Sometimes it feels like I'm walking into a headwind, but then threads like this crop up which reassure me I'm not the only one. When it comes to buying DLC, I've believed for some time now that the key is to look at who is developing it, rather than publishing it. And when you classify content according to developers, some clear patterns emerge, imho. Apart from a couple of niggles, mostly inherited from core functionality, products from the likes of Oovee and Thomson appear to be universally acclaimed.
And then there's stuff developed by RSC, which is what this thread tends to focus on. I too have felt for a while that their products were lacking in quality and polish. Worse than that is the complete disinterest in getting them fixed and dealt with. The list of issues, incorrect features or outright faults with the back catalogue of DLC is so long I don't stand a chance of remembering it all.
This thread is a good example. The RSC products get slated for being... featureless at best, unfinished at worst. We have a Class 325 with fundamental control inaccuracies and a thoroughly non-interactive and featureless cab and poor physics. Or a 101 with a diesel-mechanical transmission that defies the laws of physics. Or a Class 31 which (I'm led to believe) simply copies the entire physics of the Class 37. Or a Class 37 with bizarre, power-sapping field diverts. Or default wagons with brakes that are either on or off. Or Donner Pass, which I recall being described by Paul Jackon (OBE) as "epic" in a pre-release forum post, but which screenshots revealed to be in a worse shape than many first WIP shots of freeware routes. Or an IC-liveried Mark 1 BG supplied with the WCMLN update which appears to have no air brakes. Or as mentioned in the other thread, the Class 33 (and 101, for that matter) which only have half a cab. Or a Class 66 and 67 which I understand have completely the wrong type of brake control (I think they should be like Dave Brindley's
freeware class 58?). And possibly the icing on the cake... the Class 450, part of the PDL route. Is there any unit in RW that has spent more time of it's life more broken than this? It's bad enough that it is one of the most featureless models RSC has produced, yet another featureless cab that consists of little more than a speedo, a reverser and a combined power handle. As initially supplied, it drove like a rocket ship to the extent that you know
nobody at RSC has sat down and asked themselves, "is this correct?". Eventually, RSC issued an update to tame the power, but failed to fix the brakes. Then the TS2012 update came along, and it's broken again, being severely underpowered.
Compare the 450 against the 150 and you begin to wonder if they're from the same game, such is the gulf in quality, realism and features between the two.
I suspect another comparison is going to be possible in the future when RSC release their Class 70. I'll buy it, if it betters the Class 57. I want realistic, accurate, prototypical controls. I want an interactive cab with as many controls functional as other third-party developers have shown to be possible (slow speed control, full lighting controls, start-up routines, etc). And most of all, I want accurate, realistic physics and driving characteristics. I'm not paying another £11.99, or even £5.99, for another box on wheels, even if it's a beautifully modelled box, if it doesn't offer anything other than some method of making it go forwards or backwards.
I'm sick of the slap-dash, fire-and-forget attitude towards DLC that RSC seem to exhibit, and I'm in no hurry to give them any more money until they start to take their existing customers more seriously and set about addressing the issues with their existing content. I've bought nothing made by RSC in the current Steam sale. The only RSC thing I've bought recently is the Class 325 with the 50% off voucher, and as time has gone on, even that has left me feeling short changed. Yes, it was half price, and only the cost of a couple of pints, but you know what? I'd probably have had more satisfaction out of a couple of pints than I've had with the 325.
And that's my own, personal line in the sand: no more purchases of RSC-developed content until something dramatic changes.
)
