Upcoming Release First Dlc: Mbta Commuter - Coming Nobember 12th!

Link: https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-sim-world/articles/article/mbta-commuter-coming-soon

 

Very nice! This is the kind of scenery tile I love to see!

Other than that the screenshots look good. Hopefully scenery will be better than on Boston Sprinter, which had unfinished stations and misplaced stop markers.

One thing I noticed - there are some weird lines in the shading of the small triangle panel above the windshields of the HSP46 on several pictures. Issues with the model?

Anyways, looking forward to this one! Hopefully it will be good.

 

You mean what i have put in the red square?

If yes thats how the cab looks like and correct!

 

No, I mean just above it, the lines visible around the top right corner of your red rectangle. You can see the shading changing in clearly visible lines instead of gradually.

 

One for the stream Q&A really, but will the route and scenarios have any Fallout 4 references...

"I'll mark it on the 2D Map for you".

Or get the guy who does the voice for Nick Valentine to do any narration!

 

Oh, it seems that some settlement urgently needs help)
P.S. But seriously, the route should be very good - judging by the maps, the environment there is unusual is unusual (damn, I remembered Fallout 4 again)

 

Thats bizar realistic... I was confused but this is extreme good shaped.... I'm stunnend that you point that out and i checked some pictures... Here is the best example where you can see its there...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/MBTA_2001_at_CRMF,_October_2013.jpg

i'm baffled about the quality details

 

This was such a lovely reading to know more about this route and its features and locomotives. I am BEYOND excited for this route to come out. As mentioned before, as one that comes from the area of Worcester, has taken the train a lot of times and have been obsessed with MBTA over the years at a young age back in the days, I am truly looking forward to this. The details of the Double-Deckers and the locos in this reading...spot on! I truly can't wait for this and to also see the previews and I also can't wait to see how the other stations would look like, especially Worcester. Honestly again, great job Dovetail! Looking forward to this.

 

Although I can’t wait for this route, I do have 1 question. What’s with the Ballast?
Going off of this screenshot:
You can see it doesn’t match the ground texture and you can really see the repetitiveness in the texture.
Going off of this screenshot I took on Boston Sprinter(sorry it’s hard to see):
You can see there’s much less of a color difference between the ground and the Ballast? Keep in mind these routes take places pretty much in the same place.

 

The Balast is general a bit to dark if you asking me... They don't run on coal....

 

I am excited for this release, but have a couple notes/observations...

I think it would be appropriate to be able to route hop from Back Bay as well, since that is a regular stop for both Amtrak and the T.

I like that static Red Line trains are being added to Cabot Yard, but disagree with them being added through a Mastery unlock.

It would also be nice if the Orange Line and Green Line trains could be added as AI traffic, like what was done for Edinburgh-Glasgow with the tram network on that route. The Orange Line in particular shares the route for a bit, and the Green Line is visible from a few spots. They wouldn't need to be detailed models, just something to add a flash of color and life.

I hope the two MP36's, 010 & 011, eventually make an appearance. We've got a great model of it already in-game, it'd be awesome to have a little more operational variety.

Fingers crossed for the unique GP40's at some point down the road!

I'm curious to see how freight figures into the timetable and AI traffic. While Beacon Yard is a shell of its former self, Framingham and Worcester are both active freight locations on the B&A. I'm also curious to see the Amtrak layers once you get back onto the NEC and into the South Station area. I'd also like to see the new rolling stock layer backwards onto the original route (although I think I read somewhere that the new content would/could not be layered in).

I'd like to see some fun, Easter Egg'ish, timetable scenarios involving night time hospital drags of mixed equipment to/from the Grand Junction Branch and Southampton Yard. They'd be short runs, especially without the full branch, but still fun and a change up from the usual commuter activity. Another fun run could be taking a CSX AC4400CW with a string of Amfleets between Worcester and South Station (or visa versa) to simulate the Lake Shore with subbed-in rescue power. The latter would be fantasy adjacent, but could help fill the void of us not having the proper equipment to accurately portray 448/449.

I look forward to seeing what gets released in a few weeks!

 

Hopefully the ADU in the CTC-3 cabcar has finally been fixed. And by that I also mean the old CTC-3 cabcar from Boston-Providence,
DO NOT FORGET IT!!!

 

looks like the funny british PIS returns (sourced from the video)

 

You're right! I was also looking up pictures of the locomotive but most of them were pretty dirty so I couldn't see the same effect. But judging by this photo it seems to be right. Nice detail!

I also agree with the others that the ballast seems to be a bit too black. Shouldn't it be a bit more brownish?

 

Ballast looks pretty bad on this shot as well. The repetitiveness is way too noticeable and why is it so black?

Also, the lighting is really off on this one. Why are the bilevel cars shining? lol
The lighting has always been funky on Boston Sprinter as well, so I wonder what will the situation be here.

 

I thought we just got passed these
DTG did a good job with the ones on LIRR, can’t believe we’re going backwards..

 

I fear Dovetail have re-used the ballast from LIRR as they look identical but they just darkened the color of it. They both have the crappy repetitive texture and look dated. (credit to TrainSpotter from Tauranga, I’m not home so I couldn’t take a picture)

 

Lazy Dovetail Games again

 

Could you make the ballast a lighter shade so it’s closer to this video, I think it’s too dark at the moment

https://youtu.be/oSt8yrXOeiY?si=gWaCV0BYMpywiGOp

 

I Hope this is just a place holder and they will realize that the PIS system should be updated to the new standard

 

i hope they redid the boston terminal station which should look like this

 

That's an old photo, roughly the mid 90's. South Station has seen a lot of development since then, and DTG's rendition is fine.

Here's a photo I took from a trip in 2020, closer to the timeframe of the upcoming route. My wife and I take the Acela to Boston about once a year, and I can confirm that DTG nailed the look and vibe of BOS more than NYP.

 

opps my bad i didn't realize that was an old photo. I just hope that they will put more city vibe and building to this new route, thats all i hope for.

 

No worries, it happens.

As far as the vibe goes, DTG did a fair job. That part of Boston is right along the harbor and not really the city center. Quincy Market and the Boston Aquarium are only a few blocks north of South Station, and the area is mostly private marinas and only a handful of taller skyscrapers. The architecture is a mix of old and new, with short colonial buildings mixed in with taller modern ones. It's not your typical "city" vibe, and is a lot more laid back in that area. Even the area around Fenway Park doesn't give off metropolis vibes, and once you head west on the I90/Mass Pike out of town you very quickly end up in the suburbs and cow country. If you're expecting a NYC or LA vibe, Boston IRL does not have it.

Here's some more photos I took from around where we stay in the South Station area, along with some from around Fenway.

 

I'm just hoping Fenway Park is modeled decently.

Auto Club Speedway wasn't too bad (Aside from the incorrect direction of the mastery) so maybe DTG can keep it up for Fenway as well.

 

After the poor showing of TSW 5 at release and before they have fixed or at least attempted to fix the core product with performance enhancements, they are pushing the next money spinner on us.

Shame on you DTG, you could have at least offered a discount.

 

Am I the only one who feels like the fall foliage is really washed out? For an area that is rather famous for vibrant colourful leaves at that time of the year, this looks really faded.

 

"I'll mark it on the 2D Map for you".

If you are on a PS5 the 2D map will probably freeze the game.

 

will probably pick this up not long after release..will also watch the route stream..be also nice if there could be some csx local freight services included with either SPG GP38 2 AC4400 they use big ge s on locals where i live

 

There are fixes coming

 

Looking at this shot from the trailer: I can definitely see where you’re coming from, the whole lighting in this scene just looks way to off, from the locomotive itself to the ballast and trees. Hopefully this is just beta-build and these get fixed before release. But I doubt it..

 

I feel like I’ve seen a few routes that genuinely look like they would be released on TSW 2. The worst being Maintalbain, FifeCircle & WCML.

Why does the foliage look so bad, the ballast & certain textures just look…old.

Look at the way the ballast is, the way it’s just a texture that’s been cleanly cut & put down looks terrible.

 

its the nuked lighting i noticed in a few other screen shots too

 

Its been bad since tsw 3 or 4 the sunlight is set too bright makes the world look too washed out overexposed ...when playing tsw i set to light clouds and set cloud level slider up then it helps make it look better

 

It's insane that the sunlight intensity is probably a slider or a couple of values they need to fix, and we now have a third iteration of this...

 

To be fair I think it’s mostly a bigger question in general. There seems to be inconsistency in texture & asset quality.

It would be nice to get some discussion going with DTG as to why we see these inconsistencies. Without going into good or bad, why is it that that newer routes look to use older modelling methods, compared with recent counterparts? Fife Circle vs Cathcart. WCML vs SEHS or Goblin Line as examples.

Going into lighting the over contrast really hurts a lot of routes.

I get it’s kinda off topic, but at the same time this route seems to be subjected to the above.

 

DTG Harry Sorry for going off topic but when will you be on stream, its been a while since you been on livestream. I believe you only have show up in only one stream during your introduction. I would really like to see you on stream

 

Let's hope it looks better than Yankee Stadium on the Harlem Line.

 

Is freight included? If yes, is there a possibility to get an CSX SD40 or ES44? I mean: It should be about the same amount of work as the Br114 to rebuild the SD40 or ES44 to a CSX version from the BNSF version; and it would be so nice to finally have some TOD4 CSX locos finally

 

We already have an SD40-2?


And no we arn't getting anything new. Everything will layer into from SPG. Only good news is it seems like Joe had alot of help from the locals about CSX freight in the area from what I gathered in conversations on the TSC discord.

 

Will the Lake Shore Limited be layered and playable since it stops at Worchester, Framingham, Back Bay, and of course Boston South

 

We don't have the equipment for it.

 

There's a way to change that‍♂️

 

Yeah but not at this time