Frank Bartus pointed this out to me the other day.
http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/community.htm
The old Rail Simulator Pro that was never to be. The announcement mentions many things in here such as the asset database, etc.
Here's an excerpt from the announcement which I find interesting....
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you're like me and can't stand buying a game that weighs nothing and all you can feel (and hear) is a lone CD moving around in the box then you are going to love RSP. We are intending to go all out on the documentation, including charts and other useful material. If you're worried about the price point, don't be. By moving to a 3 year product cycle (more on this in the 3rd party section of this document) we've actually lowered the cost per year. In fact the final price has yet to be decided but commercial use of a similar product will be in the tens of thousands of dollars range, so that gives you some idea of what you'll be getting for your money.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]With regard to features, RSP is a super step up from TRS2004. First, the interface gets a full overhaul in both look and feel. The entire product is language independent and new language databases can be installed by a simple drag and drop operation and can include text, graphics and audio.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Surveyor is being revamped with some great new tools for helping to sculpt terrain. DEM importation will be standard, the grid resolution is much finer and you'll be able to place cantilevered track. The new terrain system being developed for RSP supports vertical surfaces, overhanging surfaces and even caves. Of course with this kind of additional terrain support it will now be possible to create underground railroads as well as elevated track (like monorails) in addition to normal track.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RSP will include full dispatcher capabilities, prototypical signalling (that is fully customisable by country) and even allow online play. I noted with some interest recently on the Auran forums that some 'hard core' proto guys showed little interest in online play, yet oddly enough it's one of the most requested features of the many railroad companies we've been talking to. They see online as an opportunity to place drivers in a 'real traffic' environment (as they put it) and one that can only help improve driver safety. However, if you'd rather play standalone you certainly can.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The dispatcher system communicates to the main game (or games in a multiplayer environment) via TCPIP so yes, you've guessed it, the person acting as a dispatcher can be located anywhere in the world.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Driver AI is being fully overhauled in RSP and is being broken into two unique components. Drivers will no longer attempt to path plan, they just drive and follow signals as required. Therefore, the AI functions for drivers have actually been reduced in complexity from that present in TRS2004. Since RSP includes full route planning both the signalling system and dispatcher can refer to the planned routes and act accordingly. The other area that AI will now be operational is when you don't have a human acting as dispatcher. In this instance the AI will take over and resolve route conflicts within bounds set during the route-planning phase.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]And so it goes... It's too bad this didn't make it as a product back then.
Johnto AI will resolve most of the outstanding issues with AI.[/FONT]
http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/community.htm
The old Rail Simulator Pro that was never to be. The announcement mentions many things in here such as the asset database, etc.
Here's an excerpt from the announcement which I find interesting....
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you're like me and can't stand buying a game that weighs nothing and all you can feel (and hear) is a lone CD moving around in the box then you are going to love RSP. We are intending to go all out on the documentation, including charts and other useful material. If you're worried about the price point, don't be. By moving to a 3 year product cycle (more on this in the 3rd party section of this document) we've actually lowered the cost per year. In fact the final price has yet to be decided but commercial use of a similar product will be in the tens of thousands of dollars range, so that gives you some idea of what you'll be getting for your money.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]With regard to features, RSP is a super step up from TRS2004. First, the interface gets a full overhaul in both look and feel. The entire product is language independent and new language databases can be installed by a simple drag and drop operation and can include text, graphics and audio.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Surveyor is being revamped with some great new tools for helping to sculpt terrain. DEM importation will be standard, the grid resolution is much finer and you'll be able to place cantilevered track. The new terrain system being developed for RSP supports vertical surfaces, overhanging surfaces and even caves. Of course with this kind of additional terrain support it will now be possible to create underground railroads as well as elevated track (like monorails) in addition to normal track.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RSP will include full dispatcher capabilities, prototypical signalling (that is fully customisable by country) and even allow online play. I noted with some interest recently on the Auran forums that some 'hard core' proto guys showed little interest in online play, yet oddly enough it's one of the most requested features of the many railroad companies we've been talking to. They see online as an opportunity to place drivers in a 'real traffic' environment (as they put it) and one that can only help improve driver safety. However, if you'd rather play standalone you certainly can.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The dispatcher system communicates to the main game (or games in a multiplayer environment) via TCPIP so yes, you've guessed it, the person acting as a dispatcher can be located anywhere in the world.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Driver AI is being fully overhauled in RSP and is being broken into two unique components. Drivers will no longer attempt to path plan, they just drive and follow signals as required. Therefore, the AI functions for drivers have actually been reduced in complexity from that present in TRS2004. Since RSP includes full route planning both the signalling system and dispatcher can refer to the planned routes and act accordingly. The other area that AI will now be operational is when you don't have a human acting as dispatcher. In this instance the AI will take over and resolve route conflicts within bounds set during the route-planning phase.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]And so it goes... It's too bad this didn't make it as a product back then.
Johnto AI will resolve most of the outstanding issues with AI.[/FONT]