Trainz - Game or Simulator - by N3V Marketing
- Thread starter boleyd
- Start date
Try JR, I only need three.
You won't get good results using WoT.
I'm progressing there periodically but yes I'm going to make a switch over there. I just won't be able to do it all at once. On a side note you must be using GEVOs and their brand new Dash 9s.
HAHA
Yeah because pulling a "normal" size train and then launching off into space is totally realistic.
No kidding, I've had this happen MANY times. As well as the dynamic brakes bringing my train from 50MPH to 0MPH, then suddenly derail in about 2 seconds. That's railtrainsimulator2056 or whatever they've named it for ya.
For Trainz to be a "simulator"...
It needs to be possible to drive a train from A to B without stopping at every junction to check and set the route which way you need to go (i.e. proper despatcher).
It needs to be possible to set up and have the programme monitor progress against a timetable. Every other train "sim" offers this.
Diesel locos need to be set up to consume fuel.
All types of braking system need to be offered not just set and lap (with no partial release). You are hardly "simulating" operation of a modern MU train if it doesn't have stepped or EP braking.
If it was a "simulator" there wouldn't be padlock items over points and crossings, which should also have proper frogs and checkrails with a gap for the wheel flange to pass through.
Could go on but until at least the above is addressed it will always be far clser to its model railway game origin than the simulator it aspires to be.
It needs to be possible to drive a train from A to B without stopping at every junction to check and set the route which way you need to go (i.e. proper despatcher).
It needs to be possible to set up and have the programme monitor progress against a timetable. Every other train "sim" offers this.
Diesel locos need to be set up to consume fuel.
All types of braking system need to be offered not just set and lap (with no partial release). You are hardly "simulating" operation of a modern MU train if it doesn't have stepped or EP braking.
If it was a "simulator" there wouldn't be padlock items over points and crossings, which should also have proper frogs and checkrails with a gap for the wheel flange to pass through.
Could go on but until at least the above is addressed it will always be far clser to its model railway game origin than the simulator it aspires to be.
One criterion could be whether the product is used for professional training. If yes, then it's a simulator. If not, a simulation game. (Vern, stop smiling.
:wave
As a simulation game, does it have working signals and interlocking? Trains that interact with each other? If not, I am not interested.
:wave As a simulation game, does it have working signals and interlocking? Trains that interact with each other? If not, I am not interested.amigacooke
Well-known member
Some topics just go round and round and round and round and never actually get anywhere.
Still never mind, it'll be back in 6 months time dressed in slightly different clothing.
Still never mind, it'll be back in 6 months time dressed in slightly different clothing.
yeah, but so?
All the above
Seems a consensus (with one exception) that Trainz does an acceptable job in all three modes.
My problem is that I cannot become interested in simulating a railroad if what I see does not look real, and not like a low level PC cartoon. Here is where I begin to have problems with Trainz. However, it is possible, with effort, to make routes look very nice/real. Not quite to the visual appearance of Railworks.
My opinion is that Railworks is a game derived from an incomplete simulator. For a very long time customers waited for the "big update". Instead they were greeted with achievements, game console control, only Facebook with no forum, and no hope of a real technical update. I know nothing about engine physics. However, I respect the opinions ONLY from those who have driven the beasts. It is similar to not accepting opinions about flight characteristics in FSX/P3D from anyone except a pilot.
Today there is little discussion of signal and physics in the non-vendor Railworks forums. Most commentary centers around addons and routes. It seems comparable to the kill the monster forums I have seen a few times. However, here in "trainz land" we see a wide variety of technical discussions. The difference between the two products is wide, but not visible to customers who have no appreciation, or knowledge, of rail-roading.
I still try Railworks but only to try to crack the unstable signaling system. I always end up back here after once again realizing that the lights/aspects are meaningless to AI. AI is all I use in either product.
So, let us hope that N3V maintains the balance we currently have.
Seems a consensus (with one exception) that Trainz does an acceptable job in all three modes.
My problem is that I cannot become interested in simulating a railroad if what I see does not look real, and not like a low level PC cartoon. Here is where I begin to have problems with Trainz. However, it is possible, with effort, to make routes look very nice/real. Not quite to the visual appearance of Railworks.
My opinion is that Railworks is a game derived from an incomplete simulator. For a very long time customers waited for the "big update". Instead they were greeted with achievements, game console control, only Facebook with no forum, and no hope of a real technical update. I know nothing about engine physics. However, I respect the opinions ONLY from those who have driven the beasts. It is similar to not accepting opinions about flight characteristics in FSX/P3D from anyone except a pilot.
Today there is little discussion of signal and physics in the non-vendor Railworks forums. Most commentary centers around addons and routes. It seems comparable to the kill the monster forums I have seen a few times. However, here in "trainz land" we see a wide variety of technical discussions. The difference between the two products is wide, but not visible to customers who have no appreciation, or knowledge, of rail-roading.
I still try Railworks but only to try to crack the unstable signaling system. I always end up back here after once again realizing that the lights/aspects are meaningless to AI. AI is all I use in either product.
So, let us hope that N3V maintains the balance we currently have.
Launching into space? I've never had that happen to me. Nor dynamic brakes taking my train from 50 to 0 and derail in two minutes.
I look at Trainz as being a program with so much potential which both the users and developers have barely scratched the surface on. With its open content creation interface, people can create pretty much what they want to ranging from simple buildings to fully automated industries. The open and accessible scripting language, a beast unto its own, has so much capabilities which we've seen in Jointed Rail's Search signals and some of the automated mine dumpers and docks by Ben Dorsey.
The biggest weakness I see right now with Trainz, outside of the technical things which need addressing, is lack of documentation. As part of the Yesterdayz Trainz Group initiative, another Trainz user and I are working on end-user documentation. We are in the process of updating the N3V Wiki, along with Wiki Books, to provide help and information for both the beginner and seasoned user alike. This is a long ongoing project as we're finding information scattered all over the place. The ultimate goal is to bring this information into a single easily accessible resource.
The technical issues with Trainz such as shadows and game-engine performance definitely need improvement. I'm sure the developers at N3V are aware of these problems, but fixing things at the game-engine level can be difficult as it can break things and we don't want that. Hopefully as the series improves, the newer versions of Trainz will have better and better graphics and performance improvements.
John
The biggest weakness I see right now with Trainz, outside of the technical things which need addressing, is lack of documentation. As part of the Yesterdayz Trainz Group initiative, another Trainz user and I are working on end-user documentation. We are in the process of updating the N3V Wiki, along with Wiki Books, to provide help and information for both the beginner and seasoned user alike. This is a long ongoing project as we're finding information scattered all over the place. The ultimate goal is to bring this information into a single easily accessible resource.
The technical issues with Trainz such as shadows and game-engine performance definitely need improvement. I'm sure the developers at N3V are aware of these problems, but fixing things at the game-engine level can be difficult as it can break things and we don't want that. Hopefully as the series improves, the newer versions of Trainz will have better and better graphics and performance improvements.
John
lol he means accelerating too quickly
*cough cough* Kris94 *cough*
Looking at the level of sophistication that our flight-sim friends have achieved, particularly with regard to hardware peripherals, I would say that Trainz still has a way to go before it can be considered a decent simulator. All we have is Raildriver (which does a superb job as a controller under the circumstances and which I would not be without) but, apart from a feeble rumbling effect, physical feedback from the game is completely lacking. I would like to see the game provide real-time information like acceleration, angular velocity etc which could be accessed by external devices e.g. actuators to enable a decent simulation of motion - acceleration, decceleration, turning forces etc.
No I quite literally mean launching into space.
Not my vid, but an example close to what happened. :hehe:
Give the kid a break, he drives the most realistic Train Simulator 2013.
Actually, if he was running the most realistic simulator, he'd be running Run 8
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