Trainz Past-Present-Future

I too may have misinterpreted the track plan.

The green line goes from the original Trainz through to the future.

Everything else seems to be a branch off that line, perhaps to be left to history.

The, “You are here”, points to a red (going round in circles!) route alongside the continuing green line.

Could the green line be extending to an update of TRS2004? It is uniquely positioned on the map in that it is not shown up in a siding to nowhere; it remains on the main line with a direct connection to the future. It is also probably the most stable, and the modellers favourite.

The flurry of recently dated DLS uploads to TRS2004 (including James Moody’s excellent rusty bus!) would fit in with this theory. Why else would assets be allowed to be added to an unsupported version?

Enough of the slightly tongue in cheek theory.

Practically:

I’d like to see the restoration of withdrawn Surveyor tools - bring back alternative wireframe mode, particle effects et al. Give back the tools which will allow route builders to do a proper job; stop taking them away.

Add the impressive draw distances afforded so many years ago by TrainzTuner. It works in equal measure in Surveyor and Driver, and you can see for miles.

Add the positive improvements developed in later editions, (e.g. 5m grid -without ground texture problems though), whilst rejecting the bad elements (e.g. those awful light/dark graphics issues on asset planes). Billboard trees from talented creators are still good if placed in the right version; it’s the software changes which have made them look so bad in later editions, even in compatibility mode they aren’t much improved.

Forget compatibility mode, unless it can be made to work with no graphics issues. Better still, why have any modes; a single ‘properly working’ mode would be best.

Don’t want much do we!

Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

Tony_Hilliam said:

2995Valliant - it is true that you can only be disappointed if you set your expectations too high. Hopefully we will not disappoint too many people (although I am 100% certain we will not please all of the people). It would be good to get a clearer picture of what you mean by "more accurate and detailed physics".

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Hi Tony,

One of the problems of the written word is the loss of intoneation - my commment wasn't meant to sound as negative as it probably read. I find it refreshing that the this hasn't whipped itself into a frenzy over desirable yet impractical feature requests.

It appears that the steam physics have been simplified with introduction of SP1. For example altering the burn rate now no longer seems to affect steam production rate. There are plenty more, but this isn't the time or place. In terms of improvements, there are many cab mode features which could be added. For steam, working drain cocks, dampers, exhaust steam injectors and weir pumps are obvious ones. For diesel power it would be nice to be able to simulate diesel mechanical and diesel-hydraulic, and for both vacuum brake would be a welcome addition (what was I saying about impractical feature requests?).

The attitude amongst the users of another product is that theirs is the serious and realistic sim, yet their fundamentals aren't even right (ie loaded wagons weigh the same as empty ones) so it is my hope that there is a wider demand for greater realism and that one day Trainz will be able to provide it.

Whatever the future holds, I look forward to it and wish N3V every success.

Regards,

Anthony

(ie loaded wagons weigh the same as empty ones)

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This is fallacy. If the settings of wagons are correct, the behavior of loaded vagon in trainz is completly different from behavior off empty one.

Though, N3V never care about "inside content", begining from snowflakes' texture or repellent track joint sound and ending with default engine settings.

Some great suggestions coming in and some common elements emerging. But there are still lots of fence sitters out there - don't be shy guys - have your say.

Perhaps there is fence sitting as previous announcement has not always equalled product.

My personal experience is that N3V has not been very communicating when I was looking for feedback, perhaps the boot is on the other foot now?

OK I'll bite. The purple dotted line with the branch shows features according to the key which would indicate perhaps a choice of options maybe single player one way and multiplayer the other? The solid green line is the next version of Trainz referred to as TS14 on threads likes this which will have four new features that current versions don't have with a possibility of nine (or more) additional features that will be added as potential SPs. The solid purple line would be for expansions that are all about to be released following N3V's call for new routes that came out a couple of years ago.
How did I do?

TS14 64bit. Then wishes can come true. That would be the green line.

And the Purple is TS14 32bit, where there is a dead end to what you can do with a 32bit box.

Like putting lipstick on a pig. After everything on Earth has been eliminated by a Nuclear War, except you and the Pig.

One can only hope that's why there is a Star there instead of a circle.

And the Purple dashed line is an Internet version to play with your buddies.

I would be very happy if there will be Trainz 2014 with new version of 3D game engine. TS2014 from the other company has some weird bugs that lock up the program when I try to choose some scenarios.

Future of Trainz Statement

Around the time of SP2, Auran's CEO Greg Lane decided to play a little game with the community. He designed a puzzle that, with all of the pieces together, pretty much revealed the Future of Trainz. He then took each piece and hid it on the internet; most on Auran's website, but some not, hidden much more deeply. He gave the Trainz community 18 days to find all of them, giving them one or two pieces every day to further the effort along. This was a period of much speculation based on the available pieces of the puzzle. When the puzzle was complete, there was a small lull as the community awaited the official explanation. When Greg made his Future of Trainz Statement is sent ripples through the forums. Trainz was to be split into two distinct products, each one focusing on a different style of users. One, called Tranzportation, would deal with all sorts of various modes of transportation; however, Greg said very little about it in his post and virtually nothing since. Rail Sim Pro, on the other hand, would be a full-blown simulator aimed at the Train Simulator market. Auran has acknowledged that, due to code limitations, Trainz cannot and will never be very prototypical; thus, the reason for RSP. RSP is to be a complete re-write, from the ground-up, and is considered an entirely different product from the Trainz Franchise.

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We did this once before ^^^^ and once again I hope that something other than Jet [even in it's current form] is on that green line.

Being a part-time content creator, and wanabe route builder...I quit a year ago, until the platform evolved to my hardware. This new version, hopefully makes use of my investment and allows me to do what I want to do and that is;

Build something, and play with it, instead of build something and take pictures of it. Because that is where it stands now, sorry but the more you build it the worse the performance.

And it's not that I am impatient, I paid my lifetime dues. If this Program is not moved forward to modern platforms, I'll be out my money.

Interesting that the past and present lines (green blue orange and yellow) all converge on the red circle line with the "you are here" arrow. If we see the time direction not as a linear bottom left to top right progression but rather as outside edge towards the middle, then the future purple and green branches are also feeding into the center loop. We are here now and tomorrow we will still be here since tomorrow the future then will have become the present here.

Since all previous versions are still functional and are present at the red loop it would appear that the future versions will join them on the loop. But why a star on the green line and not the two purple lines? The purple lines are versions that continue the current technology but hopefully with improvements while the green line is somehow special. New technology? New engine? New ... ?

martinvk said:

Interesting that the past and present lines (green blue orange and yellow) all converge on the red circle line with the "you are here" arrow. If we see the time direction not as a linear bottom left to top right progression but rather as outside edge towards the middle, then the future purple and green branches are also feeding into the center loop. We are here now and tomorrow we will still be here since tomorrow the future then will have become the present here.

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Wow - that is an interpretation we didn't quite expect. We could be stuck on the inner circle forever.

Since all previous versions are still functional and are present at the red loop it would appear that the future versions will join them on the loop. But why a star on the green line and not the two purple lines?

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A very good question. And one of the purple lines is dotted, and one isn't. And then that star on the green line... it must mean something important. What could it be? (Hint: No-one has really got close to this yet and it is certainly the hardest piece of the whole puzzle to solve - that's why the Star gets a Legend entry all of its own).

The purple lines are versions that continue the current technology but hopefully with improvements while the green line is somehow special. New technology? New engine? New ... ?

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You have the ingredients pretty much sorted out, but you've got the recipe wrong. (Does that help much? I hope it does, but not too much )

Scitimar said:

We did this once before ^^^^ and once again I hope that something other than Jet [even in it's current form] is on that green line.

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There was a slight problem with the 2004 edition of the game (ok, major problem) - RSP was a ~$5M project and the author hadn't worked out where the money was coming from to build it.

Tony, whatever that Star is it better use my machine.

I remember 30 years ago, building a Heath Kit H89 Computer with a Zilog Z80 processor in it, this was 2 years before the IBM PC. It was an 8 bit processor, and one of the earliest games pre-PC was Y-wing fighter, and it strained that machine.

http://www.mocagh.org/miscgame/evryware-catalog.pdf It was a 48k Program, and the graphics were confined to the Y on the keyboard as you and another letter on the Keyboard, which I can't remember as the enemy, probably "e". Your Y had to shoot hyphens at the other letter. It was state of the art 1983. It was based on George Lucas Star Wars, and his Y-wing fighter for sure, and Imagination was a must.

And then we moved on, tell me that Star means this moves forward too.

BTW, you could build one of them back then for $6,000 or buy a house for $18,000. $6,000 would buy a Chevy Silverado, back then.

Because a five pointed star is a navigational star and points to a destination, like the north star, so I take that star as a guide to a new place.

So, that star would say to me, that green line is totally different then any existing version of Trainz.

Tony_Hilliam said:

Wow - that is an interpretation we didn't quite expect. We could be stuck on the inner circle forever.

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We are always "here" as in the "here and now", so not a bad place to be. Better than being stuck in the past.

A very good question. And one of the purple lines is dotted, and one isn't. And then that star on the green line... it must mean something important. What could it be? (Hint: No-one has really got close to this yet and it is certainly the hardest piece of the whole puzzle to solve - that's why the Star gets a Legend entry all of its own).



You have the ingredients pretty much sorted out, but you've got the recipe wrong. (Does that help much? I hope it does, but not too much )

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OK, solid purple a physical version, aka TS14, dotted a virtual or cloud version to be used online.

Hmm, star?
space, special, new, 5 points aka options, pay ...

So does any of this have to do with Epsilon Crux?

Second guess.

The solid purple line is TS14 with 5 new features

The solid green line and star is a new marketing strategy that allows Content Creators to sell their products direct to users via Simulation Central and/or the in-game interface.

The dashed green line is future planned marketing features.

The dashed purple line... I have no idea.

TRam_ - read my post again, I'm not referring to the behaviour of wagons in Trainz

Regards,

Anthony

Ok this is really putting it out there - N3V have a deal to stream trainz onto your computer / TV via Google or Microsoft and use your mobile phone as a controller - now that would be cool!
I for one believe that the purple line has somehow be connected with some virtual online game platform - just look at all the "App" games showing up on Google & Win8 shops.
butler57
(May the force be with you)

Anything MMO, Cloud based or otherwise would be an instant turn off for me. I tolerate Steam as a DRM and content delivery system (as for TS2014-Railworks) but call me a dinosaur I prefer good old fashioned standalone computer gaming. As for anything involving greater reliance on social media - also forget it. Never been a Facebook member and the latest carp over permitting the hosting of snuff (real beheading) film clips on there means I never will.

Just give us a decent new train sim that incorporates the best of all the other programmes out there and 95% of the customers will be happy.