TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) summary

A quick summary for those who don’t want to go through the whole article. There are more details on all these points within the Roadmap.

THE NEW STUFF!

Northeast Corridor: New York – Trenton – Coming February 21st! We have a developer deep-dive on the Pulse Code cab signalling system used on the route
Union Pacific Heritage Collection – Coming February 21st! Coming with an upgrade to Sherman Hill route (new skies, new lighting)
Amtrak’s Acela® – Coming February 21st! Coming with an upgrade to Boston-Providence route (new signals, new skies, new lighting)
Niddertalbahn: Bad Vilbel – Stockheim (developed by TSG)
Linke Rheinstrecke: Mainz – Koblenz
Midland Main Line: Leicester – Derby and Nottingham (developed by Skyhook Games)
Peak Forest: Ambergate – Chinley and Buxton

MORE NEWS ON...

Add-Ons Manager – the end is in sight!
ScotRail: Edinburgh-Glasgow Update Find out what Rivet Games will be working on to improve the route
Red Light Improvements – coming with the next patch update

The Roadmap

Well, that was a bit exciting, wasn’t it?

In case you missed it, last Sunday we had our first Train Sim World Spring Summit, and revealed, well – a lot. You can catch up here:

We’ll be reminding you of what we’ve got planned in the Summit section below, and some more information at this stage.

Whew! It’s going to be a fun few months. However, on top of all this shiny new stuff, we haven’t forgotten about some of the things we’ve been promising. This month we also have positive updates for you on Add-ons Manager, as well as news on the HST Livery Designer functionality, Spirit of Steam SPADs, dispatcher improvements, and an update from Rivet on post-Edinburgh Glasgow route improvements.

We also have a developer deep-dive onto how our new Pulse Code system will help with US passenger routes (including the upcoming Northeast Corridor route), which is well worth a read.

And you thought the Roadmaps were going to be shorter in 2023… Oh well, can’t be helped when there’s so much good stuff going on. Let’s get started, shall we?

Train Sim World Spring Summit Announcements

Northeast Corridor: New York – Trenton

Releasing on February 21st, alongside Amtrak’s Acela and the Union Pacific Heritage Bundle, this will take you on a journey from New York Penn to Trenton, New Jersey, featuring the all-new NJ TRANSIT ALP-46 with MultiLevels, and the return of the ACS-64, this time with the much-anticipated Metroliner cab car in tow. Sunnyside Yard is also included.

Amtrak’s Acela will layer onto the route as well, running between New York Penn and Trenton, stopping at Newark Penn (some will also call additionally at Metropark, too). We have bolstered the amount of stopping Acela services on the route to ensure that you can experience it for yourself.

We’ll be previewing this, as well as the Acela and UP Heritage Collection, next week. Keep your eyes peeled on Railfan TV!

There are bundles available now if you’re new to Train Sim World 3 and want a taste of US passenger or freight – Find out more information on these US bundles!

Amtrak’s Acela®

Iconic. Launching February 21st. Look at these images:

Its home route is Boston Sprinter, which will have been upgraded to Train Sim World 3 skies and lighting – as well as an updated signaling system (all available for free if you own the existing route).

Union Pacific Heritage Collection

Featuring 6 historic Fallen Flag liveries for the Union Pacific SD70ACe and 6 new scenarios for an (updated with Train Sim World 3 skies and lighting!) Sherman Hill route, this is a great pack for any US freight enthusiast.

The liveries include:

UP No. 1982 represents the blue shades of the Missouri Pacific, harkening back to the streamliner days of the 1940s, mixed with their logo from the 1960s. Art deco on display ahead the heaviest of duties.
UP No. 1983 is found in the green, sliver and orange blend of the Western Pacific, the railroad’s final color scheme from 1979. The west’s most popular railroad now seen across UP territory.
UP No. 1988 changes tones with a duofold red appearance, and a white star upon the nose, in celebration of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, otherwise known as The Katy, a midwestern rail legend now on the continental divide.
UP No. 1989 remembers the legendary Denver & Rio Grande Western, paying tribute to those who “went everywhere the hard way”, with silhouetted mountains over the yellow and grey sides.
UP no. 1995 commemorates the diversity of the Chicago & North Western, a railroad which coined the phrase “safety first”. Yellow streaks bordered by green accents make up this forward-thinking scheme.
UP no. 1996 incorporates the colors of Southern Pacific’s “most beautiful trains in the world”, the famous “Daylight” trains wrapped with red and orange stripes, interrupted by accents of white. The final merger for UP bringing early morning shades to the rails of Wyoming.

There is a small chance any one of these will substitute into the regular Sherman Hill timetable too. This will also launch on February 21st.

As well as the new lighting and skies coming with the Sherman Hill update are some visual improvements too, which we thought we’d show you. First up, the scenery on the turntable.

And next, updated shipping container colours to be more prototypical.

These will be released in a patch prior to the 21st February.

Niddertalbahn: Bad Vilbel – Stockheim – developed by Train Sim Germany (TSG)

Featuring the minty green DBB BR 628.2 (Deutsche Bundesbahn White and Mint livery), and set in the early 1990s, this route provides a lovely change of pace, travelling on single-track through 13 stations in the German countryside.

The TSG team will be providing more details on this route closer to release in articles and live streams.

Linke Rheinstrecke: Mainz – Koblenz

Just West of Frankfurt, stands a pretty large river. One which is the focal point of a pretty special railway – the Linke Rheinstrecke. Coming soon – including the much-anticipated DB BR 103, and the BR 110.3 in Orient livery.

Featuring:

DB BR 103 in Deutsche Bundesbahn 'Trans Europ Express' livery
DB BR 110.3 in Deutsche Bahn Orient Red livery
Avmz and Bvmz IC coaches with red band
n-Wagen coaches & Karlsruhe Kopf cab car in DB White and Mint livery
Shimmns-u 708 and Tadgs 959 freight wagons

We can’t wait to get this into your hands, and more information will be shared when we’re closer to release!

Midland Main Line: Leicester – Derby and Nottingham – developed by Skyhook Games

We know this one caused a lot of excitement, and we can’t wait for you to all enjoy what promises to be an excellent route, created by our friends at Skyhook Games. Featuring both the East Midlands Trains BR Class 158 Sprinter, and BR Class 43 HST, there will be plenty of fun to be had.

We’ll be inviting Skyhook on for our live stream preview of the route, and working with them to get you some juicy, juicy screenshots for the next Roadmap in March. We’re itching to get it in your hands!

Peak Forest: Ambergate – Chinley and Buxton

We announced Peak Forest: Ambergate – Chinley and Buxton, our new Steam route – a distinctly different, more rural feel than Liverpool-Crewe, featuring LMS Fowler 4F in BR Late Black livery, and some of the incredible sights of the Peak District, including the iconic Monsal Viaduct (pictured below).

And, as we did in the Summit, we’ll also mention that we’ve partnered with our friends at ViewApp to bring TramSim to consoles, and Nomad Games to release CATAN – Console Edition (available to pre-order now!).

Train Sim World 3 Core Improvements

A progress summary on the core improvements the teams are working on. This month, we have a release date for Add-ons Manager (finally!), good news on Red Light issues, and Spirit of Steam SPADs.

Add-ons Manager

In the immortal words of Fatboy Slim: We’ve come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good.

And we can tell you, the end is in sight.

We were hoping to give players a date today, but a couple of final issues mean we’ll come back next week with an update (and hopefully a release date!)

Allowing players to ‘mount’ the content they need on the back-end of their console before starting their game session, we have built a system which allows you to retain and play all your PlayStation Add-ons, without worrying about the 64GB limit for Add-ons.

We expect this to have a varying positive impact on your console’s performance (less crashing, predominantly) – with the most positive impact being seen by players of 8th-gen consoles with lots of Add-ons installed.

A quick couple of notes:

We will be disabling background Add-ons installation with this change, so players will need to restart their game session to see any new content that has been downloading in the background.
We are still ironing out the final build for Xbox and PC platforms, and will release this when ready.

A quick summary on Add-ons Manager: this will allow PlayStation players who are currently unable to play all their content due to a 64GB Add-ons limit imposed by Sony the ability to do so, due to some behind-the-scenes wizardry. It will also likely slightly improve the experience of those who are seeing crashing on some content too.

Red Lights/Dispatcher Core improvement

Before Christmas, we talked about a core improvement to the pathing system whereby we programme our AI traffic.

The team have been beavering away behind the scenes, and we’re in the final stages of getting this into a releasable condition; testing is underway – using our new autotesting system to check if any knock-on issues have been caused.

A good example is the 1P16 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington service on Great Western Express, which would see you having a stuck 166 blocking your way – this is one of the services we’ve confirmed fixed with this improvement.

As with Save Game, we believe this core improvement will solve a lot of the pressing issues players have been experiencing, and give us the opportunity to press the ‘reset’ button. If you still experience issues after this improvement, we’ll investigate them on a route-by-route basis.

Spirit of Steam AI SPAD improvements

We believe we have a fix that solves AI SPADs (caused by AI trains using the turntable), ready to be released in an upcoming patch. It will not hit the pre-American release patch, but we’re hopeful it will be the one after.

A quick note on…

Some areas of the Roadmap we don’t have a substantial update for you on this time around, but wanted to provide a quick summary as to where they are in development. Here are some quickfire bullets below…

Incompletable Achievements Still under investigation.
Performance Improvements Continued incremental improvements coming in patches – Add-ons Manager should also help those experiencing crashes with lots of Add-ons installed.

Derailing Improvements

We believe all the core improvements to be complete on derailing, and further instances will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Please submit us a Support ticket, or raise in the Technical Reports forum if you’re experiencing any further random derailments.

TSW2 Preservation Crew Releases

In a queue for an appropriate build to be released.

Peninsular Corridor Improvements

The work which is required for this is UI work, which has been predominantly been focused on Add-ons Manager in recent times. Work will continue on this after Add-ons Manager has been released.

Behind Development: Pulse Code Cab Signaling System on Northeast Corridor: New York – Trenton

Not all the work we do is shiny and screenshottable. We’ve talked to the team about the new Pulse Code Cab Signaling system coming to Northeast Corridor: New York – Trenton.

Prior to Harlem, cab signaling was done by inference from the upcoming signal aspect and while this is mostly effective it does cause some interesting errors. One example is where you are approaching a diverging junction on a reduced aspect, as you pass the reduced aspect signal you will then be seeing the clear aspect signal after it resulting in an upgrade to clear far too early, you're still running over the reduced speed junction. 

In reality, these systems are quite complex and utilise pulse codes transmitted along the track that are then received through the wheels by the trains that are approaching them.  Starting with Harlem, we implemented a new system that was fundamentally based around these pulse codes as there's more flexibility to separate the aspect shown on a signal from the pulse code received by the train and shown to the engineer in the cab, thereby resolving examples like the one above. 

Harlem, however, was a relatively straight forward system as it's almost entirely done via code change points and cab signals, there's really only occasional physical signals and they are either telling you "do what the cab signaling says" or "stop because the junctions are wrong". So, while this was a big step forward, the New York Trenton route was going to need to take it a step, or ten, further. On the New York Trenton route you've got a vastly more complex environment, with trains running up to 150 miles per hour, and variable length track sections. 

In many signaling systems track sections and relative distances are standardised and predictable, but on the Northeast Corridor you have track sections that could be as tiny as 90 meters up to 1200 meters in length, so having a standard progression based on blocks simply doesn't work.  Imagine running at 60mph and seeing a green, then over the next 4 signals, 90 meters apart, it transitions to red, you wouldn't have a hope to stop.  Conversely, if you're on 1200-metre blocks, you don't need as many signal blocks to slow down in. The signaling system for the NEC needs to cater for this variability, and then also consider that depending on the exact path you're taking across junctions, that variability may apply then too - straight on might need fewer blocks to slow you down as they are longer, but changing road to the right might need a lot more due to some smaller sections within it. 

To further add to the complexity, there's a big mix of both physical signals and "invisible" code change points - it's almost like the route is a hybrid of two systems somewhat overlaid and working together. You can't treat a code change block the same as a signal-to-signal block in this environment as the physical signal progressions need to make sense separately to what’s happening in the intermediate code change blocks. 

Confused yet?  It's an immensely complex system dating back many years and designed to allow rapid transit of trains without having access to modern technology like moving block systems or those equivalent to modern ETCS and LZB and largely incomparable to anything seen elsewhere. 

As a player running trains along the route, it's all hidden from you, you will see the next signal aspect to follow and adjust your speed accordingly, all the complexity and depth to the system is going on behind the scenes to figure out the best aspects to offer to keep you moving as fast and as safely as possible!

Special Projects Team update

HST Livery Designer Compatibility

Work is nearly complete on getting this into your hands in a future update. By way of an update, we wanted to show off some of the fun one of the team has been having. James – our screenshot and liveries king, has pulled it out of the bag!

We can also confirm with this release that the dreaded ‘0000’ numbering bug will be fixed.

Other focuses

The team have also put the work into upgrading both the Boston-Providence and Sherman Hill lighting and skies. They’re also investigating some route introductions being incompletable as well as the remaining Achievements that are not behaving as intended.

Third-Party developer (Partner Programme) update

ScotRail Express – Edinburgh-Glasgow

Thanks for your post-launch feedback from Edinburgh-Glasgow. We’ve been working with the team at Rivet to help consolidate your suggestions, and as part of their work on the route, we can confirm they are looking at improving the following:

Class 385 Setup Changes:

Updated Brake responsiveness, improving air brake performance and making stopping easier
Increased responsiveness of the CPBC when using hotkeys
Moved Contact Signaller function to the GSMR phone for consistency with other TSW trains
AI to Player and vice versa handover is now working correctly
Train wide doors can no longer be opened while the AI is driving
Master key is now present after reloading from a Save
Master key now has a turning animation
Passenger overcrowding and incorrect orientations have been resolved
External right cab door key is now accessible
All external keys now animate correctly
Added Camera View specifically for the TMS
Removed cameras from trailers / passenger "headout"

Class 385 Audio fixes:

Running sounds updated
Wind noise occluded
Improved general audio mix
Removed chime
Updated audio occlusion
Fixed traction and braking issues
Improved transitions for traction motor notch volumes
Implemented inverter related audio fx
Updated track joint sounds
Improved volumes of running and traction motor sounds

(Note: as mentioned, sourcing the audio will require a recording trip. We are in discussions with ScotRail around organising this, so these improvements are all using the existing audio).

Class 385 Art Changes:

Added caution tape to inside of guard panel door
Updated door button graphics to reflect the proper graphics
Added inner axle hubs that connect the axles to the bogie frames
Updated the first class livery
Added Gaelic branding to the pantograph unit

Gameplay and Infrastructure changes:

Improved expected station stop timings for timetable services
Added Edinburgh Park stop to Dunblane services
Fixed routing for depot moves to/from Queen Street
Fixed signal emmissives
Added missing Neutral Section signage
Added missing car stop markers to Haymarket

Route changes:

Improved darkness of tunnels along the route
Added additional lighting to Edinburgh Waverley and surrounding area
Updated lighting at Eastfield Depot
Updated lighting at Queen St Station
Fixed missing sections of OHLE along the route
Updated a station footbridge to add missing underside panelling
Updated sign on Linlithgow station to be correct
Implemented One o'clock gun at Edinburgh castle following further discussions

As a note, the West Cornwall Steam Railtour Add-on has been put on hold whilst the Rivet team focus on these improvements. We don’t have a release date for these at this stage, but a lot of the above have already been completed and are in a queue for testing. The team are also investigating an issue with PlayStation players’ TMS systems, and have submitted a fix to us for testing.

We’ve mentioned Skyhook’s Midland Main Line route above, and there is no further news on any of our other Partners. They’re getting their heads down and learning the toolsets!

THE TRAIN SIM WORLD ROADMAP

DOVETAIL GAMES RELEASES 

These are forthcoming add-ons that are being developed by Dovetail Games. Where details are still being finalised for a release we are including the ID code for it when possible. This will give you a good idea of what to expect. For Train Sim World 3, we’ve amended these product codes. To see what these ID codes mean you can refer to our ID Code Guide on the forums.

[TSW3] – [3.NBB-L7 01] Amtrak’s Acela
[New] [TSW3] – [3.NBB-R7 01] Northeast Corridor: New York – Trenton
[New] [TSW3] – [3.NDD-E7 01] Union Pacific Heritage Collection
[New] [TSW3] – [3.DBB-R6 04] Linke Rheinstrecke: Mainz-Koblenz
[New] [TSW3] – [3.GAA-R5 02] Peak Forest: Ambergate – Chinley and Buxton

PARTNER PROGRAMME RELEASES 

These are forthcoming add-ons that are being developed by teams outside Dovetail Games. Where details are still being finalised for a release, we are including the ID code for it when possible. This will give you a good idea of what to expect. To see what these ID codes mean you can refer to our ID Code Guide on the forums.

[TSW3] [3.DGG-R6 01] Niddertalbahn: Bad Vilbel – Glauburg-Stockheim (developed by TSG)
[New] [3.GDG-R7 02] Midland Main Line: Leicester – Derby and Nottingham – (developed by Skyhook Games)
[TSW3] [3.GAA-E6 01] West Cornwall Local: Steam Railtour (developed by Rivet Games)
[TSW3] [3.DBB-L5 01] DB BR 420 Electric Multiple Unit (Hauptstrecke München-Augsburg) - Developed by TSG

CORE FEATURES 

Core features are larger projects. These may be significant new pieces of functionality or changes that will affect players on one or several different platforms. Often requiring more time in development this list may move more slowly than others. 

[TSW3] Add-ons Manager (previously PS5 DLC Limit fix)
[TSW3] – Derailing improvements (harsh braking derailments, coupling derailments) – these will be released for TSW2 where possible
[TSW3] Red Light / Dispatcher improvements across multiple routes (starting with Rush Hour routes and Harlem Line) 
[TSW3] Save Game improvements (route-by-route)
[TSW3] Performance optimisation

MISCELLANEOUS 

Projects that players will notice but don’t fall into one of the other categories.  

[TSW2/TSW3] Rush Hour passenger system for London Commuter 
[TSW2/TSW3] Spirit of Steam manual fireman functionality

SPECIAL PROJECTS TEAM 

Projects that are being tackled by the Special Projects team. The additions or changes in the “upgrade” will include some or all of the following: station departure boards, animated crossings, platform climb-up functionality, improved track rendering, Rush Hour passenger density and appearance, support for RailDriver, contact signaller functionality, minor fixes to scenery, minor fixes to audio, minor fixes to gameplay, minor fixes to menu items, Livery Designer compatibility and Scenario Planner expansion. 

We have included a ‘scale’ of the size of the work/features put into the update.

[TSW2][TSW3] HST Livery Designer functionality
[TSW3] Boston Sprinter route upgrade (lighting, skies, signalling)
[New] [TSW3] Sherman Hill route upgrade (lighting/skies)
[TSW3][TSW2] DB BR 187 Audio improvements
[TSW2] [Tiny] Scottish Commuter 
[TSW2] [Small] Hauptstrecke Hamburg-Lübeck, including timetable update
[TSW2] [Medium] Rhein-Ruhr Osten 
[TSW2] [Small] 2022 Bakerloo timetable (600+services) 
[TSW2] [Small] Long Island Rail Road 
[TSW2] [Huge] Peninsula Corridor  NOTE: there are further improvements to come on both games
[TSW2] [Huge] Oakville Subdivision 
[TSW2] [Tiny] LGV Mediterrannée

Note: Preservation Crew updates will continue after the launch of Train Sim World 3

REMOVED FROM ROADMAP 

Items that have been removed from the Roadmap. This is either because they have been completed, their status having changed or the project having been suspended. 

[TSW3] [3.GBB-R7 03] ScotRail Express: Edinburgh - Glasgow (developed by Rivet Games) - released

Please join us tonight on YouTube and Twitch (Thursday, February 9th), where we’ll discuss the above (and more!) with Matt and JD at 19:00 UTC. If you have any questions, please add them to our February Roadmap thread.

You can discuss the contents of this month’s Roadmap on our forums.