Hello

Hello all. I am new to Trainz and actually just finished installing it onto my computer about an hour ago and just registered it. After about a decade of MS Train Sim I decided to try something new. I did a lot of internet research and read reviews of the various train simulators available and finally after installing the iPad version decided to purchase the desktop version as well. Of course shipping from Australia to Florida takes a while but it is up and running. Looks pretty good. So, any tips, or suggestions for a "newbie?" I am curious about the muliplayer aspect. How has that been working out?

About me: Well, I live in Florida. I am an airline pilot based in Houston but have been "into" trains and planes since I could crawl. I fly mostly four-day trips and on my time off like to explore train yards, etc. At home when the weather prevents a good pool day I find myself tinkering with MSTS, now to begin with Trainz.

For MSTS I downloaded everything from trainsim.com but I see this website has the Download Station. I plan to check that out tomorrow. I am interested in US routes and consists, either freeware or payware. Any good suggestions for some BNSF or Amtrak and possibly California routes? The stock mojave route looks pretty good but wondering if anyone has created any other California routes?

Thanks for the info. I am looking forward to exploring Trainz in the upcoming days. I know forums can get rough but hope you'll bare with me if I ask "stupid" questions along the way.

Oh yeah, my screen name? When I bought this from the Auran site they created this for me, can't seem to change the screen name but only the password. Strange, eh?

Thanks,
G

Welcome to the forums Greg! Funny how you're interested in trains when you are a pilot, I wonder how many train engineers are running flight sims?
The download station is a virtual cornucopia of content, all free. I recommend buying and activating a First Class Ticket, as it ensures faster downloads with no limits on quantity, and is very reasonably priced.
There are a few California routes in the works, you can find screenshots of them in the Screenshots forum. I don't know what is available on the DLS. I do know the DLS has many pieces of rolling stock and engines. Don't be surprised if they were made for earlier versions and must fixed to be used in 12, but the fixes are on the forums, so have a look for your issue before you post for help.

I also recommend going to the top of the page and having a read through of the Code of Conduct before you make an innocent mistake.

I hope you enjoy your time here, I know I do.

Best of luck to you!

Gregory7a5 said:

Hello all. I am new to Trainz and actually just finished installing it onto my computer about an hour ago and just registered it. After about a decade of MS Train Sim I decided to try something new. I did a lot of internet research and read reviews of the various train simulators available and finally after installing the iPad version decided to purchase the desktop version as well. Of course shipping from Australia to Florida takes a while but it is up and running. Looks pretty good. So, any tips, or suggestions for a "newbie?" I am curious about the muliplayer aspect. How has that been working out?

About me: Well, I live in Florida. I am an airline pilot based in Houston but have been "into" trains and planes since I could crawl. I fly mostly four-day trips and on my time off like to explore train yards, etc. At home when the weather prevents a good pool day I find myself tinkering with MSTS, now to begin with Trainz.

For MSTS I downloaded everything from trainsim.com but I see this website has the Download Station. I plan to check that out tomorrow. I am interested in US routes and consists, either freeware or payware. Any good suggestions for some BNSF or Amtrak and possibly California routes? The stock mojave route looks pretty good but wondering if anyone has created any other California routes?

Thanks for the info. I am looking forward to exploring Trainz in the upcoming days. I know forums can get rough but hope you'll bare with me if I ask "stupid" questions along the way.

Oh yeah, my screen name? When I bought this from the Auran site they created this for me, can't seem to change the screen name but only the password. Strange, eh?

Thanks,
G

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Lol, another (former) commercial pilot here, who loves trains as much as if not more than planes...somehow. Funny how that works, lol. You can change your screen name if you contact the Helpdesk, although they only allow it once.

I suggest just playing the sim for a week or so then try creating a freehand route in Surveyor and let your interests take you somewhere. Some people like to make small basement-layout kind of routes; some people like making huge routes; others like making prototypical ones. Some don't care about routes but like making content; some like reskinning other's basing objects into something else. Some just don't want to do any of that and like driving trains. The cool thing about this addiction...oops, ahem, I mean, hobby, lol...is you're not limited.

Nice to see that there are some other pilots on here, thought I might be the only one LOL. I guess you must be flying the bigger stuff if you are doing four day trips with long layovers. Anyway, welcome aboard. The nice thing you will find with Trainz, is that it has a very intuitive content creation aspect, so although there are indeed very many freebie and payware routes and stuff out there (which typing a search into the Content Manager will invariably locate, although keep in mind that D/L speeds will be very slow unless you buy a First Class Ticket from Auran, which I would recommend doing at some point), it's not that hard to get into making what you want for yourself when you are reasonably familiar with it. Play about with it for a few days and have a fly through the manual and you will find it is actually a very nice and very robust program which is fairly easy to understand when you get your head around how content dependencies work.

If you want a pretty good BNSF/Amtrak route incidentally, there are some freebie ones for sure, although for not much cash, look no further than this link for what is a very prototypically accurate payware rendition of the Marias Pass which has some good built in driving sessions that will test your ability to get up those gradients: http://www.hp-trainz.de/html/MPRX_EN.html Should help you while away those hours in the hotel if you have Trainz on a laptop, keep in mind that when you order that, it'll take a few hours for them to send you a download link for it, but it is worth the wait.

In the meantime, here's a couple of nice payware (and some freebie) loco sites that might float your boat where BNSF Content is concerned. Look around these and you will find some freebie routes as well. not a comprehensive list by any means, but these are some good ones for sure:

http://rrmods.com/index.shtml

http://jointedrail.com/index.php/home

http://www.virtual-motive-division.com/

Al

Gregory7a5 said:

Oh yeah, my screen name? When I bought this from the Auran site they created this for me, can't seem to change the screen name but only the password. Strange, eh?

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It's not too strange. I can change your username for you if you like. You are best to submit a ticket for that if you want me to change it. Just visit support.auran.com and I will take care of it for you. Enjoy your stay, you won't be wanting to leave if you enjoy community spirit.

Kris

Hi Greg,
And welcome to this world of Trainz that is about to take over your life, well almost anyway.
After a while some people diversify and go over to content creation much as I have while other makes routes. My interest in content came from not being able to find what I wanted to place on my own layout of the railroad from Paddington in London out to Plymouth in Devon, although I am still stuck in Somerset and making assets by the bucketload for some towns out there.
Trainz is also international so you will be in contact with folk from all around the world, a much better idea than fighting wars with each other..!!
I live in south Wales which is still part of the UK, although I did live in London for over 20 years before coming here to peace and tranquility nearly 2 years ago, goodness, how time has flown.
Your best plan of approach is just to put your toes in the Trainz water for a while and see how it goes and what grabs your fancy, then you will begin to formulate your own ideas and direction.

Best of luck and mainly, enjoy yourself.

Blessings,

Angela(h)

Hi Greg
Its strange, but am a train driver (if driving miniature trains counts) but I am into flight simulators. It takes all types to make a world.
Anyway, welcome to the forum.

Welcome Greg, Trainz is an amazing pastime.

For sites, as others have stated, JointedRail (http://jointedrail.com/index.php) and RRMOds (http://vrrmods.com/index.php) are some of the best US freeware, and payware contributors to the Sim, USLW (also owned by JointedRail) is another great site. http://uslw.net/ - The DLS is also full of goodies, but while some content may look better than others, remember they were done for fun in somebodies free time

While using Content Manager, if you do find any locomotives or assets that contain missing dependencies (a ? inside a juggle piece) or a Faulty piece of content (Red !) post it here, someone will be here to help, fix, guide you on how or show you another piece of the same content. Maybe not instantly, but most things are answered within 24-48 hours.

Cheers

Jamie

I am a Private Pilot with about 600+ hours that doesn't fly anymore due to age, and a long time flight simmer. Got TS12 a few weeks ago and having a blast with it. I did alot of reading of the manual, a bit at a time, experimenting with different aspects of the program and bought a few payware routes like Marias Pass. I am totally addicted now. Welcome to the club. Just a suggestion, if you get any payware, make sure it will run in TS12. I purchased Romanian mega Route as one of my first payware routes and found out it doesn't work in TS12, which was a waste of money. I downloaded many great routes for free on the download site.

Hi G:

I live in Tequesta (a little north of West Palm Beach). I've made pretty much all the bridges on the FEC including the Bahia Honda and 7-Mile bridges in the Keys. There are a number of FEC enthuasts in Trainz so enjoy.

Ben

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. Off for two more days so.....time to dig in!

G

Welcome to Tranz As thay say All Arbored!!! This may interest you DLS has some plans you can drive in TR12. If your looking for something different I'm a builder both routes and custom trains. I'm shore you may of hard of the MSTS Dragons Pass well Rebuild the route into a much better one. take alook at my site you may find something intersting you wont find on DLS. I also build custom models for form time to time.

bendorsey said:

Hi G:

I live in Tequesta (a little north of West Palm Beach). I've made pretty much all the bridges on the FEC including the Bahia Honda and 7-Mile bridges in the Keys. There are a number of FEC enthuasts in Trainz so enjoy.

Ben

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Having lived in So Fla for a decade, and many trips flying to Key West, the FEC is one of my favorite Trainz Routes. I added some AI traffic from Homestead to Jacksonville last week, which really brings it to life.

Robert2d6....This FEC route you refer to.....is it available for TR2010 or is it just for TR2012? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Thanks,
Harold

Jaymom said:

Robert2d6....This FEC route you refer to.....is it available for TR2010 or is it just for TR2012? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Thanks,
Harold

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I am running it on TS12. I downloaded it from the DLC. https://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS_viewasset.php?AssetID=214676

Many thanks. Hopefully i can get it to run on TR2010. I live in Ocala, FL.

Nope, can't do it. Its for TR2012 only.

Harold

Jaymom said:

Many thanks. Hopefully i can get it to run on TR2010. I live in Ocala, FL.

Nope, can't do it. Its for TR2012 only.

Harold

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http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...ast-Railway-TRS2010-thread-(with-screenshots)
Might find some info on this thread.

Hi & welcome. You want to bring your Trainz up to build #49922 if it not up to that it won't give you all you need,so update!now for Multiplayer you may want to try UMR Summer Multiplayer Session 3.3 <kuid2:394799:100085:14> or USA Prototype Multiplayer Session V3 <kuid:105915:100235> Make sure you get all the dependences for the route & session. The UMR is running 24/7.Working on getting USA on for 24/7 for now just when we can.All Multiplayer Routes has to have all assets on the download station or built-in making them free.Heads-up so far all MP routes are hard to get all the dependences so you may have to view dependence,view in main list,If there anything missing dependences DL them.Hope to see you in one session soon.

Greg,

Gregory7a5 said:

...Hello all. I am new to Trainz and actually just finished installing it onto my computer about an hour ago and just registered it...

Click to expand...

Welcome to Trainz and the forums, hopefully you will enjoy both!

Gregory7a5 said:

...I see this website has the Download Station...

Click to expand...

The Download Station (DLS) has loads of free content, well worth getting a First Class Ticket (FCT) as others have said. N3V (Aka "Auran") also have some payware routes, locos and rolling stock which might interest you. There are also many 3rd party sites on the net offering freeware and payware.

Gregory7a5 said:

...I know forums can get rough...

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Generally speaking this forum is really good and people are always willing to help if you have questions. I would suggest, however, that before asking questions on the forum you try a Google search along the lines of "Trainz Forum add your query here" - (the forum search engine is very limited). You might be surprised how many times the same questions are asked and answered here !

Trainz is probably the best value $ you have ever spent. I would suggest you have a look at the "Surveyor" part of Trainz, you will find some useful tutorials here: http://trains.0catch.com/tutorial.html the content was originally written for TS2004 but mostly still holds good.

Regards,

Chris

Welcome aboard Trainz, Greg. I, like you started with MSTS. Found that Trainz can do most anything MSTS can do, but easier. Have been a Trainzer for 9 years now. I find the program can be deeply involving on the creative level, challenging on the technical level, and lotsa fun on the fun level. I compare it to a house with many rooms.....explore and enjoy.