Some technical information about PC version

[TheSwordUser]

Marketing for this game seems to be non-existent on English side of internet. I found this article from Ascii games about the upcoming steam release:

https://ascii.jp/elem/000/004/076/4076305/

All in Japanese of course, I'm working with auto translate so there may be inaccuracies here and there in summary.

Launch price seems to be the same as on Switch eShop, which is 7678 yen (appears to include sales tax already). It costs 60 USD/EUR in other regions, so chances are it will be the same here. There will be 10% discount during first week.

Game appears to be more CPU and memory bound than GPU and it should work decently enough on integrated GPU (rejoice, GPU wanters), though I don't know how it will work during late-game on larger maps (I expect massive slowdowns).

Improvements to graphics include bigger view distance, sea surface reflection and high quality textures. Artdink posted comparison screens of textures for PC version and this is like a generational difference from Switch version (no surprises there since it is mobile hardware with couple of years already): https://twitter.com/artdink_tw/status/1465938716111904770

Artdink added stop timer function for fast forward where you can adjust at what date you want to stop running the game at fast forward (ex. until completed construction of large subsidiary). There's also autosave that works at real-time minutes interval instead of in game monthly intervals.

Two new default scenarios were added, "Find Nussie" and "Reviving Railway" (no idea how they'll be officially translated).

PC version supports gamepads and touch-screen controls.

Writer mentions fast load times, taking only 15 seconds, although it has been tested it on NVMe drive and theres no mention of map size, so YMMV. Load times mostly matter on map loading either way, which ideally shouldn't happen too many times.

New buildings/subsidiaries were added (ex horse racing track).

On 3rd page there are some benchmarks, author played it on a laptop and seems to be running decently enough. There's also mention of 120 fps mode but I'm not sure if its just from laptop settings, or the game natively runs at 120 frames. Game also supports ultrawide resolutions, but UI seems to be stretched there so...eh.

I've read elsewhere about increased limit for vehicles and subsidiaries company can have at once, but I don't know exact details.

[Filter62]

Cool, but I really hope for regional prices here) 60USD is something like 25% of my paycheck. Well I can hope since A-train PC classic had regional price, and worth like 15usd (It's already kinda painful for me) here) Man can hope right? =D

Good to know this) Thank you for this translation and info)))

Yeah, average poor Russian here. XD

Well, even if it's gonna be 60USD I'll still buy it, because I love a-train games, but it would take some time)))

[MagneticJerk]

>I've read elsewhere about increased limit for vehicles and subsidiaries company can have at once, but I don't know exact details.
According to this article, the numbers are as follows:
https://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/202111260016/

・ Trains / cars that can be operated: 100 → 140 each
・ Stations / stops that can be constructed: 200 → 240 each
・ Design drawings: Passenger trains 20 → 30 sheets, freight trains 12 → 18 sheets, buses 12 → 18 sheets , Track 8 → 12

[TheSwordUser]

Originally posted by MagneticJerk:

>I've read elsewhere about increased limit for vehicles and subsidiaries company can have at once, but I don't know exact details.
According to this article, the numbers are as follows:
https://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/202111260016/

・ Trains / cars that can be operated: 100 → 140 each
・ Stations / stops that can be constructed: 200 → 240 each
・ Design drawings: Passenger trains 20 → 30 sheets, freight trains 12 → 18 sheets, buses 12 → 18 sheets , Track 8 → 12

Thanks. The article also mentions FPS limiter, so the game might support 120 FPS after all.

[[NcK]MasterShake|CM]

Why, oh why do you keep releasing at a $60 price point?

[FireShark]

Touch-screen controls will be nice.

[sporkhead]

I'm hoping the load times are significantly improved now that the Unity engine bottlenecks (CPU and storage) are no longer an issue on PC. On Switch they are painful, particularly on game boot when it's presumably loading in libraries.

The touch controls on the Switch version are really quite excellent (As is the user interface) so I'm rather looking forward to this.

[tcassat]

Originally posted by sporkhead:

I'm hoping the load times are significantly improved now that the Unity engine bottlenecks (CPU and storage) are no longer an issue on PC. On Switch they are painful, particularly on game boot when it's presumably loading in libraries.

The touch controls on the Switch version are really quite excellent (As is the user interface) so I'm rather looking forward to this.

A guy who reviewed the game in Japan said that loading the city takes 15 seconds on two laptops he tested, (one of them being quite capable with 16GB RAM - i7 something - RTX 3060), and he praised the loading time quite a bit, although I don't particularly think 15 seconds is that fast, but if you consider that on the Switch the loads take more than 1 minute, I think it's a good number.

[omnius]

@tcassat - I bet this game will be far superior than New City!

[tcassat]

Originally posted by omnius:

@tcassat - I bet this game will be far superior than New City!

It depends, they are games with quite different focuses, I think.

In terms of gameplay, presentation, mechanics, etc., A-Train is far superior, it's a much more professional and polished game. But the focus is different, you've played A-Train PC Classic which is very similar to Tourism! in many areas so you know what I'm talking about. The game has micro-management and a lot of focus on business management (with all the issues of taxes, depreciation of assets, wages, etc.).

I haven't played much NewCity but it has its good points too. The big plus is the scale of things, I've never seen any game where the cities can be as realistic in terms of size as NewCity. And that game despite not having so many systems, also has its challenge, my city never grew so much that I have problems with traffic but I saw several videos on youtube (including some made by you if I'm not mistaken) and it takes some understanding of urbanism to make things flow well in that game, so it also has its interesting points even though at first it seems a little shallow.

[Mew]

Originally posted by NcKMasterShake|CM:

Why, oh why do you keep releasing at a $60 price point?

Because the Western release is an afterthought to get a bit more money. Game prices in Japan are not fixed like in the west theres no "60$" benchmark and games very often go up to 120$. It's entirely up to the developer and how they see their value.

This is a niche game. The developers don't expect to sell many copies so they're going for a high price instead of volume. Another game for the train called 電車でGO! ! はしろう山手線 (Densha de Go!!) costs ¥8,580($75) on the PS4, ¥6,380 ($56) on the Switch. Same story. Rarely if ever goes on sale,

People who are expected to buy this game are train maniacs/ train otaku and the developer expects them to pay the premium.

The same reason you get only 2~3 episodes of an anime on a Bluray for 90$ this is a luxury hobby while you can get unlimited anime basically on Netflix and the like.

[Filter62]

Btw, so anybody know yet, does it work on windows7? XD

[Tlaloque]

Originally posted by Filter62:

Btw, so anybody know yet, does it work on windows7? XD

Just spent an hour trying to get it to run on 7 with no luck. Couldn't get past some missing dll error on launch. Requested a refund.

[Filter62]

Originally posted by Vinushka:

Originally posted by Filter62:

Btw, so anybody know yet, does it work on windows7? XD

Just spent an hour trying to get it to run on 7 with no luck. Couldn't get past some missing dll error on launch. Requested a refund.

Well, I guess it's finally time to go with Windows 10 then. XD

[Kolbex]

I'll bet it doesn't run on Windows 2000, either. >:(

[Filter62]

Originally posted by Kolbex:

I'll bet it doesn't run on Windows 2000, either. >:(

Well, that's something I never used) My first was XP) If everything worked on XP, I would still be there. :D

Btw, many people still use Win7, it's simple, fast, and A LOT less garbage than on newer ones. Nowadays everything wants to control your PC, and won't let you do what you want, how you want. Do it like this! It's right way! What if my way is different from what they want? OneDrive, Cortana, Defender, Forced updates, e.t.c. all of it is just garbage I don't need on my PC, but I guess there's just no choice now, some products won't run on Win7 anymore, we have to move sooner or later, even if we really don't want to...

And one more funny thing, A-train PC Classic lag like hell on Win10) But runs butter smooth on 7, well... Actually that's exactly 100% of reasoning why I'm on Win7 rn)))