Opinions: Trainz 2010 vs. 2012

[FLWBStrainman]

Hello.

I'm currently in a bit of a debate. The last version of Trainz that I had the pleasure of running was the 2006 edition. It's on my gaming computer, which I haven't even booted up in 6+ months. I'm getting it upgraded soon. But more to my point, I'm going to upgrade to either Trainz 2010 or 2012. Maybe even both.

I will say that one of the things I enjoy most is creating prototypical routes in Surveyor. My "baby" is a 150-mile route in Indiana that I seem to drum up in each version of Trainz. I would like some different opinions or views on both editions. I am taking into consideration many things. Among them are backwards compatibility, quality of graphics, performance levels, etc. Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[Euphod]

Given the circumstances, you are going to need 2010. I say this only because you have a "baby", that will work very well in compatibility mode in 2010. 12 has no such thing, so older pieces of content will cause you grief.

Now, I know that older content is in the process of being upgraded to 2010 Native Mode specs on the DLS, and everything that works in 2010 Native mode should work in 12, and I know that 12 offers some minor improvements over 2010, but this guy will be disappointed if his old route does not work right off.

 

[NikkiA]

Hello.

I'm currently in a bit of a debate. The last version of Trainz that I had the pleasure of running was the 2006 edition. It's on my gaming computer, which I haven't even booted up in 6+ months. I'm getting it upgraded soon. But more to my point, I'm going to upgrade to either Trainz 2010 or 2012. Maybe even both.

I will say that one of the things I enjoy most is creating prototypical routes in Surveyor. My "baby" is a 150-mile route in Indiana that I seem to drum up in each version of Trainz. I would like some different opinions or views on both editions. I am taking into consideration many things. Among them are backwards compatibility, quality of graphics, performance levels, etc. Any insight would be appreciated!

First off, it's trainz 12, not 2012, just 12, as in what came after version 11 (trainz 2010).

I personally avoid doing anything in 2010 now. I find that trainz 12 is more pleasant an environment to be in, and only go back to 2010 reluctantly when I need compatibility mode. I'm not sure if it's because the UI is slightly more responsive, or because it generally feels more usable - a big difference for example, when you leave a session, rather than going back to the route list, it usually goes back to the sessions list for the same route you were on, which shaves loads of time off when you're tweaking things around between 'edit' and 'drive'.

The frame rates are higher, the sound better, and things just feel better.

Also, for some reason all the sessions for SnC show up in 12, but not 2010, for me. I always felt a bit disappointed that I only had a total of around 6 sessions that came with SnC. I guess I just wasn't getting them all listed for some reason (and no, it's not the gold star thing, as the SnC routes don't even show at all without the gold star filter removed).

Of course, moving assets to 12 after correcting errors in 2010 is a slow process, and one I'm not rushing at (although a lot of content I already repaired for 2010, even with compatibility mode on). And I haven't even considered moving my WIP routes over yet, but then I've had a month where I've been busy with various things and haven't even contemplated working on route building.

 

[FLWBStrainman]

I forgot to mention that I will, unfortunately, have to rebuild the aforementioned route. It's a long story. In 2006, the route kept giving me fatal errors in Driver, and any saved sessions I tried to open would crash. This points back to something I did in surveyor on a certain date, but it's nearly impossible for me to find out what. With 150 miles of track, I'm not going to sit down and attempt to pinpoint the bad move I made. And I doubt the issue will just "go away" by importing the route into another version of the sim. So I shall rebuild. Even doing so, I will probably be using a vast majority of the original assets I used in 2006, if that's a possibility. Would it be totally unrealistic to just run both 2010 and 12? I was thinking maybe 2010 for my custom route, so I can import older content, and 12 for when I want to do other... train related stuff. Would installing them both cause any foreseeable issues?

 

[Euphod]

No, you could install and run both, but there's no need really. The built in content from 2010 is being hosted on the DLS for those with 12, and with the older content being brought up to date, I would say you only need 12.

 

[WindWalkr]

..I doubt the issue will just "go away" by importing the route into another version of the sim. So I shall rebuild.

You might be surprised. A lot of improvements have been made since 2006 regarding robustness towards faults in content. Something which caused a crash in the past might quite feasibly work correctly in the newer editions. Of course we can't guarantee it, but I wouldn't condemn a large route without at least trying to import it.

Would it be totally unrealistic to just run both 2010 and 12? I was thinking maybe 2010 for my custom route, so I can import older content, and 12 for when I want to do other... train related stuff. Would installing them both cause any foreseeable issues?

Not really. Just install them to different directories and they won't really interact.

kind regards,

chris

 

[Racin]

Hi all, I don't mean to hijack this thread but I'm in the same boat.

I have dabbled a bit with 2009 but found Railworks more to my liking. Now that Trainz 12 is available do you advise I go straight to 12 or get 2010 and up grade to 12?

I have found somewhere selling 2010 for £15.99

I like the look of some of the routes in 2010, ECML especially! Is it possible to import the ECML from 2010 to 12 and make one long route?

At the moment I'm not really interested in building routes just running trains.

By the way this is my first post, I only joined in November '06:hehe::hehe:

 

[NikkiA]

I like the look of some of the routes in 2010, ECML especially! Is it possible to import the ECML from 2010 to 12 and make one long route?

It's already one long route, the TS12 version of the ECML is from Kings Cross to Newcastle, it's not two routes. And the new route has some tidied up areas of the old route of course.