is at least a chance of doing it more efficiently on the Steam platform, take it.

 

Yes, I know! Using a football league analogy I would put DTG in the non-league…they have a very long journey to the Premier League!

 

Really dude ?

 

Here is a dumb person's (ME) way of solving the problem regarding new TSW every year and having to download the DLCs again and again and again... and how many agains is it again?

Why not have TSW in 2 parts or two seperate programs on the drive.

Part 1 is the main TSW game we buy every year or not? God bless her and all who sail on her!

Part 2 is the train shed that holds the locos and DLCs (this part you never delete)

Then when we have to buy the new version of TSW, we just have to replace part 1 the TSW program. Part 2 the train shed is left on the drive and can be accessed by the new version of TSW.

Now, I am sure there is 400 reasons as to why this can't be done, but it's just a daft idea that one day we don't have to spend a whole weekend redownloading the same data that is already on the drive in the first place

 

I’ve got over 100 DLC so that means I will have start over 100 DLC downloads from the PS Store and then manually stop over 100 PS4 versions downloading just for TSW5, and I’m assuming also all the PS4 versions for TSW4, TSW3 and TSW2 plus all the PS5 versions of DLC I don’t have installed in TSW2 and TSW3. Estimating the total downloads I will need to stop and delete it is probably around 350. It would be worse if I didn’t have most DLC already installed in previous TSW versions. That’s a lot of stopping unwanted downloads. I haven’t started yet but will do it in shifts over the next week or so. It is utterly bonkers that we have to do this.

It would so nice to just download the PS5 TSW5 versions. I find it strange that with all the possibilities that modern technology affords the human race that this simple idea is not possible. Instead we have to play whack-a-download with no prospect of winning a giant teddy if we get it right.

 

Yes, it is the situation and it wont change. Easiest thing to do is to download overnight in rest mode. Maybe have the route you want to play the most download first and do the rest later. I didnt have this problem because with the pre-order I could pre download my content overnight and it was ready then for release last Thursday.

 

Just FYI there’s a bonus round this year. Some of the content will show as TSW4 content when it downloads, even though it’s TSW5 content.