Welcome to TRS22 from the CEO

pware said:
A good analysis Paul. I agree that the standards for creating content (specifically scenery, locos, trees, etc) has progressed considerably since "the day". I would also add (my theory) that the pressure for this change has come from both ends of the product - the consumers (us) who are always demanding more realism and better quality graphics; and the developer (N3V) who have to keep ahead of the competition. Add to that the obvious point that train simulators are very much a small niche market.

But at least us amateurs can still create and upload routes.

My thoughts.
Click to expand...

Very fair point. But to illustrate the problem - I was interested in developing a UK electrified route (there is some very good track and catenary available), but I realised there were no modern loco models* (up to current standards) to run on it, so I've had to shelve it. Ultimately, we have to have train models to make it worth building routes - the egg does come before the chicken!

Paul

[*for me that means classes 81 through to 90.]
 
I got interested in modelling because of Trainz. Initially, I was learning the modelling itself through various Blender tutorials, then I tried to play a bit with "legacy" textures, and eventually decided to learn the PBR flow. I think it was a very good move. But I want to tell a bit about the difficulty of this flow.

From the perspective of the last couple of months, I see that PBR flow is not actually that hard to learn. In fact, if you start with simple objects, you should be able to achieve nice results after I don't know... maybe one or two entry-level tutorials. And further discovering of the features gives a lot of joy. I was extremely happy when I learned how to create a reallistic snow cover effect. It turned out that I had to use exactly the same technique I had already learned to apply dirt etc. onto the walls. Later, I wanted to have a mossy wall. I had a brick wall material, and I realized that I just need to use the same technique that I used for dirt and snow, and within minutes of expermenting with switches and sliders I had my nice-looking mossy brick wall.

And what was hard?

1. for modelling, you have Blender which is both free and powerful. For PBR, there is currently no good free alternative, and you have to put some money e.g. to buy/subscribe Substance Painter or similar tool. There is an open-source Armor Paint which is being developed. I tried it, too, but it's not that mature yet as Substance Painter. And SP comes with a rich library of ready-for-use materials. Without such a library, doing anything in PBR is a complex task.
2. lack of good video tutorials that show the flow step-by-step, and that are Trainz-oriented. Yes, there is wiki, but you need to spend some time to connect the dots. For example, the wiki article about exporting the model from Blender to Trainz assumes that you already have the model and a PBR texture. But it does not explain, how to create that texture in the first place. It won't show you that you e.g. need to firstly model the object, then create the UV map, and then cut it in a proper way, so that you could apply the materials easily in Substance Painter and this is how you get it. The articles about rendering optimizations are in yet another place, but you need to read them, too, to understand why it's generally better to pack everything onto one material rather than 7. Once you know the steps, things are easy, but it took me almost a month of trial-and-error and ~4 attempts to figure out how to do it right and finish my first PBR object.

The cost of tools (point #1) is something that we need to accept at this moment and everyone has to answer themselves "do I want to pay this money". But point #2 is achievable with the help of the community and people who already learned the PBR flow, and it could help people switch to PBR or attract new modellers.
 
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Thanks for this observation. I got involved in reskins which has brought me a lot of pleasure (and quite a few uploads), but I know this is going to get harder and harder in the future unless I get into Substance Painter. :(

Paul
 
dundun92 said:
As Amigacooke and Vern are trying to say, you keep TRS2022 forever, but after 12 months, you don't keep S20 forever (which I find a bit awkward).
I am also waiting on the Steam version in January, and, hoping S20 will make it into this trainz version.

Also, if the excuse is "S20 isn't ready yet", Why doesn't Tony just allow people to switch to a TRS22 beta stream on the standalone version and test it there? Why is it subscription-only? Wouldn't they need all the help they could get?
Click to expand...
Good morning

well I'm really unlucky, I had taken out the train plus subscription, but I stopped this subscription, normally I kept TRS22 basic (without S.02), following a crash of my hard drive , I lost this version, so I went to Mytrainz to recover the basic version of TRS 22, and the surprise nothing, just my old trainz Tane, 17 ,19 , don't understand why I no longer have TRS22 basic, I still paid for it
 
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pinorev said:
Good morning

well I'm really unlucky, I had taken out the train plus subscription, but I stopped this subscription, normally I kept TRS22 basic (without S.02), following a crash of my hard drive , I lost this version, so I went to Mytrainz to recover the basic version of TRS 22, and the surprise nothing, just my old trainz Tane, 17 ,19 , don't understand why I no longer have TRS22 basic, I still paid for it
Click to expand...
I think you would need to subscribe to the 1-year plan to get that. I had trainz plus monthly for a bit, but I've canceled it now, and now I've lost TRS22 PE as well, and I'm back at TRS22. It makes sense that they would do it that way. Otherwise, people would just pay $7.99 to get TRS22 platinum and just cancel it, and no one would buy it for $69.
 
I am a TRS22 Plus Subscriber. I have always been confused when an update has been offered. Not to mention, every time I attempted to install a Trainz Update, I wished I had left well enough alone.

Now that we are in the Information Age, I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available. And due to the ever-changing and volatile nature of timely and accurate (factual) information, most of the sheer volume of information is outdated (or blatantly erroneous).

The version of Trainz that I am currently enjoying is Build 122411. When I select, within Trainz Launcher, "Trainz Settings / Install / Check For Trainz Updates", this is reported: "No update for Trainz is available at the current time."

However, when I visit

N3V Games Shop: Simulator Games, Casual Games and Gamer Games

Online Shop sells Casual Games, Gamer Games and Simulator Games (Trainz, Flight, Ship, Airport, Blaster, Bus, Military and much more).
www.auran.com
and "My Trainz" and "Download TrainzPlus", it shows the current version as Build 123794.

So my question is: Would it be worthwhile to update my currently installed version of Trainz Build 122411 to Trainz Build 123794?

After nearly fifteen years of Trainz, and three accounts and one (disappointing) venture into the Steam platform, I have finally found my happy place within Trainz. And I am extremely appreciative of all the excellent creativity and talent and skill that the Developers of Trainz and the many Contributors add to my enjoyment of Trainz. Thank you all!
 
It appears that you are using Trainz Plus. TRS22 Plus is NOT a product that N3V sells and that might be the source of your confusion. Make sure Your Trainz Patch Stream is set to either Trainz Plus or Trainz Plus Beta. If it is set to TRS22 or TRS22 beta then the patcher will not see an update available for your Trainz Plus build 122411. As to whether it is worth updating is up to you. The update does cause some problems with TLR being able to properly see industries and rolling stock and some users have reported crashes. Since there is a new update due in the near future perhaps you would prefer to wait for that one.
 
I am in error referring to Trainz Plus as TRS22 Plus. That is my bad and has nothing to do with my Trainz Plus purchase from N3V.

I have a 1 TB SSD as the Boot Drive, but I prefer to have Trainz Assets on a secondary drive. Which I followed the instructions provided by N3V to do that. If that is why Trainz is not finding an Update, then I would suggest, based on past experiences with the update process and the frequency with which Trainz Plus has issues, that this entire process is far more complicated than it needs to be.

I will wait to update Trainz Plus. If ever. I have a working installation now. No need to change that with an update that may or may not introduce more undocumented features (crashes or non-functioning add-ons and fixes).

Thank you for your response.
 
I agree that the update stream concept is more complex than it should be but it is what we have for the moment. I think you have made a wise choice as I updated and regret doing so. I too found build 122411 to be stable and enjoyed using it. I have reverted to using TRS22 Platinum SP2 for the moment. Perhaps the upcoming release will tempt us both to update. Enjoy your Trainz Plus.
 
Hints? Well, TMR 2 came out in January on Steam only and the X Box version is currently in Beta testing. There are repeated mentions of nearing a release event for some version of Trainz Plus which I assume is TRS25 or maybe TRS26. It seems like the current version of TLR phase 2 might be in that package along with the imposter system for trees and new Treez using Plant Factory. But who knows for sure.
 
-Basti- said:
I've got some questions remaining about the announcement:

- For me it reads like MPS does not require a subscription - am i right?

- What happens if I create a route in S20, cancel the membership later and fall back to classic surveyor - will I still be able to use and editor my route completely?

- Will there be more content or features added or is the list final?

It's no secret that i'm massively disappointed that S20 will be a subscription feature. I am Plus member but I still dislike that decision.
Most of the other features I already have in TRS 2019 platinum, so they are not new. Remains the content. For me, the only interesting route is Schwäninger Land which is already available (in an older version i guess) and maybe few german rolling stock coming.
So in fact: What's really new? Effect layers and Paint under Spline tools, maybe MPS depending of requiring a subscription or not. What about the lots of open stretch goals from T:ANE Kickstarter times like finally a catenary tool?
I know the (human) ressources are limited. But keeping a (if not the) major feature for subscribers...?

Regarding the changes in T:ANE or also TRS 2019 compared to previous versions, this is (imho) not even a TRS 2019 Platinum2.
Click to expand...
How about the fact that there isn't really much difference in the game in 25 years? Sure, under the hood, maybe. But I run coal trains. I generally place or use a coal provider and a coal consumer at opposite ends of a route. I start two coal trains at opposite ends with instructions to "Load" "navigate to" "unload" "repeat". The trains still get confused and fight it out over a switch that they both want to use or one train runs up a dead-end track and gets stuck. This is no different than in 2001. A fundamental scenario that cannot be repeated with any reliability.
 
Hot_Box_Detector said:
How about the fact that there isn't really much difference in the game in 25 years? Sure, under the hood, maybe. But I run coal trains. I generally place or use a coal provider and a coal consumer at opposite ends of a route. I start two coal trains at opposite ends with instructions to "Load" "navigate to" "unload" "repeat". The trains still get confused and fight it out over a switch that they both want to use or one train runs up a dead-end track and gets stuck. This is no different than in 2001. A fundamental scenario that cannot be repeated with any reliability.
Click to expand...
Take a look at this discussion here.
J

Thread 'When the AI are good, they're very good, but when they're bad they're terrible.'

Just like the old saying about a problem child goes, this holds true for AI drivers. I agree that some of this is self-inflicted, but it's not always and it's due to game mechanics and that bit of randomness that gets thrown in the works. There are days when things go well, and there are days when everything falls apart as if the AI went out on a toot the night before and come to work in less than perfect form. With those days, the AI will get stuck at signals, run junctions, SPAD, and do all kinds of unkind things that keep me from doing what I want. It's those days, I want to take the...
 
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