nathanmallard
Well-known member
Hi all,
In the last couple of months I've been a tad disturbed at the additional focus N3V have been putting on their DLC. They are ads and promotions all over the place, even appearing in the main menu of TS2010 despite the fact said DLC won't work in versions below SP1! Now, the question is, why should I be disturbed?
Now, I also play TS2015. It's a decent sim, the two big downsides compared to Trainz are 1. the sorry excuse it has for a "surveyor" and 2. is of course Steam's DLC system. Steam have effectively monopolised all content creation, even people and groups independent and separate from Steam seem to have been coerced in to selling there wares through there shop. This brings me on to my first major gripe with this, in that I'm not sure that all that money spent goes back to the creators in question. I wouldn't have imagined that Steam would have recruited content creators without there being some sort of financial benefit for them, whilst with the common "Trainz system" of payware all the sites are completely non-affiliated with N3V so all the money you spend goes to the creator who deserves it. My second gripe with the Steam DLC system is that it's bloody expensive. I remember reading that the total value of all the DLC was somewhere around $2000 US Dollars, about £1700. Although obviously you won't buy everything, to get everything I would want personally I think I would have to spend in the region of £300-£400. And that, quite frankly, for a computer game, is ridiculous. They've got a "Workshop" now where you can download scenarios and routes for free, but of course they require payware packs for dependencies so really it's just another incentive for you to keep lining Steam's pockets. Anyway, enough ranting about Railworks, back to N3V.
With T:ANE, life is becoming increasingly difficult for creators. Stuff like LOD which requires a lot of messing about is now required in the latest built for example. I've noticed freeware creators have not been as active recently, jayholland and Skipper1945 to name just two examples. I can't help wondering if that has something to do with T:ANE and the new restrictions on uploading to the DLS. Combined with the increase in DLC promotion, it looks increasingly like N3V is using T:ANE as an excuse to "do a Steam" and monopolise content creation for themselves. I sincerely hope they are not doing this, as one of the major attractions of Trainz is the vast and ever growing range of free (free!) content available, something that is becoming increasingly rare in the simulation, and indeed gaming, world. I would urge N3V to take a step back from content creation, and update the Trainz Wiki page so new and potential creators (like me!) have somewhere to find tutorials, tips and guides, and also publicise the free, community-developed content just as much, if not more, than the official DLC as I suspect the promise of free content will draw people away from other sims such as Railworks and Run8. Basically, if Trainz adopted a Steam-like DLC system N3V would be shooting themselves in the foot.
Finally, I would also like to suggest that N3V allow people to upload content for ALL build numbers on the DLS, so that the TS2006/04/09 holdouts can continue to contribute should they wish to, and perhaps add a link to the DLS on the T:ANE Main Menu if they haven't already (I don't have T:ANE yet, I don't know!).
In the last couple of months I've been a tad disturbed at the additional focus N3V have been putting on their DLC. They are ads and promotions all over the place, even appearing in the main menu of TS2010 despite the fact said DLC won't work in versions below SP1! Now, the question is, why should I be disturbed?
Now, I also play TS2015. It's a decent sim, the two big downsides compared to Trainz are 1. the sorry excuse it has for a "surveyor" and 2. is of course Steam's DLC system. Steam have effectively monopolised all content creation, even people and groups independent and separate from Steam seem to have been coerced in to selling there wares through there shop. This brings me on to my first major gripe with this, in that I'm not sure that all that money spent goes back to the creators in question. I wouldn't have imagined that Steam would have recruited content creators without there being some sort of financial benefit for them, whilst with the common "Trainz system" of payware all the sites are completely non-affiliated with N3V so all the money you spend goes to the creator who deserves it. My second gripe with the Steam DLC system is that it's bloody expensive. I remember reading that the total value of all the DLC was somewhere around $2000 US Dollars, about £1700. Although obviously you won't buy everything, to get everything I would want personally I think I would have to spend in the region of £300-£400. And that, quite frankly, for a computer game, is ridiculous. They've got a "Workshop" now where you can download scenarios and routes for free, but of course they require payware packs for dependencies so really it's just another incentive for you to keep lining Steam's pockets. Anyway, enough ranting about Railworks, back to N3V.
With T:ANE, life is becoming increasingly difficult for creators. Stuff like LOD which requires a lot of messing about is now required in the latest built for example. I've noticed freeware creators have not been as active recently, jayholland and Skipper1945 to name just two examples. I can't help wondering if that has something to do with T:ANE and the new restrictions on uploading to the DLS. Combined with the increase in DLC promotion, it looks increasingly like N3V is using T:ANE as an excuse to "do a Steam" and monopolise content creation for themselves. I sincerely hope they are not doing this, as one of the major attractions of Trainz is the vast and ever growing range of free (free!) content available, something that is becoming increasingly rare in the simulation, and indeed gaming, world. I would urge N3V to take a step back from content creation, and update the Trainz Wiki page so new and potential creators (like me!) have somewhere to find tutorials, tips and guides, and also publicise the free, community-developed content just as much, if not more, than the official DLC as I suspect the promise of free content will draw people away from other sims such as Railworks and Run8. Basically, if Trainz adopted a Steam-like DLC system N3V would be shooting themselves in the foot.
Finally, I would also like to suggest that N3V allow people to upload content for ALL build numbers on the DLS, so that the TS2006/04/09 holdouts can continue to contribute should they wish to, and perhaps add a link to the DLS on the T:ANE Main Menu if they haven't already (I don't have T:ANE yet, I don't know!).