No, I'm saying I would like to see some instructions in the game so I can learn how to use them...
Until that is the case I cannot really say how they compare with building a route elsewhere.A decent UI is everything!
Do we need a new game engine?
- Thread starter johnwhelan
- Start date
No, I'm saying I would like to see some instructions in the game so I can learn how to use them...
Until that is the case I cannot really say how they compare with building a route elsewhere.A decent UI is everything!
No, I'm saying I would like to see some instructions in the game so I can learn how to use them...
A decent UI is everything!
I'm with you on this, Vern. There are a lot of driver commands, session rules, and other things that have no instructions which makes setting them up impossible.
John
No, I'm saying I would like to see some instructions in the game so I can learn how to use them...
A decent UI is everything!
Ok. You make good point about the UI. Personally, I could care less about a UI in favor of a more responsive program. Take a look at MSTS Route Editor. No UI whatsoever, just straight out Windows boxes. In Trainz, buttons and menus are sluggish and unresponsive at times, properties boxes and dialogs are inconsistent - some work with the Return key, some do not. It is most frustrating, to say the least.
If and when N3V decide to overhaul (instead of adding more DLC content and calling it TS14) the program, they should ditch the UI altogether.
Im with you on this one. I find it very frustrating that there is little n the way of documentation and the UI is less than helpful at times. And this without even playing the game. The whole system needs a an overall. I hear the issues relating to the expense of a new engine but come on this one is now what 20 years old? (or close to it). If it meas that it will not be backward ompatable then lets run with it. We need a new up to date interface and some additional features - (like shadows as has already been mentioned). I would prefer a new game from the ground up rather than trying to keep patching something that has a lot of long term errors in it. And yes I want a 64bit version too (but maybe that is asking to much to bring it right up to date).
Other advantages a new game/graphics engine might bring are the ability to automatically ease in and out of curves and apply super-elevation, the lack of which even if only a visual effect is apparent on any main line or indeed most branch lines. I guess much depends on the financial situation at N3V and whether they actually have (or can hire) staff with the ability to code a new graphics engine. They can't be short of an Aus$ or two just look at the purchase history of many forum users over the years and that doesn't include FCT purchases - admittedly I haven't bothered renewing mine yet this year but I've been fairly consistent over the years. Any business plan should include offsetting some of the revenue stream towards future investment and that includes the possibility at some stage the product may need a complete rebirth. Or are they still paying off the deficit from Fury? 
While it may not happen for TS2014, do we really want the same old Jet engine with more baggage bolted on in 2020 assuming N3V are still in business at that time?
While it may not happen for TS2014, do we really want the same old Jet engine with more baggage bolted on in 2020 assuming N3V are still in business at that time?
I don't think it is easy to calculate splines with elevated sides. Also the junctions don't have any super-elevation despite the greater curvature of their trucks.
Though, elevation of cabin / elevation of car body was introduced in TRS2004 or may be TRS2006...
Ease in and out of curves are not property of splines (in terms of mathematics) also. They have continuous first derivative, but the curvature is the second derivative (and can have gaps in splines). Also the second derivative of cubic splines is 0 (zero) in their points, so their local curvature is also zero in their points in any case.
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Well that's why we're talking about a new graphics engine which *can* do it. You need to forget how the current programme necessarily does it, at least the underlying algorithms and start afresh by coding an engine that can do it and all the other things that would be nice. With the exception of MSTS just about every other sim supports super-elevated (canted) track.
Even a non tech type such as myself realizes that there comes a time where you have to move forward and start anew. You can't keep an old car running forever and expect normal usage from it. Maybe it is time for a truly new iteration of Trainz. I know i'd like to see a more intuitive interface, that was one of my biggest disappointments when I first started up TS12, it looked pretty much the same as it did in 2004. Also, the AI is pretty much just as dopey as it was back then. I'd like to be able to get it to go where I want it to go without the myriad of trackmarks, priority marks, commands, paths, and Kentucky Windage that it seems to require currently. Better documentation as well.
Other advantages a new game/graphics engine might bring are the ability to automatically ease in and out of curves and apply super-elevation, the lack of which even if only a visual effect is apparent on any main line or indeed most branch lines. I guess much depends on the financial situation at N3V and whether they actually have (or can hire) staff with the ability to code a new graphics engine. They can't be short of an Aus$ or two just look at the purchase history of many forum users over the years and that doesn't include FCT purchases - admittedly I haven't bothered renewing mine yet this year but I've been fairly consistent over the years. Any business plan should include offsetting some of the revenue stream towards future investment and that includes the possibility at some stage the product may need a complete rebirth. Or are they still paying off the deficit from Fury?
While it may not happen for TS2014, do we really want the same old Jet engine with more baggage bolted on in 2020 assuming N3V are still in business at that time?
Unreal 4 Engine has taken 9 Years to develop.............. 2 and 3 were just pretty heavy tweaks of the original, 4 is a from the ground up job. Now if we could have that Unreal engine or maybe the latest Cryengine, SDK is free for non commercial use by the way.
From a Radio 5 program in the early hours of the morning, quite a few Independent and small game software houses have given up or in a couple of cases gone bankrupt, income is down for the likes of WOW. The cost of developing a new game came up in the discussion backing of a few million dollars was quoted as about average!
I seriously doubt N3V's shareholders and owners are going to take any risks at present with the current abysmal financial state of the planet.
I also doubt that they make much of a profit by the time they have paid for staff salaries, programmers are not cheap, payment to the likes of Jointed rail, Ocemy SirGibby and the S&C crew, for producing the payware, N3V may not get much if anything from that, may just be a publishing platform, cost of premises, rental for the flakey servers, taxes and overheads like electricity etc.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
I don't think the S&C crew are paid, almost certainly not the full crew since some of my items have been included and no payment mentioned.
Cheerio John
And in most cases you wouldn't get there (because, if you are using a map with complicated stations with multiple tracks, you would have too many ways to get the distination, and you wouldn't have time to wait untill your computer finds all paths and compare their length). Or you'll get by the path you don't like (for example to go through cargo train yard instead of passenger platform).
Trackmarks, priority marks and paths created to simplify this problem. They restrict the ways you can get the distination (according to your wishes), so the computer will consume much less time to find the right way for your train.
norfolksouthern37
what's a normal map?
pure speculation
. i am bound by NDA as far as saying what i know.as for game engines like unreal etc etc. these are totally different things than something trainz would require. they could not even hold a candle to what the current engine can do if they were used the same way. they are good for boxed in worlds of a specific size and they make them look pretty (not a shortcoming of the engine mind you, they were made that way, and they do their job well) but that is a whole other ballgame than vast worlds like trainz requires. that kind of thing has to be taken into account when thinking of the engine in terms of what they HAVE done and not so much on making it nice and shiny new graphics like those box engines. now there are some other world engines coming about that would be nice to look at, but they are somewhat behind in the simulation aspect.
i wouldnt worry, one day soon, you will all have what you are looking for.
amigacooke
Well-known member
Well I guess that could mean almost anything from world peace to to a non stuttering TS12.
But I did like what you had to say about Trainz. When I first got into Trainz I just bought it as an alternative to MSTS which, by that stage was starting to look shaky in terms of support. But I discovered I was less interested in running railroads and timetables than I was in making my own little worlds - i.e. routes. When I retired I had enough time to start looking at making other assets for Trainz and then it really got interesting. Plus, I could also use my programming skills. Thanks to Trainz I've learned a whole bunch of new skills such as 3D modelling, image editing, etc.
So, for about an initial $100 investment plus occasional paid upgrades, this is probably been the best investment I have ever made. I've spent more money on tools and utilities to help support content creation than I have on Trainz. Although I do buy DLC and addons to help the company in a small way.
So I will not complain about Trainz performance, although, if it were improved by a new game engine, faster database access, or whatever, then I would be happier.
Cheers