Rail Route News

Update 1.1

Hello Dispatchers!

New version 1.1 has finally made it to the public. It's our first content update after the Early-Access release. Our primary goal was to stabilize the code, solve as many bugs from the release and prepare for the future iteration over the new content. We managed to redesign a lot of code internally, switched to the new input system, upgraded the Unity version, and improved the performance of the game.

We know this does not bring you value at this very moment - but trust me, it allows us to work on the game even faster. And hopefully, you'll see that coming in the future updates, which are already in the go! On top of that, we've included a bunch of new features as well.

Angel

[h2]Notable new features[/h2]

[h3]Menu - sorting and filter[/h3]
Sort and filter your maps easily.
[h3]Maps difficulties[/h3]
See how hard the map is supposed to be.
[h3]Broken Sensors Configuration[/h3]
See your sensors broken instantly
[h3]Default routes for arrival sensors[/h3]
Route trains with "Any" platform properly.
[h3]Keybindings in Options[/h3]
Set your own keybindings in the options.
[h3]Timetable Map rating from game[/h3]
Give your opinion on the map after you finish it.
[h3]Urban transit[/h3]
Accept new type of contracts in the endless game.
[h3]Routing sensors on Autoblocks[/h3]
Place routing sensors inside the autoblocks.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]
[h3]New features[/h3]


NEW: Automation info for Coach Yard Detail (because Automation Config was moved to alternating panel)
NEW: Current Time in the editor can be set via input (click on it)
NEW: Default platform option for Arrival sensor
NEW: Difficulty for built-in timetable maps.
NEW: Dotted lines connect both signals for platforms & autoblock sensors
NEW: Key bindings in the Options
NEW: Map difficulty option in the editor
NEW: Map sorting and filtering in main menu
NEW: Rating of timetable maps (workshop only) in the score screen
NEW: Rejecting a contract will terminate all trains immediatelly (switch to ECS)
NEW: Routing Sensor for AutoBlock
NEW: Score for the endless maps introduced (displayed in Debug Panel for now)
NEW: Sensors showing alert when configuration is invalid
NEW: Set initial CoachYard content according to scheduled trains to be available for dispatching
NEW: Show CY icon on contract's offers
NEW: Show computed score in the map settings in the editor
NEW: Stop chaining routes on perpetual signal
NEW: Trains, Stations, Total time icons on the main menu
NEW: Stop up/down buttones added to the Timetable editor
NEW: Urban trains

[h3]Updates[/h3]


UPDATE: Award trial train only if trial is successful & contract conditions are accepted
UPDATE: Build-in levels - minor updates from SteR
UPDATE: Don't register clicks on tracks when when not routing
UPDATE: Improved positions of autblock and tunnel speed upgrades panels
UPDATE: Less visible grid during normal game
UPDATE: Localizations
UPDATE: Map sorting icon made clickable as well & right click to reset sorting
UPDATE: Precision tool mapped to 'X' (was 'Alt'), hide UI mapped to 'Ctrl+S' & 'Ctrl+B' (were 'Alt+S' & 'Alt+B') to overcome 'Alt' hanging when 'Alt+Tab' pressed and focus lost due to application switch
UPDATE: Right-click on signal will clear the path also for not allocated signals
UPDATE: Smaller train colliders to follow track width. Improving train collisions greatly.
UPDATE: Smoother level loading
UPDATE: Station's Border flag derived from Sink presence rather that set manually.
UPDATE: Tutorial and Continue tutorial texts localized
UPDATE: UI scale factor calculated based on dpi to provide consistent experience across different screen sizes and resolutions.
UPDATE: Upgrade price tag does not block the track when changing the speed

[h3]Fixes[/h3]


FIX: Activate only track colliders when changing the track speeds
FIX: Allow player to build a switch part after deleting it
FIX: Autoblock could not be placed between two tracks with enough space
FIX: Build buttons remained `Not Unlocked`
FIX: CY proper mouse over effect
FIX: Deleting signal connected prevented to exit the construction
FIX: Do not un-pause the game after clicking save and exit
FIX: Don't make signal label animation when upgrading the type
FIX: Dont allow curly brackets in map name
FIX: Editor keybinds for platform length increase and decrease were not working
FIX: Editor now remembers set editor time
FIX: Esc to close the options menu does not work
FIX: First tutorial could get stuck when not following the steps or continuing to fast
FIX: Focus of station in editor
FIX: It was not possible to bulldoze on certain places.
FIX: It was not possible to upgrade/downgrade a short track below a sensor
FIX: It was possible to delete occupied track in front of the signal
FIX: Long train names background in timetable did not fit
FIX: Long train names overlapped text in train overview panel
FIX: No sort for stations in timetable map in menu
FIX: Opening maps containing sensors in editor
FIX: Options menu was missing header text for sound
FIX: Penalties should not be applied to trains that finished their schedule
FIX: Precision tool (ALT) don't activate under building
FIX: Prevent Filters in Active Contracts List and Timetable list from reset Automatically
FIX: Prevent Highlighter from glitching when highlight on tracks
FIX: Prevent Join walls diagonally through tracks in playmode
FIX: Prevent Sink that being created for the first time from getting disappeared on clicking change track speed button
FIX: Prevent cells under station sign from being empty
FIX: Prevent creating two platfrom with same name
FIX: Prevent creating two station with same name
FIX: Prevent deleteing not free track that is neighbor to a signal
FIX: Prevent raycast confusion between the station sign and the wall under it
FIX: Prevent selection of two trains in the overview UI list
FIX: Prevent showing build possibility when using building track on some tracks that dose not have same speed
FIX: Prevent the counter from glitching in the resolution confirm panel
FIX: Prevent two walls from getting joined diagonally through track
FIX: Resume buttone was not working
FIX: Scroll bar in the stations timetable of the train was not scrolling automatically
FIX: Scrolling text (eg. Completed, build alerts etc) were under the everything
FIX: Sensor sounds were not under proper volume mixer
FIX: Sensors click sound
FIX: Sensors configuration was not updated properly
FIX: Some contract types created from map timetable did not work properly (e. g. freight contracts which trains were to disappear at the terminus)
FIX: Station name no longer accepts characters causing map save to break
FIX: Station sign wrongly activated after load
FIX: Trains can crash again (and only on if they occupy the same node)
FIX: Update AutoBlockSize text in the Left UI in editor
FIX: Upgrade explanation videos were not displayed on Linux
FIX: Vertical price tags had incorrect size
FIX: Zooming was inverted & very slow in Linux

We have already started to work on the next update and it will be awesome! Stay tunned for future updates.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124180/Rail_Route/

Follow the development:

DevBlog: August 2021

With the summer coming to its end, we finally have a new content update ready in the testing branch. It took us more time than we initially expected. And the reason was not the summer vacations Mišo and I took with our families but the number of changes we did “under the hood.” We already mentioned some of the features in the 1.1 update, but here are the other ones (and I probably forget some of them).

[h2]Input System[/h2]

We have switched from the Unity legacy input system to the new one. We would like to support touch screens and controllers in the future and also allow you to customize the controls in the options. Our only excuse was we were in the early access, but the feature was requested by our community a lot. We somehow thought that doing that with the old system was not the best approach. What we did not expect was the number of issues we had after the switch. It seems the system is still under heavy development, so we needed to take care of many bugs. There are still a few left to be solved during our testing period on the unstable branch. For example, the scroll wheel under Linux is heaving a minimal sensitivity. This kind of issue.

[h2]Performance[/h2]

Another chunk of changes from the under-the-hood category were the performance optimizations. We are looking at the game performance from time to time, and it has already been some time since our previous iteration. The performance optimizations are somehow different from other changes to the code. Because you can create a lot of “side effects,” you cannot forecast. At first, you think you can, but the reality is usually different. We have many unit and integration automated tests in Rail Route, but they were not enough to catch everything. The good thing is we are having “the game is more smooth” feedback from our community. And that’s why we did that! It seems the effort paid off. Hopefully.

[h2]Refactoring[/h2]

We were not sure if the game would be 3D at the early stages of our prototypes. That’s why we were still using a mixture of 3D colliders and 2D colliders. I took the time to remove 3D physics from the game altogether and replace that with 2D only. We do refactoring quite a lot to maintain the high quality of code. That helps us to implement new features much faster while reducing the cost of maintaining the old code. This time, I was wrong with the expected effect. At first, I hoped the code would be better without any 3D physics, but the reality was different. I got substantial performance problems and issues with 2D physics. That’s the price for the refactoring. We also manage to improve code quality in other areas, but that’s not so important.

[h2]Urban Trains[/h2]

We hope the players will benefit from all the changes mentioned above, but we realize they are not features they will enjoy. So we brought a surprise: Urban Trains. We never spoke about them, so it was a surprise even for our alpha testers when they first touched 1.1.0. We hope they will bring more variability mainly to the endless game due to their unique scoring model: their schedule is not explicitly defined when accepting the contract.

The trial train creates it while traversing the map. The reward is computed based on the number of unique stations the trial visits. They never leave the map and should end in the same station they originated from. It is up to the player; are they representing tram & underground lines with dedicated tracks, or are they sharing the tracks with other trains like S-Bahn does in Germany? The goal is still the same: to connect as many stations as possible in the shortest possible time.

[h2]Sensors on Autoblocks[/h2]

Many times we saw how players pursued their own goal to automate a map fully. Many times we saw the suggestions regarding our automation. One of the most prominent was the need to automate the exit of the autoblocks. Indeed one can put a routing sensor in the front of the entrance, but for long autoblocks, the tracks become occupied for a long time without use. Now, routing sensors can be built in autoblocks. Like departure sensors on platforms, they control both signals of the autoblock (but only if they are not manual). Unlike them and routing sensors built on tracks, they trigger as trains enter the last segment before exiting the autoblock, no matter of direction. (So they act as two unidirectional routing sensors built near both exits of the autoblock).

Now we have an everlasting discussion if this iterative approach - just to add sensors where needed - is the right one. It seems that the sensors shall interact. If there is a routing sensor and an arrival sensor next to each other (both controlling the same signal), the trains handled by the arrival sensor shall not fire the routing sensor, for example.

There are various alternatives, mainly:

Enabling the player to build multiple sensors in the same place.
Enable the player to build one sensor (e.g., Train Run-over Sensor or Train Departure Sensor) and buy multiple automation modules (e.g., Long-distance Routing module, Arrival-to-Platform Routing module, Reversing module, …)
Completely splitting the sensing logic (sensor triggering an event, e.g. a train is here) and the automation logic (actuator operating signals and switches according to the event). Here we have an idea that the events could be color-coded according to player’s configuration. E.g., in a particular sensor, trains going to London trigger red event while trains going to Liverpool and Manchester trigger blue event. Then, the actuators would create routes according to event colors (red to this track and blue to that). It would enable the player to combine the colors visually to build complex logic from basic elements (e.g., route freight trains differently despite heading to the same station, apply and logic operations and much more).

But that’s maybe for the future article. I’d suggest you peek into unstable branch at the moment if you are brave enough. We will release this update into the stable branch once all major issues will be solved.

By the way, we are still working hard on a new tutorial! We would like to bring it in the next update. But it's taking us more time as we really want to do it right this time!

Leave your thoughts under the article.

Happy Dispatching
Mišo & Angel

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124180/Rail_Route/

Hotfix 1.0.18


FIX: Disappearing texts in Linux (quickfix)

Hotfix 1.0.17

A small update - just a couple of fixes for minor issues in the game.


NEW: Support for trains longer than AutoBlock
UPDATE: Do not close Research Panel after Upgrade unlocked
UPDATE: Localization sync
FIX: DepartureSensor.FinishedScheduleRoute shall not be triggered by disappearing freight train ending there.
FIX: Follow cam - while train is in Tunnel, TunnelPortal where it will go out is centered
FIX: It was not possible to buy some AutoBlocks
FIX: Misleading pointer to Map Settings in tooltips when sharing not available.
FIX: No penalty in timetable mode across midnight (if train came on time)
FIX: Too strict schedule for one-off trains, sometimes not able to reach platform from coach yard without penalization
FIX: Train longer than 2 km displayed split in AutoBlock (only first and last segment occupied)
FIX: Train reversed when entering the AutoBlock left the AutoBlock unusable
PERF: Switch to Buy mode sped up

1.0.16: Japan Localization

Probably last update to the 1.0 version is bringing the Japan localization! We are working on 1.1 version.

[h2]Hotfix 1.0.16[/h2]


NEW: Japan localization in Options
NEW: Station visit editing prevents overlapping visits: Can not shift arrival earlier if would precede previous departure and can not shift departure later if would succeed next arrival

UPDATE: Default fullscreen window for first launch
UPDATE: Localizations
UPDATE: News about the upcoming 1.1.x version

FIX: Do not auto-dispatch trial trains from coach yard
FIX: Set correct resolution value in windowed mode
FIX: Tunnel routing & length & price was sometimes different when origin/destination swapped
FIX: Upgrade price tag was not displayed for tunnel
FIX: Viafier retica Ens => Ems
FIX: West sink platform replace (editor) caused issues
FIX: When configuration connnection on sensor, clear the selecting state properly

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124180/Rail_Route/