Upcoming Release Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn - Timetable Deep Dive

Phwoar

 

Although, if we're seeing the Vectron, this is more recent than it was originally stated to be? I don't mind the bending of eras for the sake of variety, but I thought that was the reason we're not getting the obvious new train that could have come with the route (the SUWEX unit).

 

Will ask again ahead of the route stream, will the updated DB406 include the addition of French and/or Dutch electrification and safety systems, given that multi-system locos (and a French and soon a Dutch route) have been added since Koln-Aachen?

 

The ICE 3 is running in the US now !

 

DTG Should slowly carry out quality control

 

The fact that the TGV layers in but the compatibility issues on FTF have not been resolved makes it a no-buy for me.

 

Nice shot in the short preview movie of the Br111's pantograph, a bit too high in combination with the wire.

 

Why does the Vectron substitute in? I'm pretty sure it wasn't even in regular service in 2014.
Also there should be more substitution options available than the Railpool 185 and DB Vectron

 

Exactly my thoughts. The substitutions are weird all across the game at times.

Looks like the route is going to feature a lot of "my" vehicles: The 111, 363, 425 (finally in a main role), 612, 628 are all among my favourites.

Still, it won't be a day one purchase for me... if ever, I'll get it on a discount someday. In danger of repeating myself: We already have quite enough of those similar-looking, similar-feeling German routes. And the quite substantial to-do list of "known issues" one week before launch doesn't help...

 

DTG should really consider adding the current PIS system/tech to the DB BR 612 since it’s getting layered onto such a huge amount of German routes. Looks very jarring without a working display considering they’re placed so prominently all over the exterior and interior of the train.

The preservation crew’s great work with the GWE Class 166 proved that even the most ancient locos (that didn’t even have a working display at all) can have the tech added.

 

Absolutely right. It could use a couple more fixes as well, like the missing door-closing-beep, or the nonexistent cab light, or the door side selector having to be neutral to release traction lock...

Unfortunately, facelifting older rolling stock has never been high on DTG's to-do list. I'm actually quite amazed seeing them do it for the 425 now. Although we still don't know the full extent of those updates.

 

This addon will be a "flop".
It has all the hallmarks of a "flop".
After all, even a really great "flop" requires some effort.
And here DTG has made a masterpiece in reverse.
I have all the German addons, but this time I consider this addon a slight to long-time users.
Money saved.
Best regards.

 

Ok… so I had a proper look at the article, and I’m rather confused.
To be clear, these are all not really fundamental issues, and I’m still very much looking forward to tomorrow’s preview stream (even though I won’t buy the route until it is significantly discounted due to the high price in the face of a complete lack of new or significantly updated rolling stock), but I still wanted to bring them up regardless in hopes of getting some input and possibly answers:

• Why is the BR 111 even included with the route if it only has four services? At that point, it’s such a minor layer that it could just easily be unlocked by the Frankfurt-Fulda gameplay pack. Now, certain players will have three almost identical versions of the 111 (two of them being literally identical).
• Apparently, the S1 & 2 trains skip Schifferstadt due to construction work, but the S3 & 4 trains stop there as per usual. Unless this is prototypical (which would be strange), why was the timetable built like that? It seems like timetables from different dates were used for the various S-Bahn lines, resulting in inconsistencies like this. I don’t remember what year the route takes place in, but I was able to find an article from the 2010s where construction work resulted in all S-Bahn trains skipping the station, not just S1 & 2.
• This is relatively minor, but it looks like the collectible route map is a strange mix of a highly simplified schematic (London tube style) line in the foreground, and an accurately scaled map of the surrounding region in the background, which is directly conflicting with the foreground. To say that this is confusing is an understatement. This would never appear on such a poster in real life. I’m just trying to figure out why someone thought this was a good idea. Just make it either completely schematic or completely geographically accurate, but not a mix of both.
• The continued reliance on the old DB BR 363 add-on to unlock layers is confusing. The same loco has since been part of many route add-ons owned by tons of players (especially Dresden-Riesa, where it is also adjusted to TOD4 lighting). In these routes, it even appears in the sleek vintage blue livery, which adds a nice splash of color to the sea of DB red. So why aren’t these route add-ons utilized to unlock the layer, giving many more players access to the services? Because - let’s be real - nobody but the most die-hard German freight fanatics will spend money on an outdated standalone version of the loco if it is already part of multiple more modern add-ons. You could still allow the standalone DB BR 363 to substitute into those services so players who own it can enjoy the red livery. This is also true for many other routes that have a BR 363 layer, like Hamburg-Lübeck, for example.
• There is great confusion surrounding the TGV layer. The YouTube video states that it is AI-only, but the article states it is actually drivable and takes over some of the services usually operated by ICEs. Only one of the two can be right.
• As I mentioned in a separate comment above, the BR 612 looks really sad with its blank displays and would be in dire need of an update to the most recent PIS tech in order to not look so out-of-place on all the routes it appears on as a layer.
• And don’t even get me started on the “known issues” section. Why are the off-world PIS destinations broken on literally every newly released route and we have to wait months for a fix?

Apart from that, I’m actually glad they’re committing to adding all the remaining layers and AI services - especially the DB red BR 628, which is always a great addition to any timetable. The BR 103 rail tour with the new wagons looks splendid, too.
The route in general seems quite well-made, but there’s a distinct lack of standout stuff. No huge gameplay innovations or landmarks, and rather sterile stations. Still looking forward to the preview, but I don’t think this will be enough to justify the high price tag. It would have been really cool if the price was more like 25-30€ to reflect the reduced development effort needed because of the lack of new rolling stock. Looking forward to Mittenwaldbahn now, which appears to be right up my alley!

 

It's good DTG is being upfront about issues, but can you commit to an approx timeframe for these fixes to be implemented?

 

Apart from the things already mentioned:
The used BR 425 for the route seems to be the wrong type.
As the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar has 76 cm at (almost) all stations, the 425 there don't need the built-in steps inside but have a flat entrance. The doors end at 76 cm (exactly at the lower side of the white stripe), the space below is used for a moveable step to narrow the gap between the train and the platform.
You can see a photo from the side here, where you can see the higher ending door and the moveable step: https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/Deut...tulieren-dem-weltmeister-so-praesentiert.html
Another photo showing a train stopping at Heidelberg on the S2 to Kaiserslautern. The PIS (here the old green version, the renewed 425s have yellow PIS and a renewed interior) shows the train length, if the train is split, the PIS reflects this. Often, only one of 2 425s goes to Kaiserslautern. You can see the small movable step right at the door.
https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/deut...ahn-rhein-neckar-425-211711-und-noch-ein.html

If they don't bring a new train, they should have at least got this right...

 

As with nearly all the German routes this will be one for a sale but I’m looking forward to the stream nevertheless. I can’t really tell from the info we have now what it’s going to be like. I need to see it in action. I’m just hoping they have finally got rid of the awful reflections in the windscreen of the ICE 3M to make it more like the other ICE 3 models. Those are always a joy to drive but the original ICE 3M just has the irritating low resolution reflections in your face all the time that are guaranteed to spoil the experience. I seem to remember the windscreen also had too much tint to it that made driving at night a bad experience too. Fingers crossed it has been improved for this route.

 

Only 4! Express services? Really? I am not an expert how much services and with which locos there was in real life at the times the DLC is set in, but only 4 sounds as a bad joke, especially if there is no other rolling stock included that fills the gaps of other RE-services.
Are at least these services on day or are they set only in times where it becomes dark on the route?

These construction time table I dont understand too.
1.) If there is a construction time table, are there some constructions to see? If not it is complete useless.
2. ) instead of this time table all S1/S2 are bypassing Schifferstadt some mixture between reality and semifictive variant would more interesting with more variation: as example S1 is bypassing (because of "low capacity" in Schifferstadt for construction work) and the S2 driving through Schifferstadt. So there would be two variants for this kind of local train.
3) if here S1 and S2 are bypassing, what are the joke of 4 regional express doing? Also bypass Schifferstadt as ICE and TGV? Because I am wondering with all the news if there is any track build to drive from Kaiserslautern direct into Schifferstadt, even if its shown on the map picture. That would in my opinion the only reason to bring us this strange routing because of "construction".

 

Will wait for a massive discount at any time, sorry.
No new rolling stock, known issues for release with no time when they will be fixed, nothing special on the route that says whoa...
And even the trophies seem to be wrong in any way. Do not expect that there are 20+ scenarios included?
Complete 5 scenarios, complete 20 scenarios, complete all scenarios?
I think the first two will be services instead of scenarios?
And honestly, silver for 5 but only bronze for 20?

 

Whatever else there is to talk about - this is just an incredible shot that whets my appetite for Mittenwaldbahn and hopefully more proper vintage routes in the future.

That doesn’t exactly convey the expectation that the route is ready to be released. The first point is especially concerning to me. How can the off-route destinations still be such a hassle at this point?

 

How can the off map PIS destinations still be a known issue and are still not being noticed? This seems like it's been an issue for ages. When Matt was talking to the community about getting a checklist for features or something similar to get all standard features added why are we still missing things?

This seems like something that should be higher on the list with the amount it's pointed out?

 

PIS is still a really big thing, particularly in Germany. If there is an Umlaut in it, the destination is just truncated (like "Königstein" turns to "K" on a 628 VR).

Luckily, there are no Umlauts in Paris (Est), Frankfurt (M) Hbf, Mannheim etc.

 

I think the "construction timetable" is there to offer services with shorter playtime (~30 minutes), isn't it?

 

Only thing I can think of, is that the money men have insisted on a release to try and bag some revenue, rather than push back to the next slot and allow time to fix the issues. I certainly don’t buy into the yarn that it’s too late to pull from release. What if the route was found to cause some massive corruption to the rest of the game? They would have to pull it then.

No, this smacks to me of sloppy QA and lackadaisical project management (again), typical DTG releasing something that isn’t quite right but expecting customers to pay a premium price for it.

 

A route that doesn't deserve any attention at all. There was a great opportunity (and still is) to make a section Frankfurt - Karlsruhe + Strasbourg, but nooo - we'll make a route that leads to nowhere, blin( *a juicy spit on the floor*

 

It’s not just a matter of PIS, the cabin light isn’t working at all, so it’s impossible to prepare the 612 for a run in dark conditions. I don’t get why the 612 wasn’t ever updated to ToD4 specs yet. It’s a shame.

 

Mittenwaldbahn is coming in February, if I recall correctly. Maybe the thought process was that there needs to be enough time between the two routes that people interested in German routes ideally buy both instead of deciding between them and only buying one.

In defence of the route - as I have posted elsewhere - Mannheim is far from nowhere. It’s one of the big, important freigtht hubs in Germany. That’s also why it’s a shame that a more appropriate freight loco like the 185.0 or 186 won’t be coming with the route. The 185.2s are definitely there as well, but especially on the route out of Mannheim depicted in TSW, the 185.0 or 186 is far more common.

 

Very true. Even Kaiserslautern isn't "nowhere" in my opinion. Several branch lines start there, so it is a regional train hub, one of the S-Bahn lines terminates there, and there's a freight yard at Einsiedlerhof (I'm just afraid Einsiedlerhof won't be in the route, since it's beyond Kaiserslautern Hbf... pity, it would've added a lot of good freight gameplay.), and, on a non-railway related note, Kaiserslautern is home to the largest US military community outside the US itself.

 

My personal guess is the route building is outsourced and just polished by dtg. Obviously offmap destinationd are not a priority.

This dlc without new rolling stock, should have a lot of extra mile and additional efforts to justify its price. And of course be 100% polished, without discussion!
Cant believe the dlc announcment has a rubric with "known bugs.." (substandard minimalism)

Im sure it will be released in its current state. From my side a "BIG no buy" until 85% discount.

 

I wonder if Rivet (Europe division) might have been involved..?

I’ll fetch my tinfoil sombrero!

 

In the English version of the trophies, it says "complete 20 services", and "complete all route tasks". That makes a lot more sense. So hopefully just an error in translation/typo?

 

A real gem this addon.
Another thought is the presence of new types of passenger carriages (hauled by BR 103) that will not be there for another month, because the TSG route does not exist yet.
Patience.
Personally, 2 well-made routes per year like Frankfurt are enough for me (apart from the fps drops) and like the next TSG/A addon (which, I am sure, will be a small masterpiece with many new trains and repaints).
Then everyone is free to do what they want with their money.

 

True. That would be exactly my wish. Only killers, no fillers. DRA, FTF, stuff like that.

On the topic of "new" rolling stock: I think a great advantage would be to bring German locos to a more or less identical standard and then have them appear on various routes via layers and substitutions. For example, there is still no ICE 1, 3 or T on HRR.

Unpopular opinion: remasters like SKA now are the way to go. I would not mind NOT having a new German route for one or two years if DTG were to digest and bring everything German up to par.

 

We must not forget that many players’ favourite German route came with no new trains. DRA always tops lists of the best but it came with exactly zero new trains. I’m not suggesting that this route will be as well received but there were many complaints at the time prior to its release that DRA had ‘all recycled content’ and it all worked out fine in the end. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all

 

If I remember correctly, Matt mentioned something towards the end of 2024 that PIS could cause performance issues on German routes. Who knows where the real problem lies......if I'm wrong, I apologize

 

But most importantly, there would be less emotion around this topic in general if everything was practically non-functional or broken even half a year after the release of TSW5.

 

Next project after SKA? That would be great

 

First i thought its mainly the new 2D map, but older routes are running very well even with the new map.

But then i discovered my pc doesnt like the volumetric fog.
In full cloudy conditions, there is always a really small bit of fog, which kills my fps on semmering and the new tsw5 routes. (Not preston carlisle for some reason).

But my pc still runs with the original i7 from 15! Years ago. So i forgive my hardware starts to sruggle with new technologies.

 

Appreciate your work. Looking forward very much to Cologne Hbf after the remaster.

 

I don't know about PC, but on PS5, even with the Pro version, it's a disaster... and it doesn't matter if it's coming or not... I didn't find any changes for the better there...
Yes, I don't have a problem with maps for TSW3, for example, near Salzburg Rosenheim, (originally for TSW4), there is a problem when entering Austria, the container terminal and then Salzburg Hbf

 

So would you rather not have the loco and express services at all? Basically lose lose for dtg then? Include them and players complain it's too few. Don't include them and players complain why they are missing. So pick and choose.

Also the same as #2. Players will be upset either way

 

I’ve been thinking about bringing this up as well. DRA reigned supreme for the longest time and remains one of the most loved routes to this day when you look through discussions and it launched with absolutely no new rolling stock. Granted, the large physics upgrade (especially on the freight side) was enough to be called new arguably. As I’ve said before, a new freight loco would have been a good choice to make the rolling stock more accurate and give people something new, but I’ll wait and see how it turns out. No new rolling stock is not necessarily a showstopper as DRA showcases.

Oh? Speaking only in hypotheticals, of course, if HRR got some attention and a timetable that fulfilled its potential, HRR could become an outstanding route. It is exceptionally busy in both passenger and freight trains in real life.

 

Good point re DRA but... it was issued as part of the Rush Hour bundle for TSW2 which meant it came at a considerable discount if buying the pack with all three new routes. To this day it only retails for £25 new on Steam.

 

While I'm also arguing for the "DRA had no new rolling stock" argument, there is a difference between DRA and Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn though.

DRA has 2 side branches off the mainline with a good portion of available services on each. Plus a dedicated high speed section.
In total, 4 quite different ways to enjoy the route.

I really like the diversity of DRA being able to experience quite different types of railways/scenary, all just in one route addon. This is something which sadly also Frankfurt-Fulda does not offer and the reason why DRA is still my favorite route. (Well, I'm a bit Dresden biased, so it can come from that as well)

 

I think I'll withhold al speculation for now, and just watch the stream tonight. I think this route could be good. Don't care that there's no new rolling stock anyway.

 

The fact that there's no new rolling stock doesn't bother me that much either. It's just that for a route without any new rolling stock, the price tag is very shameless.

And honestly, I know I'm repeating myself, but... If DTG really started this thing with the intent of creating a new route without the need to create any new rolling stock, they really should have gone with a diesel route, for variety's sake.
Just think of the rolling stock options for that:
-The excellent 218 is criminally underused at this point, and the accompanying Bnrdzf diesel cab car even more so. Having the 218 on Maintalbahn is nice, but the services on Hamburg-Lübeck get tiring pretty fast.
-On any routes it's featured in, the 612 is basically a side dish or substitute. To some extent even on its home route, Tharandter Rampe. It could use a new route to really show its merits, preferrably a curvy one with GNT. And it needs an overhaul, more so than the 425 in my eyes.
-The red version of the 628 could also need a new playground. It's a great on Maintalbahn, but merely a substitute as well. And don't get me started on its services on Rosenheim-Salzburg.

 

I had to snicker a little bit when I saw the lighting stuff in tunnels (the dashboard on the 425 being illuminated on the first run and the bright inside of a tunnel in the 406 on the second).

TSW doing TSW stuff.

 

Yeah! Looking forward to getting it. I don't care, if there wasn't any new rolling stock. Its an new route which I haven't rode virtually nor IRL.

 

Looks good except one thing I would love in TSW is the fact that when owning most DLC, when in timetable its starting to get crazy with how many of the same train show to select. Wish there was a way where it would notice I have this route with the mentioned DLC of locos and remove all OLD versions of the same loco.
I see this when you mention this "Both the BR 425 and BR 406 ICE 3M have received updates over versions seen in previous Add-ons"
So why can the system then see you own this and remove the old outdated versions of those locos, so its super easy to select these new updated models on previous routes. I cannot believe how many iterations of locos I have such as Class 47 etc, I load one, exit and load the other variation from another route and its "identical to the T visually"