My first message here

imcanadian

New member
Hello I would like to introduce myself to you as this is my first post here. My name is John P. Mackay from Canada (Peterborough, ON). I was thinking about getting a simulator but I am not sure what can I get first before another. I was going to get T: ANE but first must get Trainz Simulator 2012 or 2017 or any other suggestions you will say.

Your help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

John
 
Welcome to the world of Trainz, you will soon become addicted & will be assimilated into the Trainz collective hive. :D

On a more serious note, if you let us know what your computers specs are, we can tell you which version your machine is best suited to.
 
To get T:ANE you need a 64bit PC ... TS12, and all lower Trainz versions will run on a 32 bit PC

Post your PC specs here ... PC make/model, Desktop or Laptop, RAM, Video Card make/model, CPU speed in GHz, Power Supply Wattage

Most low end laptops will have a hard time running 09, 10, 12, and T:ANE

You can still get TRS2006 (although it is unsupported, as are 09, 10, and 12 possibly soon)
You might need a FCT to download from he DLS (a 1 year FCT oftentimes goes on sale every so often)
There is a site called "Can You Run It" that will tell you if your PC is up to spec, if it is not up to par you might have to run Trainz with performance sliders set to low
Trainz is the most demanding video game on the market, as most assets are so high poly

If you get a super duper ROG or MSI laptop Trainz will run great, but still performance sliders can not be run on maximum settings even on $2700 laptops. Although some high end laptops can run Trainz with performance sliders set at fully maximum setting.

If you decide to get a laptop, do not buy it at a BigBox store, as almost all their laptops are pure junk with low end hardware, even the $1200 models are not sufficient ... Buy a Microsoft i7, 64bit ... Apple MAC some times have problems, and even DELL's are overpriced with a fancy color case with low end hardware inside ... Some say Intel CPU's are better than AMD, a great video card will run a couple hundred dollars, and a 980 to 1080 will be very expensive
 
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Hello I would like to introduce myself to you as this is my first post here. My name is John P. Mackay from Canada (Peterborough, ON). I was thinking about getting a simulator but I am not sure what can I get first before another. I was going to get T: ANE but first must get Trainz Simulator 2012 or 2017 or any other suggestions you will say.

Your help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

John

Depends on your interest. TANE is nice but you really need a desktop with a GTX1060 GPU or better. Most content is free. Some do use laptops but for the price desktops offer better performance and can usually be upgraded. TANE requires directx 11 and many older laptops do not support it. With a desktop you can switch the video card or GPU.

So to get a taste on a laptop go TS12 otherwise TANE but it depends on your interest.

Cheerio John
 
Shoot!!I forgot to add my computer specs. in my first message. Anyway here is below:

HP Intel I-7 6700 6th Generation, 3.4 GHz to 4.0 Turbo
16 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM, 2 TB 7200 RPM Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB
Windows 10 64X Home Premium (will upgrade to Professional)
Ultra Slim-tray SuperMulti DVD Burner

Acer 23" LED Monitor

Should I upgrade the graphic card or will Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 with 2 GB should be okay for T: ANE?

Hope that will help you better to see what I have for my computer.

Thank you again,

John
 
Each version is complete and self-contained. There are no prerequisite installations for any particular build.
Most are backwards compatible with assets from previous versions.
Accordingly, I'd recommend going for the latest available version(s) according to your system's type and hardware capabilities.
T:ANE is the best pick for those wanting to simulate both model and comprehensive real-scale railway operations and there's a new Model Railroad-specific simulator available too for those who wish to simulate model railroads only.

Edit Update: Now that I have seen your system specs., it's a no-brainer: Go for T:ANE! It will run well on your current system and even better when you upgrade your GPU to the latest Pascal series. Don't need to upgrade Win 10 from Home Premium to Professional, unless you have work-related network requirements.
 
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Shoot!!I forgot to add my computer specs. in my first message. Anyway here is below:

HP Intel I-7 6700 6th Generation, 3.4 GHz to 4.0 Turbo
16 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM, 2 TB 7200 RPM Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB
Windows 10 64X Home Premium (will upgrade to Professional)
Ultra Slim-tray SuperMulti DVD Burner

Acer 23" LED Monitor

Should I upgrade the graphic card or will Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 with 2 GB should be okay for T: ANE?

Hope that will help you better to see what I have for my computer.

Thank you again,

John

Win 10 professional just adds in a few things that are related to working in groups in an office environment, performance wise home is as good.

A GTX 960 should do fine. You can always add liquid nitrogen cooling etc when you decide you can't live without an extra frame rate or two. The i7 has the caches which is nice. The next step is sorting out what content you're interested in. There are 400,000 free items on the DLS currently so working out which content creator creates things you like will take you a little time and if you don't like what you find there are tutorials to help you make your own.

Have fun

Cheerio John
 
Welcome to the Trainz forums. Once you buy a version of Trainz and register it, you will get access to a wider range of sub forums.

Your PC specs are similar to mine but I have a Gigabyte GTX 780Ti 3gb and it runs TANE very nicely. The bottleneck in performance, apart from the video card, is data access. Some Trainz routes can be very heavily populated and slow to load. Many Trainz users add an SSD just for Trainz purposes. If you buy TANE, then we can provide advice on how to setup the TANE database, as by default, it will install on C: drive in your user data area.
 
First off welcome wonderful world of Trainz. I must warn you...

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And trust me the rabbit hole can be bottomless. Welcome to your new addition ;).

Dave
 
Hello I would like to introduce myself to you as this is my first post here. My name is John P. Mackay from Canada (Peterborough, ON). I was thinking about getting a simulator but I am not sure what can I get first before another. I was going to get T: ANE but first must get Trainz Simulator 2012 or 2017 or any other suggestions you will s
Welcome to Trainz and to the forums. I hope (as with everyone else) you enjoy Trainz :).
I'm Hiawathamr, a route/session creator and they are uploaded to the DLS for others to enjoy (if you want to see, be sure to check my website out). If you have any help, be sure to ask someone. Hope to see you on the rails


You can still get TRS2006 (although it is unsupported, as are 09, 10, and 12 possibly soon)
TS12 supported just ended 5 months ago.
Here is the link to the official life cycle
http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/Trainz_Life-Cycle_Policy
 
Thank you to all who have replied to my first message. Good to see who is willing to help others when needed. OK what I would like to get the route of Mojave Sub. and any other that you might know that I am interested to get. I would like to get U.S. and Canadian if available routes.

Thank you again,

John
 
Thank you to all who have replied to my first message. Good to see who is willing to help others when needed. OK what I would like to get the route of Mojave Sub. and any other that you might know that I am interested to get. I would like to get U.S. and Canadian if available routes.

Thank you again,

John
Some routes that I know of are:

(US)
-Trainz Route: Mojave Subdivision
-Trainz Route: Season Town
-Trainz Route: Milwaukee Road - Avery Drexel

(Canada)
-Trainz Route: Canadian Rocky Mountains - Columbia River Basin

There are other 3rd party sites
Another one is the Marias Pass, heavy on sessions with that route

I always use this site for most of the 3rd party sites
http://www.railserve.com/Computers/Trainz/
 
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Free Skype is a great Instant Messaging communication device, where users can share screens and send large CDP files INSTANTLY feel free to contact me via Free Skype

Free Skype UN: cascaderailroad
 
WELCOME to the Trainz Community! Where nonstop train fun is only a mouse click away! You will love trainz simulator. So many things you can do! Enjoy your time, as this game is too addictive to leave for long periods of time!
 
Hi John, welcome to the Forums and hopefully, welcome to Trainz.

Getting in to Trainz takes I believe, a little bit of alternative thinking.
I'll try to explain some but there will be much more for you to learn.

When you buy the version that you decide on, you will get some routes included.
They are complete and will run out of the box.

As well as that you will be able to build your own routes using the assets that came with it. (the ones that are used in the included routes).

Trainz is different from having a model railroad... say in the shed down the back of the garden, because you are not limited by room to one route... you can have many, many, many... you only load one at any one time (usually... though I have been known to have two open so I could see an asset was used in someone else's route so that I could get the name to allow me to find it and use it in mine).

As has been stated there ARE over 40,000 assets on the Trainz servers (Called the DownLoad Station... DLS) and all of them are available for free download, once you have registered your purchase.
However, the download speeds are very slow.
To speed the downloads up you can purchase a "FCT" which will allow you to download assets much faster.
The FCTs have a limited time now, so it would make sense to get one and download as much stuff as possible in the time that you have it.
Once you have downloaded the assets, you can save them, so even if you have a hard drive failure (provided you have backed them up) you can restore them from your backup and won't have to download them again.
After you purchase T:ane or TMR17, you will be able to access the Content Manager (its a part of the program)It connectes through the internet to the Download station and you can then see and select the content that you want to download.
You will see that the assets are grouped in categories such as Routes (that are groups of many other smaller assets), Sessions, (That run in particular routes) Track, Ground textures, Plant textures, Locos, Rolling stock, Scenery (Including but not limited to Buildings, People, trees and just paraphernalia) all of that stuff goes in to building a route and and running a session in it. and even more!

TMr17 is more like a series of model train setups.
T:ane does have that but T:ane also can be used like a railroad simulator.

There is an update coming for T:ane (very soon I'm told) and when that comes we will have the option of purchasing the routes that are in TMR17 as a package.
That will make it that if one wants to his copy of Tane will basically include TMR17.
Personally I feel I have plenty of Model train routes available to me anyway so I don't think I'll get the package anyway... but I guess my final decision will be made when I see the price.

If you get T:ane there are a couple of "flavors" as well.
I have "Deluxe", and I'm told it has more routes built in than the "Standard" has.
Lots of decisions for you to make.
If you ask you will get lots of help.
There are some really good videos on you tube that will let you have a look at Trainz even before purchase.
If you google "Trainz" or "Tane" you will see some.
Also there are a few route builders that like to post their work there and they give a prospective purchaser a good look at what to expect.
This Gentleman is currently showing a series about how he builds his routes... This series is designed to show how he is building but in most of his videos he does go for a track run as well.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIt-Mra7IvgaqOJT0mj1TA
He has a Route in TMR17 and apparently he plans to release the routes he is showing being built on the DLS when he feels they are ready to be released.

This one
https://www.youtube.com/user/philskene/featured
does not show how he builds, but his videos, just show off his completed works... most of his works are available for free download on the DLS though he does have one that is included in TMR17.
This is still just a tiny amount of the stuff that you will discover if you decide to enter the world of Trainz.
It can be frustrating... but its also a lot of fun.
If I can be of any more assistance Id be happy to help, if I can.
All the best,
Paul
 
Welcome to the World of Trainz John.

You'll make many friends have fun and learn lots, I know I am and can't wait to learn more.

All the best
Michael
 
Welcome to the Trainz community and hopefully soon(tm) to Trainz.

My addiction started going on 14 years now and it hasn't waned too much since then. As Paul said above, your system will run T:ANE quite well. I too have the same video card he has and have no issues with it. I do recommend putting your data on a separate hard disk - one that your program and operating system are not installed on - to give you as much space as possible. ERMM.... once you start discovering all the goodies on the Download Station (DLS) and elsewhere, your hard drive will fill up pretty fast!

The Mojave Sub is one of many routes that you can purchase, or you can opt for the free ones which are available as well on the DLS and elsewhere. The makers of the Mojave Sub, Jointed Rail, also have some very nice payware routes which you will enjoy. These routes, like the rest of their content is well above the outstanding mark. Their website is www.jointedrail.com, and they have a forum here which you can access once you purchase and register your product.
 
Erm........
If you look at the OP's Timeline, he has Trainz on it so should already have access to the full forum.

@John (imacanadian) Welcome to the forum, should be OK for TANE with that setup.
 
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