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Trainz: A Modeler's
Paradise
By Alfred Barten
Less than six months after Microsoft released its
Train Simulator
(MSTS) in June 2001, Auran, released
Trainz in time for the Christmas rush.
There was much anticipation, as Auran had been issuing press releases on a
regular basis, touting the ease of building routes in its new simulator, and
displaying the results of its accompanying utility,
Paint Shed, which let just about anybody
reskin a model in their favorite livery. There was some trouble in Paradise,
however, and Auran soon released a series of service packs fixing bugs and
adding functionality. The most significant service pack was SP3, which modified
the original offering sufficiently to isolate pre-SP3
Trainz from the rest of the
Trainz versions that have been since
released. All told, we now have the original
Trainz,
SP3,
Trainz UTC
(The Ultimate Collection),
TRS2004
(Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004), and
TRS2006. According to Auran's
announcement two years ago, TRS2006
completes the series. If something new is forthcoming from Auran, it will be
substantially new and not necessarily backward-compatible. Of course, that was
two years ago. Things can change, but at this point we are unaware of Auran's
plans for the future. Does that mean you should avoid purchasing TRS2006 and
wait for whatrever's next? Absolutely not.
TRS2006 is well positioned to be your
only simulator, if need be, for a long time.
If MSTS was the first of the big ones
(see
"Microsoft
Train Simulator: First of the Big Ones "),
Trainz is the second of the big ones,
having much in common with MSTS and some
things that set the two apart to the extent that a heated debate often springs
up when advocates of each come together. It's reminiscent of the
Windows/Macintosh flame wars. For
starters, MSTS has its roots in
MS Flight Simulator, a simulation where
people can learn the rudiments of flying an airplane, and missions such as
flying from New York to Honolulu can be as boring as one might expect (simulated
air battles, on the other hand, are anything but boring).
Trainz has its roots in model
railroading. Trainz advocates often tout
Trainz as a substitute for the model
railroad they could never afford nor find the space for.
MSTS advocates often refer to
Trainz, derogatorily, as a model
railroad simulator. For its part, Auran has tried to distance itself from the
model railroad tag, much like Apple tried hard to discourage playing games on
its Macintosh, fearing the computer wouldn't be taken seriously by the business
community. (Apple should have realized that the business community was more
interested in bottom line cost than in secondary activities one might find for a
computer. In the end, Apple lost out on the billion dollar game industry, while
the Windows machines, the favorites of
the business world, became the game machine of choice.)
Another complaint MSTS users fire at
Trainz is more valid for the first
version than subsequent ones. Critics see the
Trainz colors as garish, toylike,
unreal, and so forth. I've found the colors in the most recent versions to be
warm and attractive, whereas the colors in
MSTS are often cold. Most
MSTS routes lack people, and where
people are portrayed, they are often stiff and unrealistic.
Trainz routes are loaded with people,
still not perfect, but an improvement on
MSTS. People, like warm colors, add life
to a simulation.
There's also a question of image sharpness.
Trainz always seemed a little soft
compared to MSTS until I bought a
17-inch widescreen laptop with 1900x1200 resolution. I was astounded by the
silky smooth, grainless, sharp rendition of
Trainz.
MSTS, on the other and, because of its
age, is unable to adapt to the widescreen and must be displayed in a window or
else present a distorted picture. Because of the enforced 4:3 proprtions, the
best I can get out of MSTS is 1600x1200 resolution.
I've always found Trainz screen shots to
be a little soft when compared to MSTS.
I compensate by sharpening the images using
IrfanView
picture editor. The technique does not
work with MSTS. I suspect the
MSTS images are already sharpened by the
MSTS graphics engine.
The hallmark of Trainz is its famous
ease of use. Building a route - something model railroaders are famous for doing
- is so easy a child could do it. I've seen 7- and 8-year-olds at my live
Trainz demos lay track, place buildings,
and shape and texture topography. Trainz
also lets you place trains and wagons all over the route, and operate more than
one train at a time. With MSTS, the
latter is impossible, and placing consists requires going into the Activity
Editor, a major nuisance.
Driving Trainz is also easy. Place the
cursor on a track switch to display red and green arrows, showing you which way
the switch is set. Click the switch to change the setting. Uncoupling cars is
just as easy. Select the Decouple function, place the cursor on the space
between cars and click the coupler image that displays.
Trainz offers two driving modes - cab
control with realistic train physics, and DCC control, analogous to a model
railroad power pack. This is one area where
MSTS buffs feel that
Trainz is clearly a model railroad
simulator and not a real railroad
simulator. I've never has trouble stopping a
train at a station in
Trainz because of train momentum, but
have certainly run through stations with
MSTS and
BVE.
Trainz comes with a scripting language
that lets people with scripting ability perform all sorts of wonders, especially
in animating objects. Trainz users can
download animated people (lumberjacks chopping and sawing, for example), moving
cranes, and so forth. This same language is used for creating scenarios (the
sessions MSTS users call activities).
This is one area where MSTS users have
an advantage. The MSTS Activity Editor,
while anything but user friendly, is usable by non-programmers and is not really
difficult. Trainz Script, on the other
hand, comes with little documentation, and for this non-programmer, is simply
not usable.
The most recent version of Trainz
incorporates every model railroader's dream of dynamic industries, with
loading/unloading of freight cars, and passengers that can board or leave
trains. For MSTS users, who mainly
operate according to activity, such wizardry is unnecessary because an activity
usually calls for something like picking up or dropping off a loaded or unloaded
freight car or stopping at a station. Trainz
users, who are more apt to operate in what I call free play mode, can
drop an empty car from a northbound train and later pick up the same car,
loaded, with a souhtbound train.
Along with Trainz's ease of use comes
the Trainz Forum and Download Station at Auran's web site. Auran's people take
part in forum discussions and are available for help. (Have you ever succeeded
in reaching a person at Microsoft? Or even figured out how to email them a
suggestion?) The Download Station uses a system of uniquely identifying every
add-on component. This makes it possible for people to create and post add-ons
that incorporate other add-ons already available. In the end, this can save you
acres of space on your hard drive.
Speaking of hard drives, and, while we're at it, computers,
Trainz has noticeably higher minimum
requirements than MSTS. Since
MSTS came out in 2001 and hasn't
changed, its requirements are relatively low.
Trainz, on the other hand, began a
little higher than MSTS and has
continued to grow. The latest version,
TRS2006, has a minimum CPU requirement
of 1.5 GHz Pentium. MSTS, by comparison,
lists a minimum of 266 MHz, though no one takes that number very seriously. A
500 MHz CPU is probably a more realistic minimum for
MSTS.
So where does Trainz stand in overall
popularity? It's hard to know without hard data, but the Trainz Forum now has
about 200,000 registered users. Everyone who registers
Trainz is automatically registered at
the forum. Thus we know at least 200,000 people have purchased
Trainz. If all these people had
purchased all 4 versions, that would make 800,000 copies sold. Since we know
that's not the case, we can only guess. My guess would be around
400,000-500,000. There's no doubt that
Trainz, with the marketing clout of
Microsoft, could have sold many more copies than it has. I can certainly attest
to the fact that Trainz turns heads when
I give demonstrations. Last January, at a large train show, my table was mobbed
3 and 4 deep the entire weekend. People who hadn't seen
Trainz were simply amazed.
Things You Should Know About Trainz
One seemingly small thing that might catch someone by surprise is that a copy of
Trainz can only be registered once.
Thus, if you buy a used copy somewhere, you will likely find yourself unable to
download any of the 60,000 add-ons now at the Download Station. If you know
someone with Trainz, however, they can download for you and you can install
things manually.
I've created a set of instructions/reminders for new or infrequent
Trainz users. It's titled "Crib Notes:
Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 " and is available
here.
Must-Have
One third-party utility no Trainz user should be without is
TrainzObjectz. Don't
ask. Just get it!
Trainz for the Mac
That's right! Trainz is coming to the
Mac. It is now in beta testing stage, which suggest a mid-year release, but
that's only my guess. Yours is as good as mine.
Resources
The prime resources for Trainz users are right at Auran's web site: the
Download
Station and the
Forum
. There are numerous independent Trainz-oriented web sites as well. At the risk
of offending those who I've left out, I'll list just a few below. A more
complete listing can be found in my
"Train
Sim Webfinder," which I update regularly.
Basic
Trainz
Razorback
Railway
Sirgibby's
TrainZONE
TrainzProRoutes
Al
Article an screen shots (C)2006 Alfred Barten. All rights
reserved.
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