Is Trainz worth a look?

I haven't played Trainz for many years but what I liked about it was not the simulator aspect (I have TSW4 and most of the UK DLCs) but running a little railway and planning out where the trains needed to go to pick up materials and deliver them. It's in the Steam sale at the moment and there's DLC for class 68's and 70s which appeal, is it worth a look?

I am a bit biased about Trainz having been a content creator for many years, until recently.

Historically the competition to Trainz has visually looked superior as Trainz dates back to 2001 and a lot of older content remains in use. This older content was created in Gmax, but there is now a new generation of creators experienced in Blender building new stock to match the quality of the other simulators. The new freeware class 101 DMU is particularly impressive. The original model for Trainz was for the bulk of the content to be built by the community and being available as a free download from the DLS, provided the user has a registered copy of Trainz. This is slowly changing to a more payware based model.

The graphics have been addressed in Trainz over the last decade and have improved massively.

Where Trainz scores is the ease of building routes and contribution of content by the community in general. I can back this up with significant experience, among other projects and most notably I personally built 60 miles from Edinburgh to Berwick of the 393 mile flagship ECML route. Building Waverley station was a challenge and the mile long and 70 track width Millerhill yard is all included as it was in 1976, the time period that the ECML route is set.

The AI used to create sessions is highly flexible with functionality added by scripters in the community. This can be a little quirky and sometimes lead to unexpected results, however trying out alternative session commands usually sorts this out and some complex sessions can be constructed.

Latterly, I voluntarily helped 3D Zug shape their new class 68 and class 70, they could not access the prototypes, as they are not located in the UK. I provided authentic sounds and reskinned the ScotRail mk2s to accompany the ScotRail 68. The in game sound software really could be better and needs to be updated.

I’ve now retired from Trainz as I worked with Gmax and am now happy to hand over to the Blender generation! During my time I uploaded thousands of assets to the DLS as I always wanted my creations shared as freeware. I have fond memories of the time I spent working with Trainz, it was a lot of fun to use and satisfying to see my own creations used by others.

Thanks for the detailed reply and I decided to go for the game anyway before the sale ended plus I decided to go for the Scotrail 68 so will keep an eye out for your work.

I used to buy this way back, last one i brought was Trainz 12, found it far more enjoyable to play than Train Sim World, & it's predecessors, i felt the DLC content was far superior too, the shear amount of stuff that you could download was vast, i do remember downloading the North Clyde Lines, & adding a loop at Helensburgh Upper, to avoid reversing the train

I use Trainz + and love it. To be fair I haven't tried any of the other Sims (I use a Mac) but it's great for producing vast landscapes and ambitious layouts (or small and simple if you prefer) relatively easily. Not entirely without its bugs and shortcomings but excellent fun and getting visually quite realistic.

I play the latest mobile version of the game Trainz Simulator 3. The class 68's and 70's above are included in the game, along with the 755 Flirt !!! Some nice detailed class 37 models , however the textures are dated. Included with the remastered Rosworth Vale route are some brand new Ealnos wagons, the new Log Wagons that Colas Rail use and loadable FAA container flat cars (however these need to be purchased separately).
A 3rd party creater built the brand new Swayfield Branch route, which whilst small is has some fantastic detail. Also Included with this route are the 70's era 12t freight vans and other Wagons. Good quality. Apparently we have other older UK 3rd party stuff coming. Unfortunately TS3 does revolve mainly around US content, and the mobile channels in the discord server are full of kids who generally think that US should be the default content and anything else doesn't even count as a real and worthy train. Rosworth Vale is the best route for industry interactions.

I see Matthias got the Flirt finished at last, good to see it in game.

I’d finished my involvement towards the end of the Warships being created.

I’d pushed for a UK shunter to be included and recommended my class 06, good to see that has sneaked in there as well! Remember to turn the sound down when using that loco

Ha... yes the 06 is a noisy thing! The 68's are too, but I know that is very realistic and one of the reasons why the TPE 68's got withdrawn from service. Yes, the Flirt's and 42's are great. I am concerned about the future , European content isn't selling well apparently and there has been a huge push for American content recently. I think the real issue is the lack of in game push notifications and n3v's reliance on the American platform Discord to advertise new content. I'm actually getting sick of the sight of US style loco's, but would be more interested if it wasn't 95% of what the game is getting currently. If I wasn't married, in my 40's, with a potential expansion of my family coming soon, I'd potentially look at getting into content creation myself.

Tony2 said:

I see Matthias got the Flirt finished at last, good to see it in game.

I’d finished my involvement towards the end of the Warships being created.

I’d pushed for a UK shunter to be included and recommended my class 06, good to see that has sneaked in there as well! Remember to turn the sound down when using that loco

Click to expand...

I recorded the Trainz class 06 engine sound from 06003 in 1997, when it worked passenger services on the Battlefield Line between Shackerston and Shenton. The silencer must have been busted as it sounded like a bag of bolts! The Trainz sound is deliberately unfiltered, as you say that’s what it sounded like on the day. I encountered 06003 as D2420 many years later at Rowsley, after its rebuild and it sounded much quieter, obviously due to it receiving the mechanical attention it desperately needed!

My content creation took place after my kids were in bed, usually into the small hours of the morning! There are only so many years I could keep that going….

A shame N3V hadn’t used the photo textured 06003 I’d uploaded to the download station in their mobile Trainz, probably the most detailed texturing I’ve done using the old GMax 3D creation program. It is available in the pc versions of Trainz. You are correct, the older content is still available and looks dated now, my first upload was way back in December 2006! Blender is the new generation, the 68s and 70s are built using this program.

The class 68 started off as just the plain blue version, I’d pushed for the other liveries and reskinned the ScotRail mk2s which are included. The creator is not UK based so I’d filled the gap by providing photos, information and sounds. The 68 sound was an especially noisy departure on the Fife Circle route!

The class 70 sound is mainly from 70006, as it struggled to haul a loaded coal train out of Carlisle station. 70s are very difficult to capture on audio, as they always have another loco coupled inside to the passenger stock, the 68s were much easier, especially when they hauled mk2s with opening windows!

I’d uploaded a couple of small routes I’d created on TS2, I’m amazed I was able to build anything remotely prototypical on a mobile screen, that is a testament to the excellent Trainz route building software. These are Whitrope Siding and Thurso- Georgemas Junction. TS2 only had limited content included so I had to get creative, especially with the gable end of Thurso train shed!

Thanks for posting the TS3 screenshots, I only have mobile Trainz 2 but never upgraded to TS3 as I’d finished with content creation, the latter does seem a massive improvement, and impressive for a mobile platform.

Many thanks for the info. Yes the 68's do look very good in the game. The Scottish livery features in the re mastered Scottish Highlands route which is actually very good. With the shunter, I do agree and really hope we get an updated version in the mobile game soon. I love all the sounds, they are very much part of the game for me. Perhaps I should start a new thread at some point for Trainz screenshots

I’d be interested in that, if you are taking requests some more screenshots of the class 06 in action would be appreciated!

Here’s a screenshot of the photo textured 06003, this is in TS12 with shadows off, taken many years ago.

Tony2 said:

I’d be interested in that, if you are taking requests some more screenshots of the class 06 in action would be appreciated!

Click to expand...

I'll see what I can do regarding the class 06 , won't be tonight anymore however. Although I think there maybe a better existing screenshot I can still locate

MartinB1 said:

I'll see what I can do regarding the class 06 , won't be tonight anymore however. Although I think there maybe a better existing screenshot I can still locate

Click to expand...

So these are the existing shots, I'll aim to do some action shots over the next days

Looks great! Good to see D2423/06006 on some 12t vent vans. That one always stood out from the rest, with yellow sole bars. Later it got white wheel edges.

Some Class 06 shots i took this mornimg

Thanks for sharing!

Regarding the class 37 liveries you mentioned, until recently the graphics for Trainz were limited to 1024x1024 pixel textures. With newer versions of Trainz, the game was able to handle 2048x2048 pixel graphics and this made such a difference to the visual detail on older models.

The only large graphic 37 I reskinned was Europhoenix 37884, as per the attached screenshot. It uses a similar quality base mesh to the large logo 37s in your screenshots. As far as I know it is only available for pc Trainz. All the others are low res textures.

Class 37s were always a challenge to reskin (37884 was especially difficult!), as the meshes were never made available, requiring alphablanks and other workarounds to remove numbers and logos in the wrong position.

Tony2 said:

Thanks for sharing!

Regarding the class 37 liveries you mentioned, until recently the graphics for Trainz were limited to 1024x1024 pixel textures. With newer versions of Trainz, the game was able to handle 2048x2048 pixel graphics and this made such a difference to the visual detail on older models.

The only large graphic 37 I reskinned was Europhoenix 37884, as per the attached screenshot. It uses a similar quality base mesh to the large logo 37s in your screenshots. As far as I know it is only available for pc Trainz. All the others are low res textures.

Class 37s were always a challenge to reskin (37884 was especially difficult!), as the meshes were never made available, requiring alphablanks and other workarounds to remove numbers and logos in the wrong position.

Click to expand...

Oh gosh, that looks really good. You don't have a kuid by any chance do you? I could put a request in to see if it can be included and optimised for mobile. I do like the 37 models in terms of their details, and I love the driving cabs too. Including a real life pic taken last year at Waterloo whilst I was on my break (I drive for SWR)

Cab in ts3

Sure, here it is, KUID:283805:378841

(283805 is my kuid).

If you’re interested in seeing what else is available, I’d recommend using your Planet Auran login to access the download station website here:


You can search by kuid, inputting 283805 will display the 1900 or so assets I’ve uploaded over the years. Remember to tick the TRS2004, UTC and Trainz buttons on the left as some of the older content is still acceptable.

Also try the other UK content creators in my group, tick the username radio button and input garygreen, uky901y, warbo40 (also uploaded tons of 37s), colin_holt, rumour3, Pikkabird, 46035, matthew80. There are many others I’ve worked with over the years but that list should keep you occupied!

We all worked together, firstly under the banner of the BR blue project, to reskin as much of the BR scene into matching shades, as the blue from different creators varied from purple to turquoise and didn’t blend in very well previously. We then branched out into green and more contemporary content.

For the new blender generation try dundun92 (amazing class 101), and Evertrainz.

On the subject of the class 37s in your screenshots, a few are showing number planes on the cabs where these should be blank. Looks like N3V haven’t processed these assets properly. The alphanumbers in each of these assets need a proper alphablank, renamed to suit, which can be found in many of my class 47 reskins. This texture instructs Trainz to display transparent mesh so the planes ‘disappear’.

37403 sure gets around! I’ve had that for haulage on the Cumbrian coast and the routes and branches railtour some years ago.

Best 37 of the lot (IMHO) is 37425, an absolute monster! I’ve always felt this one has more grunt than the rest. A personal theory (completely unfounded of course) being that it was never down rated from 2000hp after its previous life as 37292…

I did buy Trainz in the game and I've had some brief goes at it but really not sure what I'm doing with it, what's the best way to get started particularly if I want to use the 68s?

JohnMcL7 said:

I did buy Trainz in the game and I've had some brief goes at it but really not sure what I'm doing with it, what's the best way to get started particularly if I want to use the 68s?

Click to expand...

First choose a route that you’d like to run these on, I can recommend ECML Edinburgh- London Kings Cross, although set in 1976, it is the flagship UK route and allows a 393 mile run! You may need to download it into Trainz, when I have done so it installs fairly quickly and I believe is included as a free separate download. There is also ECML Edinburgh- Dundee but you may need to purchase that one separately.

There are a number of freeware routes, use that download station link above to identify which you’d like to use, set the category field to layouts. I’d recommend Paddington- Westbury, nawlins uploaded this so it is under his username, but I’d done lots of work on this as a collaboration, including building Paddington and many other stations. A smaller route is Bo’ness- Manuel junction under my kuid, probably the most detailed I’ve ever done and anything can be run on it as a gala. A warning is that these will take a long time to download so best left overnight, unless you have a first class ticket (sometimes packaged for a month or so with new purchases of Trainz). Content manager is used to download and should be used to check there are no missing dependencies.

Then the next task is to open the route in surveyor, place the loco and a consist on the session layer and save a session. Open in driver and then drive away! These can be very complex with driver commands, for instance download the Manuel 2012 session where I’ve strung together driver commands to produce a string of runs to represent the BKR 2012 diesel gala.

Tony2 said:

Sure, here it is, KUID:283805:378841

(283805 is my kuid).

If you’re interested in seeing what else is available, I’d recommend using your Planet Auran login to access the download station website here:

Trainz Download Station

Trainz Download Station: Welcome to the Trainz Download Station. Here you will find a huge amount of additional content available for download for your enjoyment.

www.auran.com

You can search by kuid, inputting 283805 will display the 1900 or so assets I’ve uploaded over the years. Remember to tick the TRS2004, UTC and Trainz buttons on the left as some of the older content is still acceptable.

Also try the other UK content creators in my group, tick the username radio button and input garygreen, uky901y, warbo40 (also uploaded tons of 37s), colin_holt, rumour3, Pikkabird, 46035, matthew80. There are many others I’ve worked with over the years but that list should keep you occupied!

We all worked together, firstly under the banner of the BR blue project, to reskin as much of the BR scene into matching shades, as the blue from different creators varied from purple to turquoise and didn’t blend in very well previously. We then branched out into green and more contemporary content.

For the new blender generation try dundun92 (amazing class 101), and Evertrainz.

On the subject of the class 37s in your screenshots, a few are showing number planes on the cabs where these should be blank. Looks like N3V haven’t processed these assets properly. The alphanumbers in each of these assets need a proper alphablank, renamed to suit, which can be found in many of my class 47 reskins. This texture instructs Trainz to display transparent mesh so the planes ‘disappear’.

37403 sure gets around! I’ve had that for haulage on the Cumbrian coast and the routes and branches railtour some years ago.

Best 37 of the lot (IMHO) is 37425, an absolute monster! I’ve always felt this one has more grunt than the rest. A personal theory (completely unfounded of course) being that it was never down rated from 2000hp after its previous life as 37292…

Click to expand...

Many thanks, I will forward that kuid on and suggest those other items by Dundun92. I'm actually aware of them as saw them in the Trainz forums. I have to hope it's possible to optimise for mobile.

I seem to remember recommending that 37884 reskin to Matthias in the past, so it might already be on the list for conversion. Your backing that suggestion up can only help! I recommended the class 06 a long, long time ago, which suggests the conversion isn’t straightforward.

Another asset I’d recommend is the independent ZZA/ ZZV snowplough. I’ve uploaded lots of versions, here is a typical kuid: KUID2:283805:15186:1

The plough is scripted to deploy a tow bar when hauled by the sharp end, appropriate head and tail lamps dependant on direction of travel and has a switch mode to engage a ploughing effect, which increases with speed. This is just a modified version of steam expelling from a loco chimney, with denser particles.

A snow covered route where the ploughs have to be called in might make for an interesting scenario, something a bit different.

Oh wow, Trainz has come a long way since I used it last, probably 15 years ago!

Where is all of the add-on content downloaded from now? Such as the Flirt in the screenshots above, I'd like to have a look.

Thanks.

Russel said:

Oh wow, Trainz has come a long way since I used it last, probably 15 years ago!

Where is all of the add-on content downloaded from now? Such as the Flirt in the screenshots above, I'd like to have a look.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

DLC is available via the Trainz store, the Flirt was made by 3D Zug based internationally, there are other creators pages but this is a 3D Zug specific link:


I don’t see the Flirt on there yet, 3D Zug usually release on TS3 for mobile first then port it over later to pc Trainz.

Tony2 said:

DLC is available via the Trainz store, the Flirt was made by 3D Zug based internationally, there are other creators pages but this is a 3D Zug specific link:

https://store.trainzportal.com/collections/3dzug

I don’t see the Flirt on there yet, 3D Zug usually release on TS3 for mobile first then port it over later to pc Trainz.

Click to expand...

I'll have to have a look at what is available, the last Trainz I used was Ultimate Collection that I brought from Woolworths in the closing down sale because it had a Class 323 on the box, you can imagine the disappointment when I found out it wasn't actually included with the game!

Russel said:

I'll have to have a look at what is available, the last Trainz I used was Ultimate Collection that I brought from Woolworths in the closing down sale because it had a Class 323 on the box, you can imagine the disappointment when I found out it wasn't actually included with the game!

Click to expand...

N3V probably thought that photo was an HST!!!

There are class 323s available now but they don’t have interiors. Search 323201 for instance on the download station link up thread.

Tony2 said:

I seem to remember recommending that 37884 reskin to Matthias in the past, so it might already be on the list for conversion. Your backing that suggestion up can only help! I recommended the class 06 a long, long time ago, which suggests the conversion isn’t straightforward.

Another asset I’d recommend is the independent ZZA/ ZZV snowplough. I’ve uploaded lots of versions, here is a typical kuid: KUID2:283805:15186:1

The plough is scripted to deploy a tow bar when hauled by the sharp end, appropriate head and tail lamps dependant on direction of travel and has a switch mode to engage a ploughing effect, which increases with speed. This is just a modified version of steam expelling from a loco chimney, with denser particles.

A snow covered route where the ploughs have to be called in might make for an interesting scenario, something a bit different.

Click to expand...

Thank you for these suggestions. I will put these forward when I think there is a quiet time (I.e. a lull between the endless US content ) , and at a moment when there is more of a chance of them being looked at rather than being put on a long list of things for the far future.