So I've just been playing London to Brighton. With the class 700 time table. Also the announcements mod and some enhancement mods etc and I'm left thinking wow! This route just keeps on getting better. This is what Wcml should have been. And I'm wondering.. this really should set the standard for routes released by dtg. The team at dtg really need to sit down and play this route, with all these mods and see what a modern simulator should be! Don't get me wrong I appreciate all your hard work and enjoy the content. But these guys that bring out these mods are not getting paid, yet delivering what the dtg should be! And dtg are getting paid yet not delivering what we should be getting.
I tried the automatic announcement mod but had extreme stuttering, low fps and several long pauses (5-10 seconds). Removed it and was back to my FPS hovering around 90. Was wondering if you ran into any of these problems. I do not mean to hijack the thread but was curious about your experience with the mod. I agree both the London Commuter and the London Brighton routes look good with plenty of traffic.
You know, we now have the ability to turn off certain layers. They've now removed the need to be scared of inserting a certain layer; we can turn a particular one off if it's causing problems.
Not sure who you were directing your comment toward , but if it was towards my reply the Automated Announcement dlc isn’t a layer for any particular route but provides in train announcements. I have a pretty beefy system running ultra with all layers enabled and usually averaging around 100 fps but have locked it to 60. Anyway just did a run on the London to Brighton route with the 700 timetable and gave to echo ididntdoit praise for the route.
I didn't get any performance issues. The usual micro stutters, and slightly lower fps around east croydon. I didn't have the fps counter going though it was definitely good.
I've just had a quick look. Starting at East croydon I'm getting 60fps around 7 miles out 80fps That's at 180% scaling.
The OP is right, this should be the standard for all releases, another good example being the work of JT. I've seen the recent update on the upcoming WCML over Shap and it sounds wonderful. The bits I especially noticed were "full historical timetable" and "heavy ai traffic" (or words to that effect), finally "over 100 miles to drive in total". Just like WCMLS then......not. Guess where my money is going for the full price release.
One of the good things about their routes. They were the first to do that, JT being the only others who implemented it on their route (albeit not automatic).
They go on about wanting a core system for it as it has to be done individually. But if Rivet can do it, DTG should be.
I'm wondering why (if it's needed) the core system didn't come with tsw5. I've found the announcements to be a handy feature when it comes to route learning.
We're on TSW5, yet only a couple of routes by Rivet (one released for TSW3) have them. Makes me wonder why they don't just contract Rivet to do the announcements. Would be a good use of their time.
Maybe it's a niche thing. I honestly don't notice as probably 99% of players. The few times I've ridden as a passenger those routes didn't have announcements irl either. Well, except for the Tube stations. They always do announcements. *shrugs* As one person posted on a different thread.... that gives you "more interaction" since you can do the announcements YOURSELF! =-) That would be a PERFECT job for the "conductor" to do in "guard" mode to keep things busy! Seriously though, it's a rather limited application (you have to be not driving and riding as a passenger on a line that HAS automatic announcements) which means it's probably better left to the route designers to decide to implement. Like signals.
My experience as a passenger: in the daytime, there are announcements as clear as day; in the evening, when you can't see outside to see where you are, there are no announcements or an unintelligible crackle.
It's not just about announcements. There's all the enhancement packs too, there's the route specific enhancements, track and ballast enhancements, world enhancements like lightning etc, track and ballast, signals, trains. The list goes on, there's loads of mods that shouldn't be needed if dtg put more into it. Definitely shouldn't need timetable packs.
Again, it's a niche thing. If 99% of the people aren't demanding it, then the mods are there for the 1% that are hard core. It's very few people that notice the exact tine of the correct ballast or complain about the quality of lightning. DTG, like most companies markets to the 80-90% of customers to keep them happy. If you're in that 10% or less, then you won't be satisfied. *shrugs* There is nothing stopping third parties from adding announcements (as they have.) Not sure why DTG MUST follow suit. People are oddly complaining that DTG is outsourcing routes to third parties...then they want DTG to do the routes "just like the third parties." I think DTG is starting to move like TSC to a "distributor" not a "developer" model. They just stick to the core and have most if not all the routes eventually be third party. It's a lot lower risk model to be fair to them.
Some mods are inevitable regardless of what dtg do like tt mods. Some people want to run an older tt. Some and to make a new one. Even if a route was extremely detailed, modders would still create enhancement packs. So why are you acting like mods are a bad thing. They exist even in the best of games
It's a touch of realism and immersion. Can't be an authentic simulator without proper announcements that are there in reality. Think of it as one of those things you didn't know you wanted/needed until you got it.
Or the things most people don't notice and don't need. But it's "kinda neat sometimes." Like heated seats in your car.
