Silver Lining..

[phat2003uk]

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?

If required, you can easily direct the train where you want it to go by adding a simple stop order with a setting of 1mph or more.

I can understand that you use the cab most of the time and Rail Simulator offers a better experience with visible moveable wipers, high detailed 3D cabs as well as functioning AWS. You can set your view at a multitude of angles compared to the single view in MSTS.

The appeal of going half a mile into the distance is watching the train approach from the distance pass and then go into the distance like your a photographer etc. Whilst this may not appeal to you, I know it appeals to others so that's why I mentioned it.

[Acorncomputer]

Still looking for that silver lining ......

[AndyUK]

It must be out there somewhere Geoff, there's enough of us talking about it

Andy L

[longbow]

The silver lining is that the (now pretty certain) demise of MSTS2 will remove the prospect of a further splintering in the trainsim community and encourage development of existing simulators.

My intention with this post was to elicit reactions from the current and potential KRS community, especially from those developing content and tools. Personally I'd been waiting for MSTS2 to resume my Wessex Lines route, but it's now likely that I'll build it in RS instead, once I complete the Ilfracombe Line (promises, promises..).

Over at the FlightSim forums it's by no means doom and gloom: many are expressing the view that FSX and predecessors are good enough at the moment and that a hiatus in platform development will be no bad thing.

[RailX]

i can only say that those news are very interesting for the future of trainsimming.

[PaulH2]

The silver lining is that the (now pretty certain) demise of MSTS2 will encourage development of existing simulators and remove the prospect of a further splintering in the trainsim community.

I think that's the nub of it, although I'd argue that it will encourage development for existing simulators, not necessarily of them. That's definately a good thing, and in itself may encourage development of existing simulators, but that requires long term investment which is likely to be very hard to come by at the moment.

[arabiandisco]

I don't know the full facts, but it seems a bit insensitive to talk of silver linings associated with people are losing their jobs (and presumably not losing their obligation to pay the rent/ mortgage etc).

If things really are that bad, there is no guarantee that RSDL will survive the storm either. Is this where the vehement pre-release opposition to in-game advertising comes back to bite us?

[PaulH2]

I don't know the full facts, but it seems a bit insensitive to talk of silver linings associated with people are losing their jobs (and presumably not losing their obligation to pay the rent/ mortgage etc).

Well I'm sure we all feel for those people, of course, but what does not looking to the future achieve? Our feeling sorry for them isn't going to get them a job, but the community keep pushing forward just might!

[jkxx74]

Sad state of affairs indeed that TS2 is getting canned. I too was astounded by the announcement given the longstanding quality of MSFS as produced by ACES and how much TS2 had going for it. But on the bright side, there is KRS.

Geoff makes a really good point with the list of things you can currently do with RS. Thanks to its open nature and RSDL's efforts to provide documentation, RS is quite a joy to work with and there is practically no limit to the kind of content that can be created. Yes, there is the issue with the dispatcher, but RSDL has already come out with two major updates and both have addressed serious issues from the original release. Their effort so far considered, it looks likely these remaining issues will be fixed in one of the upcoming patches. At least that's the way it looks to me and what I really hope will happen.

For my part I considered RS worthy of my time early on and hence the work on KRStool began. I have no intention of stopping and it looks like there are even more reasons to keep developing the utility. My thanks to all developers who are willing to give RS the benefit of the doubt and keep putting out content for it.

Cheers,

jkxx

[AndyM77]

If things really are that bad, there is no guarantee that RSDL will survive the storm either. Is this where the vehement pre-release opposition to in-game advertising comes back to bite us?

Even if the game shipped with "IGA" I really doubt that RSDL would be recieving a shed load of cash each week. Look at how ITV is currently struggling with it's advertising revenue at the moment and you could say that it's been going on for a few years now. So if a big corporation showing adverts every 8 ~ 15 minutes can't make much cash then it's unlikely that IGA would make any.

In this sophisticated software world that we live in these days, someone would probably have developed an adblocker, or perhaps even good old simple 'hosts' blocking would have rid us of them anyhow.

It's a shame that MSTS2 is most likely gone forever, as it could mean that RSDL decide that the heat is now off them and either slow down development of patches or not bother continuing with them considering the time and money spent fixing things, and instead simply churning out more and more payware items that take less time to 'bug fix' than 100+ users complaining that patch "xyz" broke their game.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi jkxx

I will have a serious try with KRStool in when I get to building up the landscape for The Spa Valley Railway. A good opportunity to try it out properly and save some time filling out the route.

[g0fthick]

I don't know the full facts, but it seems a bit insensitive to talk of silver linings associated with people are losing their jobs (and presumably not losing their obligation to pay the rent/ mortgage etc).

If things really are that bad, there is no guarantee that RSDL will survive the storm either. Is this where the vehement pre-release opposition to in-game advertising comes back to bite us?

The difference is RSDL have the product on the market, which means they're past the hardest part. They're now in a position where they can support the community and themselves. You've got to remember that RSDL is a much smaller team than Rail Simulator's development team, or indeed MSTS2's development team.

[NeutronIC]

Please can I remind everyone to keep this thread friendly.

There is absolutely no need for a discussion of the pro's and con's between Rail Sim and MSTS, it's old news and the demise of TS2 doesn't change those pro's or con's.

Usual guidelines apply, if you read something and it gets you all worked up then walk away and post later, or just don't post at all.

Matt.

[arabiandisco]

I'm not suggesting that IGA would definitely be the difference between success and failure for RSDL, just posing a question...

Though I probably railed against the idea at the time (you could probably look it up in the pre-release discussions forum if you wanted), if I was given the option of having IGA and things like the 158 for £7, or the present situation of paying £13 for it, then I'd rather have the adverts, because I could then afford the 158... (This isn't intended to start a discussion on that subject either, and I highly doubt that the difference would be £6).

And yes, there is no point moping around because of the likely demise of MSTS2(v2), but I don't know that "hurrah!" is the appropriate response either.

[jbilton]

And yes, there is no point moping around because of the likely demise of MSTS2(v2), but I don't know that "hurrah!" is the appropriate response either.

Well said........whether it was intended or not.....it did read a little like that yesterday morning.
Any olive branches that had begone to grow, were well and truly heard to snap.

Cheers
Jon