And this is the bit I especially like.. "but the free upgrade is there to bring everyone along for the ride." This has to be a good move and I really hope it results in not only an increased player base, but also a more streamlined and efficient production process as sales will better reflect popularity rather than bundle packages.
I second that - it doesn’t personally affect me because with the TSW5 core routes + the upcoming releases, I’m definitely going to be attempting to pre order the deluxe version in the next couple of weeks - but it’s great that those who don’t want to buy a new title every year can still be able to access the future releases
DTG Alex DTG JD DTG Matt Hi guys. With the 390s, Will 390119 have the Pride Livery come with it? 390121 with the Climate Livery etc
Unfortunately I don’t think they will which is a huge shame. I really like what DTG did with the Pride livery on the 395 back on SEHS and I hope we see more like that - but I believe it all comes down to licensing and permissions.
I feel the same with pretty much everything you've said here. WCML Over Shap being done in it's entirety is fantastic (and, presumably with the Morecambe branch too) it sounds like it would be a fantastic route to run. I'd imagine JT would be the type to add (AI) layers onto BPO as well so it could well be an all-timer in the making. Certainly a lot of fun to be had with the 390 in Free Roam / scenario planner, as well. WCMLS is probably the best spot operationally as it's before anything branches off of the route, and MK is the first terminus along the route. Full Watford DC Line in there too, very nice. The 377/2 is a welcome surprise as well. German route seems to be a cracker and SBL is a much more interesting prospect than AVL. Regardless of which version I buy, I'll still take up Gamepass' offer for these. (I'll probably end up buying deluxe for the 390... sigh...) Like yourself I'm quite interested in the Cardiff and Dutch routes... Looking forward to seeing what's in them.
Would love to see it and strangely my instagram has just popped up a photo of 390119. Yeh, that's literally a totally different livery rather than the trainbow like decals on the 395. Every carriage is a different colour! Wonder which skilled livery designer will give it a go.
Yes! Definitley I would 100% thing JasonPFC Would do those liveries but I hope they come with the trains.
Although I´m a little bit dissapointet of Austria became extinct and no hope for Railjet, I am quite happy about the ICE-T and the Flixtrain licensing as well as the free core and the GWE remaster.
I'm very happy with the TSW5 announcement. They surely listened to the community. Don't think there will be much divide over TSW5 in the community over this year's release. For me personally this is a Deluxe Pre order. All the 3 routes look interesting. Don't know a thing about them so they look fun to do. The only thing I find disappointing is that new trains like the ICE, Flix and Pendolino will be TSW5 routes only at launch and probably for always.
Another thought occurs to me- I hope people do buy into TSW5 for a few reasons. 1) Obviously we want our hobby to have a bright future which means companies producing great products that we can enjoy. 2) Additionally though I find myself wondering if DTG will be looking at the data quite closely to see how the core upgrade being free allied to greater purchasing freedom with dlc translates into sales. If its a positive sales trend then hopefully it'll be an annual thing, but if it doesn't translate into a positive sales trajectory then it may be reviewed. So again, for those two reasons I'd be encouraging people to look at what they'd like to get and get it, certainly off the back of a core update. I know I'm going to be sitting down for some quality impulse buying when I'm back at my pc... and as the year goes on too.
Essentially we opted to go with AI-powered voices this year because we re-did every tutorial, added numerous more, and wanted to be able to play and refine them and do the voiceover at the end - that's simply not possible with people doing the voices, it needs significantly more time and then you can't change anything if you don't like it later on. Plus, the technical nature of it, we've found really makes it hard to find people who can manage it well. We've done okay in the past, but this year we didn't see a way forward and wanted to try a new approach. We do not see this being the end of using real talent for VO where it's better suited, such as in more narrative speech etc. From an ethical standpoint, all source voices used within the tech are fully licensed and supported by the real people who provided their voices to the system that we used (unlike the Wild West that you may see elsewhere). Also, for reference - it was usually DTG Matt or one of the internal team who VOed tutorials - we've very rarely used anyone outside the company in recent releases (I believe Matt's wife did a couple of the American ones in the past!)
Hello DTG, nice to see that u continue ur way i wanna know if in TSW 5 we finally can benefit from DLSS/FSR ? didnt find an info on that cheers
I'm just waiting for GWE info, I know I'm not the only one and cant wait. I like Both the GWML now and In 2015 so I am really excited
AI voices? Cool! Do they have accents? I really think this will work way better for this game. I don't hear anything other than AI powered voices when I'm at a station anyways. AI voices and railways go way back further than Siri I guess.
I'm in agreement with you this morning antwerpcentral! Who ever would have thought this day would come.... It's efficient, makes sense, and doesn't harm anyone as it was dtg employees or their nearest and dearest providing the tones anyway.. (from what I read elsewhere from one of the DTGs)
WCML - very underwhelmed. Two similar trains. Would have been more interested if 390 was included with route and not as a dlc Welsh Route - Interested to find out more. Preston - Carlise - very interested. Good that TWS5 core game is free to download.
They sound incredibly natural. Most people who've heard them in the testing of the game haven't even realise they're "text to speech" and have asked who we got to record them. Text to Speech has come on ridiculously far since when I used to use it for telephony applications many years ago, very impressive system. That said, it's no replacement for something that requires a narrative, human touch to it. Like anything, it's about finding the right tool for the right job. This allows us a ton more flexibility to do the VO at the very end of the dev rather than before the tutorial is even written in the game and tested (yes the lead time to get VO done is that far). Plus, in terms of people getting paid - we paid to use the voices, and they got paid by the word for what we generated as well. Matt.
Hello there, What about the lags ? I currently have a average/good laptop (RTX3060 on board) and, for me, I almost cannot drive on some routes due to huge lags and freezes... It will be the same ? Cheers Christophe
Very nice indeed. Some good upcoming routes, trains and features! Maybe not everyone's cup of coffee but certainly is mine. Finally we get fast travel, sandbox was rather time consuming without it. Well done dtg, y'all deserve a sticker.
Does this mean no more of your Dulcet Tones Generated (see what I did there) audio clips for training centre Matt? Now I'm sad, your voice is like a calming influence navigating the pitfalls of performing passenger operations
Amusingly, you may weirdly think it does sound like me even though the voice is totally different... That's because we used a technique called "Speech to Speech" - where I've recorded every line of VO (long night, dry throat) and then we put it through the system - it then maps a new voice on to it but uses all your intonations and styling, end result... it's like someone hung a new voice on top of mine. It's both weird (for me) and incredible how real it sounds - million times better than vanilla TTS. Matt.
Could this mean that voiced scenarios is now somewhat possible? I mean as long as the VO don't sound awkward, it works.
Maybe. That'd be a nice goal to get to - and this does take a good sized step in that direction, but we're not there yet, we're just starting to use this so we need to refine that. But yes, hopefully in the future. Matt.
Is DTG looking at ways of bringing us a route for Essex, Suffolk and/or Norfolk? I appreciate the licencing issues with the current operator but it's rich hunting ground for electric slam doors.
Unrelated, did the very talented Joe make any timetables for any of the core routes that come with the game?
I remember the old Amiga (Emulator) Train Driver 3 used to allow you to set up simple station name announcements which used the Amiga text to speech utility. Sounded like one of the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica. Very good for its time but yes we’ve come a long way since then.
Hey Matt did you fix the time reset when returning to save session in tsw5? what i mean is durning game session if you save a game and time is 15:30 pm then later you resume the game session the time get reset to where it started. did you fixs it so that it continue where you left off.
The GWR rework was very suprising. and from saying that there will be no preservation crew anymore and thus older routes will be left to degrade over time. this is great news. can't wait to see some more about the SKA timetable update, hope that old ICE3 gets updated to dutch ATB systems too some day so we can drive it somewhere between Amsterdam and Arnhem. Speaking of remasters. how is clinchfield going Matt?
Sort of. The voices of Matt, I believe possibly his wife(?), and those of maybe some other DTG employees have been put through the box of ai magic to conjure up some fairly impressive results in a very efficient and easy to manipulate (in comparative terms) way. At least, that's how my brain processed Matts post on the topic.
Maybe it was already mentioned somewhere and I just missed it. On the new route Frankfurt - Fulda, in addition to ICE1 from the Kassel - Würzburg map, will there also be implementation of other (AI) traffic, etc. from other previous maps, as was the case in TSW4, or will there be no other AI Layers?
There will be layers and substitutions from other DLCs. They usually post the list in the article about the route that precedes the preview (usually 1 or 2 days before).
Hey, sorry if its already come up and I've not spotted it, but has there been any word on the surprising inclusion of 'RailDriver' on the FAQ page? DTG Matt Do you have info on any work thats linked to this? Very excited for TSW5 esp. the West Coast Main Line.
Yes; if you claim the free version it's yours forever. The GP edition (standard) isn't, unless you buy that. I'd suggest claiming the starter pack before release just incase Xbox locks you out of redeeming it as you already "have" the game.
I find it disappointing that you have to unlock the TSW 5 features by buying a TSW 5 route or the bundle. For me it's a paywall disguised as a free upgrade
Live Map 2.0 and etc. (except obviously Conductor Mode) isn't extended to the "Free Starter Pack" column.
The FAQ says that everything except Conductor Mode and Achievements (because those things are exclusive to TSW5 routes) are available if you have TSW Compatible routes.
