OTOH we pretty much established that for multiplayer the FCT should be added to the minimum system requirements, without one you'll spend a couple weeks downloading for every hour of actual multiplayer time. I agree with frogpipe here, a 3 month FCT was bundled with stuff like the anniversary edition, it's good marketing because it gives a taste of what you get if you continue to buy the FCT.
A question to those WITHOUT a First Class Ticket
- Thread starter frogpipe
- Start date
shaneturner12
Tutorial Creator
But that seems to be the problem though. The content download is so slow that I can't get ahead. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I'll start the updater, go to work, come back 8 hours later and it's managed to download one or two items. There's a couple of items that have just never managed to finish, even after more than 10 hours (some locomotives updates, for example). I'd like to be able to tell you what speed I'm actually getting, but there's no indication of that (or the size of the download you're requesting, which should REALLY be indicated). When I first installed Trainz two weeks ago, I had about 1050 updates outstanding. Now, even though I leave my Trainz running all night to update, I have over 1100 outstanding updates as of this morning.
I understand that there are limitations to the amount of free support they can give for addon content, but when they start including some of this content as part of their retail package, it's no longer addon content. It's now part of the Trainz package, and as a paying Trainz customer, I think I should be able to have that content updated without too much trouble.
Again, it's not the end of the world, but to a cynical person, it might appear that N3V is deliberately making the in-game update unworkable in an effort to sell more First Class Tickets. Good thing I'm not a cynical person
I wouldn't say it's unworkable, just that it will take time to download the updates. This would still be the case even if you have a FCT, as there are usually over a thousand updates for content, some of which is over 50MB.
If you follow my advice in my previous post, the content can be updated whilst you are playing the game.
Shane
No, I get what you are saying, but you clearly don't see this as I do.
*puts on new product development hat*
Man this thing got dirty on the shelf...
Anyway. Joe Ilovetrains buys a new copy of this game he just discovered called "Trainz". He ponies up for the latest version. Waits a few hours for it to download and install, and filled with anticipation he fires it up and sees.
481
CONTENT UPDATES
CONTENT UPDATES
Aside #1: "I just downloaded this and it needs updates!?!" <- that's a whole 'nother issue.
Now, he doesn't KNOW that he doesn't have to have them. But he may well DESIRE to have them, and after all, he JUST bought the game, shouldn't it have the latest content?
So, he hits the right buttons and the game starts to download updates
and download
and download
and download
....
[NEXT MORNING]
and download...
Not only because it's a lot of updates, but also because he's limited to 7kb of bandwidth.
This is going to lead to a BAD USER EXPERIENCE.
Now, on the other hand, if N3V had bundled a free 3 month FCT (or even a special 1 week one for that matter) and augmented that with some fancy eye candy touting how he's having the full FCT experience as he happily spends a mere hour or less updating that same content, this will lead to a GOOD USER EXPERIENCE.
Further it opens an opportunity to say "Hey! Remember how great that FCT was? Well buddy, click-en-ze-here to get a nutter!" because NOW the customer has a real life frame of reference. It's not a abstract "100mb limit and 7kbps vs Unlimited and 300mbps" it's "It's used to be ok, but OMG now it's SOOOOO freaking SLOOOOWW!!"
This is a corporate/marketing NO BRAINER.
It's the difference between a company that includes the batteries, and one that sends you looking for an open Radio Shack on Christmas Morning....
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Guess what, I bought TS12 about 5 months ago. I started up the game and got the message that there were about 450 some odd downloads. I posted on the forum, a question, regarding all these downloads, because looking at the names of many of them, it didn't seem that they were that critical. It also seemed that many of them were modifications of content where maybe the color of a freight car was changed slightly, or the number of branches on a tree was altered or some other cosmetic modification. I was told that it was optional as far as downloading them, some were probably useless if I didn't use routes or sessions that included those items, and the only problem I might run into is if I ran multiplayer, which I detest by the way. Some of them I downloaded, and some I didn't bother with at all.
At the time, I didn't have a FCT yet, so I just turned on Trainz at night, selected what I wanted downloaded, and hit the sack. Next morning the ones I had selected were all downloaded. I didn't hyperventilate over it, or twist myself into a pretzel because I had to download some items, since coming from Flight Sims, that kind of issue is a daily way of life. It was easy, and within a few days I had everything downloaded. Now I guess I could have started screaming and yelling and carrying on about what a burden this was, and how dare Trainz do this to me, and maybe even take my PC and throw it out the window, but........... I just went with the flow.
Now I tried FCT , and signed up for 3 months of it for around $12, because I was dowloading routes, and sessions , and rolling stock, and every kind of freeware imaginable, tons of it, sometimes 200-300 or more megabytes at a pop. Rather than sitting in front of my computer and feeling like I was on an old AOL dial-up connection, now my stuff was downloading in seconds or minutes, for $12......... That's three months or about 90 days into $12 comes out to about 13 cents a day. Oh well, it's only money, so I decided to just go crazy and but it . After downloading a few things, I decided that an FCT was the best investment I could make if I was going to stay active in Trainz, and when that expired I bought a year for around $24. That's 6.6 cents a day. ( I may have to get another part time job ) Most everything is free in Trainz, so that is my only expense. That's great when you come from the Flight Sim world where most every add on you get is $15-50 each . So that's my "bad experience"...
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I was speaking of the abstract "customer". You have related your personal experience. You have brought the issue of ROI to the table, and I completely agree with you. However, my take away from your post is that you are either refusing to consider the abstract customer or implying that since this was your experience, it should be everyone's experience.
I have no idea what else to say on the matter.
I have no idea what else to say on the matter.
Hello,
I have no FCT either. Last Thursday, I started with the downloading of a route. Nothing special to report until this morning.
Last night, I stopped at a quote downloaded today unquote of approx. 90Mb.
This morning, I wanted to restart the downloading. So I clicked on start, but noticed that the quote downloaded today counter unquote was not resetted to 0 ( zero ). It just continued with the setting of last night.
Of course, in no time I was at a downloaded today of 100Mb and my quota of today has been reached.
Is this normal?
Best regards
Kurt :wave:
I have no FCT either. Last Thursday, I started with the downloading of a route. Nothing special to report until this morning.
Last night, I stopped at a quote downloaded today unquote of approx. 90Mb.
This morning, I wanted to restart the downloading. So I clicked on start, but noticed that the quote downloaded today counter unquote was not resetted to 0 ( zero ). It just continued with the setting of last night.
Of course, in no time I was at a downloaded today of 100Mb and my quota of today has been reached.
Is this normal?
Best regards
Kurt :wave:
captainkman
You are reading this.
My download speed is usually 5kb/s without a FCT. I got 2 30-day FCTs for registering TS2010 and TS12, and that's the only time I've ever used one.
I try to download content updates, new contant or dependencies overnight so I can use them in the morning when I wake up.
That way I don't have to sit there and watch it.If there's a Christmas sale, I could get full use out of a Lifetime FCT.
shaneturner12
Tutorial Creator
Based on what I've seen on the FTP status log over the past 72 hours, I can forsee that people are going to need a FCT in order to avoid the risk of the server full message (details are in the DLS,FCT forum).
Shane
Shane
I think if someone is into gaming on the internet, or even actively browsing and sending email, the time for doing it on a dial-up connection is long gone. Most software, fairly soon, will only be available by download, since optical drives are disappearing on new PCs. The only thing I have used the optical drive for on my current PC, is to install printer software, and that even had to be updated on line. All my programs were downloaded from the Dell website. Sure it costs more to get DSL or a cable connection, but the advantage far outweighs the extra cost for most people. I think the same thing applies to the FCT, if Trainz is your hobby. The idea of sweating over downloading some files, seeing a download a 7 kbs per second, and a daily cap of 100 mbs, would drive me nuts after awhile. If the FCT cost $100 per year, then maybe I would choose to stay with the snail like downloaded, but for $2 a month, for me it's a no brainer.
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I suggest going for the Lifetime FCT if you can afford it. I did that a couple of years ago, and now there's no worry about server downtime, or renewing the FCT. They do put in an expiration date which is set at 2034. This is probably because of a requirement in the software, and they figured that 2034 would be long enough just like the Mayans did with 2012. If I'm around in 2034, I'll be 73 years old. At that point I don't think I'll need to worry about an expiring FCT.
John
John
The download limit of 100MB is reset at midnight Aussie time not your local time.
shaneturner12
Tutorial Creator
I believe that there is another factor involved there, involving TADDaemon and TrainzUtil.
Shane
Shane
Hello Nickel,
Ok thank you for answer. Depending on the region, there is a difference of 8 or 9 hours between Australia and Belgium. Will change my downloading schedule :hehe:
Best regards
Kurt :wave:
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