Development Highlights: Infrastructure

Today we published the second episode of the Development Highlights series. This time it is all about the infrastructure for private and public transport.

In the Development Highlights series we show how we incorporated feedback from the previous game into the development of Transport Fever 2. We give insights into the game design and explain what actions have been taken to realize an excellent gaming experience.

We hope that you like what we are working on, and thanks for your interest in Transport Fever 2.

Posted in News.

Tom (Community Manager)

Community and Project Manager at Urban Games

108 Comments

  1. Very excited about this game so far. Have put in many hours between train fever and transport fever and this is looking like a drastic improvement already. It would be really nice if there is a way to build large segments of track or road at once, while giving the flexibility to edit parts of the track before committing to actually building it. I think railway empire does a good job of this particular mechanism, it just makes it much easier to plan out long tracks without hitting unexpected issues along the way.

  2. Looks great. Really does!
    What I could see in the video on the roundabouts, all cars use only the outer lane, which kind of defeates the purpose of the two lane roundabout. the cars going to exit 2/3 should rather use the inner lane for parts of the roundabout. I hope that this get’s updated in the logic until the release.

    Also, one big open question for me is still the ability for optional timetables? will this be a thing? I see the clock running on the station building, so the game does seem to simulate some sort of time of the day. I really wish that the game has an option to define departure times at a station for the trains, etc (optional, so player can choose if he wants or does not want to use it), so that we could define a Taktfahrplan, where e.g. trains from two lines always meet at a station around the same time and pax can transfer immediatly between trains. That would make for a beautiful addon.

  3. Oh, tolles Video. Wenn das dann so auch in der Praxis funktioniert, wär ich echt froh. Grad hab ich nämlich wieder Probleme mit Cities Skylines gehabt. Von wg. >> Array index is out of range. [System.IndexOutOfRangeException] Details: No details

    Boa, bin ich schon wieder satt. Ich denk, ein gutes Spiel muss funktionieren. Also gute Performance wünsch ich bei der Gelegenheit allen Beteiligten. ^^

  4. I love it! I can see that when a traffic light turns green, turning traffic and through traffic still fight each other, but it’s still a drastic improvement over having no traffic signals at all. Perhaps the inclusion of dedicated turn signals, or at least a better yielding algorithm where turning traffic yields to through traffic and doesn’t turn until there’s a gap large enough to go without causing through traffic to brake. I couldn’t tell from the videos– do pedestrians obey the traffic signals too, only crossing on a green? It looked like they had their own “walk/don’t walk” signals, but I never saw them turn green in the video, so I’m not sure.

  5. Nice with the new station configuration.
    But i must say that cars just cutting in front of other cars going in the opposite direction like that is really frustrating to look at.

  6. oh great, now my pants is wet.

    I need to stop drinking water while watching this stuff, I always spill it. 😉

    Love it, thank-you, can’t wait to see what’s next!

  7. Really nice, I really like it.
    I do have one suggestion, however,
    Will there be elevated and underground stations? These would look really good for an S-Bahn or Metro line, especially in the larger cities on the map.

  8. I love the modular railway stations and can accommodate good traffic. You guys at Urban games are doing a fantastic job. Keep up the good work and please, please give us a British option (left hand drive and railway platforms with sloped ends).

  9. This looks absolutely fantastic. Just one hopefully small request. Can we attach bus/tram hubs to train hubs and combine them into giant stations for everything?

  10. Loving this! So looking forward to TF2. A query about roundabouts: I’m not sure how it works in Europe but in Australia, the cars on the roundabout have priority and vehicles entering have to give way. Will this be the case in TF2?

  11. The roundabouts and one way streets will be a godsend and will help with traffic congestion greatly.

    Perhaps this will be coming in a different video, but these new pieces of infrastructure won’t reach their potential without a way for us to direct traffic. We saw in the video that the cars were just using the outer lane – which really hampers the usability of the tool.

    If we could have a tool like the Cities Skyline’s mod Traffic++ – where we can specify the lanes traffic can move to, that would be immensely helpful. At the very least, it would be nice to be able to specify the lanes our transport routes take. Very often I have trucks waiting needlessly behind a bus at a stop – only to turn the opposite direction a few meters down the road.

  12. I too noticed the cars were only using the outside lane on the two lane roundabout. If they take first exit right then they should use outer lane. Most roundabouts here use outer lane for second exit and inner lane for 3rd exit, unless more than 3 exits or otherwise directed by road signs, but you guys are smart, so I’m sure you’ll figure something out to maximise traffic flow 🙂

  13. Awesome! Awesome and … really awesome 🙂 Keep on your fantastic work and I will even buy me an up to date PC for your game. Q4 isn’t coming next week….?

  14. The modular station is what I requested in the spring of 2017, glad to see it there.
    That’s also why I stopped working on the ultimate version of the Ultimate Station for TpF 🙂

  15. Wow,it looks great, particularly the highways . One request from me is that we should have the ability to prevent the AI using these roads to expand the urban area. Another would be the inclusion of Nelso’s high capacity road station, or something similar but not limited to the current 9 lanes. Keep up the good work I’m sure this will be even better than the current stunning game!!

  16. I just imagine that the Modular Menu will look like The Sims 4 Build Mode, This will make it easier and more useful, Also Parameters like Height, Width, Curve, Rotation (without snapping) are adjusted in the Modular Menu. And can you add a few things like Pedestrian Overpass / Underpass Bridge, Stacked Multi Elevated Platform, and Platform Marker. Finally, the Modular Station should be able to be stored by users as future templates.

  17. 🙂
    Eine Autobahn juhuu .

    Die Busspur ist schon mal nicht schlecht. Hoffe das sie auch nur von Busen genutzt wird und nicht mal wieder alle drauf fahren.

    Hoffe auch, das ihr weiterhin Straßenbahnen einbaut. Und vielleicht mit der Option die zur U-Bahn zu machen ?? Das wäre super .. Dann gäbe es nicht so ein Stau in der Stadt 🙂

    Die Autos Blinken beim Abbiegen. Super.

    Ampel Schaltung – Super

    Kreisverkehr :-O Wauuu Super

    Flüsse selbst zu machen oder einen Kanal zu bauen – … Klasse.

    Meine Mods von TF 1 müssten nur noch in TF2 laufen – dann ist alles Perfekt.

    Wann kommt das spiel nochmal Raus – Morgen 😀 😀

  18. Sehr tolles Update! Das bereitet Vorfreude.

    Gerade dachte ich darüber nach, wie spannend es wäre auch weiteren Mobilitätsformen Raum zu geben. Mal abgesehen von U-Bahn, Straßenbahn und Bus (welche sicherlich schon alle eingeplant sind), wäre es spannend Fahrradwege zu planen und umzusetzen, Fußgängerzonen & -wege einzurichten und Gondeln über der Stadt schweben zu lassen. Für Fahrradwege ließen sich auch Cargo-Biker einsetzen, die Güter von A nach B “treten”.

    Kleiner Gedanke.

    Macht weiter so!

  19. from what i see this is going to be a really awesome game you really have been listening to your clients unlike a lot of other game developers its early days but can i have the game now now now!

  20. Das sieht großartig aus, ich sehe mich schon wieder hunderte Stunden vor dem PC verbringen. TF1 hat bei mir auch schon >1100h 😀

    Ich kann es kaum erwarten! Habe mich lange nicht mehr so sehr auf ein Spiel gefreut.

  21. Looking amazing! Modular stations looking brilliant – can’t wait to see how bus and tram stops can be integrated too! My only request is that tracks can have different catenary in the same map (and even the same station). One of the problems I have with transport fever from a detailing point of view, is that only one type of overhead catenary can be used in the same save.

    Keep up the good work! 🙂

  22. Ihr macht da echt einen super Job. Freue mich schon sehr auf das Spiel 🙂 macht weiter so und ich bin sehr gespannt was es noch so neues zu entdecken gibt 🙂

  23. Looks fantastic!!

    Is it possible to “split” a long station platform in to 2 parts by adding a track change in the middle? Using this 2 trains can stop at 1 station platform. Also please add the option to curve the station.. 🙂

  24. Have to say we’ll done to the developers, listening to the fan base and seeing what was needed through mods and adding them into what looks like an amazing new game. Split stations so you can have through and terminus lines, roundabouts, traffic lights….. WOW. Now, please take your time, keep up the great work and take my money!!!

  25. This looks great! I love making complex railway systems and modular stations are a perfect addition!
    I can’t wait for the next update! Keep them coming!

  26. Hope that the style of player-placed buildings (stations, depots, etc.) will be different depending on the theme of the game. (For example, Asian stations should be different from European versions.) Also looking forward to the possibility of modular elevated stations!

  27. Gruss aus der Schweiz und Danke für eines der schönsten Sandbox Spiele zurzeit!

    Ihr scheint auf gutem Weg und ich habe daher nur 2 Wünsche:

    – Ein Kommando, um Signale automatisiert zu platzieren (z.B. Einbahnsignale alle 400m von A bis B) . Speziell nützlich in Tunneln…
    – Verkauf von TPF2 auch über GOG

  28. I have purchased and played Train Fever and Transport Fever; I am very excited to follow the development of this game and look forward to its release.
    The innovations for this game are brilliant; I am keen to learn more and look forward to the next developer video release.
    If I may, I would like to suggest an idea (which you may already have in the pipeline):
    In the previous versions of your games, the locomotives have had consists \ wagons that can be purchased, which are added to the locomotive to make a train. Would it be possible to purchase consists \ wagons, which, when purchased could be stored on tracks that can be collected and connected to the locomotive?
    If this was not possible, it would be great if there was an option to allow the locomotive to disconnect from the train (consists \ wagons) and run around these carriages on a second track (when available) and connect to the other end of the train.

    Thank you.

  29. There are three problems

    1. The map is too small

    2.Airport not real and small,for expamle, not enough taxi way or runray, International Airport look like kai tak, the airport is not meticulous

    3.Please allow players to organize their own airport runways, taxiways, aprons, passenger buildings.

  30. For now all the modification made in TF2 is beyond great. But you know what will be greater, and I think that all the game fans will aprove, is to have CUSTOMIZABLE BUS/TRAM LANES – to chose what lane the bus or the tram will take (just like in CIM2) and not only the first lane like in TF1. I know this modification will improve very much the gameplay of TF2.

  31. Aa… and another idee. A bus/tram depot with parking lot for vehicles in front of it – when you send a bus or a tram to the depot, to chose if the vechicle will enter in the depot or will park in front of it, in the parking lot, of course a customizable parking lot, if posible 🙂

  32. you will have included fuel tank trucks?

    new cargo airplanes looks great!!
    connections of freeways with ramps they needed and street one way too.. yes!!!

    Congrats!

  33. Being a huge fan of the series, might I suggest more in game camera modes. For example a camera that simulates being inside a train wagon as a passenger looking through the window, or a camera tailing behind a vehicle, etc etc. I think that would add a lot to the “sit back and watch the world go by” feeling that the game often gives me.

  34. I really hope you’re gonna introduce a system where the buildings (stations, depots, stops) look different in the different continents and they progress in time (you start with a very old-looking depot in the 1800s and as you go on you get more modern-looking ones).

    On a different note, as a Swiss I hope you have the Gotthard campaign again, but split in two: first time similar to what we had in TF1 and then another level where you have to build the Gotthard Base Tunnel and connect Milan to Zurich.

    Thank you for listening to the fans anyway!

  35. New game looks fantastic. I would second the idea of curved stations – many people brought out versions of curved stations, including I think URBAN games for TF1, and I think if you make streets and cities with curved structures to match topography you have to do the same with railways stations. Also railway stations that split in two directions and have slopes / different radii for the two tracks should all be included, as was the case in the most popular mods for TF1. Thanks

  36. Love the modular station concept and the possibility of making both passenger and cargo stations. That is perfect for smaller siding railways to deliver goods to smaller cities with no need of building and extra cargo station. Have you considered adding a possibilty of small gravel platforms between the rails with a level crossing to acces them? It is perferct for small stations with no need for a big platforms with underground acces ( Like the station in this picture: https://www.pacifikem.cz/foto/210_nadrazi/210_krh/v_foto/210_krh_kolej_2003-05-08_09.jpg ).

    Also I always like to keep old locomotives after they served their time. But they are sadly only hidden in a depots. Adding something like a railways museum would be perfect. A big roundhouse with a turntable in a middle where you can place a locomotive after it served its time. For example if the locomotive was 30 or 40 years in service + the locomotive type is not available to buy anymore, then it can be placed in the museum. And it will be displayed there for your pleasure. The museum ifself could also generate some traffic – people travel there to see the museum, the more and older locomotives are in the museum, the more people visits).
    https://www.deutschebahnstiftung.de/files/Bilder/Projekte/DB%20Museum/DB_Halle_Layout-5352.jpg

  37. Ich freu mich riesig darauf, auch wenn ich mich nach wie vor frage wie das mit den Flughäfen und Fluglinien angegangen wird, die waren im ersten Teil ja leider ziemlich nutzlos und wurden von der Bevölkerung wenig bis gar nicht genutzt. Auf Grund der Kartengröße (eigentlich zu klein für einen sinnvollen Einsatz von Flugzeugen) wäre vielleicht ein ähnliches system wie in cities Skylines sinnvoller bei dem Menschen von außerhalb der Karte eingeflogen werden und die man dann irgendwie abfertigen muss.

  38. Ich kann es kaum erwarten. Das sieht jetzt schon so toll aus. Ich hoffe die Welt wird lebendig in dem man auch den Arbeitern am Güterbahnhof zu sehen kann. Das wäre schön.
    Und Tools um unterschiedliche Abfahrtszeiten bei Bus und Bahnverkehr einstellen zu können wären auch toll.
    Freue mich schon riesig auf das Spiel.

  39. Really Great. I am Looking Forward to the day, when we can Play it.

    But I have a little wish. For me it was often annoying to see the trains departing from stations, while the Exit Signal still shows Hp0. Instead of it, i dreamed, the Train waits until the Signal changes and while waiting, passangers can get the train.

    Another example: The train drives with max power and the following Signal Shows Hp0 as well. It would be great, if the train in this case reduces Speed to try to pass the blocks without a full stop.
    But also without this little improovements i can see, that Transportfever2 will become a great game, in wich i will invest hundreds and hundreds of Hours, like in both forerunners 😉

    All in all, both, train Fever and Transport Fever are awesome. Keep on the great work.

    Greetings from the heart of the Ruhrgebiet.

  40. Bitte bitte vergesst die Performance nicht. Gerade im late game. Und mehr und umfangreichere Industrie wäre auch toll. Ihr macht das schon. Ich glaube an euch.

    • Laut neuer Infos sind die gleichen Probleme immernoch vorhanden und sollen angeblich bis zum Release behoben werden. Das kann ich allerdings kaum glauiben, das wurde schon zu oft versprochen. Sieht leider eher so aus, als ob wir das “gleiche” Spiel mit ein paar Neuerungen zum 3. Mal vorgesetzt bekommen…

          • Vielen Dank. Habe den Artikel gelesen und das Youtube-Video gesehen. Fand es inhaltlich eher mau… Leider auch sehr wenig aussagekräftig.
            Generell widersprechen sich die Aussagen der Presse und Youtuber, welche das TF2-Event besucht hatten, die Hardware der Notebooks wird auch nicht berücksichtigt.
            Ich denke / hoffe, dass die Performance von TF2 nicht schlechter werden wird wie TF mit dem aktuellen Patch.

  41. Please allow the player to create a map with raw materials only. It adds a more realistic feel when developing industries that would naturally be located near the resource and population centers. Thank you so much for your continuous efforts to produce a one of a kind game that stimulates the creative and engineering side of our brains.

  42. Very good. Game now added to Steam-Wishlist. 🙂

    I haven’t found any information about Map-Size in TF2? Hopefully much larger in standard already.

    A good thing for me could be: It should be possible, to create and expand an own HQ over the complete timeline. If you have an HQ, you can explore and use:

    better commercials (for higher passenger rate)
    sponsoring (possibility to built various sport locations in Cities)
    better cost management (1% less, 2% less …)
    effective enviromental protection (noise barrier, revegetation)
    effective services for vehicles
    and so on.

    And Yes, a good performance and setup scaling for this would be fine.

  43. Bei PC Games ist die Rede, dass es neu eine “Lärmbelastung” gibt. Dass Bahnhöfe in Wohngebieten das Städtewachstum hemmen.
    Ich sehe das sehr skeptisch. 1. werden so innerstädtische S-Bahnen erschwert und 2. gehört ein Personenbahnhof doch ins Wohngebiet?! Also am Liebsten baue ich ihn ins Gewerbegebiet, geht aber nicht immer, zweitliebsten ins Wohngebiet und wo der Personenbahnhof eigentlich zuletzt hingehört ist das Industriegebiet. Ich höffe, durch die Lärmbelastung wird man nicht gezwungen den Personenbahnhof ins Industriegebiet zu verbannen…

  44. This looks awesome. So many better inclusions. I do ask with respect to the trams…in TpF every time you added a tram line, it would be on both sides of the street. Not all trams run down the same street in both directions and therefore how will tramlines work in the 1 way streets you guys have created? I think maybe make it so you add just 1 line at a time. As Dorian said, customizable tram tracks. It might take a little more time but you can make the trams take a certain route through the town that way i believe, just like you can with buses. Also it will be visually better.

    Lastly, trams running in the center medium strip/middle of the road with tram stops as well. Here in Australia, trams run down the center of the roads and not on the sides so would be good to be able to do that too. Plus the ability to run them through parks and not confined to just the roads.

    Anyway, hope you guys take my comments into consideration. But apart from that, keep up the fantastic work and cant wait for it to come out and play it. I played Train Fever, Transport Fever and now cant wait for the 3rd installment…Transport Fever 2.

      • No it hasn’t. But we have summer vacation right now. I think, some devs propably might have children and family and they are spending quality time with their families.
        (I do not know that, but it is not unrealistic. So if so: Happy vacation devs! Recreate and come back to the studio with some extra dev-power, soon! )

  45. Ein schnes Feature wäre noch die Auflistung vergangener Seeds.
    Wenn mir einer besonders gut gefällt und ich die Karte erneut erstellen möchte, wäre es schön, wenn ich mir irgendwo eine Favoritenliste o.ä. zusammenstellen könnte.

  46. There are few times when the line “shut up and take my money” would be uttered by me…this is one of them. Looks like I’m losing another few months of free time agonising about track placement and line management. I look forward to it!

  47. It would be great to have maglev trains incorporated into the game at some stage as well.
    I know only Japan is committing to this at the moment, but it would be fun to experiment how this could look like.

    Maybe they can be very expensive so they only make sense to connect high-density cities with each other.

    Aside from that. Please release another dev update! 🙂 Can’t wait for the game to come out.

  48. This looks much-much better than TF1 so very much looking forward to it.
    But I still have a few concerns:

    – Pedestrian behavior must be improved. In TF1 people get hit by trains and force buses/trams to sudden halts. I understand if buses and cars allow passengers to cross roads at pedestrian crossings, but surely trams should not have to stop? Please fix this.

    – I hope there will be an option to stop vehicles looking dirty/older. But more importantly, please give us more options for trains, trams, buses, planes and ships (without having to import mods) in free play. There are too few to choose from.

    – Please improvre the airport and port/harbour designs – the ones in TF1 look ugly compared to the rest of the game. I like to play in modern times (y 2000+) and nice-looking buildings would greatly enhance the game.

    – It would be great to have faster/bigger ferries and catamarans. The current ones are too slow or small.

    – Please do something with map sizes or speeds. I find it absolutely impossible to get a TGV do anywhere close to 300 kp, even on the biggest maps, longest distances and straightest train tracks. Also, the planes take too long to taxi around the airport, which means even a concorde is slower than most trains – this just isn’t right.

    – Time runs too fast. I understand this is done to help those starting at 1850 or playing the campaighn mode. But perhaps the time could run differently in the free play mode? It just make sense for trains to take months to reach the next station!

    – I always have my train stations full and having to put on more trains. But buses are sometimes problematic and I find it more impossible to get passengers for my planes, even in ‘easy mode’. It would be great if you could publish some tutorials on how to build an effective air/bus/tram line that passengers actually want to use.

    But all in all these are minor issues and you’re doing a great job with these games. I’m looking forward to TF2 regardless!

Leave a Reply to Merguth Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *