Less traffic jams, a new bus and… waypoints!

We’re happy to announce that another game update has been released today. This update brings the long-awaited waypoint feature (for train lines), a new bus and traffic simulation improvements.

Those who like complete control over a line’s route can now add waypoints between stations. You can use existing signals as waypoints or build custom ones (also available in the signals menu). This functionality can also be employed to force a line to use a particular platform at a station.

Then, we’ve made some improvements regarding the traffic simulation. You might have observed the situation where a crossing is used by only a single car at a time. This was one cause for traffic jams and shouldn’t happen anymore. Nevertheless, if you find one of your cities entirely stuck, you may free it from cars by upgrading some of the streets. This will send a lot of people and cars home.

Finally, a new bus (MAN SL 192) has been added to fill the gap between the Mercededs-Benz O 6600 (1951) and the Berkhof Duvedec (1989).

Please find the complete release notes here.

A note for modders: you can now add custom signals and waypoints (so that they appear in the menu) by including the appropriate metadata in the model file. See the existing files for reference.

29 thoughts on “Less traffic jams, a new bus and… waypoints!

  1. A big thank from me (vinkandoi) for the waypoints. The game was not working on intel Hd 4200. I will test it today.

    • I also have an HD 4200 and the game works fine. Go to their website and update your drivers. Do not use the Windows driver updates.

      Mine did not work until I updated the drivers.

      Good luck.

  2. Thank you!
    This game still needs some ironing out but I think the core is great.
    Keep listening to the user posts criticism and suggestions and within a few months I think we will have a really excellent PC game.
    I think the post “Losing interest in this game” (for example – there are others excellent posts) in the forums has a lot of good points – addressing them will make the game better and more balanced.
    Keep up the good work. I really like this game – I’ve played more hours over the past few months of TF than of big franchise games like the new CIV for example.

  3. Thank you guys, much appreciated. Game is getting better with every update and has improved a lot since release, still needs some work though but it’s getting there 🙂 Keep up the great work.
    Nice to see some focus on update for the modders too, they are doing really amazing job with all the extra stuff for the game!

  4. This sounds just great! I might pick up the game again now when we can customize the routing more. Really great news, looking forward for more updates!

  5. Great, thanks! Now, just add overtaking for faster trucks and an easy way to replace vehicles and we are set 🙂

    • I am glad that you continue improving. Please keep the 2 weeks patch frequency. Even if a patch contains a peanut fix, release the patch. Also, I would like to ask you release a short video introduction of you guys. Just 5-10 minutes- hallo, we did this, we are thinking about this, what is your opinion. You know, keep contact with your costumers.

      Looking forward for auto-replace/refurbish feature, vehicle overtaking (road and trains included), a way to control spacing of vehicles.

  6. Sounds good, but I’m still waiting on the patch where train automatically pick an empty train track in a station. Like in OTTD.

  7. Great update for a great game! Thank you.

    I think, mr Mariodk means the crossing of two tracks. I also wish we could place double crossover between two aligned tracks (sample: http://s10.postimg.org/avukhh6ft/railroad_double_crossover.jpg ).

    I know, many players have already asked for different stuff. But I want developers to pay their attention: there are two buttons on UI with the same function, and permanently shown. I mean those, which call the ‘company finances’ table. You can remove the button in the left lower corner or replace with the button with the new useful (maybe move ‘Lines’ button to that corner).

    • I would also really like to see that cross section in the game.
      Additionally my little wish list:
      – railway station auto-platform selection
      – simpler way to upgrade railway stations (instead of bulldozing them), maybe even more than 5 platforms
      – keyboard shortcut to show speed limits on railways (and maybe on roads), so it could be reviewed later on
      – project planning tool, it is really costly to use bulldozer
      – Tree seeding tool or some other scenery items
      – Steam workshop;
      – I have no idea if that is possible, but add in-app purchasing option similar to mobile platforms. I am sure there are users around the world who would financially contribute(by in-app purchase) to support modders who provide their time to create some stunning game modelling.

  8. This is awesome! What a surprise on a Wednesday! :O)

    You Guys made my day! Got to take a look soon at those files you mention…

  9. Okay, that’s a start. Two of the issues i reported are taken care of. And with the previous update performance has also improved a lot.

    Finally my buses are moving again. Though the traffic algorythm can still be improved, especially with Y-road junctions. Cars still stop at the junctions, even though there is no other traffic and their path is free. They should be continuously driving.

    Also please remove the cars from buslanes, as they’re still driving over them and blocking the buses.

    And also please make it also possible to add waypoints to bus lines, and manually assign bus stops (with grouped stops or busstation platforms) to a route. Now for no reason the buses keep using the same platform at busstations, and the other platform(s) isn’t (aren’t) used at all. Also sometimes the buses just won’t leave the busstations (they think they collide with incoming buses). Then you have to start and stop all those buses so they move a few pixels when they’re restarted, and finally the outgoing bus starts moving again. This is an annoying bug that stops all traffic as well.

    Please keep improving so that all issues are resolved. The list is still long unfortunately, but we’re moving in the right direction.

    • So the buses suffer from missing platform auto-platform selector too? I didnt know it.

    • “Cars still stop at the junctions, even though there is no other traffic and their path is free. They should be continuously driving.”
      No, think about it. Without traffic lights, in real life, cars won’t just shoot through intersections: each road is equal, each must give the “Priority to the right” rule
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priority_to_the_right

      – meaning cars will stop to give way to vehicles arriving from the right…

      The rest of your comments are fine: adding road waypoints would be nice… I thought this update covered that, strange that it didn’t. The stations’ route assignment is also odd.

      • No, in my situation the cars would not need to stop. The cars all take a right turn, so they all have priority on whatever would come from other directions. Though they do stop, and that still causes a mayor jam throughout the city.

        • Hmm I am trying to visualize this. So the cars that take a right turn, they couldn’t (and never) turn in any other direction?
          If so, a couple of questions arise:
          – How are there any other roads in the intersection then? If there are any, the cars could turn there as well, right?
          – So what makes them _not_ turn left/go straight/etc?
          – Or do you mean “buses” instead of “cars”?

          Either way, If the cars turn right, it does not mean they have priority automatically; a screenshot would help, if you care though 🙂 I’m interested

  10. Awesome that the traffic is (at least slightly) adressed.
    Seeing your metropolis grind to a halt is incredibly frustrating.

    Still many kinks to iron out though! Keep listening and keep improving, I want to say you guys are really doing a fantastic job! I have had better communication and feedback with your small team than with any big publisher in the last 10 years!

    Big thumbs up for the dev team!

  11. You are doing an exemplary job with support of this game, putting most big-name publishers to shame. Keep it up, you have an incredibly addicting and well-designed game, and it only gets better with every patch you’re releasing!

  12. I think that there needs to be more articulated buses so that I can have more people in one bus. I NEED AN ARTICULATED BUS FROM THE PRESENT DAY!

  13. Hi, great game with a great progress from you!! Can you also add timetables? So if I have two or more trains on one route, sometimes one train catch up the one before him. So if there are timetables, than the train waits till its time to go (to keep time gap).

  14. Regarding trains, I guess a few things went wrong with this update or at least need a different handling than before.

    1.) I noticed that new trains assigned to a particular line and leaving a depot, skip the nearest station. Instead they are leaving to the next station in line, causing a major passenger jam at the station next to the depot.

    2.) When building a double track, now I need to set the signals explicitely to one way operation. Otherwise trains travel in the wrong direction of the double track, even if the line markings show them to go on the other side of the double track. Before this update I just needed to build a signal without setting it to one way operation and the trains followed the line markings automatically. This behaviour caused some major train jams in new games.

    Can someone confirm this behaviour?

  15. I think Cars should have their own lane and busses
    and trams should Share one Lane. I still have Traffic jams.

  16. Train skipping to next station is known, temporary solution is to stop the train as soon as it has left the station, turn it around, set go to depo and immediatly after set the correct line again. Annoying but should work. Ower at Steam it was said that this should be fixed in next update.
    I myself have not noticed the train choosing wrong track and going in wrong direction.

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