After all the changes to the EULA for the TS2013 version of this game, I believed this game would take a dive. Instead, its popularity seems to have increased, and the DLC available for it has increased in both quantity and quality. Which is good news. TS2013 saw some excellent DLC routes available, like the Woodhead Route, the Marias Pass and new Western Lines of Scotland route (Port Road). There are also some excellent locomotives and rolling stock available, such as the Baldwin Centipede, and the 0-6-0 Jinty which is probably the most authentic recreation of a steam locomotive yet. In advanced mode, it's quite a task to handle it. Certainly not for a beginner. For 2014, new DLC is appearing, some of it brand new, and some it updated from earlier DLC. For example, Peter Gillam's excellent 56XX add-on has now been updated and is a free upgrade to those who bought the earlier version. Nice.
Not all the DLC is of the highest quality, however, and some it has bugs in it which the developers seem unable or unwilling to fix. For example, on one steam locomotive, there was a problem with the live steam water injector. It was not working. I reported it twice, and on both occasions received only a standard cut-and-paste reply. Then I decided to try to fix the problem myself and found a simple error in one of the locomotive's configuration files. I corrected it and then informed the developers again of the issue. It has not been fixed.
However I was able to post the fix on Steam forums. And this is indicative of the biggest problem with this game. Since the developers RSC took over, they have striven to control all add-on and social content. The latest
Unfortunately with TS2014, users are no longer allowed to write posts sharing their own fixes and solutions on the Steam forum. The attitude of the developer can be summarised by this post from a moderator: "...we want to resolve support issues as quickly as possible and following advice we would not recommend does not help achieve this." And just in case we thought they weren't serious, ALL STEAM FORUMS TO TS2013/14 WERE DELETED shortly after the release of this version, and a representative of developers is now policing the forum and removing any new posts that do not comply with their new "guidelines" in zero tolerance manner. The arrogance is outstanding.
So, it seems that there will no more discussion for those who like to tinker and learn through that. No more creativity - the developers seem to be busy stamping all that out. The trend is clear: a move away from an open-ended simulation platform to locked down app, iPhone style. Fortunately, with TS2014, you ARE still able to modify files, and you are NOT limited to the Steam DLC. You CAN still install 3rd Party add-ons the traditional way. But I wonder, for how much longer?
WARNING If you buy this on a DVD, all you are buying is the license number. As part of installation from the DVD, you will need to install the Steam games platform first, and after that, TS2014 will update itself by downloading a new version - which could take a while if you don't have a good Internet speed.