Deano's Trainz Thread

[UP SD40-2]

DISCLAIMER

The views and my thoughts expressed in this thread may or may not be the same as yours, some may strongly disagree with my views.

Should you decide to buy this game your experiances may/may not be different then mine. Because of other Graphics programs i run my computer is geared specifically for high quality graphics, i have read in the Trainz forums that computers that DO NOT have good graphics cards, and only video chips may severely struggle in the game when adding to many high polly textures, engines, cars, buildings, etc.
I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit, AMD Extreme Quad-Core processor, 6 Gigs RAM , NIVDA Gforce 9800 series Graphics card, Soundblaster 5.0 surround sound card(5 speakers, 1 subwoofer), and have a 24'' HD Monitor, THUS, the whole Trainz experiance for me is really...PHENOMENAL! :mrgreen:

PREFACE

Years back when Microsoft came out with "Train Simulator" i bought it, being a computer geek of sorts i thought it was neat :mrgreen: , the problem was it wasnt well supported at all, and not much UP content was ever made for it so after a year of running it i gave it up.
When attending Model RRer shows i always noticed the Trainz booth and would stop by often to check that game out, it was well supported and had a wide variety of content offered, the problem was at that time it wasnt Windows Vista 64 bit compatable, so i never was able to buy it.
When Dad and i met doctorwayne at the IRM just over a month ago, i happened to notice in the gift shop they had the NEW "Trainz 2009" out(TS2009) , I seen it was Vista 64 bit compatable and immediately bought it and have been hooked on it ever since :mrgreen: .

Trainz is not for everyone, lets face it, those of us that are here are Modelers, we do things with our hands, we like to feel/touch/build what we do and find great enjoyment in it. For me Trainz kinda is helping me through a frustrating time, my job is literally surviving month by month, so i dare not move like i would really like to so i can build a LARGE layout, sure switching layouts are Great, but i have been doing them for quite some time and after running on dads big layout, i am finding it hard for 8'x30'' of space to really satisfy me anymore.
NO, i have NOT gave up on modeling, i still do stuff for myself, and work on Dads layout often, but since i have taken the small switching layout down here at my house, Trainz has really helped keep me "On Track" with RRing .

TRAINZ 2009 (TS2009)

OK, lets get to it, right out of the box Trainz is pretty Awesome, it comes with Tons of engines, freight, passenger cars and ready made routes and sessions from all over the world. Want to run US routes, you got it, logging and narrow gauge, its there, British stuff, tons of it, you start out right off the bat with just about anything your into.

A real plus with this game is its probably as real as you could possibly get without really being an engineer . You can run in DCC mode or Cab mode, OR, i hop between both modes all the time to get the whole experience in. You have to switch switches, read signals, pick up loads, wow, is that ever totally cool!, and drop loads off. You drive engines, couple/uncouple cars, can do freight runs, passenger runs, switching scenarios, CRIPES, its really limitless, and thats right out of the box!

I cant possibly mention EVERYTHING about this game here, it would take much to long, but i will hit on some neat stuff, and even some things i really dont like about it.

Three Parts of Trainz

Surveyor- this is where you can make up consists, add to exsiting routes, buid your very own routes, make up scenarios and much more. surveyor is VERY hard at first, but so isnt everything were not used to, till you get used to it.

Railyard- this to me is pretty useless, it seems to be for checking if anything you have downloaded has made it into the game, personally i just do that in surveyor.

Driver- this is where you run trains, weather its ready made scenarios, or routes you have made.

Things i Like about Trainz

You can build your dream layout, you are almost limitless.

You can do ANY type of weather enviroment, RAIN, SNOW, OVERCAST, SUNNY, you name it! the clouds really move across the sky, so cool!

There is TONS of things you can download to make your game better suit your own likes, most of it is FREE, or perhaps you want some of the real stupendous stuff, you can buy good stuff pretty cheap $5.00-20.00, Many of the engines i have are bought because its hard to find Great quality UP items FOR FREE.
AGAIN, dont get me wrong though, MANY GREAT items are totally FREE!

If you have ANY PROBLEMS, the Trainz forums are the BEST PLACE to get answers, great group of folks there. (HUGE THANKS!, to Rusty over at Trainz, without Rusty i would still be completely lost :oops: )

Trainz is as close as you can get to really being an engineer.

THINGS i dislike about Trainz...

The manual that comes with the game is totally worthless, thank goodness for the Trainz forums.

To know and understand ALL ASPECTS surveyor has to offer you is really quite frustrating at times, you better have the patience of a saint.

Not much is currently available for TS2009 at this time, its so new, thank goodness SOME TS2004 items work with TS2009, and MOST TS2006 items work well with TS2009.

There is literally TONS of foreign country items that are in my Trainz library that i wish i could take out, not to offend anyone but i couldnt give two hoots about foreign stuff, to me its just a total waste of hard drive space, and a huge waste of time scrolling through it to find my UP stuff. sadly you cant take them out because they are all CDP files(kuids) , and you cant identify them out of the game.

When you have switches right on top of each other is almost impossible to throw them the way you need them to go.

Scripting a session seems way to complex, should be an easier way to do it.

The in game camera you use to take screen shots produces way to low quality jpg's, and you cant adjust it. i know they do this to save you hard drive space, but i hate it. On my computer the game looks literally 1000X better then the screen shots i am posting in this thread, PLEASE, DONT go by the pics i put in here to judge the quality of the looks of the game, playing it looks 1000x better.

For just as much good stuff thats available for the game, there is double that in crappy stuff.

Deano's TIPS

Have the patience of a saint.

Be choosy on what you download, go for the better stuff, you'll thank yourself later for it.

Buy the "First class ticket" at the download station at Auran, you'll thank yourself for it, better download speeds and the ability to download more then 100 megs of stuff a day is what you'll get.

Questions on ANYTHING?, for cripes sakes DONT ask me, head over to the Trainz forums!

If you download something and it doesnt work, dont worry about it, it happens, just move on.

Looking for that certain engine, or what ever that you cant find in the road name you want, once you get to know people you"ll find some creators will be happy to make what you want for a small price. (HUGE THANKS TO JOE RAMOS! he has created some SLAP STUPENDOUSLY AWESOME UP stuff for me, and is currently making a UP SD40T-2 snoot nose for me! :mrgreen: ) .

WHERE TO GET THE "GOOD STUFF"

Trainz Download station- anything

West coast Trains- modern engines

RRMods, models for Trainz- modern engines/ freight cars

OBO'S Trainz locomotive catalog- you just HAVE TO go here!

**for Steam engine fans, i cant remember the name of his place but the guy's name is "cowboy" , he hangs out at the Trainz forums in the "Payware section" , anyways, he does the MOST SPECTACULAR REAL LIFE LOOKING steam engines you could EVER imagine , Sadly he ONLY uses Paypal, so i am unable to buy(dont ask) his SLAP STUPENDOUS WORK :cry: , if your into SERIOUSLY REAL looking steam though and have a Paypal account, Cowboy is the man to see. (NO. i dont know the guy, but i have seen TONS of his work)

AND NOW...SCREENSHOTS!

Please keep in mind the in game camera takes low quality shots :cry: .

These are just a tiny amount of the engines i have collected, if you folks wish i can add more pics to this thread over time.

ALL these shots were taken from a low polly route, i did this to highlight the engines, not the scenery, i can post tons of high polly scenery AND engine shots if anyone so wishes.

In the game you can toggle the tool bars on and off, lets start out with the tool bars ON, then i'll post shots without them. when running the game you will ALWAYS want the tool bars on, it would be impossible to do some things without them, for screen shots WITHOUT the tool bars on just hit the F5 button, take your screen shots and hit the Esc button to put tool bars back on.







Lets ride in the cab of an SD50


One for doctorwayne and nutbar!


Just an example of freight


For the Steam guys!








In real life i have modeled MANY patched units , why should it be any different in my Trainz game .




Milwaukee Road FM Erie Built


The rest is just a small bit of the large UP empire i have amassed :mrgreen:






























DOH! cant forget WSOR!


**Thanks for checking this thread out :mrgreen: , till next time...Stay on Track!

[Sarge]

Thanks for the info Dean. My son wants the new Rail Simulator "rail works" game. I don't know much about these games, but maybe I will have to load one of his and check it out

[Steamtrains]

Deano...Looks like you're into it BIG TIME..!!! I also have the MS train simulator, but like you, found it fell short of realistic operation....

I must fess up, however...I too am into PC gaming...Not trains....but subs...Yes, as in submarines..!!! One of the top games is Silent Hunter, of which there are four versions (a fifth is coming.... ) You can be the skipper of fleet (US) boats, or German U-boats...Take your pick....Like Trainzz, it's also graphic demanding, so I had to buy a good graphics card, and have spent the last few months sharpening my skills on tactics and manual targeting....It's a ball...!!!
Like TZ also...the manual is good only to use as a door stop....Any good info can be had from several sub forums.
Although it has eaten into my RR'ing time, I now make up for lost time by messing around some during weekdays, where before I hardly ever touched the trains during the week...And limiting my sub fun to weekend nights only...(Is it night yet..??). :oops:

Here's a shot of one of many "kills"...

[HO King]

Yah I have Trainz Railroad Simulator and I've enjoyed it a lot.
although I don't mass with it much now when I'm not fooling with my layout
to break the pains of work it is a good relaxer.

[Ralph]

Great screen captures Dean! I guess one of the things about MSTS that I didn't like was there were no train meets where I would have to wait at a signal for another train to clear or vice versa. Can you set that up in Trainz?
Ralph

[viperman]

I have this game too (and yes I did buy it, forget my earlier posts if you read them) and also love it. I haven't messed around with the surveyor mode yet, maybe one of these days...

[UP SD40-2]

Jim, i'm not familiar with that game, but if its anything like TS2009 i strongly suggest checking it out!

Gus, WOW! , AWESOME LOOKING GAME! , yes i too have been a big PC gamer for MANY years, amongst other PC graphics applications . i have EVERY "Call of duty" game, and had EVERY Tom Clancey game EVER made . My PC game madness started out back in the early/mid 90's with the very first Duke Nukem game made, it was run in DOS :mrgreen: .

HO King, GLAD you find enjoyment in Trainz!

Great screen captures Dean! I guess one of the things about MSTS that I didn't like was there were no train meets where I would have to wait at a signal for another train to clear or vice versa. Can you set that up in Trainz?
Ralph

You bet you can Ralph! :mrgreen: , in fact an example of this is in the third pic i posted in this thread , hard to tell but the SP is waiting for the UP SD90/43MAC's to pass, then a pair of UPSD40-2's will cross over, after that the SP will get the green signal to go.
That scenario is played out 4 times in the "Marias Pass: Cut Bank Wheat Campaign" that comes ready and scripted right out of the box! (takes about four hours to complete)
That route is bar none my favorite one in the game, of coarse i took out EVERY BN engine and car in it and replaced them all with UP stuff :mrgreen: , then rescripted it for the UP engines i put in it...SHEEW, super hard for me to do, i made a few mistakes :oops: , but i'm learning. (i renamed the route: Deano's Big UP Bonanza!" )

Steven, i know you have the SAME GAME! :mrgreen: , it IS quite AWESOME isnt it!
Yes, i have only scratched the surface in surveyor, might not be hard for others, but i find it super hard to get it all, at this time.

**Thanks for the responces folks! :mrgreen: , i was unsure how a thread like this would go here, its not modeling, nor railfanning, but it IS train related , and i'm really hooked at this time. If enough interest is there, i might make this another one of my ongoing threads 8-) .

EDIT, SIDE NOTE: Like i said, this game contains stuff from all over, so dont think it only has UP stuff in it, in my "Perfect world" its 95% UP and five percent everything else , so the pics i post here will of coarse reflect that, but you can do your own game as you want it to be. (fact is there is very little UP stuff in the game right out of the box, i have just collected a bunch of it, and in some cases paid to have it made.)

[viperman]

[i might make this another one of my ongoing threads 8-)

You better! I hope to do one as well, once I figure stuff out in the game a bit more

[UP SD40-2]

Steven, i just KNOW your going to want UP's United way engine! :mrgreen: , you have mentioned seeing it in your area and guess what, its TOTALLY FREE!

Thats right, FREE! , Slavedriver(his real name is Bill) , who hangs out at Trainz forums in the Freeware section created it . Bill is one of the TOP QUALITY creators over at "US Locomotive works" , you can go here to pick it up, and MANY OTHER TOP QUALITY engines for FREE! <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://uslw.net/downloads.php?action=cat&cat_id=1&page=2">http://uslw.net/downloads.php?action=ca ... d=1&page=2</a><!-- m -->

**The rest of the engines i am posting in this post arnt the greatest quality, but still good enough for use in my game .

Two of them are especially posted for nutbar! :mrgreen: , i know he has CN Trainmaster #3000 in HO .

[viperman]

Deano, I've been trying to download that United Way loco for a while now, few days at least! I keep getting an error message when I try to download the "engine sound made by Wolf_9" file

WOOHOO, I finally got it to work! See this following link:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=27912">http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=27912</a><!-- m -->
Oh, and I'm SaturnVUEguy there

[viperman]

[cn nutbar]

Deano---thank you for posting the shots of the CN diesels and the TH&B boxcar,they sure look good---even though I'm not into video programs,I have to admit this one looks interesting---as good as the pictures are though,they're still not as good as your prototype and models shots---I've tried to create a duplicate for your picture---thanks again and keep those pictures coming---Nutbar

[UP SD40-2]

Steven Glad you got the United engine working!

nutbar, DOH!, i thought you had that TrainMaster as 3000, ooops, my bad :oops: . I really like your pic too! :mrgreen:

*************************************************************************
**As i did two routes today, i done some thinking about some stuff pertaining to my current situation, and Trainz.

Like i mentioned before, between the uncertainty of work, and just being flat out depressed with having a space so small to put a layout up, espessially since its been that way for what seems now like an eternity , i am finding more and more that Trainz is really just what i needed at this point of time.
Dont get me wrong, i still enjoy modeling, i at the very least do it every Saturday at dads, though he has been gone for the last two weekends, and will be at my sisters next weekend, so the modeling there has been None for a bit. I enjoy all my models, heck, i have over 130 engines, and countless freight and passenger cars, literally THOUSANDS of dollars worth of stuff, and not a place right npw to do anything with it except run some of it at dads on the weekends...kinda depressing till i can move.

As i was running two routes today i got a chance to realize some of the real pluses Trainz is bringing me , not a permanent replacement to modeling by anymeans, but a really great thing for me at this time, in this real small apartment.

Some positive things that came to mind:

1- I now have just about every kind of engine i could possibly ever want in Trainz, engines i couldnt even begin to get in HO scale, and more engines then i have in models.

2- The TOTAL cost of the game, plus the money i have spent to get the HUGE UP EMPIRE i now have HAS COME OUT TO $70.00 LESS THEN the cost of JUST ONE of my average run of the mill HO engines with a sound decoder , that was a real mind blower, THOUSANDS, i mean literally THOUSANDS of dollars i have tied up in models, compared to having more stuff in Trainz then models i have for less then the cost of just ONE simple engine.

3- Layout size in Trainz can be as HUGE as i wish, and can constantly change for FREE! i have made a route that took me over four hours to run through it, and thats without seeing the same spot twice. try running a Big Boy on an 8'x 30'' table

4- NO sound decoder expenses, EVERY engine has sound, lights horn, bell, and i can even ride in the cab if i wish. (those engines really thunder through the routes with my 5.0 surround sound )

5- I run in ANY real life type enviroment, rain, snow, sun, clowdy, heck the clouds even move across the sky as your running.

6- NO mess, no lost parts while trying to put a model together, those are big problems in a small apartment .

7- When pulling into an industry NO PRETENDING that your tankers, Hoppers or what ever are getting loaded or unloaded, THEY ARE, AND YOU SEE IT!

8- cars, trucks, ALL move on the layout, they stop at lights, stop signs, and crossings, oh yea, the crossing lights flash and the bell rings on them too.

9- Way bills, signals, speed zones, warnings come across the wire, horn/bell usage, etc. all are done in Trainz, just like with our models, only you can do it all from inside the cab.

I guess my biggest thing is size, cripes, dads layout is pretty big, but if i took just the UP yard and engine facility i have created in Trainz, it would take 3 layouts the size of dads to make it in HO. Yep, size, here i sit in my small room and yet because of Trainz i can run routes that are virtually limitless without seeing the same spot twice.
Good therapy to tide me over till things can stabilize and i can move to a place where i will have enough room to run my HO Big Boy, cab forwards, SD90/43MAC's etc. once again.

So here i sit, now taking a small space here at The Gauge once again showing i as usual, march just a little off beat but hope some might find some of this interresting for a bit.

**Like i mentioned, i made two runs today since dad wasnt home, the first one was a frieght run, took just over four hours to complete, the second run was an excursion run on the Rock Valley sub with a Hiawatha Hudson :mrgreen: . below is a couple shots from both runs, mostly wanted to show off a few diesels on the freight run.

[viperman]

Deano, did you create those layouts/runs? You need to tell me how to properly do grade crossings. I can't seem to get them to work for me at all

[cn nutbar]

Hi Deano---I see why you like this program,the pictures are excellent with all the possibilities of creating consists and roll-bys.I appreciated your CN pictures,actually the Trainmaster was the only one on the system and was initially numbered #3000 and then ended her career as #2900 .Here's another shot for your review as I know you're a big FM fan---keep the pictures coming,Nutbar