Why am I being charged 69.49 a year for game?? 2 times??

I THOUGHT ONCE YOU BUY A GAME THAT WAS IT i was charged 69.49 in 2022 and just now in May 2023.. can some one please tell me why...maybe im missing something. i did not buy anything

Did you buy the game or a Trainz Plus subscription? If the latter you will be billed regularly depending on the billing method you chose.

peter

Welcome to the wonderful world of renting software. If you want to play, you have to pay again and again forever.

You have Trainz Plus in your timeline and $69.49 (USD) is the annual subscription for Trainz Plus which is only available as a subscription - annual or monthly.

As a part of that annual subscription you get automatic quarterly software updates with new features - HD Terrain for example. The Living Railroad will be in a future upgrade.

Your membership also includes a FCT (worth $35/yr), and new content, so the "game" component is less than $69.99.

I'm not sure how we could make the membership page any clearer that you can choose between monthly and annual, and that you can cancel at any time.

Did the OP take up the subscription when it included the ‘free’ version of TRS22? If so the subscription could be cancelled and the OP would still have the use of 22 (without the benefits of plus obviously).

wreeder said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of renting software. If you want to play, you have to pay again and again forever.

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Yeah, I know! However, I'm fairly comfortable with SaaS if we're talking about the basic game engine and environment - your subscription covers upgrades and patches and you've always got the most advanced version with all the features. What I don't like is when you start bundling add-ons in with that - in our case the models that run on the railway that is provided by the game environment. These should be available as stand alone DLC or freeware on the Download Station. Basically, I want to 'own' the models, not rent them (very much like the 'real' version of the hobby.)

N3V seem to be increasingly moving in this direction where models are only available as part of a TrainzPlus subscription (I think, though I may be wrong, the Tornado and Mk1 coaches pack, for example). The immediate issue is that you can't really use these models in Sessions for the DLS (unless you're aiming at a very niche audience.) But basically people don't want to play with models they don't own, which possibly explains the dearth of screenshots of these models actually in use.

Ownership matters in model railways (because we're all collectors, aren't we?) Which is why N3V's adoption of a rentier approach may not be the long term best business model for Trainz.

Paul

Paulsw2 said:

Basically, I want to 'own' the models, not rent them (very much like the 'real' version of the hobby.)

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From my, somewhat infrequent, explorations of the Content Store, I have yet to come across a DLC item that cannot be purchased outright. There can be a few items that are initially, for a short period only, available to subscribers but eventually a price tag will be attached for purchase by others.

As a subscriber I have free access to all DLC while my subscription is current. Despite this I have still purchased a few items of DLC.

pware said:

From my, somewhat infrequent, explorations of the Content Store, I have yet to come across a DLC item that cannot be purchased outright. There can be a few items that are initially, for a short period only, available to subscribers but eventually a price tag will be attached for purchase by others.

As a subscriber I have free access to all DLC while my subscription is current. Despite this I have still purchased a few items of DLC.

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That's fantastic. In which case, please ask them to release the Mk1s, Tornado, the HST and Mk3 trailers and the class 47 as stand alone DLC!

Paul

I second that Paulsw2. How disgusting that N3V for some reason does not release those items. Well over a year that they have been unobtainable. Perhaps one of the barons in the upper echelon of the ivory tower can relate the reasoning to us plebs down here waiting with our wallets open.

We're being pushed boys and girls. Here's your hat, what's your hurry? Clearly now that the concept of Software As A Service is out of the bottle, N3V (among others) want that as a way to smooth the revenue stream.

Spare me the "you can still buy it", I know.

Releasing the new goodies as subscription only is understandable, especially in that light.

*Keeping it subscription exclusively* is simply arm twisting, or more politely, cohearsion. An attempt to "convince" more users to sign up.

Get used to it. Unless and until the subscription model results in negative cash flow, this is how it will be.

I fully expect the "buy it option" to vanish at some point in the future. Many years perhaps, but it will happen.

Members get early access, retail buyers wait (for both content and features). We have no current intention of changing that model.

The timing between Trainz Plus and retail release is therefore the variable, and that depends on a whole bunch of factors. I can confirm that there is a new release being prepared, but you'll have to wait a little longer before hearing when you can "open your wallets" in the retail store.

Fwiw, there isn't any real difference between exclusive content for members and DLC content. Both are limited to a subset of users. Making everything free doesn't work as a business model, locking everything permanently behind membership doesn't either.

Memberships are growing (at the expense of retail) so it appears that more people are seeing the value of having the latest features, extra content and an FCT included in a very affordable monthly or annual membership.

Smoothing out the revenue stream has allowed us to expand the team and invest more into creating extra top quality content (like the Tornado). So everyone should be happy that memberships have been a major boost to the viability of Trainz as a product, ensuring it will continue to get better year on year.

I would suggest then, that a "top quiality content item" like the Tornado be made available to purchase, and hyped as a benefit of the membership model.

Don't just tell us, show us... *sell* us on the idea.

I'm on the fence, I both understand the reasons for, and hate, the SaaS model. Esp since N3V isn't a huge studio. I also dispise all software that must "phone home" to run, since it could become bricked if the servers ever shut down, but I've come to accept it.

Tony_Hilliam said:

Members get early access, retail buyers wait (for both content and features). We have no current intention of changing that model.

The timing between Trainz Plus and retail release is therefore the variable, and that depends on a whole bunch of factors. I can confirm that there is a new release being prepared, but you'll have to wait a little longer before hearing when you can "open your wallets" in the retail store.

Fwiw, there isn't any real difference between exclusive content for members and DLC content. Both are limited to a subset of users. Making everything free doesn't work as a business model, locking everything permanently behind membership doesn't either.

Memberships are growing (at the expense of retail) so it appears that more people are seeing the value of having the latest features, extra content and an FCT included in a very affordable monthly or annual membership.

Smoothing out the revenue stream has allowed us to expand the team and invest more into creating extra top quality content (like the Tornado). So everyone should be happy that memberships have been a major boost to the viability of Trainz as a product, ensuring it will continue to get better year on year.

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This entire post is laughable.

WangHalen said:

This entire post is laughable.

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Can you explain how/why? Because I did not see anything funny in Tony's response.

pware said:

Can you explain how/why? Because I did not see anything funny in Tony's response.

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WangHalen is a well known troll on here. Ignore his posts.

Well, since this conversation has been started again, I'm going to jump in.
I honestly do not know what I paid for with TRS22. I'm not receiving new features, because those are all going to Trainz+ (such as living railroad, 5m terrain, multiplayer surveyor, surveyor 2.0), and there is nothing I can find that sets it apart from TRS19. The only difference between the two games seems to be the price tag.

UnionPacificFan1005 said:

Well, since this conversation has been started again, I'm going to jump in.
I honestly do not know what I paid for with TRS22. I'm not receiving new features, because those are all going to Trainz+ (such as living railroad, 5m terrain, multiplayer surveyor, surveyor 2.0), and there is nothing I can find that sets it apart from TRS19. The only difference between the two games seems to be the price tag.

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There is many threads now on the differences and there is the trainz 22 information page, which has been linked many times. 5m terrain has been around a long, long time. Living Railroad isn't out in plus, as it needs work. According to Trainz info page multi-player surveyor is available in the retail version. The retail version is the stable version. Plus features have bugs and needing work.

capdiamont said:

There is many threads now on the differences and there is the trainz 22 information page, which has been linked many times. 5m terrain has been around a long, long time. Living Railroad isn't out in plus, as it needs work. According to Trainz info page multi-player surveyor is available in the retail version. The retail version is the stable version. Plus features have bugs and needing work.

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Looking at the 22 info page, all I see is that some of the built in content is different. I'm talking about differences between the game, not the content included with the game.
I was wrong about MPS, I'll admit that. And I misspoke about 5m terrain. What I meant was HD terrain. But moreso, what I'm talking about is that TRS22 isn't getting new features, Trainz+ is.

UnionPacificFan1005 said:

Looking at the 22 info page, all I see is that some of the built in content is different. I'm talking about differences between the game, not the content included with the game.
I was wrong about MPS, I'll admit that. And I misspoke about 5m terrain. What I meant was HD terrain. But moreso, what I'm talking about is that TRS22 isn't getting new features, Trainz+ is.

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TRS19 became TRS19 Platinum when some features were added in (can't remember what), so there may be a Platinum version of TRS22 with perhaps S20 and HD terrain added. I hope so as MPS was not enough for me to justify getting TRS22.