Thinking of coming back to Trainz!

[metalangel]

Hi all,

I've been using Trainz since CE but the pace of technology has left me behind and after TRS2004 I didn't really continue with it.

Well now I have a new MacBook Pro (i7, 4Gb RAM, GT 330M graphics, Win7) and I am finally able to try all the PC games I've been having to pass by while I've been off in Xbox360 land.

So Trainz 2010 has just come out and I'm wondering - what's it like? How does it compare to the old versions? What amazing new features would you say would convince someone who has been away from the series for six years? I like MSTS but it's a decade old and Railworks... well, not impressed by it (I like prototypical routes)

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[trainzamtrakfan]

hey man ,

i dont suggest you get trainz 2010 . but i do suggest you get trainz 2009 , which is very good , and its very creative , as well as its a "world builder " i have heard the MN Harlem line crashes much in trs2010 so thats why i didnt get it

 

[wholbr]

Hi Everybody.
Speaking for myself I find that 2010 is by far the best version produced so far. On my setup it runs far smoother than all the previous versions and has better graphics with most of all layers.

Layers mean that you can have a basic route set out in the route layer and then have different layers setting set in different time scales such as the 60s-70s and then have the a another layer set in the 2000s. I find it really makes it interesting to have timescale vehicles running on the roads and different buildings along the track defined by the date you are running the session in.

I know not everybody would agree but for me 2010 with layers has been a huge step forward.

Bill

 

[aardvark1]

hey man ,

i dont suggest you get trainz 2010 . but i do suggest you get trainz 2009 , which is very good , and its very creative , as well as its a "world builder " i have heard the MN Harlem line crashes much in trs2010 so thats why i didnt get it

Andre,

It is interesting that you offer comments about TS2009 and TS2010.

Looking at the header next to your name, it appears that you only have TRS2006 in your registered Trainz series portfolio.

Thanks you.

Have fun,

 

[narrowgauge]

Go for TS2010, it is much superior to TS2009 which it completely replaces.

The Harlem line is in TS2010, if it is the same as the one in TS2009, then it is useless. If it crashes in TS2010 then it is a fault with the route not the prgram. I have been using TS2010 since it was released, there were some early bugs but these have been fixed.

Peter

 

[baz66]

Harlem doesn,t crash on my 2010.
baz

 

[metalangel]

Thanks for the input so far.

Having had some time thinking about it my questions are really:
-how much is there to do? Are there a lot of big proper routes (from the description on Steam there seem to be) and places to go or will I be driving in circles on the USA map again? Lots of prototypical stuff or lots of fictional?
-how 'alive' does the game come? In CE you just let trains loose to drive in a straight line*, at least until scripted stuff like Razorback came out. In TRS2004 you had the AI drivers who'd shunt backwards wrong road at 80mph going between the interactive industries. Whereas in MSTS you have lots of activities with lots of AI traffic and more importantly don't have to do your own signalling during a run!
-leading on from the last question, how much does it involve to just go out and drive on a route and see other trains going around? If there are plenty of pre-scripted things from the get-go, that's great. If I have to spend ten minutes at the beginning of each session painstakingly instructing each driver which industries to call at to make my layout come alive... bleh.
-are there any missing features? TRS2004 shipped and then there was a very long wait for the 'passenger patch'.
-finally, is the rolling stock selection appropriate to the routes? I remember stuff like the GG-1 being added despite there not being a route included in the game to drive it on** at first.

Cheers!

*I was frustrated by this to the point that I actually made my first and only layout (Speedy) primarily to have a big double-line layout where I could drive HSTs at 125mph and see other trains coming past the other way. It ended up being a huuuuuuge double oval because the AI would just drive straight ahead and take whatever route was set for it. Crude though it was I think Speedy was one of if not the first really big layout on the DLS.
**I also remember the 'pantograph bug' which was never fixed in TRS2004, to my knowledge. Certainly when 2006 was announced it was still there.

 

[RRSignal]

I don't know anything about TRS2004, but there are at least two large routes I enjoy: Port Ogden & Northern, and UMR2010. Oh, and payware Cabon City. Maglev 2006 is pretty cool. I think it works out to about 100 miles (very ballpark) but is fun if you're into Maglevs.

Based on your description of TRS2004, I'd venture to guess TS2010 is better. I haven't noticed if AI trains work industries, but player trains can be commanded to. Many of the built-in routes have significant AI trains, such as the Maria's Pass demo. I have noticed that most non-payware routes seem to have little or no AI traffic, but, then again, I'm mostly using freeware USA routes.

Edited to Add: I haven't explored UMR or Cabon City as much as I'd like to have since I acquired and drove them fairly recently.

 

[Gary_Hoorn]

I have been away for some time now and am about to order Trainz 2010. What patches should I get? Amazing how much I have missed the past few years, especially as I once was a Beta Tester.
Gary

 

[wholbr]

Hi Everybody.
Speaking for myself I have been running 2010 since last Christmas without any update patches installed at all. It seems to work perfectly okay in the surveyor and driving mode so I do not know what the patches are for as I do not really see any problems.

I know there have been some problems on installing PC2 and it creates its own problems on running from what I read. I think the best advice would be to buy 2010 and then install the patches if you see any problems on your setup.

The all best
Bill

 

[RRSignal]

I'll second that. Don't patch.

 

[narrowgauge]

Welcome back, Gary

Definitely go for TS2010 and I'm pretty sure that what you will get now is updated to the SP3 level. You will find that it has changed a lot.

Peter

 

[Johnda1237]

I have TS 2010 and all the others but my "map" doesn't show TS 2010, I checked my user info and everything seems to be fine. Any ideas?

 

[narrowgauge]

John

Perhaps it needs human action to add the missing 'destination'. It's Sunday evening here in OZ. I guess it will be fixed when they reurn to work.

Peter