Tracks - The Train Set Game News

[h3]Tracks: Advent Calendar Update[/h3]
Starting tomorrow, a special advent calendar event will be available in-game.
A new door will become available each day from the 1st until the 24th of December, with every door unlocking new decorations for you to use.



Don't worry if you miss some days, you can open doors from previous days and you can still play the event up until January 1st. In the new year the event will be hidden and all the event decorations will unlock even if you didn't open every door.
The main menu has an icon to remind you if there's a door available that you haven't opened yet.




The decorations range from festive snowmen passengers, reindeer and Santa's sleigh, to more year-round items such as the steamroller! For the rest of the new decorations, you'll have to play the update to find out what awaits behind each door!



[h3]Other changes:[/h3]

• Fixed an issue with the 'A reference' achievement
  
• Optimised several decorations
  
• Improved behaviour when swapping from keyboard to gamepad in some situations

https://store.steampowered.com/app/657240

We hope that you all enjoy the holidays and have fun with this new update!

Since Tracks hit full launch two years ago, we've seen you continue to play and love the game. So we've continued to support the game with lots of new content and improvements.

Since v1.0 we've released...
- Free Suburban DLC
- Paid Sci-Fi DLC
- Halloween update
- Scenery update
- Core update
- Summer update

And we're not done yet! Launching next week is Tracks: Advent Calendar Update. Unlock new decorations every day from 1 - 24 December to use in your toy worlds. From holidays items/passengers like snowmen, Santa and reindeer, to non-festive decorations such as spiral trees and steamrollers, this free update will add plenty of fresh material to the toybox.









Tracks is currently available at 66% off in the Steam Autumn Sale, so it's a great time to jump in if you haven't already, or maybe even to gift a copy to a friend.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/657240

[h3]Steam Cloud Saves[/h3]
All your save files and progress are now synced to the Steam Cloud so you won't lose anything if you delete the game files or your hard drive dies.

[h3]New Decorations[/h3]


[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Several existing walls/fences are now repaintable
  
• Resizeable decorations now have a different icon in the toy box
  
• The train field of view option now affects all of a train's cameras
  
• Improved behaviour when you swap between keyboard/gamepad on the options menu
  
• Fixed certain repaintable decorations appearing as black when being deleted
  
• Fixed an invisible face on the triple junction
  
• Fixed Passenger collisions sometimes being misaligned if they're placed on a decoration
  
• Fixed emergency sirens and hi-vis passengers not glowing as intended
  
• Fixed an issue with shadows on the Merry-Go-Round
  
• Fixed some Toy Box headers not resizing with the zoom option
  
• Fixed renamed save slots appearing twice with the new & old names until the menu was reopened
  
• Fixed an issue with the train field of view slider if the build field of view has never been changed
  

Hi all!

This update features a lot of system overhauls I've been meaning to do for a long time so there might be some teething issues, but it'll ultimately be for the greater good.

The way trains move around tracks has been completely changed to allow for new more interesting track pieces. Many new pieces have already been added and I'll continue adding more if there is an appetite for them. The same goes for the new selection/collision system, it should feel just like the old one for now but will allow for nice new options in future updates.



[h3]New basic pieces[/h3]

• Gentle slopes - (Alt mode) Scroll Up/Down to make a slope which goes up by 1 but is 2 pieces long, so less steep
  
• Sharp turns - (Alt mode) Move the cursor like you're making a turn but go even further to make a sharp piece which turns back on itself
  
• Clockwise and Anti-Clockwise Corkscrews

[h3]New Junctions[/h3]

• Y Junction - Turn into a turn piece to make a junction with turns going both ways
  
• Triangle Junction - Run a straight piece through a Y Junction
  
• Double Junctions - Turn into an existing Single Junction to make one with turns on both sides
  
• Super Crossing - Click on or turn into a Crossing to upgrade it with turns at all sides

[h3]Track Improvements[/h3]

• Joining Junctions - The joining piece for connecting parallel tracks now has versions with 2, 3 or 4 endings so the train won't fall off the track if every side isn't connected
  
• Smooth slopes - Up/Down pieces which are next to others will automatically flatten themselves for a smoother ride when going through many of them

[h3]Variant improvements (Roads and Rivers)[/h3]

• Variants now have appropriate Up/Down pieces
  
• Junctions default to Triangle Junctions so you can turn in either direction
  
• The train now runs at the correct height instead of floating slightly above any variant it is on
  
• The model itself can now be highlighted instead of just the (invisible) track piece on top
  
• Improved passenger placement

[h3]Train redirector[/h3]

• The old system of clicking on track pieces to choose a direction for the train wasn't any good on the new junctions with multiple sets of choices, so now you can control the train using Train Redirectors. Place them near pieces and they'll snap to endings with turning options. Click on the redirector to cycle through the available turns.

[h3]'Recently Used' row[/h3]

• The toy box now has a dynamic row with your 20 most recently used decorations. It'll only appear after you've used at least 5 unique decorations.

[h3]General Improvements[/h3]

• Trains can now turn while reversing
  
• Improved Train-Track alignment and turn smoothness
  
• The Colour Picker now has a Hex value box
  
• Colours stored in the Colour Picker are now saved/loaded with track files
  
• Improved performance when there are many trains
  
• Improved CPU performance when there are many track pieces
  
• General train movement along tracks should be smoother
  
• Carriages can no longer overpower the train on a slope
  
• Improved building behaviour at the edges of the level
  
• Added a "New Content" banner on the menu
  
• Added a Clear button to the Toy Box search bar
  
• Made train customisation saving more reliable
  
• Trains and carriages no longer block selection/building
  
• Added helpful signs for when a Station in Passenger mode gets moved/hidden
  
• Tweaked the Pub to make it line up with other buildings better
  
• Tweaked the Metal Fence to make it line up better

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed the train sometimes subtly bouncing from side to side when on a straight piece of track
  
• Fixed pieces which were overwritten by a forced Joining piece sometimes losing the correct rotation when that action was Undone
  
• Fixed the pause menu not appearing when driving a secondary train
  
• Fixed some issues with Tunnels
  
• Removed an invisible text box from the Train menu
  
• Fixed certain valid junctions being blocked if the end already had a piece there
  
• Fixed 2 Straight pieces going in opposite directions not offering a Crossing when approached
  
• Fixed the Speed Check showing the wrong side of the sign
  
• Fixed the pop-up message when changing languages not appearing
  
• Testing a fix for Steam not allowing some people to use the Suburban DLC
  
• Fixed some typos and mistranslations

We're also running a big 75% sale at the moment so if you haven't got the game yet or want to gift it for a friend, now is a great time.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/657240

Hi all!

The next update is nearly ready and I've completely revamped quite a few things. Not all of it will be visible just yet but the upgrades give me a lot of nice new options going forward.
Naturally this can introduce new bugs, so if you're interested in getting an early preview of the new content and helping iron things out there will be a beta available for the next week or so.

The main new features:

• Complete rework of how trains move Allows for more complex track pieces, smoother movement and improved train controls
• ~15 new track pieces New junctions, new [alt] pieces, new road/river pieces
• New "Redirector" object for choosing where the train turns Replaces the old system of clicking on track junctions
• New "Recently Used" row in the Toy Box To make it easier to find decorations you're currently using

Accessing the beta:

• Right click on Tracks in your Steam games list and click Properties
  
• Go to the Betas tab on the left and choose the public_beta option from the dropdown menu
  (you don't need to enter a code)
  
• The beta should start downloading and Tracks should have a [public_beta] tag in the games list

If you have feedback on the new items or find any bugs I'd really appreciate if you posted them in the beta thread on the Steam forums or in the Tracks discord server.


Thanks!