Future of TS2017

[NorthernWarrior]

JT reputation sadly less than sterling... Western Mainlines has had, what, like 4 patches now (I gave up after the second one).

They also apparently have another "Western" route in the offing - Westbury down to Taunton and across to Bristol and comments at UKTS on preview screenshots indicate their route builder is still relying on original 2007 Kuju assets to decorate the route. Just about acceptable in freeware but a commercial developer charging £££ $$$ for their work should by now have a library of their own 3D models they can call on.

[trev123]

Western Mainlines was not developed by JT, they just published it.

[NorthernWarrior]

Western Mainlines was not developed by JT, they just published it.

Then as the publisher, taking the dinero in they do have a certain responsibility when it comes to QA. :)

Anyhow I see looking on UKTS, reference to the new Western route has been pulled from their site, they appear to have gone off a bit prematurely. Personally I think it has the potential to be an interesting route - the Avon Valley across from Westbury to Bath and the "desert" down through Castle Cary to Taunton. Even better if they include the Mendip Quarries at Merehead and Whatley which generate, by UK standards, some of the heaviest freight trains on the network. However the route author(s) and publisher need to be paying heed to the detail, in particular that some customers do not want to see 10 year old Kuju assets being used in a third party commercial project (a sentiment I'm sure Kuju and DTG share).

[OldProf]

Isn't the quality of those assets more important than their age?

As the man says, "Here's looking up your old assets!"

[NorthernWarrior]

Isn't the quality of those assets more important than their age?

As the man says, "Here's looking up your old assets!"

Most of the old Kuju assets look very dated and clichéd, having appeared in just about every freeware route ever released since 2007 and some commercial projects, mostly JT who also have a penchant for popping up the default RS rolling stock in lots of unlikely places (Class 166 Turbos in Scotland, I think not...). And hopefully JT actually have permission per the EULA to use these assets (though as they are so old I doubt DTG would want much money for them). It is my particular view that no-one should profit off the efforts of others unless permission has been granted or a royalty arrangement agreed.

Anyhow this is kind of digressing from the original theme which is the future of TS2017 or indeed a hoped for TS2018. I would still like to put something together for heritage TS myself at some point this year (warning: may include default assets ) but still waiting to see what the future holds for DTG as a group (I read elsewhere their Flight School has been pulled from sale) and the TS brand in particular.

[trev123]

No need to guess that Flight School has been taken down it has. Anyway they have FSX Steam Edition which I think is doing pretty good. Don't think TS would be stopped as DTG say that they have quite a bit of new DLC in the pipe line. Vern you always seem to be a person of doom and gloom as from other posts I see of yours on other forums. Why not make your posts sound more positive.

[NorthernWarrior]

No need to guess that Flight School has been taken down it has. Anyway they have FSX Steam Edition which I think is doing pretty good. Don't think TS would be stopped as DTG say that they have quite a bit of new DLC in the pipe line. Vern you always seem to be a person of doom and gloom as from other posts I see of yours on other forums. Why not make your posts sound more positive.

Not going to change who I am or my take on things. Been around these games for a long time and pretty good at sniffing out what's good and what's bad. As I said to your alter-ego at TS you are free to ignore me if you wish. A healthy and balanced dose of pragmatism - or indeed praise where due (such as the TS Weardale route) keeps the developer/publisher on their toes.

[panarchist]

Looking good so far for TS2017 to continue on for a while - there's been a number of new released routes and scenario packs. Whether or not DTG continues to support it, I think the prior example of MSTS indicates that the mod/content community will continue to produce non-Steam items for some time. Look at all the quality MSTS routes that were put out 2-5 years after Microsoft dropped all support for the product. I didn't even move over to Train Simulator until 2 years ago - missed out on the early Railworks stuff entirely, but I've been happy with the longevity of both MSTS and all the versions of "Railworks" over the last, what - 10 years or so?

TSW is nice, but it already has some issues with my 3 year old MacBook Pro. (Trainz is worse) - TS2017 runs awesome on my MacBook Pro under Windows 10, so I'll likely be playing it another 5 years from now, quite happily. Maybe I'll even have my route finished by then.

[oakpalms]

Trev123,
Glad to see your comments about your Cornish route from Plymouth to Penzance and how to make the run from Paddington on the other route. Back in 1980-83, I was the Protestant Chaplain for all of the UK with my office and chapel in the London area. I worked from the U.S. Navy Headquarters building on Audley Street in West London, and the chapel was at West Ruislip. About every six months I would take the train from Paddington to Penzance to go visit marines and sailors assigned to the RAF base at Newquay. The high, turning bridge leaving Plymouth was always a wonder to behold. I will have to check out your route. Thanks for your info.

Bob Edwards

[Chacal]

As an informal measure of popularity of TS2017:
I use the "View unread posts" view for reading the RWA forums.
One month ago most posts in that view were from the TSW sub-forums.
For the last two weeks very few new posts have come from these.
Looks like things are back to normal after the initial frenzy.

Not very scientific, I know, but still significant. :)

[buzz456]

Agreed.

[SAR704]

Personally, I wish DTG would remove the presence of people from the loading screen. That tired looking fettler type bloke with that stubborn look was just plain annoying in my opinion, seeing it every time I loaded the game.

They've changed it to a businessman type person with their TSW promotions, but I prefer the TS2014 style loading screens.