Hello all & DTG, I'm relatively new here (only a few months) and I do love this game. With the recent launch of TSW 2020, I figured now would be a good time to leave some of my comments. First, excellent work on the Peninsula Corridor route, I've only played a bit of it and even as someone who prefers freight over passenger, this is easily right up there as one of my favorite route of the game. Although those brakes are taking some getting used to... But I do have some comments... -When starting a route, the HEP generator is not turned on, and there is no instruction to do so, so unless you remember, the passengers will have to ride in the dark. I personally don't mind turning it on (because I like turning stuff on & off), but there should be a reminder. The bottom switch of the HEP panel has labels on the panel that are backwards from what show up on the HUD when you mouse over. -The F40PH is nicely done, though I wish the engine room would've been modeled. I realize this is added effort, but I think being able to walk into the engine room just adds to the realism of using this locomotive. There's also an engine room light switch, on the back panel that is interactive, so I don't know if this is coming, or just a switch you made interactive. -On that same note, it'd be great if all the switches/fuses were usable, even if they don't actually do anything (again, realism) - this applies in general and not just the new locomotive. In the F40PH, if you open the fuse box, there's only like 5 we can actually interact with, the rest are frozen in the 'off' position - which is also weird since the engine and everything else is running, but the fuses are off. I know some of this probably seems unnecessary but like I said, you're aiming for detail in this simulator - and you're doing well with the scenery, but I think train controls (focus of the game) should receive more. But obviously not everything needs to be included either, i.e. the toilets as someone suggested on the recent stream -Personally, the F40PH engine is the best recorded in the game, so nice job on that. I can very much tell its a new recording and not the same EMD 645 used in the GP40/SD40 previously. Other: -On LIRR, fog appears in New York Penn. I ran a route with blizzard conditions, and the fog used to help set the blizzard was showing up in the station. I've also had the rain sounds not disappear when entering the tunnels, though I can't get that to happen again so I don't have much on that issue. I'd assume this also occurs on NEC, but I'm not 100% certain. -I also have encountered an issue that occurs when doing switching activities. There are times where after I uncouple cars, they squeal and sometimes will violently start shaking. If I let this go long enough I can basically have the train explode when trying to couple back up. I'm not doing anything excessive, coupling usually at or below 2mph so I don't know what's causing this. It does shoot my stress level up when doing the switching scenarios though because I've had it derail toward the end after an hour's work and have it all go down the drain. The AC4400: As I mentioned, I'm very much into US Freight and primarily the 'big boys' when it comes to it, so naturally the AC4400 is my favorite loco in the game, and I hope there's a US Freight route coming at some point soon to expand upon that. However, trying to put this as nicely as possible, but the quality of the loco in general is poor. I'll preface this and admit I've never actually been in any locomotive, so my knowledge of what these things look/sound like comes from youtube videos. It appears you only included features absolutely necessary to operate the locomotive and stripped everything else out. I'm sure there are some considerations regarding security and things like that, but there surely has to be a compromise between security, effort, and providing as much realism as possible that's better than this. Other locos, including the GP38/SD40 are actually pretty good, but IMO not as exciting. -From what I've seen the actual start switch is in the engine room (which nothing within the long hood was modeled) - though maybe this varies, I don't actually know. -The start switch on the back panel basically triggers an auto start, but I wish a full start sequence would've been used - i.e. priming actually takes a while, not 4 seconds then the engine starts. IIRC, the warning bell/priming usually takes at least 30 seconds, and can be up to a couple minutes. -The IFDs are basically just decorations aside from speed and brake pressure info. I don't know what they actually display, but info like traction motor stats, RPM, etc... would be nice to have. -My biggest gripe with this is horrible audio quality of the engine sounds. Though I've never been in an AC4400, I've lived next to a CSX coal line for 10 years, and I know the FDL/GEVO engine sounds. -The idle sound should be slower and rougher, almost like you can hear what's going on in each cylinder. -The bass of the engine is also lacking. -There's not much change in engine sounds for N1/N2, but N3 comes along and the turbo comes screaming out of nowhere (at least I think that's what it is) - which becomes the dominate sound through N8. There's no traction motor sounds, which is a pretty iconic sound with AC traction. The high RPM sound of the engine is also missing. I don't really know how to describe it, but I say it sound's like the engine is "ripping the air apart" and sounds like a big diesel engine. -The air compressor is too quiet. You basically have to be standing at the rear of the locomotive to hear it, even the classic 'whoop' sound of it starting up. Sorry for the long post, it's some stuff I've been compiling for a while and just now sharing, though I think most of this is probably already known, but IMO another voice doesn't hurt. Again great job on the new route, I'm expecting big things down the line!
