Railworks heads into Muti Player by Next year

[rjhowie]

I dare say the expert builder wil be in theiir element judging the plus and minus scenarios and competition of Trainz and RW. However there tends to be averag which covers the vast bulk of folk here of which i am one. I happen to be reasonably intelligent and worked in a detailed job but I am far from being a techy type at all. That of course doesn't ake me incomplete and I moved from MS to Trainz when I dicovered it with some joy. The main reason was that there was no need for a mighty big and steep learning curve in builidng routes. The two i am working on especially where i built my home city could never have been done by me on MS for example or RWwhen it comes to that.

Now I don't mind the matter of discussing other rail sims as it would be over tetchy I suppose but this is the fourth thread i have sen in recent times bring up RW. Considering the other 3 threads were all about comparisons it makes me wonder why it takes yet another one?? Having failry flogged the debate on the others it keeps re-surfacing. I am in agreement with IKB of the value, ease and great fun in Trainz without needing to be a nuts n bolts man to achive something positive. There is and should always be a place for the more technical minded but for the vast majority reading these Forums Trainz has given them the capacity to do things they couldn't do elsewhere. For that I am eternally grateful and even more so when I have occasional illness bout as it keeps the grey cells moving! I have built one unique thing I have still to upload when finished tinkering and on another equally unique. If I was a Monarch I would honour the creator of Trainz. Real dead brilliant to again use the local venacular.

 

[jadebullet]

No, I mean what if you compared RW2 to UTC or trainz 1.3 (not including the time difference)?

What would your opinion be like then?

Okay, personally, if you compare UTC and TRS 1.3 to RW2, and thus disregard graphics, UTC and TRS 1.3 are superior in my opinion. They are more user friendly, more capable when it comes to operation, and aside from the "I'm bored, lets crash some trains" aspect, alot more fun. Just my opinion though.

 

[Ben1337]

Now that's interesting.

Thank you for your opinion everyone.

 

[Mertcan0403]

Trainz is better than railworks

 

[Mertcan0403]

Trainz Simulator is need dynamic shadow

 

[bolea]

Trainz is better than railworks

In wich aspects? Route building? If it is in that point, I completly agree with you The thing is that Trainz lack in the simulation point, in my opinion Trainz as I said looks actually like a scale train model. You just have to watch how the AI accelerates the trains. Oh, btw, nothing happens when you try to close the cilynder cocks, for example. Or, no cab light change (while in tunnel cab should became more darker). Then they leave to us to change some original stuff like sounds,...

 

[wholbr]

Hi Vern And Everybody.

Having spent a bit more time touring Murchison 2 last night I would also challenge whether it is even possible to create such breathtakingly natural and realistic scenery in Railworks. I was utterly convinced I was driving/travelling through a magnificent mountainous landscape filled with rocky crags, spectacular waterfalls and distant mountains. I know the author has a particular artistic skill (which I could never hope to approach let alone emulate) but it just struck me how real it looked. RW may do identikit southern UK field routes well enough but it would require a major overhaul plus hundreds of new assets to do justice to a mountainous and forested route like Murchison. I know, I've tried.

Well Vern you have said there exactly what I have felt since purchasing Railworks 2 along with the Bristol to Exeter add-on approximately 6 to 7 weeks ago. I have spent the last three weeks trying to create a short three and a half-mile route using the tools that come with Railworks 2. I have been unable to create anything meaningful in any sense of the word and had come to the conclusion that the commercial route creators could not be using the same tools as I had been given with the program.

The world editor in Railworks 2 is total and absolute rubbish. It has not progressed one iota since the release of the original rail simulator which I purchased on the day of its release and consigned to the desk drawer two weeks following that. I do not think that Railworks 2 will go that way because the driving experience in that simulator is excellent due to the outstanding graphics. Therefore it will undoubtedly remain on my system but only for the driving of scenarios.

As for the rest of it, it in no way can be compared to Trainz for ease of use, accessibility of content and the enjoyment it gives all who use it for route building. You will certainly get no enjoyment from Railworks world editor all you will get is frustration with its cumbersome tools and those continual messages appearing stating ”something bad has happened to your program and it will close,do you wish a report to be generated”. Unless you save after every section of track you lay you will continuously find yourself going back over the last however minutes it has been since you saved.

I believe myself and Vern can claim credulity in our opinions as we of both spent money on Railworks in the last two months and sampled it's “pleasures” or not as we found them.

Bill

 

[Mertcan0403]

The route in terms of preparation, in terms of game physics engine is very good, but the company, the game graphics engine from the snap-on ...
For me, the train sounds in the game according to the proportion prepared to reality.
While a fixed point in the game stops and the train passes us by a reverberation in the sound of the train does not happen. However, the noisy sound of a train is approaching. The sound echoes in the train moved away.
Dynamic shadows do not have Trainz Simulator. I believe that the Trainz Team also corrects the problem of dynamic shadows.
Trainz Team, to correct errors in the game, graphics, editing manages the world's best train simulator: simulator Trainz happens.

with all respect

I'm bad English,sorry...

 

[TRam__]

Or, no cab light change (while in tunnel cab should became more darker).

to introduce this tiny feature is simple for people who are frendly with trainz gamescript. Though this is not so important because of little spreading of tunnels around the world (or this is not important for developers of loco interiors, that's the same).

You just have to watch how the AI accelerates the trains.

rly?

 

[nikos1]

to introduce this tiny feature is simple for people who are frendly with trainz gamescript. Though this is not so important because of little spreading of tunnels around the world (or this is not important for developers of loco interiors, that's the same).

rly?

Please do let us in on some of the secrets you have found, I watched all your videos and found the swaying rolling stock and the properly dark nights the most interesting

 

[TRam__]

The cab light (i.e. its textures' brightness) is controlled with Cabin.SetCabLightIntensity(float intensity). To check the car to be situated inside the tunnel a Vehicle.IsInTunnel(void) can be used. But, in this case, you have to create your oun algorithm of dependency between cabin brightness and the time of day (World.GetGameTime(void) is used to get it).

The parts, that are illuminated, have to be textured with m.onetex material with self-illumination = 100.

 

[Vern]

Therefore it will undoubtedly remain on my system but only for the driving of scenarios.

I'm beginning to doubt I'll even do that now, having seen the announcements on UKTS this morning it appears one or more developers involved with RW have threatened to sue UKTS over what they perceive as adverse comments on the forum about their products.

I've posted my own thoughts about the situation at my web site, but what kind of atmosphere is that in which to run a game? I know it's not necessarily RSC and it may only be a small number of developers, but it does kind of sum up what is wrong with the RW scene generally. Over-reliance on payware which the vendors feel they have to protect up to and including the point of threatening to sue anyone who says it's other than good.

Three cheers for Auran/N3V in that they are still fairly relaxed about constructive criticism and feedback about Trainz and don't feel the need to add the value of a forum member's house/pension to their funds every time an adverse comment is made.

 

[bassist118]

Bloody hell is this STILL going.......



Railworks is crap official

Or, no cab light change (while in tunnel cab should became more darker). Then they leave to us to change some original stuff like sounds,...

I may be totally wrong here but I thought that train cabs had lights in them.

Andy

 

[bolea]

to introduce this tiny feature is simple for people who are frendly with trainz gamescript. Though this is not so important because of little spreading of tunnels around the world (or this is not important for developers of loco interiors, that's the same).

rly?

I know it´s a simple feature, but the thing is that neither Auran|N3V (the owner and the developer of the sim) or the creators, but mainly the first one, haven´t created until these nowadays that very simple thing.

And for the video, I said AI (Artificial Intelligence), and the video shows me someone operating the train, not the computer.

 

[bolea]

Bloody hell is this STILL going.......



Railworks is crap official



I may be totally wrong here but I thought that train cabs had lights in them.

Andy

Maybe I have been wrong? I´ll check it, and if they have then excuse me sir.

 

[branchline]

I think many here are a bit harsh when it comes to discussing another sim. Both sims have their good and bad points it has to be said.

And just because this is the Trainz forums does not mean to say that talking about Railworks is a taboo subject, the attitude of some is beyond belief!!

Trainz is easy to use when route making. the surveyor is very quick to create and even a complete novice can pick it up in no time. That said, the Railworks equivalent whilst mind bogglingly complicated is worth it when you finally get your head around it. I spend a long time being frustrated with it but it paid off in the end.

Trainz has significantly more free downloadable content available, but again that said I found much of it to be quite old, looking dated and in some cases unusable in the later versions of the program. Railworks DLC portfolio is getting bigger all the time. If you look at UK Train Sim's site there is a wealth of free content and the payware whilst costing money is VERY impressive and well put together.

Railworks wins hand over fist as far as graphics are concerned. Trainz looks and feels pretty much the same as it always did. Damn it even has the exact same routes from TRS2004 with a few additional speed trees and bits thrown on top.

I know there is significant under the hood improvement to Trainz though so again, it really depends what you are looking for from your sim. Not everyone is looking for amazing physics and/or AI.

Trainz certainly offers much more to do. Interactive industries etc make Trainz a very interesting piece of software.

Railworks is limited due to the lack of such innervations but is still a lot of good fun to drive. My hope is that with the amount of updating it keeps receiving that things like that will be added. Lets not forget that this project was picked up from the ashes after EA and Kuju screwed it up when it was called rail simulator.

I think both sims have their place and people like one, the other or perhaps both for various reasons. Everyone is different after all. We all have our likes and dislikes.

I wish they could combine both sims, obviously I know that is impossible but wouldn't it be great to have the graphical quality and smoothness of Railworks along with the benefits of all the interesting abilities of Trainz, as well as an easy to use surveyor.

Oh well, we can but dream. in the mean time I will continue to use both.

 

[philskene]

" ... recent threats of legal action against this site ... "

Hi Vern --

Do you mean this?

http://ftp.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=112647&p=1380015

It's a worrying development. Looking back over some of the comments I've posted over there and using the criteria listed on that page, I should worry that the thought police will be knocking on my door soon.

I notice that most of the reviews on the front page of UKTrainsim have also been removed. Pity because I thought they were very well balanced.

Do you have any idea of the company that issued the threat?

Phil

 

[TRam__]

I said AI (Artificial Intelligence), and the video shows me someone operating the train, not the computer.

I meen that making AI sessions is only a little part of the game. 1 & 2. In RW the same works improperly.

 

[branchline]

Something else which I think is one of the reasons for so much negativity regarding Railworks is the fact it is mainly focused around British routes and locos.

I for one like that fact as being British I am only interested in UK stuff and find that where Trainz is concerned, there has always been significantly more content for other countries which I have no interest in. There is a fair bit of UK content, but many of the locos I tried to install from the download station were broken with missing assets that I simply could not find anywhere. That and the fact that quite a lot were produced some time ago for a much earlier version.

As I say, I think both pieces of software are good in their own right. Where one fails to deliver the other does so I find myself playing around with both. I was refunded for TRS2010 but still own and use TRS2009. My reasons for asking for a refund were simply that I did not think that TRS2010's improvements justified the price tag as a TRS2009 owner. If I was going from an earlier version, say 2004, then I think it would have been.

People can think what they like about that fact but Auran certainly made no arguments or quibbled about the refund, they were very quick to sort the matter out which I respect them for.

Maybe, in the future when another version is released I may consider another purchase. But for now I am very happy with 09 and RW2 for my dose of train simming.

A question - DO you think Auran will ever move things forward as far as the graphics side of Trainz is concerned? I know many people feel that to do so would require a new engine and in doing that would mean all the content to date would be rendered useless for such a version, but in my own personal opinion, and it is just my opinion, I find that a hell of a lot of stuff on the download station is outdated anyway so would it really matter that much ?

 

[Vern]

Hi Vern --

Do you mean this?

http://ftp.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=112647&p=1380015

SNIP

Do you have any idea of the company that issued the threat?

Phil

Yes indeed, that's the thread plastered over just about every section of the boards. Had me looking nervously over my site and thinking back to the fairly critical mauling I gave titles like Cab View Driver in the past. In some ways it's a bit of a "Potomac Sidestep" by UKTS as they have now put the forum members in an almost untenable situation. I do believe it's a minority, possibly only one, UK developer though I can't be absolutely certain on that not being party to internal UKTS discussions.

I'm fairly certain too who it is too but I'll send you that in a PM...