Trainz peaked in 2006

liam10

New member
The 2006 game was loaded with content. There was tons of free and payware content from third parties. There were massive routes included like Razorback Railway and CN Rail, concepts like Carbon City, Toronto Railyards and the Maglev Project. The Marias Pass demo, Northbay County. A main menu that was actually aesthetically presentable, and menus in general you could click on without a 10 second delay.

All the big third party content creators from that era are gone. The graphics gone forward, not as much as they should have, but everything else has gone downhill.


The game will never go back to the heights it was at in 2006.
 
I and many others still there in good health and shape and future looks pretty bright to say it careful with respect to trainz in general.
It will indeed never go back to the heights it was in 2006 it is at this moment on very different heights from my perspective and many other content creators for sure would share my view and feelings.
Anyway enjoy your 2006 world for sure it is fun on a different level and world but still respectfully well done for that era!
 
I agree that 2006 was a good version of trainz but I can remember a lot of problems trying to program AI trainz in 2006 for one thing.
From what you are saying I believe you are saying that a model T car is better than a 56 Ford or chevy.
I just don't see it as I like all the bells and whistles the newer version have.
Dave
 
It all depends on your individual preferences.

I certainly preferred Trainz 2006 over its predecessors and found 2009 and 2010 a bit problematic. To me TS12 was the best of the pre T:ANE versions. After experiencing TS12 I would never go back to TRS2006, 09 or 10.

T:ANE had a very painful birth and adolescence and it was not until SP3 that it "bloomed". To me it was initially bit of a "toss-up" between the early versions of T:ANE and the latest release of TS12 but T:ANE was 64bits and had significant performance improvements over the 32bit TS12. By T:ANE SP2 I had ditched TS12 from my system.

TRS19 Platinum Edition and Trainz Plus are now my preferred versions of Trainz and I would not go back to T:ANE.

Currently beta testing TRS22 and the new S20 (Surveyor 2.0) interface is a significant improvement over Surveyor 1.0 which we have had since before TRS2006. It has some "issues" that will need to be tweaked and sorted out, but that is why we beta test.

My opinions. Others will differ.
 
As much as I have concerns about where Trainz is heading and the shortcomings compared to other sims, I can't really agree that things peaked with TRS2006. It took until TANE that we eliminated track or road splines standing proud of the terrain by 0.2m after smoothing the ground. And there's no doubt the graphic improvements in TRS19 have given a slightly more lifelike appearance, if you can find the environmental sweet spot. Part of the problem with Trainz as I expressed previously is clinging on to stuff from 15 or 16 years ago, old cabs, poor sounds and flat textures.
 
Given you only have 2006 in your timeline, I'm not sure how you're qualified to make the comparison. If 2006 was indeed the pinnacle, then we wouldn't be around today. But you're allowed your opinion, so I won't bother adding my explanations as to why I think you're way off the mark.

The good news is in the world of Trainz, you're free to use 2006 until Windows decides you can't, and others are free to enjoy the latest features and graphics provided by later releases if they choose to.
 
Actually Tony, I think unless you're still running an ancient copy of Windows ME or maybe XP it already did. Not even TS2010 runs without some issues on newer hardware/OS.
 
Original Trainz Demo, TC3, 2009, 2010 all run in Windows 10 and 11 so long as you have the legacy DirectX runtimes installed and Direct Play enabled in Legacy Components / Windows features all showing their age now though. I tried them in Win11 from my backup drives out of curiosity to see what still worked.
There is I'm pretty sure an updated version of Northbay County on the DLS for TS12 I think it was.
 
I installed TRS2004 and TRS2006 on my Windows 10 computer not long ago. Both installed okay, but TRS2006 ran into issues and would lock up. The issue was related to how the program accesses the network and is probably a network driver issue that was fixed in future versions of Windows since TRS2006 first came out.

As far as being the best, I'm not so sure. It had its share of moments which left me quite frustrated. Among them is the above-mentioned floating roads and tracks, splines in space, and other horky-borky things that disappeared finally in TANE and up. The oddest thing I remember is installing SP1. To install SP1, the program had to be uninstalled and installed from scratch, but not run at all before the patch went in. After that, the program was okay to use.
 
I still have the TRS2006 discs, used only once. Insignificant, if any technical advances from TRS2004, hated its Content Manager and it had sound problems that were never resolved in any of the service packs. I uninstalled it straight away and never touched it again.
 
TS2006 Pros:
1. The introduction of the database rather than hundreds of content folders that had to be scanned every time TRS2004 started. It took my TRS2004 an half hour to start.
2. Brush size for textures went down to just one grid square. TRS2004's smallest brush was 4 grid squares.
3. SCS2006 was a incredible tool for setting up complex train movements in a session.
Cons:
1. CM was written by an intern and had goofy sound effects including a mooing cow sound.
2. Most engine specs had to be updated to prevent locos from running way too slow and not being able to climb even a low grade.
3. The Zipper effect when painting textures on the grid. TRS2004 applied the textures to the center of the grid square but this was changed to the corners of the grid squares which caused textures to be painted in a elongated diamond shape. Leaving diagonal edges of textured areas looking like one side of a zipper.

My favorite version of Trainz was TS2010 cause it still had compatibility mode and almost all of my favorite content still worked. Now a days, I spend most of my time building routes in TANE but I enjoy driving in TRS19 as well cause it is so pretty and after all a Train sim must be pretty, right? ;)
 
I yearn for the days of 2012 where database rebuilds could take hours. :) Not.
The biggest downside of newer versions is the loss of some excellent older content , but from the point of view of usability , I'd never go back , happy to stick with TANE SP3 for as long as I can , I know its quirks, its just a drag it cant use 2019 items but i can live without them for now. The one route I've made in 2019 is using one of the earliest mac versions and that is quite stable.
 
I still think that Trainz is the best overall train simulator. With so much free content available, great built-in content and DLC, a wonderful community, good graphics, and a great route creator. I'm sure that I will have Trainz as my preferred train simulator for decades to come. So thank you so much N3V for making such a wonderful game. I truly mean it.
 
In all seriousness, what Tony and the brew crew have accomplished is nothing short of amazing. While I may not always agree with their choices as to what area to focus on when making improvements overall the product just continues to improve and move forward. In the Japanese business world there is a word, Kaizen that means constant and never ending improvement that embodies the idea that nothing is ever finished and that there is always room for improvement. This is a very powerful concept for reaching your goals and living a successful life.
 
Januari 2006 Rijswijk the Netherlands
Rijswijk2006-0535.jpg

TOTR (Trainz On The Road) event to promote Trainz on a modeltrain fair
We had like 20 PC with Trainz, it was visited well
Had made a CD of all my content, that was broken by TRS2006, repaired


Loved TRS2004SP2, it still works fine here
TRS19 100240 is my favorite (it brought me back) soon SP5 will be the best I hope
and TRS22 will be even better, why? because Tony and crew and we all make it so.
 
TRS2006, the beginning of the end for the now obsolete progressive mesh. And so be it.

Most could be converted to indexed meshes and are still in Trainz today.
 
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