Keypress Express — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| The menu comes back! | 2026-09-10 | The menu comes back Fixed Windows virtual desktops: the menu now follows you to whichever desktop you're on. Previously it stayed behind on the desktop the game launched from — the train strip followed you, the menu didn't, so opening it did nothing you could see. Minimized menu: minimizing the menu and then closing it no longer leaves it stuck out of reach for the rest of the session. It now restores properly. Off-screen menu: a menu left past the edge of a screen — or on a monitor that's since been unplugged — now re-centres itself somewhere you can actually see it. Deliberately placed menus stay where you put them. |
| Analytics tweaks | 2026-09-04 | Tweaked the analytics a bit. |
| New update | 2026-09-01 | Arrivals you can't miss Your train used to arrive in complete silence. If you were working in another window — which is rather the point of the game — nothing told you the trip was done, and the fare just sat there uncollected. A COLLECT banner now appears on the strip when your train pulls in, showing the destination and what the run earned. Click it to open your ticket. The game nudges you when a train arrives, so you can go back to whatever you were actually doing until it does. Opening the menu with a fare waiting takes you straight to the ticket instead of wherever you happened to leave it. Learning how you get paid A completed journey p |
| Tutorial fixes for different screen resolutions. | 2026-08-20 | - Fixed the game strip covering menu and tutorial controls on smaller displays. - Tutorial steps now automatically scroll required buttons into view. - Repositioned the Log Flatcar tutorial instructions for clearer visibility. - The final tutorial step now highlights the always-visible Depart button. - Added improved Windows graphics startup diagnostics and troubleshooting launch options. - No gameplay or balance changes. |
| More analytics | 2026-08-19 | More analytics work. |
| Logging to try and catch bug | 2026-08-19 | Logging to try and catch bug |
| [NEW] Booster Unit | 2026-08-18 | Booster Units Added the new Booster Unit to the Caboose mystery draw. Each Booster Unit allows you to attach one additional engine for a single trip. Booster Units stack, supporting trains with up to six engines. Booster Units attach automatically when you select additional engines. They are consumed when the trip finishes and returned if the trip is cancelled. Balance Improvements Train drag now scales against total engine capacity instead of raw car count. Multiple engines now combine their pulling power and speed more effectively. Slower helper engines no longer limit the entire train to their top speed. Large multi-engine trains can now r |
| Analytics Update | 2026-08-17 | Analytics Update Added gameplay analytics to help us understand progression, trips, purchases, and balance the game more effectively. No gameplay or balance changes in this update. |
| New Cars + Cabooses! | 2026-08-15 | New Goods, Cars & Mystery Cabooses New Goods and Cars Added Grain as a new good. Added Mail as a new good. Added the Grain Hopper car for transporting Grain. Added the Railway Post Office car for transporting Mail. Cross-Country now produces Grain. International now produces Mail. Economy and Balance Update Tourist Bay now offers the best price for Grain. Frontier now offers the best price for Mail. Added secondary Grain and Mail demand at additional destinations. Balanced the new goods so every cargo type remains valuable somewhere on the map. The trip assembly screen now displays your projected Top Speed and Estimated Time, making the trade |
| Patch notes | 2026-08-13 | Long trains no longer look like they've stopped - A heavily loaded train really is slow — that's the trade for hauling more — but the scenery barely moved, so it read as broken rather than laden. Big consists now scroll at a livelier rate on screen. - Typing still visibly speeds your train up: the boost scales the whole range rather than setting a floor, so the difference between coasting and typing is as clear as ever. - Trains that were already quick look exactly as before. Your real speed, ETA and arrival time are unchanged — only the scenery scroll. Fixed: the visual speed setting did nothing at the start of long journeys - The scroll was |
| Lots of fixes | 2026-08-13 | Fixed: Mac players on Intel couldn't launch the game at all - The macOS build was Apple Silicon only, so Intel Macs failed to start with "OS Error: 3584". It's now a universal build and runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon. If you hit that error, update and try again. Fixed: couldn't collect your fare on long trains - With a lot of cars attached, the arrival ticket ran off the bottom of the screen and the COLLECT FARE button was unreachable — leaving you stuck on a completed trip. The car list now scrolls, and the total and the button stay on screen no matter how long your train is. Fixed: paint menu greying out - After painting one engine, t |
| Keypress Express — Hotfix | 2026-08-04 | Fixed: typing stopped counting on Windows - Windows could silently disable the game's keyboard listener, after which typing no longer moved your train for the rest of the session. The game now re-checks the listener every few seconds and restores it automatically, so if it drops out it recovers on its own within seconds. - Mac was never affected by this. Known issues on Windows - Typing while the game's own menu window is focused isn't counted yet. Click the train strip at the bottom of your screen — or any other window — and your typing counts again. We're working on this one. - Keystrokes typed into a window running as administrator can't b |
| Bug Fixes & QOL Updates | 2026-08-03 | Sorting & filtering - Sort your cars by type, enhancement, most recently bought, or how many you own - Filter the car list to a single cargo type - Sort engines by cars pulled or top speed - Both work in the Rail Yard and on the trip screen when you're picking a train — and the sort you choose carries between them Fixed: the trip screen was cut off - DEPART, the engine and car checkmarks, "Detach all" and the right edge of the destination boards were all being clipped off the right side of the window. This happened at every window size, not just small ones. Fixed. - DEPART is now greyed out until you've attached at least one car, instead of l |
| Lots of fixes + QOL improvements. | 2026-08-02 | Rail Yard sorting & filtering - Sort your cars by type, enhancement, most recently bought, or how many you own - Filter the car list down to a single cargo type - Sort engines by cars pulled or top speed - Cars now group by type by default, so big collections stay readable Paint & liveries - The paint picker is much larger and easier to read - Each livery now shows how many trips you've run in it - Bigger, properly sized Paint and Cancel buttons The Collection - The index now tracks engines you've actually driven, not just ones you own — one trip in an engine/colour combo marks it collected - Engine thumbnails fit their frames instead of bein |
| Hotfix: game could quit itself mid-session | 2026-08-02 | • Fixed the game quitting itself during play. A recoverable graphics hiccup was being treated as fatal — the game would vanish with no warning, and because it never got a chance to save, any progress since your last save went with it. It now recovers and carries on. • The game now keeps a small log file. If something goes wrong, you can send it to us and we'll actually be able to see what happened: Windows: %APPDATA%\KeypressExpress\log.txt macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/KeypressExpress/log.txt |
| Menu freeze fix + enhancement results | 2026-08-01 | Fixes • Fixed the menu freezing when opened from the taskbar — it would show but ignore every click until you restarted the game. (Windows) Added • Buying an enhancement now shows you what you rolled, revealed on the split-flap boards. Previously the result flashed by in a message you could easily miss. |
| Fixes: engine artwork + added train height settings | 2026-07-31 | Fixes • Fixed several engines rendering wrong — missing their wheels and sitting oddly above the track. The EMD F7, Alco PA, EMD GP30 and Class 55 Deltic are all correct now. • Fixed a number of engine paint schemes not appearing at all. If you painted an engine and it vanished, it's back — no need to repaint. Added • Settings → Train height: shift the train down or up. Use it if the train floats above the bottom of your screen — most likely if your Windows taskbar is at the top. |
| Hotfix: Tickets not applying | 2026-07-31 | • Fixed enhancing a car while the train was moving taking your Tickets without giving you the enhancement. You can now enhance mid-trip and it applies right away, including to the run you're on. Everyone affected has had their Tickets refunded automatically — no need to contact us. Sorry about that. It's one of those days. |
| Hotfix - tutorial could not be completed | 2026-07-31 | • Fixed the tutorial's "buy 3 more Log Flatcars" step being impossible to complete. Car prices rise as you buy more of the same type, but the tutorial wasn't accounting for that when making sure you could afford them — so it left you short on the last car with no way forward. • If you're currently stuck on that step, just launch the game. Your save fixes itself automatically and you can carry straight on — no restart needed. Sorry about that one. |
| Economy Rebalance + Quality of Life Updates | 2026-07-31 | Economy Rebalance • Station upgrades now cost roughly what the engine they unlock is worth, instead of a flat fee. Maxing out a town is a real investment. • Each station level now unlocks exactly one new train — no more filler levels. Your towns keep every engine they'd already unlocked; the level number just counts differently now, so don't be alarmed if it reads lower than it did before. • Shops now stock only what the town actually produces. Want a specific car? Go to the town that makes it. • Cars get pricier the more of that type you already own, so filling out a long consist is a genuine sink rather than pocket change. • "Refresh offers |
| Minor bug fixes and quality of life additions | 2026-07-27 | - Engines sorted best-first — your owned engines now list by most cars, then top speed, in both the Rail Yard and the trip builder, so your best is always on top. - Fixed engine auto-select — arriving at a destination (or buying an upgrade) now defaults to your best engine instead of snapping back to your original starter. - Location levels — each unlocked destination now shows its level (e.g. "LVL 3") in the trip picker. - New "How to Play" popup — an on-demand refresher in Settings covering the core loop (pick → assemble → type to travel → sell), for anyone who's past the tutorial. - Tutorial wording fix — upgrades no longer claim to make a |
| Quick-hide hotkey + move between monitors! | 2026-07-24 | - Quick-hide hotkey (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+H, rebindable in Settings → Shortcuts) - Move the strip between monitors (Settings → Display picker + tray "Move to next screen") |
| MENU-button hover fix | 2026-07-23 | Hovering the bottom-left corner no longer hides the strip, so players with hide-on-hover on can actually reach the menu. |
| Bug fixes and balance changes | 2026-07-23 | - Economy overhaul. Every car now carries a full load regardless of where you depart from (previously, hauling a good the origin town didn't produce was penalized to 40%). So hauling the highest-demand cargo is always the best play — and Auto-select now picks it correctly. Engine prices were rebalanced up to match the higher earnings, so overall pacing is unchanged (existing saves are fully safe — money, trains, and upgrades all preserved). - Paint any time. You can now repaint your engine during a trip, and the moving train on the strip recolors instantly (it was silently blocked before). - Display options. New Settings → Display toggles: mp |
| Train arrival sound update | 2026-07-21 | There are now multiple arrival sound effects you can pick from. Train arrival sound now defaults to none. |
| Minor fixes | 2026-07-20 | - Blurry menu fixed (menu surface tracks window DPI — especially Windows) - Tutorial can't get stuck — the buy-cars step now guarantees you can afford the required Log Flatcars - Menu is discoverable — stats HUD on by default, with a prominent, always-visible MENU button pinned to the strip's bottom-left corner |
| Keypress Express — Update (Build 24277419) | 2026-07-18 | 🚂 New - Cancel a trip mid-run — an En route Cancel button (with a confirm prompt) lets you call off a journey already in progress. - Auto-select cars — one click assembles the most profitable consist your engine can haul to the chosen destination. - Detach all — clear your entire consist in a single click. - Settings tab — tune overlay, sound, and permissions right inside the menu (no need for the tray icon), with a safe, confirm-gated Reset. - Arrival whistle — a satisfying train whistle sounds when a trip completes. - Quick menu from the strip — hover the strip to reveal a MENU button and open the game without hunting for the tray. 🔧 Fixe |