Oh no. Now I went and did it

Saw it on sale at Best buy, and for some reason I bought Trainz. I've not played it yet, but I'm worried. I've heard it's pretty good but I got started on MSTS. Is this a sign of a sickness? Or just morbid curiosity.

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RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., IcyFire, Jun-10-03, 10:31 PM, (1) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., JohnNetzlof, Jun-10-03, 10:50 PM, (2) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., Magick_maker, Jun-11-03, 00:31 AM, (3) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., AlphaMaster, Jun-11-03, 12:16 PM, (5) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., Lone_Gunman_SG, Jul-17-03, 07:00 PM, (13) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., heffed, Jun-11-03, 04:40 PM, (6) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., fireball, Jun-11-03, 06:28 PM, (9) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., dvdhoven, Jul-18-03, 00:45 AM, (15) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., NW_611, Jun-11-03, 01:46 AM, (4) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., Magick_maker, Jun-11-03, 04:42 PM, (7) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., cyclone1234, Jun-11-03, 05:16 PM, (8) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., Hoosier95, Jun-11-03, 10:27 PM, (10) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., pwillard, Jun-12-03, 08:05 PM, (11) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., axe1970, Jul-17-03, 06:48 PM, (12) RE: Oh no. Now I went and did it., rckambach, Jul-17-03, 07:22 PM, (14)

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I tryed the demo of trainz, Wasn't impressed, Uninstalled.
Hopefully you will have a better experienceP.S. I'll bet within 24 hrs this thread becomes a all out flame war

Shawn Kenselaar, shawnssk@yahoo.com
Screen Shot Forum Mod; Repainter for TKW & YLW
The NYO&W is Gone, But never forgotten!!!
NYC PRR NH=PC*CR/NS,CSX=PRR,NYC?UP

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*dons my old war helmet and fatigues and begins digging a tench*

-------------
Dispatcher on April 18th, 2003 on the NEC. First multiplayer operation of the NEC. History is made.

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-11-03 AT 00:34 AM (EDT)

Well, maybe I can difuse the situation pretty quickly.
So far here's the Pros I can see in it:
1.) Ozzie route, with Ozzie stock.
2.) Most of the rolling stock is really detailed. (sometimes more than MSTS)
3.) Accurate engine sounds
4.) The AI trains are pretty smart when on auto pilot.
5.) If you derail, your activity doesn't end there.
6.) running Cache of images and shapes. (and it has a status bar.Now for the cons: (there aren't many)1.) The DCC control. Trainz is a model railroad sim, that's true, but the DCC is a pain to control.
2.) Limited cab views. (Ok, this is the stock game, so if there's updates someone tell me)
3.) Limited begining routes. (though, MSTS did that too)
4.) Minor Choppiness while it waits to update the cache.
All in all, it's a great game to play around with, but I'm not sure if it's something for those seeking purely prototypical operation. Now, I know there's probably people in the Trainz forum that have worked this out, don't flame me, I'm coming from the POV of a first time buyer.Ultimately, I would have to say that if you find it on sale, it's not a bad buy. Strategy first brought us Rails Across America, and a few other lesser known games, and it seems they've hit on something with this. Not bad. Could be better, but not a bad start. Hate to admit it, it was a better start than MS did with Train sim.Edit to add:Oh, one more pro. The front coupler does work.

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>Now for the cons: (there aren't many)
>
>1.) The DCC control. Trainz is a model railroad sim, that's
>true, but the DCC is a pain to control. There is a cab control mode. Look at the attached picture.>2.) Limited cab views. (Ok, this is the stock game, so if
>there's updates someone tell me)In UTC, you can chage positions within the same cab by hitting the "<" and ">" buttons. And there are many custom cabs with the many add-on locomotives. >3.) Limited begining routes. (though, MSTS did that too)
Check out the download station man! There are so many great routes there. www.trainzproroutes.com They have good ones too. >4.) Minor Choppiness while it waits to update the cache.
Nothing you can do about that as far as i know.

Danny - Pittsburgh
There's a light at the end of every tunnel, just pray it's not a train.
http://clanswl.mowshed.com/

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i kinda like it just from that screen! lot more stuff you have control overTRY now seeking volunteers, private message me for more info

premium add-ons

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>4.) Minor Choppiness while it waits to update the cache. I have absolutely no choppiness whatsoever on my system. (might be my 1.2GB of RAM?) I wish MSTS ran as smooth as Trainz.-Jeff

Union Pacific is my drug.

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Yea, the front coupler works great, and don't forget that the turntable works as well!I didn't like the DCC control either, pick the cabin control method as shown in the picture here.I have only had it a couple days as well...found it for 10 bucks and got it. Mine must have installed wrong or something is stuffed up. I can build on a route all day and not have the Send/Don't Send come up once, unlike it does in MSTS....something has to be wrong. I would have to say too, for more realistic stuff...MSTS is the way to go...but Trainz is something different to play with and learn about which makes it fun.Roger

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-18-03 AT 00:46 AM (EDT)

Hi,For the choppines, have you set the Cache size to max?From the startup screen, choose Configure TrainzThen choose the Advanced Options Tab.
Set the Resource Cache Size as high as it can.Also visit this page, http://www.trainzone.co.nz/murchison.htm , this about a very great route in Trainz, but somewhere on the page, the creator mentioned some settings, that have helped much for enjoying Trainz.And try to run on OpenGL. Depending on your video card, you can achieve better results with the textures.Dick van den Hoven

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There's no sign of sickness. There is, however, a sign of willingness to support the train simulation business, which is A Good Thing. If the "train simulation" community puts all its eggs in the Bill Basket, then we're potentially setting ourselves up for disappointment. I've got the UTC, and although I don't play it much, I'll say this: It's got the TGV---which I've liked since 1982 and the Knoxville World's Fair---and darned if the thing doesn't tilt. It's also got some locomotives that are somewhat rare for MSTS, and it's got Baltimore & Ohio motive power.I've got a significant graphics problem that interferes with my enjoyment of the game, but I'll definitely pick up the next one. As long as the money's there, this railsimfan will be buying both or more.

____________________________________________________________________
Norfolk & Western’s Radford Division, Pulaski District: Who needs the Marias Pass?

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*nods*I've gotten hooked on Trainz to a degree. It's easier for me to run and is a good diversion from MSTS for a while.I've started downloading some third party locomotives, and I've found that it's starting to attract me. I may consider making a locomotive or two if someone can give me a hand with the specifications (l w h)What scale is trainz on?

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>what scale is trainz on?You can Choose!
Z,N,HO,O,Real Scale, and if you download the right stuff, Narrow gauge!In Trainz2004, coming this fall, You can SEE Cargo being Loaded and Unloaded, and lets say you have an empty coal train, you drive to a coal mine, and you drive under it, The coal loads in to the cars, Dust and all, and the Coal Mines Stockpile goes down.
There COMPLETLEY redoing the AI Train System, so you can tell (while your driving your train) An AI Train Driver to get into a train and go to Joe's Lumber Co. and pick up some lumber. Then the AI driver will find the best route to Joes Lumber Co. and so on and so on. Dont get me wrong, I love MSTS and Trainz.

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There is a couple of things that everybody failed to mention. The extremely easy route (Layout) building feature. If Surveyor got any easier it would be a crime. As stoopid as I am I can build a serious route in an hour or two with Surveyor and not have to split it into a dozen files to upload and install. A route the size of Marias Pass would probably be less than 10 MB in Trainz. You also have the ability to modify or add to downloaded routes to your liking or correct any mistakes you might find and that includes the default routes that came with Trainz. I am in the process right now of adding a narrow gauge logging camp to somebody else's route. Join two or three different routes together to make one big route. The possibilities are endless and like I said extremely simple.The other is downloading and installation of files. Very few zip files and for essentially the same file in MSTS you will find the CDP file in Trainz is much smaller and much easier to install than MSTS zip files. Once downloaded it is a simple 3 click operation from whenever it was downloaded to and the file goes exactly where it belongs with everything intact and ready to use. No sometimes less than adequate read me files, no aliasing cabs, sounds, etc.My major bitch with Trainz is the Graphics rendering. I have an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro that Trainz sends off the deep end because it is not programmed to handle ATI cards very well, mostly due to ATI's less than perfect drivers is the excuse. It works OK, but not nearly as well as MSTS in driver mode so when I want to drive a train I use MSTS usually. Thre is also a much better selection of steam locos available in MSTS which is what I usually operate. There is one steam loco in Trainz that is a masterpiece though, Frisco 1522 along with a few very nice DRG&W narrow gauge locos. In fact there is a slew of outstanding third party narrow gauge routes and rolling stock in Trainz.My final thoughts is that both sims have their pros and cons and I wouldn't want to choose between the two of them as my only train sim.

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-12-03 AT 08:08 PM (EDT)

I have an NVIDIA Geforce card and the graphics are visually superior to MSTS athough a bit "dark" and gloomy due to the overuse of FOG effect. MSTS doesn't even try to simulate that so there is nothing to compare that feature to. I have UTC and they have worked out some of the earlier releases issues.To me, it's a bit harder to make 3d models for... It's better documented with regards to creatong content... but trickier too. The good part... they fully support re-using common objects like bogies...Personally, I like both simulators for various reasons.If MSTS had "toolsets" and "documentation" of TRAINZ it would win hands down...
Pete Willard
http://www.trainsimstuff.com

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Maria's Pass is available for Trainz. Only thing it is untextured and has been broken into 3 parts, but you can merge the layouts to form one long route. It is a bit larger in file size than 10meg though. I think closer to 50 or 60meg....RegardsAXE

Axe's Website -
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~axe777/

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-03 AT 07:23 PM (EDT)

Magick_maker,You said:>>"Saw it on sale at Best buy, and for some reason I bought Trainz. I've not played it yet, but I'm worried. I've heard it's pretty good but I got started on MSTS. Is this a sign of a sickness? Or just morbid curiosity."Nobody has yet really answered your question !! IMHO ... neither ... If you feel like having two different pieces of software on the same computer ... and find that you enjoy both, who else in the world really matters. If you change your mind at some point, delete what you're not using.I enjoy both !! (I won't go through any pro/con review !!} Have a ball enjoying what you like, but do get out and get some sunshine and fresh air from time to time !! Bob K.

"Home" is about 500 Yds. from the famous "Pequest Fill" on the abandoned "DL&W Cutoff"

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