Railworks America

For those of you that care, Train Sim World 6 was announced and is on it's way. No release date yet, but it's likely to come this September. They have not yet released what routes, locomotives and rolling stock will be included. There will be a scheduled DTG live-stream full announcement on August 26th giving us all the details.

It has been confirmed that they will again offer a free TSW 6 starter pack upgrade for a limited time at launch.

I've also read that any current owners of the now discontinued CalTrain related DLC content (San Jose-San Francisco route, DLC add-ons) will not be able to carry them over and play them in TSW 6. So you must have TSW 5 or older installed in order to play that specific content.

Talk and speculation in the DTG forums is that the expired CalTrain license doesn't allow it to be used in newer versions of the sim. That had DTG simply upgraded the current TSW 5 with the newer features instead of presenting it as a full new number version of the sim, they could have loophole avoided this. Not sure yet of the truth of that. A DTG community manager indicated they were still looking into a way to possibly carry it forward to TSW 6, but it didn't sound very hopeful.

I will likely only get the free TSW 6 starter pack this time around unless they include a USA based route I like. As I've said before.... USA-based content is a low priority for them. The only new USA content on their current roadmap is a "Santa Fe on Cajon Pass Gameplay Pack" from High Iron Simulations. It sounds like at the very least simply a scenario pack with possibly Santa Fe repaints or even SF branded new locomotive models and rolling stock. We shall see. The USA is basically ranked 3rd in content priority by DTG.... so we sadly only get what we can get from them unfortunately.

Which is why TSC is far and away the sim of choice if you want a huge choice of all things rolling stock and number of routes as well as some great enhancements the last couple of years.

GSkid wrote:I've also read that any current owners of the now discontinued CalTrain related DLC content (San Jose-San Francisco route, DLC add-ons) will not be able to carry them over and play them in TSW 6. So you must have TSW 5 or older installed in order to play that specific content.

Well, I was on the fence with TSW6, but this news seals it's fate. The Peninsula Corridor is my favorite route in both TSC and TSW. I'll freeze at TSW5 and spend my hard earned dollars on TSC content.

GSkid wrote:As I've said before.... USA-based content is a low priority for them. The only new USA content on their current roadmap is a "Santa Fe on Cajon Pass Gameplay Pack" from High Iron Simulations. It sounds like at the very least simply a scenario pack with possibly Santa Fe repaints or even SF branded new locomotive models and rolling stock. We shall see. The USA is basically ranked 3rd in content priority by DTG.... so we sadly only get what we can get from them unfortunately.

This post merits a reply. (1) US content is not a low priority for DTG nor for TSW. That will become increasingly apparent in the months ahead. (2) The content of the upcoming HIS Santa Fe GamePlay Pack has been detailed on multiple occasions on the TSW roadmap and elsewhere. It includes an EMD SD40-2 rebuild in AT&SF blue and silver, a Santa Fe GE C40-8W in Warbonnet and with AT&SF specific details; three all-new TSW freight cars (AT&SF 2-bay cement car, AT&SF three-bay covered hopper, and AT&SF 86-foot auto box), reskins of multiple existing TSW freight cars in AT&SF liveries; a AT&SF services TT based on actual AT&SF freight timetable featuring more than 250 movements, a UP layer (for use with Sherman Hill stock) also based on an actual UP freight schedule; five new scenarios, and a GE tutorial.

Hey Gary... is there any chance of getting the Caltrain folks to budge on the licensing? I can see their position about not selling any new routes or content. But at the same time it is really unfair of them to prevent existing owners of the content from being able to carry it forward to newer versions. That really leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially since I worked for them for 5 years. I hope DTG is able to get a concession from them.