Atomic Systems

I have a few questions on the following products:

Should I buy the Lille - Brussels route by http://www.simulatortracks.com and has anyone seen or heard anything about the Lille - Paris route by the same people.

I already have LGV Med 2.0 and I have been very happy with it. I have the TGV Duplex to run on it but I am considering the Tiller's Speedworks TGV add-on, which has been updated recently and I was wondering if anyone had the updated version as the review on here is from the pre-update version.

And finally is the TGV Add-on by JustTrains worth buying??

Thanks In Advanced

Ok thanks LucaZone.

The update I am refering to is the addition of cabviews and sounds not included in the first release which is what the review on UKTS says and on the website it says these are included.

Review on UKTS:

For:
High Quality Models and Textures that won't kill your machine
Lots of fun to drive at very high speed

Against:
No custom Sound or Cab

FEATURES
Exact scale reproduction from scale drawings
Realistic modeling (bogies, pantographs, suspension, etc.)
Ultra-realistic 3D driving cabs and controls
Custom high speed train sounds and SNCF horn
Accurate performance from published specifications
Attention to detail throughout the train (not just the power cars)
Low-poly modeling for faster frame rates
Realistically weathered textures
Single and double-trainset consists (can be coupled / uncoupled)
Animated windshield wipers and pantographs (with sparking effect, looks great at night)
Specular reflections and reflective window glazing effect
Interior lighting at night
Head out view (if you like wind in your hair)
Easy automated installation

This was what I was refering to.

But Luca I will take your word for it.

Thanks Again.

Although I know nothing about the http://www.simulatortracks.com routes I can only agree with LucaZone on the others.

The Speedworks TGV add-on is excellent. I bought it a couple of weekends back and it's definately worth the money IMHO - especially considering it's about £6 given current exchange rates.

Also, I found the TGV pack to be disappointing. For example, I was disappointed with the quality/variety etc. of activities included in the pack. I know that some more have been made available on the Just Trains website but they all seem to require the Euro Loco pack which doesn't seem to be available any more so you're stuck for getting a range of different activities for the route. Also, personally I found it difficult to create activities without them being passenger A to B type ones. I appreciate anyone who creates an MSTS route and I guess the TGV route was very much an on-the-job learning process but I'd save my money.

Robbie.

Yep, you're right - the full Speedworks job is very worthwhile.

Ah that update. I wouldnt worry about that, as it was way back in September that he included that addition. Its as standard now, and will bein the first release of the Pack2 TGV's

Yes the review is of the original version 1 TGV Pack, since then he has released a pack with sounds and cabs and updated models etc, we have it but have not yet had the time to update the review unfortunately.

I'd certainly recommend Clem's work to anyone that wants TGV though, it's very high quality indeed.

Matt.

I posted a rather long diatribe about this over in the French forums recently, I'll tweak it a bit and copy it into here:

I purchased Paris-Lille recently. I have long been an LGV Med route fan, and I have Clem Tillier's TGV pack. Both are highly recommended. As for the SimulatorTracks content:

There is no rolling stock of any kind delivered with the route, it relies wholly on other payware or freeware you have downloaded. For this, one wonders at the high price.

I also purchased the Lille-Brussels route and am apalled that I have paid for such substantial duplication between the Lille Europe, Lille TGV, and Fretin Triangle between the two routes. If you own Paris-Lille, the only part of the Lille-Brussels route you don't own is the fairly straight, boring, and short run into Brussels Midi station at under 100 Km. The price of Paris-Lille might be considered fair if they had included an extension from Fretin east to Brussells and clearly offered it as an upgrade product. In fact, you suspect this may have been the play as the route directories are "TGVNORD2" and "TGVNORD3" (TGVNORD1 was an earlier version of Lille-Brussels completely replaced by TGVNORD2).

Both products, but in particular the older product, suffer from very poor tracklaying in many places where the in-cab view wiggles back and forth violently (while not derailing the train). Station platform names are a bit sparse, but I suppose that's a bit more a matter of taste. The much ballyhooed (on his website, at least) feature of "trainspotting spots" consists of random bits of track at strategic locations where you can place an invisible train and watch AI traffic. It's actually a pretty neat feature. However...

While the trainspotting activities are neat, all the rest of the the activities for both products are very disappointing. My impression is that most of the activities are simply revisions of the master traffic table used in the trainspotting with the player replacing one of the AI trains. As has been established in many other places, the AI is terrible at driving TGV correctly, and getting stuck behind an AI in one of these activities is shear heck. But that's okay! THERE ARE NO TIMETABLES! In Lille-Brussels you really have no timetable at all and are left to your imagination as to what the stationmaster wants you to do, and in Paris-Lille they give you some stops, but apparently expect you use your Heisenberg train to stop everywhere at exactly same time (midnight).

That being said, some positive points: Although I have never been to the continent, myself, and cannot speak to how closely their stations mimic real life, the models of the stations are rather nice (the textures are nonexistant, which is pretty bland) and the models of the viaducts seem rather good. Some of the terrtex for the countryside is really quite good, but occasionally you'll pass into a tile where there is no terrtex whatsoever and you are treated to bright green grass. And there is rather a lot of track in Paris-Lille that has potential for some interesting activities.

Overall, it feels like it could be an excellent product someday. And if I were charged more like EUR 10 for them today, I would be much more happy.

If the author reads this forum I would suggest: work out a distribution deal with Clem Tillier to redistribute the Speedworks pack; fix up the activities to be more professional; clean up the trackwork everywhere; add textures to stations; and add the Brussells extension to the Paris-Lille product (and drop Lille-Brussels as a product).

Or, reduce price significantly.

Caveat emptor, I suppose. (He seems very insistent on non-refund policy.)

anakha wrote:Although I know nothing about the http://www.simulatortracks.com routes I can only agree with LucaZone on the others.

The Speedworks TGV add-on is excellent. I bought it a couple of weekends back and it's definately worth the money IMHO - especially considering it's about £6 given current exchange rates.

Also, I found the TGV pack to be disappointing. For example, I was disappointed with the quality/variety etc. of activities included in the pack. I know that some more have been made available on the Just Trains website but they all seem to require the Euro Loco pack which doesn't seem to be available any more so you're stuck for getting a range of different activities for the route. Also, personally I found it difficult to create activities without them being passenger A to B type ones. I appreciate anyone who creates an MSTS route and I guess the TGV route was very much an on-the-job learning process but I'd save my money.

Robbie.

There are some activities by me and jolly for that route.
I think the justtrains pack is good.

I recently bought the SimulatorTracks Lille-Paris route, and thought it wasn't too bad - although you have to prepared to spend a lot of time altering the activities, if you don't have all the stock that SimulatorTracks wrote them for.

But the earlier Brussels-Lille route, which I bought after Lille-Paris, has been something of a disaster - I haven't been able to get any of the activities to work at all, despite (or perhaps because of!) extensive editing to match the rolling stock which I do have. Even using the special activities download which is supposed to be made for the JustTrains TGV Pack, I still have had no luck. SimulatorTracks support responded to an email reporting the problems, but never came back with a fix. The only thing which worked was Explore Route, and on the basis of what I saw from that I wasn't too impressed. I only wish I'd looked at some of the French MSTS forums first, where Bozoman42 and others have made unfavourable comments!

Both routes definitely assume that you have the Speedworks TGV set, which (although the models are improved but don't have cabviews) largely duplicates the JustTrains TGV Pack.

I think Lille-Paris is over-priced but probably worth it if you're interested in SNCF and Eurostar services. But I wouldn't recommend Brussels-Lille at all. And neither are as good as LGVMed, which is free!

Roger wrote:Both routes definitely assume that you have the Speedworks TGV set, which (although the models are improved but don't have cabviews) largely duplicates the JustTrains TGV Pack.

No, the latest update of Speedworks has very good cabviews. Better, some say, but I'm not in a position to judge, myself. I do understand that the JT TGV Pack still has passenger views that Speedworks doesn't, and of course it has the fictitious cross-channel route.

But, no, yeah I'm not nearly as upset about Paris-Lille. Once I finish some activities I'm building on some other routes, I'll definitely be looking into that.

Roger wrote:the Speedworks TGV set, which (although the models are improved but don't have cabviews) largely duplicates the JustTrains TGV Pack.

The Just Trains TGV pack ARE the Speedworks TGVs. They are simply an earlier version of them. The ones u talk of were updated in september with much better cab views, proper sounds from real TGV's as well as re-edited and improved TGV models, so ur comments are a bit out dated.

The JT TGV pack and the Lille>>Brussels route are what u dont want to get, i know that for sure.

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I will definitly be investing in the Speedwork's TGV Pack. But I am still undecided about Lille - Paris, the idea intrests me, but maybe I'll save my money for London - Brighton, being a Southener and all.

Thanks Again.

You'll be able to see London-Brighton for yourself if you pop along to the Brighton Model World exhibition!

Matt.

NeutronIC wrote:You'll be able to see London-Brighton for yourself if you pop along to the Brighton Model World exhibition!

Is that this weekend?