Time to upgrade?

RJPugh

V-Gauge pioneer
For a variety of reasons[1], I've decided to re-start my "layout" from scratch. I am currently using TS2010, and until now I haven't had a compelling reason to upgrade. But, the warnings about out-of-date content are becoming more and more common, and some of the new content I want to try (though don't really NEED) requires a later version of Trainz.

That being said, should I take this "opportunity" to move to a new version of Trainz? And if so, which one? I have my eye on the current promotion, the "TS12 Mega-Bundle." But versions of Trainz: New Era is also available. Which one should I try?

From a technical standpoint, Auran says that my computer should be able to handle TS2012. It's a standard issues Dell Inspirion 660 series that has, so far, served me well. I was built in early 2012, according to the paperwork. It has had no problem running TS2010, even with a lot of the ge-whiz enabled. I figure if I turn down some of the options on TS2012, it should run without much fuss. I don't know about T:NE.

I'm naturally concerned about migrating existing content. Has anyone had any problem with importing assets from TS2010 to TS2012? I still have TS2006 on my computer, and I still call on it from time to time, often for reference and ideas. I suspect I'll keep TS2010 available as well.

Move up TS2012, move WAY up to or T:NE, or stay the course at TS2010. Aye, there's the rub.


[1] Reasons: Bad track design, poor placement of stations, depots and structures, unsatisfactory terrain editing, and so on. If this were a conventional plywood & plaster layout, I would be looking for ways to overhaul the thing. But one of the advantages of v-gauge is that it's easy to completely re-do things when they don't work as planned.
 
I've been in this predicament before with my own decade old route. I went from TRS2004 to TRS2006, then TS2009, TS2010, and now TS12 and now waiting for the moving into TANE whenever that comes out. So if I were you I'd go to TS12 first as that will give you a chance to continue working with what you have, even if this means starting over in some places. (Hint... I rebuilt my route in sections so I never lost a lot, but made the original route better). This will get your route and content ready for the next leap into TANE when that comes out. As I worked on, and still work on my big route, I'm redoing sections which I thought were the bee knees back in their day, only to laugh at them now because the track laying is pretty gross. :)

With TS12, as much as people kvetch about it, you can still use much of the older content. You might have to fix a few things, but much of the content has been updated now so that process isn't as bad as it once was. When I went from version to version, I was fixing thousands of assets each time. I don't believe it's as bad as that now.

If you do this by way of the digital download, you'll get the latest version with all the patches which will save you a ton of time with the updating.

John
 
For a variety of reasons[1], I've decided to re-start my "layout" from scratch. I am currently using TS2010, and until now I haven't had a compelling reason to upgrade. But, the warnings about out-of-date content are becoming more and more common, and some of the new content I want to try (though don't really NEED) requires a later version of Trainz.

That being said, should I take this "opportunity" to move to a new version of Trainz? And if so, which one? I have my eye on the current promotion, the "TS12 Mega-Bundle." But versions of Trainz: New Era is also available. Which one should I try?

From a technical standpoint, Auran says that my computer should be able to handle TS2012. It's a standard issues Dell Inspirion 660 series that has, so far, served me well. I was built in early 2012, according to the paperwork. It has had no problem running TS2010, even with a lot of the ge-whiz enabled. I figure if I turn down some of the options on TS2012, it should run without much fuss. I don't know about T:NE.

I'm naturally concerned about migrating existing content. Has anyone had any problem with importing assets from TS2010 to TS2012? I still have TS2006 on my computer, and I still call on it from time to time, often for reference and ideas. I suspect I'll keep TS2010 available as well.

Move up TS2012, move WAY up to or T:NE, or stay the course at TS2010. Aye, there's the rub.


[1] Reasons: Bad track design, poor placement of stations, depots and structures, unsatisfactory terrain editing, and so on. If this were a conventional plywood & plaster layout, I would be looking for ways to overhaul the thing. But one of the advantages of v-gauge is that it's easy to completely re-do things when they don't work as planned.

Read my experiences here when installing my TRS04 route into T:ANE CE, you will see, there is hardly any drama associated with this. I also installed this route into TS12 V13688 first and then I installed its exported CDP (from TS12) into T:ANE CE.

No drama.

Cheers

VinnyBarb
 
Are you considering sharing the route? If so, then absolutely stick with TS2010, hands down. Main reason is, you will reach the largest audience. Plus, I find build 44088 to be quite stable. That's what I've been working in for the last few years, for those reasons.

True, some folks are unnecessarily updating content with a TS12 build, even though it works perfectly well in TS2010. Doesn't seem to be too common IMO besides a lot of Russian stuff on the DLS. I even know of one who's deliberately trying to break compatibility with earlier versions. Unfortunately, most of this content is versioned for TS12SP1 (3.7), so you can count out a lot of users who don't or won't use that patch. It's quite likely that those content creators, because they're already versioning for the latest version they have, would also continue to do so in the future, so you'd constantly be playing a game of chasing the content updates.

In terms of building, TS12 isn't much different than TS2010. I can't speak for T:ANE but remember that T:ANE is presently still a beta (as N3V has pointed out) and starting a new route now could be a disaster, because anything can change at this point.
 
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I'm going to wait on T:ANE, since it's still being working on. I'm still considering TS12. What I like about the current bundle is that I would get the core simulator, and a few add-on packages for just a few more dollars than TS12 alone.

I haven't decided weather or not to share this layout, but if I do I will try to keep the content as backward compatible as I can manage. I can see myself sticking mostly with TS2010 content, but enjoying the (slightly?) improved performance and editing features of TS12. Decisions decisions...

I don't use Steam.com. I tried it once, and found too many technical issues with it. However, if I go back to using FreeBSD as my operating system of choice, I may re-visit it.
 
Thoughts on 2009 -vs 2012

Howdy; I think this is the right spot, if not, OOps.
Anyway, I've been ponder'in.. I have 2009 (build 49933)on my puter & 2012 in my hand. ..
I doubt I'll ever play multi, as I bought game so I can BuildBuildBuild (I'm content to just sit around the house playing with myself:p)
Are there tons of new goodies on 2012?(been playing a couple weeks & still learning, so I might not Even notice all on my own.
Should I just stick it in? OR pass it along to my Nephew?

I'd welcome any thoughts
Thanks *tip of the hat*
 
Not really. Supposedly, some of the people accidentally versioning their content to TS12 will reversion it to 2.9 (TS2009), though we'll see. You probably won't miss it and can reversion it yourself if you need to. There really were very few new features added, in terms of content functionality, from TS2009 and the latest TS12, and far less between TS2009 and the pre-SP1 version of TS12. Also, if you have official DLC purchased from N3V, you might find the DRM imposed by the latest patch to TS12 (SP1) to be objectionable, as it requires an occasional phone-home to even be able to use it, and you can't modify it.

I do like that TS12 has doppler effect, though it's only useful in Driver, not for building. On lower-end systems, I think the performance of TS12 is a bit better, but I don't see the difference on a modern gaming computer. And, as I indicated above, it you plan on sharing your creations, you definitely should stick with TS2009/TS2010 (I think the version you mentioned, 49933, is actually TS2010, not TS2009.) TS12 has a map view you can use in Surveyor, though it's of marginal convenience and there are even more convenient workarounds (i.e. name items around your map and use Find [CTRL-F] to go to them, rather than zoom out on the map view.)

But, if you can get it cheap and in a boxed set (pre-SP1), I'd recommend TS12 for driving. One of the nice things about Trainz is you can have multiple installations with no problems.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I've decided to save the $35 and stay with TS2010. If the performance difference between TS2010 and TS2012 is almost non-existent, then I may as well stick with what I know. This became a case of "It ain't broke, so don't fix it."

What I may do, however, I do a severe culling of my content database. There is a lot of stuff in there I don't use, and don't expect to ever use. But that's another freight car.
 
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