Before I waste my money - Trainz learning curve?

[Papa2x]

Hello, first post here.

The concept of a train simulator has always interested me, but I am not one to sit through hours upon hours of learning to at least get a basic handle on games / simulators. I don't mind if it takes a REALLY LONG time to get deep into these things, but no way can I spend hours just getting the most basic things to work.

Scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the highest level, how difficult to learn is Trainz?

Thanks.... even if you say it is a 10, because at least I will have saved my money.

 

[NikkiA]

Hello, first post here.

The concept of a train simulator has always interested me, but I am not one to sit through hours upon hours of learning to at least get a basic handle on games / simulators. I don't mind if it takes a REALLY LONG time to get deep into these things, but no way can I spend hours just getting the most basic things to work.

Scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the highest level, how difficult to learn is Trainz?

Thanks.... even if you say it is a 10, because at least I will have saved my money.

To do simple stuff, probably 2-3 out of 10, but there is much much more that you can do as you learn the deeper aspects (writing your own sessions, more advanced driving, switching to cab controls rather than dcc controls, making your own assets, making your own routes, etc)

Overall, it's probably a 10/10, but you don't need to jump right into the deep end

 

[LadyWind]

I give it a difficulty of 4. The design of the game is pretty intuitive, I have found.

I also found it is easier to ask questions from the Forum on a case by case basis as issues arise.

 

[Euphod]

Welcome. I wonder what you consider the most basic thing? With Trainz, you can can open a route, place down some cars and an engine, jump in, (or stay out) and run the train with a simple controller as if it were a model railroad. Or you can run it from the controls in your cab.

It gets progressively more difficult from there, once you want to change or build a route, adjust the daylight colors, place industries and portals to emit AI trains, and invisible track for cars and airplanes and blimps and spaceships and naval vessels and dolphins and birds and helicopters.

But it can be a slow and gentle curve, as long as you ask questions and keep your wits and sense of humor about!

It's the easiest of all train simulators for what you can accomplish with it, and the forum folk are friendly.

Good luck!

 

[mezzoprezzo]

All good advice so far!

I’d say 2-3 for learning the basic simple driving and controls.

I’d put it at 3-4 for most of the route building; perhaps a bit higher for some of the more challenging stuff (or what my simple brain considers challenging).

After more than two years I’m still learning, and still haven’t used all of the functionality.

However, that’s a good thing. Any sim which has its possibilities exhausted after a short period isn’t worth a candle.

It’s much more than a sim though, in that you can make your own worlds and tailor them exactly as you want. Alternatively, those with no interest in route building can jump in and start driving around the built-in maps.

Trainz is absorbing, addictive (you have been warned!) and thoroughly creative.

Don’t hesitate. Buy it, learn from others and call for help when required. There are plenty of good humoured folk here, with a huge amount of collective knowledge, skills and ability which they always seem willing to share.

 

[aardvark1]

Now there will be a multitude of posts suggesting which version to buy.

Good luck with that.

Have fun,

 

[tomurban]

TRAINZ is totally flexible. The range of difficulty could be any where from 2 to 10. The choice is yours. Buy it and have fun with it. Learn and experiment at your own pace. If you get stuck along the way, post here and the members will respond.

tomurban

 

[deeelare]

Papa2x,

There are several thousand members that have learned the game !
There are a few who will never learn it !
Purchase the Sim , read the instructions , register , if you have a
problem , search the Forum , or ask on the Forum . I can almost
guarantee you will love it ?
The few who didn't learn , failed to search , read and/or ask and/or
apply the help that was given !!
And , make it a point to thank those that help you !

My thoughts ---,DLR

 

[johnwhelan]

There are five year olds using it. Does that answer your question?

At the other end of the scale content creation can take a lot of specialist expertise.

Cheerio John

 

[cascaderailroad]

It took me 6 months to know that there was a DLS, where you can download all kinza' cool stuffz.

It took me another year to figure out that you could lay your own trackz.:hehe:

It has taken me several years to understand all about tracklaying ... if I had only known there was a manual (and if I had found my lost specticles), I should have read it ... but instead I learned by trial and error ... and now I is a smart fellr' (or versa visa):hehe: .

I could teach you all I know, in side of several weeks time, to months (I have forgotten more, than most will ever know).

If you need a tracklaying tutor, or to teach you the metric system, send me a PM.

 

[Wyonate]

Hello, first post here.

The concept of a train simulator has always interested me, but I am not one to sit through hours upon hours of learning to at least get a basic handle on games / simulators. I don't mind if it takes a REALLY LONG time to get deep into these things, but no way can I spend hours just getting the most basic things to work.

Scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the highest level, how difficult to learn is Trainz?

Thanks.... even if you say it is a 10, because at least I will have saved my money.

I'll just say it kinda has a snowball effect on people. When I first got the simulator back in 06, all I wanted to do was just run trains. So I installed the game/simulator and thats exactly what I did. I probley ran the BNSF Montana Highline route (Maris Pass Approach) 1,000 times before I started getting bored with it and trying different routes. Then I started building my own routes. At one point I had a route that was easily 300 miles of main line, 5 yards, close to 150 industries, and at any given point I was running 25-30 trains continuesly. My opinion.... its probley the easiest game/simulator I've ever dealt with, Hands Down.

 

[schweitzerdude]

I agree with most of the responses. Look at it this way - wouldn't you be bored with (enter whatever) that you totally mastered after a month? That's why I gave up on SimCity4 after several years and have been involved with Trainz for almost 2 years. I'm still a noob but learn something new everytime I use it or visit this forum. And Trainz can be enjoyed at all skill levels, kind of like skiing where every skill level can have fun while learning new things.

 

[flatlander]

It's really not a hard simulator to learn. I've only been using Trainz for 3 months, and I'm hooked. I'd say a 1 to run it in the simplest mode, and 3-4 in a more complex mode.

A copy of Trainz UTC or 2006 can be bought for $10-20. Even though they are not the latest and greatest versions, they will give you the concept and let you get a feel for the product without spending a lot of money. Then if you want to upgrade to Trainz 2010 you'll have a good grasp on how it works.

The Trainz community is hard to beat. If you have a question it probably has been asked already. If you can't find an answer, ask it again and someone will be glad to lend a hand!

 

[meatloaf747]

It can be as simple as a "one" on your scale. As John said, five year old are playing it... Or, you can make it as complicated as a "ten" on your scale if you want too... (creating steam loco's, etc)...

Your question is one of those "how long is a piece of string questions" - Alot also depends on how much grey matter you have between your ears... :hehe:

My advise; if you are going to get TS2010, start with the basic's like going through the drivable tutorials, reading the manual, etc, etc... In other words, learn to crawl before you try to run !!!

If you decide to come on-board, welcome...

Cheers, Mac...

 

[LadyWind]

One dissapointment I found, was that when i first began to play, I always logged into the Trainz chat, but there was NEVER anybody in there. So, I have not even bothered to log in for the last 3 months.

 

[RRSignal]

Just don't buy Trainz from Steam - get it straight from Auran.

 

[Papa2x]

Thanks for all the replies. One of the reasons I asked was because a previous co - worker used to talk about a train sim an awful lot, and he was always saying it had a really steep learning curve... But I am not sure which sim he was using.

Put it this way, early on, I'm not looking for anything harder to play than WoW... Meaning that I would like to be able to get the easiest things figured out without looking at a manual - and then grow from there.

I have never used any type of simulator before, unless you count the Sim City games.

Thanks again!

 

[jakobkh]

I bought TS2010 a little over a week back and have had no real problems with it. In that time I have almost finished my first route (a remake of a model railroad I am working on in real-life), although I need to do the finishing touches such as scenery etc.

During the proces I did encounter questions such as "how do you set the default position of the junctions", "how do you implement signals" and so on, but the community is absolutely amazing. If you post a question, you can be sure to have a reply in less than half a day - even though your (my) novice question must be one the more experienced users have heard about a thousand times.

Since I have only constucted a rather simple route with the most basic signalling etc. I haven't encountered very big problems, and given the community support I will give (that part of) Trainz a difficulty of 2-3 (you will encounter problems, but the community is very likely to help you solve them).

One thing worth mentioning is to buy through Auran (as RRSignal wrote). As I have understood it has something to do with the sercivepacks/updates and so on as well as other things such as DRM on some other copies.

Also note that you have a first class ticket to the download station for a week after you register at Auran. This gives fast and reliable downloads, so make the most of it!

 

[DieselDesires]

Just don't buy Trainz from Steam - get it straight from Auran.

Or get it from Just Trains like I did.

I think it must be the cheapest around at £15.30 with free postage.

Dont pay the higher prices if you're not sure.

My missus hates me cos I spend all my time on it :hehe:

 

[davesnow]

I think most of us "hard-core" users or Trainz will agree on one point. . . It is highly addictive. And there's no cure--- at least none I have found so far after 5 years of playing with it.

If you're into creating your own routes, or if you get into that, be advised that a nice route, say 50-100 miles long, isn't created overnight. It takes weeks and months, and sometimes even years to design and layout a custom route. Of course, that also depends how much of a perfectionist you are. Seems most of us are to one degree or another. I dare say there are some route or content creators out there who are so MUCH of a perfectionist they work and work on a project for months--- then never RELEASE it because they're afraid there will be something wrong with it.

But for what it's worth, I think Trainz is relatively easy to master. And like several others have pointed out, there's a ton of help right here on these forums.

Happy Trainzing! (to coin a phrase that's been used here forever!)

Dave

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