Trainz on Linux in 2022

Not sure if this is already known and old news, but I just wanted to confirm that I run Trainz from A New Era to Trainz 2022 all on Linux using Steam (Valve's) Proton compatibility layer and it works great. I don't use Windows at all - it is not installed on my PC. I don't use any kind of virtualisation - I am Linux only and Trainz works great. I am on Fedora 36.

So if anyone in the Trainz community has had enough of Windows and would like to move to Linux but is worried about not being able to use Trainz, you can now use Trainz just as good as on Windows.

[video]https://my-homecloud.cloud/index.php/s/cTkQBjp5QTysjMG[/video]

Please be aware this video is hosted on my home Nextcloud server so could be a bit slow at loading at times.

There have been a few here that have played around with Wine and got stuff to work with a lot of extra work due to graphics drivers. The difference here is you got TANE to work right out of the box, in Steam. There has been talk directly from N3V about building a native Linux version, but they said don't wait for it because it'll be quite some time, since it's on the low priority track. With this done directly, maybe their development isn't necessary now which is a good thing for them.

I have run TRS19 on Linux Pop_OS for the past 18 months including the installation of SP5 when requested which went without issue. I haven't had that much success with Steam/Proton but I'm sure that down to me not setting the configuration up properly, however Lutris with Mint, Ubuntu Mate, Pop-OS have all been successful. That said since Wine 7 has been released even Lutris can be discarded on the condition Wine is loaded in accordance with the instruction on the Wine-HQ website and not through the host distribution repository.

The one issue I have remaining, and I know previously others have suffered, is the performance of the Content Manager in that the displayed page when scrolling or for example doing a search, either will not update automatically, or is actually freezing, however this can be quickly resolved by resizing the displayed window size. Annoying but not really a show stopper.

If anyone has had better success with Content Manager I would appreciate any pointer as I would to set up Steam/Proton properly. I do however agree with John, likewise I don't think N3V needs to develop a Linux version of Trainz as on the whole what is already available works surprisingly well. Peter

Yeah I agree the content manager window has some glitch in that it works fine but it doesn't update unless you move the window to the side of the screen (as though resizing it) and then it updates. So it isn't great but still works. I don't tend to build in Trainz just run other pre-built routes so it isn't any issue at all for me. The main game however runs perfect. I have been using Linux since 2006 and have wanted to ditch Windows for ages, but Trainz kept me locked in. But now I have been Windows free for over a year instead of dual booting and I run Trainz exclusively in Linux. I would of posted some screen shots but it looks like you can't upload photos here.

You can include photos, third icon from the right when you create/reply to a message but that image needs to be hosted somewhere. I tend to upload images to screenshots then link it to the message as necessary. In the screenshot forum there is a good explanation of how its done.

In respect of Content Manager, my preference is route building but even then I haven't found the updating glitch that much of a hassle. Someone once said the issue was associated with the Content Manager employing OpenGL, a legacy of the earlier days of Trainz. Personally I don't know but I do have a spare rig I use for tinkering on and frequently try different or updated distro, combinations of Wine, Lutris and so forth in an attempt to iron out any more glitches Trainz on Linux might throw up. Peter

Thanks I'll see if I can figure something out to post a link. To be clear though I do own TANE and TRZ19 direct from N3V and like you said although I know you can use Wine and all sorts to get this working, I simply repurchased the games directly through Steam for simplicity. Also purchased TRZ22 through Steam. No messing around or fussing with Wine or Lutris this way, just set Trainz to run with whichever version of Proton you wish to use - I use the latest Experimental version but have used it with all versions just fine.

Like you say the Content Manager works fine in the background, just doesn't visually update unless you move the window. I am sure this could be fixed in time either through N3V updating it from OpenGL or the Proton team patching it to account for this. Either way its a win in my book.

I have edited my original post with a link to a screen recording of me playing Trainz on Linux

Hello everybody,

I use this thread to report also that Trainz TANE SP4 (the N3V version, not the steam version as I purchased trainz directly from N3V) work well with the "bottles" version of wine on Ubuntu 22.04, Nvidia drivers 535. I report sames experience than the reports above : Trainz OK and Content Manager window update issue.
On my computer, this N3V version is not working under standard wine even with manual installation of Dxvk, also not working under PlayOnLinux, and steam proton seams to not accept to launch any non steam windows games.
For the Steam version I have not tested as I haven't it.

Thus It would be a great thing that a native Linux version on Trainz will be available as I noticed than more and more people in the "sim world" (how many ? I don't know) make the choice to drop windows out of their system. I am one of then from years now and won't go back.

Best regards.
Thibaut A

Trainz is the ONLY thing that I do in Windows. Linux for everything else.

I have only ever run TRS22 on Linux. Even a couple of years ago I would have agreed that a Linux version of Trainz would have been desirable but is that really the reality today. In the past year I have installed TRS19 on 16-18 distributions of Linux and will try even more in the future but so far although I have my preferences there is little to pick between any of them in respect of running Trainz. I have also tried such add-ons as Proton and Lutris but similarly with little if any advantage. What I have learnt is to install WINE from the Terminal by following the instructions on the HQWine website for the version of Linux you are using and not from and software manage associated with your installed Linux version. Second, as you likely would with Windows keep Linux and the graphic drivers up to date.

While I agree there is the annoying problem of the Content Manager not refreshing the screen, for myself it is not such an issue as to want to return to Windows. I do however think that N3V are missing a sale pitch here by not perhaps sub-contracting the Content Manager refreshing issue to a Linux software engineer to resolve before marketing the Windows version of Trainz as being Linux/WINE compatible as are so many other Windows games and simulators. Peter

Any more updated photo/video? I tried original post's link, but: [h=2]Page not found[/h]

I've setup Debian 12 on an older HP Z200 Xeon computer and have managed to successfully load TRS22 into it. My very tech savvy daughter gave me a hand with it which was just as well as the Wine website has a lot of out of date information on it. In the end we used a pre-packaged Wine distribution intended for Debian and that worked out fine. Content Manager doesn't work, but I already knew that when I started. Updating patches after using the off-line install software worked Ok, but animations and loading bars on the update menus are buggy, - though this wasn't really a problem. Next will be seeing if the Content Store is going to function properly with downloading my purchased routes.

Loading in TANE from Steam wasn't much different from loading it into Windows when all is said and done, but I wanted to see how loading in Trainz from My Trainz on N3V would work out.

This is an update from my previous post in August.

Last night my old CoolerMaster computer suddenly stopped working and it's toast. I don't have the money for either a new motherboard or a Win 11 compatible computer so out came the HP Z200 Xeon computer I'd been using for Linux experiments and it's now my everyday computer. It's going to be somewhat of a learning curve having to use different graphics software for doing texture work, but I think I'll cope with that Ok.
I wasn't much impressed with Steam since the only version of TRS22 available is the new SP3 version. Running any of the other Trainz versions I'd previously purchased were slow to load and did not impress me much, - so I gave the version my daughter and I set up under Wine a try and this was just so much better in every way. Downloading my purchased DLC via the Content Store wasn't a problem. The thing looks brain dead, but it does actually work so it's best to leave it alone to get on with it.

PLL running on Medium settings in TRS22 build 117665. GTX1050 4Gb Video RAM, Xeon® CPU X3450 @ 2.67GHz, 16Gb RAM. It's not going to set the world on fire, but it will do.

Sorry to hear about your computer Ann, but it looks like you have the IT skills to save the day. Very well done!

I'm sorry to hear about your machine, Annie. Can you salvage anything from the computer for a future build such as hard disks and video card? The graphics card is the most expensive item these days and is worth its weight in gold. if you can use it

Running on medium settings looks fine. There's no need to run with full sliders to the right.

JCitron said:

I'm sorry to hear about your machine, Annie. Can you salvage anything from the computer for a future build such as hard disks and video card? The graphics card is the most expensive item these days and is worth its weight in gold. if you can use it

Running on medium settings looks fine. There's no need to run with full sliders to the right.

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Thanks John, - I had hoped that it might last another year to give me time to save up for a new computer, but it was not to be. It looks like something failed on the motherboard so the hard discs should be fine. The graphics card was a venerable GTX960 which ran TRS22 surprisingly well all things considered. If it's damaged, - well it's no great loss, - but if it's Ok I'll put it away as a useful spare.

The Xeon is an older model, but still completely sound and has been used for various purposes including a household network server and as a part of my daughter's music recording studio. I nearly always run Trainz on medium settings and have never felt the need to have all the sliders pushed hard over.
I've got TANE running reasonably well on Steam and TRS22 running nicely using a pre-packed Wine distribution made for Debian Linux.

Downloading my purchased DLC and installing it went well as did patching to build 119451. In Linux the Trainz Store menu looks blank, but it does work and the same goes for the update menu. Refreshing them from time to time will sometimes give a clue as to what's going on.

The next job will be transferring my own personal routes and assets and installing them.

The Xeon is a very powerful processor and the technology in that product line made its way into the more recent i7 CPUs. The Extreme series for instance is very much a Xeon except for a smaller cache and some other technology we don't need for personal use. My old Intel Extreme 5860 system was running TRS19-Plus and TRS22 until the motherboard suddenly died. I was lucky I had a Dell account and I was able to replace the machine. I moved my hard drives to an external enclosure connected via USB-C because the case doesn't have the space for the drives. USB-C is faster or just as fast as SATA. If it wasn't for my Dell account, I would've been using Trainz on paper instead of on the computer.

Don't toss the old GTX960 yet. That and its brother the GTX980 were very powerful video cards. My dual GTX980s (mobile setup) in my now failing Alienware is quite capable of running Plus. It's a bit slower but since I too dial back the eye candy, I got some good use out of the card without too much of an issue.

I must try Trainz on Linux one of these days. I've used Ultrix, Solaris, and Linux for work way back when and I have some virtual machines set up for fooling around with and training. Things have come a long way since the days of KDE and the command line.

JCitron said:

Don't toss the old GTX960 yet.

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Don't worry John, if the GTX960 is still in a functional condition it will be packed away carefully for future use. I know this series of graphics cards well from my younger gaming days and I have a lot of respect for them.

JCitron said:

The Xeon is a very powerful processor and the technology in that product line made its way into the more recent i7 CPUs. The Extreme series for instance is very much a Xeon except for a smaller cache and some other technology we don't need for personal use. My old Intel Extreme 5860 system was running TRS19-Plus and TRS22 until the motherboard suddenly died. I was lucky I had a Dell account and I was able to replace the machine. I moved my hard drives to an external enclosure connected via USB-C because the case doesn't have the space for the drives. USB-C is faster or just as fast as SATA. If it wasn't for my Dell account, I would've been using Trainz on paper instead of on the computer.

Click to expand...

I like Xeons. Ever since I first picked up an old monster HP Xeon with dual quad core processors from a computer recycler at a very affordable price I've loved running them as my general purpose computer. The only downside was that old monster's case must've been made from boiler plate as it was a shockingly heavy old thing. Old age finally caught up with it though and I recently had to retire it. My present HP Z200 Xeon is a whole lot lighter to handle which is just as well since old age is having a go at me too.

You were lucky that you had that Dell account and were able to replace the motherboard on your computer. The arrival of Windows 11 and the fact that so many older machines can't run it has killed off my usual habit of buying ex-lease computers. The secondhand ex-lease market here has been been flooded with cut price Windows 10 machines and while I was tempted by some of the i7's and older Xeons on offer I decided it was best to leave it and to keep on saving for a new Windows 11 compatible computer.

JCitron said:

I must try Trainz on Linux one of these days. I've used Ultrix, Solaris, and Linux for work way back when and I have some virtual machines set up for fooling around with and training. Things have come a long way since the days of KDE and the command line.

Click to expand...

The pre-packaged Wine distribution made for Debian made setting things up to run Trainz very easy. The only problem my daughter struck was that much of the technical information for setting up Wine in Debian was well out of date, but she was able to figure it out in the end. She was writing her own basic software routines when she was eight so she's really good at this kind of thing.

I was able to get TRS22 to run using Wine in Debian Linux, but there were so many bugs and glitches I ended up flagging it away. Whatever was irritating and annoying with TRS22 under Windows seemed to be worse in Linux. Broken commands, broken portals, - the usual things.

TANE was another story though as it just did what it said on the tin and ran without a hitch.

I have never run TRS22 on Windows, only ever Linux with few issues. I've tried many distributions but keep returning to Mint mainly because I've yet to find anything particularly better and that's what I've used for quite a few years as my daily OS. Garuda Linux has recently received some good publicity in respect of power and graphic performance which I may try out with Trainz over the coming holiday.

When installing Wine I would suggest following the instructions on the WineHQ website which are a little different for the pedigree of Linux being used (Ubuntu, Debain, Arch etc), and the version. I've also tried Proton, Lutris and the various GE variants but have yet to resolve the page update issue in Content Manager. Peter

https://wiki.winehq.org/Debian

KotangaGirl said:

You were lucky that you had that Dell account and were able to replace the motherboard on your computer. The arrival of Windows 11 and the fact that so many older machines can't run it has killed off my usual habit of buying ex-lease computers. The secondhand ex-lease market here has been been flooded with cut price Windows 10 machines and while I was tempted by some of the i7's and older Xeons on offer I decided it was best to leave it and to keep on saving for a new Windows 11 compatible computer.

Click to expand...

I'm running win 11 on an off lease Del T5810 with a W xeon processor. Dell does their own off lease stuff in Canada and they had a batch of 50 of so to get rid of so mine wasn't expensive. Mine happens to have 8 cores but there would seem to be some around in New Zealand with 4 cores if not 8. The Quadro p4000 that came with it is running trainz quite happily until I get round to installing another video card.


Some other xeon processors are also capable of running win 11.

Cheerio John