People feel cheated of having bought one version and quickly the next one is to be launched. Try to see it as a donation. Without new money, there will be no development. In the end - it's only money...
"Some weeks ago I got myself a bottle of single malt whisky for some $30. Every now and then I had a glas or two. Today the bottle is empty and my $30 are gone. Was I fooled ?? "
(Still got my Trainz DVD's)
For the most part, I enjoy my Trainz experience each and every time I sit down at my computer for a session. And your suggestion of looking at my purchase as a donation is valid. Generally, everything in life, software included, is a learning experience. From a team of programmers developing a product, to the users at large enjoying that product. What is not valid is the malt whiskey comparison. I don't drink alcohol, but I know enough about whiskey to know that anyone who enjoys a drink now and then, gets exactly what was expected when they make that $30 purchase, and doesn't need to wonder if the next "version" will be to his or her liking or not. Or even taste like the last bottle they enjoyed.
I have only purchased TS2009. And I consider my donation money well spent. I have in a short time spent many hours enjoying my new hobby. But within one month from the time I chose to donate to Trainz, I see a new version is in the works to be released. And in that same month, I have had to wade through thousands and thousands of "assets" to find a limited few items that meet my narrow field of interest. I didn't just open the Trainz package and sip the warm liquid a $30 bottle of malt whiskey provides. It has taken time to learn how to enjoy Trainz, and it has taken patience to overlook all the content I basically have no interest in. Now I am wondering, will I need to contribute another donation to enjoy what I already purchased a month ago? And will TS2010 provide what I thought I was purchasing one month ago?
What I would like to see in lieu of the current method of packaging the game, is that all content, except for perhaps a hundred or so "basic" items, be in a separate directory or download file that a new user can access at their own choice and not have all this content included by default. I would rather choose assets to be in my version of the database or collection of content than have to page through page after page of content in the Content Manager and Disable thousands and thousands of items I will never use. This is a waste of my time and detracts from my level of enjoying what I donated to.
A lot of this built-in content does not even have a preview image or any description at all. And many assets don't even have a name that is self-explanatory. I know this is the fault (?) of third-party content creators, not Auran. But nonetheless, this content is included in what I donated to and I am not pleased about it. It detracts from my enjoyment to know that all of this content is there and is slowing down my experience of Trainz. I have read posts in this Forum that adding more content slows down the overall time it takes to load the application. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, but I do know it is there and I have to filter out all of that content I don't need or want to find what few items I do enjoy.
As to filtering out content I don't wish to have in my asset database... when I am in Content Manager and using the Search parameter feature, sometimes I forget that while the focus of my input is in the Search fields, when I press the delete key to remove a typo, Content Manager will assume I mean to delete the currently selected asset, even though my attention is on the search fields and what I am typing there, and delete the selected asset. To me this is a bug and should be fixed. If the focus is on the list of assets and I press the delete key, then I would expect Content Manager to delete that asset, but NOT while I am typing in parameters to filter the long, long, long list of assets I would rather not have in that list. 170,000+ assets and I only use less than two hundred? Granted, many thousands are in the Download Station, but still, there are thousands and thousands of built-in assets I will never use.
Auran, please consider packaging the thousands and thousands of assets now included as built-in assets into a separate file to be added later by the user. Or provide two download versions, one as packaged now with built-in content, and another version with a minimum set of assets needed by the tutorials provided, and let me, a new user, add content in my area of interest.
Then I can view my $30 donation as getting what I expected, as Ferngren suggested in the above comparison to a bottle of fine malt whiskey. And sit back and enjoy an evening of excellent Trainz fun.
