Are trainz routes vetted?

B

butler57

Member
For years I have enjoyed the thrill of downloading new and older routes - and on most occasions been truly thrilled to go sight seeing and train spotting in those routes. But of late there have been numerous weird routes and Ipad routes on the DLS..... being the thrill seeker I am, I have downloaded these routes to be met with something really not up to doing anything with.

Are all routes uploaded vetted before release on the DLS? Is there at least a benchmark even a low one? Please if you do upload a demo, copy of a route with changes or an Ipad route at least warn us - my download bandwidth is bloating!

Can Auran at least set-up an Ipad only area and a "kidzone" for some of these hard worked on routes to be uploaded too!

I have been working on a Mars Route on and off for over a year and with some of the great stuff coming on to the DLS I am holding back to improve it, test it and hopefully when it meets a reasonable standard I will upload it for comment and review

butler57 (really not whinging)
 
Most good routes begin with a forum thread. I recommend MSGSapper's work and Dave Snow's new Cotton Belt route. I don't think I've downloaded any route without screenshots to look at first.
 
This is most definitely something that needs to be addressed. The amount of "routes" and "sessions" being uploaded lately that are nothing more than near blank boards is ridiculous. Some are called "Test this" and "Test that", others declare "I've now released my route" that turns out to be nothing more than what my six year old son would do with five minutes in surveyor before he got bored and went off to find another toy to play with.
As you say Ed, screen shots, a thread and a reputable name are the main ingredients to a good route. :wave:
 
Agreed there is some absolute rubbish appearing on the DLS, trouble is I doubt anyone at N3V has the time to check each route to see if it actually is a route. Maybe some automated check to reject routes without textures or less than x number of dependencies or the title contains the word "test"?

A kidzone would be a good idea as well as one on this forum.
 
I know it's sad there can be silly routes and routes of just track.. I don't think it can be helped because where do you draw the line? You don't want to get into censorship!

OT: Is Dave Snow's route out then? :o
 
In the years I'v built routes there one thing I hate most of all that is routes with little or no detail and crappy textures that look horrable and I end up deleteing them. I have a few abanden projects that shode be removed off DLS all to gether how ever thay refused to. I try to make my route Dragons Pass have a driffent look form the real world.
 
Euphod said:
Most good routes begin with a forum thread. I recommend MSGSapper's work and Dave Snow's new Cotton Belt route. I don't think I've downloaded any route without screenshots to look at first.
Click to expand...

A forum thread and screenshots is a good way to select a potential route for downloading.

Perhaps if there was a way to apply a rating to routes on the DLS, not just local content. Or even an authorID rating.

Being able to display number of times downloaded in CM might also help, I don't use the black pages.
 
Or as I did with my recent release, create a sub page on my web site with a description and some information about the project.

Without naming and shaming I too have been caught out downloading what appears to be an interesting route to find a crudely finished half baked attempt. Equally I have found some real gems.

The route can be deleted if you don't want it of course but some form of quality audit at source would not go amiss.

Incidentally it's not just Trainz that suffers from this, I have downloaded some right dogs for MSTS and Railworks over the years from various file libraries which don't appear to have undergone any sort of check by the host to see if there's actually a half decent route there!
 
Hi Vern --

"Without naming and shaming I too have been caught out downloading what appears to be an interesting route to find a crudely finished half baked attempt. Equally I have found some real gems."

Absolutely true. In some cases I've been forced to downloaded most of the Download Station and then some only to be bitterly disappointed.

To avoid others going through this particular agony I now make a post in the Forums first before uploading a route or session. This then allows me to provide a link to the post in the "Description" under the thumbnail when it does appear on the DLS.

For instance, this is the description for a couple of my recent uploads:

Screen shotz of the loaded cars and more details of the session can be seen here
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=77594
​

and

More details about the route and sessions can be found here
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...pdated-route-amp-sessions&p=996768#post996768
​

Phil
 
Davie_UCF said:
............................ You don't want to get into censorship! :o
Click to expand...
Why not? We need to maintain a certain standard, and the only way to achieve that is to censor out the rubbish. Of course now everyone's going to call me a Socialist:eek:.

Mick "Keep the Government away from my Medicare" Berg.:hehe:
 
Route descriptions mean nothing. There's one bloke from Queensland who calls himself the "QGR Commissioner", apparently fancies himself as the boss of Queensland Government Railways. One of his "routes" description is longer than the actual route. By the long blurb should have been QR Bell branchline, turned out to be a bit of track, few trees and some texture plonked on 3 board length.
 
Let me start off by saying that I have a FCT and a high-speed connection and if I didn’t my outlook might be different. I don’t have a problem with requiring a label for the platform the route is created on or intended for and I think a “beginners area” (let’s not call a” kidzone”) would be great. That is not censorship, that’s information. I do have a problem with someone (else) deciding what I should have access to on the DLS. As Vern pointed out, if I don’t like it I can delete it. The key is that I decide based on my own preferences and standards, not standards set by NV3 or the Trainz community. From time to time I’ve responded to posts asking for suggestions for routes to download and been chided by others (sometimes by the creator himself) that the route I suggested was written for an earlier version of Trainz, wasn’t up to the current standard, wasn’t detailed enough, etc. While that may have been true, the fact remained that I enjoyed the route enough to recommend it to someone else. Perhaps if it had been ”vetted”, I never would have had that opportunity. I guess I may be old and set in my ways, but I still think I can decide what's worthwhile (at least for me) better than anyone else. Thanks, but no thanks.
 
Yep. Lets discourage young members because a dozen others decide what should or shouldn't be acceptable.*
We all know great creators are just born. *I know the first route I created was a masterpiece.*
Ever wonder why it's just a few of you left here?
With that, see ya, again. I'll take a 6 year olds route in this hobby over this self proclaimed cryfest because a route or asset doesn't meet your approval.*
Way to promote a hobby. Not everyone lives their life around this video game. Sorry you do.
 
sparky15 said:
Yep. Lets discourage young members because a dozen others decide what should or shouldn't be acceptable.*
We all know great creators are just born. *I know the first route I created was a masterpiece.*
Ever wonder why it's just a few of you left here?
With that, see ya, again. I'll take a 6 year olds route in this hobby over this self proclaimed cryfest because a route or asset doesn't meet your approval.*
Way to promote a hobby. Not everyone lives their life around this video game. Sorry you do.
Click to expand...

Did I miss something? I didn't find Rick's post at all objectionable, and I'm pretty libertarian - mostly because any well-intended regulation usually if not always backfires, whether sooner or later.
 
RRSignal,
Did I quote a post? Or are you just jumping in yet again with nothing to add?
The question is censoring asset or route builders because a few think routes don't meet their unpublished expectations in violation of what N3V accepts as uploads.
I'll keep it it one thread so you don't have to jump between several to prove your non point.
So tell us, RRSignal, do content creators have to meet an unpublished set of policies claimed by the community? N3V doesn't think so. They just own the game and DLS, that is all.
Post your wisdom of how things should be despite those owners saying otherwise. Tell us how you will be inconvenienced because a route doesn't meet your specification. Post a link to what that specification is. I'll gladly comply when you do.*
Tell us, RRSignal. We are waiting, Give us the links with the game publisher's blessings.
Until then, delete what you don't like.
 
sparky15 said:
RRSignal,
Did I quote a post? Or are you just jumping in yet again with nothing to add?
The question is censoring asset or route builders because a few think routes don't meet their unpublished expectations in violation of what N3V accepts as uploads.
I'll keep it it one thread so you don't have to jump between several to prove your non point.
So tell us, RRSignal, do content creators have to meet an unpublished set of policies claimed by the community? N3V doesn't think so. They just own the game and DLS, that is all.
Post your wisdom of how things should be despite those owners saying otherwise. Tell us how you will be inconvenienced because a route doesn't meet your specification. Post a link to what that specification is. I'll gladly comply when you do.*
Tell us, RRSignal. We are waiting, Give us the links with the game publisher's blessings.
Until then, delete what you don't like.
Click to expand...

No, and that's the problem, Sparky, you didn't, hence why I asked.

Oh, and I totally agree with you about the censorship issue. Too bad you are (as usual) too busy foaming-at-the-mouth to realize it.

Sparky15, if you had at even read my previous post, you'd have known that. Then again, I may have made the mistaken assumption that you know how to read or are mentally stable enough to deal with a concept.

Also, it's worth noting that Rick also seems to support your position as well as myself, yet you went off on his post, by the looks of it.

In fact, Sparky15, your little bat---- insane rant is the only thing I've seen in this thread truly worthy of censorship, and has done far more to fuel and enable those who would support censoring DLS assets than all of the pro-censorship comments put together. Squared.
 
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