The Tsw-iceberg

I recently informed myself about icebergs in several other gaming franchises and I wondererd that there´s no iceberg for TSW (Or maybe I just didn´t find it)

So, what´s an iceberg? An iceberg is a kind of collection as far as I understand and it shows facts and things about a game or anything other. On the top, there´s the basic knowledge everyone knows who just played the game. As you come closer to the bottom, the things get obscure and only few people heard something of that.
(If you don´t understand my weird explanation, please inform anywhere other on the internet)

I thought myself, why is there no TSW iceberg? I think there are some interesting fun facts and stuff nobody knows and so I would like to start one together with the community. So, everyone can write here in what he or she thinks is relevant for the iceberg (and explain it a bit if its really rare!). And every thing should be put in one of the following categories:

• Top - Something that everybody experienced during just playing the game!
• Surface - Something that less people know and you have to know a little bit about community stuff
• Under water - Something that community members only know after being in the community for months
  
• Deeper - Now the things get rare
  
• Very deep - something that only few people know

As an example, I already have one for you!

Under water/Deeper - The GWR license - the First group stopped giving their license, so DTG isn´t able to make GWR routes anymore - sadly

I´m excited for your suggestions and things maybe only few people know!

 

i have read this post twice and i am even more confused about it the 2nd time

 

I honestly feel a bit of an iceburg saying this as I have tried writing responses but I think it has all melted away after entering my brain. A lot of words but very few are making sense.

 

Hold on would something like DTG's abandonment of Steam and BR Blue be on here somewhere. Along with the correct decision to hold off on more modern SE 3rd rail. I might be getting the hang of it you know.

 

Something to go at the bottom:

Steam in TSW is dead. DTG aren't doing anything else with it and 3rd parties are unlikely to do anything about it.

This is a rare thing not many know, going by the number of suggestions about it.

 

Surface: The Class 314 was built before the 313 despite being on the roadmap for less time

Under water: The track for Boston sprinter was laid well before the route ever came out, I believe it was a project Brandon was working on by himself.

 

Also the full track and signalling layout of EDN being on fife circle, could be at deeper or very deep
I'm pretty sure there's extra track on BCC as well, such as the line to soho depot

 

Iceberg?
TSW's the Titanic....

 

Sand Patch Grade.

Top: A 60 mile ( including branches ) route through the Allegheny mountains of Western Pennsylvania.

Surface: Route is shared by the Amtrak " Capitol Limited " which runs daily from Washington DC to Chicago.

Deeper: The route came with 3 ( count 'em ) locomotives and a whole bunch of rolling stock. Compare that with the barebones stock of current routes.

Very Deep: How many forum members can claim to have bought the beta version of this route way back in December, 2016 ( see my avatar ). Yes folks, TSW is almost 8 years old. ( plus at least a couple of years of gestation. )

 

Some things most players might not know:

Back in the old days of TSW there were leftover files for a scrapped German route with the name Rostock

An EWS Class 08 was originally planned for GWE but scrapped due to lack of gameplay opportunities, this model can be found on Skyhook Games' website.

The Pacer was originally planned as a loco add on for TVL

The original idea for Creators Club was that it was going to be locked unless you bought the New Journeys pack in TSW 2, thankfully that decision was reversed.

On each of the three core routes for TSW 3, a bench can be found honoring the memory of a DTG employee who passed away.

SEHS has a secret simulator hidden in the back of Ashford Depot.

Peak Forest is the only route in the game to feature elderly passengers

 

Would I be correct in saying this then became the WSR 09?

 

Yes.

 

Huh, well there's something I didn't expect. A simulator within a simulator

 

Reddit or TSC would have more to say, I suppose. Many topics covered by iceberg diagrams are thing devs want people to forget.

 

Deeper EDI-GLQ having full track and signals on Fife circle yet not having modelled stations or scenery (was this meant to be an extension of sorts???)

 

- real locomotives also have "bugs" and not rarely drive with non functional bits and bobs.

Obviously there are redunant systems. If your vectron display isnt working for some reason, you can just switch over to another.

Also depends how safety relevant your fault is. In tsw you can even shut down the brakes of wagons and simulate a brake fault.

Thats not "secret" knowledge but i guess probably not even 0.5% of tsw players work with real trains.

 

Thats the most pathetic part of 1 - Dimensional thinking on a dev side. Still didnt buy this route for such reasons, and wont until its on 80% sale.

Rivet probably used the edinburgh part to not model this section again, instead of seeing a benefit for a merged network..

 

I have to admit quite a bit of disappointment after reading the title and then opening the thread and reading the OP, maybe it appealed to me driving a iceberg on rails.

 

I read the OP and immediately thought of TSW as the Titanic. The executive team steering through cold northern waters confident in their arrogance no harm can befall. To the lifeboats!

 

Ok, I know my explanation was weird - sorry
Although I have to say that there are plenty of things I also didn´t knew, so some people got it - though

 

It's a worthwhile topic. There's much about the game that it would be fascinating to know, such as routes and locos that were started then abandoned, or projects that never went beyond the drawing board etc.

Unfortunately, most of these secrets will have to wait for a " tell- all " book by some aging DTG retiree who has nothing to lose but his/her pension.

 

Top - TSW's clock is linked to framerate - a low framerate decreases the speed of the clock, so you can't be late due to lag.

Surface - TSW2 was briefly available for free on the Epic Games store in August of 2021.

Underwater - The timetable on Northern Transpennine has more services than there would have been in reality.

Deeper - You can access the DTG articles (such as DLC release articles and roadmaps) from within the game.

Very Deep - On the forums, by clicking on the tags in the title, you can activate a filter to show only threads with those tags#

 

I don't know about an iceberg but the steam titanic just hit it and sank.

 

Very deep: most railway procedures are done easier in real life, rather than make an input over a keyboard into a bugged software.

I found flying a real cessna much more comfortable than doing it over that crappy joystick on a pc . True fact.

 

Some suggestions:

• The cancelled EWS Class 08 for GWE - already mentioned, but it is worth noting that while the 08 model was reused for the WSR 09, and the original livery can be seen on Skyhook's portfolio, the MFA wagon that was meant to be included was only released with the extended SEHS much later on.
• The cancelled Class 50 that was being worked on by Bossman Games.
• The First Great Western liveries that were hidden in GWE.
• NEC New York (probably best kept for the surface).
• The multiple iterations of TSW1. As part of this you could talk about the PS4 version of TSW2020 including bonus DLC as they couldn't figure out how to remove NEC New York and Rapid Transit from the base bundle.
• The donkeys.

 

Oh, quel dommage!!

 

Just a few side bits I have mentioned in the past about various US content (Weather planned or not) around TSW.

-Aside from the GP40-2, there are 2 other pieces of US freight stock not brought over from TSW 2020, the CSX Coil Car, and the YN3 GP38-2. The Coil Car was originally included with the GP40-2, but still hasn't been brought over to newer TSW versions, while the YN3 GP38-2 came from NY:NEC, which everyone know wasn't ever brought over past TSW2.



-In the game files for Cajon Pass, there is a scenery asset for the old Santa Fe Smokestack in San Bernardino, yet this asset was never placed on the route for some reason, it could make a reappearance in the next US route though....


-Former DTG employee Kevin McGowan ported over his model of a Milwaukee Road Little Joe from his TSC project to Unreal, with a chance that the model would of been used in TSW at some point, though it never happened.


-Way back when DTG was still testing out TSW, they ported over the U36B Seaboard model from TSC to TSW, though this model really never had future for TSW, and was just used for testing purposes.

 

As a side this thread is really good for learning about obscure TSW knowledge.

 

I didn't know about Little Joe being ported over! Very Interesting!

However, I can see a YN3b:

 

YN3b, not YN3. They are 2 different schemes,

The YN3b uses CSX's Boxcar logo.


The YN3 does not.

 

Oh wow! That's brilliant!

I just assumed YN3 was shorthand for YN3b

 

Not sure which part of the Iceberg, but it just came to my mind that this billboard I've not paid much attention to ever is actually the hint that you can climb up to Barstow weather station on Cajon Pass in the game.

 

Another one to add to the 'berg, Rivet Games have fumbled the license for a route and had to backtrack 3 times, The Island Line OG and 2022 were supposed to be set in the modern day (at the time of both's release) with SWR but were changed to be Network SouthEast and a strange fictional operator respectively. And West Cornwall Local which was supposed to be set in the modern day with GWR, as evidenced by a poster in the class 150 which shows one in GWR livery and iirc some things present in the Class 150 cab are not supposed to be there when the route is set (too modern).

 

Another thing to possibly add is the "specific areas per release", it's a thought I had that dovetail seems to focus on different parts of the uk in each of the tsw games (Tsw2020 was pretty random, though they did release a lot of 70s/80s routes, Tsw2 was southern england/3rd rail, tsw3 was Midlands, tsw4 is scotland)

 

The Leven branch is present and drivable on the Fife Circle route.

The track is there, albeit single line only. There’s some bridges and roads. Terraforming is present but no other scenery.

It’s interesting from a game development perspective, to see what’s essentially an in development route included in a released product. There’s a video on YouTube of someone driving it.

 

I’ve just taken a look at this. Whilst there is the spur to take you up to the Fife circle and it is drivable if you spawn in a train, it’s not the entire route. In fact the track ends quite abruptly shortly after it disappears from the map. A little further north and the map just ends, with only a void in front of you. I did have a walk around to see if I could pick up the track again but there’s entirely nothing.

 

There's a series of businesses/groups that repeat themselves throughout TSW.

DTG / Dovetail -
- Railtours - Dovetail/DTG Railtours operate Railtours across Great Britain. They had a previous association with the Bo'ness Heritage Railway [Cathcart's old timetable] but this appears to have been ended. They also operate the Flying Scotsman, among others.
- DTGadboard - Own and Maintain a series of advertising boards, particularly on the East Coast Mainline.
- Liquid Bean Cafe - Coffee chain found in ECML stations. They have advertisements for "The White Dove", a coffee with the DTG logo stamped onto it. Safe to assume, then, that DTG Megacorp own these guys too.
- The Dove [Drink] - "The Unofficial Beverage of Dovetail Games"
- The Dove [Media] - A newspaper, using Dovetail's name and colour scheme. Either that or we have a lawsuit inbound.
- Dovetail Games - "Creating Authentic Simulations | By Enthusiasts For Enthusiasts." - have a promo poster, advertising a virtual Class 37, with influencer Francis Bourgeois superimposed. - They have a blank billboard with their logo on it at Doncaster, for some reason.
- [?] White Bird Travel - feature on DTG Adboards and, well, Doves are white. White Bird = Dovetail, perhaps?
- Dovetail make water bottles. Some poor chap has left theirs at Retford...
- DGTv - Streaming Service - Potentially a play on 'DTG' to fit 'TV' in. Promoting a new series called "MESSAGES".
- Dovetail Animation - Producers of 'Stretch' and 'Where's My Chicken'

- BlueBooks - A book publisher. Seen in promotions for Violet Ada's book, 'NODE' - which seems to be about futility, or something. It's cover features Unreal Engine nodes, which I suppose is the author's attempt at being funny.

- Split [Stylised as Split/ʇᴉldS] is a Chocolate company.
- Cadbury - Likewise, a chocolate company. They have similar branding so, perhaps, they're rivals.

'Dev(elopment) Team' - A production studio responsible for, among others, Double Decker Time Machine [not seen], Double Decker Time Machine 2, London the Musical [in association with Show Don't Tell Productions] and Portrait of a Lady.

- Nameless Film Company - Unidentified producers of 'LOST' - A journey about an AI-voices cat returning home.
PNK/BLAU - A Perfume company, located in London, Paris and New York. They have two products - PNK [Pink] and BLAU [Blue] - They have a lot of adverts on the London Underground so it's safe to assume they're quite a successful company.

- Sandvedge [stylised as SANDVEDGE - with the V made of two sandwiches] - A sandwich chain, with their own "Sandwedges", as well as sweets and coffee. Do a 'Cookie + Coffee' deal for £11.99. Yes please.

- The Newer Car - a brand of car which, seemingly, has been re-released in Blue? Also, wheels are sold separately. I assume they mean spares... Right?

- Down Stairs Shopping - Unclear. They do home deliveries of Pizza for £10 [the same advert warns that "these Basement [Down Stairs] prices are steep" - seemingly at their own expense]

- The Scone Dry Company - Makers of Scones.

- Rivet Games - a Scottish game developer who produce Swiss and British railway content - presumably for Dovetail's game.

- Special Effect - an absolutely legendary organisation designed for raising money for charity.

- Kev-Co Coffee - Coffee Chain found in Edinburgh. Seemingly local.
- Reid & Son - a Misc. shop in Edinburgh Waverley. Their entire stock is, er... Cereal, Wipes [?], Canned food and Toilet/Sink Cleaner. Not exactly what you expect in a train station. All products are branded as "Rivet [×]", too.
The outside of the stop states "Cold Drinks, Sweets, Crisps, Magazines, Snacks - with adverts indoors for Water/Lemonade, Chocolate, and a Burger. This is false advertising.
- Hainingtons - THE EXACT SAME. WHAT SICK KIND OF MONEY LAUNDERING IS THIS?
- Stews Brew - Another Coffee Shop in Edinburgh.
- RIVET NEWS - News Broadcaster.
- Rivette - A Perfume company, with slightly more elegant adverts than PNK/BLAU. Described as "Eau du toilette" (Toilet Water) Fitting for a Rivet DLC. Huh? Who said that!
- Weatherfork - Restaurant/Pub. Has a branch at Edinburgh Waverley, known as 'Le Rivette Office' - meaning the perfume company must have some links here... Wait a minute. The water- it... no... surely..?

- Isle of Wight Steam Railway - Heritage railway on the Isle of Wight, interchanging with the Island Line at Smallbrook Junction.

That's all I care to do.

Conclusion:
Dovetail are a megacorporation specialising in minorly useful things while Rivet are part of a huge criminal enterprise designed to make travellers at Edinburgh Waverley buy things they absolutely should not be buying in a train station.

I am not willing to admit how long it took to find all of this.

 

I was going to create a list of all of the fictional brands in TS and TSW, but never got around to it. I always liked the fictional container brands like Wave, Energy Line, Farshore Logistics, RS Transco, etcetera. I might get around to finishing the list now.

 

Further to the three benches, only the ones on SEHS and Cajon Pass seem to be accessible. The one above the tunnel on Kassel-Wurzburg seems to be locked behind invisible walls so can't be sat on to trainspot

 

The miniature railway planned for Dresden - Chemnitz.

 

I'm late to this and its my first time here but I've never been able to find the sim in the sim

 

I remember being super bummed out because it was the most interesting route to me at the time but wasn't available on the platform I used (PS4). That is part of the reason TSW2020 never grabbed me, since I didn't have a ton of interest in European/UK trains.

Then later on PS5/TSW2 I finally got it and it became my most played route forever... I don't play it so much anymore but still has a soft spot in my heart even to the point that I visited the real route in real life (Cumberland to Rockland through the mountains).

 

On SEHS if you spawn at Ashford Depot, go inside the depot and then go to the back right corner there is a box looking thing with a door, walk up to the door and you can interact with it which will take you inside the box and there is the sim. I would provide images I took of how I got there, but holiday part internet is weaker than a hospital's cup of tea!

 

I can't tell if I'm a moron or the guide isn't well written, but I couldn't find it.

 

Spoiler

Daisy woz 'ere

 

For me there's a fence there. I guess it's a TSW4 thing.

 

When TSW originally came out for consoles, Sand Patch Grade wasn't included and one of the reasons for it being missed was because of its length, So it became sort of a holy grail for Console Users. It was eventually ported over to Console in 2020.

Ahh I remember those days.

 

I suspect it will be the latter, if I am totally honest.

 

Thanks. I'll go and find it now.

 

I'm not sure if length was the quoted issue, as longer routes work fine on console. IIRC the route was quite memory intensive, particularly with the automatic crossing gates.