Newbie Thread

[novastorm2000]

I think that a newbie thread is in order here. I am guessing that a lot of people like myself have a passing fascination with trains and Sims in general and then are attracted to purchasing Trainz to play around with.

I am guessing though that many like me were not Model Rail Road Builders and are not quick to read the manuals first and so much is missed and perhaps the product is shelved because its seems complicated or innocently the person says, "wow, I am going to need some time to learn this!" and in today’s world do not find the time. I know this is what happened to me years ago when i purchased MS Trains, I never used that product much.

After playing around just a little bit though I have realized that this product (Trainz 2010) and its previous incarnations obviously has appeal to several people coming at it from several angles.

So, if your tuning into this thread and your a veteran, let me give you my sells pitch about why you want to help the newbie’s here and help ease them into things. Bottom line, more people that buy and like the product the more there is in it for you in the long haul. Be it that you are a builder or just a users, the bigger the community the more stuff we may get. I know there are examples of this not working quite that way in the world, but I have a hunch that this is how it will work for Trainz.

I'll end this first post in saying that it might be fun to not use this thread so much for support, but with the veterans passing us gems of wisdom about getting started and cool things to try in such a way as to ease us into becoming intermediate users.

There is so much to this and some people learn better in chunks and by virtue of receiving fascinating fodder from vets better than we do manuals.

Help on using the DL station for the first time and cool things to make as your first DL's that will get newbie’s going back for more and more are great examples of how to entice the newbie into a more positive experience.

Things to try first after you learn the basics, routes or scenarios that help boost exposure and skills, first things to try and build, ect..

That’s my ask of the vets here! ChefByte has already giving me a few gems in the Cool Things thread.. like a link to a fully functional bus you can DL and play with. Its stuff like that that will really make it more fun to get started.

Perhaps vets can provide enticing first things to do for driving, routes, building, ect that make it all more exciting that the standard manual. Links to other threads that explain things would be awesome as well, like this link here on how to build. http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=47565&highlight=newbies or great info sites that might make learning about railroading easier and more fun. [ http://www.railroader.com/ ] Terminology is also a factor fore really new newbie’s as well and links to a wiki or railroad dictionary might be useful as well. Cool history of railroading and related links to trains would be of interest as well.

Have mercy on me if you feel inclined to flame me and want to tell me to read the manual. I am working on that as well and that is in large part because some of you helped me enough to get more excited and want to dig deeper!

Thanks in advance to all!
E

 

[john259]

Everyone was a newbie once and many of us remember how bewildering Trainz can be especially at first. It pains me greatly when some of the immature members of this forum make fun of newbies or insult them. No question is too simple if you don't know the answer.

Anyway, to business. Have you discovered the Trainz wikibook? Some parts of it are quite suitable for beginners.

Our glossary includes many railway terms plus jargon used in Trainz.

Keep posting, keep asking!

John

 

[dougtrain]

Old Newbie....

Hi and welcome to Trainz! I go with what John said to you. learning is fun and there are plenty of good people here who will answer your questions for you. We all started with a disc in a box and wondered what the hell to do with it. I still get a red face when I think of the mess I made when I started. Go and be creative and if you get stuck - then you know where to come don't you?

Regards Doug

 

[chefbyte]

One tip from me is never be afraid to ask, as there is always someone on here, that has the answer

 

[tasanderky1]

INDEO VIDEO PLAYBACK HELP

I just purchased and installed UTC for my 8 year old grandson and when we go to Launch, we get the following message. We went to the website and they want $14.95 for us to get a code. Do we need to purchase this code to use this software?


Indeo Video Playback
Ligos



Issue Description:

The program you are trying to run requires a current Indeo codec.
To obtain a current driver that is compatible with this version of Windows, please contact the manufacturer at http://indeo.ligos.com.

Contact Information:

Ligos Web site: http://indeo.ligos.com

 

[SPNGTyler]

It could be that UTC is just to dang old to use. May I suggest buying o9 or the 2010 version? You dont have to if you dont want to, its just a suggestion.

 

[theokus]

Everyone was a newbie once and many of us remember how bewildering Trainz can be especially at first. It pains me greatly when some of the immature members of this forum make fun of newbies or insult them. No question is too simple if you don't know the answer.

Anyway, to business. Have you discovered the Trainz wikibook? Some parts of it are quite suitable for beginners.

http://razorbackrailway.com/glossary/Keep posting, keep asking!

John

Not much to find there about route building.
You have to know I like more real-world-routes.
How do you do this? And without TransDem....
Thx.

 

[johnwhelan]

You have of course seen this thread?

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=5454

Cheerio John

 

[johnwhelan]

I just purchased and installed UTC for my 8 year old grandson and when we go to Launch, we get the following message. We went to the website and they want $14.95 for us to get a code. Do we need to purchase this code to use this software?


Indeo Video Playback
Ligos



Issue Description:

The program you are trying to run requires a current Indeo codec.
To obtain a current driver that is compatible with this version of Windows, please contact the manufacturer at http://indeo.ligos.com.

Contact Information:

Ligos Web site: http://indeo.ligos.com

No just edit the trainzoptions.txt file to add

-Intro=disable

also this one is useful:

-showkuids

Cheerio John

 

[angelah]

Me too!

Hi and welcome to Trainz! I go with what John said to you. learning is fun and there are plenty of good people here who will answer your questions for you. We all started with a disc in a box and wondered what the hell to do with it. I still get a red face when I think of the mess I made when I started. Go and be creative and if you get stuck - then you know where to come don't you?

Regards Doug

Yes, me too. I can recall some pretty horrendous routes I made when I began with the original Trains and even into UTC. It does take a while to get used to the complexities and maybe even foibles of Trainz but eventually you will and the rewards are well worth the time spend learning.
It was a long time before I sent one of my creations to Auran to be placed on the Ds, certainly not a 'This is my first route' scenario, that would have been incredibly embarrassing, especially now.
But we all live and learn and I have been helped tremendously by the members of this forum (and others!) when I got stuck, in fact even now on occasions.
So to all newbies, ask away, any decent upright Trainz veteran will be only too willing to help in a polite and patient way.

Angela(h)

 

[Johnk]

Hi novastorm2000. I support you all the way on this one. There's a wealth of information out there for newbies and vets alike, but it's spread out all over the place like the proverbial train wreck. Although there's only been a few replies to your thread, the trend has started already: "Go here, go there, look here, look there". The folks on this forum in particular seem to love it! That's fine, but forum threads quickly disappear and the valuable links folks have given you, quickly become lost to others who follow up behind. The forum software doesn't help much either because it doesn't have the world's greatest search facility.

To overcome this problem and to assist Trainzers both new and old, I spent the last 9 months of my life creating the Trainz Resources Directory.

​

It's very much a work in progress because no directory or wiki is ever complete. Even so, it already contains almost 1,000 pages of resources, Trainz tutorials, Community web sites and links to hundreds of external tutorials and thousands of plans and drawings.

If I had the co-operation of many people on these forums, the site may well contain thousands of additional links to Routes, Sessions, Senarios, fantastic screenshots and many, many more tutorials, but that is another story. Sadly, I can count the contributors to the Directory on one and a half hands.

I have raised the subject of a Newbies section (not a thread) before, because many forums have a section like "Newbies Start here".

The biggest problem you'll have with this thread is that it will eventually drop off the abyss. The only way you (we) can keep it in front of us, is to get Auran to start a special Newbies Section. How we go about that is something I've never been able to figure out. I do wish you and all newbies the best of luck in being recognised, and I, along with the Trainz Resources Directory will support you every inch of the way.

John

 

[novastorm2000]

Make it a sticky?

Thanks for all the wonderful replies!

Maybe this thread can get sticky status! I'll definitely checkout the resource guide!

E

 

[Johnk]

Snippet Two thoughts come to mind here, allow users as a part of the whole planet Auran to maintain a public resource guide.. lots of great software to help facilitate this and judging by the people I have seen here plenty of people to do the heavy lifting.

That is already being done via the Trainz Wiki. As much as I hate wikis because of their unfriendly "academic" approach, they are still the best way for Communities to build a knowledge base.The heavy lifters just vanish like taxis in the rain whenever you need them!

Snippet: *Updated for clarity* Its my belief that a site sponsored by the actual commercial product company and integrated into its own website will garner more support as people sometimes feel it will not go away where as indenpendent or privately ran sites are subject to that owners discression. This is not a slam on anyone, its just simply why I reference Auran doing something like the resource guide, providing the hosting and framework from within it can be managed and assiging moderators like thy have done on these forms.

You will have John Whelan's support on the risk of private sites. Auran had a change of leadership a few years back. The old Auran created all the web pages people have already directed you to on the Trainz site, but many are now outdated and full of dead links. The new Auran doesn't seem interested in (or cant afford to) repair the sites or even expand them. As such, I doubt that they would be too interested in taking on a Joomla type site as you suggest. We all feel very lucky that Auran supplies this forum and supplies a couple of Moderators. Other than that, you seldom, if ever hear from the company itself.

Snippet: This is not a slam on anyone, its just simply why I reference Auran doing something like the resource guide, providing the hosting and framework from within it can be managed and assiging moderators like thy have done on these forms.

The original Auran management wrote and thanked me for starting the first TRD which was eventually lost through a series of unfortunate computer/server crashes. This new Auran haven't commented one way or another. If and when I decide to pull the plug, I doubt that they would want to take the site on. It would require the services of a web master to maintain and I don't think that would excite them that much. As it is, the site is hosted by a commercial company. It costs me a few hundred dollars a year to maintain the site and the domain. The current advertising on the site has earned me about $10, despite having well over 200,000 page hits. I don't and won't expect Auran to ever pay for any of my outgoings.

My plans for the site's future would be to hand it over to some keen person, maybe like yourself. I can assure you that running a Joomla style site to contain the information stored in the Directory and all the associated posts, would be a nightmare and a disaster unless it was controlled by one person. Even then, Joomla is probably not up to it. I'm using the most powerful shopping cart/catalogue software on the Internet. It contains over a hundred modifications and it can barely cope.

If you read the home page of my site, you will se that I'm about to start a blog (probably Wordpress) where people can comment. I currently receive about 30 PM's and 20 emails a week concerning thr site and I'd like those people to post in the Blog instead. If I thought a Joomla site would do a better job, I could have it running by tomorrow night. I designed this web site and wrote all the content in 2 and a half days.

Snippet: Joomla for example allows for intergration of BBS packages to be integrated within its portal framework, share logins and provide a workflow and approval manager for content management system that would allow designees to manage something like a resource guide.

Where do you expect to find these people? The only reliable help you will ever get is you, you and maybe you. I'd give it six months before total collapse. This is something you'll learn in time as you follow these forums.Snippet: It looks like the link provided is extremely well done, perhaps Auran could work with its owner as well. The real point being that more often than not, a site promoted and sponsored by the actual software vendor usually gets more attention and help. ****

If you're referring to my site, I don't expect Auran to work in with me because they have their hands full doing what they do best. They have minimal staff and struggle to maintain the help desk without worrying about my site. They haven't even commented on it, not even the employed moderators. If Auran even knows it exists I'd be surprised. If they do, they're keeping it to themselves. In all fairness, if they support me in any way, the other 150 Community sites would probably want support also. I respect that, so I will never approach Auran for support of any description.

Snippet: I'll checkout the resource guide! *** Update ** its fabulous and I look forward to spending some time there! I wish the owner could get more support for it! The original post seem to indicate support was a large concern which is the only reason I suggested Auran do something.. my appologies, seriously no bad intent was intended! ***

I've been lurking around here since 2001. I had a couple of years away due to illness, but now I'm fine. I knew exactly what I was putting myself into because I've seen it all come and go before. The only support I need, is for Forum Community members to recognise the site for what it is. Both the TRD and the Wiki are resources for community members, but in the eight months the Directory has been running, only three people have ever suggested a person uses it as a resource when someone asks where they can find something. Those three people quoted the directory in the last six weeks, so for over 7 months it was never referred to at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not alone. If it wasn't for John Whelan and John259, the Wiki is seldom, if ever mentioned as a resource either. People, would much prefer to give you a stream of links to web sites that may or may not help you rather than a single source where you can make decisions for yourself.

 

[baz66]

Whoa john. I don't think he was having a shot. he is remember, new to all this.
baz

 

[john259]

Mark,

I've just moved a large number of valuable "Tips and Tricks" that someone else contributed from the home page of the Trainz wikibook to a new separate page. Perhaps with more hacking around and expansion that could form the basis of a newbies section. Feel free to work on it if you wish. Ah you see, anyone who makes a suggestion might be tricked into carrying it out!

John

 

[DELETED-aYx9Q4SYwhiI2h6]

Posted in error

 

[Johnk]

Baz66, novastorm2000 has modified his post and I've modified mine in return. Hopefully things will get back to normal.

 

[novastorm2000]

I am hoping in all this wealth of info I can find a good first project to work with the DLS, any reccomendations about how a newbie would safely approaching using downloads and what might be a first good one to do? Something fun and addictive that will want us to go back again and again.

E

 

[novastorm2000]

I think the resource guide is awesome! People should check it out and lend a hand if they can!

E

 

[novastorm2000]

Mark,

I've just moved a large number of valuable "Tips and Tricks" that someone else contributed from the home page of the Trainz wikibook to a new separate page. Perhaps with more hacking around and expansion that could form the basis of a newbies section. Feel free to work on it if you wish. Ah you see, anyone who makes a suggestion might be tricked into carrying it out!

John

Thank you so much! I hope to be able to dig into some of this stuff more later this weekend! I did look at the Wiki last night and it looks like there is a ton of stuff! Lol, I had to look up the word Livery as I seriously did not know what it meant! And I am half british by blood as well! DOH! Anyways, maybe that word could be added for those of us with apprently limited vocabulary!

Thanks again!
E