Since the outset of my venture with VMR Journal, I've wrestled with the question of whether to focus on Trainz, or embrace all platforms. Good arguments can be made either way. I've thought a lot about this and discussed it with a number of people whose input I value.

I've finally decided to focus on Trainz

There are a number of compelling reasons to focus on Trainz. One is the great community. Most of my close train-sim acquaintances are in the Trainz community. This community exudes an enthusiasm I find contagious. Another major reason is that since I became seriously involved with Trainz last April I haven't found much time for other sims. In other words, I LIKE Trainz.

What do I like about Trainz?

Pretty nearly everything. What's not to like about Trainz? Very little. Here's the way I see it.

Most important to me, Trainz is fun. There are several prime reasons for this, and a few additional reasons. Trainz is fun because it lets me take control of more than one locomotive at a time. Trainz is also fun because the couplers work properly every time I try to uncouple or couple cars. This is important to me because I like shunting cars and operating local freights with lots of pickups and setouts.

Another thing that makes Trainz fun is the turntables that actually work. With Trainz you can operate an end-to-end layout with steam locomotives and still be able to turn them around at the end of the line and run them the other way. (I realize that on some prototype operations the steam locos just operated backwards, but I do like having the option.)

Some additional things that make Trainz fun to operate are the ease with which I can tell what the situation is and what I'm doing, and the ease with which I can perform certain operations. For example, all I have to do is hit the M key to display a map of where I am. I can zoom in or out and see the track plan, switches, and direction of switches. I can also scroll to other parts of the route. Hit the M key again and the display returns to its previous state.

Map view of a short line I'm working on.

Another nice touch is the visual display of switch directions afforded by just placing the cursor over the switch. A green and a red arrow appear. The green points to the direction of the switch. Click either arrow and the setting (and arrows) reverse.

Note red and green arrows at switch lever.

Similarly, I like the Trainz method of letting me hit the D key to indicate my intention to uncouple something and then click the area where the couplers are to accomplish the uncoupling. It took me awhile to realize I had better set the handbrake by hitting the X key (A key in TRS) if the train is on a grade, but that's not hard to do.

Note the coupler image between the gondola and flat cars.

Then there is the ease with which you can build layouts. Some argue that this has led to a lot of mediocre layouts -- and perhaps this is so -- but more importantly it adds to the fun you can have with Trainz, and to me that's more important. Ease of layout building is also a key part in what makes Trainz so handy for creating 3D presentations (see my article "Using Trainz for 3D presentations").

Building layouts is a snap with Trainz' Surveyor.

The interactive industries feature in Trainz TRS is a leap forward over other train simulators. That's something I plan to have a closer look at this year.

I also like the baseboard system. The system has its detractors, but it has the advantage of permitting completed sections to be merged. Extending layouts or splicing in branches is easy to do, meaning you can easily modify a layout of your own making or customize a layout acquired from the Download Station or an acquaintance.

There are some intangible items as well: the visuals and the sounds. Trainz is capable of spectacular, highly detailed scenery. The fact that many layouts do not exhibit this has two parts to the explanation. The easy part is the designer didn't make it that way. There are reasons for this, which I will go into later. The other intangible is sound. Trainz has great sounds for rolling cars. Trainz also has great sounds for thunder storms; and the storms themselves have great visual effects. I sometimes want to run for cover to stay dry; and I sometimes think I can smell the wet grass.

Trainz is not perfect

I need to be honest about what the drawbacks are. First, Trainz makes greater demands on my computer's speed and volatile memory than other train sims. On the other hand, Trainz requires less disk space than its famous competitor because of the KUID (Koolthingz Unique IDentifier) scheme that makes it easy to reuse identical parts. I'm not finished with volatile memory point. It's important, and I'll come back to it.

Second, Trainz has provided a scripting language for creating scenarios. The documentation is appropriate for a programmer, but not the rest of us. My impression is that Auran simply didn't get around to completing the kind of scenario building wizard it would like to have, but someday will do so. I don't get much involved with scenarios, so this has never been a big issue with me, but the new flexibility that TRS has added to scenarios is something that sooner or later I'm going to have a good look at.

Now we can talk about system resources. The great scenery potential and the ability to run multiple trains place greater processing demands on your PC. Groups like TrainzProRoutes have shown that spectacular, highly detailed scenery is possible with Trainz. But those of us with low-spec PCs have found that certain highly detailed routes will not run smoothly, thus we appreciate the layout designers who leave the added detail to us to place as we see fit.

We have also found that it is sometimes necessary to turn on the distant fog setting to obscure the reduced draw distance setting we have chosen (to conserve resources), and to hide the layout baseboard edge that sometimes is visible. This latter problem arises when the designer thoughtfully limits the layout width to keep resource requirements under control and when we elevate our camera position to extreme heights (not possible with other sims) that naturally display the designer's little secrets.

On the whole, none of these drawbacks is a showstopper for me and I am having great fun operating Trainz. I may even upgrade my PC one of these days.

One final positive

One of the most important things to me is that Trainz' creator, Auran, is accessible and involved. You can e-mail real live Auran people at the Help Desk. You can correspond with real live Auran people at the Trainz Forum. You can rest assured that Auran is committed to being the leader in bringing us an innovative, engaging, fun-to-use railroad simulation. How can I NOT focus on Trainz?

Al

Article and screen shots ©2004 Alfred Barten. All rights reserved.