I Finally Erased RailWorks

[JCitron]

Guys, guys! Calm down! I have both Trainz and Train simulator 2013, I love both and play both! I dont see whats wrong with having 2 train sims to get some fun out of... A train simulator is a train simulator.. It only simulates like what the real thing would be like... The only way to get to experience realism of railroading is too drive a real train... When you have driven a real train under real conditions, then you can come back and say what sim is more realistic, untill then, they are both fun to play and both are very enjoyable...

Well said, Chris.

So your hard drive hasn't barfed yet having both sims loaded.

I've said this before. Load both, who cares, as long as your happy. No one will come to your house and take your computer or train simulators away, at least not yet.

John

 

[Enzo1]

Well said, Chris.

So your hard drive hasn't barfed yet having both sims loaded.

I've said this before. Load both, who cares, as long as your happy. No one will come to your house and take your computer or train simulators away, at least not yet.

John

Not yet, waiting for the day it finally decides to take that final crap... That day will be such a sad one too LOL! HDD has been working hard for 5 years now.. I recently got a new graphics card to replace my 9600GT which was 4 years old and worked great without any issues... Now have an NIVIDA 9800GT... Only issue with RW is its complicated to find your installed payware and to make a video of it.. I use Bandicam and for some reason it goes from running 40-50FPS to a crappy 7 FPS... So I have yet to figure that one out.. Other than that I play both at least one hour everyday and enjoy both, as both really have great communities! I am quite the train fan, so if I could find one, next up would be MSTS and I would be all set... But I am not sure if my 5-6 year old computer can handle all 3... And for you: You keep on having fun as well whether it be in Trainz, Railworks, or MSTS! Just kick back, relax, and run some trains, and enjoy life like you were running the railroads of your dreams!
Happy New years!
And as always! Have fun!
Chris/Enzo1

 

[JCitron]

Not yet, waiting for the day it finally decides to take that final crap... That day will be such a sad one too LOL! HDD has been working hard for 5 years now.. I recently got a new graphics card to replace my 9600GT which was 4 years old and worked great without any issues... Now have an NIVIDA 9800GT... Only issue with RW is its complicated to find your installed payware and to make a video of it.. I use Bandicam and for some reason it goes from running 40-50FPS to a crappy 7 FPS... So I have yet to figure that one out.. Other than that I play both at least one hour everyday and enjoy both, as both really have great communities! I am quite the train fan, so if I could find one, next up would be MSTS and I would be all set... But I am not sure if my 5-6 year old computer can handle all 3... And for you: You keep on having fun as well whether it be in Trainz, Railworks, or MSTS! Just kick back, relax, and run some trains, and enjoy life like you were running the railroads of your dreams!
Happy New years!
And as always! Have fun!
Chris/Enzo1

MSTS should run fine on that hardware. That was 2000 era technology, or about the time of the earliest Trainz version. Finding an active MSTS community might be difficult. When Microsoft had theirs, I was quite active in their forum. In the end, it became a spam haven. Shortly after that, the forum closed down.

Those are great video cards, although now getting a bit worn out now with the heavier and more demanding graphics. This would explain Bandi-Cam killing the FPS on you. There just isn't enough bandwidth between the software and drawing the video. I saw this with Fraps and an old video card I had. I'd load Fraps and my system would die. After I upgraded to my much later, and much better ATI 6950, both ran well together. Today with the GTX680, things are even better - not even a twitch.

I keep hard drives like that too. My old Sun Ultra 10 has a 20GB drive in it that's now going on 12 years old. It still works fine, and will continue to do so until it doesn't. There's no compelling reason to upgrade, so I won't. The problem though really is replacement. The old system doesn't handle anything bigger unless I figure out how to upgrade the BIOS, or whatever they call it in that system. My other systems, not my Trainz computer, have really fast SCSI 9GB drives in them. These were expensive drives when new, so I've sure gotten my money's worth out of them. I only repace a drive when it starts giving me trouble, or starts making weird noises. I did lose a 500MB drive, but that one was already 18 years old when that one died. It was in a proprietary system that ran special software. I had a complete backup, which I made by taking the drive out and connecting it to another system. The complete contents fit on a CD. This system is still operational today, albeit with a 1.2GB drive instead.

I agree. Run whatever you want, and enjoy every minute of it. There's no one saying you can't. And all of this has to be fun. When none of this is fun, it ain't worth doing anymore. I too am avid railfan, having chased trains since I was 3 years old when my dad brought me over to the fence across the street from where we lived at the time to watch the trains. Today the very active rail line is better than ever, and hosts the Downeaster and a bunch of commuter trains.

John

 

[hminky]

Finding an active MSTS community might be difficult.

UKTS and TrainSim both have very active communities.

MSTS is still a popular sim. I play it all the time as I do Trainz and Railworks.

They are all fun.

Harold

 

[Enzo1]

MSTS should run fine on that hardware. That was 2000 era technology, or about the time of the earliest Trainz version. Finding an active MSTS community might be difficult. When Microsoft had theirs, I was quite active in their forum. In the end, it became a spam haven. Shortly after that, the forum closed down.

Those are great video cards, although now getting a bit worn out now with the heavier and more demanding graphics. This would explain Bandi-Cam killing the FPS on you. There just isn't enough bandwidth between the software and drawing the video. I saw this with Fraps and an old video card I had. I'd load Fraps and my system would die. After I upgraded to my much later, and much better ATI 6950, both ran well together. Today with the GTX680, things are even better - not even a twitch.

I keep hard drives like that too. My old Sun Ultra 10 has a 20GB drive in it that's now going on 12 years old. It still works fine, and will continue to do so until it doesn't. There's no compelling reason to upgrade, so I won't. The problem though really is replacement. The old system doesn't handle anything bigger unless I figure out how to upgrade the BIOS, or whatever they call it in that system. My other systems, not my Trainz computer, have really fast SCSI 9GB drives in them. These were expensive drives when new, so I've sure gotten my money's worth out of them. I only repace a drive when it starts giving me trouble, or starts making weird noises. I did lose a 500MB drive, but that one was already 18 years old when that one died. It was in a proprietary system that ran special software. I had a complete backup, which I made by taking the drive out and connecting it to another system. The complete contents fit on a CD. This system is still operational today, albeit with a 1.2GB drive instead.

I agree. Run whatever you want, and enjoy every minute of it. There's no one saying you can't. And all of this has to be fun. When none of this is fun, it ain't worth doing anymore. I too am avid railfan, having chased trains since I was 3 years old when my dad brought me over to the fence across the street from where we lived at the time to watch the trains. Today the very active rail line is better than ever, and hosts the Downeaster and a bunch of commuter trains.

John

Back in my TS 2010 days, that 9600GT made running TS 2010 look easy, but just to show, for 12 it was pretty crappy... But the poor thing only had 512 MB of actual memory for it... Now this one has 1GB, so it runs a lot better, though still a bit on the laggy side in some places, but not the weird graphic glitches that let me know that I was using waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many 3D trees..... But now it makes running M-HKNP's and M-NPHK's across Sherman hill alot easier, and running BNSF GEVOspams across the clovis sub back to the fun stuff it was in my 2010 days! Heck I even get 10-13 FPS on Mojave now! (Now I just need to get the money to replace that PSU thats also 5-6 years old) You know, Vista maybe a crappy OS at times, but it has not given me that many issues really... Now that meh buddy Montanawestren is building Rosebud Coal, a route based off of track action in the Powder River Basin, I will be right at home... Now theres 3 things I love all working together: AC traction motors, True locomotives doing what they do best, and notch 8 locomotives with a mile long fully loaded coal train climbing up a 1.5% grade at awesomely slow speeds... Good luck getting me off of that... (I love Coal trains, it does not matter what locomotive is doing it, as long as it is a mile long, fully loaded, in notch 8, climbing up a 1.5% grade at awesomely slow speeds)... What ashame, I live in the next state over from it, and I have not yet seen the wonders! If we took a trip over there, my parents might not get me to come home LOL!

 

[JCitron]

Back in my TS 2010 days, that 9600GT made running TS 2010 look easy, but just to show, for 12 it was pretty crappy... But the poor thing only had 512 MB of actual memory for it... Now this one has 1GB, so it runs a lot better, though still a bit on the laggy side in some places, but not the weird graphic glitches that let me know that I was using waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many 3D trees..... But now it makes running M-HKNP's and M-NPHK's across Sherman hill alot easier, and running BNSF GEVOspams across the clovis sub back to the fun stuff it was in my 2010 days! Heck I even get 10-13 FPS on Mojave now! (Now I just need to get the money to replace that PSU thats also 5-6 years old) You know, Vista maybe a crappy OS at times, but it has not given me that many issues really... Now that meh buddy Montanawestren is building Rosebud Coal, a route based off of track action in the Powder River Basin, I will be right at home... Now theres 3 things I love all working together: AC traction motors, True locomotives doing what they do best, and notch 8 locomotives with a mile long fully loaded coal train climbing up a 1.5% grade at awesomely slow speeds... Good luck getting me off of that... (I love Coal trains, it does not matter what locomotive is doing it, as long as it is a mile long, fully loaded, in notch 8, climbing up a 1.5% grade at awesomely slow speeds)... What ashame, I live in the next state over from it, and I have not yet seen the wonders! If we took a trip over there, my parents might not get me to come home LOL!

It's interesting you say that about Vista. I too didn't have any problems with it like a lot of people did, and i was a beta tester with Microsoft on the OS. I was a real beta tester, and not one of the script kiddies that got a copy for free. In the end I got a free copy of Vista Ultimate and a copy of Virtual PC 2007 which I still use under Win 7 for VMs. Your newer video card should work fine for some time. Remember to keep that system cool though. Those cards run pretty hot, but not as hot as the GTX4xx series do. I have an unused (well almost) GTX480 if you want it.

That will be an interesting route. I've seen the Powder River coal trains in action in and around Gillette, Wy and up through Forsyth, MT. It's quite a site seeing mile-plus long loaded coal trains being pulled by a string of BNSF traction units. I have a couple pictures I took somewhere in Montana on my way from Devil's Tower, Wy to Billings, MT where we stayed the second night. I'll post them up in the prototype forum.

Anyway, back on topic, LOL. This is what all train simulators are about - running trains and enjoying every minute of it. Now if a certain person, no name mentioned here, gets his hackles in a ruffle again, I don't know what to say! I can understand Dick's frustrations, though. When something doesn't live up to the expectations laid out by the company, is it worth the aggrevation? This is really only a game (Oh no, I said it again!), isn't it? Something for enjoyment and not for work. To be honest I've used plenty of annoying applications at my job, and don't need another one when I'm at home trying to have fun.

John

 

[boyerm25]

Not bashing you, but a Pentium D...say no more. I do have a machine here in the house with a Pentium D. i would not attempt to run trainz on it, and if i did, i would not expect it to run well. i personally wouldnt look any further than this. doesnt matter if it is dual core it is one of the first. it is way outdated (05-06) and meeting or barely surpassing minimum specs with it does not mean the game should run fine.

Gee, If you're bashing that, I should probably upgrade my Pentium 4 machine I have TS12 on

 

[Enzo1]

I have an unused (well almost) GTX480 if you want it.

That will be an interesting route. I've seen the Powder River coal trains in action in and around Gillette, Wy and up through Forsyth, MT. It's quite a site seeing mile-plus long loaded coal trains being pulled by a string of BNSF traction units. I have a couple pictures I took somewhere in Montana on my way from Devil's Tower, Wy to Billings, MT where we stayed the second night. I'll post them up in the prototype forum.

Anyway, back on topic, LOL. This is what all train simulators are about - running trains and enjoying every minute of it. Now if a certain person, no name mentioned here, gets his hackles in a ruffle again, I don't know what to say! I can understand Dick's frustrations, though. When something doesn't live up to the expectations laid out by the company, is it worth the aggrevation? This is really only a game (Oh no, I said it again!), isn't it? Something for enjoyment and not for work. To be honest I've used plenty of annoying applications at my job, and don't need another one when I'm at home trying to have fun.

John

No! My computer is too old to even handle that card lol! As far as the Powder River basin: I cant wait myself! As I am helping with the route as you see up under my username I am the terrain artist for it!
As far as the topic goes: I have been caught up in the fanboy stuff before, and the only person that gets made a fool is yourself, been there, done that, and been made look like an idiot lol... Guys, Its all reallly fun for us! As John said, it is something for enjoyment and not work! Not for arguing which sim is better, cuz in my opinion they are all great in there own way! If something dont live up to your expectation, then just do what I do, which is not play it... Its that simple! Now only if life could be that simple! So remember how easy that factor about games is!

 

[raildumper]

If you are such a Railworks aficionado, then why don't you explain to the rest of us why you choose to hang out on a Trainz forum. Either you are a rather stupid person and can't figure out that you are in the wrong place, or you are just trying to stir up hate and discontent. My vote is for both of the options that I have just offered.

I did not start this thread. What is the need of starting a thread "I finally erased Railworks" ? Who cares what he does ? Why do you post here on a Trainz forum your opinions about Railworks, if you're such a Trainz fan ? Who is the stupid one here ? Who is trying to stir up hate against anything not Trainz ? I hang out on this forum because i play both games, and because i'm free to hang out where i want to, that simple. I would not post here anything about Railworks if i were just a Trainz aficionado (fanatic).
There have been lots of Railworks vs. Trainz threads here, all have been locked because it leads to nowhere.
Trainz is not that bad, but get your facts straight man, both are train games, simulating more or less train operations. You can enjoy Trainz with it's easyness to setup tasks, or enjoy Railworks with it's graphics, more realistic tracks or the easy way to import DEM based terrain. So what's wrong about that? Enjoy what you have, and forget about what you don't have/don't like/can't handle/don't have a clue about.

 

[Vern]

Going up a 3% grade at 1 notch of throttle all depends on the creator of that locomotive. There are setups for it, just like in Trainz. My idea idea of a kids game is : unrealistic looking turnouts, unrealistic curves and unrealistic flat graphics.

The reason for that became apparent after discussion of the new Alco at TS.com. Apparently, if you start a scenario light engine and couple to a train, RW doesn't recalculate the rolling resistance so you are effectively still running light engine. Start coupled to the train and the whole rolling resistance will be taken into account, so performance is more as you expect. RW in that respect is still more suited to commuter or high speed rail operations where train mass and rolling resistance is much less of an issue.

However Trainz doesn't get off scot free either, in the physics department. Why after nearly 11 years is there still only the old style set and lap braking system? Most modern traction uses stepped or EP brakes, even loco hauled. I have downloaded some DMU's recently which accelerate like a bat out of hell and sustain 60 MPH going uphill in Notch 1 or thereabouts. Ditto braking, aside from the set and lap issue, one German steamer (might have been a TS2010 built in) stopped on a dime with a slight application. Most locos in Trainz still don't consume any fuel which, while it means you don't have to worry about splines mangling at attachment points on coal/water facilities, scores a -1 on the realism factor.

 

[shaneturner12]

Out of interest, does anyone know if RW is available anywhere else apart from Steam? Whilst I'd rather stick with Trainz, it would be interesting as most Steam users probably do not realise what power Valve has over both their games and their accounts, and probably don't know how to use the game without loading up the Steam client.

Shane

 

[Vern]

RW aka TS2013 can be purchased as a DVD-ROM but still needs to be installed via the Steam jacket. All the official DLC is sold through the Steam store so it is irrevocably linked.

 

[shaneturner12]

Just as I thought. Whilst that is the case, I will most certainly not be buying it - whilst I do have a game on Steam, it's only because the retail copy I bought required Steam to play the game.

It's time for people to realise what Steam can do with your account if they feel that something dodgy is being done - they can terminate it without warning, and there is usually no recourse for action either. In addition to this, they can also decide to suspend or terminate the service at any time, with minimal warning.

I've also found that the Steam client also uses a lot of memory whilst in use, which for a demanding game will reduce the resources available for said game.

Whilst I realise that some users may like Steam, this is from both my personal experience, and from the experience of another Trainz user.

This should serve as a warning to check out what abilities a company has that they can use against you before purchasing a game that ties you into the service.

Shane
Shane

 

[Robert2d6]

Just as I thought. Whilst that is the case, I will most certainly not be buying it - whilst I do have a game on Steam, it's only because the retail copy I bought required Steam to play the game.

It's time for people to realise what Steam can do with your account if they feel that something dodgy is being done - they can terminate it without warning, and there is usually no recourse for action either. In addition to this, they can also decide to suspend or terminate the service at any time, with minimal warning.

I've also found that the Steam client also uses a lot of memory whilst in use, which for a demanding game will reduce the resources available for said game.

Whilst I realise that some users may like Steam, this is from both my personal experience, and from the experience of another Trainz user.

This should serve as a warning to check out what abilities a company has that they can use against you before purchasing a game that ties you into the service.

Shane
Shane

It was amusing reading posts on other forums a few months ago from RW12 users trying to figure out how they could keep their computers off-line so that Steam wouldn't put RW13 on their system, without their permission. Most were unsuccessful and many found out that some of their content was made unusable after the installation of RW13. Steam, thanks but no thanks. That was one of the important deciding factors why I chose Trainz last summer, not having to tangle with Steam.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Walking through Walmart on the anal Christmas present scavenger hunt, I spied a Train game (only 2 left @ 19.95).

I picked it up, and put it down ... then walked away. (I can't believe that I actually considered cheating on my true love, Twainz, and actually thought of leaving her for another). I usually get my panties all bunched up in a wad, when ever someone disrespects my mother of all games: Twainz. Screaming at them like they actually insulted my own mother (they deserve such a trashing for doing that).

All through the 1 day before Christmas shopping frenzy, while thoughts of sugarplums, and low end PC's danced in my head (the Train game kept pulling me away from the automotive isle, like a tracktor beam on Star Trek).

I stupidly bought RW (just like I stupidly bought 6 pairs of winter workmans 3X bib overalls just because they were on sale). I no longer work for the RR, and my outside activities include 25 minutes of shoveling snewwwww, at maximum. (It's not like I actually wok all day in the rain, sleet & schnewwww, busting up concrete in sub zero temperatures, or digging ditches in the frozen permafrost).

I returned the bib coveralls, and the RW trainz game is next on Santa's worthless gift returns to the store. (Either that or I buy a $3279 Alienware laptop, or a $2879 Black Ops desktop PC in order to run a "twain down a twack") !

I could buy a 1200 watt PS, and a Nvidia 690 video card, a liquid nitrogen CPU cooling system for an another @ $1200 ... then I could play any ol' Twainz game !

 

[Vern]

I guess it's horses for courses, but IMHO Steam is far less insidious a DRM than the likes of Securom or Starforce which put a root kit on your PC. I love helicopter sims but I won't touch Black Shark due to it used Starforce.

A large mumber of games now have Steam as the jacket, yes there is a risk if you do something stupid like cheat on line they will cancel your account and they do seem to operate outside any sort of consumer legislation, but it has become a necessary evil to play many modern games.

 

[shaneturner12]

Indeed, but it's one of those things of whether people want to accept that evil or not, as quite a few games have retail versions that do not require Steam.

Shane

 

[hminky]

Indeed, but it's one of those things of whether people want to accept that evil or not, as quite a few games have retail versions that do not require Steam.

Shane

If you go to the Steam site there are 4 million people playing on Steam. I guess the people who are afraid of Steam need a thicker tin foil in their hat.

If a game has multi-player it WILL be on Steam.

Harold

 

[shaneturner12]

It would be interesting to find out how many of the 4 million people are actually aware of what they are signing up for, as the details are hidden in Steam's SSA (Steam Subscriber Agreement).

I also feel that game distributors should shoulder some of the responsibility that comes with putting it on Steam, including restrictions on how patches are distributed.

Shane

 

[Robert2d6]

If you go to the Steam site there are 4 million people playing on Steam. I guess the people who are afraid of Steam need a thicker tin foil in their hat.

If a game has multi-player it WILL be on Steam.

Harold

I know of several multiplayer games including Trainz, that don't need Steam, so I don't understand your comment.