Auran Experience

[Patrickc26]

After a few years with TS2006, I ordered the download version of TS2010 from the Auran website. The purchase was not a problem and I got the download links via e-mail. I tried to download my order, but the "download link is unavailable". I tried with FTP, but the "server is full". Ok, maybe I should get a FCT? Bought a 3-month FCT, same result.

Maybe I need to register my serial number? Ok, did that. Changed my password, check. Still not able to download anything. Looked around the forums and it looks like Auran is getting money for a "first class ticket" without providing the service, because I can't to diddly squat. Opened a ticket and it said "we're striving to resolve the ticket within 5 business days". Seriously?

Tried to change my predefined username that was assigned to me upon purchase, but there are no options whatsoever to do so.

Now, being a sysadmin myself, I ask myself: What level of service is this? It looks like there is no weekend support whatsoever, yet this is an entertainment product that probably generates most sales (and activity) on the weekend and it seems that noone is working at Auran at all. Servers that are critical to generate revenue and to actually use the product appear to be down, misconfigured or non-functional. In my job, we're required to monitor the ticket queues and service uptime 24x7 and fix issues at hand whenever they occur.

Frustrated.

-Patrick

 

[shaneturner12]

Firstly, it's no longer called Auran. It's N3V Games (Auran went broke)

Secondly, issues seem to happen frequently on weekends - it annoys me when it happens as well.

Shane

 

[clam1952]

After a few years with TS2006, I ordered the download version of TS2010 from the Auran website. The purchase was not a problem and I got the download links via e-mail. I tried to download my order, but the "download link is unavailable". I tried with FTP, but the "server is full". Ok, maybe I should get a FCT? Bought a 3-month FCT, same result.

Maybe I need to register my serial number? Ok, did that. Changed my password, check. Still not able to download anything. Looked around the forums and it looks like Auran is getting money for a "first class ticket" without providing the service, because I can't to diddly squat. Opened a ticket and it said "we're striving to resolve the ticket within 5 business days". Seriously?

Tried to change my predefined username that was assigned to me upon purchase, but there are no options whatsoever to do so.

Now, being a sysadmin myself, I ask myself: What level of service is this? It looks like there is no weekend support whatsoever, yet this is an entertainment product that probably generates most sales (and activity) on the weekend and it seems that noone is working at Auran at all. Servers that are critical to generate revenue and to actually use the product appear to be down, misconfigured or non-functional. In my job, we're required to monitor the ticket queues and service uptime 24x7 and fix issues at hand whenever they occur.

Frustrated.

-Patrick

Servers are actually located in California at a hosting provider that has recently been taken over, that may have a bearing in the reduced reliability?

Auran don't work at weekends? it's a very small company, with a handful of staff, the helpdesk is one person, the Admin is one person.

 

[Patrickc26]

Servers are actually located in California at a hosting provider that has recently been taken over, that may have a bearing in the reduced reliability?

Auran don't work at weekends? it's a very small company, with a handful of staff, the helpdesk is one person, the Admin is one person.

I don't care where their servers are and about the size of the company. If they're big enough to sell their product at Walmarts across the world and charge(!) for additional freeware downloads, then they should be able to keep their servers up and running, especially on the weekend when most working people are actually using the product. It's not that I want anything for free, but I want at least to download the product that I purchased and use my FCT.

I am the only admin at my company as well and we have only approx. 3000 users, but it still generates enough pain for me to check everything, even on the weekend, and fix problems as soon as they occur. That's the job of a sysadmin. If he/she can't do that, then he/she is in the wrong profession.

-Patrick

 

[hyper_kameo]

see now i am with you patrick....

the company ... is i swear no more then 5 km from where i live here in brisbane..

and as i stated in my post about being pis sed off... this is just not acceptable!!!!

you wanna sell a game like this world wide and have such a following and charge fees etc for the privilege to play along .... you should be getting that service offered.

World of war craft is a good example...great game heaps of game play service offered and offered

Citys XL a bad example... dont deliver a service promised people let u go

Step up Auran

whats that u went broke?? people let u go

I mean (too keep people happy) N3V Games

 

[Euphod]

I understand the frustration being voiced in these posts, and I have to agree. It's been a long time since I've downloaded anything, but when I look back over the years I am shocked to realize how long this has been on going. You would think by now they would have sorted out the weekend issues.

I personally have never had a problem with the site on weekends or during the work week, but these complaints have been persistent for too long.

Perhaps it's time NV3 hired some competent individuals. No, actually it's far past time they did so!

 

[shaneturner12]

If it's related to the DLS servers themselves, it may be out of Auran/N3V's control, as they are hosted by another company (The Planet, I think it is)


Shane

 

[Euphod]

If it's related to the DLS servers themselves, it may be out of Auran/N3V's control, as they are hosted by another company (The Planet, I think it is)


Shane

Shane, I don't know about the servers, but nothing should be "out of Auran/N3V's control" regarding their business. If the hosting company consistently delivers bad service then they need to get "the boot". This has been going on long enough to be OBVIOUS to anyone in a position of authority, and if they take no action to rectify the situation then they must not care about the customer.

Perhaps the hosting company is owned by a relative, or the MOB, or something, but there must be some untold reason why the situation continues, at the customer's expense...

 

[Approach_Medium]

I'm wondering what is going to happen when (if) the multi-player version is released. Will they (N3V or Auran) have the server capacity to provide a good game playing experience, or is that going to generate a whole new round of problems, and aggravations, frustrations, etc for gamers.

For me, TS2010 was the last version I will ever buy. I am definitely not going to buy (or even try the free beta) of multiplayer, because I don't trust their infrastructure, and I am not really a fan of multi-player games anyway.

FW

 

[Thegoldenarrow1995]

Well Im getting sick of this too!
want another good example? RAILWORKS! a hell of alot better for this kinda thing! please NV3 or whatever, get this sorted!

 

[Euphod]

I'm wondering what is going to happen when (if) the multi-player version is released.

I think anyone that is considering the multi option should think long and hard about the whole weekend downtime issue. I'm pretty sure different servers would be involved...but... I wouldn't want to assume things are going to turn out any differently!

I wonder if the Fury players ran into problems, and if a comparison is even applicable?

 

[hyper_kameo]

I'm wondering what is going to happen when (if) the multi-player version is released. Will they (N3V or Auran) have the server capacity to provide a good game playing experience, or is that going to generate a whole new round of problems, and aggravations, frustrations, etc for gamers.

For me, TS2010 was the last version I will ever buy. I am definitely not going to buy (or even try the free beta) of multiplayer, because I don't trust their infrastructure, and I am not really a fan of multi-player games anyway.

FW

I thought the same thing when i read about that. Why create another platform of this game when you cant delivery this one!!!

Citys Xl promised soooooo much before the game was released with online fuctions and it fell flat on its arse because it couldnt deliver and went broke..

create a trainz 2011 base model release and stop changing the files and the way the game runs.

Everything created from trainz1 to 2009 should work in 2010-2011 with out problem... the files are all created the same way and shouldn't need the creators to update it. which is the problem i am having now... files wont work in 2010 or are missing ... but worked in 2009

 

[paulhobbs]

Well Im getting sick of this too!
want another good example? RAILWORKS! a hell of alot better for this kinda thing! please NV3 or whatever, get this sorted!

Then go and use RailWorks.

The DLS is working fine here and has been all day. Maybe you should all move to a country that doesn't use sticky tape to join network cables together.

Paul

 

[Patrickc26]

FTP mirrors can get setup within a few hours. It's common practise that you usually provide mirrors, in case one server goes down or to enable the admin to do maintenance on an offline server while the mirror is still up. I doubt the hosting company is at fault here, because that would involve routing issues that would affect everyone.

If they cannot afford the necessary infrastructure to conduct business then they shouldn't be in business. Over the past 20 years, I have heard all sorts of excuses, especially from small gaming companies, that they don't have money and staff, poor QA testing, but if you care to look at the various flight sim add-on vendors, most of them operate near-flawlessy without additional charges and volunteers (avsim.com, flightsim.com, etc.) and often even as a one-man team (fs2crew.com) and I never had a problem with any of them. Even on the weekends, they scan the forums and answer questions and are truly helpful, whereas this forum and the Auran/whatever is it called now customer service is just mute.

From Wikipedia it seems that Auran went through the transition in 2007, yet everything is still branded as "Auran" and the N3V games website currently only a badly laid out game store that merely forwards to Auran.

Oh well, I wait another few days and then it's a call to my CC company for a refund and concentrate on Rail Simulator 2 again. Glitches can and do happen, but from reading the posts in here, this has been an ongoing issue for quite some time that noone cares to address.

-Patrick

 

[revans]

They can not make game that you can download content from old versions but no you have to spend several hours trying to figure out how to repair the contents or errors. so when people do not have the computer skill to how to repair or fixes errors that becomes a problem so i guest the game makers do not think they care about people and their level of skills on having to repair contents or errors that is my biggest problem so you have to post something to get help and then it becomes a big headache trying to fix the problem or you have go searching all over the place for missing dependence and you no wear to find what you need

 

[cascaderailroad]

Count your blessings ... without Auran we would be playing wii and pong.:hehe:
PacMan, Missle Command, Frogger, Mario Bros.

 

[paulhobbs]

They can not make game that you can download content from old versions but no you have to spend several hours trying to figure out how to repair the contents or errors. so when people do not have the computer skill to how to repair or fixes errors that becomes a problem so i guest the game makers do not think they care about people and their level of skills on having to repair contents or errors that is my biggest problem so you have to post something to get help and then it becomes a big headache trying to fix the problem or you have go searching all over the place for missing dependence and you no wear to find what you need

Punctuation helps people to read your posts, but as this seems to be a dying art I'll let you off this time.

Still, I struggled through it and you are wrong that they do not care. If they don't care why are the DLS assets are being repaired as I write this?

Paul