The Train Sim World 2 Roadmap was originally intended to give players an indication of when the Preserved Collection from Train Sim World would become available for them to use. When we first started talking about future plans in this way it showed there was a keen interest among players to gain better insight into what Dovetail Games was up to behind the scenes. This format gave us the opportunity to reveal more about the development process and to get feedback on new and proposed features and release earlier.

In the early days of the Roadmap we also incorporated progress reports on issues that had been brought to our attention by players. This had the potential to be invaluable in demonstrating that your concerns were being investigated and, when possible, remedied. The problem with this approach was that it was impossible for us to accurately provide a status update on these issues due to the way the development team work on them and the speed at which the situation changed. More simply, it was often the case that no sooner had we listed something as under investigation the investigation had completed and work was then added to the development backlog.

In the last few months we’ve once again looked to evolve the Roadmap format as we were increasingly giving misleading descriptions for work that was completed. For example, listing a route the Preservation Crew had completed their overhaul of as “Upcoming” became almost code for “waiting for testing”, and on many occasions this wait could be considerable. Similarly, we were unable to add routes or upcoming releases to the Roadmap as the detail of that release was not 100% locked down, even though production had begun.

The Roadmap is an ongoing project to help players understand where our efforts are being employed, and each update is an opportunity to evolve the format to better serve this goal.

Obviously, with an introduction like this we can mean only one thing: the Roadmap format is changing.

Rather than listing ongoing and upcoming projects according to their status, we will now break them up into the type of project it is. The order these projects are listed within their category is an indication of the order they’ll be released. Naturally, this order can change over time but we’ll be clear when this has happened, offering an explanation when possible. We’ll also list out projects that are still lacking final details or scope; if we know we’re making a US route set in the early 2000s we’ll add it to the Roadmap, but may well keep the identity of that route vague until it has been announced more fully.

This last point is an important one. The Roadmap will no longer be the place to find out the new routes that we’re developing. Instead each new add-on will be announced independently so that it doesn’t simply get buried among everything else we’re working on.

We hope this new format better serves our original intent, and that as players you get better insight from it.

The main update between this Roadmap and the end of 2021, aside from the change in format is that we’ve altered the way that Creators Club will be released. In our previous Roadmap article, we discussed a new addition to the schedule – an Expansion Pack, featuring additional liveries, services, and scenarios for Sand Patch Grade, Bakerloo Line, and Schnellfahrstrecke Köln – Aachen, as well as access to a new tool, Creators Club, which allows sharing and downloads of Livery Designer and Scenario Planner creations made by our community.

Thanks largely to your feedback we have split the two releases on the Roadmap – the Expansion Pack and Creators Club are now separate releases. The Expansion Pack will be available in a similar way to a traditional paid-for Add-On, whilst Creators Club will be a free core upgrade to Train Sim World 2, which everyone who owns the base game will have access to.

The issue of reproducing real world liveries to share within Creators Club has been widely discussed and we know how important this is as a feature of the tool. At present, we have no option but to restrict livery sharing to fictional creations only. We are working with our partners to try to remove this limitation, but have no further updates on this topic for the time being.

Our first release of the year sees us set up in Saxony for the Tharandter Rampe, coming this Thursday (13th January). Find out all about it here, and you can watch last week’s preview stream here

Projects that are being tackled by the Preservation Crew. Many of these upgrades will simply be adding the latest game functionality to an older route. 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, Scenario Planner expansion.

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. To see what these ID codes mean you can refer to this post

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 this post

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.

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

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.

Join us today, Tuesday January 11th at 20:00 UTC, on Twitch or YouTube where members of the team will be discussing the latest Roadmap and answering your questions. You can also find all our release previews over on YouTube.