Hi to everyone again after the world went crazy for the last few years.
I never returned to DTG cash Cow games or games and failures that fishing game and their attempt at a Flight Sim that at least got MS back into the Flight sim market.

No surprise that DTG have now been snapped up by Focus since they no longer have the Train Sim market to themselves as we can now see with the Like's Zusi 3 and Rail simulator both are abundantly better than three button RSW or whatever it is called maybe its is time MS also returned to the Train sim market across a multi platform format .

So what is everyone one up to or playing these days ?
When time permits I am currently playing the following.
Flightsim 2020.
Sprockets.
Ultimate Admiral Dreadnought.
Forza Horizons 5.
Juno New Origins.
Universal sand box.
Beam Ng Drive.
and a few others.
currently not playing any train based games.

Breaking older games has been a fad lately, in my opinion. Launchers... Removal of Content after purchase.. changes in the EULA after purchase, and outright breaking of titles because very few are buying their new copy. Generally that is..

I hope this is not the case and the 'Focus' is now on the new iteration.

It is really unbelievable... they seriously broke their own game - and there are still people, who defend them, while DTG decided to go silent and let their players to fix their own botched work... sheesh, even TS2013 launch was not so bad (and it was pretty bad, in fact!).

Gosh, this is probably the strongest Railworks-antidote I ever got (I will stick with my preserved copy of the older version for now... and I will see, how it goes).

And it also makes me happy, that I never jumped on the TSW bandwagon.

DTG were recently bought by Focus Entertainment, by the way.

Seems to be a standard habit of a lot of game companies as of late.

I have not even installed the latest iteration. Now your comment and another I spoke with the other day say just about the same thing.

Time to dust off this group?
Newest DTG's patch for TSC is a disaster of epic proportions - and as a matter of fact, it broke the game.

Yea I have heard about that Digital Homocide fiasco. Not quite sure that DTG/RSC is on the same level as DH, however... it does give hope that - depending on the ultimate outcome of the case- developers will not easily get away with nonscence.

It also could go the other way 'round and give the ultimate freedom for any developer to do what they like, when they like - with the users ultimately being 'good boys and girls' cause they could get sued at the drop of a hat.

I'm quite suprised that the courts even entertained what is going on.

Have you seen this
Steam have kicked a Developer off its Steam store page for baddly treating its customers.

There is hope yet that DTG will get a much over due boot up their backside.

http://www.pcgamer.com/valve-removes-digital-homicides-games-from-steam/?utm_content=buffer58811&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb

I agree.. Not much has been going on at least until quite recently. :)

Not dead just sleeping for now

Hopefully that stays among its roots .. :) Would hate to see them "consolify" it ..

https://www.facebook.com/LOTUS-Simulator-477119142466561/ This could be intresting.

Heck there is also an in-game store. And the worst part is that they change the background of the main menu with ads even if you bought what is being advertised.

Who knows.. I'm still a bit pissed that they removed the original MAPS.. and replaced them with ADVERTISING in a game that I bloody PAID for..

Seriously .. this is a far cry from the game I bought back in the day.

I know that if you play offline that it will show a deafult picture. I wonder if there is a way to replace it and disccnnect the server as you said.

perhaps inercept the games communications to the image server. ?

I wonder if there is a way to mod that in.

I want the maps when we used to load the game.. in the *before times*

My ads returned with my TS2014 menu...

My loading screen is fine. I still have the ads.

And finally we have black loading screen, better than ever AD stuff :(

I agree.. the menu has not changed for a better.. it is a tad cleaner IMHO.. but there is where it ends. There is no percievable functionality geared toward the user. It was a bit of a screw getting a prompt to create an *account*. Thankfully that was optional.

Well, the good news is, that the TS2014 can be implanted into TS2016 roughly the same way, as it was into TS2015... therefore, there is no need to suffer this abomination.

Ok, I will spill the beans... I was actually considering the immediate purchase in case DTG really, really fixed the menu - but as far as I can tell, the "new" menu differs only in color scheme, which means I am going back into "wait for sale" mode.

I loved the old menu .. where i could sort them by train type and stuff.. now all they give you is a basic "search" feature..

I loved it when you could just sort by train type .. etc..

I stand corrected... while some parts of the menu were indeed modified, some parts are as abysmal as one year ago... and guess what? Red lights on DB V200 and SC 158 (etc.) are still with us...

In all fairness, TS2016 improves menu even for those, who did not purchase TS2016. Sorting of the routes is less messy, that in was in TS2015, it is as it should be, ie. alphabetically, in TS2015, routes were sorted by their internal number with a few hack, this was also the reason, whz I refused to use TS2015 menu.

On the other hand, charging for extra menu design is really uncessary...

TS2015.....we'll give you a crap menu system but we won't charge you for it and we won't listen to your complaints. Oh, and about eight months later we might do something about it.

TS2016.....we'll give you a "better" menu system but we've had to spend so much time sorting out the crap we gave you last year that this time we're going to charge you for it. That's only fair isn't it?

TS2017.....you've go to start from scratch, mate. Nothing you've brought forward will work. But you're a loyal customer so you don't mind, do you?

You know, it is almost unbelievable... everytime you think, that DTG can't sink lower, they actually do... this year even new menu color scheme has to be paid for - no matter that you already spent a small fortune on their products, no, you have to pay yet again.
Unbelievable greed...

Shameful practice to have a long time customer who has already purchased 2 of the 3 added DLC to buy the package... just for an *exclusive* train.. hmm..

I can wait till its reduced in a sale though.. :) If I'm so inclined to.. I'm not as gung ho to spend money on this as I used to be.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you need to buy it. There is a chance that in a year it will be relased sperately. All windows open, the turbine occasionaly shoots fire, it has the new brake system, it has fully operational dimming front and back lights, siumulated diesl and turbine engine, and lots more. At least the new BR 155 is supposed to be amazing and the Riviera looks ok so I guess it could be worse. I already have Sherman too but I lack the rest. I think I might get it for the Turbine and 155 if DTG patches it. But I wish you could seperate the package.

smokebox did the turbine.. can It be had by buying just a scenery? Or is it *specifically* with the 2016.. I already own 2 of the 3 routes in the package..

The only changes are a new menu color pallet, a slightly reorginized menu, and Railfan mode. The only reason why I might consider even buying it is just because Smokebox did the Turbine. And I love Smokebox's work. Also, I need a train fix bad and Trainz and Run 8 have gone to sh*t. But that involves forking up $40 for DTG and a game that dosen't work right now.

Why can't there be a train sim that works?

I have not even looked at it.. I dread running it.. I also dread the fact that they state all the "DLC" included.. but they do not talk about ANY features.. improvements... or bugfixes.

TS 2016 was released. Oh and BTW a ton of people are saying that it isn't even working. DTG is really stupid.

Now... that escalated quickly (BNSF et all stuff is no longer available outside USA).
And while I am pretty sure, that BNSF is not without a fault, it clearly shows how spineless and incompetent DTG is... sorry, legal battles over trademarks and licences happen all the time, but it is the way the customers caught in the crossfire are treated which really matters... and sorry, in this case, DTG failed on all accounts.
I have pretty hard time believing that all of this happened "out of the blue".

This isn't the first time this has happened either. Metrolink and Coaster were unlicensed for the Surfline and Metra isn't licensed either. They are way too cheap.

wonder if they just did not want to pony up the dough for a full license? Perhaps they were not allowed?..

My guess is they did not want to pay .

Ok, it Iooks like those two versions of the newest Chicago route will be probably compatible after all, as the international and the US version differ only in texturing... but this situation is stupid anyway.
I am not a fan of "everything or nothing" approach but in this case it is the only sensible solution (ie. no BNSF international licence? -> no BNSF content anywhere).
It is also funny, how DTG pretends that they do not discriminate anybody - and yet, they discriminate all non-US players with this.

I cannot believe that they have to region lock this stuff Felix.AVMP

I wonder why they decided to do that. :( Always something.

It gets better... newest US route (Chicago) is being sold in two versions, one has BNSF and one has not... it is not that bad idea in principle, but since RW/TS lack any automated substituion mechanism (no, RW_tools do not count), it is rather counterproductive...

Yet another region locked rolling stock packs... no thanks.
BNSF and GN.

So from this day onward, I stop buying US content - as a rule, with only two possible exceptions:
1. unavoidable part of the core game
2. something produced by Smokebox

(and when I say stop buying US content, I meant it, as I am pretty far behind in terms of recent US add ons -something like 12 months+ in fact-, so that would be a considerable sum of money from me even during the most optimistic sales - and yeah, I was deciding, which branch of my interest I should cut, whether US trains or UK vintage trains and besides, I like older british trains more anyway)

WOW so DTG is doing well in spite of bugfest and sure they make much more money with their overpriced DLCs than SCS. World is upside down.

http://steamspy.com/app/227300 You can get a rough idea of how many people own what game. ETS 2 has about 2million owners on steam. Failworks has about 750thousand.

Well that project was cancelled. shame.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/combinegames/rails-and-riches/description
This might be fun if they manage to raise the amount of money they need.

LOL Mereel.. you are quite correct.. and they would find a way to break each part down to smaller pieces still. lol.

With 1.18 we get the Mercedes Benz brand and their new Actros, who will have some new attachments extra for this truck.

DTG would charge money for every little piece...

I have to say that SCS have seriously outdone themselves with the way they have handled the entire ETS2 development.

This is the way it *should* be done. These guys have come up with some fantastic *FREE* updates that have added major feature after major *useful* feature. Free trucks.. etc..

Fantastic modding support... some well done patches.. sound updates.. I could go on and on..

I cannot wait for the USA version :)

Scandinavia DLC for ETS2 is nice. And even the core updates they have just done have made some parts of the game even better. Unlike DTG who do a update and it's a case of what have they broke this time.

Well Matt I just check this group time to time and I consider leaving it because I virtually stopped playing TS. No more buying, no more nerves with half finished buggy crap. / By the way ETS2 Scandinavia DLC its just a gem - I really like to support such developers for full price they ask. /

Rock Paper Shotgun said TS is the best train sim and not Run 8. They are a bunch of stupid casual players that can't appreciate physics and realism and can't find the bugs in TS. They are so stupid. How can they complain about OMSI 2 bugs but not the worse ones in TS? Rigged.