OUTRAGE AT TS12 SP1 49922-58414

[Lendorf]

Are all those other "small game developers" producing games which allow users to create and distribute their own content?

Well, some of these games can be modded, meaning, other people (not associated with the developers) create some "mods" (look it up in google), which can be loaded and used in some of these games. Somewhat similar what content creators do here with Trainz.

Lennard

 

[shaneturner12]

And how often do these 'mods' actually cause problems for the game? Quite often from what I've seen, and as it's third party additions, the game developer can say that it's not their fault if something not created by them mucks the game up.

Shane

 

[Zeldaboy14]

Well, some of these games can be modded, meaning, other people (not associated with the developers) create some "mods" (look it up in google), which can be loaded and used in some of these games. Somewhat similar what content creators do here with Trainz.

Lennard

Like Minecraft in a way? I know that for a fact, being part of the Minecraft community. There is Mods for the game.

 

[JCitron]

I agree with Shane on this. Trainz as a whole is very complex, probably the most complex 'game' I have ever seen with its multiple subsystems which control the scripting, and other function. Game trainers modify program code and memory content to change values. This can cause system instability which leads to crashes as it causes the program to execute commands out of sequence and pops and pokes unintended values on and off the memory register stacks where they shouldn't be.

The other issue is all software has holes as they are called, and in some cases the original developers made use of undocumented features in the hardware and software platform, with platform meaning PC, game console, and other hardware/software combination. These undocumented holes will work for the present system, and what the original developer intended. The unintended results of doing something like this is the software or that version will only work on that revision level of hardware or software. Let's say that a company created an FPS that worked with the latest NVidia card and ran on the latest AMD processor-based system. The developer chose this platform because they found that they could massage the most performance out of the processor by utilizing some undocumented register controls. They also found that the NVidia 9xxx-2gtx was the best combination because it too has some enhanced bus-speed controls which too are undocumented. The user comes along and decides to enhance the performance by adding in additional gun and running speed. This trainer now has modified the code in such a way that it is now altering how the program operates. This may only work on this platform, or it may not. It also has altered the code in such a way that the program could crash randomly as it now contains code loaded in memory that is put in the wrong places.

The Trainz series does not require this as the scripting and other controls are fully exposed to third-parties for altering. The only parts that are not exposed are those that are considered proprietary such as file formats, content format, and the code its self. Having said this, these exposed elements can be altered in such a way to cause the program to misbehave just as it would if it the code was exposed to a game trainer due to unintended consequences of adding in a script or altering an installed script to do something else.

John

 

[Azervich]

Their are two other games I know off that get bad glitches after version updates...

EVE Online
Final Fantasy XI

every couple of days they release patches to fix issues that where caused by the updates.

Cheers.

 

[norfolksouthern37]

The very same would also apply exactly with any of the other games around, that still begs the question, why haven't any of the other games issues like Trainz?

Every software regardless of type can and will have issues. I see no reason to single out Trainz or any other one software. Doing that would be extremely short sighted.

 

[Lendorf]

Every software regardless of type can and will have issues. I see no reason to single out Trainz or any other one software. Doing that would be extremely short sighted.

Exactly my point I am trying to bring across that Trainz could not be special with its issues. Well said Justin :wave:.

Lennard

 

[pware]

[paraphrased]

... in some cases the original developers made use of undocumented features in the hardware and software platform [which] ... will work for the present system

I think the classic example of this in Trainz was the animated points developed by Mike10. They were quite an impressive achievement and appeared in many layouts. I don't remember which version of Trainz they worked in (2004? or 2006?) but they relied on an undocumented (and unsupported) feature in that version of the code. When Auran (as N3V were called back then) released the next version of Trainz the code in that particular "feature" had been altered and the animated points no longer "worked". There were some howls of protest from some members of the Trainz community that Auran had "broken" the program.

If a feature is undocumented and unsupported then third party developers use it at their own risk. In a "sandbox" type of environment, such as Trainz, where developers have a great deal of freedom to experiment and try new things then this sort of outcome is far more likely to occur.

 

[NSWGR_46Class]

And they do work again if you have TS12 SP1 and HF4 installed as they heard our cries of out rage and broken the fix so they work again but only with service pack 1 Hot fix 4 that so many wish to condemn. This includes those who demand content be built to the latest version then also complain when they do not have the lasted fix and then can not get content to work.

[paraphrased]

I think the classic example of this in Trainz was the animated points developed by Mike10. They were quite an impressive achievement and appeared in many layouts. I don't remember which version of Trainz they worked in (2004? or 2006?) but they relied on an undocumented (and unsupported) feature in that version of the code. When Auran (as N3V were called back then) released the next version of Trainz the code in that particular "feature" had been altered and the animated points no longer "worked". There were some howls of protest from some members of the Trainz community that Auran had "broken" the program.

If a feature is undocumented and unsupported then third party developers use it at their own risk. In a "sandbox" type of environment, such as Trainz, where developers have a great deal of freedom to experiment and try new things then this sort of outcome is far more likely to occur.