Why is the Ballast Color so wrong on some of the routes in the game? You have LGV, where the Ballast Across the whole route is a bit too dark, SEHS where the Ballast at Stratford is also a bit too dark, LIRR where you used Ballast, instead of the steel Elevated Tracks on certain sections, and now the Arosa Line (made by rivet) has incorrect ballast. In this video, you can see the comparisons between the IRL and In-Game ballast color on the Arosa Line. I assume this to be the way DTG made the texture, and not Rivet’s fault, since the other routes also share this issue. (Other than that, I like how the Arosa Line is coming together) Why hasn’t this been fixed across the routes in the game? It’s blatantly obvious that it’s wrong in certain sections, yet you keep it like that.
In think there is a reason the ballast is dark. It hides a multitude of little route building errors and graphic artefacts that would stand out more if it was lighter. The loading in of shadow LODs on the rail and sleepers (ties) would look worse with a lighter background. The darker background helps to hide it. I definitely think it is an artistic decision to make the game look better to the players, most of whom don’t really care if the ballast isn’t right but might care about the pop-in artefacts of the track (which is constant because you have to look at it a lot).
