First Impressions

Thanks Roy, - like I said I had a rocky start, - but now everything is fine. I think it was a tough call for N3V to take the risk with TS2019 especially since there were a lot of problems with the Early Access version, but they seem to have got there with the official release version and I think things will only get better from now on.

All the very best from me to you and yours for the New Year Roy.

When we achieve 4K video quality (or whatever replaces 4K in the near future) in all assets (textures included) then we will have total realism, but until then everything in Trainz, RW, Open Rails, etc, will be "cartoonish" compared to reality.

As to which "cartoonish" train sim is better, I really don't care. I have TANE and TRS19, I don't have RW or any of the other sims and I have no interest in getting them. I spend most of my time in Surveyor and, from what I have read, Trainz Surveyor (whatever Trainz version) is streets ahead of the others. So as far as I am concerned, case closed.

The controls are there and available to all who have the wits to use them. Finally, we have a rail-sim that gives us much greater control over lighting, shadows and environmental effects than ever before.
Don't like 'cartoonish' rendering? Then simply master the controls and change the assets until the cartoon characters go away!

PC_Ace said:

The controls are there and available to all who have the wits to use them. Finally, we have a rail-sim that gives us much greater control over lighting, shadows and environmental effects than ever before.
Don't like 'cartoonish' rendering? Then simply master the controls and change the assets until the cartoon characters go away!

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Sentiments like that must be of great comfort to newcomers to the programme or those who have tried without success to optimise the settings to remove the gloss like appearance over everything, not to mention bordering on a CoC violation insulting probably quite a large portion of N3V's customer base...

How is it that people always say that the previous version was better. 2012 is better than TANE, TANE is better than TRS19. So I guess for people to like TRS19 we will need Trainz 2020. It is almost comical. At least I get a smile out of it all. Funny part is, the same is said about other sims as well. You can find faults in every sim out there, if that is what you are looking for. They are computer games, not real life. Just pixels on a 2d monitor screen. I have not put any time in 2012, bought it cause it was like $5, just to see it. Can't compare to TANE. I have 4,000 hours in TANE. Building and driving. Now I do not even want to open it up except to grab something I liked. All the routes from TANE on the DLS that I use are now in TRS19. They look way better after changing the environment. I gave TRS19 a 9.5 out 10 a while back and still stand on that opinion. My only problem is what I stated previously about routes under 4.3 wanting to resave the route with my KUID making it impossible to write sessions for uploading.

Vern said:

Sentiments like that must be of great comfort to newcomers to the programme or those who have tried without success to optimise the settings to remove the gloss like appearance over everything, not to mention bordering on a CoC violation insulting probably quite a large portion of N3V's customer base...

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Thanks for posting that, saved me a job. I am gradually beginning to get a handle on making the lighting settings & etc do what I want them to. But it's a not especially easy learning curve and I'm sure more than a few newcomers who don't have many years of Trainz experience will be feeling disheartened over it. Tossing off comments about people 'having the wit to do it' is not especially useful to anybody and certainly not those who are struggling to find out what needs to be done to get the best out of TS2019.

KotangaGirl said:

Thanks for posting that, saved me a job. I am gradually beginning to get a handle on making the lighting settings & etc do what I want them to. But it's a not especially easy learning curve and I'm sure more than a few newcomers who don't have many years of Trainz experience will be feeling disheartened over it. Tossing off comments about people 'having the wit to do it' is not especially useful to anybody and certainly not those who are struggling to find out what needs to be done to get the best out of TS2019.

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That's why I always try to help newcomers and old-timers alike. There are somethings in the program which are very easy for some of us while difficult for others. Parting one's knowledge is not terribly difficult and experienced users shouldn't act as though they're part of an exclusive club, which seems to be happening more and more around here.

JCitron said:

That's why I always try to help newcomers and old-timers alike. There are somethings in the program which are very easy for some of us while difficult for others. Parting one's knowledge is not terribly difficult and experienced users shouldn't act as though they're part of an exclusive club, which seems to be happening more and more around here.

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All too true unfortunately John.

What's needed is some guidance for new users and people who don't use forums, such as using that space on the bottom left of the main screen to link to tutorials for lighting and basic use instructions and suchlike and not just the Trainz store.

clam1952 said:

What's needed is some guidance for new users and people who don't use forums, such as using that space on the bottom left of the main screen to link to tutorials for lighting and basic use instructions and suchlike and not just the Trainz store.

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That would be nice with alternating advertisements from the Trainz store with tips and tricks/ how-to blurbs, and even links to the Wiki and YouTube.

KotangaGirl said:

Thanks for posting that, saved me a job. I am gradually beginning to get a handle on making the lighting settings & etc do what I want them to. But it's a not especially easy learning curve and I'm sure more than a few newcomers who don't have many years of Trainz experience will be feeling disheartened over it. Tossing off comments about people 'having the wit to do it' is not especially useful to anybody and certainly not those who are struggling to find out what needs to be done to get the best out of TS2019.

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Appreciate the support Kotanga. Sadly this thread has once again demonstrated there are those (some perhaps with a vested commercial interest in how TRS2019 performs) who just want to slam the door on those with a different opinion to that which they hold.

Anyhow, being constructive and with specific regard to Environment, it was suggested several times during the EA period that with the more complex lighting and shaders, better and more precise controls than the crude RGB dials were needed. Also needs a means for people to share optimum settings via a file that could be uploaded to the DLS. Sadly this seems to have fallen on deaf ears at N3V and we are left with the crude controls dating back to 2002. Even after all the time I've spent faffing around in TRS2019, I can't get it right - laying track this afternoon where the environment is roughly set as per earlier suggestions for ambient and sunlight, there was still a significant silvery sheen coming off the track spline in mid to far distance - and this is one of N3V's own built in '19 tracks - No.5 I think.

Hi.

Here is a tutorial for changing lighting, colour etc: You may have already seen this.

https://youtu.be/UHnvotzQ2Ds

Watching this video a few times, does help the ole brain to clear the fog (so to speak) and be able to understand a bit better of what to do.
Having a direct link to the video tutorials within trainz would be great. Maybe under the heading "Learn to Drive" in the main menu window?.

Yes, it is a bit like "Oh gosh, this is a bit too tricky for me."
Instead of thinking," this is too hard", or "I will never understand how to do this", or "I will never get the right look" play about with the controls and above all, relax. Of course it will take a few times, or possibly a few more and even a few more times after that, but please do persevere, as it is definitely worth it .

I still tend to alter the controls a bit now as am struggling to get a better midday look. Sometimes it looks fine, other days not so much, which makes me wonder if it is really "not good" or is it because the colour and lighting is being looked at more critically than necessary. I don't know


This is not mid day obviously, but it is pretty cool what can be done. But of course, this is to my liking and may not be to someone else's.

Vern said:

... it was suggested several times during the EA period that with the more complex lighting and shaders, better and more precise controls than the crude RGB dials were needed. Also needs a means for people to share optimum settings via a file that could be uploaded to the DLS. Sadly this seems to have fallen on deaf ears at N3V ...

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Not correct. Windwalker did state in one of those "better environmental controls and sharing methods needed" threads that all of the above was "for a future release" (or words to that effect.

hminky said:

Have went back to TANE SP2. Supports CMTM, CarTagger, no-DRM and the Speedtrees I use on legacy routes look good.

Lose Raildriver but without CMTM and CarTagger have no reason to open Trainz up.

...snip

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CMTM works just fine in TRS2019. I am running a route now using it. Fully functional.

Where can I get this CMTM please?

RJArtim said:

Where can I get this CMTM please?

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Search the DLS for username Dap He created it I think plus there is sum reading on it here http://www.chinaotoole.com/Trainz/Car Movement & Traffic Management System4 120112 Release.pdf That mentions it for Trainz 12 but if Jbaxter says it is working fine in TSR2019 ya laughing.
Cheers Mick.

jbaxter1964 said:

CMTM works just fine in TRS2019. I am running a route now using it. Fully functional.

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CMTM sorta works in TRS2019 and TANE.

Has limits to the size and complexity of the route beginning with TANE.

Cattaruagus and Long Island Western wouldn't port over from TS12.

Cattaruagus would error out and Long Island Western wouldn't go to the second day.

The Fairmont route multi-player CMTM session <KUID2:439008:100201:1> can be made single player and is simple enough to function in TRS21019 and TANE.

DAP's Portland Terminal Ops 2 session works but will stop working about the fifth day.

And who knows what the next "fix" will screw up.

Harold

EDIT: David's Cattaruagus CMTM and Long Island Western routes are worth keeping TS12 on your harddrive.

Sigh.......

hminky said:

David's Cattaruagus CMTM and Long Island Western routes are worth keeping TS12 on your harddrive.

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Haven't played Cattarugus in TS12 since buying a high end computer last December.

Played some more Cattaruagus in TS12, runs really great on the new computer.

Best train game ever, CMTM, 10 hours in and miles to go before we sleep.

Harold

TRS19 simply doesn't compare to Railworks in the visual or driving departments. The shots Harold has posted here of RW look way better than Trainz, and RW's (and even MSTS's) physics blow Trainz's """realism""" out of the water.

The ONLY reason i use Trainz anymore is the ease-of-use of Surveyor. It's the one thing that other sims don't have.

Thank god i jumped ship and got a full refund for this one. It's not worth $20 on a good day tbh, and i don't feel like waiting another few years for TRS19's equivalent of T:ANE SP1-HF4.