Hello Engineers!

Thanks for taking the time in joining us once again in our weekly update regarding some of the things that we’re working on to improve Train Life. You all have been great in reporting bugs and giving us some great suggestion and we want to encourage to keep on doing your thing.

Keep in mind, these are for PC only, if you’re on console and you’re wondering what’s going happening on that end, please join the official Train Life Discord channel[discord.gg].

*Disclaimer: Take everything here with a grain of salt. These are things we are re-testing and doesn't mean that we will add all of these changes and fixes in the next patch, albeit, we'll try our best!

• Inconsistent snow behavior in Alpine regions (The snow appears abruptly and only after nearing Salzburg. In the case the player reverses and drives forward again – it disappears and does not trigger again until reaching Salzburg)
  
• Missing Key/Buttons prompts on the initial screen for the Orient Express scenarios (Basically, if you have an older save of Train Life and you updated to the newer version 1.10 the buttons on the right side of the screen are missing in the scenario)
  
• One string for steam locomotive instructions is either shortened/elongated in most languages when using a controller (In the controls section where the player is being explained what they all do in the OE scenario – the first line of instructions is either over extended or shortened hiding what the instructions say)
  
• Train Life crashes during the Paris - Vienna scenario
  
• In the tutorial – the task completes itself before user input.
  
• Passengers’ models clip through standard passenger wagons walls
  
• Contracts to Vienna was generated for players with no DLC access
  
• There have been reports of players getting these tasks when they don’t have the DLC installed. Which in short players without this DLC are not able to complete.
  
• When you browse through wagons in pick-up menu, when attaching a broken train, the trains mesh disappears.
  
• Train Derails when driving through the junction at London Main, despite driving at a low speed.
  
• The station are at Berlin Main Station is too small and players are not able to start scenarios on the tracks between the entrances and platforms.

You can expect the next patch to be implemented within the next couple of weeks and feel free to let us know your thoughts on this type of communication between the you, the player and us the studio.

On that note, I wanted to thank you all for taking the time in reading this note, and make sure to follow Train Life on Twitter and join the official Discord channel as mentioned above. We do livestreams on our Twitch channel[www.twitch.tv] every Monday @ 7PM CEST where we face the questions you guys ask on our Discord channel head on! If this is something you’re interested in don’t hesitate to smack that follow button on Twitch!

Take care everyone,

Mike
Simteract Community Manager

Welcome to patch 1.10! Your friendly neighborhood community manager Mike is here 😊

We’re pleased to announce that you’ll be able to experience the new HUD we teased over the last couple of months as well as some other gameplay and visual improvements to the game. With that out of the way, let's dive right in!

• Tweaked some issues with the placement of electric lines
  
• Fixed a problem with a blocked player movement at Service Center Innsbruck warehouse
  
• Fixed a problem with broken traffic lights at Main Brussels and near Paris Station
  
• We fixed a problem with the sudden stop of the train when high speed is reached, between Zurich Factory and Zurich Main – this was reported by a few players highlighting that the train came to an immediate halt due to the environment not loading in on time. You should not have this issue any more in this section of the map.
  
• Fixed a problem with a sharp connection angle between rails in Berlin region – this should fix derailing on these sections of the tracks.
  
• Fixing a problem with missing part of the tracks near Munich Refinery
  
• Fixed a problem with sudden stop of the train near Leipzig Main

• Now we can sort Cities table using controller
  
• Fixed bug where inverting camera axis was affecting map controls
  
• Fixed bug that was deleting GPS route after switching navigation mode
  
• HUD Overhaul – this has been a long-awaited feature since the launch of Train Life, and we are pleased to announce that it is here! Let us know what you think of the new features!

• Fixed GPS Bugs – this should have fixed the issue with navigation points being removed after the player arrives to one, among other bugs as well.
  
• Now Train cannot be reversed, and cabin cannot be changed during boarding

• Fixed a problem with missing a track section near Antwerp pumpjack during Brussels-Amsterdam scenario
  
• Fixed a problem with a redundant blockade near Strasbourg Main during scenario Paris-Vienna
  
• Better Orient Express steam release particles – when doing the OE scenario, you should now see that smoke is coming from the chimney.

• Fixed a problem with snow under the roof at Munich Station
  
• Fixed a problem with buildings on the tracks at Strasbourg Station
  
• Cleaning track zone from branches, grass, and ground
  
• Multiple minor art fixes

• Fixed Translation bugs

We hope you will enjoy this update and we encourage the community to continue with the feedback. Make sure to follow Train Life on Twitter and join the official Train Life discord[discord.gg] to speak with like-minded individuals as well as the Dev’s themselves! You can also join our weekly livestreams on the official Simteract Twitch channel[www.twitch.tv] where you can get your questions about the game answered live as well as stay up to date with the latest and greatest news for the game you all know and love.

We will continue to keep you guys updated with the games upcoming hotfixes and patches on a weekly basis as we have been doing since the release of Train Life. Thank you all for sticking with us throughout this time and until next time, engineers!

Signing out,

Mike
Simteract Community Manager

Welcome to another developer note written by yours truly, Mike! We have been rolling out the hotfixes left and right and we’re coming back to tell you what we’re working on next. So with that out of the way, here is a list of stuff that we’re currently working on either retesting or implementing in the next hotfix for Train Life.

• Engineers License achievement does not unlock after meeting the conditions
  
• Orient Express scenario durations are not adequate. We’re adjusting the usage of coal and water in these scenarios.
  
• Parts of tracks missing near Munich Refinery Station
  
• Scenario: Calais - London - GPS leads to wrong tracks in Calais.
  
• Redundant blockade near Strasbourg Main during Orient Express scenario Paris-Vienna
  
• Debug output displayed for "Next navigation mode" binding in PC controls
  
• Animation of rain inside the 'Munich main' station during gameplay
  
• Incorrect flag can be spotted at Lucerne Main

Also, we understand that this wasn’t communicated before, but we also wanted to talk about the change when it comes to the route planner. So when does the route planner work? Here is an
explanation:

Almost everything happens when the player is in passenger/postage mode and is boarding passengers on a passenger station or loading/unloading mail at a warehouse. You take the passengers and mail whose destination is on your GPS Route. If you want to do passenger/postage transport on a route, for example, A B C D, then you simply add those stations to your GPS - and then drive the route and perform station operations on passenger stations and warehouses accordingly.

Passengers and postage don't behave like they do in the real world and don't use timetables, but they still assume you'll get them to their destination in a timely manner. They will leave the train at the first opportunity if their patience runs out (you took too long to get to the destination) or if their destination is no longer on the GPS Route (because you removed it).]

We hope that explanation cleared some things up for you and in the meantime, we want you to keep the feedback coming! We encourage all players of Train Life to join our official Discord channel and provide feedback, suggestions and comments about the state of the game and how we can make it better for everyone!

Thanks for taking the time in reading our note, until next time!

Mike
Simteract Community Manager

Welcome to Hotfix 1.03 for PC. We’re also releasing the Orient Express content for all PC players that took part in the Early Access for Train Life.In the meantime, we have some fixes for today's patch to get through, so without further ado, let's dive right in!

• Tweaked some issues with the placement of electric lines. Now you will not get shocked by the electrical lines.
  
• Cleaning track zone from branches, grass, ground. To do this, we developed a lawn mower as well as a hedge cutter in UE4.
  
• Fixed a problem with a broken traffic light near the Bremen Smeltery. No more traffic jams at the intersection.

• Added additional highlights to active buttons. It should be easier to tell the difference regarding which selection you are making.
  
• Fixed a problem with saving force feedback option
  
• Updated translations. If you find any more translation errors, we encourage you to let us know!
  
• Fixed a problem with the Back button on a few screens.
  
• Fixed a problem with input configuration from older versions. This was reported by the community from people coming from the EA version to the 1.0 version of Train Life regarding the new navigation buttons, that well, were not working, that great to say the least. But now, everything should be fine.
  
• Fixed a problem with not updating immediately tooltips for GPS Mode Toggle after input rebinding.
  
• Added keyboard and gamepad controls for Show Hide HUD action.
  
• Fixed employee list to better show its content
  
• Fixed a bug with Cancel button in scenario start panel

• Improvement of train inertia.
  
• Fixed a wrong top speed of locomotives.
  
• Fixed the "Renowned Tourist" achievement. Players might have to revisit the stations once again to get the achievement.
  
• Fixed a bug with the number of passengers during boarding.

• Fixed GPS route in some scenarios.

• The switch near the Munich Factory has had its logic reversed.
  
• Part of the wood floating in the air near Hague Pumpjack is not floating anymore.

• Fixed a rare crash during a boarding passenger in the scenario "Paris – Strasbourg".

That about wraps it up folks! We hope you are enjoying the fixes that we are implementing throughout this time, and we hope the players enjoy the Orient Express content we added for all Early Access players!

Make sure to follow Simteract and Nacon on all social media platforms and join our Discord channel[discord.gg] so you don’t miss a beat when it comes to news and updates for the game. Until next time!

Mike
Simteract Community Manager

Hello everyone!

Today our team is thrilled to announce that you can now take the controls of the legendary Orient-Express steam train operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and retrace its storied route, as the Orient-Express DLC is now available for purchase.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2052581/Train_Life__1920s_OrientExpress_Train/

Additionaly we want to remind our Early Access participants that this DLC has been added to your Steam account as a token of gratitude for your support during this essential part of the game's development.

The 1920's ORIENT-EXPRESS TRAIN DLC contains:

• The Orient-Express train of the 1920s, operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits
  
• The 231C Nord steam locomotive
  
• The historic route of the Orient-Express train, from Paris to Vienna
  
• 6 exclusive scenarios in which you are at the controls of the Orient-Express train
  
• 2 new cities: Strasbourg and Vienna

See you soon on the the railway!

Benjamin
Nacon Community Manager

Hello everyone!

We’re back with our weekly update on what you can expect from the next hotfix for Train Life! Keep in mind, these bugs are currently being retested, which could likely mean that they will soon be fixed. However, not all decisions are final and everything is subject to change.

Without beating around the bush too much, let's cut right to the chase.

• Player hotkeys for track interaction and navigation mode fail to work after transferring over to 1.0
  
• Active option highlight may not be clear for the player base
  
• Some text on the new map are not translated correctly to other languages
  
• Tracks covered in grass near Nuremberg Power Plant
  
• Players are unable to deliver goods after loading save data
  
• Some players are unable to switch navigation modes
  
• Floating wood near Hague Pumpjack
  
• Orient Express Content partially available before release

You can expect the next hotfix to be released on September 22nd. The same time Train Life is being released on consoles, yay!

That about wraps it up for this week's update. Let us know what you think of these weekly updates and as always, we encourage the community to continue in providing feedback for the game using the official Train Life Discord channel as well as our social media!

Until next time!

Mike
Simteract Community Manager

We’re coming back with another back-to-back patch for Hotfix 1.02! Joey is sick, so, I Mike, the all mighty community manager will be taking the reins of writing these patch notes this time around. Let’s all wish Joey to get well soon!

Keeping in-line with our communication strategy with the community, we want to keep hot fixing the game on a weekly basis and improve the rocky launch of Train Life. With that out of the way, lets get into it.

• Added a sound alarm for an occupied track. Another quality-of-life feature that we believe will further help the community with making sure they are dodging trains the correct way.

• Added an option to disable force feedback vibrations in control settings.

• Fixed a problem with a broken traffic light near the Bern Food Plant
  
• Tweaked some issues with the placement of electric a pole.

• Fixed a problem with player input of track action and switching navigation
  
• Removed the blocking signal notification from notification panel

• Locomotives in Service Center now are sorted by unlock level
  
• Updated company logos, now they have bigger resolution
  
• Added more sound effects in UI elements
  
• Added confirmation pop up when escaping to main menu
  
• Fixed the track interaction controls prompt for inputs
  
• Removed non-existent cities from the start cities list

• Adjusted the default keybindings of the Navigation Mode selector
  
• Fixed a long-standing bug regarding electricity costs in electric locomotives, restoring a cost to using electric locomotives for the player
  
• Fixed a rare crash during game load
  
• Fixed a bug in Early Bird achievement. The player might have to complete any scenario again to unlock the achievment.
  
• Fixed the passenger wagon capacity perk which sometimes doesn't work after game load
  
• Fixed a problem with not saved properly camera and zoom inversion
  
• Fixed a problem with removing player's GPS route after adding a task for a hired driver
  
• Fixed a problem with two actions with the same bind input
  
• Fixed a rare bug with ghost contracts
  
• Fixed a problem with disappearing station the Zurich Main
  
• Fixed a snow appearance in some part of the game
  
• Updated an electricity cost calculation
  
• Fixed visibility of UI elements during second cinematic after skipping fifth tutorial
  
• Fixed a problem with delivery goods after loading save game on service center

• Fixed some text in Postage Scenario descriptions
  
• Switching GPS Map Mode is scenarios in disabled - the game change GPS Map Mode automatically

• Updated translations

• Updated a game version number to 1.02

DEVELOPER NOTE: If any players encounter with not working navigation mode buttons such as ( , and . ) the players should remove input.ini file from C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\TrainLife\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor and it should solve the issue.

The Hotfix this time around, was a bit bigger than the last one and that’s because we’re monitoring all the feedback that is being sent by the community through our Discord channel[discord.gg] as well as social media and later taking this information and executing changes to the bugs you guys find.

We really appreciate all the effort you guys are putting into making Train Life a game you will be playing for years to come. Thanks once again from the Dev Team and next week, we will have some more news updates to share with you all.

Best,

Mike
Simteract Community manager

Joey here, Train Life’s Creative Lead and Lead Game Designer. As a team we are, of course, very happy for the release of our game, but we definitely wanted to talk to you formally (via this post) and informally (via Discord[discord.gg]/Forums) about our game and what we’re focused on. I’m no business-focused developer, or from any marketing department, so I’d rather skip the buzzwords and be straight with all of you!

We’ve got bugs, and we’ve certainly got some polishing to do. There’s no way to soften this one, so I just wanted to relay that it is the top priority of Simteract and our publisher, Nacon, to get these problems solved ASAP.

We’re reading all of your criticism and feedback, whether it be from your reviews or your posts, and we’re very glad to see so much community involvement regarding this. Keep writing it, and we’ll do our best to address it!

Our latest hotfix, just released, addresses the first of these issues. We’re already working on another one, and will be able to share more about the date as we progress with it.

Something we’ve struggled to communicate effectively from day 1 has been the intended level of simulation we’ve been aiming to achieve with Train Life. I don’t believe we’ve done this as well as we could have, and that fault can only be attributed to us.

First and foremost, we are not a hardcore simulator, and never desired to be. Train Life is a casual-midcore simulator that takes a more arcade-like approach to vehicle physics, railway traffic, and rail laws. Train Life is inspired by games like Euro Truck Simulator and Transport Tycoon, focusing more on the management metagame (leveling cities and managing employees) and requiring a more consistent amount of player attention and input compared to what might be the case in reality. This has been our core desire for Train Life from the start, though I will reiterate that this was clearly not communicated as effectively as we would like, and I apologize for that.

Going forward, we’d like to assure you that tweaks and changes to physics, traffic, or laws are not excluded from our plans, and we’ve certainly made many improvements to these over the course of Early Access. However, large overhauls to these systems are not likely to occur. We’d like Train Life to be playable and accessible by all audiences and ages, striking just the right balance between the feeling of driving on the rails and relaxing as you deliver some wagons!

In short, we’re not done with Train Life, but for the time being our priorities are fixing bugs, polishing, and improving the quality of Train Life’s gameplay. I know that waiting for the next hotfix can be frustrating, and some bug priorities aren’t as high on the list as others. Many of us have our Discords and Steam forums open all day, checking and relaying what you say, or even responding directly to you if time allows. It’s hard for us to get to everything, but we are definitely listening!

Thank you for sticking with us and being honest about your thoughts! Without that, there’s no way we could ever realize Train Life’s full potential! If you have anything to say or ask, please feel free to join our Discord[discord.gg] to talk directly to us; you can ping me with anything, and I’ll be sure to handle any topic, no matter how difficult! Additionally, following us on Twitter[http//Twitter] and Twitch[http//Twitch] can get you up to date with the latest info and streams.

Thank you for all of the support over the last year, and this is definitely not the last you’ve heard about Train Life’s future!

-Joey

It's been a hectic start as we're sure you all can agree, however, we're happy to bring you the first post-launch hotfix 1.01! Without further adeu, let's dive right in!

• HUD
  
  • Fixed a problem with scenario saves always being first on the ‘load save’ list
    
  • Fixed a bug with problematic GPS routes via non-existing rails
    
  • Fixed the level up screen not appearing in some cases
• Tablet
  
  • Fixed the Production Tree image missing from the Codex
    
  • Fixed the player’s company logo being low resolution
• Gameplay
  
  • Fixed multiple problems in tutorials
    
  • Fixed issues with employee routes and map filters
    
  • Fixed the locomotive customization camera in some locomotives from blocking the view
    
  • Fixed the ‘Passenger Wagon Capacity’ perk resetting after reloading the game
• Scenarios
  
  • Fixed an issue preventing an objective in Scenario 7 from being completed
• Level Art & Design
  
  • Fixed some problems with asset clipping in the locomotive
    
  • Fixed some problems with disconnected and missing electric overhead lines
• Stability & Performance
  
  • Fixed career and save game limit resulting in massive save bloat – This will automatically cull (delete) save games past a limit of 20 per career, choosing the oldest first.
    
  • Fixed some situations that resulted in lag when saving
    
  • Fixed a fatal error crash when attempting to load save data
• Miscellaneous
  
  • Update the game version to 1.0, removing the “beta” watermark
    
  • Removed the game version watermark from the gameplay screen

That about wraps it up for this hotfix! There will be more to come, and just a reminder in case you missed the last developer blog, we will keep you guys updated regarding the transparency we want to keep with the community with weekly updates on addressing your issues and sharing some of the things we're working on so there are no surprises. Make sure to join the official Train Life Discord[discord.gg] and follow Train Life on Twitter!

Until next time!

Mike
Simteract Community Manager