Atomic Systems

Dark cloud - MSTS2 may be dead.

Silver Lining - a new lease of life for other train simulators, especially RS?

Every cloud does have a silver lining.

Yep, check out the TS2 forum for the full story-ish.

longbow wrote:Dark cloud - MSTS2 may be dead.

Silver Lining - a new lease of life for other train simulators, especially RS?

Things must be bad if an outfit like Microsoft is cutting back.

Best wishes for the future.

My thinking is that many simmers and commercial outfits (especially US ones) will now be switching their future plans from MSTS2, meaning more interest, more assets and perhaps better tools for RS, and the RS developers will I assume feel encouraged to green light a KRS2 which, WoR excluded, might match MSTS2 in sophistication. Plus no need to master the steep learning curve for a new sim.

Might not be so bad after all...

Whats the forum URL please?

This is what i have been hoping for . That TS1 diehards, who have been waiting for TS2, will now throw in their lot with Rail Simulator.
However I think it's a bit early for RS2. What we really need is an improved RS1.With a Mk III upgrade that adresses a lot of the problems.
I've always felt that WOR was an irrelevance, that wouldn't have been embraced by the community.

longbow wrote:My thinking is that many simmers and commercial outfits (especially US ones) will now be switching their future plans from MSTS2, meaning more interest, more assets and perhaps better tools for RS, and the RS developers will I assume feel encouraged to green light a KRS2 which, WoR excluded, might match MSTS2 in sophistication. Plus no need to master the steep learning curve for a new sim.

Might not be so bad after all...

Hi

I think everyone might agree that what we all really wanted was a much improved version of MSTS1 with upward compatibility.
Rail Simulator is the next best thing but it is a shame that Microsoft did not take this key desire on board.

I'm not surprised to be totally honest.

From a financial point of view it's quite a busy market, and whilst MSTS2 may have promised some features that would have sold it to us, from the outside looking in it's a risk financially when you already have a current gen simulator on the market which can be bought for under a tenner and has quite some momentum going with support now.

The information I have read states that whilst staff cuts have been announced, product cuts haven't been. Its too early to determine at the moment so is just speculation. I for one will be watching developments closely, as I'm sure RSDL will be.

BP

And I'm sticking with TS1 for the time being.

Reason being that having had RS since it was released, I tried it a few times, and on a machine that was a reasonable way above min specs, it performed appallingly on minimum detail settings. Coupled with the lack of track monitor showing limits (as I don't know the route), it was a pain in the rear.

Was also annoyed by the copy protection demanding the disc in the drive. Gamejackal sorted it initially, but then with the upgrades and developers pack, it became more and more annoying, so I went back to MSTS with the best type of copy protection - none.

IF MSTS2 is canned, then hopefully RSDL will proceed with developing their sim into something that can be classed as a true step forward from MSTS, rather than simply a prettier but less functional version.

gswindale wrote:Coupled with the lack of track monitor showing limits (as I don't know the route), it was a pain in the rear.

It sounds like some people haven't re-evaluated RS with upgrade mk2.

Was also annoyed by the copy protection demanding the disc in the drive. Gamejackal sorted it initially, but then with the upgrades and developers pack, it became more and more annoying, so I went back to MSTS with the best type of copy protection - none.

You do not need the disc in the drive if you get the (free) developer version.

It sounds as though some people are not up to speed on developments.

I tried it a few times, and on a machine that was a reasonable way above min specs, it performed appallingly on minimum detail settings.

How many games really work on minimum recommended settings? You'll require at least 2GB of RAM as real-time systems and page swapping do not mix.

After browsing a little, it looks like the MSTS2 product has been cancelled and the future of development staff is in doubt as a result of the cancellation.

Let's hope that RSDL and other groups such as Digital Traction etc (apologies to those I've not listed) can take advantage of the situation, although I think it's unlikely that they could recruit MSTS2 people due to lack of resources and the imposition of restrictive clauses in redundant people's employment contracts.

I think it's worth considering the efforts of RSDL and others, who continue to provide models of steadily improving quality, despite constant criticism from some quarters, especially those who seem to expect RS to be a clone of MSTS1. Strange how RSDL are expected to shoulder the blame for Microsoft's failings.

RS is currently on Update Mk2 with Update Mk3 apparently being developed. Microsoft cancelled MSTS1, then cancelled MSTS2 during development and then a second MSTS2 during development. I wonder when a third "new" MSTS2 will be announced. How lucky we are that we don't have to rely on Microsoft for our customer support!