Before I waste my money - Trainz learning curve?

[mrmom]

Myself..I jumped in with both feet when I got my first sim back in 2001 Went stright to building a route..And I carryed that same layout over to each new Trainz I bought..There Is a curve but it is only as hard as you want it to be..I dabbled in content creations NOW thats a learning curve, gave up on that...If you get stuck on how to do something there is allways someone here that can help..its your choice weather you want to buy the sim at the end of the day..

mrmom

 

[legia]

Easy and quick or hard, but forever

Instead of giving you meaningless numbers 1 to 10 - It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to start a locomotive and about the same amount of time to get bored driving it.

It took me about 2 years to learn how to construct real life like track, but this is something I can do on and on and I am never tired of.

My point is that things which are easy to do will not keep you going for long. I hope you will join the club of hard core Trainz users.

 

[tomurban]

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!

He may have been referring to the Microsoft Version (MSTS), which was easy to use for just running trains, but extremely difficult if you wanted to do any type of editing.

tomurban

 

[daveinblock4]

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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Just like most artists, I guess. I reckon many of us look on Trainz as being an art form.

 

[JackieG]

I'm going to say a 6. It was very easy for me. I took me 1 year to realize the was a fourm. hehehe

 

[NikkiA]

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.

Indeed. I have several reskins that I've done that fall into this category, due to mapping limitations it's simply impossible to do the reskin perfectly, so despite the fact that there is nothing similar on the DLS, I haven't even considered seeking permission to release them - I just wouldn't feel comfortable (and I also know that there are several other perfectionists that would decry the work as incomplete/bad here on the forums).

 

[Mordin]

I would just like to say it is a learning curve but a very enjoyable learning curve . Always something new to learn in this sim. I'd give it a 2 at first for the basics and then 3 and 5 for the rest ( AI and signals and stuff) but I haven't gone far enough for the rest. .

 

[rackman3]

I can't hold a candle experience-wise to many who have replied, as I'm only a few weeks into my Trainz life. However, it will be a life. I've loving it. Like model railroading, another passion, it seems like it can be as easy or as challenging as you want it to be.

Just one key lesson I want to pass on ... beware of performance. Pay attention to the system requirements. I didn't give that enough attention, started with Trainz 2010, and was faced with hundreds of dollars of PC upgrades to get away from the slow refresh (jerky) display. I solved the problem (for now) by spending $20 on Trainz 2009, with what I'd judge as little loss in features. HOWEVER, if you have a good machine, this should not be a problem for you. Again, pay attention to those system requirements.

 

[johnwhelan]

I can't hold a candle experience-wise to many who have replied, as I'm only a few weeks into my Trainz life. However, it will be a life. I've loving it. Like model railroading, another passion, it seems like it can be as easy or as challenging as you want it to be.

Just one key lesson I want to pass on ... beware of performance. Pay attention to the system requirements. I didn't give that enough attention, started with Trainz 2010, and was faced with hundreds of dollars of PC upgrades to get away from the slow refresh (jerky) display. I solved the problem (for now) by spending $20 on Trainz 2009, with what I'd judge as little loss in features. HOWEVER, if you have a good machine, this should not be a problem for you. Again, pay attention to those system requirements.

Interesting as TS2009 is basically the same engine as TS2010. TS2010 has speedtree but if you don't use them effectively you have TS2009.

TS2010 does have more built in content of a more demanding nature though.

I assume you are running native mode and have the performance settings set to the same values?

Cheerio John

 

[danny5]

Before I waste my money - Trainz learning

There has been mention a few times about downloading,There is over 1'000000 things that can be down loaded and all are free! There are #rd party sites that have almost anything you want that is free. there is also site that have thing for sale that they spent a lot of time making and deserve to be payed for there time and effort.
For a old man i got trainz in 06 took me a while to know what i know but still ask questions here.
you too will love the game as mush as you'll hate it, but can't get rid of it.
Hope you choose TS2010 and see you in multi-player when it come out.

 

[wholbr]

Hi Everybody.
My seven-year-old grandson has been driving the trains on my North Devon route for quite a few months now following a few lessons for me (he absolutely loves it).

At the weekend I started to teach him route building and we built a two baseboard circuit with a branch loop. He was soon laying the track with no problems at all.

We then put a station platform on the Loop, which after laying I deleted and got him to lay it himself. With a bit of help from me he accomplished that and was as proud as punch with himself.

However, putting the buildings on the platform is when it starts to get complicated such as turning the building for alignment and in some cases height adjustment. That bit he was struggling with and we were called down for lunch anyway.

However, I think that demonstrates the typical curve of learning that anyone wishing to create a route themselves will find.

Route building is the best part of Trainz I feel and really makes the hobby

Bill

 

[Papa2x]

I have decided to make the purchase. I think 2010.

So I don't understand computer gibberish, but here is my system. Is it beefy enough?

2 Qaud CPU Q9450 @ 2.66Hz

64 bit Vista

4 Gig of RAM

Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX+

And thank you all for your input!

 

[Retro00064]

I have decided to make the purchase. I think 2010.

So I don't understand computer gibberish, but here is my system. Is it beefy enough?

2 Qaud CPU Q9450 @ 2.66Hz

64 bit Vista

4 Gig of RAM

Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX+

And thank you all for your input!

Looks good to me.

Regards.