Trainz 19 vs. Trainz 12 Questions

I've been out of the loop for awhile in the Trainz series and had a few questions:

Is Trainz 19 currently the newest addition of Trainz?

Does old content from Trainz 12 and older work on it?

Is Trainz 19 more demanding on a computer CPU than Trainz 12? Trainz 12 runs pretty well on my 11-year old system (Windows 7 with Intel I-7 processor and NVidia GTX260 video card)?

Thank you in advance.

chrisracer8903 said:

I've been out of the loop for awhile in the Trainz series and had a few questions:

Is Trainz 19 currently the newest addition of Trainz?

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Not exactly, Trainz Plus is, but it's subscription only and it's features will trickle down into Trainz 19 or Trainz 20 eventually.

Does old content from Trainz 12 and older work on it?

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Mostly, with one huge caveat - the huge amount of hi-fidelity german, east european, and russian content that actually simulates locomotives properly, barely work, N3V changed things that broke a lot of the advanced keyboard handling the deep simulation models relied on, so trainz 12 pre-SP1 ends up being the best version for those.

Edit: I think I mean pre-SP4 ? I can't remember now, one of the SPs broke a lot of the advanced scripts, it was around the same time as the compatibility mode changed too.

Is Trainz 19 more demanding on a computer CPU than Trainz 12? Trainz 12 runs pretty well on my 11-year old system (Windows 7 with Intel I-7 processor and NVidia GTX260 video card)?

Thank you in advance.

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Yes, it's much more demanding, your graphics card may or may not be sufficient.

I run a lot of older legacy locomotives and rolling stock from TS2006 and TS2009 in TS2019 and they look fine and run very well. the problems start to happen when models with more complex scripts, animations and textures from later versions are used in TS2019. Some models will be fine and others will throw up numerous faults that may or may not be able to be fixed.

The whole question of TS2019 and its various versions and options is very muddled at the moment though and downright confusing when it comes to making a choice as to which version to go with, - and then there's the question of subscribing or buying outright to consider. You are very likely to find that everyone you ask will have a different opinion on what to choose and with the problems that have occurred with the latest SP1 update debate has been rather heated to say the least.

N3V changed things that broke a lot of the advanced keyboard handling the deep simulation models relied on

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As far as I know, no-one has provided a bug report including the assets and providing repro steps. If they do so, we may be able to solve that one fairly quickly (depending on what has changed).

The whole question of TS2019 and its various versions and options is very muddled at the moment though and downright confusing when it comes to making a choice as to which version to go with

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That's why we've provided a chart providing the various options along with answers to a whole bunch of questions. http://www.trainzportal.com/pages/trs19-faqs

If anything is missing or unclear, please ask the question and we'll get an answer added.

T:ANE and 2019 are more GPU dependent. You will definitely want a much newer video card if you plan on using any of 2019's shadows, post-processing features, higher draw distances, etc. Even with everything set on minimum, a 260 is a fossil at this point compared to the most basic of today's cards. I have a feeling your CPU would still do okay for now if you aren't looking to upgrade your whole computer.

If you intend to move TS12 routes into 2019, be aware that TS12-era speedtrees will no longer work and will need to be changed out in TS12 before moving to the newer version. I think I've read that some may have newer versions available on the DLS that will update, but I sure didn't have any luck with that when I was moving TS12 routes into T:ANE years ago.

Coble12 is stating a major change about speedtrees...in 2012 Pofig's speedtrees were used on many route as they were the best looking Trees you could find but in Tane and above they no longer work.

Rail4Pete said:

Coble12 is stating a major change about speedtrees...in 2012 Pofig's speedtrees were used on many route as they were the best looking Trees you could find but in Tane and above they no longer work.

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The reason for this is there was no upgrade path, thanks to the software developer IDV that sells the Speed Tree software and libraries. N3V went to V6 Speed Trees and TS12 was at V5. The update offered better tree animation and other stuff, but there was no interim patch to bring the stuff forward.

To get around this, replace the trees with something such as Dave Drake's trees of similar shape. There are other content creators; I just thought of Dave Drake's excellent content as an example. Save the route and export to a CDP.

Import into T:ANE, or TRS19 and replace them again with updated Speed Trees. The recommended ones are those by RMM and Roys Trains. The are some by mcguirel which work well and also Gawpo50. Mix and match as needed.

Speaking of RMM. He made a TS12 version that gets automatically obsoleted in T:ANE and up. For those download the RMM trees from the DLS, import the route, and the old ones will be obsoleted automatically.

Tony_Hilliam said:

That's why we've provided a chart providing the various options along with answers to a whole bunch of questions. http://www.trainzportal.com/pages/trs19-faqs

If anything is missing or unclear, please ask the question and we'll get an answer added.

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The chart has gone a long way towards helping Tony so that was definitely a good move, but my feeling is that a newcomer to Trainz is still going to have more than a few questions to ask about TS2019 and what all the various option mean for them.