Dtg Are You Actually Trolling The Community?!

For those of you that haven't seen today's patch notes... https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/train-sim-world-6-update-notes-april-16th-2026.97664/

Where on earth are the following UK updates that have apparently been sitting waiting for a release?

• ATS MAC update.
• Rivet Class 170 family sound updates
• Further optimisation of WCML South
• Further updates to Cardiff City Network

I just don't see why you can't roll out these updates that apparently are ready.....

 

Considering the whole "Season of Reveals" ending with Thomas the ******** Tank engine, I'd say yes they are.

 

Im getting a little sick and tired of the BS excuses they keep feeling us.

 

We’ll be paying for these improvements with the release of TSW7.

 

I can understand the frustration… especially the 170

 

Those will be coming just after the next 170 DLC, just like they were promised to come after the last two but never did.



Let's not also forget the fixes to cargo pack 5 which have been submitted but still not released: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/th...ear-feedback-thread.95341/page-3#post-1097599

Has the DRA bug also been fixed on the 802 and voyager yet? It was reported at launch and at least until a few days ago still wasn't working despite working in almost everything else which has it.

 

It seems to me from what we've heard from Third Party's that the QA backlog is just getting longer and longer the more third parties that stack up to release stuff.

We're still waiting on patches for WCMLOS and the 86 that we've had confirmed by JT. Like you mentioned with all of the other third parties. They have all of these great developers doing a lot of great work but they're all stuck in a QA backlog for testing.

 

look at history the preservation team fixed loads of bugs for TSW2 yet some of the fixes skipped TSW2 and fixed in TSW3. They are terrible at patching and fixing things.

I said earlier today on a facebook group the fix for the blurry textures will be a "feature" of TSW7. TSW is in such a state they NEED to have a dedicated team again to fix bugs and work on ways of optimising the game better.

If they have a team what are they doing? They may need more people dedicated to it otherwise TSW is in danger of running into serious trouble with bugs to the point they wont be able to cope

 

Well, to be fair, this isn't the first time they've done this. I recommend you to read this topic so you can understand what's coming (nothing): https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/ts19-réseau-renaissance.14205/

 

You UK guys are getting patches? Dresden - Leipzig doesn't have working signals for 7 months now.

 

Patches would be good for compensating for small oversights or involuntary omissions.
After all, those who work are the only ones who can make mistakes.
Conversely, those who do nothing will never make mistakes.
Instead, the point here is that add-ons are deliberately released incomplete.
Consider the case of BR 145.
It's riddled with errors and missing features that should be a must-have in TSW6, with an impressive list of fixes (that never arrive).
If users, instead of buying whatever is released as soon as it's released, started to have a rational opinion, the products would probably be much more polished from the start.

 

unfortunately this will never happen, most tsw players aren’t on the forums or discord so don’t see the extent of the mess that the game is in

 

Then the CM’s wonder why, as I did yesterday before I redacted it, customers occasionally boil over with annoyance and openly speculate about where staffing resources inside what’s left of DTG in their expensive office location would be better deployed.

 

Has the cab light even be fixed on the Voyager yet? It reminds me of the old joke, how many people does it take to change a light bulb

 

still broken as of yesterday. the wiper switch is configured incorrectly too

 

I believe this would be covered by:

From 03rd April (2 weeks ago) in relation to getting the Class 90 build that was confirmed good to go out to the players.

 

Unbelievable! So these issues will either never be fixed like a long list of other issues or we'll have to wait until the next version of TSW

 

Also add the GUI showing multiple versions of locos that was now obviously a feature of TSW6 rather than a bug. Some real comms on what is actually going on regarding patches would be much appreciated.

 

I know that you are upset that the BR 145 Expert doesn't have suspension enabled but "riddled with errors and missing features" implies a multitude of missing features. I'd like to know what those missing features are, maybe there is something that can be added post release

 

That needs to be taken to the BR145 feedback thread.

 

Fixing it is half the problem, the other half is getting said fix out.

I share the same sentiment as Bryer, lacking list of patch notes yesterday considering how many updates we’ve been told are ‘with DTG waiting for release’.

 

Not sure if its the same in gaming but my eldest works as a software engineer, and I've had convos like this (referring to the first post) with him, when you have a suite of software that has multiple parts to it (i,e, different programs in the same ecosystem) as you have different devs working on each part, if said dev delivers a patch, that patch has then to be tested, then again tested that it doesn't break another part of the software, the problem that starts forming is when you have multiple patches that need deploying that all have to be 1st tested individually, then against the whole, to the other devs that problem is now fixed and there now working on the next set of patches or updates that they want to roll out, which you guessed it have to go through the same process, so things can really quickly snowball out of control if you haven't got a big enough Q&A department, I'm not in any way excusing the state that DTG have allowed TSW to get into, having had this problem for at least 4 releases and still not getting anywhere near a fix is a fail at the strategic level, the fix is easy hire more testers and Q&A staff, the problem is Devs cant do that, so maybe stop railing on at the devs and start pointing that to management where the blame lies.

 

Still waiting for the stuttering and blurry textures to be fixed on Birmingham to Crewe i thought it was meant to be fixed months ago

 

Adding new features and leaving out others isn't very elegant.
I'm not sure exactly what these omissions are, as I don't own this addon,precisely because of the suspensions.
But I've read that the list of things to fix is quite extensive.

 

This is a general discussion.
The BR 145 is just one example and isn't the only "clipped" add-on.

 

The person was asking what the specific problems with the BR145 are.... Missing features etc.... This thread is talking about promised patches and things that DTG are "sitting" on, so the comment about taking that part of the conversation to the BR145 feedback thread is valid, as most of what they are about to discuss is contained within that thread.

Thread hijacking is against the forums "rules".

 

If it is against the forum rules, the administrator may take appropriate action.

 

It's common decency not to thread hijack either... Suggest you go and learn some etiquette.

 

Maybe someone at Dovetail could comment and enlighten us as to how many fixes are ready and what the delay of rolling them out is?

 

(Dons tin foil hat)
Perhaps Metro Rivals is not the only casualty and Dovetail are winding down TSW?
The inactivity regarding the waiting TP updates is somewhat disconcerting.
Surely these updates have already been tested by said developers?

 

Not really no, there was a patch of sorts yesterday but it didn't really do much aside from reportedly break the game for some PS5 users.

In the UK we are still waiting for numerous patches which have been provided by the developers to DTG who have failed to push them to us 6+ months later. It's unacceptable and it might be approaching the time where we look at the legalities of selling broken software...

 

Because we all know DTG is selling the tsw updates, there never has been a free update for those alr owning the previous version.
/s

 

Looks like this QA backlog is a serious bottleneck that somehow needs to be dealt with. When patches take significantly longer to be tested than actually developing them, something seems very wrong. 6+ months is ... not ideal to say it mildly.

 

The "wrong build release" statement is long worn out. I don't buy it anymore since TSW3/4.

 

ALP-45DP doesn't have working announcements for (at least) 6 months by now

 

Exactly. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

 

@Bryer
However, DTG has already received an update for the BR 145 from TSG, and we’ll all have to wait until DTG is kind enough to release this update to us, so this belongs here too.

 

I'm in the same domain, technical account manager for a company that develops business software. If the managers in our R&D and Product teams repeatedly oversaw the release of the wrong builds (see Class 90 for the latest case), the introduction of easily-spotted bugs with every update (look at the texture issues and the current broken state of the user interface) and were either unable or unwilling to do anything to correct or improve their processes or even acknowledge the aforementioned bugs, I'm pretty sure they'd have have been relieved of their duties for poor performance after three or four instances of the same errors.

The "devs" at DTG take all the flack here but they'll be developing the software's code based on written requests and whatever processes are in place in the company. Same with the testing team which will have a list of "scenarios" to test and probably a fair bit of general playtesting to do. Their job will be to identify issues and document them, but probably not to actually correct them, since that's the domain of the dev team. If the development requests and testing scenarios are not defined properly then that lands on the management team, as does the conscious decision not to invest in a) sufficient testing or b) development time correcting bugs reported by the testers and by customers. The management teams behind TSW have spent the best part of 20 years choosing not to address their glaring Q/A issues to improve customer confidence. Someone further up mentioned the TGV Réseau DLC for TSC, which was released eight years ago and had various, very obvious issues which we were promised had been addressed in a patch which was stated, in writing, to be ready to be released. We're still waiting for it.

Maybe DTG have now identified that their precious sources of recurring revenue (us) are mostly refusing to pay full price based on previous experience with their products, or have started systematically requesting refunds for substandard products as I have, or have figured out you can even get a refund outside of the usual timeframes if you can demonstrate that the developer promised a fix but didn't deliver it...

That would certainly quickly become a major problem at most software companies, where recurring revenue (subscriptions, DLC, loyal customers...) is usually a major part of their annual income and allows them to pay wages and office leases....

JB

 

Not sure if it was ever announced for a fix but the Class 802 seems to have a grand amount of issues with it's diesel mode.

 

Glad somebody else has a better insight than me, ill stick to being a mechanic and running a garage LOL, when my lad starts getting technical my brain just blue screens is does sadden me that these bugs keep slipping time and time again, they spoil an otherwise solid game.

 

I think the easy answer to all this is why do DTG keep producing new work while old releases remain unfixed.
To stop things from snowballing, holding back say on yearly releases to two year releases dates.
Ive been on the forum for years now witness to DTG constantly saying one things that never turn to fruition.
Issue or bugs remain unfixed because many issues go back years yet we keep getting slapped in the face.

Now I keep referring we or us the community as customers of DTG.
So as customers why do we get treated like this. Or like I don’t mind calling myself for buying knowing it might now work perfectly a fool.
Fool for allowing one to be treated in such manner,

Ie. Poor CM’s
Poor customer service or support staff.
No real interest in customer concern or complaints, no customer care.
Products released at higher prices than expected while the product might not have been properly tested.
Using old DLC with newer routines (Game) Some might be conflicting due to the wider array of missed testing across all different DLCs or add on packs.
Ie WCML south worked ok until I purchased newer add on packs. (Locos/Rolling stock). Not been able to use properly for over a year.
Not getting the full use or route or the added DLC packs. No player enjoyment/ poor gameplay experience. Unsatisfactory game.
Waste of money.
The constant lack of quality in the final product that leaves players returning with more comments, negative feedback or complaints to support. (More DTG rush new content the problems pile up).
All this in time affects more players with DTG and it’s 3rd party developers to do more Q&A/testing be on old releases, recently released content or content planned.

Basically if we the customers have been facing this for months or years then I’d say the writing has been on the wall for awhile.
The longer DTG kept the business model or strategy the more likely the quality would drop especially when working with 3rd parties.
Communication is key.

My experience in working with 3rd parties is this the more things get subbed out of house means it’s out of that’s companies control to some degree. So if I had a few main trusted companies that prided themselves on service for customers then they would get a contract.
But the company I worked for wanted to save money and so pushed more and more work out to other businesses.
They wanted to enter the cruise industry so focused heavily on that while the coach side of operations fell.

I seen how fast things went down hill and so took the money and run. The company went bust a few years later.

The moral of the story is this.
If DTG have been focusing on the newer game franchises they have obviously taken the eye of the ball.
Standards have slipped, not because of what they can’t do but time dictates how each time member can work.
The more people outside of that office structure of DTGs means work gets rushed, errors in communication between employees across the board and we can see why problems arise when teams put so much emphasis on developing detailed work, yet things get missed throwing a spanner in the works.

Ie more back tracking, more delays, more changes, more errors in communication between DTG and 3rd parties.
More time constraints due to all the unplanned delays placing more weight on the teams, staff even higher management positions.

Because what’s been happening will affect DTGs reputation to a point where other companies are not willing to deal with DTG because it could damage a 3rd party or individuals reputation.
And the more we speak about such things would put any potential customer from buying if they knew the truth (Be on the forums/FB, or any other social networking platform.

And DTG is breaking a few rules of business. One happy customer might tell one or two people. But one unhappy customer might tell 30 or more. Be business clients or customers all have expectations or a level of standards.

When that starts to drop and we begin to look like fools then it time to save the money and run.
Nothing will change now, if never improved over the years then I don’t see any reason to believe it will improve unless DTG gets its act together by dealing with 3rd parties in a way that prevents time pressure, communication errors leading to further delays.

Where is the quality control system?. And if they have one are they asking too much from 3rd parties developers.
Putting everything in jeopardy all because of time or yearly release dates.

They need to free time up, not operate on knife edge.
Staff can only take so much working under tight time lines before staff walk and DTG find it hard to recruit new staff because of DTGs reputation of tough work conditions.

All in all we’re customers who seem mistreated. I asked DTG would I get compensation for any kind of inconvenience caused but it goes unheard, all the while they push new products out hoping any negative publicity will just magically disappear.

It will eventually when customers finally see the picture and simply walk away from something that is more trouble than its worth.
Staying now would means it’s an act of madness because fools never learn.
But it’s hard when money is involved and DTG just take it without any effort to care or support its customers or community members leaving feedback. Users are becoming more frustrated and it will boil over soon because the company has got its self into a mess with so much work subbed out.

✌.

 

Personally, I think that someone quite senior within DTG should at least have the common decency to provide a no BS update on the state of the game via a press release.

It's quite obvious that something is going on behind the scenes, either there's infighting between teams, individuals or management, but with the distinct lack of transparency on the state of the patches and fixes where does everyone draw the line?

We aren't talking one or two DLC's, there's 10's of faulty content packs, there are 100s of bugs in the core engine that have been around since TSW2/3 that still haven't been properly squashed and then there's the absolute shambles of a release process that they keep using to the detriment of the product.

Short of trying to organise a boycott of DLC's which is impossible to organise, as common decent hard working customers, I think some answers are overdue.

 

Very well said, maybe even just something from Matt to acknowledge what we’re saying. We’re not stupid, we all play the game and see and hear about the issues. I think DTG should treat us not only as customers but also investors, without all the money we pay for DLC, the product would fail as probably would DTG.

 

The Class 710 on the 805 WCML:S timetable still has one of its centre coaches rotated the wrong way round completely messing up the gangway connections, surely a few minutes to actually fix and we’ve had no word of a fix at all.

 

Matt is currently on Annual Leave.

 

Funny that.... There's more to DTG than Matt P, personally the product manager whoever that maybe should be piping up.

 

There is... but the OP was asking about Matt.

 

I am the OP. Oh you mean the OP asking about Matt....

 

I fear that ultimately TSW will need to be rebuilt from the ground up to iron out the bugs in the core. They cut trophies / achievements back to the bare minimum on TSW6 probably in fear of having more broken ones they never fix. They really need to slow down releases and put serious effort into fixing the problems and stop releasing a new version every year for no reason

 

DTG need a state of the game address where they will actually put together a plan to fix things then do a stream where people can ask questions about what it is they intend to do to fix things. Its obvious gen 8 support was a mistake. I thought maybe a few bits of content would skip 8 but seems like most of it is. So in my opinion should have never released the gen 8 versions