Managing without Download Station

[wholbr]

As I said in another thread at the beginning of this week (4 February) I renewed my first class ticket for the download Station. After 24 hours I still could not download anything on the DLS. Checking with Auran regarding my ticket I found a message "pending authorization please check back later". As my credit card had been debited I decided to e-mail the helpdesk at Auran. Some hope, five days later I have had no reply and I still cannot download anything. Despite living in the UK I decided to look up the telephone number for Auran in Queensland but it seems the telephone number registered to them is unobtainable.

The above has left me wondering about the stability of Auran and therefore the future of Trainz. Like me there must be many thousands where Trainz has become a hobby rather than just another interest. There are also the content creators many of who place their creations on the download Station where anybody can freely access their many hours of work.. There is also the payware content creators who somewhat rely on these forums as a contact point for their possible customers and where I have several times found someone who has created just the content that I want. The only problem with the above is that it all relies on the download Station, these forums and the existence of Auran.

However, a week without the download Station has shown me that there are other ways to find content for Trainz without relying on Auran or the DLS. Admittedly you have to search the Internet and dig through many websites to find what you want. But you can find what you want especially payware products. Non-payware is much harder to find and in most cases you are referred back to the download Station to access the content.

The above has set me thinking that surely it would be in someone's good business interest to setup a website to bring all the content creators together. Perhaps a group of content creators could be formed to run such a site to advertise their products in a single setting which would be independent of Auran and easily found by Trainz fans. The setting up of such a site would not be for me as I am now retired after a full working life and only wish to see the continuation of my Trainz hobby whatever happens to its parent company in the future

so what does everybody think is this a good idea or not. Undoubtedly there are probably many problems to be considered, but let's have a discussion to find out if it is viable, practical or just a non-starter

Bill

 

[American_Connections]

Check this out!

Alternative Content Sources

 

[wholbr]

Thanks for that American connections. However I think the thread very much makes the point I was stating. All the content creators have their products listed on various websites which makes finding what the trainz fan wants difficult.

Surely what is needed is something where all the content is listed in groups such as buildings, rolling stock, scenery etc. It could also be listed with the content creators name and where to access the asset if not on that site. From my experience this week the above is badly needed for I feel that many people would soon give up Trainz should anything happen to these forums or the download station.

Undoubtedly for payware creators I would feel the above is essential.

Bill

 

[johnwhelan]

Basically the backup plan would be every one drift over to Trainzpro routes. They've been around a long time and are stable.

Before the reworking of the DLS life was much more difficult as you had to go hunting content on many web sites and sorting out updates was practically impossible.

I understand there are historical reasons lost in the mists of time for why American_Connections content is not available on the DLS and he prefers to promote other sites. I'd just prefer to see his content on the DLS.

Cheerio John