A few months back I expected AURAN to fold their tents and disappear. It looked like any day we would attempt to log in only to find the discussion forum and download site were no longer there.
I'm encouraged that I see efforts to make 2009 backward compatible with at least 2006 since that is what I now use. I have spent too many man days making enhancements to routes, rolling stock, etc., to throw it all away for a new version that would require us to start over. My biggest complaint with 2006 were the sound problems, as compared to 2004 with which the sound was better. I hope 2009 does not require a new high end computer that must have many new bells and whistles to get 2009 to load and achieve an acceptable frame rate. It will be interesting to see the recommended specs for a PC to run 2009.
I'd echo the comments of those who caution against fielding a program full of known bugs like 2006 and never getting around to fixing them. You quickly loose your credibility and loyal following. That is why I remain skeptical of the promises of 2009 and will maintain a "show me" attitude until we see what we are actually getting.
I wasn't going to take part in this any more, but I got to say, Auran have always been up front about compatibility!
In UTC days we heard the same wails of a anguish when trs 2004 was announced. Compatibility was built in where possible but Auran said that it would no longer guarantee it past 2004. The reason was simple, you just got to keep developing with the new technology, otherwise we would still be using ATARI consoles.
It really is inconsiderate to pressure Auran "not to make the sim the best it can be"
I say that because we have thousands of people out there playing Trainz UTC, on their old 5 year old Pentim 4's
They took the decision not to upgrade their machines, and the Simulation.
So we have UTC, 2004 and 2006 out there working and suitable for the machines being used.
If 2009 requires a high spec machine then that is a great thing, because your old machine is going to die one day, and your new one is going to love the new SIM.
Auran should work with the leading specs at all times, and even then they will still be 12 months behind, by the time it is packaged up.
It is your decision to stay with TC3, or 2004 or 2006, so please don't try to hold back Auran from developing the Sim for everybody else.
However I feel very sad for the content builders. It really is a shame that all the 2006 working steam engines no longer work in TC3. And because so many creators have left over the years we will have to wait for some steam engines to be rebuilt by other builders before we get to use them again.
For this reason, I wouldl probably suggest operating two versions of Trainz after 2009 is released, something I have always tried to avoid.
Cheers
Rod
(on russian)
