Community Unlocks

The Community Unlocks page of the Derail Valley website lists awareness goals and associated projects that Altfuture are working on for the game. There are a number of actions (especially social media engagement) that can be taken to increase the point count, and the value of each action varies. Currently the largest goal is 100,000 points, which was met September 28, 2020. It was superseded by the Future plans information board on April 10, 2023.

Current Build Version

The current build version as of Nov 11, 2023 is build 97. With build 97, Derail Valley entered Foundation part 4 according to the information given in a post related to the same build. It has also been confirmed by Altfuture that they will be following the model of short, more frequent updates as opposed to the model of a single big update for each part. The big Simulator update (build 93) was released in the month of July (2023).

Early Access Roadmap

The Early Access Roadmap is organized into 7 categories. The status of each item is listed to the right, in order from closest to farthest to release: Done, upcoming, in progress, in queue, far off, and uncertain. This list is not exhaustive, as "Many more smaller features and content that are not listed here are coming too!" Anything not listed on this roadmap can be listed on the future plans page.

Train Simulation

• Buffer & Chain Couplers - DONE as of build 80
• Locomotive Remote Controller - DONE as of build 67 (Can't be used in Comfort and standard career mode as of build 97)
• Multiple-Unit Train Control - DONE as of build 87
• Brake Simulation Revamp - DONE - as of build 93, upcoming - Planned to be a part of build 98
• Steam Engine Simulation Revamp- DONE as of build 93
• Diesel-Electric Simulation Revamp - DONE as of build 93, upcoming - Planned to be a part of build 98
• Diesel-Mechanical Simulation - DONE as of build 93
• Diesel-Hydraulic Simulation - DONE as of build 93
• Improved Manual Servicing (Diesel Hose, coal and water Towers) - DONE as of build 95
• Electric Simulation - in progress
• Mod Support for Trains - in progress - "When we add at least one of every loco type (hopefully by the end of this year, 2022), we'll open up the loco mod support and probably include Steam Workshop support with that" -slobodan#2947 Sunday, January 9, 2022
• Knuckle Couplers (For Mods) - in queue

Locomotives

As of build 96, there are three shunters, two locomotives, one switcher and one slug. A total of 7 units have been released.

• DE2 Diesel Shunter - DONE (released when DV went into early access in 2019)
• S282 Steam Locomotive - DONE (released when DV went into early access in 2019)
• DE6 Diesel Locomotive - DONE as of build 80
• S060 Steam Shunter - DONE as of build 95
• DM3 Diesel Shunter - DONE as of build 93
• DH4 Diesel Road-Switcher - DONE as of build 93
• DE6 Diesel Slug (Work Train) - DONE as of build 96

• E6 Electric Locomotive - partly done
  • similar to JŽ series 461 - /u/altfuture Friday, November 19, 2021
  • "similar layout to VR Class Sr1 (6-axle double-cab electric loco)" -slobodan#2947 Thursday, February 3, 2022
  • "We'll have a wheel throttle in E6 and possibly DH6" -slobodan#2947 Thursday, February 3, 2022
  • "The model is done already...Coming in 2024" -slobodan#2947 Saturday, August 14, 2021
• DM1P Railbus + Mail Variant - partly done
  • "Is modeled already and will be a test-bed for diesel-mechanical simulation, so it'll probably come earlier as an easter egg vehicle until passengers give it a proper purpose" -slobodan#2947 Sunday, September 5, 2021
• DH6 Diesel Locomotive - in queue - "long double-cab loco" -slobodan#2947 Thursday, July 15, 2021
• Micro Shunter (Work Train) - in queue
  • "it'll be spawnable where needed. But this will be about a year from now" - Thursday, February 3, 2022
  • Battery-electric power -slobodan#2947 Wednesday, September 7, 2022
• Maintenance of Way Equipment (Work Train) - in queue
  • "At this point the plan is just to require you to bring the train to a certain location and pull a lever. There won't be any particular maintenance work to be involved in, it's more of a meta-game strategic necessity that will require player's attention from time to time" -slobodan#2947 Wednesday, December 15, 2021
  • "Won't deal with vegetation" - slobodan#2947 Monday, September 13, 2021
• Speeder (Work Train) - far off
• E4P2 Electric Multiple Unit- far off - will probably be inspired by ZS 412, also known as RVR ER31/33 -slobodan#2947 December 15 and 17, 2021

Cars & Cargo

• Boxcars, Flatbed and Hopper cars - DONE
• HAZMAT Cars & Cargo - DONE as of build 80
• Caboose (Work Train) - DONE as of build 85
• Gondola - DONE as of build 86
• Stock car - DONE as of build 97
• Tank car - DONE as of build 97

• New Cars (4+) - partly done
  • Closed hoppers
    • for grain - slobodan#2947 Saturday, September 11, 2021

Gameplay & Economy

• Improved Career & Economy - DONE
• Sandbox Mode - DONE as of build 93
• New items (Compass, Lantern...) - DONE as of build 93
• Industry Supply & Demand - in queue - "the player won't earn money based on supply and demand interaction/decisions. It will only affect job spawning" - slobodan#2947 Saturday, October 16, 2021
• Job System Revamp - in queue
• Track Defects & Maintenance - in queue
  • Track defects will not require blindly fixing all of the tracks. The mechanics of it will be more strategic and remain to be announced -slobodan#2947 Thursday, January 13, 2022
  • track defects are not coming in Simulator but much later (by the end the year or so) -slobodan#2947 Thursday, January 13, 2022
• Passenger Jobs - far off - "The primary goal with passengers is to introduce the timetable jobs, and for that we need the villages and railway infrastructure done first" -@slobodan#2947 Thursday, December 30, 2021
• AI Trains Traffic - far off
• Train & Depot Ownership - far off
  • "will involve buying depots and roundhouses to store/service the locos in, apart from the pre-owned player house track." - slobodan#2947 Monday, September 6, 2021
  • 1-2 years -/u/altfuture Sunday, February 6, 2022
• Loco Customization (Paintjobs & Parts) - far off
  • Cab upgrades, including a switch indicator/controller gadget - slobodan#2947 Monday, August 23, 2021
  • End of train device - slobodan#2947 Friday, August 27, 2021
  • "in a couple of years" - slobodan#2947 Saturday, September 18, 2021
• Achievements - uncertain (?)
  • No plans for achievements currently as everything is still changing. Maybe when the project nears finishing stages, years from now. - Altfuture Wednesday, 22 Nov 2023
• Train tycoon gameplay - uncertain (?)
  • We do not plan to add tycoon gameplay currently - Altfuture Friday, 17 Nov 2023
  • it may turn out that after we finish some future planned features (the new industry simulation and AI trains), adding tycoon gameplay might become feasible to do - Altfuture Friday, 17 Nov 2023

• Survival Mechanics (Optional) - uncertain (?) - "Hardcore game difficulty in the future may require eating and drinking" -slobodan#2947 Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Railway Network

• Signage - DONE
• Double Tracks & Passing Sidings - in queue - "The usual MF -> CSW -> HB track will be fast double-track for the most part" -slobodan#2947 Sunday, December 19, 2021
• Electrification - in queue - "will probably be pre-existing, but only available at certain main-line parts of the map" -slobodan#2947 Sunday, January 16, 2022
• More Bridge Types & Landslide Walls - in queue
  • Truss bridge - slobodan#2947 Saturday, August 7, 2021
• Aged Track Type - in queue
  • "When we get to the railway network overhaul, one addition will be support for different track models and materials. This will be used to have some side tracks rusty and more aged, and mainline more shiny. We already have different track models/materials even back from demo, but our current track generator doesn't support multiple types" - slobodan#2947 Tuesday, August 24, 2021
• Signals - far off
  • "we already have the models for the signals and they do look like the Serbian ones, mostly because we found them cool on our reference pics.  But the signal system itself will be designed by us in some simplified form that's easy to grasp" - slobodan#2947 Thursday, September 2, 2021
  • "For start a very simple 3-light system where green is "go", yellow is "red ahead" and red is "stop", we'll only add to it if necessary" - slobodan#2947 Friday, August 27, 2021
  • "will be part of AI train implementation" -slobodan#2947 Tuesday, February 8, 2022

"We'll be doing a railway network update sooner than adding AI trains. So the double-tracks will be there before signals and other trains are implemented. In order to add new industries, electrification and various other planned things next year, we need to alter the railway network. So we want to do it once and for all. This is why the preparation for AI trains will come before the AI trains (unless we decide it's for the best to delay everything to wait for the AI Trains to be included all at once)...it's still 1-2 years ahead...if the player blocks the mainline, the sector will obviously be protected by red lights. Some switches will not allow to be changed on a whim when signals are added, so the player won't be able to flip a switch in front of AI train. Again, player going through the mainline shunting will just block that sector. Yards on mainlines will probably be reworked to have double-tracks going through the center." -slobodan#2947 Sunday, December 19, 2021

World

• Improved Terrain Graphics - DONE
• Location Props & Details - DONE
• Improved Vegetation - DONE as of build 92
• Day & Night Cycle - DONE as of build 93
• Dynamic Weather - DONE as of build 93
• Improved Water - DONE as of build 97
• Road Vehicles (25+ Props) - DONE as of build 93
• Improved Environment Sounds - DONE as of build 93
• Industry VFX - DONE as of build 93
• More Industries (10+) - partly done
  • Coal Power Plant - slobodan#2947 Saturday, August 14, 2021
• More Cities (3) - partly done
  • "City with a big train service center and a lot of wrecked vehicles. It will receive wrecked trains as cargo, and will produce scrap metal like the other cities." - slobodan#2947 Thursday, September 16, 2021
    • Here you'll be able to customize your vehicles, when that's added in a couple of years - slobodan#2947 Saturday, September 18, 2021
  • "Tracks will go through a few cities. One will have rarely used tracks on the streets" - slobodan#2947 Monday, March 7, 2022
• Villages & Passenger Stops - in progress
• People & Animals - in progress - as of build 97 few animals and poultry were added, it is the first step towards implementation of wildlife and people
• New World (DLC) - in progress
  • The new DLC map and DLC locomotives are planned to be released together at the end of FP4, along with free major game updates, such as the finalized base game map, electric locomotives and the new economy system. All of the above-mentioned is already in the works, and is expected to take 1-2 years to finish - Altfuture Tuesday, 14 November 2023
• Road Traffic & Level Crossings - far off

UX & Controls

• Improved Stability & Performance - DONE
• Improved Controls & UI - DONE
• Improved VR Support - DONE
• Main Menu & Session Manager - DONE as of build 93
• User & Save Manager - DONE as of build 93
• External Camera & HUD (Optional) - DONE as of build 93
• Improved Manual - upcoming
  • DV Guide, Train Basics and loco manuals will be replaced by more extensive (but still noob-friendly) information in the GUI. Loco manuals will be per loco type and not per specific loco, for future proofing. Locos will only come with diagrams of where to find what (e.g. reverser, speedometer, etc.), but the information on how to use them will be in a common GUI. Tutorial will retain a booklet that will teach you things step by step, but it will be tutorial-specific and no longer a shunter manual -slobodan#2947 Wednesday, September 8, 2021
• Improved Inventory - DONE as of build 93
• Localization - in progress - Derail valley was translated to 25 languages as of build 93, quality of translations may be improved if necessary and translation to remaining selected languages will be completed in the coming time. Translation is a continuous process i.e, translation has to be done when content is added and improvements have to be done till game is out of EA.
  • "Anyone will be able to further contribute to the translations once the update is out" - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 16, 2022
  • "No text will remain in textures (except for some world things, like container logos), it'll all be extracted to text" - slobodan#2947 Tuesday, February 15, 2022
• Improved I/O Support (More Peripherals) - in progress

Removed items

• Control Towers & Switch Panels
• Mod Support for Worlds
• 2-player Co-op