Hi All, Just my thoughts on the recent stream if I may... I think Sam is just what the community needed, straight up and no nonsense. I couldn't help feeling Matt had been dragged in front of the class by the headmaster to explain himself. I cringed a little to be honest. On that I think Matt is genuinely an honest fellow who has a passion for his trains just like the rest of us. I mean how many people do you know visit their parents and provide a live stream of a model layout whilst doing so? My belief is he wants the same as the rest of us, only he has to comply with the business side of things as well. Livery Editor - This is only my guessing but I think we will see more of what people have been requesting in the forums. As licences for stock cannot be obtained a generic colour scheme would be released which the user can then mod into the real thing if desired. I wouldn't think DTG could use that as a selling point as it would not sit well with train operators. Scenario Maker - I don't see a problem with that. It certainly doesn't seem as complex as the editor in TS Classic but the user will still be able to make up their own run as desired. Admittedly it is a little disappointing the preserved items cannot be included in this. I think with both of the above users on pc much smarter than me will work out a way to exchange files. We have already seen some mods appear here and there with no support. DTG simply cannot provide the facility as console players would be up in arms feeling they have been overlooked. I see the new edition as the cost of two new routes (pc user) to which I have to make up my mind if I want, otherwise carry on as normal. Again just my thoughts.... Thank you.
My only problem with the scenario editor is that it won't work on the old routes, so there is no chance to make new scenarios for the routes we already have and love. My favorite route for example is the LIRR, even with all it's faults, I love driving on it. When I read TSW2 is coming with a scenario editor I was really excited, because I tought the community will finally be able to make new scenarios for LIRR with more traffic and more interesting runs. But turns out that's not the case, so we are still stuck with the empty timetable mode where you are lucky to see 3-4 trains in a hour long run. Even though there is so much potential in the LIRR, as seen in the base scenarios it's full of traffic and life, but there are like what, 4 scenarios for it (plus the 3 scenarios coming with the M3)?
Contrary to popular belief, making scenarios in TSW is possible, although awkward. As far as I know, Harmer and nickhawk invented the method, which typically involves "hijacking" an official activity by adding additional maneuvers that may or may not conclude by completing the borrowed activity's instructions. I've recently entered this adventure by making up an activity called "Auschaffenburg Docks Shunting, which like the others, can be found under "Guides" on Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2106734833. Some forum members may be aware of the 40 TS scenarios I've uploaded to the Steam Workshop in the past. Although making an activity for TSW in the manner described above is trickier than using the TS editor, the result can easily be posted at the Steam site. Whether this will be possible with TSW2 remains to be seen. One final comment regarding an interesting near-juxtaposition of events: the last TSW DLC will release on June 18 and TSW2 is scheduled to become available in mid-August. I appreciate the 1,151 hours (and counting) I have spent in TSW (and the 9,797 hours in TS) and look forward to many more hours in TSW2.
