Train Sim World 2 - Sand Patch Q&A

[NorfolkNE]

They held a second Q&A stream yesterday (7/3) all about the "remastered" Sand Patch route being included in TSW2. Its just under 90 minutes and I'll probably forget to mention everything, so a link to the vod will be at the bottom of the post.

- A few things to highlight:
- No gameplay footage, just a handful of screenshots were shown.
- When loading into the map to run a service, a window pops up with train stats (length, weight, etc.)
- Foliage has been 'optimized' to show up on distant hillsides now. Nothing has changed for geometry, buildings, infrastructure, etc.
- Helper services are going to be a thing (having to stop to attach or disconnect them)
- The Free Roam option they've advertised is just a glorified Quick Drive from TS. Point A to Point B, no custom consists.
- No part of the scenario editor lets you put down extra locomotives or rolling stock.
- Train lengths are restricted 'over 40 cars' on console, unstated for PC.
- Rolling stock weights have been adjusted (some up to SIX TIMES as heavy as they used to be)
- Sand Patch will release with 8 Scenarios and 65 Services (most services are the same train in multiple parts, such as a yard job switching cars on and off mainline trains)
- One big thing they're happy to mention is that they you run whatever (pre-built) consists you want where, so if you wanted to pretend the ICE as the Capitol Limited on Sand Patch, go right ahead. (S
- Apparently adhesion has been tinkered with, so there will be things like wheel-slip on a grade with a heavy train. (Also mention of making an 'easy mode' for impati- I mean casual players who just want to drive the trains without all that 'hassle')


Personally, this looks like all they did was change shaders a bit, make trees show up farther away and stretched out some operations, then said good enough. If they make the effort to make the game feel more alive (Make the AC44 not sound like vaccum cleaner, overall make the landscape not look like the rapture occurred and in general make sounds more vibrant) maybe I'll check it out if its on sale or on a subscription service like Xbox Game Pass. As much as a dumpster fire of broken promises and letdowns as I think TSW has been overall, I'd like to see it do better and become an semi-decent arcade/sim game, especially since it feels like they might slowly stop supporting TS and just push TSW in the coming year or two.

Link to YouTube VOD: https://youtu.be/slY-0cfhVV0