A couple of questions before I purchase...

[treblesum81]

Hi All,

I'm currently looking at purchasing Trainz 2009 as I've gotten a little tired of running in the top-down economy mode offered by RT3 and also because it looks like the most advanced option now that MSTS2 is dead on the block. That all being said, I have a few questions regarding available content before I commit to buying the game.

First of all, I'm curious about the quantity and quality of the freeware addons for the program available in the download station. The reason I ask is because I've read that Trainz 2009 doesn't really come with a lot of built-in maps / scenarios out of the box, but I don't have much time and/or interest in really putting together my own worlds in which to ride the rails (to me it just doesn't seem all that interesting to build a tunnel to travel through when you can find a tunnel that you didn't put there instead), so I would really need a steady stream of quality (I come from MS Flight Simulator, which has an unending supply of user created content, even if only about 30% of it is worth anything... its still a lot) maps and scenarios to make the purchase worthwhile.

After having a look around the net, I've found a few sites that looked like they had some interesting stuff, but only a few, and also most of it looked like it was made for earlier versions of the software (and much of that came with "will not work with TS2006 or newer" warnings), which is I guess understandable because Trainz 2009 only just released, though I think that a lot of stuff for the new program is located where I can't see it on the download station. I guess what I'm really looking for is someone to tell me if there is anything worthwhile either out there already for this game, or at least in the works (no payware, I'm a firm believer that if I have to buy more parts of a game just to keep it interesting, I didn't need to buy that game in the first place...).

The other question I have is whether or not Trainz 2009 has provisions to import some of that older content, much in the same way that my flight simulator can import older aircraft models to a certain degree. While I'll admit that I may not know whats really available for 2009 because I don't have the program or access to the download station, there seems to be quite a lot of nice stuff out there created for the older programs and I'd really be disappointed if most (or all) of it didn't work.

Anyway, please share any information that you can with me about these questions, as I will be basing my decision to buy the game off of your responses (no pressure )... I do like what I see in the available information, but I really want to ensure that I'll have a wide variety of track and trains to deal with, as without them I'd probably get bored fairly quick... I love simulators and I really like trains, but I tend to be mission oriented (hence flight simulator), so the idea of toodling around some small set of tracks, or even a train-table setup, doesn't get my interest up nearly as much as pulling down a several hundred mile freight delivery.

Thanks,
Greg

PS: I'm also curious if the game supports 64-Bit operating systems as I'm currently running Windows Vista x64. Thanks

 

[ajho]

There are currently around 1000 items on the Download Station created using Trainz 2006 (a.k.a. TRS2006) or higher. Most of these will be compatible with Trainz 2009 (TS2009).

Of the 100,000 plus items created for Trainz 2004 (TRS2004) and earlier, the best that can be said is that they are a mixed bunch. Overall, I'd reckon somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of them are OK. That said, scenery items tend to be more reliable than locomotives and rolling stock.

TRS2009 has two modes: In compatiblility mode, many 'faulty' download station items will work, but in this mode the performance takes a big hit, particularly around trees and water.

In native mode, the performance is OK, but many items, including all the current crop of trees do not display correctly, and the faulty items will not display at all.

Personally, I would go for Trainz Classics 3 (TC3) at the moment, and give TRS2009 another few months to bed in.

 

[ex-railwayman]

Well, firstly, welcome to the forum...Secondly, I would suggest you complete your profile with a little more information as we don't know which country you reside in, and it's no good us Brits or Australians suggesting anything towards the locomotives and rolling stock we enjoy playing with, if we find out you're Canadian, and none of our content is of any interest to you.......
Having said that, in general terms, if you have never purchased any Trainz product before, then there are a few versions that you may like to consider before embarking on the wonderful world of TS2009, which many Trainzers believe was released before it was ready, however, content creators have now started to release assets for this version and we as a community can only go from strength to strength with what will be made available in the future, but, there are over 14,500 items on the DLS for the older versions of Trainz already, and for TS2009 users to get that many items built purely for TS2009 is going to take many, many years......
It also depends on your computer specs, as the recommended specs on the box now seem to be woefully inadequate for TS2009 and all future versions. For example, Auran recommends a minimum of 1 gig RAM to run Trainz, over the years with the plethora of high quality content that has become available, many simple scenery items such as fences, hedgerows, telegraph wires, are made as a spline asset, simply put, this means that you can stretch the item to any length as long as you want it to be, however, splines take up much resources within your computer, and subsequently, many Trainzers have suggested that because of the power hungry game that this now become and will only get more powerful in the future, we suggest at least 3-4 gig RAM would be a better recommendation. Higher quality content that Auran now demand seems to mean more polygons, which means more power required, so, if you have a mid - high range computer/laptop, then you should be OK running TS2009, but, if you haven't, then either upgrade specific items such as RAM, etc, or, get another older Trainz version first, to see how heavy the resources will be on whatever you operate, it's a bit of trial and error really.

And don't be to hasty in refusing to consider Payware items either, as these are of a very high quality indeed, I have purchased quite a few personally and thoroughly recommend you go take a look in the future, particularly the North American locomotives, and as some of these can be only 5 bucks a pop, they're superb value for money to keep and enjoy playing with for many, many years. My personal interest is diesel, but, of course there are many steam locos including narrow-guage and even futuristic tram networks that now offer top quality items to purchase that could make you drool.....

Finally, this game is an addiction......When you get into it, you will never want to stop playing. You can kiss goodbye to your family and friends, you'll never eat, and will want to spend every spare minute on your computer......BE WARNED. :hehe:

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[geoffwilliams]

If you are starting out in Trainz then you may be better starting with an earlier version than TS2009. As yet there is no new content in TRS2009 and running old content has a dramatic impact on performance.

Both TRS2004 and TRS2006 are excellent sims as is TC3.
TRS2006 and TC3 will run most of the content on the download station, although with a bit of work it can all be madeto run in TRS2004.

Personally, I still use TRS2004. TS2009 will be good when all the bugs are ironed out and suitable content is available. TRS2006 and TC3 are badly let down by the content manager, it can be a nightmare to use, and has always been so. It seems to have been fixed for TS2009 but it seems the earlier versions will remain unfixed.
Hope this is of some help.
Geoff

 

[NICKEL]

I own UTC, 2004 , 2006 and 2009 versions of Trainz. I was exclusively using 2006 as it worked the best for me in speed and I had no problems with the Download system it had. I now am running 2009 which runs all of the previous routes and most assets from the previous versions. In what is called compatbility mode I run better or the same as my 2006 version and the new download software works better than the 2006 version.

Now this is my opinion based on my experience that you buy 2009 and you get a lot of the older routes and all of the builtins from 2004 and 2006. But you now get access to all content built for all previous versions and have the option of both the old mode and the new mode. Assets are now starting to appear built for 2009 and will speed up as time goes on. A couple of the bigger web groups TPR and Razorback are supporting and upgrading their stuff for 2009 also.

 

[johnwhelan]

Hi All,

I'm currently looking at purchasing Trainz 2009 as I've gotten a little tired of running in the top-down economy mode offered by RT3 and also because it looks like the most advanced option now that MSTS2 is dead on the block. That all being said, I have a few questions regarding available content before I commit to buying the game.

First of all, I'm curious about the quantity and quality of the freeware addons for the program available in the download station. The reason I ask is because I've read that Trainz 2009 doesn't really come with a lot of built-in maps / scenarios out of the box, but I don't have much time and/or interest in really putting together my own worlds in which to ride the rails (to me it just doesn't seem all that interesting to build a tunnel to travel through when you can find a tunnel that you didn't put there instead), so I would really need a steady stream of quality (I come from MS Flight Simulator, which has an unending supply of user created content, even if only about 30% of it is worth anything... its still a lot) maps and scenarios to make the purchase worthwhile.

After having a look around the net, I've found a few sites that looked like they had some interesting stuff, but only a few, and also most of it looked like it was made for earlier versions of the software (and much of that came with "will not work with TS2006 or newer" warnings), which is I guess understandable because Trainz 2009 only just released, though I think that a lot of stuff for the new program is located where I can't see it on the download station. I guess what I'm really looking for is someone to tell me if there is anything worthwhile either out there already for this game, or at least in the works (no payware, I'm a firm believer that if I have to buy more parts of a game just to keep it interesting, I didn't need to buy that game in the first place...).

The other question I have is whether or not Trainz 2009 has provisions to import some of that older content, much in the same way that my flight simulator can import older aircraft models to a certain degree. While I'll admit that I may not know whats really available for 2009 because I don't have the program or access to the download station, there seems to be quite a lot of nice stuff out there created for the older programs and I'd really be disappointed if most (or all) of it didn't work.

Anyway, please share any information that you can with me about these questions, as I will be basing my decision to buy the game off of your responses (no pressure )... I do like what I see in the available information, but I really want to ensure that I'll have a wide variety of track and trains to deal with, as without them I'd probably get bored fairly quick... I love simulators and I really like trains, but I tend to be mission oriented (hence flight simulator), so the idea of toodling around some small set of tracks, or even a train-table setup, doesn't get my interest up nearly as much as pulling down a several hundred mile freight delivery.

Thanks,
Greg

PS: I'm also curious if the game supports 64-Bit operating systems as I'm currently running Windows Vista x64. Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

TRS2009 WBE edition comes with the built in content of TRS2006 and TRS207 which is a fair chunk of content out of the box. Say 50? layouts to start. Running in compatibility mode most content works but may give some warnings.

Just because content is labeled TRS2004 does not mean that it will not work in TRS2009. I've just been through a number of my TRS2004 items that were throwing errors up in TRS2009 and corrected them. They still work in TRS2004 and are still labeled for TRS2004 but work perfectly in TRS2009 native mode.

The basic format hasn't changed, what has changed is the scripting capabilities, normal mapping etc. A basic scenery object does not need to be scripted so many items are made with a UTC or earlier version number (pre TRS2004) but work in all versions.

Steam locos have changed starting with TC3 the UK slanted pre TRS2009 version they have better sounds and syncing of sounds etc. If you are into Steam locos and want the best sound then you may need to change a few engine specs.

TRS2009 has some issues with trees at the moment they changed the way the engine handles alpha channel but the first one or two are beginning to arrive.

The content creators work I probably agree 30+% is worth while and you soon get to know which ones to pick up. Trainz has centralised a lot of this work with the Download station, it's free with 100 mb download limit per month/ day or whatever, I think its per day. There are other sites out there as well. Reality buy a first class ticket, faster downloading speeds and no limits. 100,000 items isn't a bad collection and there is a fair bit of error checking these days. Also having the forums means a central place of tutorials, discussions and there is also Trainzdev which is aimed at content creators and gives access to the developers for guidance so the quality of content created is sneaking up.

64 bit Vista quite a few have it running and it has been mentioned that technically they are looking at keeping the same code but putting out a version that runs in 4 gigs under 64 bit or 2 gigs under 32 operating systems.

Cheerio John

 

[Napalm]

As yet there is no new content in TRS2009 and running old content has a dramatic impact on performance.

Just a quick side note to this, a quick look at the Download Station shows 205 TS2009 Assetts available, it's not a lot but it's a start.
The performance impact that I see is very slight, my system is fairly up to date and I can't see any difference when running in Compatability Mode compard to Native mode.

There has been a problem with Trees but thanks to Jankvis, Kemplen and others there are a few starting to sprout up now with many more to follow.

I bit the bullet and purchased TS2009 and all I can say is WOW, it's a great and very stable platform for running Trainz on and has even made me start creating content for it.

Nathan

 

[backyard]

No one can make choices for you....

If your looking for the best train simulation on the Global market with the most 3rd party content availible, Auran Trainz Simulation 2009 is it.

You need to:

• Know computers, with a computer up to date that can support Windows Vista Home Premium.
• Be willing to do your research(homework).
• Have an avid interest in railroads.
• Think that you can contribute in some way even if you don't wish to share you talent.
• Seek help, not a platform to hate.
• Participate in the Auran Forums Community.

Welcome to the Auran Forums Community treblesum81!:wave:

Use the FAQ page, the Search funtion & here is a handy thread on how to Use the Auran Forums daily.

We are glad your here!

 

[geoffwilliams]

Just a quick side note to this, a quick look at the Download Station shows 205 TS2009 Assetts available, it's not a lot but it's a start.
The performance impact that I see is very slight, my system is fairly up to date and I can't see any difference when running in Compatability Mode compard to Native mode.

There has been a problem with Trees but thanks to Jankvis, Kemplen and others there are a few starting to sprout up now with many more to follow.

I bit the bullet and purchased TS2009 and all I can say is WOW, it's a great and very stable platform for running Trainz on and has even made me start creating content for it.

Nathan

What I meant was that there was no new content out of the box. As I said TS2009 is for the future.

I'm pleased you find it a very stable platform, I thought so too until I installed SP1 and then the hotfix. I have run the Settle to Carlisle route in both TS2009 and TRS2004 (yes TRS2004) with every conceivable permeation of settings. TRS2004 gives me an average of 30 fps (everything maxed) and TS2009 12fps (all sliders to the left).

Of course this will improve as new content becomes available but at present it just isn't there.
Geoff

 

[bchester]

Hi and Welcome

Some folks have mentioned starting in TC3. This is an excellent product but out of the box has "limited" built-in assets. The TC series was designed to provide only what was required for the specific routes provided with that version. As such it really is excellent, but some one just starting out will find it disappointing since built-in items that are required by many downloaded items will not be available. To solve this in TC3 (or tc1/2 for that matter) you need a copy of TRS2006 (or 2004 thought 06 is better) so you can import the legacy built-in content.

Just thought this needed clarification.

Bricey

 

[treblesum81]

hmmm... made a post and it disappeared...

Long post short here... Thanks all for posting...

I like the journey and the "mission" more than any particular locomotive or class of loco, plus I like variety so I want to try and find all of the famous lines.

I'd more likely hold off altogether rather than purchase an old version... and I'm about 99% sure that my computer can handle TS2009 in full detail without any trouble (Q9550 2.37GHz Quad-Core, 4GB RAM with intentions to add 4GB more very soon, HD 4870 X2 with intentions to add a second in a couple of months).

Also asking about how the breakdown of the 100k "assets" works. i.e. out of so many, how many can I expect to be maps and/or trains (my two focus groups), and out of those what percentage can I expect to be of high quality, and out of those, what percent can I expect to work well in TS2009. I know there are some on the way, but if, after all of those filters, there are really only 5-10 possibilities available in either category, I'd like to know ahead of time.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[johnwhelan]

hmmm... made a post and it disappeared...

Long post short here... Thanks all for posting...

I like the journey and the "mission" more than any particular locomotive or class of loco, plus I like variety so I want to try and find all of the famous lines.

I'd more likely hold off altogether rather than purchase an old version... and I'm about 99% sure that my computer can handle TS2009 in full detail without any trouble (Q9550 2.37GHz Quad-Core, 4GB RAM with intentions to add 4GB more very soon, HD 4870 X2 with intentions to add a second in a couple of months).

Also asking about how the breakdown of the 100k "assets" works. i.e. out of so many, how many can I expect to be maps and/or trains (my two focus groups), and out of those what percentage can I expect to be of high quality, and out of those, what percent can I expect to work well in TS2009. I know there are some on the way, but if, after all of those filters, there are really only 5-10 possibilities available in either category, I'd like to know ahead of time.

Thanks,
Greg

Considering what you've spent on the machine, $30 to explore Trainz isn't that much. In fact you have enough horse power to run TRS2004. TRS2009 is less demanding. I would say there are a lot more than 5-10 layouts but without knowing precisely what your interests are it is difficult to say. For example you might be into UK GWR Broad Gauge in which case yes there are only 5-10 layouts but they are extremely good. Price will be increased on April first.

Bye

John

 

[barn700]

I agree with John, a few bucks spent on the program is not much, compared to the years of enjoyment you will get.

There are plenty of routes, and even more locos and rolling stock to populate them to give you a pleasurable and cheap hobby.

Have a quick look at my website, you will see plenty of locos from all round the world, from the 1830's to 1990's

 

[treblesum81]

Price will be increased on April first.

Whats the reasoning behind this? Not that I've never heard of it happening, but usually the price goes the other way.

 

[johnwhelan]

Whats the reasoning behind this? Not that I've never heard of it happening, but usually the price goes the other way.

WBE edition was released direct sale from Auran only to give content creators something to work with and a low price to get people to purchase and get the ball rolling. Auran get 100% of the sale, 1st April it goes retail and Auran have an agreement not to undercut the retailers but they only get a fraction of the price you pay. So the price goes up.

Cheerio John

 

[treblesum81]

Well, based on what I've heard here, I've decided that, at the very least, there will be a good chunk of older content available that will still be compatible with TS2009. And with the price change coming up, I'd be throwing away money if I didn't buy it sooner rather than later, so I went ahead and purchased the game.

Thanks all,
Greg

 

[JCitron]

Well, based on what I've heard here, I've decided that, at the very least, there will be a good chunk of older content available that will still be compatible with TS2009. And with the price change coming up, I'd be throwing away money if I didn't buy it sooner rather than later, so I went ahead and purchased the game.

Thanks all,
Greg

Congratulations, Greg on your purchase. This is something that you won't regret. I have a system with similar specs running Vista 64-bit, and the program runs terrific under it.

If you have any questions regarding installation, content, and operations feel free to post in the forums. Any one of us can help you.

John

 

[ex-railwayman]

Well, you made the decision Greg so enjoy it, you'll not want to move away from your computer now for several months.......:hehe:

Cheerz. ex.