How far the hobby has fallen
Wow. I am sorry Cayden. That is a great post and little history lesson, but wow. You clearly missed the whole entire topic by not, 1 , not 2, but 3 football fields there... The cost has nothing to do with it, at all. You even wrote what the topic was about for one sentence, and then went entirely different direction.
This thread ran its course.
We tried @euromodeller. But people are clearly missing the point, and it seems the ones who understand software and IT in general, get it. The others? Are missing by football fields here...
You are quite right. And that’s because at the last moment I decide to delete the last half of the post.
I had originally intended to title it “How far the hobby has fallen” and address what I think is the real issue that needs to be discussed: the negative impact entrepreneurship is having on content creation. As euromodeller has noted in post #1 of this thread, “This game and forum was built around creating and sharing…”. N3V with their rewards program, among other things, is encouraging content creator to switch from hobbyist who free share their creations and expertise to entrepreneurs who cherish their knowledge as a way to make money off of Trainz. What entrepreneur is going to tell you how to make something if he wants you to buy it?
Three months ago there was a thread on the forum titled “
TRS19 Content delivery strategy causing major development problems”.
Freeware items on the DLS when incorporated into DLC routes are being be labelled payware and thus were no longer available for editing. In fairness it was pointed out that when one uploads an asset to the DLS one agrees that one is “signing over all rights to N3V”, or something to that effect. The current agreement for uploading to the DLS allows N3V to do what they like with the content including selling it and limiting access for editing or other purposes. This is hardly going to encourage the hobbyist who wants to create and share work freely to upload to the DLS.
The concern wasn’t lost on N3V as in Post #105 on June 6[SUP]th[/SUP], 2019 Tony Hilliam said, “We haven't forgotten this thread. Just letting you know we're working through step by step to cover all bases and work out the best outcome. We expect to have something for you next week.”. Three months later and, unless I missed something, nothing has changed.
Tony Hilliam in post #90 of the same thread said “…I'd really love to find a way to encourage more content creators, and one of those could be finding ways to compensate them for their efforts.” Perhaps an early reference to the rewards program? While it may encourage an increase in the number of content creators, that is yet to be seen. It certainly is not going to encourage content creators to share. And I am not just taking about offering assets freely. In my opinion of greater concern is the sharing of expertise through discussions and tutorials.
I have felt this way for some time. All one has to do is take note of what I think is a lack of discussion on the Content Creation Support forum. For example, in the past eight days there have been only 8 (one a day) entries in the Content Creation Support forum while the forums in total averaged over 50 entries a day; that’s 400 in the eight days. Moreover, most entries on the Content Creation Support forum are solving specific problems not in a general way exchanging expertise.
To try and be proactively and address what I thought, and still think, is the greatest impediment to more users becoming content creators I started writing tutorials. I am a Blender user so I can only attempt to record my experiences with Blender and currently T:ANE and TRS19. I believe what Trainz needs is not a rewards program but more sharing of creation techniques.
And the need has never been more pressing. The graphics industry is progressing at a rapid pace. The introduction of Blender 2.8 has created a whole new ball game for Blender users. The discontinuation of the Blender Render Engine in Blender 2.8 has added to the challenges of being a Blender creator of Trainz assets. The exclusive adoption of Physically Based Rendering (PBR) by N3V for TRS19 I think for many creators has become an almost insurmountable roadblock. The need for supplementary graphic programs such as Photoshop, Substance Painter and 3D-Coat in order to texture TRS19 assets with PBR materials has added substantially to the cost of content creation. Photoshop and Substance Painter are subscription programs at $359.88 US and $238.00 US, respectively. Perhaps we are at a watershed where many hobbyists can no longer afford to create Trainz content, at least for TRS19. Currently I am spending far more in a year on new software, and software upgrades, than I spend of a gold membership for Trainz.
I think the golden age for Trainz hobbyists was back in 2009 when for a short period of time
Tainz Magazine was published monthly.
It was free, ran to about 20 pages each month, and contained articles contributed by creators on a variety of topics. I read it cover to cover even if I wasn’t using or wanting to use a technique at the time. Somewhere I still have copies I downloaded and saved. Sadly this time is over. I see on the forum new Trainz users asking how to create content and being referred to tutorials that were created for Trainz 2010 and earlier.
I once saw Auran (N3V) say, and I paraphrase, “We don’t create tutorials. We leave it to the users to share their experiences.” Ask the entrepreneur what he thinks about that!
Cayden
