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.

• A New Route! - Announcing our first new German route for Train Sim World 4!
  
• Blackpool Branches: Preston – Blackpool & Ormskirk - Update on Just Trains’ Blackpool-Preston-Ormskirk route
  
• Formation Designer and Suspension Improvements - An update on where we're at with the upcoming features.
  
• PC Editor Initial Thoughts - Spotlighting useful guides and some early-on community projects!
  
• Photo Mode Showcase - Your best screenshots from TSW4 launch
  
• Update on Xbox crashes, Mods and New York-Trenton.
  
• A Patch is coming today! - Find out all the improvements and fixes we have planned.
  
• Inside Development: Train Sim World and Licensors - featuring Gareth Peate, a Graphic Designer for LNER!

Whew, that was a bit exciting, wasn’t it? Welcome to the first Roadmap since the release of Train Sim World 4!

Thank you for all your excitement, feedback, and patience as we’ve released TSW4 into the world. We’ve been so happy to see all the amazing screenshots, Free Roam chaos, and first forays into the PC Editor – and, of course, start absorbing all your questions, suggestions, and thoughts. We’re still in the early stages of checking through it all – we hope this Roadmap will hopefully answer some of those initial questions and thoughts, as well as sharing what we’re working on to improve and enhance your game.

We’ll be revealing our new German route, talking about Formation Designer and Suspension improvements progress, checking in on Just Trains’ Blackpool Branches: , and summarising as much as we can that has come from the release. In this month’s Inside Development, we’ll also be chatting to our friends at LNER, to find out what it’s like to have your trains developed into a game!

Shall we get on with it, then?


Happy October to all of you, and happy German Unity Day to all our German players. We have a big, fat, Bavarian-shaped treat for you in this month’s Roadmap.

We can officially confirm that the first Dovetail-developed route for Train Sim World 4 is Maintalbahn: Aschaffenburg-Miltenberg! Congratulations to you eagle-eyed viewers who noticed our tease in the ’10 Things to Check Out in Train Sim World 4’ video from Friday.

Full of regional charm and featuring the new, sleek DB BR 642 DMU, as well as being ably supported by the BR 363 offering local shunter freight across the route, we can’t wait for you to wind alongside the Main river on this Diesel Desiro beauty.
Set in the modern day, and layering in the Red DB BR 628 – a recent addition if you own Niddertalbahn, there’s a lot of diversity and opportunity to explore in many different ways – particularly through the new-and-improved Scenario Planner, and Free Roam modes!

The price will be £24.99/$29.99/€29.99.

We’ll have much more information for you in the coming weeks, but, for the meantime, here are some WIP screenshots of what you’ll have to look forward to:


The Just Trains team have been hard at work getting to the latter end of development of the route, and for this Roadmap, we wanted to direct you to their In Development blog (and, of course, show you some nice screenshots).

This time, they’re talking all-things landmarks, and boy are there some iconic places on the route! Check out the Blackpool Branches blog[www.justtrains.net] (plus, some more screenshots!)

The Iconic Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Ainscough Mill

Ribble Viaduct

St Walburges Church

Warbreck Water Tower

And, in case you missed it, you can check out a little bit more about the route’s timetable (with a handy timelapse video), and the stations on the route with their handy Development Updates[www.justtrains.net].


Work is ongoing to bring Formation Designer to Train Sim World 4 – your opportunity to create your own consists and use them in Scenarios or Free Roam Mode – and, whilst our current priorities are supporting your launch feedback, we wanted to share some screenshots of how it currently looks in-game.

Here you can see a sample custom formation within the new interface. Trains can be 100 vehicles long, but the longer the train, the more powerful you’ll need the locomotive to be!

Some of the options available whilst creating your Formation – including the (very) handy ‘flip formation’ option.

Here is the general UI for Formation Designer – you can see the key details around your formation including weight and power, to identify how you might want to use them in-game.

Work is ongoing, and we’ll update in future Roadmaps when we have more to share!


As mentioned in the Train Sim World 4 keynote video, the team are working on we can do to implement suspension improvements (i.e. include vertical as well as horizontal sway, that coincides with the way you’re driving).

You can see a first pass at this in the BR Class 323 in TSW4’s Training Center, but we still need to add air suspension to the locomotive (it is very bouncy at the moment). Our Train Physics team will be continuing to work on what this might look like across the trains that feature in the Standard Edition’s 3 Core routes, and, as with Formation Designer, we’ll update when we have more to share.


Work continues on the new Köln-Aachen timetable[live.dovetailgames.com], which Joe is beavering away at. You can find out more details of what we’re planning by checking out August’s Roadmap article, linked above.


We’re putting together the first post-release patch (after last week’s Early Access patch[forums.dovetailgames.com], and wanted to share some of the content you can expect.

• Issues with Bremen-Oldenburg red lights
  
• Passengers not being visible on Peak Forest, Linke Rheinstrecke, and Luzern-Sursee
  
• Xbox Creators Club access
  
• Increasing the brake hiss from Rotem cab cars
  
• Azuma Coaches gangways now connected by electrical wiring

We’re putting the final polish to it now, so players can expect this to launch very soon.


Our plan is for smaller, frequent patches in the early launch window of TSW4, much of which will be dictated by your early feedback.
From our current lists, some of the areas we’re looking at include, but by are no means limited to:

• Haptic feedback being too strong
  
• Missing collectible on Vorarlberg
  
• Scoring
  
• Imported liveries from TSW3 missing layers
  
• Camera navigability
  
• Free Roam crashes
  
• Azuma AWS and motor sounds

We asked you to share with us your best shots using the new Photo Mode. And you did not disappoint. You can see the full Photo Mode collection[forums.dovetailgames.com], but here are some of our favourites:

Player captaingunadeep, showing off the Vectron during a rainy sunset.

Pixelade, capturing the unlikely combo of F125 and Austrian mountains on Free Roam.

Player nhilsubsolenovum, showing a foggy, moody British evening.

We genuinely thought richardwwoodward’s shot of Flying Scotsman was a photo. Phenomenal!

The Azuma hurtling through the East Coast Main Line, captured by paintbrushguy

And finally, bence950906, making full use of Free Roam and Photo Mode to make this German locos meeting!


One of the biggest changes to come with the release of TSW4 was the opportunity for Steam and Epic players to experiment and create their own content with the launch of the PC Editor (Beta).

We’re very much in the early stages, and thank you for everyone who has been giving it a go and letting us know where your challenges are, so we can tailor tutorial materials accordingly.

Our first priority development-wise, is to establishing what does and doesn’t work with creating the basic types of content (assets, scenarios, routes, trains), and understanding how you play it – and therefore, which tutorials are needed.

We’ll be populating our PC Editor forum[forums.dovetailgames.com] with helpful guides and FAQs to support those giving it a go – as well as providing some Masterclass sessions with our developers (starting next week!), to help you through. It isn’t an easy tool to learn, and collectively, we’ll be able to support each other to create something wonderful.

As a first step, we recommend learning about UE4, to give you some of the basics that will enable you to understand our adapted version of the Editor a little easier. Here’s a good beginner’s guide to kick you off:

Some of you, however, are taking the lead, and to finish off this section we wanted to share the work that player fecrails has done building his first simple route, with tracks, trains, and some scenery assets. Well done!

We also wanted to share the work undertaken by some players creating locomotives:

Oystein’s NoHAB Di3:

Check it out: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/my-first-loco-for-tsw-nohab-di3.74459/#post-729555

Spac#1043’s P42DC:


Whilst this is a recurring theme of this month’s Roadmap, we want to work with you on the changes to Livery Designer, and how you’re finding using the tool.

Please let us know your thoughts on our Livery Designer Feedback Forum.[forums.dovetailgames.com]

Xbox Crashes

Our #1 priority at the moment is resolving an issue which is causing some Xbox players to crash in-game. Thanks everyone for your patience as we’re trying to diagnose the source of the problem. We’re working on it, but don’t have a full explanation for what is happening and why, but we will get there.

We generally use what we call ‘dev kits’ for our QA team to review new builds, as they (in most cases) are reflective of what you as players will see in-game upon release. Unfortunately, with the release of the Compatible Content last Tuesday, we’ve seen the ‘Retail kits’ (i.e. what we can access when certification from the platforms has taken place) behave differently to our testing environment. In this way, our beta community also were not experiencing issues until the day content went live too.

As a result of this situation, we now understand how to make dev kits simulate the Retail (live) environment, and will be implementing this into our testing plans moving forward.

As a temporary workaround if you’re experiencing this issue, putting your Xbox console into Offline mode (via Network Settings) will offer as a temporary workaround and all you will be able to access Train Sim World 4 without experiencing crashes during startup.

Please note, some users have reported it can take a short while to launch (up to 5 minutes) if you have a large amount of add-ons installed. Whilst this workaround should let you access the game without crashing, due to being offline you will not be able to use services that require an internet connection (such as Dovetail Live and Creation Center / Online Sharing Hub).

We will be updating this thread when we have an update: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/xbox-crashes-weekend-update.74409/#post-728277

Note: we have held the Creators Club update for Xbox so we can get the crashing update live as soon as possible after we’ve resolved and tested a fix. If you would like to subscribe to Creators Club content in the meantime, you can do so via our website: https://creatorsclub.dovetailgames.com/

Player Mods

We are working on providing documentation for modders in the wake of TSW4’s launch, so hang tight everyone! Thanks for being patient.

To debunk one myth: it’s less of an Add-ons Manager issue, and more due to the fact that we've changed the compiled material format to support the Public Editor. It's not the whole reason, but it's a contributing factor.

Essentially, core mods seem to be in reasonable shape (like ‘God Mode’, which we believe has a TSW4 update for it already), but content mods will need a little more TLC. There are some fixes that help them work better which are in a future build, but it'll be an ongoing process. Texture mods, for instance, have had a good response to the improvements in the future build (previously mentioned).

For the time being, we recommend that players who do mod content hold fire until we’ve been able to offer guidance – otherwise they risk their work going to waste if we have to update anything to support them longer term.

We have a lot of modders in our beta community, who we’re actively working with to support, and we’ll update as soon as we have something tangible.


We’ve had some lovely feedback for the Audio work done on Antelope Line, as part of our trip to California to record real-life sounds from the route and the F125.

As we’re UK-based, getting authentic sounds for some content can be a huge undertaking for our Audio team, so we’d like to ask for your help. If you have direct access to and can record real-life sounds (safely, and with permission) – or have recorded them in the past (YouTube videos and non-in situ recordings aren’t what we’re looking for, apologies), we’ve set up an 'Audio - We Need Your Help!' thread[forums.dovetailgames.com] where our Senior Audio Designer, Adam, can chat to you about them. Thank you in advance!


We’ve noticed some players have been experiencing performance issues with the NEC: New York timetable with the updated timetable.

We are taking a look at the source of the issues – our initial investigations at this stage are reviewing passenger density, signalling computation, and the bi-level cars – however, at this stage we are unable to provide any more information or detail.

Any improvements made would be backported to the TSW3 version of the new timetable, when released.


Exec Producer Matt, and Director of Community JD, will be talking about all the things we’ve featured above, and answering your questions in tonight’s Roadmap Live Stream, from 18:00 UTC on our YouTube and Twitch channels.

Have a question for us? Put it in our October Roadmap Q&A thread[forums.dovetailgames.com] and we’ll answer as many as we can live tonight!

Find out more about Train Sim World 4 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram[www.instagram.com], Facebook[www.facebook.com], YouTube, Twitch[www.twitch.tv], and TikTok[www.tiktok.com].

Train Sim World 4 is out today, September 26th! Whether you’re playing Standard, Deluxe or Special Edition, you’ll be able to get stuck in with the new features, new routes and new locomotives.


If you pre-ordered Train Sim World 4: Standard Edition then today is the first time you’ll be able to play the three core routes and Training Center. We’ve got everything you need to know over on the Dovetail Games Forums[forums.dovetailgames.com] and a handy set of FAQs[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com] as well to answer any questions you might have.

We've also published the mammoth 125-page-long Train Sim World 4 Manual! Whether you're diving into Train Sim World for the first time, or looking to master the new routes, features and locomotives, the manual should be able to assist in getting you up to speed.

Deluxe & Special Editions are still available to purchase for those that haven’t pre-ordered and include Flying Scotsman, the Railpool Vectron and the updated version of Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa in addition to the Standard Edition content.


Today is also the day that any owned Compatible content from previous Train Sim World games will become available to play in Train Sim World 4. This includes route and locomotive Add-ons from Train Sim World 3.

Train Sim World 4 players will be able to continue playing this compatible content and utilise some of the new features like Free Roam, Photo Mode and the improved Livery Designer.

Those that own Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa will receive a free upgrade that includes all the Train Sim World 4 features like TOD4 lighting, chained paths in Scenario Planner and Volumetric Fog. Other route Add-ons like Southeastern Highspeed and Northeast Corridor: New York – Trenton[forums.dovetailgames.com] will receive some updates to the environment and timetable for those that own them in today’s Day 1 Patch.

A number of other Train Sim World Compatible routes will also receive minor updates. A full list of these launch day updates can be found in our forum post and in our in-game article.[live.dovetailgames.com]


If you purchased Train Sim World 4: Standard Edition, then you’ll have yet to have experienced two iconic locomotives: LNER Class A3 Flying Scotsman and the Railpool BR 193 Vectron. These were exclusive to Deluxe and Special Edition players.

From 26th October 2023, you’ll be able to purchase these as separate Locomotive Add-ons, to operate along the East Coast Main Line and Vorarlberg routes (+ Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa, if you own that route Add-on).

New UK Route and Future content

This isn’t where the Train Sim World 4 journey ends... far from it. It’s just begun! Followers of our recent two-part Roadmap will know that Just Trains are working on a new UK route, covering Blackpool, Preston & Ormskirk, set in the 1980s British Rail era and featuring the popular Class 142 Pacer!

Just Trains have been working incredibly hard on this project and have provided a number of development updates and impressive screenshots! We can’t wait to share more information about this exciting route, including the anticipated release date, later down the line.

We’ve also got Gameplay Packs from Rivet Games, routes set in the UK, US and Germany in the works and our foray into Austria doesn’t stop with Vorarlberg! Another Austrian route is being developed and we’ll share more details of these closer to their intended release window.

Join Matt tonight for a Launch Day Let's Play tonight at 18:00 UTC over on Twitch[www.twitch.tv] and YouTube as they play through the new routes, showcase the new features and answer community questions!

We’ll be revealing more about the future of Train Sim World and taking a look inside Development in our October Roadmap, set to go live next week, with a livestream to follow.


Our handy FAQs[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com] should give you all the information you need, along with the various information threads on our Forums.

You can also follow us on socials to keep up to date with everything happening through launch and beyond!

Train Sim World 4 is coming September 26th and with it, the ability to do more with your trains, your way! If you’re into UK rail tours, high-speed record-breaking and the nostalgia of steam locomotives, then this article is for you as we delve into the details of Flying Scotsman, LNER’s Azuma, the East Coast Main Line and the brand-new Free Roam feature!

And remember... Early Access begins tomorrow if you've pre-ordered Train Sim World 4: Deluxe or Special Editions. We've created a handy "What you Need to Know" Forum Thread[forums.dovetailgames.com] that covers everything about playing for the first time tomorrow.


An important artery of the British rail network appears in Train Sim World 4 in the form of a stretch of the East Coast Main Line. Much-requested by players and railfans over the years, this high-speed line has history, but continues to be a crucial part of today’s contemporary railway with fast, modern rolling stock to suit.


The stretch of this line between the cities of Peterborough and Doncaster brings a variety of services and high-speed running as well as the longest end-to-end UK route to date! Along the way, the historic Stoke Bank marks the location where the world speed record for a steam locomotive was broken in July of 1938 - 126 miles per hour (203 km/h) by the famous Mallard locomotive. Eagle-eyed railfans may see the commemorative sign flash by both in-game and in real life.

As if one record wasn’t enough, it was also through this part of Lincolnshire that world-famous locomotive Flying Scotsman broke the 100mph barrier on 30 November 1934. You can read further about Flying Scotsman’s inclusion in Train Sim World 4 further down the article.

Doncaster was where Flying Scotsman was built 100 years ago along with other iconic locomotive classes such as streamlined Gresley Pacifics and diesel electric Class 56s. As well as an extensive railway history, the city today hosts DB Cargo UK’s headquarters.

Peterborough’s place on the East Coast Main Line came as a result of circumstance when Lord Exeter refused to allow the line to be built through nearby Stamford. The city grew as a result, industrialising much in the way other locations did once the railway had arrived on its doorstep.

Three intermediate stations are spread between the route’s end points facilitating high speed across most of the route. These are:

• Grantham: The home of England’s oldest biscuit recipe, Grantham Gingerbread. First made by accident in 1740.
  
• Newark Northgate: serving Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire. Nearby is Newark Flat Crossing, the sole remaining standard gauge flat crossing on the British railway network.
  
• Retford: Where the ECML crosses the Sheffield to Lincoln Line. Retford is one of England’s oldest market towns and the ornate station building is Grade II listed.

History aside, this part of the ECML offers up a true ‘racetrack’ section where LNER’s Azuma can really stretch its legs. With four parallel lines, a variety of in-game services can interact with one another, particularly for players with plentiful UK content.


LNER is one of four new operators to arrive to Train Sim World 4 along with Metrolink, ÖBB and Railpool. Its addition brings the historic ‘Big Four’, albeit some in their contemporary guises, to the game with Southern, GWR and LMS featuring in previous TSW Compatible releases.

The Class 801 Azuma was introduced in 2019 replacing previous InterCity trains on the East Coast Main Line. Unlike the bi-mode Class 800 variant, used by both LNER and other operators, which can interchangeably use electric and diesel power, the Class 801 uses OHLE (Overhead Line Equipment) for power when in service and is considered an EMU (Electric Multiple Unit). A small diesel engine, which we’ve incorporated in-game, exists only for emergency use and depot moves.

Both 801/1 and 801/2 variants of the Azuma are included in-game, the former being a 5-car train and the latter being 9-cars long. Both operate along this stretch of the ECML upwards of 125mph providing a thrilling high-speed run through Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire countryside.


Included with East Coast Main Line is the weathered EWS variant of the ubiquitous Class 66, as seen in the RHTT Loco Add-on, but without the in-cab RHTT control equipment. With both slow and fast lines existing along this part of the ECML, freight services are often seen giving way to faster passenger traffic in passing loops and this is replicated in the service timetable with a number of playable freight operations.

As with most parts of the British railway network, the Class 66 is a common sight here hauling a variety of freight. In Train Sim World 4, the services feature the FKA Container Flat seen previously in Great Western Express hosting a colourful array of containers.

The EWS Class 66 and FKA Container Flats come included with East Coast Main Line without the need to own any previous Train Sim World routes.

(Deluxe / Special Edition only)

Screenshot taken by James Lewis in Train Sim World 4’s brand-new Photo Mode!

In Train Sim World 4: Deluxe Edition, players can experience the thrill of operating the world’s most famous locomotive Flying Scotsman during its landmark centenary year. Represented in preservation condition, this National Railway Museum locomotive runs rail tour passenger services along the length of the route with Doncaster being the place at which it was first built back in 1923.

In-game the cab and exterior are faithfully recreated with the relevant safety systems, markings, signage and gauges need for extensive main line running. The Mk1 Support Coach, required for crew and accessed through the corridor tender, is also featured along with a rake of Mk2 coaches typical of those pulled during the countless rail tours it undertakes.

The story of Flying Scotsman is both dramatic and extensive with tours taking place in both the USA and Australia as well as most of the UK rail network, including plenty of routes available as Add-ons in Train Sim World. Though some of the new and improved Scenario Planner features are specific to Train Sim World 4 routes, others like custom start times, weather selection and introductory text can help take Flying Scotsman elsewhere in the UK along other routes in your collection such as Great Western Express, Birmingham Cross-City and West Somerset Railway.


The timetable for East Coast Main Line follows the current real-life Working Timetables and so included is the following. Specific details at different times of day may vary.

• Hourly London-Edinburgh services in each direction, calling at Newark Northgate and hourly London-Leeds services in each direction, non-stop between Peterborough and Doncaster.
  
• Hourly London-Leeds service in each direction, non-stop between Grantham and Doncaster.
  
• Two-hourly London-Newark Northgate services in each direction, calling at Grantham (and terminating short at Newark instead of going to Lincoln).
  
• Two-hourly London-York service in each direction, calling at all stations between Peterborough and Doncaster.
  
• Two-hourly London-Harrogate service in each direction, non-stop between Grantham and Doncaster.
  
• 4 daily London-Bradford services between Grantham and Doncaster, calling at Retford.
  
• Two-hourly London-Hull services in each direction between Grantham and Doncaster, calling at Retford (covering for Hull Trains services).
  
• Handful of ECS moves out of Doncaster Hitachi Depot.
  
• Additionally, the services between London and Scotland which run non-stop, as well as Lumo and Grand Central paths, are included as AI only, so they can be seen throughout the route, passing through Peterborough and Doncaster non-stop.

All the above uses 5, 9 and 10-car formations as appropriate.

In addition, the Class 66 freight services involve the following:

• 4XXX headcode container freight services, generally running full length services between Peterborough and Doncaster (including from yards such as Down Decoy).
  
• As with most freight, the origin and destination reach far beyond the represented route, but the names of the services include realistic origins and destinations (such as Tees Dock, Felixstowe etc.)
  
• Most services are split into parts where longer waits in passing loops are necessary, and runs outside of the busier passenger times.
  
• A fair number of services can also be seen as AI only where freight takes alternative routes between Peterborough and Doncaster, as the mainline is too busy at times to support additional traffic.

More freight services (6XXX headcodes) are available (AI and playable) using the JNAs and MFAs from Southeastern Highspeed and the BBAs from Tees Valley Line.

Using the seasonal services feature, Flying Scotsman features multiple railtours timed throughout the year. Again, the start and end points reflect the full real life services. In-game services run only between Peterborough and Doncaster.

• [Jan/Feb] 1Z87 London Kings Cross to York & 1Z90 York to London Kings Cross
  
• [Mar/Apr] 1Z72 London Kings Cross to York (2 parts)
  
• [May/Jun] 1Z20 Willington to London Kings Cross & 1Z22 London Kings Cross to Cleethorpes
  
• [Jul/Aug] 1Z54 London Kings Cross to York & 1Z55 York to London Kings Cross
  
• [Sep/Oct] 1Z39 London Kings Cross to York (2 parts) & 1Z41 York to London Kings Cross
  
• [Nov/Dec] 1Z44 London Kings Cross to York (3 parts) & 1Z56 Edinburgh to London Kings Cross
  
• There is also a light engine and support coach movement for one of the tours.

These are designed to offer the most amount of variety while respecting the uniqueness of the locomotive, deviating from these when selecting the services as a player could result in seeing more than one Scotsman at once.

Along the way there'll be plenty of collectibles to find, including the standard Route Maps as well as First Aid Defibrillators.


Additional service layers from previous Train Sim World routes and locomotives will become available for players that own them once Compatible content unlocks on Release Day - September 26th.

We're currently working on optimising these layers for East Coast Main Line between PC / Gen 9 and Gen 8 consoles to ensure players get the best experience. PC & Gen 9 players will be able to see and operate services from Midland Main Line, Thameslink Class 700 and the Railhead Treatment Train.
We will confirm further details and a full list of additional services as soon as we can.


You can view a preview of the East Coast Main Line, featuring both the LNER Azuma and Flying Scotsman tonight with the Railfan TV from 1800 UTC on YouTube and Twitch.


Another focus for this week is the exciting new Free Roam feature, giving you the flexibility to place and move trains at will across any of the routes in your collection! The game-changing feature (in the most literal sense of the phrase) offers the potential to extend playing sessions for hours in a sandbox mode, where the placement, removal and pathing of trains can result in a more dynamic style of play.

Earlier this week, Matt, Lukas and JD showcased this freedom in a preview stream showcasing Free Roam on Sand Patch Grade (in an open route setting, with no AI trains) and Dresden – Riesa (in Timetable Mode, with AI trains).

Matt answers plenty of questions in this one, some verbally and others by doing things in Free Roam directly! The team also cover Scenario Planner towards the end of the stream.

If you have any further questions about any of the new content and features in Train Sim World 4, head over to the Train Sim World 4 FAQs[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com], where we can provide the answers you seek.

Pre-order & Early Access: Play from tomorrow, September 21st!

Train Sim World 4 will release for Windows PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles on Tuesday September 26th.

Find out more about Train Sim World 3 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram[www.instagram.com], Facebook[www.facebook.com], YouTube, Twitch[www.twitch.tv], and TikTok[www.tiktok.com].

Train Sim World 4 is coming September 26th and with it some major improvements to popular creative tools as well a whole new way to express your artistic skills... Photo Mode!

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2362300/Train_Sim_World_4/

In Deluxe Edition, German railfans will also get to try out the high-tech Vectron locomotive and see our previous Dresden – Riesa route in a whole new light (literally!).

(Deluxe / Special Edition only)

We start with a look at a brand-new locomotive in Train Sim World 4: the Railpool BR 193 Vectron. Coming to the Deluxe/Special edition of TSW4, this latest addition to the fleet is one of the most high-tech, modern locomotives ever to feature in our games.

The first Vectron series locomotive was presented at the Wegberg-Wildenrath Test and Validation Centre in Germany back in 2010. Those familiar with our Training Center from Train Sim World 3 (also a key feature of Train Sim World 4) will know that the layout is inspired by the same test track.

Following testing, running and certification over Europe took place for Romania, Poland, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Austria, Turkey and even a trip through the Channel Tunnel in 2013. In total, variants of the Vectron series are certified to run in 20 different European nations.

Railpool’s variant of the Vectron utilises 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC power for cross-border services in Germany and Austria. In Train Sim World 4, this is represented by freight services on Vorarlberg Line where trains cross the border just short of Lindau. Further services have been implemented into the new Dresden – Riesa timetable and both routes will utilise the new EANOS Wagons.

Operating the Vectron requires using the myriad of screens and digital switches inside the complex, modern cab. Headlights, AFB, power limiting and much more can be changed or viewed across the four screens and for flexibility the speed dials can be moved from one screen to another using the many interactable buttons and options.


Available for free to players who already own the route when purchasing any version of Train Sim World 4. Otherwise, available in both Deluxe & Special Editions.

Hosting Railpool’s Vectron and receiving the TSW4 treatment is the popular Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa route Add-on. This comes complete with Vectron’s new timetabled services, volumetric skies, TOD4 lighting and the full set of Train Sim World 4 features. The Meißen branch, which was originally added in the TSW2 Rush Hour update, is also included.

This route, dating back to the 1830s, was one of Germany’s first long-distance railways. Today the line’s importance keeps it busy with both passenger and freight traffic. Fast services beat the regional traffic through the use of separate lines that each take a different path through the Saxony countryside, and the outskirts of Dresden are served by frequent commuter services.

A healthy selection of rolling stock comes with the route serving a mix of S-Bahn, regional, inter-city and freight traffic:

• DB BR 442
  
• DB BR 143
  
• DB BR 146.2
  
• DB BR 363 ‘V 60’ Shunter
  
• MRCE BR 185.5

Numerous service layers from other Train Sim World Compatible routes are also available for players that own them, including the BR 406 ICE 3M and DB BR 101. A full list of services and layers can be found in our Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa Gameplay Guide[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com]

You can view a preview of the upgraded Dresden – Riesa route tonight with the Railfan TV team from 1800 UTC on Twitch[www.twitch.tv] and YouTube.


In case you missed our mammoth Roadmap[live.dovetailgames.com] on announce, there’s a little bonus for players of our Train Sim World Compatible route Niddertalbahn. The team at TSG have added a variant of the DB BR 628.2 DMU in a contemporary red DB livery, so that this fun and popular unit can be utilised more prototypically in Scenario Planner and Free Roam on modern German routes and Austria’s Vorarlberg Line.

Service layers featuring this version of the 628.2 will also undoubtedly appear over time and some AI traffic is already implemented into Vorarlberg at Lindau Hbf.[live.dovetailgames.com]

Players with the Niddertalbahn route Add-on will receive this update for free with the purchase of any edition of Train Sim World 4.

Photo Mode

Photo taken in-game by tester Maik Goltz

Along with Free Roam and the Steam / Epic exclusive PC Editor (beta) feature, Photo Mode is one of the biggest new tools to arrive in Train Sim World 4. This feature has the ability to take screenshot competitions to a whole new level, with many more options and room for creativity as players manoeuvre the camera and tweak the various settings available. Those with a keen eye can afford to be more serendipitous too, taking shots as the moment takes them, without necessarily having to pre-plan and arrange locomotives in certain places to get the ideal positioning and lighting.
Regular readers will have seen us using Photo Mode shots to depict both new and existing Train Sim World routes, including the forthcoming Blackpool-Preston-Ormskirk Add-on from Just Trains.

The host of settings available include:

• Camera Settings (Depth of Field, Focal Point, Rotation, Field of View)
  
• And Colour Settings (Exposure, Saturation, Vignette, Brightness)

From the main menu, photographers will be able to admire their own captures from the Photo Gallery and see key information such as when and where they were captured or upload them to Dovetail Live.

Improvements and additions to the options available in Livery Designer and Scenario Planner also come with Train Sim World 4, furthering the creativity that new and experienced players can express and share with the thriving Train Sim World community.

Livery Designer’s updates include ways to make creating fabulous liveries easier. Text placement (rather than individual letter placement), Undo / Redo and an increase to up to 1000 layers per livery allow for much more flexibility in your creative muscles. All of this is packaged into an easier-to-use UI.

Once your masterpiece is complete, using and sharing it is also easier, with the ability to toggle custom liveries for AI trains and further improvements made to Dovetail Live.

You can see Livery Designer 2.0 in action during this week’s live stream with Cat and Alex as they add a touch of purple power to Metrolink’s F125 locomotive.

Due to last minute adjustments to the stream plan, we were not able to showcase Scenario Planner 2.0 and that has been moved to the Free Roam preview next week, Monday 18th September. The stream does still preview the changes to Livery Designer, a more in-depth look at Photo Mode, the Online Sharing Hub and also a sneak peak at the Azuma with a quick clip of the horn!

Scenario Planner 2.0 also brings with it features to allow for more flexibility when creating your own sequence of playable and AI services. Custom Start Times enable trains to move off independently of one another, Weather Selection is now an option from within the Scenario Planner menu and when sharing a Scenario with the community, custom Introductory Text can be displayed to put your creations into context for others.

You can see these improvements in action during our Free Roam / Scenario Planner dedicated live stream next Monday 18th September from 1800 UTC on Twitch[www.twitch.tv] and YouTube.

If you have any questions about any of the new content and features in Train Sim World 4, head over to the Train Sim World 4 FAQ[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com]s, where we can provide the answers you seek.


It can be pre-ordered digitally from today on Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation® Store, and Microsoft Store:

Standard Edition (£39.99/€44.99/$49.99)
Comes with Training Center, S-Bahn Vorarlberg, Antelope Valley Line and East Coast Main Line.

Deluxe Edition (£52.99/€64.99/$69.99)
Special Edition (£89.99/€104.99/$109.99)

Train Sim World 4 is coming September 26th and with it, the ability to dream big and play your way. In this article we introduce more about the exciting new PC Editor (beta) and cover everything you need to know about Antelope Valley Line – our latest foray into California railroading.

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2362300/Train_Sim_World_4/


Our journey through California continues with passenger services, a cab car and a powerful, streamlined locomotive. Fans of California railroading may recognise the sun-kissed setting akin to our previous Peninsula Corridor and Cajon Pass routes and in many ways Antelope Valley Line is a happy marriage between the two.


Metrolink’s railroad network accommodates commuters, visitors and locals within the wider Los Angeles area, taking these passengers out to the wider suburbs and cities throughout California. The Antelope Valley Line has origins in the late 1800s and closed to passenger and freight traffic in the 1970s before being reopened as a commuter rail service in the early 1990s.

Trains depart the impressive Los Angeles Union Station – the largest passenger terminal in the Western United States – and head in the direction of Santa Clarita to the north, before turning east toward Palmdale and north again to Lancaster. A brand-new station at Vista Canyon is opening in 2023 and this station has been implemented in-game ahead of its opening in much the same way we did with University Station in Birmingham Cross-City.

Like Cajon Pass, from Train Sim World 3, the Antelope Valley Line depicts the changing and challenging scenery of California railroading, starting in the built-up and heavily populated city of Los Angeles, before fading into rugged terrain, desert and the twisting curves and canyons of the wider LA County. At times players may think that they are in fact operating along a freight route, but with the joy of stopping at stations (there are 13 in total) along the way as well as switching ends and heading back using the cab car.


Metrolink EMD F125

Flying the flag for all-American diesel traction is Metrolink’s F125 locomotive. Unique to Metrolink (a new operator in Train Sim World), the F125 is a relatively recent addition the USA’s wide variety of diesels, being built between 2015 and 2021. Its streamlined nose reflects its need to whisk passengers between stations on the line at speeds of up to 79 mph, rather than the sharp angles seen on most freight-hauling diesel locomotives.

Rotem Commuter Cars

Behind the F125 are the multi-level Rotem Commuter Cars, with the final car in the consist having its own cab for push-pull operation. Cab cars as a concept are more popular in the US than they are in places like the UK and allow for the engineer to operate the locomotive from the opposite end of the train. Players of our German content may be familiar with the concept from routes such as Bremen – Oldenburg with the n-Wagen cab car or previous US routes like NEC: New York – Trenton or Peninsula Corridor.

The Rotem Cab Car is unique in Train Sim World, with a high position for the engineer and more streamlined exterior. These cars are built by Hyundai Rotem and are used in real-life at opposite ends of the USA, both here in California and by another operator in Florida.


Services for the F125 are primarily formed of the end-to-end passenger runs as part of Metrolink’s passenger timetable, stopping at the 11 intermediate stations and averaging a speed of 35-40 mph (max speed 79 mph) across the 75-mile route. A handful of services from LA to Burbank or Via Princessa can also be operated as can non-revenue services from LA to Metrolink Carriage Maintenance Facility.

The F125 sits on the northbound end of each train, meaning that services out of LA are pulled by the locomotive, whereas services from Lancaster heading south are headed by the Rotem Cab Car.

Freight services will also be available to players that own Cajon Pass from Train Sim World 3. A selection of BNSF trains will be available as service layers to give some variety to traffic in and amongst the F125-hauled passenger trains.

With the real-life route being Union Pacific territory, those that own Sherman Hill (available separately and as part of the US Super Bundle pack) will instead see the freight services swapped out with Union Pacific locomotives. Both Cajon Pass and Sherman Hill are required in order to operate these. Additional Union Pacific substitutions for the BNSF services will be available from Cane Creek locomotives too.

There’s also a service layer for the Santa Fe F7, which is part of the TSW Compatible Loco Add-on Bundle.

Scenarios center very much around the Hollywood theme, with one of Train Sim World 4’s new in-game Moments featuring in ‘Blockbuster’. Collectibles include a Cowboy Hats spread far and wide along the route as well as a food vendors. And the brand-new Diorama feature brings track workers and other non-standard NPCs to life, as in all of Train Sim World 4’s core routes.


You can view a preview of the Antelope Valley Line tonight with the Railfan TV from 18:00 UTC on YouTube and Twitch[www.twitch.tv]


For the first time ever in Train Sim World, skilled and ambitious players on Steam and Epic will be able get creative and craft their own Scenarios, design their own trains and even build the routes they’ve always dreamed of with access to the PC Editor (beta).

In the first of this week’s live streams, the Railfan TV team brought in Junior Software Engineer Will Kaye to discuss the power of this feature and how both Steam and Epic players will be able to utilise the same functions and tools that our Development Team use to make our in-game content.

If you missed the live stream, you can rewatch over on YouTube and see Matt and Will demonstrate:

• Landscaping
  
• Track Laying
  
• Route & Scenery Building
  
• Placing a Train
  
• Track Markers
  
• Play In Editor function
  
• And many questions answered!

The PC Editor (beta) will be available for Steam and Epic players to download from the Epic Games Store for free from launch day - 26th September 2023.

Pre-order & Early Access: Play from September 21st! Train Sim World 4 will release for Windows PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles on Tuesday September 26th.

Find out more about Train Sim World 3 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram[www.instagram.com], Facebook[www.facebook.com], YouTube, Twitch[www.twitch.tv], and TikTok[www.tiktok.com].

Train Sim World 4 is coming September 26th and with it a slew of new features and a brand-new country! We take a deeper dive into S-Bahn Vorarlberg: Lindau – Bludenz and some of the exciting new ways you can play your way.


Our expansion across the European continent continues with our first ever Austrian route. A nation known for its tasty Sachertorte, classical music and its popular national railway operator: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, or ÖBB.


Dramatic mountains, verdant countryside and plentiful towns and villages set the scene in the far west of Austria, where the borders of neighbouring Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are not too far away. The northern end of the line at Lindau sits across the border in Germany, making this route a two-nation affair with some 6 km of German rails to traverse before heading south towards Bludenz.

28 stations lie along the way, making for regular stopping points through the State of Vorarlberg. The route also includes the branch line that heads in the direction of Switzerland, stopping just short of the border at Lustenau, on the banks of the Rhine River. The inclusion of the branch line and nature of the services on the main line make this route feel like a complete network, encompassing everything that’s great about railways across Central Europe and its borderlands.

Austria has long been a country that we’ve wanted to explore within Train Sim World and the love doesn't stop with Vorarlberg! A little further down the line, we have another Austrian route in our TSW Roadmap, which we'll be shouting about from the rooftops when it's ready to release.


With the introduction on a new operator to Train Sim World, comes also a new EMU, the ÖBB 4024 Talent (or the Talbot Leichter Nahverkehrs-Triebwagen). Players of our previous German content will be familiar with the Talent family of units, with Deutsche Bahn variants of the Talent 2 featuring in Train Sim World Compatible routes Rapid Transit and Nahverkehr Dresden - Riesa (the latter of which is being upgraded for Train Sim World 4).

The 4-car ÖBB Class 4024 is a previous version built between 2004 and 2008 by Bombardier. Its responsive acceleration, braking and low floor make this railcar ideal for stop-start commuter services through the many locations featured in S-Bahn Vorarlberg and its similarity to variants from across Europe exemplify its ability to work cross-border services.


Included in the route is the DB BR 185 offering a selection of freight services in and amongst the passenger heavy traffic. Another product of Bombardier, this electric locomotive sees action away from its familiar German surroundings by servicing both local and intermodal trains in Vorarlberg’s timetable.

Players of the previous Train Sim World routes will enjoy stepping into some familiar traction to get used to the Austrian rails and will no doubt relish the opportunity to operate the 185 in new surroundings. The DB BR 185 comes included with S-Bahn Vorarlberg: Lindau – Bludenz without the need to own any previous Train Sim World routes.


(Deluxe / Special Edition only)

Train Sim World 4: Deluxe Edition & Special Edition players will also have freight operations to make use of courtesy of the Railpool BR 193 Vectron and new EANOS Wagons. Whilst the primary route for this high-tech locomotive will be the upgraded version of Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa, like the 4024 EMU it can readily cross borders for use elsewhere in Europe and has a number of services included on S-Bahn Vorarlberg.

We’ll be talking much more in-depth about the Vectron and the upgraded Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa in a future article.


Services through Vorarlberg consist of a mix of all-stopping and limited passenger trains utilising the 4024:

• S1 – Full length runs stopping at all stations from Bludenz or Schruns to Lindau Hbf, Lochau-Hörbranz and Bregenz Hafen.
  
• S2 – A single service exists from the reference timetable, with others coming out as AI at Feldkirch.
  
• S3 – These services, bound for / originating from off the map at St Margarethen, run between Lustenau and Bregenz.
  
• R1 – Similar to S1 services, these do limited stop runs from Bludenz or Schruns to Lindau Hbf,  Lochau-Hörbranz, Bregenz Hafen and Bregenz. 
  
• R5 – Originate from off the map at St Margarethen and head from Lustenau to Feldkirch/Dornbirn.
  
• REX1 – These limited-stop trains run from Bludenz, Schruns and Feldkirch to Lindau Hbf.
  
• S4 AI – When some Talent services finish, they turn into S4 AI that head out at Bludenz. 

In addition, players that own selected Train Sim World Compatible routes will be able to make use of more services offered through layers:

• S-Bahn Zentralschweiz: Luzern - Sursee: Bregenz to Lindau Hbf using the SBB RABe 523. These services originate off the map at Romanshorn.
  
• Hauptstrecke Hamburg - Lübeck + Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr + DB BR 101: Additional services with the MRCE 182 between Bludenz and Feldkirch.
  
• Railpool BR 193 Vectron (currently only available in Train Sim World 4:] Deluxe / Special Edition):[/b Subs into DB BR 185 services and but also has its own services such as quarry services near Dornbirn.[/list]
  
  
  • Niddertalbahn + Tharandter Rampe: Dresden – Chemnitz: DB BR 612 and 628.2 AI services at Lindau Hbf.
    
  • Nahverker Dresden – Riesa: Additional tanker freight services, that can be hauled by both the DB BR 185 and BR 193 Vectron (for those with Train Sim World 4: Deluxe / Special Edition)
  
  
  Scenarios, Collectibles and (new for TSW4) Dioramas!
  
  An interesting selection of unique Scenarios lie in store, featuring the treacherous Alpine snow in the form of an avalanche (Whiteout), a cross-border rescue operation for the 4024 (International Rescue), a 4024 rail tour with some interesting facts about the route (Die Große Tour) and even a service providing a 4D cinema experience to lucky passengers (Just Like the Movies).
  
  Along the way, you’ll need to hunt down some Austria-themed hats and fix broken Snow Height Markers. Watch your speed though! One local road monitors the speed of cars in the area and even manages to catch trains as they run by.
  
  Keep an eye out for one of Train Sim World 4’s new dioramas too, featuring track workers and unique passengers throughout all of the game’s core routes, including S-Bahn Vorarlberg.
  
  
  New Features Feature! Dev Diary Ep 1
  
  
  
  In case you hadn’t heard, Train Sim World 4 comes with a load of new and improved features, which we’ll go into more detail on in articles, streams and videos released in the run up to release on September 26th.
  
  Kicking things off is our first Development Diary where Jordan, Matt and Cat talk more about the improvements to Livery Designer and Scenario Planner as well as the shiny new UI. We also hear from Will, who chips in to explain more about the all-intriguing PC Editor (beta) where ambitious players on Steam and Epic will be able to let their imaginations run wild whilst dreaming up Scenarios, trains and even routes of their own!
  
  
  Route Preview Live Stream
  
  
  
  We’ll also be showcasing S-Bahn Vorarlberg: Lindau – Bludenz in tonight’s live stream with Alex, Lukas and Matt over on Twitch[www.twitch.tv], YouTube and Facebook [www.facebook.com]from 18:00 UTC.
  
  Pre-order & Early Access: Play from September 21st!
  
  Train Sim World 4 will release for Windows PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles on Tuesday September 26th.

Ding ding ding! Seconds out, round two, for part two of the Train Sim World 4 Roadmap.
Get a brief summary below on this thread, or discover all the information on our article:


Also check out our Steam store page, where you can get up to 25% discount with a pre-order!

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2362300/Train_Sim_World_4/

Today, we’re focusing on the new and updated core features coming to the new game, and boy, do we have a lot to go through.

PC Editor, Free Roam, Scenario Planner 2.0, Livery Designer 2.0, Formation Designer, Photo Mode, New Scoring, Ease-of-access improvements, Haptics, Volumetric fog, Audio and source trips, and Music. Whew! So, let’s get started, shall we?

Note: If you’d like more information on TSW4, you can find out more on our shiny new webpage[www.trainsimworld.com], including details on pre-order, discounts, and frequently asked questions.

View our full announcement live stream with all the upcoming information detailed out:

Alongside our Roadmap and future articles, we will of course be showcasing all Train Sim World 4 has to offer via our live streams. Here are some dates to mark down in your calendars before the game's release on September 26th. All streams will start at 18:00 UTC and be available on our YouTube and Twitch [www.twitch.tv]channels.

• August 24th: The TSW4 Roadmap (Matt & JD)
  
• September 1st: Intro to TSW4 & Vorarlberg Preview (Matt, Lukas & Alex)
  
• September 5th: PC Editor Showcase (Matt, Will K & Alex)
  
• September 7th: Antelope Valley Line Preview (Matt & Jamie)
  
• September 12th: Creative Tools Previews (Matt, Cat & Alex)
  
• September 14th: Dresden and Vectron Preview (Matt & Jan)
  
• September 18th: Free Roam Mode Preview (Matt, Lukas & JD)
  
• September 20th: ECML & Scotsman Preview (Matt, Jamie & Joe)
  
• September 25th: Train Sim World 4 Summary Stream (Alex & Ben)

Due to the length of the roadmap part-2 article, not all the information is on this thread - please view the roadmap above to find all the imagery and information!


Way back in 2019, we spoke about our desire to bring the Unreal Engine 4 Editor to PC players. Well, it’s taken a little while, but we’re delighted to be able to offer access to the PC Editor (beta) to players with Train Sim World 4. But what is the Editor, and what possibilities will it enable for you? Our Executive Producer Matt has the details.

What is the PC Editor?

Matt: "Train Sim World is built using our heavily modified version of the Unreal Engine 4 Editor, all the trains you drive and the routes you drive them on are built by the team with this tool. The PC Editor we’re talking about here is exactly that, it’s a special build of the editor that works outside of our development environment but otherwise is identical and will let you create any content you like, exactly like our team does."

Tell us a little bit about what players will be able to do with the PC Editor.

"The PC Editor allows you to create anything that works in the game, including new routes, new trains, new scenarios and even new timetables for service mode. The command line tools for running the simulations to create the timetables is all part of the package as well, as is the packaging tool used to create the package files that allow you to share your creations with friends."


Another new feature we can’t wait for you to try out. Our sandbox mode – enabling you do spawn anything on any route. It’s Off-the-Rails Mode on steroids.

In a nutshell, what is Free Roam Mode?

Matt: "Sometimes you just want to take the train of your choice and do whatever you want with it. It’s not about planning a scenario, or doing a service, you just want to… explore. Make it up as you go along. That’s what free roam mode is about."

Free Roam Mode will be available for your entire collection of routes and trains.

Can you spawn trains in Timetable mode using Free Roam features?

"Yes! This is one of the most exciting features in the release, allowing you to take the living world of the normal timetable in service mode and add your own train to it and do what you want, in and around those trains. You’ll really begin to appreciate the way the control system (known as the “Dispatcher”) can guide you around dynamically in amongst those trains. Be careful though, with great power comes great responsibility, in reality trains don’t just spawn out of thin air and this means you have the potential to throw the organised world into chaos. Sounds fun though doesn’t it? Experiment with it and enjoy the possibilities it brings!"


Getting a long-awaited lick of paint are both Scenario Planner and Livery Designer, with some awesome new features to help you create great content more seamlessly for you (and other players!) to enjoy.

What new features are coming to Scenario Planner for TSW4?

Matt: "Scenario Planner 2.0 is reworked into a brand new user interface bringing it more in line with the rest of the UI in the game making it simpler to understand and easier to use. Beyond the UI changes, there’s a range of new features and enhancements that will allow you to make more comprehensive scenarios as well! The changes begin at the very start of the tool, you can now set a description on the scenario which used to be autogenerated, allowing you to add some personal flavour to it. Further, that description will now be shown at the beginning of the run when a player starts it, so you can also use it to set the scene for the player as well."

"Creators can now set the start time of a scenario separately to the time the player service starts, we think the primary use of this is going to be allowing the scenario to start 5-10 minutes before the player, to allow some action to get moving in front of the player or around the player before they set off. This will allow you to get another train to depart the same station as the player and get ahead of them for example, to cause some non-green lights right from the start. Another massively requested feature from creators is being able to specifically set the time of year and the weather that the scenario will use. We’ve made the full dialog of options available so you can choose dynamic weather, or set a specific custom pattern."

"The most important new feature in Scenario Planner 2.0 is that you can now chain paths together, so imagine on Vorarlberg line you could start in Lindau and run to Lustenau, then run from Lustenau to Bludenz, and then back from Bludenze back to Lindau. This allows you to create a much more diverse range of scenarios including changing ends and so forth, exciting stuff!"

"Lastly, we’ve made it so that AI trains can now start and end their journeys in Portals allowing for much easier AI usage on corridors. Previously you had to start all AI trains on a marker and end them there and it became a challenge to balance out those start and end points when really the end goal was just to get something “going in the other direction”. Using portals this is all now much easier. It’s important to note that some features such as Portal usage and Chaining paths may only work on TSW4 routes, or may work to varying degrees on older routes depending on how they were originally set up."


In Train Sim World 4, alongside the sweep of changes coming to Creators Club, the Livery Designer has been re-vamped to better help the player create the best liveries they can with these new features. Our Associate Producer Cat has more details:

What new features are coming to Livery Designer for TSW4?

Cat: "More Layers – Before, the old Livery Designer had a max number of 300 layers for the player to place on their model. Now the max number has gone up to 1000 layers, allowing players to create much more detailed designs."

"Organised Layer Lists – Instead of placing all layers together in one long list, the layers will now be separated by the side of the model they’re placed on. For example, layers placed on the front of the model will be listed separately from the layers listed on the back of the layers. With the layer number being increased, this organisation will help players keep track of the components of their creations."

"Type Text – Livery Designer 2.0 will still have letters as selectable layers, but another feature has been added to extend on this. Players will now be able to type out full words and preview them, before placing them onto their models. This will make the task of adding text a lot easier by taking out the pain of placing and size individual letters together."


Strike a pose! Ever had that moment where you’ve seen the perfect Railfan opportunity slip through your fingers as you were travelling too quickly, or worried about operating your train? With Photo Mode, you’ll have the freedom to take amazing screenshots, for both your personal use and to share off your creation. Cat's back with more:

In a nutshell, what is Photo Mode?

Cat: "Photo Mode is a game feature new to Train Sim World. With this mode, the player can pause mid game and switch to a camera view that they can position in the paused world to get the best shot they can. They can also adjust the image by changing the contrast, saturation, brightness, and camera focus."


With Train Sim World 4, we want to reward driving expertise – so we’ve shaken up our Scoring system.


Whilst for a lot of you, your first experience of Train Sim World is a distant memory. However, we’re continuing to improve a TSW newbie’s first time playing the game, and we’ve also bundled in some UI and accessibility improvements we think all players will enjoy too.

What do we mean by ‘ease of access’ improvements?

Matt: "This covers a range of different topics but it’s really all about just making the game more understandable, helping players find things to do that they will be comfortable they can achieve and then trying to give them some more help when they’re actually in the cab. Trains and Railways are both hard, much harder than is apparent until you’re actually in the hot seat and someone’s saying 'now shut this cab down, change that junction and put the train over there'."

• A difficulty rating for each train
  
• Scenarios now tell you what makes up their difficulty ratings
  
• Adding the Class 323 and 8F to the training center
  
• Adding “gates” to train controls
  
• A minimal hud for all users
  
• Reset train simulation physics in the pause menu
  
• Missing a station will just carry on to the next one
  
• Coupling and Uncoupling can now be set to be semi-automatic.
  
• Tutorial Recommendations.

What haptics have we implemented for TSW4?

• Track Rumble Vibration
  
• Throttle and Brake Level Vibration
  
• Collision with buffers/couplings Vibration
  
• Track Switches Interaction Vibration
  
• Hovering over interactable controls in the cabs Vibration
  
• Train Safety System Alerts via Controller Speaker

IT. LOOKS. SO. GOOD. Fangirling aside, volumetric fog provides a really important depth to our graphics, and also means headlights can be hinderances, rather than helps in certain conditions (as in real life). Let's check in with out Senior Software Engineer Alex:

What benefits do volumetric fog provide players?

Alex: "Whereas previously fog could have only one brightness across the scene, volumetric fog allows fog to be lit up by various individual lights in the world. This allows the sun to cast god rays at sunrise/sunset, as well as train headlights and some scenery to produce beams of light when it gets dark."

Do we have any shots of how volumetric fog makes a difference to a route’s feel?


With Train Sim World 4, we’ve really pushed the boat (or train?) out with our recording and mixing audio, getting real-life recordings from visits to Metrolink in California, Siemens in Germany, and – of course – Scotsman in its pomp.


Not content though with just authentic sounds, we’ve gone ham on the menu music and audio cues in game with Train Sim World 4. If you watched the first 5 minutes of Dovetail Direct on Tuesday, the City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra (how good were they, by the way?) gave an emotive rendition of the new track. At the centre of it? Senior Community Manager-come-Composer Ben has the details on how we made the iconic soundscape of TSW4.

What did you have to consider when creating the music for Train Sim World 4?

Ben: "I’m very lucky in the sense that I’m given the freedom to create and write what feels right to me. That doesn’t make the process challenge-free, I’m very good at getting in my own way and making things difficult for myself! 

When I found out we were releasing Train Sim World 4, I started writing the main theme before I’d even been asked to! I had an idea in mind, and I wanted to make that a reality before anything else got in the way.  

I knew instinctively that I wanted to maintain the theme and motif I’d developed for the previous iteration of Train Sim World because players had grown attached to that (so had I, to be honest!). I also knew that I wanted to expand on that and take the piece in new directions, introduce some new thematic ideas, and go bigger in terms of the overall scale.  "


We are sorry to say that, at this stage, we will not be releasing these updates to Train Sim World 2. It is a really tough decision to make, and we’ve not taken it lightly – but it has become apparent, that, whilst we’ve always intended to release the content, for a number of technical reasons, it is causing more issues than it resolves with the way the builds now work.

Rather than have good intentions but no substance (or worse – a scenario that means your game can’t be played how you currently play it), we believe you deserve something concrete.

There are many factors at play here: among other things, various unforeseen technical hurdles have hit when putting builds together which jeopardised content players were already playing. We also want to focus on ensuring Train Sim World 4 is as good as we can make it for you all. We’ve always remained hopeful these improvements would be released, but sadly it’s become apparent that it’s not possible at this stage. We’re extremely sorry it has taken this long to come to this conclusion.

For Train Sim World 4, we’re making it very clear what you can and can’t expect from the remaining Train Sim World 3 game updates, and we hope you can accept our apology.


In yesterday’s Roadmap article, we spoke about the Day 1 content you can expect from Train Sim World 4. Today, we wanted to provide more detail on the future content TSW3 players can expect from us.

Please note that everything in the TSW3 column will also be available on Day 1 for TSW4. Our intention is to release for TSW3 patches as soon as we can.

More detail for the content of the patches will be confirmed upon release.

Train Sim World 3 - Timeframe to be Confirmed

• New York-Trenton New Timetable
  
• Peninsula Corridor Baby Bullet Services
  
• Midland Main Line Route Improvement Patch

And Tutorial Fixes:

• DRA BR143 Intro
  
• HML Route Intro
  
• DRA 766.2 Intro
  
• RT DBpbzfa Intro
  
• LGV Route Intro
  
• SKA BR442 tutorial
  
• SFJ Intro
  
• MP36PH-3C Intro

Train Sim World 4 Launch (TSW4 Only)

• [Large] New York-Trenton New Timetable
  
• [Large] Nahverkehr Dresden TSW4 Feature Set
  
• [Medium] Southeastern High Speed Patch
  
• Niddertalbahn BR 628
  
• [Small] Edinburgh-Glasgow route improvements patch
  
• [Small] Bremen-Oldenburg route improvements patch
  
• [Small] Peak Forest Route post-release improvements patch
  
• [Small] Island Line patch
  
• [Small] Birmingham Cross-City Patch
  
• DB BR 187 Audio improvement

Train Sim World 4 - Projected after Launch

• Peninsula Corridor Baby Bullet Services
  
• Koln-Aachen New Timetable

In the meantime, head over to our Train Sim World 4 FAQ page[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com], and you can find out more on our Train Sim World 4 Website[www.trainsimworld.com], including details on pre-order, discounts, and other commonly asked questions.

Our largest roadmap ever is now available! Get a brief summary below on this thread, or discover all the information on our article:


Also check out our Steam store page, where you can get up to 25% discount with a pre-order!

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2362300/Train_Sim_World_4/

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.

• Vorarlberg: Lindau - Bludenz: Our first Austrian route, and first border-crossing, featuring the ÖBB 4024 Talent 1
  
• Antelope Line: Los Angeles – Lancaster: Challenging canyon terrain meets the hustle-and-bustle of Los Angeles with the unique F125 locomotive, with Rotem cars
  
• East Coast Main Line: Peterborough – Doncaster: The perfect racetrack for the high-speed LNER Azuma (and railtours…) to stretch its legs
  
• Flying Scotsman (Deluxe and Special Editions only): The world’s most famous Steam locomotive takes a Centenary Railtour on ECML
  
• Railpool BR 193 Vectron (Deluxe and Special Editions only): Coming to Nahverkehr Dresden (which will be upgraded to TSW4 feature set), the ‘computer on wheels’ will be a great addition to German railfans’ collections
  
• Scenario Planner 2.0: Chained paths, custom start times and weathers, portal support for AI trains, new UI, and more!
  
• Livery Designer 2.0: Undo/Redo, text entry, new fonts, toggling AI livery usage, 1,000-layer limit, and more!
  
• Photo Mode: Pause the game to take the perfect screenshots, with adjustable camera settings, filters, and enhancements, to populate your in-game Gallery
  
• Creators Club improvements: Filter by content you own, and a new UI
  
• New Scoring System: Rewarding experienced drivers for driving well with all-new Platinum medal tier.
  
• Free Roam Mode: Spawn trains anywhere at any time, set paths where you like, use custom formations – the world is your sandbox to use your whole collection as you choose in a single session
  
• The PC Editor (Beta): Access our version of the Unreal Engine 4 toolset, the same tools our teams use. Create gameplay, trains, and even your own routes!
  
• Ease of Access improvements
  
• Improved Overhead Line Rendering
  
• New Rain on Windscreen Effects
  
• Haptics for Controllers
  
• Volumetric Fog

Due to the length of the roadmap, there is only a selection of images on this thread - please view the roadmap above to find all the imagery and information!

Train Sim World 4 Key Arts









As mentioned above, our roadmap exceeds the Steam limit of 8000 characters (It's actually over 8000 words) so for more information and developer insight, dive into the Train Sim World 4 Roadmap Part 1[live.dovetailgames.com]!

You can also head over to our incredible and extensive Train Sim World 4 FAQ page[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com], and find out more on our Train Sim World 4 Website[www.trainsimworld.com], including details on pre-order, discounts, and other commonly asked questions.

Yep – it's coming! New locomotives, new routes, new operators, new features, new music, new options, and even a new country. It’s all new for Train Sim World 4 – coming September 26th!

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2362300/Train_Sim_World_4/

​
If you’ve been keeping up to date with everything going on then you’re probably fresh out of the mammoth 2+ hour-long Dovetail Direct: Train Sim World Keynote where JD, Matt, Lukas and Jordan went through everything you could possibly want to know about our next big release. If you missed it, don’t worry! You can go back and view the whole thing (again, if you want to) on YouTube.

But if you want to take your time reading all about it, we’ve got you covered. Below we’ll outline each of the routes and locomotives, the shiny new gameplay features, the different options available including pre-order extras and Early Access. There are also some handy FAQs that should answer plenty of burning questions on Train Sim World 4.

We’ll be publishing further articles focussing on individual routes and new features in-game in the run-up to launch, so keep an eye out for more articles and more YouTube content, follow us on socials (bottom of page), or sign up to our newsletter for more information over the coming weeks!



Introducing: Austria! The seventh nation to be part of the Train Sim World.

The S-Bahn Vorarlberg Line winds through the Alps to the Austria-Germany border courtesy of national operator ÖBB, also new to Train Sim World. Big mountains and stunning scenery are the order of the day, as are a plethora of station stops on both the main line and the branch line that heads in the direction of the border with Switzerland.

Making the journey is ÖBB’s 4024 Talent (or the Talbot Leichter Nahverkehrs-Triebwagen) EMU. Variants of this unit are well accustomed to real-life service throughout Europe and even over the Atlantic in Canada but the 4024 is specific to Austria.


The challenge of operating through the varied terrain of California continues!

On the other side of the Atlantic, the power of American diesel can be harnessed with Metrolink’s F125. Yep – you guessed it – this marks yet another new operator in-game, familiar to those in and around California taking passengers out from Los Angeles to the wider suburbs and counties.

Along the way players will recognise locations synonymous with Hollywood movies such as the LA River and even get involved in the action as part of one of the many in-game scenarios.

The Antelope Valley Line runs out of Los Angeles Union Station, the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States. After powering through urban LA, the line heads north to Lancaster, California and through areas that have seen dramatic changes since the late 1800s, including the impact of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.


The East Coast Main Line is one of Britain’s most important routes, guiding trains of all shapes and sizes out from London and up through to Edinburgh in Scotland. The stretch between Peterborough and Doncaster, famed for its record-breaking location at Stoke Bank, continues to provide thrilling high speeds for LNER’s Class 801 Azuma which brings a sleek, modern new train to Train Sim World 4.

Along the way lie three more big station stopping points at Grantham, Newark Northgate and Retford. Near Newark, trains will traverse the last remaining flat crossing in Britain at Newark Flat Crossing, where the Nottingham to Lincoln Line intersects with the East Coast Main Line.

(Deluxe / Special Edition only)

In Train Sim World 4: Deluxe Edition, the historic importance of the East Coast Main Line is enhanced with the introduction of the world’s most famous locomotive: LNER A3 Class Flying Scotsman. This icon of the railways, built in 1923, today runs at up to 75 mph across Britain bringing joy not just to railfans and enthusiasts, but to anyone with an eye for incredible engineering and an appreciation for the past. On 30 November 1934, Flying Scotsman broke the 100 mph barrier, becoming the first steam locomotive officially to do so.

LNER Class A3 Flying Scotsman is exclusive to Deluxe and Special Editions and cannot currently be purchased as a separate Add-on.

(Deluxe / Special Edition only)

In Deluxe Edition, players will also be able to learn and operate one of the most high-tech locomotives ever to come to Train Sim World: The BR 193 Vectron.

Represented by leasing company Railpool, the Vectron will be available to run on freight services (formed of new EANOS wagons) across the Dresden – Riesa route Add-on (more on that shortly) as well as S-Bahn Vorarlberg, providing a rare opportunity to use the same locomotive across two different countries in Train Sim World.


The home for the Vectron is an upgraded version of the hugely popular Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa route Add-on, complete with a new timetable, volumetric skies, TOD4 lighting and the full set of Train Sim World 4 features.

This popular route hosts a variety of services to operate across a line with origins back in the 1830s but representative of the thriving modern stations throughout the Saxony region. Both fast and slow lines ensure a mix of traffic, from the busy commuter services of the DB BR 442 ‘Talent 2’ and the push-pull capability of the DB BR 146.2 passenger trains to the versatile DB BR 143 and the freight-hauling MRCE BR 185.5

The addition of Vectron has necessitated a rework of the timetable, giving a new lease of life to this popular German route Add-on!

Players that already own the previous version of Nahverkehr Dresden – Riesa can take advantage of the upgrades by purchasing any edition of Train Sim World 4. The BR 193 Vectron is exclusive to Deluxe and Special Editions and cannot currently be purchased as a separate Add-on.



A key feature of Train Sim World’s Scenario Planner has been the ability to utilise a diverse range of owned content to operate any train on any track using your own created scenarios. For Scenario Planner 2.0, this tool adds a number of options to move closer towards detailed scenarios and movements, with Chained Paths now a feature for Train Sim World 4 routes. Chaining paths will allow you to plan a route from A to B, but then continue back to A, or even onto C and so forth.

The ability to set times, weather and add more detail to descriptions for sharing in Creators Club will also be implemented, giving the tool much more flexibility for creativity!


Livery Designer also gets some upgrades. If you’ve ever made a mistake using this tool, then the addition of Undo / Redo options might just save your next masterpiece! Unlocking more creativity is the lifting of the layer limit to 1000 and text options now appear by inputting characters into the UI, rather than placing individual letters. Font selection will also be available, including the Johnston and Rail Alphabet fonts.

Once your livery has had its final touches and you’re ready to start using it on the rails, the options to Toggle On / Off the livery ensures that it appears when you’d like it to, without having to delete or recreate it when you want to enable it into your favourite route.


Screenshot depicts Photo Mode for Train Sim World Compatible: Linke Rheinstrecke – available as part of Train Sim World 4: Special Edition or separately as a route Add-on.

Screenshot Competitions just got a bit more serious. A dedicated Photo Mode now gives you the option to pause the live action, set up the angles, admire the scenery and enhance shots with filters, blur and exposures, giving more freedom to capture your journey at its best. Examples of the kinds of shots you’ll be able to take in Train Sim World 4 can be seen in this article and we’re very excited to see what you, the Train Sim World Community, can capture with this brand-new creative tool.


In line with the improvements and new creative features, Creators Club itself has had an upgrade which includes:

• Reworked, easier to use UI
  
• Search filter based on the content that you own
  
• Other improved search functionalities
  
• Improvements to Dovetail Live

Scoring has long been a way for Train Sim World players to judge how well they’re driving a certain route. But the measure of Action Points has focussed primarily on timing and the accuracy of stopping at stations.

In its updated guise, scoring now reflects the challenge posed by enabling safety systems in the cab and having things set up in the correct configurations. Driving without wipers on in inclement weather, leaving the train in an unsafe manner, braking too harshly or coupling with too much force will also penalise you, making the final scoring much more representative of how professional your run really was!


Ease of Access features are crucially important for those new to Train Sim World (welcome!) but also make the journey easier for existing players or those getting used to the new and exciting features that Train Sim World 4 offers. These include:

• Locomotive difficulty tiering
  
• Improved player assists to get you out of sticky situations
  
• Simpler HUD (plus new mini-HUD)
  
• Automatic coupling and yard routing
  
• Improved key mapping for accessibility

We’ve also added unliveried versions of the Class 323 EMU (from Birmingham Cross-City / Glossop Line) and the LMS 8F steam locomotive (from Spirit of Steam / Peak Forest) to the Training Center so that players can get to grips with some easier forms of traction.

Players will not need to own the associated routes (mentioned above) in order to access these locomotives in Train Sim World 4.


More generally throughout these new routes (including the updated Dresden – Riesa) a number of graphical improvements around weather and lighting have been implemented to enhance the driving experience from inside the cab. These include:

• Volumetric Fog
  
• Improved rain on windscreen effects
  
• Controller Haptics (+ lightbar & audio functionality for PlayStation Controllers)
  
• ‘Moments' in Scenarios

If you’ve ever wanted to be serendipitous or enjoy more of Train Sim World on the fly, then Free Roam’s new spawning and despawning tools will allow you to do just that. Whilst on foot, options within the UI will bring a whole new dynamic and an adaptive play style, so that you choose what train to operate, where and how.

Pathing options are also a thing! Once your train of choice is spawned in, you can set the path you want and head off to your final destination using the 2D map. If you don’t fancy operating this train yourself, get the AI to do it. The power to create your own virtual train set is in your hands!


We’ll have much more to talk about on the PC Editor (beta) in a future article, but in essence we’re giving ambitious PC players the tools required to one day make your own gameplay features including routes and locomotives! This highly technical feature will test the skills of the Community and we can’t wait to see what amazing creations players will make with this feature.

You’ll be able to download the PC Editor (beta) over on the Epic Games Store on release but players on both Steam and Epic will be able to make use of this new feature.

If you have any questions about any of the new content and features in Train Sim World 4, head over to the Train Sim World 4 FAQs[dovetailgames.freshdesk.com], where we can provide the answers you seek.


Train Sim World 4 will release for Windows PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles on Tuesday September 26th.

It can be pre-ordered digitally from today on Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation® Store, and Microsoft Store:

• Standard Edition (£39.99/€44.99/$49.99)
  
• Deluxe Edition (£52.99/€64.99/$69.99)
  
• Special Edition (£89.99/€104.99/$109.99)

It can be pre-ordered with a discount of up to 25% on selected platforms, with Deluxe and Special Editions granting 5-day Early Access and bonus decals for Livery Editor. A downloadable Soundtrack is also available with pre-orders on Steam.

Steam players that have Train Sim World 3 will be entitled to a loyalty discount and a pre-order discount, totalling 25% off.

Find out more about Train Sim World 4 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram[www.instagram.com], Facebook[www.facebook.com], YouTube, Twitch[www.twitch.tv], and TikTok[www.tiktok.com].