Railworks America

Here is an excerpt from DTG Jamie's post released today on DTG's/TSC forum page regarding the future of TSC.

"What does that mean for the core game?
We are sticking with the current version of the game code. We did a lot of work on the core last time, and we feel it is now stable for the majority of players. To make any further code changes would again take us along a path of potential disruption for players and for developers, and it doesn’t seem warranted or fair to do that at this point.

What is different about TS Classic this time around? What makes it interesting for players or would-be players?
A major difference this time is the inclusion of Partner Developer route and loco content within the core package. Like many games, TSC has included components developed by external creators many times over the years, right back to the days of RailWorks in 2009. This year’s version is unusual in that it features two complete routes, with locos, entirely conceived developed and by third party developers."
Full text here: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/thread ... st-1001828

It seems that what we have is as good as it gets.

AmericanSteam wrote:It seems that what we have is as good as it gets.

TSC "as is" is an awfully good product; TSC is a 16-year-old platform so DTG has supported it for a much longer time than might be expected; Third-party developers remain active and will continue to bring new products to the platform.

ElphabaWS wrote:

AmericanSteam wrote:It seems that what we have is as good as it gets.

TSC "as is" is an awfully good product; TSC is a 16-year-old platform so DTG has supported it for a much longer time than might be expected; Third-party developers remain active and will continue to bring new products to the platform.

Agree totally - I have been using the TSC in all of its iterations since Kuju's first release of Rail Simulator - it has moved on an amazingly long way and has a solid base. TSW has not stolen TSC's clothes being a very different experience and seemingly aimed at a slightly different audience (though I would say that in the UK, Just Trains two route releases, Blackpool Branches: Preston - Blackpool & Ormskirk and West Coast Main Line: Preston - Carlisle) come very close to providing the warmth that you can get from a good TSC route...

TSC is pretty amazing overall, especially with the knowledge base from long term users and the gained understanding of what can go wrong, how to avoid it or make it ok.

Rod

AmericanSteam wrote:To make any further code changes would again take us along a path of potential disruption

This.
DTG brought the old codebase as far as it could go without breaking it.

TSC has become a very stable simulator game with more addons and things to do than one can do in a lifetime. Most of the quirks one encounters nowadays are involved with and/or caused by items added to the base game. Almost all of the problems posted here and especially elsewhere are from a computer incapable of handling a game of this complexity or some corrupted software added by the user.
Some people are just never satisfied no matter what but I for one am forever thankful for thousands of hours of fun this game has delivered for me and my friends on here.

Me too

Most of the complaints about how the game runs or graphic capabilities seem to come from newer/younger users who haven't been brought up through the growth cycle of gaming. They have jumped in with all the current technology with highly realistic gaming. They can't get out of TSC what they expect and complain about it. You see this quite often on Steam Forums. Thankfully, there are a few outside of Dovetail that have provided content, both 3rd party and independents, updates, corrections, and patches to keep TSC and content playable and enjoyable. Thanks to those who, for the love of the game, keep raising the bar while making content to give us a broad range of choices. Hopefully, if DTG does abandon TSC it will go to open source so it will live in perpetuity like MSTS train simulator or open rails.

TSC just works. It has worked for me for the past 14 years and will continue to work as long as my Windows OS continues to support it. It is also my opinion that DTG will continue to support TSC as long as there is a content revenue stream provided by 3rd party content developers. This means that DTG and the existing content developers need to be cultivating and grooming the next generation of content developers. Succession planning, it's not just for the corporate board rooms.

I am an amateur Railworks player and have been for a few years. I play because I especially enjoy the scenery and not so much the switching. I have been running a Win 10 Home factory built machine. It appears I have to buy a new PC to run Win 11. So I am looking to buy one with a high powered GPU and maxed out RAM. I'm not sure to go with a high end Intel or AMD. My guess is "you get what you pay for".

My reason is that my Win 10 box is not capable of running Railworks full graphics mode and have to settle for at best 60%. So I know I am missing a lot of detail and am looking forward to my upgrade. I have two questions for you pros out there...

1. Is there anything I should know before doing a mirror copy of my SSD to the new Win 11 box concerning Railworks?
2. What is this TSC that you are currently discussing?

Again, I an not really into Railworks like some of you are but I enjoy riding the rails as an amateur, so please don''t blast me for asking a couple of questions.

Thanks much in advance.

This isn't like some forums where people are just looking to be nasty. We actually have some rules of manners here for the most part. Now to your question.
Anything more than 16 GB of RAM is just a waste as far as TSC is concerned. In fact it uses a lot less than that however with all the stuff running in the background this seems to be a good number. Get a CPU that is fast. What I have is only a i5-10600K CPU@4.10GHz 6 core which seems ancient by today's standard but seems to get the job done. The GPU seems to be the biggest item as far as graphics goes. I'm running a old GTX 1060 that seems to get the job done with all of the sliders maxed out but let your pocket book do the talking and there are tons of good video cards out there today. I'm sure there will be several who will jump in here about that subject.
This rig is too a home made and I did it with mostly MSI components and they have stood up well.

Like Buzz said, for TSC you can get away with lower end requirements. However, I look at a new PC purchase as something that is going to need to last a long time for me. I get the biggest and fastest machine that my budget allows. While TSC does not need the added horsepower and memory, other programs that you may want to run in the future will need the higher end specs. But that's just my view on it.