UK Trainz DLC – developing the range

[Paulsw2]

N3V have (or are planning) to release some exciting new DLC for the UK Trainz community. Here are my ideas for how the range – for minimal effort/investment – can be developed to provide more choice for UK Trainz members while enhancing N3V’s revenues.

• BR 9F Evening Star: offer other 9F class members in plain black livery, no nameplates (additional tender options?)
• BR Class 11 shunter: convert to the ubiquitous Class 08 shunter (942 examples!), available in black, green, blue (and possibly sector and privatisation) liveries.
• BR HST (IC125 and Midland Pullman): offer also in BR Inter City Executive livery. Add buffers to the Mk3 trailers to create Mk3A’s for use on the West Coast mainline (in Blue-Grey and IC Exec liveries). Also consider some Privatisation liveries (eg. GNER). Sell each livery as a separate train pack.
• LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado: offer some of the other class members (from 60114 to 60162) in a variety of liveries and train packs.
• WCR Class 47: offer in two-tone green (1960s), blue-grey (1970s-80s) (and possibly sector and privatisation) liveries. Toggle high intensity headlight and other front-end features for realistic pre-80s appearance. Offer as standalone DLC in train packs.
• WCR Mk1 coaches (BSK, TSO, FO): offer in maroon, blue-grey (and possibly sector and privatisation) liveries. Extend the range to include SK and FK coaches and catering vehicles (RB, RMB and RUO). Offer as standalone DLC in train packs.

Note that most of these suggestions do not require building new models, but rather fairly small revisions of existing ones (a new livery or number here, removing nameplates there and so on).

It would be a real shame if these great new models, that take full advantage of the latest game versions, were left ‘on a siding’ as it were and not developed with liveries and versions that appeal to a broad cross-section of the UK Trainz community. Will you seize the opportunity, N3V?

Paul

[Driver_Col]

Totally agree. I find it hard to believe that, given the size, the history and the variations within the UK railway system, that these suggestions would not be welcomed by so many current Trainz users. Can't see any reason why they wouldn't attract many new train enthusiasts to Trainz either! Regards. Colin.

[bolivar]

Good ideas there paulsw2. Specially the mk3A's.

[grazlash]

Only problem with all of those is that N3V doesn't build train asset content. That is left up to individual content creators, who would then need to be approached to produce the requested models.

[borderreiver]

Grazlash, I believe that N3V can commission whatever model they like from those self-same creators. I think that they did that with the Class 67 and 70 diesel-electrics. I suspect that the Class 42 on the horizon is the locomotive a group including myself approached a builder to produce. You should not underestimate as an individual just what "approaching the content creators" will involve, in both the research component of the task and the acquiring the services of a content creator in the first place.

I think that the OP's proposal is sound and worth lobbying N3V to consider.

[robd]

All the OP's suggested model would be wonderful if they were to be available as seperate, individual entities i.e. NOT incorporated in some layout/route package. Also, make them fairly easy to reskin, strictly for the purchasers own use within the limitations of the restrictive DLC regimes. As borderriever states, hopefully N3V will consider the models.

Rob.

[IanOHoseason]

I totally agree. The models look brilliant, and it is really missing a trick to limit the product offer, and the potential market. I would welcome the opportunity to buy DLC, if there was something of use to my UK interests. That is why the DLC related "benefits" of the rental model present no attraction to me.
There's a precedent in Trainz, as the Duchess had class numbers and names variable. The competition seems to be able to do it without issue working with a number of creators, but, frustratingly, I just like Trainz better!
Best wishes
Ian

[clam1952]

All good, I agree 100%.
However to commission something you need to have access to full plans and such, especially given the current payware creators seem to be anywhere other than in the UK, I get the impression that UK Payware is based on what's running now or recently and not historical, meaning that the creators may not be aware of all the variations and liveries.

Class08 yes there are loads of reskins, I think based on PikkaBird's 1.3 build version which is payware in the Newcastle Shunter session, all reskins using totally inappropriate cabs! Time for a new version with an accurate cab.

[pfx]

I have no issue buying DLC and still cherish my Railwaves purchases from years ago. N3V have the models there, but if they could be sold individually and in different livery variants, that can't be a massive amount of work, especially given the time the developer spent creating the model initially. More liveries = more customers and I totally agree with the comments above. My money is waiting N3V.

[neville_hill]

It does seem a strange commercial decision to go through the whole design and procurement process of a state-of-the-art model, and then just release it as a single, niche, collectors-style version. The most common generic versions of the MK1 coaches or the BR A1 locomotive, for example, would surely be profitable as well as popular.

[bobsanders]

There's no recent GWR or BR Hall on the DLS sm considering that the Halls were very prominent in the Western Region/GWR that seems a great shame.

[KotangaGirl]

There's no recent GWR or BR Hall on the DLS sm considering that the Halls were very prominent in the Western Region/GWR that seems a great shame.

A new GWR/BR Hall would certainly get my vote as well Bob. It's difficult to have any enthusiasm for continuing as a +Plus or +Gold plus subscriber when the only new Uk DLC models are niche items that aren't a terrible lot of use to anybody. Evolving the Mk1 coaches into a range of the common liveries that they carried over the course of their working lives would be a good step in the right direction to begin with.

[euromodeller]

I also think that N3V are missing a trick.

HST....there's many HST variations that would would keep them busy.

This video shows a lot of power cars that could be put in a Collector's Edtion category too.


MkI coaches too are to be seen in so many liveries and decent Big Four versions would I think be very popular.

I hope that other UK fans can add their wishlist here too.

Cheers,
Graham

[Paulsw2]

Many thanks for these responses! I hope we'll get a response from N3V. Otherwise, perhaps we should communicate directly with the relevant creators and see what they think?

Paul

[ZecMurphy]

Hi All
We do hope to expand upon these items in the future. For example we are looking at additional liveries of the Class 11, and other items that can have additional liveries produced with minimal changes. From there we can look at versions that require more work to produce (ie mesh changes). When this will occur will depend on when we can fit in them into our schedule, as unfortunately some are much larger tasks than you might think; for example to produce the 'in service' Peppercorn A1s requires a lot of changes to the model as Tornado had a lot of small changes made as part of it's construction as a modern loco.

For the class 08, we've had a lot of feedback saying that there's good 08s available, and from what I've seen there are far too many variants for us to be able to produce in-house, and as such we have focused on the 11 as it doesn't have any examples available, whilst still being a loco that can be useful to people. It does, however, provide a base for us to possibly expand upon in the future and who knows what we might look at when we do that.

Regards