Expansion Thomas & Friends™ Visit The West Somerset Railway - Feedback Thread

Just to give an example with one of the above issues mentioned. It would be great if the speedometer would disappear in cutscenes or when you hide the overlay with F1. Lovely photo but the speedometer is a little too eye-catching

 

Just note tonight. When playing Thomas 3rd timetable where you run light engine after Diesel.

When you pass Blue Anchor Thomas sits side saddle on the rails at about 15 degree off set and never straightens up again. It's very off putting to drive.
Ive repeated this glitch multiple times on PS5

 

Isn't it available in Russia? Can't see the DLC in my steam.

 

Same on PC and I've had it on various routes / modes. Not sure what causes it, possibly heavy buffer contact (braking, rough shunt). Very offputting indeed to see Thomas sliding along the tracks at an angle!

 

The base game update that came with this release has changed the way journey mode chapters are handled.
Whenever I open a chapter that only includes a single service, I used to be able to see that scenario in the list view, giving information about what the scenario is, how long it will take, and afterwards, how many points I got. Since the update, the service just starts immediately.

As a result , if I want to know if I got gold or platinum on the Thomas Introduction, for example, I have to go into the list of all training center training modules, find it there, and check, since the journey chapter itself doesn't show any higher than "completed to gold".
That's not the end of the world, but I do actually find it pretty annoying, and I don't see any necessity for this change.
At least having this direct start as a toggleable option rather than unchangeable behaviour would be nice.

 

So I've finished the playthrough of the scenarios now and I thought I'd drop my personal feedback in here. Disclaimer these are my opinions and how I've seen it as someone who does enjoy realistic simulator content.

This may contain spoilers

The good:

1. I really like the sounds. The sounds are really well done on this, I recognise them and I think they're really well mixed.
2. Not enforcing speed limits was a good call, sometimes especially in the shunting scenarios sitting at 10mph does make it drag a little bit. It's nice to be able to stretch the legs of both of them as well. I didn't go crazy only around 30ish at most.
3. The Story line - It feels like a Thomas story like the ones I used to read. It wasn't hard to follow and the cut scenes were really interesting for the most part. I liked the scenarios for the most part as well although the ending felt a little abrupt.
4. The automatic coupling worked nicely in this setting. The sounds were good and it just streamlined gameplay really nicely for me at least.

Constructive Feedback

1. I felt like this could've perhaps bridged the gap between the realistic TSW content and new players a little more. Maybe an animated regulator or a few bits in the cab just to introduce people to the functions on the locomotives and the world of trains.
2. I feel like the control system could've been better linking to my first point. I get what they were going for but in the scheme of TSW I don't feel like a Reverser, Brake and Regulator would've been too much and it would've prepared people for a step into other content if they wanted to try it. Plus for existing players it being the wrong way around was another issue. That and the zoom functions on acceleration and braking didn't feel great so stuck to head out view for basically the whole thing.
3. The buffers on Annie and Clarabelle are too widely spaced and don't work with the rest of the stock.
4. Some wagons didn't seem to have physics/movement when coupled. The coupling was always tight apart from the fireworks train which had some nice wobble and coupling slack!
5. The route just felt very quiet. I understand it was story driven gameplay but it would've been nice to some other movement on the route and some other stock. The WSR mk1s were in place so why not throw some more around?
6. Would've been nice to get some steam particle effects when you stop as the letting off steam sound plays but there is no effect as we saw in the show.
7. The idea of a shunting puzzle would've been amazing with this level. You had all the wagons labelled individually but it was kind of ruined by the signature objective to objective gameplay. The wagons also weren't very messed up so it was very basic. I would've enjoyed a little more interactive gameplay like put a picture of the word up and then just let the player figure it out? There were a few nice yard areas which would've resembled an inglenook really nicely.
8. Would've been really nice to have more issues with the troublesome trucks, maybe a little more dialogue and some singing or having to bump them to get them to behave.
9. I understand it was all bright and sunny days which was okay for a first run. But if there is future content I'd love to see some of those dark misty nights which always set such a great atmosphere on some of the old stories! Like the Flying Kipper and James's encounter with the tree!
10. Lastly was a small one. But Diesels engine roaring into life and him pulling on the scenario where you rescue him did ruin the moment somewhat. He could've just stayed as a dead asset tbh it would've added to the moment.

Overall I think it was a good first attempt. While there were a few issues teething trouble with a new kind of dlc will always be there. I just think a little more care and detail could've been put in at places. I paid £10 for this as I had a gift card, I wouldn't have paid £20 if I'm honest as it felt a little short. I think around the price of something like HFP would've been fair as it was a similar style pack.

 

I very much agree. This is true for every journey chapter in the entire game.
I’ve had quite a few instances of accidentally loading up a tutorial because I just wanted to check the contents of the journey chapter, or how many points I got in the tutorial. Super annoying because booting up any tutorial famously permanently turns on the jarring and immersion-breaking multi-colored stop markers, even if you’ve disabled them in the settings menu.
Either restore the pre-patch behavior, or add an internal toggle and thus only make the Thomas DLC immediately boot up the missions when clicking on the chapters for easier navigation, as it’s mainly aimed at kids.

 

Matt,
Just a question. When you say you used the models as supplied and didn't tweak them.
If you look at Diesels side rods in the full down position, they would actually clip the rails when going through points. They appear to be scaled a little too big?

 

Finished it up. Good overall but a few suggestions:
More music would be nice
Not having to chase a cow off the track or have a chat with a friendly tractor were missed opportunities for this map
The trucks were not troublesome at all

 

Very good indeed. If you could do some remodeling to the isle of wight and lay some more track, Thomas and friends could have a nice home.

 

Besides the window artifact thing, the tight signals was my only real concern. It wasn't clear you had to wait for the crossing gates on the road by Minehead and unless you know to look for it (and sometimes dance on the throttle/brake to make them move) it could nab a new player. Then when they reload, the "invisible Diesel" bug happened.

The throttle... I can see what you were going for. Makes it hard for them to "coast" though, actually takes more throttle management than "normal" controls. But, I see the design concept.
Just like I can see why the trains aren't usable with other rolling stock.

Sounds were great.
Physics were decent (for what it is)
Thomas seemed to have about the right amount of power (although the 125 mph speedometer was amusing)

Not a badly put together DLC as a whole. I think it could do well with a sequel!

 

Perhaps a possible solution could be to add a “Thomas & Friends driving controls -> Beginner / Advanced” toggle to the settings menu. Beginner gives you the existing simplified controls, Advanced activates normal TSW behavior (reverser, throttle & brake).

 

DTG originally talked about multiple control layouts for steam when they were talking about introducing manual firing so it must be possible in some way?

I think it'd be good to bridge that gap between new players and the simulator a little bit more

 

So having driven Thomas on WSR and on Midland Mainline, I've really enjoyed it. If expansion packs are made in the future with other engines and rolling stock, I'd buy them.

I'd also love an Island of Sodor route as well.

 

There is some weird and wonderful physics going on when you try to couple Thomas using his front buffer beam which sits lower than his rear.

Most of the time, using the screw link coupler, you get away with it as it has more slack but if you use the 3 link coupler there is little slack and during even slight shunting moves there is a good chance of sending Thomas into orbit. This was with testing with trucks on WSR at Minehead.

 

I will try to get one posted. I did see some post a screen shot of the condition on Facebook group.

 

Haven't gone too far into it as I got it today along with the Dutch route and am getting all of the training missions out of the way. I have however found an issue in that no matter which way you do Thomas' training mission the achievement doesn't unlock. I've done both via the Thomas tab and by going into the loco depot and using the training modules tab.

 

Think it’s been mentioned previously, but I’m also having the issue on Xbox Series X whereby the Thomas training achievement won’t unlock.

 

Any plans to add more characters of thomas

 

I was trying out Thomas on the NTP route last night. He really suits some parts of it in fairness. The same partial derail issue happened again so it is not a WSR issue but an issue with Thomas physics model. Perhaps the suspension?

 

Have been playing this for the past few days and while I've been enjoying it I have found one HUGE bug with it that could and most likely will put the target audience off playing it! And that bug is....red lights! Your average 4-6 year old isn't going to understand the red lights or spadding, they just want to have fun driving Thomas and Diesel so in my opinion this add-on/expansion (whatever you want to call it) should have been set up so that dispatcher has all signals set to green.

 

With the new patch you can no longer open and close the doors with left and right on the D pad. You have to open and close doors manually with the free camera or on foot.

Also you have to bury the free camera in the back of the lamp on Thomas to turn it on or off.

This is on PS5

 

Hard disagree, actually. I know 7 years old was when they went hard on teaching us the Green Cross Code at school, but even before that age parents would always instil in us for safety, the understanding that a Red light at a crossing meant STOP and a Green one meant GO. Signals are a thing we learn from the moment we're able to walk outside the house. All this does is reinforce that lesson, when a child asks why they got a game over, as a parent you ask what they did, then check that they remember what they're supposed to do when waiting at the lights. Red means it's not safe, Green means you can go.

 

It was explained on the preview streams that diesel is pretty plain on the detailing side, so DTG added some enhancements to the base model, signed off by Mattel to enhance the visual aesthetics.

 

No, it actually does not explain it. The extra detail that's added eg. the additional vents and equipment boxes work. But the overscalled side rods don't. Not for CGI or the actual scale models. They need to be looked at again imo.

 

So, right trigger to accelerate, left trigger to brake, and A/X to do a handbrake turn for some multi-track drifting action?