Unacceptable download speeds

[jordon412]

Fight! Fight! Fight! Place your bets here!

You go fight with somebody else now. Digging up old posts on what someone said years ago is not a strong argument on your part. What you say is just as much opinion as what I say, please don't forget that.

Scott,

People do care (including me). But like so many things in life that are the products of passions, emotions, politics, etc - claims and opinions are easily made as if they are "facts" without the evidence to back them up. That is what I campaign against.

You may well be right, but opinions are not facts.

My opinions.

This is why I regretted opening my mouth...Because of this exact reason. This person is accusing me of the same this he is doing in this thread. I said what I said. Like it or not, it is what it is and I really don't care what you think...Some how I believe nobody else cares as well.

Hmmm. Read the posts in the forums and you will conclude that TS12 was the best version of Trainz ever, that the subscription system will be forced onto everyone, that assets are being deliberately removed from the DLS "for no real reason", that users will "leave in droves" if SpeedTrees are introduced, etc, etc. The forum is great for claiming that views held by individuals with "an axe to grind" or have a particular conspiracy theory to push, are actually the views being held by "everyone" - the well known "megaphone effect" of social media. Armchair "quarterbacking" also comes to mind.

I don't know what N3Vs current business model is or whether it needs urgent changing to stop "pushing away more users and creators then it is gaining them". What evidence do you have for that claim (apart from posts in the forums)? Based on your experiences in the gaming software development, marketing and retail business, what are your suggestions?

I hate to get into this again but here it goes...

I don't think that people expect to have super fast download speeds from the download station just because they have the Trainz program. But they do expect something more then what is there now. While the download speeds have stayed the same over the years the size of the content has grown. Now just downloading a simple tree can take hours. That is unacceptable and should be looked into. The new methods for content creation means a lot more detailed PNG graphics with many channels. These add up on the content's file size. It's simply not the same download station to what is was five years ago.

Another thing I'd like to see is that people that contribute to the download station have their speed altered or the price of a FCT lowered as some kind of incentive for their contributions. Right now you can contribute hundreds of items and get nothing in return. I also realize there is a difference between uploading 100 different bridges vrs. 100 re-paints of a billboard...maybe a point system can be created for uploads???

Just my thoughts on the subject...I shall fade back into the shrubs now.

Perhaps one solution is to include in each purchase of Trainz a limited period FCT (after registering the product).

To cover a few of the points raised, or at least my views on them ...

Asset creators already have a choice on whether their creations will be freeware or payware - the choice between uploading to the DLS or DLC. I have always opted for uploading to the DLS as creating payware, to me at least, is just too much trouble. I understand that N3V pays DLC creators 50% of the sales which is very generous - as an author of textbooks the best I ever got from a very well known international publisher was 15% (split 2 or 3 ways).

On a number of occasions in the past Tony has stated that the cost of the FCT to users goes entirely into providing the bandwidth (for all) and contributes to the server costs. The FCT is not a "cash cow" for N3V.



A lot of assumptions in those statements and only N3V can provide the answers. Any business trying to survive in these "difficult" times would be negligent if they were not "trying to snatch money from every possible corner". For small niche software developers "difficult times" are all the time.

The "points for uploads" idea has been suggested before and rejected as it is so easily rorted.

All I can say is that N3V needs to prepare to continue to lose customers and creators if changes aren't made. It's time for somebody at N3V to think outside of the box and come up with a new solutions. There current business model is pushing away more users and creator then it is gaining them. All you need to do is read the forums to know that.

Tonight an all-out bare-knuckle slugfest between 'The Dark Horse' BlackDiamond1964 and 'The Aussie Thunda' Pware. Place your bets on who will win this battle of the titans here! Betting closes 11:59:59PM USEST December 13th, 2020. <- Had too much fun coming up with this.

 

[hiawathamr]

Hi

Just being tempted back to Trainz with he offer of a free trial of TRS19+ however the abysmal download speed of 333k/sec is frankly very poor, worse than the old dial up access !!
Very surprised these are no boxed versions available I'm afraid its not for me.

Tony

Yeah, but it won't matter anyway since the box versions also use the online DRM. TANE was the last version that had DRM free for box versions.

Cheers

 

[TonyN]

Hi, thanks for all the feedback. Have taken a sanity pill ( pint of beer) and will try again.
Tony