Trainz and "Gameplay" - Feedback thread

I have loved Trainz since its 1st edition ( in 2001 I was struggling with route building in MSTS when I heard about the something called Trainz, and that some guy had a vision for an easy to use railway modelling package, with a "Community Edition" currently underway, which had a user friendly "Surveyor" option. Apparently it was slated for commercial release. Unbelievable!).

In response to your survey question, I like that..

* I can make a reasonable approximation of an historically accurate model on my PC, with the ability to run pro-typical operations. And that the scope for realism gets better with every release.
* that I can share my model

Everything else is a bonus, but the rest of the stuff in your original post I'm not that fussed about.

Phil

Thanks to Tony, aka "some guy".
 
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Bob, does that mean RWA will now be getting a spin off TWA (!) site? :wave::wave:

No. Everyone there considers it the "Dark Side". A few of the guys have TANE, but they PM me about stuff. Same with FSX. All though I got that there it is not used. People are people.
 
Hi Tony_Hilliam,

thank you for bringing this interesting thread.

These are answers to your questions.

Q1: Is there a particular built-in session that you like? (and what makes this one special?)
A: I like many built-in sessions, but only as examples to build my own.

Q2: Is there a session on the DLS that you enjoy?
A: I do not use DLS sessions as they tend to miss many dependencies and hunting assets is hardly fun for me.

Q3: If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set-up? (e.g. do you use navigation points?)
A: I use navigation points extensively, to have organised and efficient trains movement.

Q4: Do you only ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another?
A: I prefer to switch between few trains to get more interesting experience.

Q5. Do you use CMTM (Car Movement and Traffic Management System) ? Or perhaps model railroad card systems?
A: No. I even don't know what it is.

Q6. Are there certain rules that you use when making your own gameplay?
A: I try to make as few rules as possible, because I found adding rules makes session less playable and more buggy. Sometimes less is more.

Q7: How do you use commodities in your sessions?
A: Commodities are core elements in each of my sessions. They set session objectives - carry as much cargo (or passengers), over largest distance in shortest time. Isn't it what real railways are for?

Q8: Do you only use Quickdrive? (and why?)
A: Usually I use Quickdrive when testing a newly added feature, but sometimes I enjoy it so much, I can stay in Quickdrive for several hours.

Q8: How much AI traffic do you like in your sessions?
A: 3 to 8 drivers and as many trains. With more trains I'm getting lost.

Q9: Have you tried multiplayer? (What did you like/dislike?)
A: No, I prefer enjoying Trainz alone. It makes me relaxed. I have enough 'multiplayers' at my work.

Q10: Anything else you'd like to throw in to the discussion.
A: The very topic of this thread is 'gameplay' and I found it to be the biggest challenge. In perfect Trainz all should go according to schedule, services should depart and arrive on time, commodities loaded and unloaded without delay, but this punctuality and repeatability can kill playability, I'm afraid. So, I intentionally set up cargo to be in short supply. This creates atmosphere of rush and forces me to hurry up and manage traffic as efficient as I can. I also welcome element of surprises when suddenly there is a blockage on a track, a junction cannot be unlocked or trucks refuse to work with usual commodities for some unknown reason and I have to fetch spare stock from a nearest siding. This is likely to cause a huge delay, but also a unique experience.
 
It's complicated.

Tony,

Love your product, let's start with that. I spend 90% of my time in driver and I always go with the easy mode controls. I also prefer to be outside the train and use the "free cam" to move about while I am shunting. To answer your questions:

  • Particular built in session I like? I do not use built-in sessions but instead like to have an "open" session in which I keep going indefinitely, saving it and then continuing it later. This way, there is no set of goals to reach, instead the overall goal is to simply deliver goods to their correct destinations.
  • Is there a session on the DLS I like? No, same answer as above. However, I use the UMR 2018 map, but do not use the sessions associated with it.
  • If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set up? I start with about 4-5 engines, no rolling stock. I then set up navigation points for each town and send trains to the town that they need to deliver to using the "navigate to trackmark" driver command. I go through the whole route and figure out where each industry is, what commodities it needs/produces and then enter all that information into a spreadsheet. Then I introduce rolling stock into the session as needed, but not with a portal. I set them on a ready track using the surveyor place trains thingy on the right side of the screen. I determine which cars to add based on my spreadsheet. Lets say there is an coal mine that can hold 100 empty cars in a small yard near it. I have the spreadsheet randomly generate a number between 1-100 and then displays that "order" on the sheet. Now I add the required cars to the incoming consist and then send that train to the North Yard (a large hump yard in the UMR map). I hump the cars onto the correct track (also set up in my excel worksheet) and then they sit there until I get another local train to pick them up and haul them. The train that hauled the cars in will sit at the hump yard until I need it to take a consist off of the map. I have a financial sheet as well, and I pay myself every time I deliver a car load on or off of the map. I have done a little research on the internet and found the typical expenses that a class 1 railroad has as well as what they charge customers to deliver different types of cargo. I also charge myself every time I have to add a new engine (1.7 million) or a new piece of rolling stock (54 thousand). These figures may or may not be real accurate, but it is fun to see if I can turn a profit. So far, I have run up huge costs due to the amount of startup cash required but in my world, the banks a extremely generous, although they do charge interest. There's more but perhaps I should stop.
  • Do I ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another? Jump. I have a list of all my drivers and add new ones to the list as I go. I will start with driver #1 and drive that train for 10 minutes using the in game time set to 1x (so a real 10 minutes). I shunt or hump or whatever is required. If the train is in route to a destination, then I just ride along until it reaches its destination or the 10 minutes is up. Then it is off to driver #2 and so on, again I use the spreadsheet to make sure I visit each train in sequence. I find that due to the route being so huge, I may have 10 or more trains driving to their destinations as I am shunting somewhere on the map and it is not unusual to see passing AI trains as I work with the train I have chosen.
  • Do you use CMTM? I have downloaded the instructions and after reading them, found it to be very time consuming and a bit difficult to understand. I'm sure that if I put some time into it, I could get it to work. I used to use a rule called "Car Tagger" which allows for you to manually add labels to each car and that was great but it no longer works with SP3. It is on the DLS but it comes up faulty due to a script error. I posted this on the forum but no one seems to have an answer. I guess my spreadsheet is pretty close to a model railroad card system.
  • Are there certain rules I use? Nothing special, quickdrive, re-rail and some other pretty basic ones.
  • How do I use commodities? I use the Multi-Track industries and actually load and unload cars as needed. I also use the InstantLoad and InstantUnload commands if necessary. I enjoy the difference in weights that the commodities offer when the cars are loaded.
  • Do you only use Quickdrive? Yes, the power to add cars and what their loads will be is fantastic. I have used portals in the past but Quickdrive it much more direct and easier to use.
  • How much AI traffic to you like? Only the AI traffic I create during my open sessions. I do not want completely AI traffic that I have no control over.
  • Have you tried multiplayer? No, I like to play with myself (I mean... well you get it)
  • Anything else I would like to add? I would love to have a system in the game that works like my spreadsheet. CMTM does do most of what I want but setup seems huge.

Sorry for the book, but remember you asked for this! I have had years of fun running your program and my spreadsheet has undergone many iterations in order to get it where it is today. It is a labor of love.

Mike
 
Some things to discuss include:

  • Is there a particular built-in session that you like? (and what makes this one special?)

I haven't run as a driver much in TANE and can't really judge whether a session is good or not. The few times I did run a session I found them okay. Back in the day of the 2006 version I used to play the Ostalgie and Ostalgie II routes and sessions a lot. thes eroutes were of prime interest because as a child my father and I used to visit the DDR to do some trainspotting because in the DDR many steamers were still in use in the Eighties. The great thing about these two routes and the automated session that came with them was you could be a passenger for hours hoping from train to train and see the great way the route was build. I haven't yet tried to get it to work in TANE yet ( I did manage to get it to work in TS2012 though). perhaps I will give it a try one day.



  • Is there a session on the DLS that you enjoy?

See the above. I should also add the Niddertalbahn and the outher German routes by Pängel_anton ... one of the greatest route builders in my opinion of Trainz througout the years.



  • If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set-up? (e.g. do you use navigation points?)

I use mainly navagition points to direct thet AI trains. My experiene is that when you use the simpler commands like drive to, wait for .. et cetera the AI gets less confused than the many availble complicated rule sets. AI trains not doing what they are told is worse than raising teenagers!



  • Do you only ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another?

Both.



  • Do you use CMTM (Car Movement and Traffic Management System) ? Or perhaps model railroad card systems?

I use the ingame indsutries but only because there is not an easy to use alternative. A long time ago I tried the LARS commodity set but it was limited to content I didn't use considering my interest mainly in German railroads. I would love to have a functioning commodity system (I love the railroad tycoon games! )



  • Are there certain rules that you use when making your own gameplay?

Not really. The lack of easy to use rule sets and commodity sets makes it too hard to spend a lot of my limited available spare time on creating my own "gameplay" the way I would like. The last few versions of trains I have mainly used as a diorama builder or "television screen" watching trains roll by.



  • How do you use commodities in your sessions?

See my previous statements. The current available options are lacking a lot.



  • Do you only use Quickdrive? (and why?)

No. I hardly use quickdrive ever.



  • How much AI traffic do you like in your sessions?

As much as possible but only IF the AI can handle it and we all know there is a lot to be desired about the current AI 's abilities.



  • Have you tried multiplayer? (What did you like/dislike?)

Yes I have. I ran the routes by Philskene when multiplayer was introduced with ramdon other players and that was fun. But the number of people using MP declined quickly and I stoped as well. What I liked is the possibility to run trains by different people on the same route and as long as there are no trolls in your session it can be great fun. I didn't like there wasn't an option to make one player a kind of gamemaster who can delete trains or players from the route, give commands to the players et cetera. I still think that MP has potential but it needs investment by the development team. I also found it difficult to find likeminded players to runs MP session with. I know there is (or was) a dedicated german MP team which mad many MP versions of the Niddertalbahn. Unfortunately my grasp of the German language is lacking too much to participate.



  • Anything else you'd like to throw in to the discussion.

One of the most written about "problem" with Trainz is, and has been the bad backward compatibilty of existing content both on and not on the DLS. Are there any thoughts on how to make this issue smaller the coming years? It would be great if a lot of the older content ( which is a very relative statement because content only five years old is considered "outdated" ) could be used in the coming versions of the simulator. And yes I know it isn't always possible and the user can "correct" faulty content, but it would be great if N3V could develope some kind of program that helped the user fixing content (and I stick to my opinion the content was not broken untill N3V deemed it broken).
 
RE: Gameplay

* I don't like the built in sessions, because they are too restrictive on what you can do... I like a session where I can actually continue to move cars from Industry, to Industry, to Industry... etc

*Most CMTM Routes/Sessions I enjoy, because they allow you to continue to track where a car goes.. just like the real thing...

* Creating my own routes, I use Trackmarks, but only for personal reference of where I am.

* I usually operate multiple, but typically one at a time. Unless I need to AI a train across a route, and other work needs done that I can not AI.

*CMTM is preferred, but with Quickdrive V2 being broken, means CMTM does not work as intended anymore. It would be nice if it were a little easier to setup... but it is still possible.

*I usually use Custom GUI, a Car tagging rule, (ie. Car Tagger, CMTM, Destination Database, etc. depending on route), and some sort of a Portal Manager.

*I ship Commodities... the way the real railroads do it...

*AI Traffic, I use limited, because if you tell a train to go somewhere, usually it gets confused, and lost...

*I enjoy multiplayer... When it works...

*We need a routing system for the cars that works reliably... (as probably guessed, I like to focus on realistic Operation.) Anyone can run a train in a circle... It takes skill to spot, pull, and switch cars, to the correct destination..
 
I have been meaning to weigh into this discussion since this thread started, but just got my thoughts together. Here goes:

• Is there a particular built-in session that you like? (and what makes this one special?)
I don’t usually drive the pre-made built-in sessions. I prefer to make my own.
• Is there a session on the DLS that you enjoy?
As above, I generally prefer to make my own sessions, but I do enjoy the CMTM sessions such as the ones Dap creates for his CMTM routes.
• If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set-up? (e.g. do you use navigation points?)
Generally, I will create appropriate AI trains and schedules depending on the route type, and then set up certain individual consists and schedules for me to operate as a part of a car forwarding system. My schedules are made up using timetables created in Excel.
• Do you only ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another?
I don’t usually drive trains I control directly using the manual controls, but route them from point to point using track marks and the various driver rules. I take control for the various switching moves at certain locations, and then hand back to an AI driver for the between station transit.
• Do you use CMTM (Car Movement and Traffic Management System) ? Or perhaps model railroad card systems?
Absolutely. I had CMTM up and running on several routes in TS12, and now through all the various TANE SP versions including SP3. Runs just fine, however I will concede that it has an almost vertical learning curve. The good thing is Dap, the creator, has always been available to help me navigate issues. It also probably helps that car forwarding is a passion of mine, and I am OCD about problem solving.

I have tried integrating 3rd party car routing software with Trainz, but ran into the problem of certain auto numbering railcars in Trainz not saving numbers across sessions. This makes it very hard to track the same car from origin to destination. CMTM takes that problem in stride, and also benefits from using the existing Trainz U/I to display car tracking information. I don’t have to jump from one program screen to the other to run the system.
• Are there certain rules that you use when making your own gameplay?
I use Enhanced Interlocking Towers, Mission Codes, Schedule, Portal, and Weather rules in my routes.
• How do you use commodities in your sessions?
I use commodities as a part of the CMTM system.
• Do you only use Quickdrive? (and why?)
I rarely use Quick drive. Mostly for testing sessions and routing.
• How much AI traffic do you like in your sessions?
Appropriate levels for the route, and not too much to cause jams or get in the way of my own car forwarding fun.
• Have you tried multiplayer? (What did you like/dislike?)
Nope. I prefer single player.
• Anything else you'd like to throw in to the discussion.
I would pay extra for a more user friendly, integrated and supported, car forwarding system such as CMTM. It is the whole reason I got into trains, Trainz, and model railroads.

Also for the post above that reported that CMTM does not work because of the changes to QuickDrive, that is true if you try to use QuickDrive along with CMTM in the same session, as I recall. Removing the QuickDrive rule allows CMTM to work as intended and I have used substitute rules to do the things that QuickDrive allowed. I believe either Dap or Pguy can elaborate better than me on these points. Again, I have CMTM working fully in TANE SP3 routes with no limitations.
 
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We know that many Trainz fans spend a lot of time in Surveyor, and their time in Driver is limited to testing their creations. However, we know that many of you spend the majority of your time in Driver.

Rather than run a survey, we wanted to start a discussion thread to hear all about your "gameplay" preferences in Trainz. By gameplay, we mean interacting with a train, or multiple trains in Driver.

Some things to discuss include:
  • Is there a particular built-in session that you like? (and what makes this one special?)
  • Is there a session on the DLS that you enjoy?
  • If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set-up? (e.g. do you use navigation points?)
  • Do you only ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another?
  • Do you use CMTM (Car Movement and Traffic Management System) ? Or perhaps model railroad card systems?
  • Are there certain rules that you use when making your own gameplay?
  • How do you use commodities in your sessions?
  • Do you only use Quickdrive? (and why?)
  • How much AI traffic do you like in your sessions?
  • Have you tried multiplayer? (What did you like/dislike?)
  • Anything else you'd like to throw in to the discussion.

So don't be shy - we'd love to hear all the different ways people enjoy Trainz - and feel free to expand on any of the suggested topics or introduce new ones.
1. Hard to say. I play the buildins from time to time when I'm bored. I think my favourites so far are the Rocky Mountaineer Driver session (because the route and the train are showing off TRS19 very well) and on the second spot Dispatchin the Action, because the concept is quite different of the rest of the sessions and watching the AI drive is sometimes fun as well.
The route of which sessions I enjoyed most so far happens to not be buildin though, its the Andrushivka - Vinnitsa DLC route (the one DLC that I can actually recommend to others)

2. Man, there must be so many sessions hiding from my view out there... I would defently play more from the DLS if only there would be a filter to find sessions for a route :)

3. Depends who they are for. I know how to add navigation points and as my sessions despite being usually written in german (as I release them on the german community forums usually) are played by some non german users as well for which the navpoints provide all nessescary info, so I use them more.
I'm trying to fit all sessions with announcements from the train info system or train radio with the dispatcher where suitable, which seems to be a pretty rare thing nowadays...

4. Depends on my mood and the session I'm playing. Sometimes I like to drive one train, other times I enjoy dispatching the AI. I also like sessions where I just program the AI and watch them go like on a digital model railroad. Sadly doing such AI progamming well takes a lot of time and testing that takes even more time, more often than not you have to use your hands aka the train tab to fix stuff just like on a real model railroad... Its a nice contrast to my H0 layout which is analog and unable to do this at much lower room and train cost inside the game, although I could probably form a good 20 trains out of the vehicles I have in real life as well... :hehe:

5. Never heard of it, should probably check it out...

6. Well, the important ones, speed check, variable stuff where applicable, set junction, set camera... Nothing outstanding there... However I started discovering a entirely new way of using check turnout alignments and a endlessly repeating ordered list to make clickable buttons on the layout out of junctions...

7. Again, this depends on the session type. In terms of a normal "drive from A to be, couple, drive to C" style session its usually a pain of filling up all wagons one by one so the trains are not empty (and relying on the load train command to do a good job is also always a game of randomness to what comes out at the end). But if its a multiplayer session which is heavily based around keeping the industry system running, it must all be thought out so that theres never too much, never to few of a commodity, balanced amounts of wagons at any spot so that no one hour long setup of trains is required when the session is started etc etc.

8. Quickdrive is good for testing a route and driving over it. The downside of this is that the routes are usually empty and placing rolling stock in QD is always bad, as I can't reuse it later as I can with a fully grown session. So if I want routes to not be dead I usually go the extra way over having a session which also allows me to enable the custom HUD in T:ANE and other roles that come in hand. In TRS19 comes the pain of manually loading each wagon again as having custom commands (and with that no load all command) in quickdrive is impossible so I always have to go the way over a new session here if I don't wan't to drive empty trains.
Another downside is the inability to control the snow level and with that insufficient control of seasonal features in Quickdrive.

9. A lot please. I love action. The Trainz sessions I enjoyed most were some german sessions frmo 2013 for a (payware) route through my city, accurately modelling the 2.5 - 4 minute intervals at the center section of the route.

10. Yes. I'm in one of the last remaining MP communities, sad it died out almost with TRS19 having it more stable than ever before... The biggest downsides I see right now are the limitation to DLS only - OpenRails Multiplayer shows that it can work with allowing third party and even some local modifications without causing any further issues - the fact that it is impossible to save Multiplayer sessions and in general, the ability to run your own dedicated servers (like in a lot of other multiplayer games out there) would be neat.

11. One thing I have seen come up quite often, especially with many people seeing that TRS19 ships with a lot of buildin focussed at driving yourself that they don't use cause all they wanna do is use Trainz as a world creation simulator, is, why not offer a world builder edition of TRS19 to include only KSC2 and the Content Samples route (so basically what is the main program right now) at a lower price and make everything else optional.


Greets, Mika
 
New user here.. two months use on my Mac... and now 3 days on my PC build. I've needed at PC for some time and TRS19 pushed me into it.

Can't offer a lot but:

Is there a particular built-in session that you like? (and what makes this one special?)

I became interested in train sims with a newly acquired interest in railfanning. Thus, since I'm in US I turn to US routes. They help me learn US equipment, signals, etc

Is there a session on the DLS that you enjoy?

Too new to answer really... Can I mention names? I like "philskene"'s routes and sessions but largely due to being "model trains" and having all dependencies in the download. Makes it easy for the new user. Also the "model trains" layout ran better on my Macs. Heck, I could lay in bed and run his routes on my MacBook Pro. Now that I have a PC I can try the larger routes again.

My interest is really learning, creating, and running a prototypical railroad... but for now, the shorter routes with lots of switching and yard work is what I'm running.

If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set-up? (e.g. do you use navigation points?)
No sessions created yet.

Do you only ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another?
??????? Had not considered this....

Do you use CMTM (Car Movement and Traffic Management System) ? Or perhaps model railroad card systems?
?????? You gave me yet another thing to learn about...

This seems to be built into TSR19, right? Had to lookup "Quickdrive."
Yes. I use it to place trains and have different driving experiences.

Have you tried multiplayer? (What did you like/dislike?)

As new user I'd be terrified to use multiplayer... probably never. Have not even looked into it.

Anything else you'd like to throw in to the discussion.
At this point, just weeks into TRS19, I've enjoyed large routes, small routes, HO/Narrow Gauge routes, Dispatching, Modifying existing routes with surveyor, and making my own simple test track with lot's of multi train movement and signals mainly to watch how AI works (or doesn't) and signaling. I'm driving in "advanced" mode. I try to run a session using camera view, large overhead and behind to see what's coming, but lately I've been trying to drive from the cab. There is certainly a LOT of aspects to TRS19 and it will take months before my likes and dis-likes really come to light.....
 
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We know that many Trainz fans spend a lot of time in Surveyor, and their time in Driver is limited to testing their creations. However, we know that many of you spend the majority of your time in Driver.......

So don't be shy - we'd love to hear all the different ways people enjoy Trainz - and feel free to expand on any of the suggested topics or introduce new ones.

Is there a particular built-in session that you like? (and what makes this one special?)
No
Is there a session on the DLS that you enjoy?
No
If you create your own sessions, what is a typical set-up? (e.g. do you use navigation points?)
Yes, My Grandson and I love setting up as may trains as we can get going, then seeing if we can create a disaster. Not to say we want carnage, we just like the animations of the derailments
Do you only ever drive a single train or do you like to jump from one to another?
Mostly No, we like to drive many at once
Do you use CMTM Car Movement and Traffic Management System? Or perhaps model railroad card systems?
? We like to see the cars stop at the RxR crossings, could be cool to see a drunk one drive trough the gate and the train crash it, then the police show up.
Are there certain rules that you use when making your own gameplay?
I used to like Railroad Tycoon, where there were waybills that had to be filled. I think there could be much added in that aspect if gameplay was ever truly introduced, I think right now with the session rules, its almost there.
How do you use commodities in your sessions?
See above
Do you only use Quickdrive? (and why?)
Use both, My sessions and Quick drive, like the flexibility
How much AI traffic do you like in your sessions?
Lots... and lots of road, waterway and air traffic. Makes it all very realistic
Have you tried multiplayer? (What did you like/dislike?)
Once. Just not the multi player person
Anything else you'd like to throw in to the discussion.
I know there are a lot of people out there that always say, 'This is a Railroad Simulator' and get mad about questions about road traffic, air traffic etc., but this 'Sim' has definite possibility to go where Sim City wanted to be years ago, being a City Planning Tool or such. Which is much more than it is touted for what it is today. It is in my opinion that Trainz best Sim product out there right now, mostly because users have such infinite ability to create their own stuff. I think we could create the next 'Space Shuttles' with it. LOL
 
Well, as a total noob pretty much what Id actually love to see ( Ive been searching all over ) is a kind of detailed guide on how exactly these games are meant to be played.
I do enjoy what I get working, ie senarios, but downloading a map is just mind boggling. Ok cool, I found this really cool map this talented person made, now what? No trains on it, no instructions, so I wind up turning it off
just to do the same thing on the next map. As far as game mechanics and setting things up for a fun experience the information available is so little. I keep playing ifraredbobs sasquatch mountain because it already has trains
and theses ideas of what to do, and yes I've played the tutorials, but after those the user is left to their own devices which I guess Im just very lacking at. I drove semi for 20 years in real life so I do understand
logistics to a point, but consists and figuring out what I need rail wise baffles me.

So now that I've made myself look really dumb, and my first post has a deer in the headlights look all over it.... What I would like to see in Trainz or on the site is a detailed set of instructions or at least guides on what to
do after you've done the very basic tutorials. Dont get me wrong, Im quickly falling in love with these games but not all of us know alot about actual real world railroading. I can however back a 53' trailer in any spot you like ( had to prop slightly lol )

Please N3V, help show and guide your noobs to enjoy the games further.

Thanks for your time, and its nice to meet you all.
 
Well, as a total noob pretty much what Id actually love to see ( Ive been searching all over ) is a kind of detailed guide on how exactly these games are meant to be played.
I do enjoy what I get working, ie senarios, but downloading a map is just mind boggling. Ok cool, I found this really cool map this talented person made, now what? No trains on it, no instructions, so I wind up turning it off
just to do the same thing on the next map. As far as game mechanics and setting things up for a fun experience the information available is so little. I keep playing ifraredbobs sasquatch mountain because it already has trains
and theses ideas of what to do, and yes I've played the tutorials, but after those the user is left to their own devices which I guess Im just very lacking at. I drove semi for 20 years in real life so I do understand
logistics to a point, but consists and figuring out what I need rail wise baffles me.

So now that I've made myself look really dumb, and my first post has a deer in the headlights look all over it.... What I would like to see in Trainz or on the site is a detailed set of instructions or at least guides on what to
do after you've done the very basic tutorials. Dont get me wrong, Im quickly falling in love with these games but not all of us know alot about actual real world railroading. I can however back a 53' trailer in any spot you like ( had to prop slightly lol )

Please N3V, help show and guide your noobs to enjoy the games further.

Thanks for your time, and its nice to meet you all.

Welcome to the forums and your first post brings up some interesting points.

N3V makes very little if any content themselves. In fact they haven't in more than a decade and instead focus on the game mechanics, and let the community create the routes, sessions, and content. What you've run into is something that's not uncommon, unfortunately, where the route creator doesn't explain much about the route created, let alone, supply a base session that you can edit and make your own.
The operation of the program is not unlike a giant model railroad where you, the end-user/player is the one who sets what's going on, unless that is, the original author created the base session. Having one of these
base sessions goes far to at least give the end-user/player a place to start with that they can then expand on. The alternative, in your case with the downloaded routes, is to create a session of your own.

If I download a map, I will explore it in Surveyor to get an idea where things are to plan on operations based on the industries, and maybe even expansion or changes I would make if I cloned the route. After the poking around, I will then set out on the long process of creating an operating session. This part can take a lot of time an patience to get right as the session needs to be setup, tweaked, and tweaked more to get things running as you like.
 
Well ... what Id actually love to see ... is a kind of detailed guide on how exactly these games are meant to be played.

... I found this really cool map this talented person made, now what? No trains on it, no instructions, so I wind up turning it off.

Please N3V, help show and guide your noobs to enjoy the games further.

A good place to start is in the Freeware Announcements forum. This covers all types of freeware (DLS) creations by Trainz users, not just routes and sessions. The creators that use this forum to announce the release (or pending release) of their route and session creations are far more likely to provide all the necessary instructions plus you can contact them, through that forum, to ask questions, get support and report problems, etc.
 
headmonkeyboy --

As pointed out in the post immediately above, some of us do try to provide an informative Forum posting about the content we upload and share on the Download Station. One example is here:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...S19-model-railroad-layout-The-Lilliput-Logger

See, in particular, Post #16 which gives useful additional details about one of the sessions.

And I'm always open to comments and questions.

Phil
 
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Thank you very much gents, I've been experimenting and found out its not a great idea to drive through a portal... lol
I did manage to fix some oddly placed track in a map I downloaded and actually added a train which I quickly drove to
the portal. I feel like a magitian, very first trick and I made a whole freight train disappear :p

Im going to study maps and try to replicate what you guys do. I will also keep an eye on the freeware announcements as well.
Im definately going to try out the logger layout too, I have downloaded and gazed in wonder at your layouts Phil. Astounding work if I may say so.
Im hoping to stay around here for quite some time, learning, playing, doing magic tricks.. lol I did almost 2500 hours in Fallout 4 just building
settlements, I never even got half way through the story, I just loved creating towns. I think with some time Trainz will give me the same enjoyment :)

Thank you all again,

Clair
 
One solution is instead of looking for routes look for sessions which if downloaded will pull in the route it belongs to, which may be by a different creator to the session.
 
Hello Tony and community,
I do not run any of the built in routes and sessions.
From what I have seen so far to what on the download station is falling short of the mark.
I do love building routes with one session. If I could some thing on the dls that did not have problem I would go with it.
as for CMTM, well I feel sorry the person who put that together. Since trainz 09 I had no luck in getting it to work.
And as for the missing dependencies and the kuid issue then I stay with my own routes and sessions.
What would be great to see is a car forwarding system that has similar CMTM.
I like the idea of using spreadsheet with the routes.
I wish the kuid issue was on the to fix list. So much of what is on the dls is either faulty or have missing dependencies.
Multi player never. Because some troll can wreck to session for you.
I am a trainz 12 guy, love it. I do have all of the newer releases and keep go back to this one.
This have so much to offer the community and yet we the community are not seeing half of it.
The prototypical idea has a lot to offer, could be a big winner of the in game/sim.
I love philskene work, will keep playing it years to come.
I hope this has some merit to this tropic.

ljstott
 
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