1) The sound is fixed! To be honest I resent having to buy a new version to get a fix for something that should have been right in the last version I bought, but at least it's finally been sorted out. Thankyou.
2) The new five meter terrain grid is very good, allowing much better terraforming of terrain detail. Particularly useful for creators of mountainous and DEM based routes. In particular tracks and roads laid along mountain and hillsides get a major improvement. Creators of DEM based routes really do benefit greatly here. Reduced texture radius is also welcome and the finer texture details can really help to improve overall route detail and appearance.
But . . . the topology tool is now square and when working on a classic ten meter grid the point of action is in one corner rather than the center - rather annoying and counterintuitive.
3) Increased view distance is great and has a much greater negative impact on framerate and general performance than using Trainz Tuner in previous versions.
But . . . doesn't work once inside cab view, where the view distance reverts to good old Trainz CE standard.
4) Performance increase. In DirectX I found TS2009 to be slower and clunkier than either '04 or '06, regardless of whether or not I was in compatiability mode. In OpenGL the difference is stellar with the whole show whizzing by at super fluid pace even at extended view distances on DEM terrain with tree covered hillsides.
But . .. There is a massive amount of psychedelic ground texture discoloration and flickering in OpenGL. Perhaps a change of graphics driver will resolve this. I currently have the latest drivers installed but might try an older driver as recommended elsewhere in these forums.
5) New Content Manager is a great improvement over the previous version I have used in '06. It seems much more robust, provides greater user feedback and contains many new and useful searching and sorting features.
But . . . the feature to backup and restore keywords is now missing.
6) New interface is erm, . . .new. Whereas the one with TRS2006 was a sort of super-cool high-tech blue, the TS2009 version looks like a bit of dirty old canvas painted a dull blue. With all the things that could be done with Trainz, why they continue to waste time and resources overhauling the interface at every version is a mystery to me.
7) New surveyor search features should be fairly easy to get to grips with for anyone who has used TRS2006. For users migrating from '04 it may take a while until you get used to all the possible options available. I personally rate the content search filters highly, finding it far easier to locate either a specific piece of content I want to use or just looking for something suitable to fill in a gap.
But . . dragging and dropping items to the new pick list results in a blank square showing in place of the item's icon. One rather fundamental surveyor annoyance is that after saving the route, the terrain disappears completely. Exiting surveyor and re-entering brings the terrain back, but this workaround is hardly convenient.
8) New replace assets tool is very good and extremely useful.
But . . .why oh, why can't we also use it to simply delete every instance of an asset without having to replace it with something else? Perhaps it already can be used like that . I tried simply leaving the "replace with" box blank but that didn't work. Perhaps there is some less obvious way of doing it?
9) Driver experience seems to have changed little. There are some under the hood changes to the physics system and enginespecs but unfortunately they still haven't got them right. I fail to understand the mentality in revamping things like this if you're just going to change them from wrong to a different kind of wrong. Still no improvements to the lamentable coupler breakage physics either. To be quite honest I haven't yet looked at the claims of improved AI, or saving and re-opening sessions in progress.
10) There are quite a few problems with display of existing content, including a large proportion of that shipped with the simulator. Particularly noticeable are problems with trees. Auran have already stated that this is due to a change in content creation requirements and is not a bug but a feature. New trees will have to be made that take advantage of improvements to the rendering system. TS2009 is really a platform for a whole new generation of content and whilst there is a "compatability mode" for legacy content, it won't be until new content starts showing up in any quantity until we can really see what that new platform can do.
There are also a whole bunch of new content errors being flagged in Content Manager, even for content that showed no errors in TRS2006. I have to wonder if this was wise on Auran's part. It seems we as a community have barely just got over the pain of TRS2006 and it's strict content checking requirements. The only thing that acted as a placebo to many during that upheaval was the thought that once content was corrected for '06 it would be "forever good". Unfortunately it seems the pain may go on.
11) In summary quite a few good points for the new version, but unfortunately nearly every one of them with some sort of a fly in the ointment. It seems to be impossible for Auran to add any kind of feature or fix without either breaking something else or unnecessarily changing something that worked perfectly well.
It might be worth buying just for the five meter grid resolution, sound fix and more robust Content Manager as long as you can live with possibly dodgy looking graphics and don't mind the short viewing distance in "cab" view.
On the whole it seems that TS2009 is most suited to content creators who want the ultimate content compatability and testing tool for the future generations of Trainz.
Out of curiosity I looked on the Download Station to see how many items of content had been specifically created for the latest releases. In total between the various Trainz Classics releases and the new TS2009 there are a grand total of just under three hundred items of content at the time of writing. Three hundred items of content that may (or may not) utilise the new features in the versions released over the past two years. Compare this to the one hundred and twenty thousand odd items that have been created for the versions of Trainz CE through to TRS2006 spanning a period of approximately four years. That represents something like a 99.6% drop in content creation take-up for the last four releases! It would seem that there is little desire by the community to make content specifically for the latest and greatest versions of the software and would indicate to me that Auran may just be heading in the wrong direction by introducing even more strict and complex creation and checking requirements for TS2009.
For the rest of us, a copy of TRS2006 updated to SP1, Trainz Tuner and a seperate audio CD of locomotive sounds might be the better option.
This is an account of my views and experiences with TS2009. I have tried to be as fair and honest as possible. Obviously your mileage may vary. For my own part I do hope Auran will take note of some of these issues and consider addressing at least some of them in a second service pack.
Respectfully, Stuart
First update:
After several hours of messing about with various versions of my video drivers I have managed to banish the dreaded psychedelic ground textures. As far as I can tell for those of you with ATi cards, if you have this problem the only driver that works is version 7.2
I tried both older and newer drivers (about seven different sets all-told) and this is "the one". Whether the blame lies with Auran or ATi I can't say. Now if Auran can just sort out the view distance when in the cab, I might be ready to start the mass-migration of content!
Second update:
Never having owned TRS2007, some of the routes in TS2009 are new to me. I believe it is only fair to congratulate the team at HP-Trainz on their Bad Schandau route and the excellent sessions that come packaged. This I believe is an extract from an upcoming payware release, but frankly is a very worthy standalone inclusion in it's own right. The route is far from super detailed, but the DEM terrain and pure scope of the trackage and number of custom assets make it a wonderful experience of discovery and give a tremendous sense of immersion in a busy rail world. Whatever else I decide to do with TS2009 in the future, I can at least say I've had my money's worth from this route and sessions alone. Thanks guys. Keep us posted when the full route is released, I'll be queuing outside your virtual door!
For further updates, see later in the thread.
2) The new five meter terrain grid is very good, allowing much better terraforming of terrain detail. Particularly useful for creators of mountainous and DEM based routes. In particular tracks and roads laid along mountain and hillsides get a major improvement. Creators of DEM based routes really do benefit greatly here. Reduced texture radius is also welcome and the finer texture details can really help to improve overall route detail and appearance.
But . . . the topology tool is now square and when working on a classic ten meter grid the point of action is in one corner rather than the center - rather annoying and counterintuitive.
3) Increased view distance is great and has a much greater negative impact on framerate and general performance than using Trainz Tuner in previous versions.
But . . . doesn't work once inside cab view, where the view distance reverts to good old Trainz CE standard.
4) Performance increase. In DirectX I found TS2009 to be slower and clunkier than either '04 or '06, regardless of whether or not I was in compatiability mode. In OpenGL the difference is stellar with the whole show whizzing by at super fluid pace even at extended view distances on DEM terrain with tree covered hillsides.
But . .. There is a massive amount of psychedelic ground texture discoloration and flickering in OpenGL. Perhaps a change of graphics driver will resolve this. I currently have the latest drivers installed but might try an older driver as recommended elsewhere in these forums.
5) New Content Manager is a great improvement over the previous version I have used in '06. It seems much more robust, provides greater user feedback and contains many new and useful searching and sorting features.
But . . . the feature to backup and restore keywords is now missing.
6) New interface is erm, . . .new. Whereas the one with TRS2006 was a sort of super-cool high-tech blue, the TS2009 version looks like a bit of dirty old canvas painted a dull blue. With all the things that could be done with Trainz, why they continue to waste time and resources overhauling the interface at every version is a mystery to me.
7) New surveyor search features should be fairly easy to get to grips with for anyone who has used TRS2006. For users migrating from '04 it may take a while until you get used to all the possible options available. I personally rate the content search filters highly, finding it far easier to locate either a specific piece of content I want to use or just looking for something suitable to fill in a gap.
But . . dragging and dropping items to the new pick list results in a blank square showing in place of the item's icon. One rather fundamental surveyor annoyance is that after saving the route, the terrain disappears completely. Exiting surveyor and re-entering brings the terrain back, but this workaround is hardly convenient.
8) New replace assets tool is very good and extremely useful.
But . . .why oh, why can't we also use it to simply delete every instance of an asset without having to replace it with something else? Perhaps it already can be used like that . I tried simply leaving the "replace with" box blank but that didn't work. Perhaps there is some less obvious way of doing it?
9) Driver experience seems to have changed little. There are some under the hood changes to the physics system and enginespecs but unfortunately they still haven't got them right. I fail to understand the mentality in revamping things like this if you're just going to change them from wrong to a different kind of wrong. Still no improvements to the lamentable coupler breakage physics either. To be quite honest I haven't yet looked at the claims of improved AI, or saving and re-opening sessions in progress.
10) There are quite a few problems with display of existing content, including a large proportion of that shipped with the simulator. Particularly noticeable are problems with trees. Auran have already stated that this is due to a change in content creation requirements and is not a bug but a feature. New trees will have to be made that take advantage of improvements to the rendering system. TS2009 is really a platform for a whole new generation of content and whilst there is a "compatability mode" for legacy content, it won't be until new content starts showing up in any quantity until we can really see what that new platform can do.
There are also a whole bunch of new content errors being flagged in Content Manager, even for content that showed no errors in TRS2006. I have to wonder if this was wise on Auran's part. It seems we as a community have barely just got over the pain of TRS2006 and it's strict content checking requirements. The only thing that acted as a placebo to many during that upheaval was the thought that once content was corrected for '06 it would be "forever good". Unfortunately it seems the pain may go on.
11) In summary quite a few good points for the new version, but unfortunately nearly every one of them with some sort of a fly in the ointment. It seems to be impossible for Auran to add any kind of feature or fix without either breaking something else or unnecessarily changing something that worked perfectly well.
It might be worth buying just for the five meter grid resolution, sound fix and more robust Content Manager as long as you can live with possibly dodgy looking graphics and don't mind the short viewing distance in "cab" view.
On the whole it seems that TS2009 is most suited to content creators who want the ultimate content compatability and testing tool for the future generations of Trainz.
Out of curiosity I looked on the Download Station to see how many items of content had been specifically created for the latest releases. In total between the various Trainz Classics releases and the new TS2009 there are a grand total of just under three hundred items of content at the time of writing. Three hundred items of content that may (or may not) utilise the new features in the versions released over the past two years. Compare this to the one hundred and twenty thousand odd items that have been created for the versions of Trainz CE through to TRS2006 spanning a period of approximately four years. That represents something like a 99.6% drop in content creation take-up for the last four releases! It would seem that there is little desire by the community to make content specifically for the latest and greatest versions of the software and would indicate to me that Auran may just be heading in the wrong direction by introducing even more strict and complex creation and checking requirements for TS2009.
For the rest of us, a copy of TRS2006 updated to SP1, Trainz Tuner and a seperate audio CD of locomotive sounds might be the better option.
This is an account of my views and experiences with TS2009. I have tried to be as fair and honest as possible. Obviously your mileage may vary. For my own part I do hope Auran will take note of some of these issues and consider addressing at least some of them in a second service pack.
Respectfully, Stuart
First update:
After several hours of messing about with various versions of my video drivers I have managed to banish the dreaded psychedelic ground textures. As far as I can tell for those of you with ATi cards, if you have this problem the only driver that works is version 7.2
I tried both older and newer drivers (about seven different sets all-told) and this is "the one". Whether the blame lies with Auran or ATi I can't say. Now if Auran can just sort out the view distance when in the cab, I might be ready to start the mass-migration of content!
Second update:
Never having owned TRS2007, some of the routes in TS2009 are new to me. I believe it is only fair to congratulate the team at HP-Trainz on their Bad Schandau route and the excellent sessions that come packaged. This I believe is an extract from an upcoming payware release, but frankly is a very worthy standalone inclusion in it's own right. The route is far from super detailed, but the DEM terrain and pure scope of the trackage and number of custom assets make it a wonderful experience of discovery and give a tremendous sense of immersion in a busy rail world. Whatever else I decide to do with TS2009 in the future, I can at least say I've had my money's worth from this route and sessions alone. Thanks guys. Keep us posted when the full route is released, I'll be queuing outside your virtual door!
For further updates, see later in the thread.
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