Upgrade to TRS 2006 or not?

[gratton20]

Hi, I have been a user of Trainz 2004 for a couple of years now, and am very happy with it, I have a chance to "upgrade" to Trainz 2006 but what i want to know is - do people think it is actually worth upgrading to Trainz 2006? I mean what does it actually do that 2004 does not? Or what does it do much better, or much worse? I really cant find a simple explanation around about the benefit if any of upgrading

[aardvark1]

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=10601

Regards,
Ron

[ex-railwayman]

Hello gratton20, you asked the following question at the end of your post and I quote " do people think it is actually worth upgrading to Trainz 2006? I mean what does it actually do that 2004 does not? Or what does it do much better, or much worse? I really cant find a simple explanation around about the benefit if any of upgrading "
Well, it has the following 3 Demo routes built-in for you to watch and play with : Modula City 2004, PT Dresden to Nuernberg and the wonderful Maglev Project 2006. These routes alone, I personally think, will be worth the upgrade and also show what superb graphics TRS2006 has over its predecessors. If you have the time to search the forum for questions asked over the last 6 months or so, regarding the pros and cons of installing TRS2006, then do it, but I would suggest that if you upgrade in the future to Trainz Classics or beyond, having the experience and knowledge of using TRS2006 and CMP ( content manager plus ) would be a huge, huge advantage than going straight there from using TRS2004. I was sad to leave TRS2004 and Tafweb's Trainz Objects feature, but I don't regret upgrading to TRS2006 for one minute. Yes, there have been teething problems, the sound feature is erratic at times, the patch SP1 works for some but not for others, myself included and I don't use it any more, but the benefits of using TRS2006 far outweigh the negatives, as far as I am concerned. If you don't upgrade now you may be kicking yourself in the future....

Happy Trainzing, ex-railwayman..

[WileeCoyote]

[quote=ex-railwayman;103967]....
Well, it has the following 3 Demo routes built-in for you to watch and play with : Modula City 2004, PT Dresden to Nuernberg....quote]

I should make a note about the last one, the full version of PT Dresden to Nuernberg has been out for a long while but you can only buy it in Europe. If you have any questions about it just PM me.

WileeCoyote:D

[ejlynch]

Hi, I have been a user of Trainz 2004 for a couple of years now, and am very happy with it, I have a chance to "upgrade" to Trainz 2006 but what i want to know is - do people think it is actually worth upgrading to Trainz 2006? I mean what does it actually do that 2004 does not? Or what does it do much better, or much worse? I really cant find a simple explanation around about the benefit if any of upgrading

I say yes for the use of CMP alone.

cheers
errol

[philskene]

Hi gratton --

If you've been following posts in the various threads I'm sure that you will discover many extremely satisfied users of TRS2006.

But also some who have had minor issues, which can possibly be summarized as:

In Driver:
Sound that may not be quite what you expect, particularly for steamers.

In Surveyor:
Splines that sometimes behave erratically.
Custom routes that that author has spent countless hours developing suddenly disappearing for weeks or months, and then suddenly reappearing.
Until you develop the skills of using keywords, a difficulty in finding assets.
Lack of backward compatibility - routes made in TRS2006 + SP1 cannot be used in TRS2006 and cannot be used in TRS2004.

In CMP:
For some newcomers, a challenging experience to make it log in, initially.
Strings of false error messages for older assets.
Usually being a few days behind the latest assets on the Download Station.
Falling over completely occasionally.
Making it difficult to do other work on the PC because it tends to hog most resources.

My honest advice to newcomers to the simulation is that '04 is guaranteed to be an excellent experience. TRS2006 just may be little, shall we say, problematic.

But in the final analysis it is, of, course, your call.

I think we'd all be interested in your decision and, if you do get '06, your comparative evaluation.

Phil

[Sourdough]

Hi, I have been a user of Trainz 2004 for a couple of years now, and am very happy with it, I have a chance to "upgrade" to Trainz 2006 but what i want to know is - do people think it is actually worth upgrading to Trainz 2006? I mean what does it actually do that 2004 does not? Or what does it do much better, or much worse? I really cant find a simple explanation around about the benefit if any of upgrading
I highlighted in bold the two statements you made that makes me believe you've answered your own question.....I prefer 06 over 04, but that's my personal preference...:cool:

[leader2302]

Philskene,

Well said. You hit all the main points precisely!:)

If you are a route builder, the safest move is to stay with TRS04 for trouble free route construction. (just don't use the Undo button when your route gets large).

Definitely keep us posted on the results when you make your choice.

[mononlaf]

I agree with ejlynch that CMP is worth the move, but there is a frustrating learning curve, largely because Auran has done a terrible job of documenting even just the basics of its environment and use. But after some gnashing of teeth and getting help from others in this forum, it is worth it.

On the other hand, the statement about "a string of false error messages", although largely true, is not fully true. Some of those error messages do mean faults in a 2004 asset that is to be used in 2006. There is a tutorial available on how to fix them. I recently downloaded a complex route populated with a lot of 2004 content and found that there were over 150 "faulty" assets. I'll be a long time just inspecting them to see what needs to be fixed, let alone fixing them.

I'm certainly no expert on either 2004's or 2006's Surveyor, but I'm having a lot less difficulty in building sessions than I had with 2004 -- many more built-in rules to play with, for one thing.

On the whole, I like 2006 with SP1 and do not contemplate going back to 2004.

But, if I did not already have 2006 at this point in time, I would probably hold off and get Trainz Classics. I'd gamble that the learning curve for Classics direct from 2004 won't be significantly worse than the learning curve from 2004 to 2006 to Classics.

Dick

[Herb]

Hi, gratton:

IMHO, Phil says it gently, but fairly. My choice, as a non-creative user, is '04. For me, the '06 learning curve was/is pretty steep and inconsistent, and there is a lot of excellent freeware and payware now available, and being created, for TRS2004.

You might like to visit some of the links elsewhere on Trainz, such as Razorback Railway.

[Tokkyu40]

If you're going to upgrade anyway, I'd wait for TC. It offers all the 06 improvements plus a better road system.
Personal preference: I have 04 and 06 on the computer. Sometimes I wander in to 06 to wander around the routes, but I do all my work in 04. Other people did the same. I doubt if I'll get much more use out of 06.

:cool: Claude

[axe1970]

IMHO I would wait for Trainz Classic's as well.

I am a TRS2006 user and I have been since it first came out, but we only have a month or 2 to wait for TC so if you are happy with TRS2004, then stick with it for another 2 months.


Regards

[Talismana]

Yes, I agree with the posts above and I think it is a good advice to maybe wait for tranz Classics.

However I started with 2004 and left it for 2006 when it was released.
I have never regreted the change to 2006 as it works so much better.
I don´t think it is correct to say that 2004 should be better for routebuilders.

Routebuilding is my favorite thing and my large and highly detailed routes runs much better in 2006 and I have NEVER had any problems whatsoever.
In my opinion the only problem at the beginning was some errors with old content that run in 2004 but as 2006 do not accept faulty content there was some error warnings. That helped me to delete the bad content.

To me that doesn´t mean that 2006 has problems, the problems are connected to the faulty content.

/Håkan

[gratton20]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply to my questions.

The answers were obviously made from experience and with careful consideration and I thank you all for taking the trouble to answer. I was a bit wary of upgrading to 2006 as I had heard that it was a very steep learning curve and that the content manager didn't really work but your comments have reassured me.

I generally run other peoples routes and dabble a little in adapting/changing downloaded routes for my own amusement. I have been experiencing a lot of stress in the last year or so and find that Trainz enables me to escape to a stress free world of sheer pleasure for hours at a time. Running a 125 on the ECML is a particular joy -far better than a bottle of pills from a doctor LOL!

I have decided to get 2006 and instal it alongside 2004, mainly because I have been able to buy a cheap (but new) copy on ebay for just £7 so it seems worth the gamble and an ideal way to get some practice before going for the big upgrade to Classics when it arrives. I will let you all know how I get on with 2006 once it arrives and I have had some time to get to grips with it.

Once again, thank you all for your helpful comments.

[amigacooke]

I have decided to get 2006 and instal it alongside 2004, mainly because I have been able to buy a cheap (but new) copy on ebay for just £7

While it is described as new, it might be worth confirming with the seller than it is unregistered just to be on the safe side.

[gratton20]

I have received the 2006 edition as I mentioned previously and yes, it was sealed and unregistered. I promised to let you all know how I got on.

My installation went fine, but I am keeping 2004 installed for a while "just in case". my inital reactions are - loading time, much better, much faster. The program runs more smoothly than 2004 did, and there is no "stutter" on frames even at my usual 85% quality settings.

The CMP - wow, I am glad I read up on the forum about this - it is a nightmare if you only have the manual to go by. I have just about managed to workout downloading but it is, to my mind, much easierr to go to the web site download station via browser and then choose items and click to start the CMP - I just c ant work out the browse or search function in CMP. Anyway I prefer to browse and see the objects. I managed to import my adapted maps from 2004, but only because of the helpful threads here - thanks.

My one real bug bear is the sound - the trains sounds different, and not for the better, the sound is low volume, poor quality, fades in and out and has no "guts" if you know what I mean, - on 2004 if I ran a Pendelino at speed the whole desk would vibrate as I accelerated - in 2006 its a pale imitation - I know there have been comments about the sound - is there a workround or patch? (My edition is Vers 2.6 build 2773)

I tried getting onto the Trainz 2006 web page, always went to 2004 before, almost impossible to load, it is sooooooo slooooowwww - oh well cant have everything I suppose. LOL

One question, is it worth editing the config file and upping the cache settings to, say 800mb as I have installed an extra 1g of Ram and now have 2g total - is it worth it or just leave at max preset setting of 512MB
(My PC specs pentium 4 at 3.06ghz 2G RAM Nvidia geforce 7300 GS 256mb graphics (which will take an extra 256mb from the system apparently if it needs it making 512 altogether)

[Napalm]

There is the SP1 update available at JustTrains website, don't try and update with the version at Auran's download page as it will fail.

Nathan

[amigacooke]

There is the SP1 update available at JustTrains website, don't try and update with the version at Auran's download page as it will fail.

Nathan
It is important to note that the Just Trainz version has a different build number. So if you have bought your Trainz from Auran do use the version at Auran's download page, if you have bought your version from Just Trains, as Napalm says, update using the Just Trains patch.

There is a recommended guide (by me :)) to CMP from rail-sim.co.uk
http://www.rail-sim.co.uk/documentation_and_guides.htm

[gratton20]

Thanks for the info regarding SP1 I see that my build is later than the one mentioned for SP1 so i assume the changes are incorporated already. I did find a patch to stop the DVD having to be in the drive all the time Hoorah!

[Napalm]

gratton20 - you mentioned you have build-2773, this is JustTrains pre-SP1 version. Just Trains have their own build numbers as they add the copy protection in.
See this link:

http://www.justtrains.net/faqs.asp?drdProduct=90&supportProductName=Trainz%202006#Update263

Napalm

[john259]

gratton20,

Also be sure to follow the SP1 installation instruction precisely. Sadly this will mean a complete uninstallation of TRS2006 (including its registry entries) and then a reinstallation, followed by installing SP1 before running TRS2006. The Just Trains web site has the instructions.

John

[gratton20]

Thanks Napalm and John, I didnt realise there was a different version numbering scheme for the Just trains version. I will set about doing the upgrade, thanks again for all your help. It certainly is confusing at first but from what i have seen it WILL be worth the effort in the end.

Just as an aside, - why is there an Auran version and a Just trains version, is it not the same program? Just curious. Is there a different web site I should go to for updates other than the Auran one as I have a Just Trains version?

[Napalm]

Just as an aside, - why is there an Auran version and a Just trains version, is it not the same program? Just curious. Is there a different web site I should go to for updates other than the Auran one as I have a Just Trains version?

The Just Trains version is a different build number due to JustTrains adding the copy protection to the DVD, thus requiring UK users to have the DVD in the drive when running TRS.

And the link I included in my previous post is the link to Just Trains website and the SP1 update.

Napalm

[gratton20]

Thanks for the help. I got the Just trains update file and have done it all and now I really CAN see the difference. Many thanks guys!

[john259]

The Just Trains UK edition has a copy protection system which involves having the disk in the drive whenever the program is started. None of the other regional editions have this feature.

I'm not sure whether the collection of layouts and driver sessions differs between regional editions.

Apart from service packs and some internal program files, nearly everything else (such as assets) is compatible across all regional editions as far as I know. There may be some exceptions.

John

[seward]

Gratton20 wrote:"I have been experiencing a lot of stress in the last year or so and find that Trainz enables me to escape to a stress free world of sheer pleasure for hours at a time. Running a 125 on the ECML is a particular joy -far better than a bottle of pills from a doctor LOL!"

I fully agree with this, except for me I prefer the days of steam, and for me the sights and sounds of a GWR Castle, King, Saint, or Manor, running with a full rake of chocolate and cream coaches, does it for me, too.

I find that when I'm into my Traiz (2004), my problems and worries seem to dissapate into thin air, and an hour or two before bed is the reciepe for a good nights sleep!:)

[Alco_P-A]

As a user of all versions of Trainz out I would suggest to buyers to go with 04'. It's very user friendly and has ton's of DL stuff to offer. I was not impressed that much with 06' and only run 04' now. In the end it will be up to the person to decide to upgrade or not. If you got 04,stay with a winner.:) Alco_P-A www.bigboytrainsandhobbies.com (http://www.bigboytrainsandhobbies.com)

[laika]

Hi,

As a routebuilder i only use TRS2006(SP1) now. When you got use to it then its great. But you need the SP1. also i have the feeling that all runs better in TRS2006. Only sound is give me some strange feeling. In TRS2004 that was better. But with TRS2006 you cant go wrong or maby better is TC. Because when you have the latest version you can also run and use all routes and content build with a newer version. With TRS2004 you cant run TRS2006 and TC routes. Maby its possible but then you need the change the config and alot more to get it run. problem with TC is that you got only the content that is used for the routes in TC. So you are missing the inbuilt content from TRS2006. And that could be a problem when some1 made a route with TRS2004 or TRS2006 with inbuild content. maby there is also a solution for that i just dont know.

Greetz:wave: laika

Greetz laika:wave:

[2stepsteve]

I just tried 2006 for the first time tonight coming from 2004. Imported my route and it worked very well no problem as such, there are a few problems with routes that I have downloaded but i'm sure will sort them.

The most noticable difference is the graphics. It seems 2006 runs much better than 2004, the FPS improvement is quite dramatic. For this reason alone i'd suggest moving to 2006, the graphics also look better in some way. I know they are the same textures and models but it seems 2006 does a better job of displaying them.