So after watching the roadmap stream this evening, I have some concerns. Technically since the 4.26 upgrade has been known for a while, these have been looming but the stream made it clear it's becoming very real. I'll get the easy one out of the way first. First concern I have, and it's more a clarification question, is: since all DLC have to be recompiled under 4.26, does this mean the core update is going to consist of redownloading my entire TSW library? I don't have a capped internet data usage, but some do. This could be an issue and probably should be publicized if it is the case. Also really doesn't seem very ideal if everytime we change UE versions, we need to redownload our entire content library. But maybe that's just how it works, IDK. Anyway, my biggest plea and concern to DTG is this... DO NOT RUSH the transition into 4.26. I realize it's not quite as big a jump as the one for TSW2, but basically don't repeat the cycle. I remember last year as preserved collection routes started coming into TSW2, the active community here on the forums was just about split between port and release now-fix later, and delay and fix now-release later. I was, and still am, very much of the latter opinion. I have no idea if opinions have changed since then, but if this update degrades any DLC that causes it to perform worse than it currently does, fix it BEFORE releasing the update, even if that means delaying everything. Some may object to that, that's fine that's your opinion. But where we're at right now is essentially TSW has been out for almost 10 months, by the core update it will be a ~year. The first significant and badly needed fixes just released a couple weeks ago (9.5 months). The MSB update is still being worked on which means for me I have a vast amount of my german content that is simply untouched in TSW2 because it uses the 146.2/185.2 which is un-driveable above ~40kmh unless you like high pitched 'scream' in your ear. For the sake of this argument, I don't care about the other bug fixes, I'm specifically referring to the things that broke/degraded from TSW2020->TSW2. LIRR and MSB are probably the two routes that stand out from degraded experience in the transition, and this timeframe for just getting them back to a TSW2020 standard is unacceptable. And then of course there is the remaining 5/6? (I think it was) routes that still need work, but these would've been queued up post rush hour anyway, but only because of this time table. And another of my concerns after watching tonight's stream now is, we may not see the MSB fixes until after rush hour/core update - no date or time frame was said and it was something that needed looking in to, but there was a hint that sounded like they may just move everything into 4.26 versions and release it with/post core update/rush hour, unless I misunderstood. That's not good. Some of these fixes are things that broke in the porting process, and should've been fixed right away, not kept to be fixed a year later. But that's just the reality at this point and nothing's gonna change that, and really my whole point is: if this happens again with the new update, DON'T do this again. Do not repeat the cycle. Don't release knowingly degraded (notice I've haven't been saying broken - it was made very clear last year broken means game doesn't work, not doesn't work up to a standard) stuff to await it's next preservation team round months or even a year later to be brought back to where it was pre-update. Anyway, I didn't intend to write this much but I wanted to lay out my concerns. Back to cautiously optimistic mode...
DTG's plan was to leave the old TSW1 alone and start fresh with TSW2. Everything in TSW2 would have been done with the new tech and using the improved build process that comes from the know-how learnt by trial and error while developing routes in TSW1. The community cried and cried that we should keep all the old DLCs in TSW2. What have we got now? Lots of old patched routes and rolling stock that use the old code and the old build process that is probably making the game core heavier than it would need to be and probably preventing it from advancing as much as it could, while at the same time creating a huge headache to the preservation crew when they have to work on the old content (that's why it takes them so long to go thru it). Add to that that of course the preservation crew can't make the very old DLCs work properly because it is simply not possible without rebuilding it from scratch. Not to mention that DTG now makes "new" rolling stock using that old content as source (HHL 112 and 182) that, of course, has the same problems that the old content has. Corollary: Be careful with what you ask for.
I would be a lot happier if they removed the core update from the annual bundle release so that teams can concentrate on one thing at a time, but they do it how they do it From what (little) I know, the jump from 4.16 to 4.23 was quite extensive and broke a lot of things (such as lights becoming cars on posts) but the jump to 4.26 is a lot less in terms of core UE issues. Hopefully that means that the fixes they do now (using 4.26) will be better than the ones they did with 4.23
