Silver Lining..

[willburton]

That was me.
I must admit that I honestly had no idea that graphics quality was not a top priority for everyone, before this and a similar thread on the TS2 forum started.
You live and learn.
I hope it's possible for RSDL to overcome the apparent shortcomings in other aspects of the game in future upgrades

All these accusations are made quite unfairly to MSTS "diehards" by people with a shallow concept of the hobby. Graphics is all to them.

Rick

[paulz6]

All these accusations are made quite unfairly to MSTS "diehards" by people with a shallow concept of the hobby.

Oh dear! The gloves are off.

Having a shallow concept of the hobby, I like accurate track work in routes rather than building approximate representations. This can easily be achieved in RS. You can mark out every rail line and transpose this into RS, allowing rail networks to be accurate within inches.
In MSTS, the North is severely skewed and the fixed trackwork sections inevitably lead to some compromises.
In RS you can set up track properties too, which is much more flexible than MSTS.

[Acorncomputer]

I am not quite sure yet if we have found the silver lining ......

[paulz6]

I am not quite sure yet if we have found the silver lining ......

Some of the bullets flying around seem silver plated though! :2gunfire:

[jbilton]

I must admit that I honestly had no idea that graphics quality was not a top priority for everyone, before this and a similar thread on the TS2 forum started.
You live and learn.
I hope it's possible for RSDL to overcome the apparent shortcomings in other aspects of the game in future upgrades

Hi Kevin
Well I believe its been said enough times on the forums.... 'eye candy' is fine..... but it doesn't make for a driving simulator.
Personally even before this latest announcement, the lack of MSTS2 physics information had started to worry me.
As it did in the later few months of KRS development.
Unless the game engine has the ability, it can't be tweaked that much later on.
Its a bit like painting go faster stripes on an 'old car' .... it'll still run like an 'old car'.
I agree , and I too hope, we do see a KRS2..... soon.
Cheers
Jon

[paulz6]

Its a bit like painting go faster stripes on an 'old car' .... it'll still run like an 'old car'.

You could also argue that building Ferrari bodywork around a Ford Focus engine doesn't give you the performance of a Ferrari engine.

Like I've said before, RS is still an ongoing concern and so the engine can be improved. The MSTS engine is still a horse and cart in modern computing terms. People are still feeding the horse, but it will still be a horse as nobody has decided to upgrade the propulsion mechanism of the cart.

[willburton]

The latest I've just heard, from one of my former supervisors at MGS, is that a small group of people will be kept on to develop ESP, as part of the Windows PC Games group. So it looks like everything else is gone.

I would refer members to Matt's comments at http://www.uktrainsim.com/index2.php?fo ... eport=1125

There is no official comment or statement from Microsoft and although we do have one member here who appears to have been one of those losing their job we don't really have any hard information.

As Matt states (and I have done similar searches) everything leads back to that one source so until official comment is made please let's try not to get too excited / disappointed by the "news". This could turn into a case of internet rumour becoming "fact" due to the number of times it is repeated on various forums.

[Easilyconfused]

Sobering news Kevin. Good luck in the future.

I am facing a similar future since HP took over my employer and the CEO Mark Hurd is wielding the HP "slash and burn" axe against our business units. Things don't look too good here either.

[willburton]

I sincerely hope there isn't more to come, from Microsoft and elsewhere. They are not really improving the economic situation by firing everybody!

Sobering news Kevin. Good luck in the future.

I am facing a similar future since HP took over my employer and the CEO Mark Hurd is wielding the HP "slash and burn" axe against our business units. Things don't look too good here either.

[paulz6]

I run my own company providing IT expertise for financial trading platforms. Funnily enough, no income, and increasing outgoings. It's also a very specialist skill and the majority of them really aren't transferable to other IT sectors. I hope others don't have to go through the same financial shocks that I am about to go through. I'm just hoping I will come out of this with 'nothing'. It could prove to be a lot worse. Let's hope RSDL can get through this so they can continue to improve the simulation engine.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Kevin

By my reckoning you have been up since about 4.00am.
A bad day so far and still not looking good.

[phat2003uk]

I must admit that I honestly had no idea that graphics quality was not a top priority for everyone, before this and a similar thread on the TS2 forum started.
You live and learn.
I hope it's possible for RSDL to overcome the apparent shortcomings in other aspects of the game in future upgrades

Hi Kevin
Well I believe its been said enough times on the forums.... 'eye candy' is fine..... but it doesn't make for a driving simulator.

Well if we're going to have this discussion we will. MSTS is the simulator where the player train takes absolute priority above anything else unless you add cumbersome work arounds such as double reverse points or waiting points, I should know, I had to put up with it for years! It's also the sim where no matter what, the player train has to follow the same route, the intelligence of Rail Simulator means that it takes the most clear route depending on other trains. These are things which I suspect will never be improved on. Rail Simulator's faults such as AI derailments are avoidable if you design a scenario in an efficient manner. In Rail Simulator, you can move around freely within around a 1km radius, with MSTS you have to follow the train wherever except for the ctrl+shift+9 hack but that means your camera angle is static anyway!

Jon, have you even tried any of the new scenarios released on UKTS? I suspect they show what Rail Simulator is capable of.

I suspect this like talking to a wall though.

[gswindale]

It's also the sim where no matter what, the player train has to follow the same route, the intelligence of Rail Simulator means that it takes the most clear route depending on other trains. These are things which I suspect will never be improved on. Rail Simulator's faults such as AI derailments are avoidable if you design a scenario in an efficient manner. In Rail Simulator, you can move around freely within around a 1km radius, with MSTS you have to follow the train wherever except for the ctrl+shift+9 hack but that means your camera angle is static anyway!

Interesting points there, but when designing an activity for other people to drive, I don't want them taking an alternative path even if it is currently clear - I may want them to wait where they are - presumably there is a cumbersone hack to do that in RS?
Again with regards to the camera angles. I tend to use a cab view most of the time, apart from when taking screenshots for uploads, so who actually gives a fig if I can fly out half a mile down the road to look at the paintwork on the cars parked in the Tesco carpark?

[sjbaker34]

This is going to get ugly.

[AndyUK]

I tend to use a cab view most of the time, apart from when taking screenshots for uploads, so who actually gives a fig if I can fly out half a mile down the road to look at the paintwork on the cars parked in the Tesco carpark?

Clearly you're not one who gives a fig about the ability to move around freely, and I'm not a great user of that feature myself; but why shouldn't those who want to do that have the ability to do so? It's not as if it prevents you and I spending most of the time in the cab!

Andy L