Can you guess the next key feature for Trainz?

[raptorball]

Rail Systems with greater reality,with close to true systems and encounters.

 

[Diesel_Power]

here's my feature/request list, with no specific order:

- dem importer tools (using built-in textures to paint ground, or something (remember trainz 3rd party tool HOG )?
- animated signals (not using KlausM scripts), but also a Built-in capable tools for making mechanical, semaphore 2 and 3 aspect, multiple animations, etc
- dynamic lights and shadows (spot, glow, emitters, lamps, bulbs, poles, realistic yard lights, etc)
- editable/ajustable dynamic lights (and head/tail lights): range, lumens (lm), diameter, focus, power/intensity, color, direction)
- realistic / functional buffers (animated buffer springs, or something), aka shock absorvers...
- realistic wipers/ rain on windows/glasses (look at the competition rail simulator)
- realistic kicking effect (tensions/springs) on vehicles collision at small speeds (shunting, coupling etc)
- generic/environment audio effect (like on the other rail sim) where passing under bridges and tunnels the sound of train have "3D/surround/dolby effect"
- better sound track effects (look at BVE simulator: tracksounds), or, per axle sounds, etc
- better movement of AI passengers: walking to doors, looking for paths on platforms to enter/exit train doors, and train stations, standing from benches and getting to train door
- reflective material, to add to signals (principle mechanical/static/semaphore, etc), so that only react/glow/work when train headlights collide them.
- other reflective material (?), to make side-mirrors truelly and visually functional, not "simulated with texture".
(This could be used also in windows, to reflect real world/inside carriages/coaches at night, etc)

 

[JCitron]

I'm not sure if you have done any beta testing for Trainz, but I have and I'll explain what happens and expected?

When I was in the very first beta testing for Trainz, Auran had an internal set of beta testers and an external set of beta testers, I was part of the external beta testers. Anyone that is an external beta tester shouldn't expect to be testing every little thing as the internal beta testers are testing the main parts of the program and the external testers are more to test on all sorts of computer systems and parts and test that parts are working properly.

You would do a list of things to test in the beta (to run though over 5 to 10 times) and if you didn't do the tests you generally would end up left out for the next round of tests. Also if the beta testers can offer any sort of added things that should be added that people would expect then you should put those in as well.

You'd log into 2 separate places 1 for bug test forum and 2 a beta download/test list place.

Testers are expected to test everything for example all the menu's all the content does in fact load up etc. of course some people aren't going to load up say all 500 items and so either say they didn't test everything or lie about testing stuff.

The beta downloads can't work like you say because they run from a dev version of Trainz and you have a Stable release version of Trainz, the Dev version can be many versions beyond the current stable version so you can't really go from the current stable dev to a beta version.

For example the versions I tested of Trainz and I still have some of the Dev/Beta releases, is 0.38, 0.48, 0.52, 0.58, 0.78, 0.81 and some more as you can tell these are before the first stable release of Trainz many years ago.

As for the content sometimes it can be tested and sometimes it can't for example kickstarter country can be officially beta tested but the C&O TANE content won't be as it's 3rd party content sometimes it's added in for testing but not always.

Generally only expect stuff made officially to be tested not everything.

This is what we did in the early phase of T:ANE testing and now later as part of the Trainz Dev team.

Trainz Dev members are given test versions which we put through the paces sometimes just to check for specific issues while others are to put through the full paces. In the latter case, some of us will load up a duplicate copy of our databases of all content. This may take some time for prepping, but once the database is replicated, we now have a full set of test data which can then be kept up-to-date easily. With a full dataset, we've been able to test some of the bigger issues which came up just prior to the public beta, though a lot of things weren't fixed for SP1. Perhaps this was choice on the developers part since they were broken things, but not the severe crashes which was a bigger issue. The next service pack maybe one that will hit on these other issues which still plague us.

John

 

[jenx]

One thing no one has suggested is that manually driving a train through complex junctions is almost impossible which is why I stick to AI. Could we not have a half-in-half system where the route is selected by AI commands but the train is driven manually?

 

[airtime]

Hello to all, I have two features I would like to see...

The first feature I would like to see is compatibility between Trainz and Tane, your own made up routes in Trainz 2010 cannot be imported into TANE, they just show up as blank baseboards in TANE. This does need to be fixed as it may encourage others to jump to Tane from older versions of Trainz.

The other feature I would like to see is a choice of HUD, between Trainz 2004/2006 HUD or THE NEW TANE HUD, you can choose which HUD and on screen display suits you, some trainzers have grown up with the old Trainz 2004/2006 HUD and believe the new look Tane looks too clean with everything hidden away, mainly the camera angles.

All the best to one and all.

Joe Airtime

 

[TRam__]

reflective material, to add to signals (principle mechanical/static/semaphore, etc), so that only react/glow/work when train headlights collide them.

Specular from train headlight already exist in TANE...

 

[martinvk]

Hello to all, I have two features I would like to see...

The first feature I would like to see is compatibility between Trainz and Tane, your own made up routes in Trainz 2010 cannot be imported into TANE, they just show up as blank baseboards in TANE. This does need to be fixed as it may encourage others to jump to Tane from older versions of Trainz.

Already does that. I've imported several of my own older routes, from both TRS2014 and TS12 with only minor issues.

The other feature I would like to see is a choice of HUD, between Trainz 2004/2006 HUD or THE NEW TANE HUD, you can choose which HUD and on screen display suits you, some trainzers have grown up with the old Trainz 2004/2006 HUD and believe the new look Tane looks too clean with everything hidden away, mainly the camera angles.

All the best to one and all.

Joe Airtime

What do YOU mean by HUD? The HUD or Heads Up Display in the upper right corner of the screen is user selectable. Just pick the one you want. As for the whole screen, that has been like this for several versions already.

 

[train20]

ai train drivers sounding the horn at crossings.

 

[martinvk]

ai train drivers sounding the horn at crossings.

I thought triggers did that already?

 

[Diesel_Power]

Other suggestion: traction motor sounds for diesel locomotives. Why ? because at full trottle (lever in cab etc), diesel motor engine is at maximum rpm, but traction motors are ramping up in sound/pitch etc (as locomotive speed also ramps up)... This could be using "electric sounds" simultaneously with the "engine diesel sound". Or something scrippted when traction sounds plays relatively to amp value... (sorry bad english).

 

[radio-man]

I want my RailDriver back!

 

[pware]

I want my RailDriver back!

As already posted in another thread

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...ver-and-FreeIntcam-when&p=1487073#post1487073

It has never been a question of whether it's a good idea or whether it will make a group of customers happy. It is about prioritising things that need to be done. I have said previously our overriding goal has been to ensure Tane was better than previous versions (which everyone benefits from) then addressing specific areas within the program that either need fixing if not working correctly or implemented if they don't exist already. As one of the later examples rail driver will be supported in one of the coming updates.

Bold emphasis is mine.

 

[itareus]

Let's not forget the list of enhancements that were 'democratically' voted for during the Kickstarter campaign. Are the contributions supporters made worthless now? I doubt they will be ignored.

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

Let's not forget the list of enhancements that were 'democratically' voted for during the Kickstarter campaign. Are the contributions supporters made worthless now? I doubt they will be ignored.

It is true there was a democratic vote that took place in the Kickstarter campaign. There was also a financial requirement attached to each feature. The four features that were funded were implemented and improvements of those features will be part of our ongoing updates such as a couple of fairly significant updates to Interlocking Towers that will be in the next TANE update.

• Decoupling any train can cause it to be added to an Interlocking Tower path
• Interlocking Towers> Add the concept of conjoint paths, where a path exit signal is also used as an entry signal to another path. Specifically:
  • Lead-in conjoint paths will never alter the state of the exit signal
  • Lead-in conjoint paths will show the exit signal state as "Automatic" in the edit helper, not allow it to be edited and show a special tooltip
  • Conjoint paths will not treat each other’s entry and exit signals as conflicting

Stretch goals are shown in a campaign to incentivise people to increase their funding. In our case these extra goals were not funded, and like pretty much every other Kickstarter, only the funded elements are implemented.

That said, Trainz is different as it is an ongoing development that will never be finished (since there is always something that could be improved upon, added to, or introduced). We recognize the input from everyone's votes and we will be implementing pretty much all of those Stretch Goal features over time as we get the required funding and resources to do so.

 

[amigacooke]

No, I didn't guess in my worst nightmares what was coming.

 

[llebrez]

This is not something new I would like to see. It is something that should have been fixed long ago: Eliminate the feature that returns the points to the state they were before the consist passes over. As it is now, oftentimes the last car derails. I fixed this problem by moving the points away from the frogs, but that is a temporary fix. Next time you do a DBR, some of the points return to what they should be and again you get derailments. So hard to fix?

 

[KingConrail76]

... and would remind people that you should keep your response on topic - we are looking specifically for the ONE KEY FEATURE that you think would make all Trainz fans excited about the upcoming product.
(Some of the posts not moved barely meet this requirement, but they were posted before we added this additional information so they get to stay in this thread).

I would like to see you finish one version of the PC game (your bread and butter) before moving on to the "next" great thing.

TS2010 -Culmination of all previously un-fixed and un-finished versions. Abandoned for TS12.

TS12 - The all new Trainz , still left unfinished. Abandoned for Tane.

Trainz: A New Error (Tane), Woefully over-promised, woefully under-delivered, over a year LATE, and now already planned for Obsoleting.

I've spent way too much money on Software and Upgrades for the previous and current versions, which you systematically have been making unusable, to even begin to consider spending another penny on "the next great thing", unless, of course, that is a Class Action Attorney.

 

[pware]

I would like to see you finish one version of the PC game (your bread and butter) before moving on to the "next" great thing.

You could say exactly the same thing about Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, all the Office releases, and that is only a listing of Microsoft products.

 

[JCitron]

You could say exactly the same thing about Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, all the Office releases, and that is only a listing of Microsoft products.

Or worse... Those current offerings by Adobe which cost a lot more and are now subscription-only. Illustrator for example is still just as broken as it was 20 years ago when it came out. It still crashes on memory problems, still awkward, still...

 

[Saieditor]

Or worse... Those current offerings by Adobe which cost a lot more and are now subscription-only. Illustrator for example is still just as broken as it was 20 years ago when it came out. It still crashes on memory problems, still awkward, still...

That's why I stayed with CorelDraw 7.