Train Fever
Improved game version and mod specification released
Most important, the new game version contains three vanilla mods which let you remove the street main connection feature, play the game in a sandbox mode or disable that vehicles run out of availability. The community has repeatedly requested these options, and here they are!
Also, the community requested configurable town and street names. Players can now specify which kind of town names to generate. This also means that the USA DLC now features American town and street names, independently of the actual game language set.
Several bug fixes, performance improvements, new features and mod system enhancements complete this update.
Please find the complete release notes here.
This said, let us point out that the game will also be updated in future and you can be sure that we will continue to listen to community requests.
First post USA DLC patch
Most important, when running the USA DLC game mode, there was a bug which caused towns not to be completely American but mixed (all buildings, European and American, were enabled as a consequence of the bug). Furthermore, we have fixed a problem with the 2-8-2 Mikado Steam locomotive which caused the locomotive not to be available for purchase (as intended after 1898).
Because many players have requested that speed should also be displayable in “mph” instead of “km/h” we have added this feature (along with configurable units for power, weight and force).
In regard to the new mod system, we have fixed a number of issues as well. One issue was that the main menu mod list was not scrollable, which caused problems for players who wanted to activate a large number of mods. Another problem was that the displayed “active mod list” in the load game dialog was not correct (however note that the behavior was correct).
Finally, and probably most important to mention, deprecated mods are now directly recognized in Train Fever. Originally we planned that players use the available mod managers (TFGM and TFMM) to install / convert deprecated mods. However the plan failed because (a) some players install the mods manually and (b) in contrast to our plans one of the two available mod managers (TFMM) was unfortunately not updated yet, but was finally updated today.
Please find the release notes of the latest game update here.
To improve understanding of the new mod system we have set up a page which answers all frequently asked questions about mods. Please find the release notes of the latest game update here. The page explains how to use mods. At a later point in time we will also publish more information on how to create mods (specification of the new modding system).
Of course, we will update the game (and the USA DLC) also in future. Thanks for your continuing interest in Train Fever and best wishes!
USA DLC officially released
Equivalent to the original European game mode, the player starts in 1850 and experiences more than 150 years of railroad history. More than 50 realistic American vehicles including trains, buses, streetcars and trucks are included.
To make the American experience complete, landscape and towns are modified as well. Wild West stylized American towns spread in a desert landscape and wait for a transport tycoon to be connected to the world. Also, environment elements like trees, streets and the sky have been adapted.
All vehicles are realistic. Models and textures have been developed by using blueprints and photographs of the original vehicles. As a result, the USA DLC depicts quite a piece of American railroad and transportation history.
The USA DLC has been developed in close collaboration with the modding community. We are excited that modders have contributed more than 15 vehicles. It’s great to see such an active modding community. To further support modding activities, together with the release of the USA DLC modding support was significantly extended. Most important, mods can now be enabled and disabled in-game. Also, there are more modding possibilities now.
Because the modding system has been completely reworked, we highly recommend that all players who have installed mods should clean their game installation. To do so, please first delete the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Train Fever\res” folder and second run the “Verify” option in the Steam client (Steam Client -> Train Fever -> Properties -> Local Files -> Verify Integrity of Game Cache”).
Please find the announcement including a trailer and images here.
USA DLC to be released this Friday
Equivalent to the original European game mode, the player starts in 1850 and experiences more than 150 years of railroad history. More than 50 realistic American vehicles including trains, buses, streetcars and trucks are included.
To make the American experience complete, landscape and towns are modified as well. Wild West stylized American towns spread in a desert landscape and wait for a transport tycoon to be connected to the world. Also, environment elements like trees, streets and the sky have been adapted.
All vehicles are realistic. Models and textures have been developed by using blueprints and photographs of the original vehicles. As a result, the USA DLC depicts quite a piece of American railroad and transportation history.
The USA DLC has been developed in close collaboration with the modding community. We are excited that modders have contributed more than 15 vehicles. It’s great to see such an active modding community. To further support these activities, together with the release of the USA DLC modding support is significantly extended.
Please find the announcement including images here.
Another performance and bug fix update
Most important, players reported freezes at the end of each game month. We have identified the problem and it is fixed now. Because since the last update, the game runs faster during the months, on certain systems (parallel) simulation calculations which need to be finished at the end of each month were still in progress and caused these freezes.
In addition, several small fixes and improvements are included in this update. Please find the release notes here.
Finally, let us mention that due to a lot of feedback and criticism related to the street main connection feature, we have decided that it will be possible to disable the feature in a future version. However, when doing so, the game will switch to “sandbox” mode (i.e. achievements cannot be earned in such games). Most likely this will be released together with the USA DLC. Also, we are thinking about other ways to "force" the player to maintain the main connections.
Performance boost, various improvements and additional languages
The update brings a significant performance boost. Many CPU calculations have been optimized, and the most expensive CPU task (pathfinding for people and goods) has been moved to a separate thread. In other words, Train Fever now exploits today’s multi-core processors. As a result, the game runs more fluently and the number of frames per second is higher, especially when playing with 2x or 4x game speed.
After the last update, many players complained about the newly introduced main connection street feature. The most important problem was that players were not able to remove or change streets even when a reasonable bypass was present. Unfortunately there was a major bug which we now have fixed. Let us apologize for this.
In addition there are various improvements like e.g. correct vehicle door animations (now doors open at the platform side only). Another widely requested feature is the ability to reduce the auto save frequency. We have added that and it’s even possible to disable auto save at all. Also the game has been translated to Spanish and Korean.
Please find the complete release notes here.
Finally let us mention that the development of the USA DLC goes according to our plans. You can expect the DLC to be released in the second part of February. We are excited that many modders are contributing to the DLC, and if you still like to take part please check this page.
Thanks for your continuing interest in Train Fever and best wishes!
USA DLC to be released in February 2015
But it’s not only vehicles: When starting a new game, players can choose whether to play in a European or American environment then. Terrain, vegetation and towns will look different dependent on the player’s choice as well.
At the same time, modding capabilities will be extended. We will not only reduce the number of currently hard-coded implementation parts, but also improve the handling of mods in general: Mods can then be activated or deactivated in-game and save games will remember which mods are active.
We have observed the modding scene (especially on http://www.train-fever.net/) during the last months and we are absolutely excited by the huge amount of great content created there. Because we are not able to model all vehicle by ourselves and because many modders like to contribute, we have decided to involve the modding scene in the development of the USA DLC. Therefore we officially invite all modders to take part here.
This said, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2014 was an amazing year for us and you can be sure that we won’t stop listening to the community, developing new features and improving the game also in 2015.
PS: You can find the official teaser image for the USA DLC on our website.
Better simulation, better usability, better Train Fever
Traffic simulation has been heavily improved with the newest version. Most important, cars now take into account the current traffic speed (and traffic jams) in advance. Therefore, people can now drive around traffic jams (if possible) or may decide to use player-created lines instead. In addition, towns no longer allow that players bulldoze their main connection streets (works for new games). These changes lead to a more realistic passenger simulation and to a more interesting game experience.
As always, we have been listening to the community and with this update we present two of the top requested features: Automatic vehicle replacement and realistic vehicle loading speed. Players can now define a vehicle (per line) which is used to replace existing vehicles when they reach their life spans. Therefore, large amounts of vehicles can now be managed more easily. Vehicle loading speed is now dependent on the number of vehicle doors. This way, especially modern commuter trains load and unload significantly faster.
Usability in general has been significantly improved. Track and street builder tools are now more easy to use. We have not only fixed a number of small bugs, but we have also improved the user interface of these essential tools. For instance, obstacles which collide with your constructions plans are now highlighted in red color, and better error messages are displayed if a problem occurs.
Also, we have added links to the player-created Steam guides in the main menu and welcome window. The learning curve for beginners is now more flat and more advanced players can easily find walkthroughs or background information.
Many more small improvements (e.g. animated depot doors) have been realized. Overall, we believe that the current update is a major step forward and Train Fever is significantly better now.
Please find the complete release notes here.
You can be sure that more updates and improvements will be released in future. Thanks for your continuing interest in the game and best wishes!
Railroad crossings, stake cars, Intel HD Graphics fixes and more
The update adds realistic and animated railroad crossings. Cars and people now stop and wait at railroad crossings if trains are approaching. Beside a simple warning sign there is also an animated half barrier crossing available after 1925. Note that the style of a crossing can be changed also after construction (click on the crossing). Modders are invited to create more crossing styles.
Also, three new stake train cars have been added. Wood now must be transported in these wagons and can no longer be transported in the closed goods wagons (except the wagons in existing save games). At the same time we have implemented a discrete train car load visualization system, which again offers new possibilities for modders.
There is also good news for everyone running Train Fever on an Intel HD 4200 / 4400 / 4600 graphics card. A problem in the current drivers of these cards caused the game to freeze and the graphics driver to restart. We have implemented a workaround for this problem and we are very confident that this problem is history now.
In addition to the Polish and Czech translation, the update brings many more small fixes and improvements. Please find the complete release notes here.
Development is currently running at full steam and you can expect more updates and improvements in the next weeks. Thanks again for your interest in Train Fever and best wishes!
Train Fever 40% off, games award nomination and TV report
In addition, let us point out to the following:
Very recently, the first Train Fever sale has been launched. That means the game in now available 40% off until November 20, 19:00 (CET).
We are very happy that Train Fever was nominated as Best Strategy Game at the German Developer Award 2014.
Also, the game has been featured in a news show in the Swiss TV (in German).
Thanks for your continuing interest in Train Fever and best wishes!