Today marks my 15th anniversary of Trainzing. It was on December 28, 2003 I took a ride to CompUSA in Salem, New Hampshire and purchased my CD version. I still have the box with the price tag on it of $29.95. I remember the day still vividly almost as though it just happened. I had been following Auran off and on at the time after purchasing their Paint-Shed add-on for MSTS which I could never get to work properly. I did read through the manual, but my computer system wasn't very cooperative and neither was MSTS. On the box, and I still have that too on my shelf is www.auran.com. I visited the website and became intrigued.
My first thought after seeing the website and the excitement surrounding the then new Trainz Ultimate Collection that was coming out, was I wasted my money on MSTS. There was talk about the various modules with Greg Lane prominently present in the discussions with many people who are no longer here in the forums. This was around 2001-2002 and I downloaded the demo and it promptly crashed on my computer. My ATI 8500 didn't like the video drivers for the demo no matter what I did. I could get it to run sometimes, but most of the time it crashed. I kept checking the website off and on, and lurked in the shadows as I read the various posts and thought wow this is quite a program. I only wish I could run it.
Then one day I happened to read the announcement in the ancient Trainz forums about a new version coming out. This was TRS2004 and it was to appear on the shelves in various outlets after Christmas 2003 including CompUSA. By this time, I had updated my video card, well the whole computer actually to something a bit more stable, and I sprung for my copy on that cold sunny Saturday. I eagerly installed the program and off I was running and immediately hooked from then on. MSTS lingered for a bit afterwards, but it didn't get used much, and slowly my N-scale layout building ground to a halt with the spiders moving into the various nooks and crannies, and the trains ended up being boxed up all in favor of the virtual world we live in now.
But the question is why has this program lasted so long in its various iterations from that fateful day in December 2003?
Trainz for me was my pillar of stability and like an old friend it's always a friend and has always been there. Whenever I become stressed, I hunker down and Trainz away because I can escape from reality into the virtual world. Trainz is far from perfect, but like any longtime friend we accept the good with the bad. After a rotten day at work, I'd come home and escape into my world. Deaths in the family, various health issues, you name it, and Trainz played prominently to bury these things away. Even today when stressed I do the same to take my mind off the problems. This escape from reality is what the virtual reality is all about just like a real model railroad where one will go off to the loft, basement, shed, or spare room, to get away from the confusion and stress,
What is interesting is virtual reality as we know it, 3d games and programs as we know it now, were barely dreams back 25 years ago. Yes that virtual world of our dreams was unheard of for the consumer back then. About 25 years ago, I worked for a small company that created 3d animated training programs. We used 3d Studio R4 DOS and eventually 3ds Max. I said to a coworker back then, who I used to car pool with, Imagine a 3d world where there were trains running on various routes with animated passenger cars that we can go inside, and all of this is in a 3d world. He said it would be impossible because of the technology would be too expensive to build something like that. Hmm... I wonder what he would think now if he saw this.
Anyway. Off to crack open the champagne and hope for more than a few more years of Trainzing!
My first thought after seeing the website and the excitement surrounding the then new Trainz Ultimate Collection that was coming out, was I wasted my money on MSTS. There was talk about the various modules with Greg Lane prominently present in the discussions with many people who are no longer here in the forums. This was around 2001-2002 and I downloaded the demo and it promptly crashed on my computer. My ATI 8500 didn't like the video drivers for the demo no matter what I did. I could get it to run sometimes, but most of the time it crashed. I kept checking the website off and on, and lurked in the shadows as I read the various posts and thought wow this is quite a program. I only wish I could run it.
Then one day I happened to read the announcement in the ancient Trainz forums about a new version coming out. This was TRS2004 and it was to appear on the shelves in various outlets after Christmas 2003 including CompUSA. By this time, I had updated my video card, well the whole computer actually to something a bit more stable, and I sprung for my copy on that cold sunny Saturday. I eagerly installed the program and off I was running and immediately hooked from then on. MSTS lingered for a bit afterwards, but it didn't get used much, and slowly my N-scale layout building ground to a halt with the spiders moving into the various nooks and crannies, and the trains ended up being boxed up all in favor of the virtual world we live in now.
But the question is why has this program lasted so long in its various iterations from that fateful day in December 2003?
Trainz for me was my pillar of stability and like an old friend it's always a friend and has always been there. Whenever I become stressed, I hunker down and Trainz away because I can escape from reality into the virtual world. Trainz is far from perfect, but like any longtime friend we accept the good with the bad. After a rotten day at work, I'd come home and escape into my world. Deaths in the family, various health issues, you name it, and Trainz played prominently to bury these things away. Even today when stressed I do the same to take my mind off the problems. This escape from reality is what the virtual reality is all about just like a real model railroad where one will go off to the loft, basement, shed, or spare room, to get away from the confusion and stress,
What is interesting is virtual reality as we know it, 3d games and programs as we know it now, were barely dreams back 25 years ago. Yes that virtual world of our dreams was unheard of for the consumer back then. About 25 years ago, I worked for a small company that created 3d animated training programs. We used 3d Studio R4 DOS and eventually 3ds Max. I said to a coworker back then, who I used to car pool with, Imagine a 3d world where there were trains running on various routes with animated passenger cars that we can go inside, and all of this is in a 3d world. He said it would be impossible because of the technology would be too expensive to build something like that. Hmm... I wonder what he would think now if he saw this.
Anyway. Off to crack open the champagne and hope for more than a few more years of Trainzing!
