1. I haven't done any real PC gaming in a very long time, so please excuse my ignorance. Looking at the Epic vs Steam store conversations elsewhere here, am I to understand that TSW2 from Steam and from Epic are effectively considered two different games, and that you're then locked to that provider for updates and DLC purchases for the copy they supplied? 2. Most of my PC specs are plenty good enough, but my GPU is an AMD RX 570, which is a touch slower than the recommended RX 480. Can anyone with the same or a similar card confirm the game's performance? GPU prices have gone up JUST a bit recently, so I don't think I'll be upgrading for a while. Thanks!
1a. They're not two different games. Epic will be getting the game update before Steam, but both games will be identical. 1b. Yes, you're locked into that provider for future DLC, and you can't cross-purchase DLC from another provider to also use on your original provider. This is normally not a problem, though, as all providers offer the same DLC (although sale dates may differ between providers). 2. Don't know, sorry.
Not entirely true. A game purchased on Steam can only be played via Steam, and vice-versa; no Steam DLC can be played with the Epic version. Just like TSW2020 content purchased from the Microsoft Store is useless on Steam.
Recommendation here: Choose a platform and stay with it. If you dont own TSW 2 yet and doesnt own any of the content of TSW 2020 and you have no problem with using Epic Games, then I would recommend using Epic since you get TSW 2 for free and then you can buy the collection you want to go with there.
One titbit of info picked up from the Q&A stream is that progress does not carry across from the Steam version to the EGS version and vice versa. The steam version stores progress in the \Documents\My Games\TrainSimWorld2\Saved folder, I figured the EGS version would just use the same folder but apparently not. I know Windows Store games for example Rage 2 shared their folders as I played it initially on Windows Store using gamepass and then I later claimed it on EGS when it was offered for free and all my progress from before when I played it via Windows Store carried over.
It doesn't use the same folder to avoid any clash but... the folder structure and files within are basically the same so if you want to just copy the files across, it ought to work fine (as always back up your files before experimenting)
So we should be able to install the Epic version without damaging our Steam installation (and save games)? Of course I will do a backup of my SaveGames folder regardless.
So basically profiles are interchangeable between the two platforms if I get that right. WHen the folder structure is the same, you just need to copy the respective profile save into the other one to have it there too. Although it could bring problems with achievements getting bugged.
I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to use your old Steam profile for Epic when you want to use it with 4.23 again. When I ported my TSW 2020 profile over to TSW 2 and I copied it back into TSW 2020, it didn't work anymore and was wiped.
Yeah, the UE Version needs to be the same if you want to be safe. In general I would recommend to create a safety profile just in case.
This is a good idea. I will download the Epic Store version just to try out the new UI early, and I feel much safer knowing it will not touch my TSW2 Steam profile.
I wouldn't say it's that simple, you can't purchase TSW1 content for it at launch. And even if it does become available later TSW1's not available on Epic, and that's worth grabbing even if you have TSW2 because it's a super cheap way to expand it. Also while this I believe has been fixed more recently TSW1 version of addons used to be cheaper than their TSW2 versions. If you only have interest in TSW2's content then I can agree with your assessment. But you should probably think about it more if you have even slight interest in TSW1 content.
Makes sense to keep them seperate and good to know you can copy the files between them just fine. I have no intention of switching from Steam to EGS but I'll certainly check it out in the free week to get a preview of 4.26 and the new UI
Thanks for this Matt. I've signed up for Epic because I want to play with the 4.26 version before it comes out on Steam to see the new features but also to see how it runs on 4.26. I imagine until both are running 4.26 just copying the DLC files may not work all that well before the core update comes out since one will been baked for 4.26 and one baked for 4.23? Paul
You'll need to redownload all your DLC after they receive the 4.26 treatment, so no....copying the PAK files from your Steam TSW2 4.23 won't work.
That is my expectation too, thanks. I suspect Matt's thinking is that in the dev build he's got they are both running 4.26. Paul
Just a thought, but if you’re using family share for your kids, it will allow them to use Steam while you play the Epic TSW…
That will totally depend on your output resolution what framerate you personally find acceptable and what graphic settings you're happy to run at. I like running with everything cranked because visuals are important to me so I've got a significantly better card - best I can afford. If you keep your settings low and are prepared to accept compromises then you will probably be able to run the game readily enough. Paul
Thanks very much for an interesting conversation! Is that the way PC gaming is now? If you don't get a physical disk, you're pretty much locked into the digital version provider's own ecosystem? Boggles my mind. (And thanks for the folder copy tip if I ever need it.) Regarding the graphics, I'm usually perfectly happy with 1080p. I mostly game on a PS4, but very few games have graphics eye-popping enough that I think 4k would add anything. As long as everything's clear and any text is easily readable, I'm generally fine with that. I suppose the obvious solution would be for me to download the freebie from Epic and try it out.
Gaming today is no different than books, movies, or songs. You're locked into iTunes or Kindle or whatever store you choose. There's less of a market for CDs, DVDs, box copies of games, when you can read, listen, watch, or play on different devices, whether at home, or on the go.
Personally I was able to let go of my physical media only mentality around the time when Windows 10 came out. Seeing as it completely screwed over a good chunk of CDs/DVDs thanks to the lack of SafeDisc. You can get those games working, but ironically you have to use modified .exe files which were made to pirate the games to get legitimate physical copies working on Windows 10 these days.
Interestingly the physical media normally only has the boot program these days, the first thing it does is download a digital copy of the game Mich . Paul
To be fair there are exceptions, in particular I remember a big deal being made out of Halo Wars 2's physical release as it had everything on the disks. But yes, that's absolutely one big problem, even among the few games which actually have data on the disk you often still need updates after the fact,. For something like MSFS (which granted is a extreme example) means downloading basically the entire game again if you have the disk they made back in August.