To start, the route is absolutely marvelous. The scenery, the train, and the stations are all meticulously detailed. It truly does take you back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is remarkably well made and undoubtedly sets a higher standard for TSW routes to come. However, there are a few substandard elements that I’d like to address in a comprehensive list to help anyone considering a purchase. Particularly on console. The Bad The route does not perform well in certain areas. Specifically areas with a high density of foliage* Acknowledging Sifa on both the 1020 and 111 will also acknowledge Indusi. So if you drive with safety systems enabled, you will be forced to hear Indusi ‘beep’ every 30 seconds. The Avmz and Bpmz coaches are not individually selectable in Formation Designer. They also cannot be manually uncoupled. The 1020’s fixed formations intended for free roam are no more than 5 wagons long and they are all empty. This means the four different load types TSG graciously included are useless outside of timetable mode. The newly animated cows traverse the rails and will walk right in front of your train as you helplessly plow into it. Be warned, this is quite jarring. *This is generally expected with TSW in regards to console performance. It will obviously perform much better on PC. These on their own are not game-breaking by any measure. But I’d be lying if I said the sum of them didn’t spoil my initial impression of the route. With all that being said though, I’d like to list the more positive things I’ve noticed. The Good The scenery is incredible The stations are intricately detailed and highly realistic The 1020 is extremely well made and makes use of the new suspension technology. Driving this locomotive is among the greatest challenges in TSW The 111 is included in the base layer with era-appropriate livery and was also given a much-appreciated suspension upgrade The Avmz and Bpmz coaches are also included in the base layer and also feature era-appropriate liveries The route has various custom assets throughout it Unique features that are exclusive to this route… …along with animated cows, TSG also added lens flare. I personally adore this feature but it is divisive which is why I think it’s wise they kept the effect a bit subtle. It likely will not be seen unless you are looking for it.
Cows on the line? Sounds like the first step of a service disruption feature some of us have been asking for haha
It’s a much welcome feature but going line speed and having to brake meters away with no hope of stopping isn’t that ideal lol. Also hope they can get them to run away when you sound the horn again, that’s so cool.
Service Disruption including Special Stop Orders, Skip Stop Orders, Diversions onto slows, terminating early, wrong line working etc. would be very cool. Unfortunately something tells me this may just be a bug on Mittenwaldbahn
