Why are multiplayer sessions in Trainz so rare nowadays?

[DARTrider]

I love playing multiplayer with other Trainzers, but I can never seem to find any MP sessions at all, not even on routes I don't own. I used to be able to join a session with 10 or more people, and we'd operate Kickstarter County like a real railroad, with a DS, proper operating procedures, waybills and switchers.

Anyone know why there's a huge lack of multiplayer sessions nowadays?

 

[JamesWavy]

I just got 2022 and would love to play some multiplayer sessions

 

[N5VAV]

Multiplayer was a HUGE advancement in TRAINZ a few years ago when it came out, and as such, there were lots of routes with multiplayer sessions, and seemed to always be 10 or more sessions active at any time.
One of the biggest hinderances to that now, is that most content in routes is NOT on the DLS. For a multiplayer session to work, all content must be on the DLS. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of content that isn't.
I've been arguing for years, begging content creators to place stuff on the DLS so that it is accessible to everyone, and not having to go search for it - often times unscuccessfully. I've downloaded several routes that are really nice, but haven't been able to find all the content, which is extremely frustrating.
Some say that the DLS is way too slow, but I find it to be pretty fast and convenient, as when you download a route, the dependencies automatically come with it.
I love multiplayer, but there just aren't many folks creating multiplayer sessions, due to the lack of multiplayer-able routes due to content issues.

 

[TPW_Railroad]

I'd love to play some multiplayer too! Yall on the official Discord?

 

[Lewiscc65]

Yes, I agree with all. A couple of years ago I ran the UMR-2013-Summer-SP1-Multiplayer Session V3.0. and only 1 or 2 people played. 10 years ago, when I first ran it 10 to 15 people played.

 

[JCitron]

I think it's the stringent requirements needed to use multiplayer that has driven people away from it. If people don't have DLC assets installed, the DLC content should be downloaded as a run-time package and removed or locked once the gameplay is done similar to what is done in Arma 3 where DLC content is locked but in-game for those who don't own it. This allows all users to play a multiplayer game without going through hoops to have all the content installed.