West Coast Main Line: Trent Valley From All Aboard Studios

And none of those speak proper English. Get it?

 

I think the best thing for you to see a good improvement in performance is either upgrade your GPU or downgrade your resolution to 1080p, running 4K on a GTX 1650 is a bit nuts.

 

Because the mod needs an update for the new routes. Either wait for an official update or a temporary fix from the community. They say it's fairly easy to do, but apparently no one has taken it on yet.

I found myself in a similar situation in one service on the Linke Rheinstrecke. I methodically changed the positions of all the arrows in the area, even though it wasn't necessary. After one of them, the error went away and I was able to continue.

Vern is playing a turn-based strategy game. Don't interfere.

 

4K 75" qled

 

I’m quite happy with it actually! However my goto compromise is 1440p which usually lets me run at 30 FPS.

 

I often find in games that 1440p with heavier anti aliasing and/or increased screen percentage offers better performance and good visual quality - overall it’s a better outcome for me than a 4K output. Caveat there is I don’t play TSW on PC so YMMV with it.

 

On the Trent valley in the journey mod, they used apparrently the reduced timetable? Why they did that ? I play most of the time the journey mod and it ruined my experience:/

 

At least give on pc the normal version. It shouldn't be a bit much amount of work for the devs DTG Alex

 

I’m toying with getting a RTX3050 but that’s tempered by not wanting to spend £150 on a new video card that could go towards replacing the whole PC in the autumn, if MS don’t offer the 12 month security extension for Windows 10 again.

The main thing is, I’m happy with the results and would never complain about performance (well not much anyway) knowing how ancient my rig is!

 

Not sure what you’re talking about here? There is no ‘British’ language. People in Great Britain & NI speak English.

 

To be honest Vern, a 3050 is barely worth it. It’s the entry level card from two generations of tech ago and you won’t notice a huge improvement to be honest.

As a rule I believe your 1650 is roughly equivalent to a Series S and the Series X is approximately a 3060ti level. One of our guys has a 3050 though and we use that as our ‘will it run ok on this’ benchmark. If you’re getting a new PC later in the year save the money, if not then it’s maybe worth considering

 

Yeah agree with JetWash, only xx50 card that’s worth it is the 5050 IMO but at that point you’re in the 5060 ti price range anyway.

Of course if you’ve got an older build you probably have other considerations so I think any significant leap from a 1650 build is going to be a few hundred.

 

*English properly!!

 

At the risk of dragging the thread even further off topic, the long term solution is a new PC… My processor I7 4770 is the maximum for the motherboard so that would have to be replaced for a new CPU. That will then need DDR4 RAM. The whole thing would then need a beefier PSU than the current 450w one. At that point, all that’s left is the case and drives so probably easier and more economical to just order a new box.

 

Whilst true when you posted that, God Mode was updated late last night, one of the changes being: "God Mode is now universally supported on any current and future route and no longer bound to certain map files only".

With all due respect, Vern; suggesting that trees are affecting performance when you're (still) running in 4K on a 1080p GPU is bizarre.

 

100% this. Don't even think about trying to upgrade your current PC, save the money for a new PC that has the performance to match your monitor.

 

The funny thing about that argument over DIRFT being a "British word" and "English words" is that it isn't even a word; it's an acronym

 

I don’t envy you with the state of hardware pricing right now. Thankfully I upgraded most of my components when the 40 series dropped, I dread to think what it would have cost me to do in the current gen of GPU.

 

I think you misunderstood my comments about the foliage. 99% related to the aesthetics, performance just an afterthought.

 

Like me he only has UK DLCs, but it wasn't until he downloaded Trent Valley it started to crash.

But he has said it's about 50/50 at the moment whether it'll crash or work. So maybe there is something to be said about the Pro

 

To be fair, you have mentioned it a few times recently, and not just as an afterthought:

 

I mean I read that as the trees are something that shouldn’t be there in the first place, an issue which in turn has performance impacts.

It would be different if the scenery was accurate & complaints arose about performance, but modelling something incorrectly & it having negative impacts on performance, is fair game for a complaint IMO.

 

The case and drives age extremely slowly. Power supplies are no exception. My previous Zalman Z11 case had gone through several upgrades before I decided to go compact. The power supply also lasted over 12 years and died when a fan stopped working, causing overheating. A couple of 250GB Seagate HDDs can now buy alcohol on their own, and they still work in RAID 1 for the most important files. They, along with the first SSDs, are still healthy, unlike several newer HDDs died one after another within two weeks after the end of the 3-year guarantee.

 

Theres some decent feedback on the route i may give it a try later see how it performs on my series x

 

Indeed. All other considerations aside, I'm quite relishing getting back on there later on and continuing my Pendolino odyssey through the sweeping curves.

 

PS5 Pro owner here...

Purchased and downloaded Trent Valley Tuesday morning, but didn't have time to play until the evening after work. In my head all day at work I kept thinking negative thoughts assuming I wouldn't get through one full route without my PS5 Pro crashing once I played. I mentioned in another thread that a couple weeks ago I had already crashed recently while playing the Harlem route. And this past Monday after driving the Evero 805 from Crewe to an extremely busy Birmingham New Street I decided to walk around the platform for 10 minutes and do some trainspotting. Train after train after train coming in while dumping more and more passengers onto the platform and my PS5 Pro got fed up and crashed. Just while hanging out on the platform. Yikes!

I gotta say for Trent Valley I was impressed most likely because I expected the absolute worst and didn't have the confidence I was going to be able to actually finish the route without a crash.

I started off with the 390 from Crewe to Milton Keynes with a brief stop at Stafford. I received zero crashes on this route. However, when it came to blurry textures, strangely only the outside cab's Avanti West logo was blurry. Inside the cab the textures were just fine for 390 standards. But all in all on that specific destination route that was pretty much it. A pretty awesome ride I have to say.

I immediately decided to now go from Milton Keynes straight to Crewe without a stop, driving the Evero 807. Also to avoid a potential crash on this long route, I decided against closing the TSW game app or restarting the PS5 console entirely. Basically trying to see if it would crash going from one long route immediately to the next.

From Milton Keynes to Crewe on the 807, zero crashes. Another great ride all the way down to Crewe. However, there weren't any blurry texture issues for the entire ride until I got to the very end of the Crewe platform, unlocked the doors to exit passengers, looked down and every control button inside the cab was completely blurry. Stepped outside of the cab and the Avanti West logo was completely blurry and unreadable.

But for a start, until I run the other locos, I did enjoy Trent Valley. My crashless PS5 Pro pretty much enjoyed Trent Valley as well. Funny though it did not enjoy Harlem or Birmingham New Street. Huh, go figure.

 

Are there neutral sections on this route do you know please?

 

That's what Vern is saying though, in "do they really have to replicate Network Rail's linear forest quite so meticulously" - in other words, it's too accurate (for him) both in terms of aesthetics and (perceived) performance hit.

 

Again you misunderstood. It doesn't have to be 100% as IRL. Just because Network Rail have decided no one needs to see what's beyond the boundary fence doesn't mean that should carry over into the game, which is primarily for entertainment. Just in the same way as regards sounds. I would much rather have the option to hear the IET traction sounds in cab, rather than the dull realistic rendition. It's called using a bit of artistic licence - as I said, this us to entertain and a bit of escapism not a training tool.

 

I took the plunge on this one as it promises so much. Still does. Blurry textures are still a feature and I had a CTD on approach to Crewe in a 350-4 run. I'm on xbox series x. I was hoping for more but probably fearing far worse so overall I am happy. I think. I did consider refunding straight after my CTD but I think I will keep hoping for the best with the updates promised.

I thought it might be boring and too samey samey, but it actually is very and continually interesting for such a long run.

I think if you are an Xboxer and still on the fence, consider how happy you are with the known performance issues, particularly blurry textures. If you think you'll put up with them for an otherwise decent DLC then go for it. If they are unacceptable to you, then leave this alone.

 

Has anyone noticed seemingly random double yellow signals popping up? I did a full run in 1U25 until I had a CTD outside Crewe and had double yellows without any explanation. They weren't followed by singles ever, weren't on approach to anything and I looked ahead on the map and I wasn't following anything. I am not an experienced player and have no route knowledge, but this seemed rather random. Happy to hear if anyone knows anything.

My brother drives this route and I've asked him, but he's drinking beer in Europe and hasn't responded.

 

it might just be a placebo, but crewe-stafford looks better than the b2c version. has this section been upgraded?

 

Liking what I’ve seen so far…just a small point, why are the Everos pathed for 115mph, when they’re limited to 110mph?

 

I watched the interview from TSS.

I have massive respect for AABS for their transparency, integrity and accountability for B2C. I have to admire their honesty.

on the B2C preview stream, the stream was done on console, something which is rare to find on routes we’ve seen before.

I think they’re passionate and honest, and that’s every reason to believe they’re good at making routes.

it’s evident from the release of Trent valley that they have learnt their lessons from B2C, and this release has been much smoother and less bug ridden.

 

I'm really pleased with this add-on, much better than the Birmingham - Crew dlc. There is a lot to do and many big stations that are a long your path. Also a very nice container Terminal. performance is very good, I had on the first run a few dips at Stratford and crew, my Vram was at 100%, maybe investing in the future in a better video card with more than 8gb. Well done allboard Studios!

 

This is great route on PC. Glad I went for it. Also seen some of the TSS interview and it is sad to hear ABS say they are no longer doing long routes and pivoting to 20-30 mile routes that perform well on all platforms moving forward. Maybe DTG can sort the core out and make more progress on optimization, allowing 3rd parties to do what they actually want to do.

 

I can’t pretend I would have bought this on release because I simply can’t afford to be buying all content at full price but I haven’t bought the Birmingham-Crewe route even in the PS sale. I just have no confidence in these detailed and busy routes working well enough on my PS5, the console these things are supposed to work on. I’m not prepared to be playing with massively reduced timetables, or disabling lots of layers, reducing the output resolution, or uninstalling a load of other DLC to get routes to half work well. I’d rather not bother.

For this route to have all the services, buying the Birmingham route, the Class 805 and upcoming Class 70 are necessary, and that’s around £100 for all that All Aboard content at full price. That’s not an issue in itself as it’s how TSW content works, building the content required, but it is an issue if it doesn’t work well. Even with a 20% discount buying all of these as they come up in sales it would be £80 and that’s a lot of money for me to spend on something I have no confidence in. There’s no realistic chance of a refund on Playstation so I need to be confident before buying. I’m not. DTG and the developers have a lot more to do before I buy any of these recent releases.

The current feedback for this route is all before the Class 70 is added to complete the route’s timetable and it’s already not been great. It will get worse once that DLC is released.

So far I’ve only bought one TSW6 DLC and that was the Stuttgart route in a sale and I bought that with vouchers I got for my birthday. I’ve not spent a single penny of my own money on TSW6 DLC. I’m not boycotting anything, I just don’t want broken content.

 

they can actually do more than 110, they’re capable of 125mph but because of their lack of tilting the speed limit is usually lower. a lot of the west coast main line got upgraded recently so that the MU limits are now suited to the evero fleet, not just the 350

 

I'm on a base model PS5...

I was absolutely blown away at how excellent this route was. Naturally I started in a Class 390 on a fast Manchester run only stopping at Stafford on the way to Crewe.

For the first time in a modern route (this is with the exception of JTs Preston to Carlisle which is in a different era), in the games history I really felt like I was on a engaging InterCity run. To have 108 miles to play with at 125mph in a Pendolino A) Makes you feel like you're packing a genuine shift in on a high speed service. B) Really hits that sweet spot for the perfect gameplay timing without feeling in anyway short changed. In WCMLS just as you're getting into the route, you feel like you have been short changed on Class 390 runs (MKC to EUS, and Tring to Euston in the 350 are the only services that give me a sense of satisfaction on WCMLS).

The run I had upto Crewe was absolutely phenomenal, and I'm not exaggerating on that either. The high speed running over such long distance really was engaging, and I also felt it was the first time the Pendolino could be truly enjoyed for what it is designed for, with high speed running, sharp curves and a decent length. A real highlight on my drive was coming up to Rugby up and around the sharp curve on the approach to the station at full speed which felt absolutely awesome!

For such a long route the detail is also meticulously done whilst being highly optimised. One thing that generally goes unnoticed is that incredibly pleasant and natural lighting system that AAS have implemented across the route.

I really would recommend this route to anyone who likes a large network style route and one capable of running intercity services or long distance regional services between 2 logical start and end points. I never doubted AAS work at any point and knew this would impress me. I even think impress is a understatement, as playing the route in person is phenomenal.

Now, I do have 2 pieces of feedback, none the less. The first is (although I could be wrong), the Class 390 cab desk feels as if it has been tinkered with slightly for optimisation purposes. If I zoomed in on the desk, the cab panels look slightly less detailed than I remember them. This is not the buttons, or text in the cab that remained unchanged and consistent. But when zooming in on the speed set in the 390, I noticed the cab panelling had lost some of its original sharpness. Am I seeing things? Do I have false memories, of something that was already there? I don't know. But it didn't feel as sharp as it originally did.

The second piece of feedback is to be expected and is just me being transparent to feedback where blurring did occur... For the entire run upto Crewe I had absolutely no blurring issues what so ever. It was only when I reached Crewe itself that that blurring occured. I've only done one run so far, so I'm wondering if this was more to do with my PS5 console building a cache of memory because it was my first run. I'll give it another go down to Milton Keynes later and see if it has fixed itself. But overall blurring was practically non existent so whatever optimisations had been carried out have been fairly successful.

Hats off to AAS, this is one phenomenal piece of work and one to be proud of! I finally felt I was getting a full game and full route with this... More often then not some DLC can feel like small dioramas that end with illogical points, but this is the complete opposite and gives you a highly satisfying feeling of a bloody good run, on a bloody good route!

I never doubted AAS talent for a second and have been rooting for them since B2C, and this just shows me that my enthusiasm for them and their talented team was well founded. Now, I've seen the rail replacement bus, are we on the way to Shrewsbury next?

Well done fellas. Complete respect from me.

 

Have you got a source for that? As far as I’m aware, no non-tilting stock can exceed 110.

 

So far the route is ok, good level of detail, and getting a locked 60fps (with jetwashes ultra settings on 4070ti super) i would say my only criticism is the traffic seems very light, we still have passengers preferring to walk under platforms than on them, but i think that's more a DTG problem than route problem, I'm both hoping and looking forward to a mod timetable like WCMLs to really bring this route alive, so to conclude I'm happy with the route, was it worth the £32.99 i would say no, for no other reason than it is let down by the intrinsic flaws and problems with the core game itself which is not all aboards fault.

 

Not on this route but hst can go 125 and I dont think they tilt.

 

HSTs don’t tilt and therefore limited to 110 on the WCML

 

the source, is the speed boards throughout trent valley. the 805/807 are multiple units (MU) so adhere to the MU boards

 

damn shame they never expanded the C-APT system, we could be sitting at 155mph instead of 125mph by now :-(

 

Does the Pendalino have announcements on this route

 

No

 

Encountered quite a bit of stuttering for a few moments earlier today, was on the 153 run up to Crewe and was passing through Stafford, it just happened that two 390s arrived simultaneously and that combined with me thrashing the proverbials off the 153 having been held outside the station caused a fair bit of stuttering as I passed through the station (no doubt the door opening sequence on the 390s didn't help). Evidently even the PC master race can get the occasional stutter haha Aside from that it was a nice trip, plenty of thrash and there was other traffic, still felt immersive enough

Tempted to take the 323 out for that very long run, might need a packed lunch first...

Regarding the comments about the lack of traffic, what times of day are folks using? early morning is supposed to be quiet, it picks up later on though of course we are missing freight (yes the 70 will bring in more and the 90 well....) but the real WCML is like that nowadays, very quiet on the freight front. I must admit I bought the "other" Hitachi unit under duress simply so I could have as much traffic as possible, the irony is I couldn't point it out of a lineup against the other one that came pre-packed with the route so I don't actually know if I'm seeing one or the other...

 

I suppose my comment was mainly aimed at Crewe, bearing in mind the last time i was at Crewe was over 30yrs ago LOL, it seemed to be alot less busy than i thought it would, especially compared to Birm to Crewe ( i also think I'm a bit spoiled by all the Mod timetables i run, where they make the routes feel alive) it feels more like a regional station than a national hub on the mainline.