For Trainz users is time on the forum more significant than actual Trainz gameplay?

robd

Well-known member
I have to admit that I spend more time logged in to the Trainz forum than the time I play the game!

I do spend most Trainz time mucking about with assets, e.g. doing reskins but as to actual gameplay? Well it's minimal!

Rob.
 
About the only time I ever run a session is for asset testing. If I am tempted to actually "play" then it would be one of Philskene's layouts or S&C.

These days I spend more time on the Trainz Discord channels than the forums. There are some interesting creators there.
 
Same sort of thing for me.

My only in-game activities are to check the function of a newly created or updated asset and taking a screenshot to use as a thumbnail. I lost interest in actually running trains years ago. I do check the forum often in the hope of finding interesting threads (and/or helping someone if I can).


.
 
About the only time I ever run a session is for asset testing. If I am tempted to actually "play" then it would be one of Philskene's layouts or S&C.

These days I spend more time on the Trainz Discord channels than the forums. There are some interesting creators there.

How does one get to the channel? The link on the wiki page gives me an invalid invite. I wonder if its TRS2019 only.

Thanks John
 
I probably do spend more time on the forums than I do in game. I can spend hours here admiring other people's works, keeping tabs on upcoming content releases, and reading up on the latest game updates and bugs to look out for. I spend most of my game time working on my many never-ending route projects, and very little time anymore actually running trains.

Matt
 
I have to admit that I spend more time logged in to the Trainz forum than the time I play the game! It is a shame.

RJ Artim
 
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I poke in a few times during the day and spend time in Surveyor working on my routes in between, and manage to sneak in a piano practice too if I can in as well.
 
Hi Rob (this is a much nicer conversation to have ;).

When I look at various lists of users, I am continually amazed by the number of usernames I have never seen. Our usage stats show only a small percentage of users post, a singificantly larger portion view the forums, and the majority never appear here at all.
 
My Trainz time gets divided between working in surveyor, driving my trains and working on whatever my latest reskin project is. The amount of time I spend in anyone of these three things can vary a lot though. Just recently I was solidly in surveyor for a week's worth of Trainz time building up a new station area and the surrounding townscape and landscape.
Usually I look in on the forum for about 1-2 hours a day since there's so much to learn here as i still regard myself as a bit of a neophyte when it comes to Trainz. Certainly TS2019 was a big learning curve for me with me being a grumpy little Luddite about it at first, then as I began to get the hang of working with it I came to the point where I now look on it as being the best Trainz version ever. And certainly the forum and a number of very helpful forum members were a big part of that.

And Tony I have to say thank you for the times when you've so clearly and patiently answered my sometimes (I'm sure) silly questions about how to get my trainset working properly.
 
Like many of the above I check the forums every day, sometimes AM and PM, but only selected subjects. Over last few months very little on Trainz and it would be in surveyor mode, waiting for final TANE SP3 and TRS 2019 update. Several small routes on hold
Download something nearly every day, occasional route if GWR based. Not as addicted as I was a year ago but cant give up with so much new stuff to follow. Occasional drive a downloaded route to see how others do it....
 
Great thread Rob!
Now that I am fully retired and housebound I spend the majority of my day in Trainz related activities.
I visit the Forum morning, noon and night, Trainz.DE morning and night. (More in both if I need a problem solving)
The rest of my Trainz day is mostly in Surveyor at the moment with some TANE beta testing (very pleased so far).
Last year I started a production line of route building and work on one or two routes a day for far too many hours :)
last year I delved into reskinning but not yet in this year, maybe when I have released a few more routes and taken a million screenshots :)
 
I have a quick glance daily at areas of the forum which interest me, spend very little time running trains and most of my hobby time building models or trying out route/layout ideas - which reflects what I used to do in my years as a railway modeller. I also refuse to think of Trainz as a "game", although I realise that this is an aspect which appeals to some, but as a serious creative and indeed artistic hobby.

To each his/her own!

Ray
 
My Trainz time gets divided between working in surveyor, driving my trains and working on whatever my latest reskin project is. The amount of time I spend in anyone of these three things can vary a lot though. Just recently I was solidly in surveyor for a week's worth of Trainz time building up a new station area and the surrounding townscape and landscape.
Usually I look in on the forum for about 1-2 hours a day since there's so much to learn here as i still regard myself as a bit of a neophyte when it comes to Trainz. Certainly TS2019 was a big learning curve for me with me being a grumpy little Luddite about it at first, then as I began to get the hang of working with it I came to the point where I now look on it as being the best Trainz version ever. And certainly the forum and a number of very helpful forum members were a big part of that.

And Tony I have to say thank you for the times when you've so clearly and patiently answered my sometimes (I'm sure) silly questions about how to get my trainset working properly.

Don't worry about the silly questions. We all learn from these as we sometimes have to research how to do things and this will jog the memory a bit on how things are done. Besides, your "silly" question is probably thought of by others who didn't type it and by you asking it, it becomes an answer for others as well.

I too spend a good hunk of time mostly in Surveyor and like you will go bonkers building, detailing, and fiddling with stuff I've done before. Then before I get worn out, I'll switch and do something else. I find this is necessary, otherwise, all that work in Surveyor becomes a bog to dig through and too much like work.
 
Back when Trainz was simpler and I was younger, I did spend a bit more time driving than now but it was still never a major preoccupation. When creating objects was also easier, I made a lot Surveyor only objects to help me build a route. Without any fancy texturing, they were easy and quick to make. I used to enter Driver to test and validate various objects. Rarely would I just go in to drive a route just to experience it. Often, just once to see what was done and then I'd go in as a tourist, ignoring sessions that wanted me to do predefined activities.

Now, while object creation has slowed down, driver activity has not increased. Following a schedule is too much like work. Work is what I do and get paid for. Trainz is to relax and enjoy to view. It has always been about being able to scratch the creative itch.

Back on topic.
I used to frequent these forums much more in the past. Perhaps a rose colored rearview mirror but it seems there was more of a community back then, with everyone pitching in with ideas, suggestions, objects, etc. It was perhaps a more innocent age when trolls lived under bridges, spam came in cans and viruses where things that only infect people. With life making more demands on my time, long Trainz sessions are now few and far between. I still dabble once in a while but spend more time here watching the daily parade of topics.
 
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Its social media! For some people posting on Facebook (for example) is more important than life itself.

We have a few regular posters with autism (and similar) for whom posting in the forums can be a meaningful form of communication.

For me the forums have always been a place to ask and answer questions, to pose and solve problems. Sometimes I get involved in a thread because someone is posting misinformation (deliberate or through misunderstanding/ignorance) or putting forward a point of view (which they have every right to do) that I disagree with. In that case I feel that staying silent can be the same as agreeing with them. My motto there is "If I agreed with you then we would both be wrong".

I spend more time in Surveyor and Driver than I do reading and posting in these forums (but at the moment I am touring and about 12,000km away from my Trainz computers so for the next 2 months I will be spending more time on the forums than in Surveyor/Driver).
 
As has so often been said Trainz can be lots of things to so many people. Currently there are 83 Members and 589 Guests on-line of which some will of cause be members who have not actually logged in, but equally I'm sure other will be actual guests hopefully tempted by our interest and scribbles, and long may it be so. Peter
 
I get on the forums a few times each day. I am wheelchair bound, so have a lot of time to spare. I don't spend as much time on Trainz as I used to. I do some fiddling in surveyor and fix a few assets, but mostly I like to develope complicated sessions, with a lot of trains working together automatically. My favourite route is a merge of all of Philskenes early routes, I call the big Skene. Keeps the grey matter supple.
I like to try out new routes that look interesting. I have a massive amount of assets that I have built up over the past 10 years, so there is always something to do.
Cheers,
Mike
 
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