Train Sim World: Great Western Express - First Look

[HiFlyer 9,361]

20 minutes ago, J van E said:

So thanks, HiFlyer, for bringing this game to my attention here. I am surprised you didn't get it yet...!

I got it yesterday. Messing with it now, after a few difficulties.....

[Guest]

22 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

I got it yesterday. Messing with it now, after a few difficulties.....

Haha, great!  Yes, I also had some big issues a first, mainly because I am new to all this and the manual is pretty bad and lacking basic info but after a few days I got to grips with it all. Hope you will like it as much as I do!

[HiFlyer 9,361]

1 hour ago, J van E said:

Haha, great!  Yes, I also had some big issues a first, mainly because I am new to all this and the manual is pretty bad and lacking basic info but after a few days I got to grips with it all. Hope you will like it as much as I do!

I thought it was pretty telling that the best manual/user-guide was/is apparently user created. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5xmS3GoYKV1RHc2Y3UtQ3VQN28/view?usp=sharing

Great job DTG....... Not.

[ErichB 3,643]

On 27/09/2017 at 8:01 PM, HiFlyer said:

I got it yesterday. Messing with it now, after a few difficulties.....

I have been thinking about getting TSW specifically for the Great Western Route.  Is it broken or worth the spend?

[HiFlyer 9,361]

Just now, ErichB said:

I have been thinking about getting TSW specifically for the Great Western Route.  Is it broken or worth the spend?

I don't seem to be having any of the problems others are noting. I had an issue getting my DLC activated and that was it. My framerates are good, ranging from over 100fps to a low of 35fps in the most packed/crowded circumstances, and that's with all settings maxed at 2k.

There was some noticeable loading judder when speeding along the track, but that's been nearly eliminated by moving the program to one of my SSD's

So far i am engaged with the product, and the graphics seems well above average for a sim (or sim lite)

I have the great western route already in TS2017 but often grew bored because the graphics were not engaging. There seemed to be little variety, lots of detail replication, and I would tend to nod off on any sort of long trip.

TSW on the other hand has a shorter route, but packed with such detail that it approaches the variety of real life, and that keeps the user (or at least me) much more engaged.

I am enjoying myself so far, and don't regret the purchase.

[ErichB 3,643]

10 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

 

I am enjoying myself so far, and don't regret the purchase.

Thanks. Sounds like it’ll be worth a try :)

[Guest]

Yes, it is. I don't know how the real track looks but in TSW GWE it looks pretty real. I can't remember seeing any scenery objects being used twice. I am sure that is the case but the entire track looks real from start to finish. Very detailed and even houses beyond the houses along the track are modeled. All in all I think it is pretty impressive.

There are bugs though. Like the sound is totally wrong (too low and the engine sound is missing most of the time), you sometimes hear the outside sounds in the train, the DSD alarm may go off at random, signs don't always work correctly, etc. Besides that AA could be better, there are some odd design decisions (interface, options, etc.), people can move strangely, the boards show nothing (so you have no clue which train is going where) and so on. 

But despite all that, I like it! Specially because it looks real (I never got into ETS because it looks fake), the graphics are great and there simply is something about driving a train on a track with those simple controls: it has a real old fashioned game feel to it. I am sure not everyone will like it but I do. I thought I would get sick and tired of driving the same track all the time (I never fly the same route twice in a row) but like it, also because the entire track looks unique and lifelike. And using different kinds of weather also keeps things interesting.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Decades ago, as the sales clerk was boxing up my first computer he suggested:

"You should try out that flight simulator that's on there! It's fun!"

I did, and he was right. It kept me up all night,

and, well, here we are...

 

I'm scared to try out trains, although I keep circling back and reading this thread,

and have this terrible rising feeling of fear and dread...  

and intrigue...

 

Somebody help me!

 

 

[HiFlyer 9,361]

lol

[pete_auau 1,161]

5 hours ago, J van E said:

Yes, it is. I don't know how the real track looks but in TSW GWE it looks pretty real. I can't remember seeing any scenery objects being used twice. I am sure that is the case but the entire track looks real from start to finish. Very detailed and even houses beyond the houses along the track are modeled. All in all I think it is pretty impressive.

There are bugs though. Like the sound is totally wrong (too low and the engine sound is missing most of the time), you sometimes hear the outside sounds in the train, the DSD alarm may go off at random, signs don't always work correctly, etc. Besides that AA could be better, there are some odd design decisions (interface, options, etc.), people can move strangely, the boards show nothing (so you have no clue which train is going where) and so on. 

But despite all that, I like it! Specially because it looks real (I never got into ETS because it looks fake), the graphics are great and there simply is something about driving a train on a track with those simple controls: it has a real old fashioned game feel to it. I am sure not everyone will like it but I do. I thought I would get sick and tired of driving the same track all the time (I never fly the same route twice in a row) but like it, also because the entire track looks unique and lifelike. And using different kinds of weather also keeps things interesting.

should  have   a look at  American  truck  simulator

[Guest]

7 hours ago, pete_auau said:

should  have   a look at  American  truck  simulator

Well, the problem for me with the truck sims is that almost nothing in those truck sims is real. Things may look a little bit like the real thing (not really though imho) but it is nowhere near reality. Roads and cities aren't as they are in real life and while I can understand why they did it the way they did I just don't like it. In P3D the world is as it is (from a flying point of view): distances are real. In TSW the entire track is as it is. But not so in the truck sims. In P3D and TSW I get the feeling I am actually there: I never had that in any of the truck sims I played. Even the roads I knew from real life were not even CLOSE to reality.

Personally I wished the truck sim people had created just ONE highway which has the exact real world length and the exact scenery beside it. I would LOVE that. Instead they abbreviate everything. No, don't like it.

[Chock 17,769]

10 hours ago, SpiritFlyer said:

Decades ago, as the sales clerk was boxing up my first computer he suggested:

"You should try out that flight simulator that's on there! It's fun!"

I did, and he was right. It kept me up all night,

and, well, here we are...

 

I'm scared to try out trains, although I keep circling back and reading this thread,

and have this terrible rising feeling of fear and dread...  

and intrigue...

 

Somebody help me!

 

 

Train sims are good fun and there are plenty of them out there to try, but what the latest train sims from DTG have managed to do (i.e. CSX Heavy Haul and the new GW one from them), by virtue of placing you in the world as a character who can walk around, is add something of the feeling of actually 'having a train in your hands' rather than simply seeing one on screen. This is kind of nice and is a bit like having a life-sized train set to play with, in that you can get out of the locomotive, walk up the line to the freight cars and operate the brakes and the couplers, operate turntables and such. And you'd be surprised how much fun it is to try to operate a passenger train on time too.

You like model trains right? Yeah, every bloke does, I have a massive model rail layout up in my loft depicting the Norfolk Southern Railroad in the Eastern US, and that's great fun to play about with. But one thing I can tell you is that modeling a US railroad at HO scale with the kind of lengths US freight trains can be, is damn expensive when you have to buy all those freight hoppers, and you need a big loft to fit such a layout in lol, whereas in train sims you can do all that stuff for 20 quid, including making your own layouts if you like. Here's a video of the Norfolk Southern Railroad in the sim Trainz 12, which I made about five years ago, this looks pretty good, but it's not a patch on the graphical realism of the latest train sims such as CSX Heavy Haul etc:

 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Chock said:

And you'd be surprised how much fun it is to try to operate a passenger train on time too.

Agreed! As I said it has a real game element to it: pressing the right buttons on time and so on. It's great and a LOT more fun than I expected! A game element was not what I was looking for but it makes it quit addictive, I have to say.

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Folks,

I haven't kept up with TS over the last year or two - another option is Open Rails (ORTS) - it's an Open Source community effort and labor of love by some very talented developers - so no profit margins - no deadlines - just constant development and improvement... It's original mission was to be able to utilize old MSTS content but I they have far surpassed that now... Last I looked - the graphics weren't nearly as good as TSW - however - TSW has always been criticized for their "game like" approach to Train Simulation - I believe ORTS has far superior physics and operations - anyway - ORTS is FREE - so it can't hurt to take a look at...

http://www.openrails.org/download/program/

A couple of recent examples from different eras...

 

 

Regards,
Scott