Tracks - The Train Set Game News

Hi all,

A new beta is now available for anyone who would like an early look at the next update and is willing to try a potentially buggy version.

Accessing a beta on Steam:

• 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)
  
• Steam should start downloading an update, and Tracks should have a [public_beta] tag in the games list

If you find any issues please report them on the forums or discord.
You can see a full list of changes below:

[expand]
For this update I decided to focus all of my time on code, doing things I've needed to do for *years* so no new decorations today, but hopefully you'll enjoy this update all the same for the many new features and improvements that have been made!

• Autosave & Quicksave
  Your building progress can now be automatically saved as you play. Autosaves don't overwrite your manually created saves, instead there are three rotating slots dedicated to it. You can choose how frequently it happens in the options menu, or disable it if you prefer.
  Additionally, you can now press a key (F5 by default) to trigger a save.
  
  
  
  
• Large world optimisation
  Several low level aspects of the game's code have been upgraded to improve the experience for players building gigantic worlds with a large number of decorations:
  (Comparison numbers from the world below (by TGC_Cris) with 82,000 decorations on my PC)
  
  
  • Greatly improved loading times for large saves ( 28 seconds -> 5 seconds )
  • Saving large files is much faster ( 9 seconds -> 0.4 seconds )
  • RAM usage has been slashed ( 3.5GB -> 1.1GB )
  • Eliminated hitches that happened when decorations were removed in a large world
  
  
  
• Toybox improvements
  
  
  LayoutThere are now two options for how decorations are laid out:
  "Rows" is what you're used to, one category per row with decorations stretching left to right.
  "Grid" removes sideways scrolling and makes all the decorations in one category visible at once. You can scroll up and down to move to other categories.
  
  Category tabsThere's now an optional window on the left of the toybox with buttons to jump to each category, usable with either layout.
  
  Label toggleIf you prefer to find decorations by looking for the icon rather than text, you can now hide the name completely to increase the size of the picture.
  
  Rewritten controller navigationMoving between options with a controller should now be more consistent and smoother
  
  
  
• Passenger orientation
  Passengers can now be rotated to face a particular direction.
  The old random direction is still the default, though now you can see which way they'll be facing before you place them. Just press R to rotate them like any object and the random rotation will stop.
  
  
• Breaks & Boosters
  There is a new counter-part decoration to the Booster called "Breaks" which rapidly slow down the train as it passes.
  Please note the way boosters work behind the scenes has been changed. I tried to match the old behaviour as best as I could but if you notice any issues, things which are no longer possible but used to be, please let me know!
  
  
• Other improvements
  • Highlighting is much more accurate for a range of decorations; I'm slowly making my way through them all, if there are any you find particularly difficult to work with let me know
    
  • Added a crosshair on screen to help when doing things far from the camera, and increased the maximum interaction distance
    
  • Separate Small/Medium/Tall Painted House options replace the Random House decoration
    
  • Fixed Wooden Trains with 100% condition still having a bit of paint chipping
    
  • Fixed an issue where a corrupt file would make the Toybox appear blank
    
  • New file loading screen and various other improvements to the UI
    
  • Added Constant Grid as a rebindable key in the Controls menu
    
  • Passengers who can't be deleted (e.g. because they're walking / on a train) no longer get highlighted when hovered
    
  • Grooms now have an assortment of ties and can be recoloured
    
  • Fixed an active Fireworks (Toggle) continuing to play a sound after it has been removed
    
  • Fixed a small erroneous square on the Motel
    

[/expand]
Thank you!

Tracks - The Train Set Game is currently available at 75% off as part of the Excalibur Games Publisher Sale!

We also have the Sci-Fi Pack DLC and the soundtrack heavily discounted, both at 66% off.

Make sure to check out these limited time discounts on the sale page.

Hi all!

Thanks for your patience waiting for this new update, and thank you to everyone who tried the beta and reported the bugs they found. Here's a complete list of new content and changes:

Tram
A classic tram is now available as a train style.
It combines a train and one passenger carriage into a single unit, and supports all the customisation options available for the standard train.

Cab Toys
A new section of the Scenery menu gives you the choice between a whistle or a bell on your train.

Utility Poles
Utility Poles are a new decoration class which automatically attach wires between each prop you place.
To start with there are two styles: Telephone Pole and a large Electricity Pylon



New Decorations
There's a wide variety of new decorations including 10 new houses, 3 new passengers, and several large buildings like a sports stadium and motel.



Train Highlighting
Certain actions could get awkward when you had a lot of trains. Now when you look at a train (or its carriages) you'll see a little arrow appear on top of it. With a train highlighted, any train-related actions will automatically apply to that train such as:

• T to drive it without opening the train menu
  
• Style options in the Scenery menu
  
• Adding carriages from the Toybox

Other changes:

• Replaced the font used for Latin and Cyrillic languages
  
• Tracks, Roads & Rivers now create unique crossings when they meet a variant of other type.
  
• Added pop-ups with key reminders and tips when using certain decorations for the first time
  
• Added the Hungarian language option back into the menu
  
• Several UI and quality of life improvements
  
• Fixed several piece configurations not suggesting the proper junction piece
  
• Fixed a crash on the tutorial when playing in Korean
  
• Improved the game's start up time and memory usage
  
• Optimised and reduced the size of the Sci-Fi DLC
  
• Fixed an issue when F5 is pressed

Hi all!

If you'd like to take an early look at the upcoming update you can now give it a try.
Please note that this is a potentially unstable version, if you find any issues I'd appreciate if you could post about them in the forums or Discord.


Click below to see a full list of additions and changes:

[expand]

Tram
A classic tram is now available as a train style.
It combines a train and one passenger carriage into a single unit, and supports all the customisation options available for the standard train.

Cab Toys
This update adds a new section to the Scenery menu which gives you the choice between a whistle or a bell on your train.

Utility Poles
Utility Poles are a new decoration class which automatically attach wires between each prop you place.
To start with there are two styles: Telephone Pole and a large Electricity Pylon



New Decorations
There's a wide variety of new decorations including 10 new houses, 3 new passengers, and several large buildings like a sports stadium and motel.



Train Highlighting
Certain actions could get awkward when you had a lot of trains. Now when you look at a train (or its carriages) you'll see a little arrow appear on top of it. With a train highlighted, any train-related actions will automatically apply to that train such as:

• Left Mouse click / Press T to drive it without opening the train menu
  
• Style options in the Scenery menu
  
• Adding carriages from the Toybox

Other changes:

• Replaced the font used for Latin and Cyrillic languages
  
• Tracks, Roads & Rivers now create unique crossings when they meet a variant of other type.
  
• Added pop-ups with key reminders and tips when using certain decorations for the first time
  
• Added the Hungarian language option back into the menu
  
• Several UI and quality of life improvements
  
• Fixed a crash on the tutorial when playing in Korean
  
• Improved the game's start up time and memory usage
  
• Optimised and reduced the size of the Sci-Fi DLC
  
• Fixed an issue when F5 is pressed

[/expand]

Accessing the beta:

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

Hello there,
I’m sure many of you have been wondering what's up with the lack of news / Tracks updates.

I won’t go into details but long story short I’m now back to working on the game and I hope to do an update in the near future.

As always, if you’ve got any suggestions you can post them to the forums/discord, I'll be a lot more active than I have been.

Thanks for your patience!