Windows 8 and TRAINZ

J

jkfrench

New member
Hi Everyone,

I have recently updated to Windows 8 and have been generally successful with it. I have seen that others have had problems and even others have given up and have reverted back to Windows 7 ... and I've even tried to help some with their issues ... this thread is really about Windows 8 in general with some TRAINZ related information. Feel free to share, comment, etc. I would ask that we try to focus with posts to this thread on making Windows 8 better for us ... I want it to work well for us and no matter what OS you are upgrading to, there are going to be some growing pains and incompatibilities ... an unfortunate reality. But, let's just see if we can force Windows 8 into submission :hehe:

First off, let me say that I have every windows version of TRAINZ that I have working in Windows 8 ... that includes Trainz 1.1.1, UTC, TRS2004, TRS2006, Classics, TS2009, TS2010 and TS12 ... and no I haven't tried every feature of every version ... what I have done is started each, loaded a couple routes/sessions ... played a bit, made sure I could start surveyor and Content Manager as-available, etc and it all worked. I have also updated assets in both content manager and directly from Trainz with no noticeable problems and I have ran each version with both DirectX and OpenGL ... again no noticeable issues.

Let me also say that I DID NOT reinstall after I upgraded from Windows 7 64-bit Pro to Windows 8 64-bit Pro ... In fact, I haven't made any changes at all to my installs of TRAINZ (and all are installed in their default C:\Program Files (x86) directories ... well ... except for UTC which by default wanted to overwrite my 1.1.1 install so I changed it to C:\Program Files (x86)\UTC) ... and while I'm at it ... just a quick note upgrading to Windows 8 Pro from Windows 7 Pro is now $39.99 ... but as of February 1st it goes 'full price' ... so even if you don't install it now ... if you have planned to eventually purchase it ... maybe now is the time (and no, I don't work for Microsoft ... just trying to save you some hard earned $$$$).

Also, keep in mind, I have a pretty good 'rig' ... my CPU is a 6-core hyper threaded CPU (in effect a 12 core PC) ... I have a good amount of RAM (20GB) and plenty of free hard drive space (multiple TB ... yes Terabytes) and a very acceptable Video Card (with 2GB RAM) ... with a large enough power supply ... so your results may vary just because of less than optimal hardware or the inability to upgrade drivers ... please keep all of this in mind if you decide to upgrade.

Also, let me say that upgrading to Windows 8 has actually fixed a couple of Trainz problems I was having:

- In Windows 7 64-bit when I had the Enable in Game Video option enabled ... when there was a video in a session ... the video would play just fine, but when I closed the window it would crash Trainz to the desktop (every time) ... this problem is now fixed ever since I upgraded to Windows 8.
- Some Sessions in TS12 would crash on me but not in TS2009 or TS2010 ... I specifically remember the Winter in Germany Route's Winter Basic Session crashing to desktop EVERY TIME at a very specific point in TS12 (note I think this is a TS2009 route/session and I do have TS2009 and TS2010 added to my TS12 install ... but the crash no longer happens since I upgraded to Windows 8.

So with all of the problems people have been reporting with Windows 8 ... I do want you to know that it actually has had some positive impact to TRAINZ as well ... at least for me.

I'd also like to share with you a way to get a Start Menu back if you'd like ... It's called Classic Shell and it's FREE ... I only installed the Start Menu part of it, there are other parts you can install as well and you can easily select what you want and don't want from the install app, but the Start Menu works well (even to the point that when you boot up you will automatically end up at the desktop ... it has a ton of settings that can be overwhelming ... but I'd personally rather have settings than hard coded / non-changeable apps ... it even has Windows 8 specific options ... so, if you are missing the lost Windows start menu ... give it try ... again, I didn't write it, I don't support it ... but I've found that it works pretty well (and has brought back a feature that I liked, but no longer had after upgrading to Windows 8 ... it has brought back a comfort level I had thought I had lost)

Finally ... I'd like to to HIGHLY RECOMMEND one final thing ... if/when you do upgrade to Windows 8 and you are upgrading from a previous version of windows ...take the time to run the Window 8 Upgrade Assistant and read the results (and even save or print the results for later review).

To your Windows 8 and TRAINZ success!

--- Jeff
 
On a call in Tech advice show that I am watching now called the Tech Guy that has millions of listeners, two callers have called today alone, wanting to switch their Windows 8 PC's back to Windows 7, due to a multitude of problems they are having with Windows 8. The host, Leo LaPorte, who is a pretty knowledgeable tech guy and has been doing this type show for a couple of decades, always questions the advantage of switching to Windows 8, especially if you don't have a touch screen device. He said on the show today that he himself has tried using Windows 8 for a couple of months and finds it has many negative issues, and does not recommend it for a non-touch screen device, or if you are happy with Windows 7. This has been my experience as well with Windows 8 on two different machines. It is a big hassle to switch to Windows 8 and then to find out, that it has issues, and have to revert back to Windows 7. In my opinion, if they gave it to me for free, I would not put it on my own Desktop.

http://techguylabs.com/
 
Here's my Windows 8 story...

I have a large enough hard drive that I installed Windows 8 side-by-side with Windows 7. That is, in a separate partition of my hard drive, in a dual-boot scenario. If you have the hard drive space and the knowledge on how to do this, I would recommend this kind of setup. That way, if you are dissatisfied with Windows 8, you still have your Windows 7 partition ready to fall back on and ready to go. You can always delete and recover the second partition if you need the space again for Windows 7.

Windows 8 has also behaved quite well for me with regards to Trainz. I have TS12 and use my Windows 8 partition as a benchmark to install my assets and routes to see which dependencies I may have included that are outside a base install of TS12. This is a good way, when you are ready to publish your route (which mine are far from being so), to see that all assets are on the DLS and not from a third-party site. When it comes time to upload my routes, my preference is to not have users download them and 5 minutes later be on the forums looking for missing assets.

I must admit, I do not use Windows 8 regularly yet. Aside from my TS12 testing, I mainly play the pinball games that you can purchase along with the default free pinball game. I tried to start using Blender in Windows 8 a few months ago, but could not get it to recognize the full install of Python to run the help system or tutorials. I had the same problem in Windows 7, so it was not Windows 8s fault.

Windows 8 does take a while to get used to and yes, it is really more geared for a touch screen device. I do find the new interface easy to use and pleasing to the eye. The traditional Windows desktop is always running in the background, so if I get homesick, familiar territory is just a click away. :hehe:

Andrew
 
Game runs ok but not downloads

I have loaded TRS 2009 from a disk onto a new computer with Windows 8 and it seems to run with no problems. The computer is a Toshiba Satellite U940/00S Ultrabook with Intel® Core™ i5-3317U 1.70GHz dual core processor, nVIDIA® GeForce™ GT 630M 2GB dedicated graphics card, 4GB DDR3 RAM, hybrid storage system with 500GB SATA hard drive and 32GB solid state drive. BUT most of my downloads do not appear correctly. I transferred my previous downloads from the old laptop using archives, CDP or the load content option. I have tried different settings including matching the settings for display and options in game with that in the old computer (running Windows 7). No luck. The download items regardless of type appear as a brightly coloured 'birdcage' (sorry best lay persons way to describe them I can think of) in the shape of the item, some with parts that are correct and some with nothing correct. For example, the tender for 3801 shows the body correctly but has the wheels and coal load looking like the 'bird cage', while the black 38 tender is completely 'birdcage'. I have tried to load a screen shot but still learning that trick. CFB
 
CFB - welcome to the forums.

It sounds like you've got a texture compression issue, which is not related to this thread. Check out the thread in my signature for the fix.

Shane
 
Windows 8 actually worked okay for me while i had it running, but I had some technical difficulties with it. There is a motherboard driver which Intel doesn't have an update for yet. When I didn't crash, I found the performance to be quite nice compared to Windows 7. This is due to a lot of under-the-hood changes, which we don't see. The interface is awkward, but there are ways around that with third-party add-ons for those that want their old start menu back. :)

I found that older applications need Admin rights to operate just like with Vista and Windows 7. This is expected, and with TS12, which is my current running version of Trainz, I enabled Admin rights and installed as Admin. There was no problems running, however, my video drivers required Open/GL instead of DirectX.

With my crashes, I ended up going back to Windows 7. I have a thread about my ordeal in the Parts and Labour forum. I will continue to run Windows 7 until the driver issue is resolved.

John
 
There has indeed been a lot of negative talk about Windows 8 but let me put a positive spin on this.

First of all I did not upgrade to Windows 8. Instead I bought a "gaming" machine recently that had Windows 8 installed on it. I had also asked on the forums about Windows 8 and the consensus was that I should have them install Windows 7 onto it. However, Microsoft apparently called back all the Windows 7 disks so the retailer said that was impossible.

Anyway, I got the machine up and running and you get to that screen with all the various tablet-like panels. Yikes, the first time it is weird. However, I found the Desktop (Windows key + d) and user JCitron wrote that I should get and install the "Classic start" found at http://www.classicstart8.com/ Bingo, back completely to the familiar Windows 7 interface. I highly recommend that piece of free software to anyone going to Windows 8. I installed and patched T12 onto the second hard drive (therefore no Admin problems) and copied my Userdata folder from my old install on my laptop and replaced that into my new install. Everything about Trainz works perfectly.

I have found no problems with Windows 8. It just takes a couple of days to get used to. So if anyone is going to purchase a new computer with Windows 8 pre-installed I hope this gives you some assurance that it will be worth it. :D

Cheers, Derek
 
Could it be that the reason why there is such a diverse opinion about Windows 7 versus Windows 8 is dependent upon whether you have a laptop or desktop and whether you have a touchscreen? Could it also depend on what you do on your computer?

If you spend a lot of your time on social media, music and other such things, and use a smart phone then perhaps you like Windows 8?

On the other hand, I predominately use my desktop to run Trainz, write software in Visual Basic.net, photo and audio edit and use software such as Blender, Audacity etc. I do not use social media on my computer.

I currently use XP will be upgrading my desktop soon and have been trying to see if there is a consensus of opinion on whether to buy 7 or 8, but there is no clear answer to this question. This is why I am tending towards the view that it depends on what you want to do with your computer.

There certainly seems to be a problem in running some older software on 8.

Scottish
 
Scottish said:
Could it be that the reason why there is such a diverse opinion about Windows 7 versus Windows 8 is dependent upon whether you have a laptop or desktop and whether you have a touchscreen? Could it also depend on what you do on your computer?

If you spend a lot of your time on social media, music and other such things, and use a smart phone then perhaps you like Windows 8?

On the other hand, I predominately use my desktop to run Trainz, write software in Visual Basic.net, photo and audio edit and use software such as Blender, Audacity etc. I do not use social media on my computer.

I currently use XP will be upgrading my desktop soon and have been trying to see if there is a consensus of opinion on whether to buy 7 or 8, but there is no clear answer to this question. This is why I am tending towards the view that it depends on what you want to do with your computer.

There certainly seems to be a problem in running some older software on 8.

Scottish
Click to expand...

Very good point here. I agree it does depend upon what you'll be doing. For those who just play Angry Birds and poke on the web, this should be a no-brainer, but for others such as yourself, and others who run legacy applications, staying with Win 7 maybe the best option. There are places that still sell Windows 7, and it's still available through MSDN and TechNet if you have a subscription.

John
 
Hi John and everybody.
As I said in another thread the other day, we had an extra computer installed in the office which came with Windows 8. All the staff and myself had a play around with it and were pretty impressed. I therefore have spent the day upgrading my home PC from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Holding my breath on start up after installation only two programmes did not work one being ship simulator and the other trainz 10

Managed to fix ship simulator with a reinstall but trainz just refuses to start no matter what I tried ending with a message advising that Windows 8 cannot connect with application. All efforts to fix ended in disappointment. However, I may be in the minority on this forum but I do like Windows 8 and I am considering upgrading my two-year-old tablet and phone to the same operating system which should make them all easily communicate with each other.

Any thoughts or advice on the above would be appreciated

Bill
 
Hi Bill,

Try reinstalling with the setup.exe run as administrator. This worked for me with TS12. I'm not sure if it works with TS10.

Your two year-old tablet should work fine. I'm not so sure a bout doing that to a phone device. :)

John
 
Same here as Scottish, I avoid social networking and all that stuff like the plague.
I mainly use the PC's for Trainz, PSP, Photoshop, 3ds, Maya, Gmax, Delphi, Visual Basic, Audacity, Bryce, Ham Radio stuff, a few dozen games some ancient some new.
I did try the preview and was totally underwhelmed, won't bother saying what's wrong with it, there are a few millions of posts detailing it's drawbacks on the web, other than that under the hood it is actually a ramped up slightly Win7 with the useful bits removed or maybe hidden somewhere and a UI that looks like something created by AOL. Not one of the "new" apps is the slightest use to me and is just wasted disk space.
Win8 should have been a gadgets only OS.

Incidentally I'm not averse to different or unusual OS's having used BeOS and Linux and some very strange operating systems over the years, just not impressed with Microsoft's latest offering.
 
clam1952 said:
Same here as Scottish, I avoid social networking and all that stuff like the plague.
I mainly use the PC's for Trainz, PSP, Photoshop, 3ds, Maya, Gmax, Delphi, Visual Basic, Audacity, Bryce, Ham Radio stuff, a few dozen games some ancient some new.
I did try the preview and was totally underwhelmed, won't bother saying what's wrong with it, there are a few millions of posts detailing it's drawbacks on the web, other than that under the hood it is actually a ramped up slightly Win7 with the useful bits removed or maybe hidden somewhere and a UI that looks like something created by AOL. Not one of the "new" apps is the slightest use to me and is just wasted disk space.
Win8 should have been a gadgets only OS.

Incidentally I'm not averse to different or unusual OS's having used BeOS and Linux and some very strange operating systems over the years, just not impressed with Microsoft's latest offering.
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%. Windows 8 looks like it was designed for an AOL user. They fit together.
 
Robert2d6 said:
On a call in Tech advice show that I am watching now called the Tech Guy that has millions of listeners, two callers have called today alone, wanting to switch their Windows 8 PC's back to Windows 7, due to a multitude of problems they are having with Windows 8. The host, Leo LaPorte, who is a pretty knowledgeable tech guy and has been doing this type show for a couple of decades, always questions the advantage of switching to Windows 8, especially if you don't have a touch screen device. He said on the show today that he himself has tried using Windows 8 for a couple of months and finds it has many negative issues, and does not recommend it for a non-touch screen device, or if you are happy with Windows 7. This has been my experience as well with Windows 8 on two different machines. It is a big hassle to switch to Windows 8 and then to find out, that it has issues, and have to revert back to Windows 7. In my opinion, if they gave it to me for free, I would not put it on my own Desktop.

http://techguylabs.com/
Click to expand...

What "issues" did you have, that made you revert back to Windows 7? Don't say it is the start menu, that is just different, and you can have it revert to the familiar menus if you really wanted.
 
I installed my copy of TC on Windows 8 two days ago. Generally, I have no problem running the program, but it seems there is no support for video resolution 1920x1080 and the picture is slightly flattened to fill the extra space. I checked the settings, but there is no option to select video resolution like in other computer games. Does TC support this type of resolution? How about TS12? Now that each new PC comes with bigger screen, I am little worried to invest more money in new Trainz releases.
 
clam1952 said:
Incidentally I'm not averse to different or unusual OS's having used BeOS and Linux and some very strange operating systems over the years, just not impressed with Microsoft's latest offering.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, Windows 8 is much better an operating system than Windows XP or Windows 7 I used before. But the changes are minimal and mostly on the surface. Inside, it is still the same software.
 
obirek said:
I installed my copy of TC on Windows 8 two days ago. Generally, I have no problem running the program, but it seems there is no support for video resolution 1920x1080 and the picture is slightly flattened to fill the extra space. I checked the settings, but there is no option to select video resolution like in other computer games. Does TC support this type of resolution? How about TS12? Now that each new PC comes with bigger screen, I am little worried to invest more money in new Trainz releases.
Click to expand...


I'm running everything from TRS2004 to TS12 (including TC) @1920x1080

It's possible that you have a video driver issue ... but ... you can try to just set the -width=1920 and -height=1080 values in the trainzoptions.txt or trainzclassicoptions.txt (as applicable) ... the file can be found in the root directory of your Trainz directory ... also if it's not already set, you might want to also add the -fullscreen option if it's not already in the file (and remove -windowed option if it is in the file).
 
I recently bought a new computer that came with Windows 8 installed. After installing T12, patching it up and moving my Userdata over from my old computer, I have found that Trainz runs perfectly.

When I first started it I could not get 1920X1080 but after a reboot it was available. When you start up Trainz click on Options and then the Display tab and choose the display size that you want. I am sure that my new computer does not have Direct X 9 installed and yet I can run Trainz in Direct X or OpenGL. Direct X is supposed to proviede a faster frame rate display and OpenGL is better if you are taking screenshots because it makes the distant parts of the image more realistic. Hope this helps.:D
 
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