Hey Folks, Just wanted to check in to have a bit of a discussion about the modding scene in TSW. I've dipped in and out of the game over it's various iterations and feel like the state of the game from a modding point of view (on PC obviously) seems to have become a lot more quieter. Back in the TSW3/TSW4 days, there seemed to be a lot more going on with regards to improving routes and locos. The enhancement packs in particular for some of the older routes were fantastic in bringing another level of immersion and liveliness within the simulator. The same goes for some crucial sound mods, TOD improvements and the like. I still keep an eye out for mods coming through but it really feels like further development as slowed up. I'm assuming this is because of the yearly releases and the inevitable breaking that new releases have on older mods, modders also have day jobs and don't have the time to keep up with updates etc. but I wanted to get other people's thoughts on this and if you've noticed it too. It's not all doom and gloom - I think there are some really good third party mods like the route annotations and Bart's announcements and I think these have massively improved the experience but it seems like mods are trying to decouple (excuse the pun) from the game due to the yearly releases. I'd like to hear your thoughts - it's a bit sad that there are some really good enhancement packs that modders have put time into which seem to be left to the wayside. Cheers!
The game in it's current form is in an obvious downward spiral across the board. Many believe that a 'new' version is already in the pipeline and that Metro Rivals is a test bed for working with the newer game engine. No idea if this is true, but sounds very plausible. I also believe that a lot of the best modders are involved in 3rd party stuff now, so are doing less/none basic modding for obvious reasons.
Obvioulsy a downward spiral. New countries announced, new third parties on board over the last year, a busy roadmap.......
A lot of the modders are now 3rd party devs and good for them I say. It’s nice to see that they’ve been able to monetise their work.
I dont have the feeling at all, Modding has gone more and more in depht over the years, from the simple repains and texture changes to now entire newly modelled coaches and even the first few serious WIP routes. Stuff like the ICE1 , T, 146 and 218 EPs as well as the Eurofima coach pack and the Railjet by BPH shows the continued growth of the modding scene, some of those are essentially what TSC payware enhancement packs do, just for free. New timetables are regularly appearing on the TSC site too. Also the last TSW releases didnt bring any unreal version changes, so afaik youre able to run most TSW4 and later mods in TSW6. The quality and scope of most mods nowadays means they take longer to develop than earlier counterparts, but the mods for this game have definetly improved a lot over time
