MSTS Version 2

mattcarey · Post by **mattcarey** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:09 pm

is MSTS Version 2 forum going to stay locked?

Matthew

johndibben · Post by **johndibben** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:29 pm

Better ask Matt ....

johnarran · Post by **johnarran** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 1:29 am

If it's gonna stay locked then he may as well delete it !! No point in having a permanent locked forum.

ianmacmillan · Post by **ianmacmillan** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 10:15 pm

MSTS2 doesn't exist.

Why have a forum for it?

basildd · Post by **basildd** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 10:20 pm

Matt did say that at the moment there is nothing to be said officially and the speculation wasn't serving any purpose. I believe the intention was to resurrect it when there is a positive announcement...

johndibben · Post by **johndibben** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 12:22 pm

As Matt's busy at Warley and elsewhere and to agree with him for once

, the MSTS2 forums was going around in circles, as regerds what could be discussed. It would be a shame to delete that which was disussed though.

Obviously it's an immotive topic. There's a lot of understandable frustration at the non-appearance of a follow up. No doubt everyone has strong feelings on the matter.

As was mentioned around the time the forum was locked, there could be negotiations with another developer which would not be assisted by frutrated comments and wish lists.

Even the rumour mill has stopped though and so there's really nothing to discuss that hasn't been discussed.

Meanwhile, all we can do is keep downloading the freeware, perhaps try something different, to keep the numbers up, buy any add-ons that take our fancy and taking my own advice, by Trains 2004 for something different.

There's still a strong feeling that there will be a follow up. That would appear to dependant, in no small way, in a continued healthy interest in the hobby.

Hope this doesn't appear patronising, it's not meant to be. It simply appeared a fair summary of the position at the moment.

jains15 · Post by **jains15** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 10:06 pm

johndibben wrote:There's still a strong feeling that there will be a follow up. That would appear to dependant, in no small way, in a continued healthy interest in the hobby.

fair point. but if there was no follow up, wouldn't the ball that msts1 started rolling just grind to a halt? An interest would be maintained if the software we are using is well coded, finctional, looks good and is not year 2000 (?) vintage like msts1. Its swings and roundabouts. theres no software without interest, and no interest without software. If there was no msts2, we would see serious drop off in interest in just a couple of years in my opinion. We would look pretty silly using 5 year old code then too.

our hobby needs msts2. although if auran got their act together they could easily take over the genre. We've had 4 versions of trainz in the time we've had msts. Imagine if we were using msts3 or 4?

Post by **martinhodgson** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 10:10 pm

Yeah, MSTS1 can't go on forever. It'll be like Transport tycoon - great game but obviously dated, and you'll need special patches once it loses windows compatibility

bigvern · Post by **bigvern** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 8:40 am

Well MTS1 has plenty of life in it yet, lot's of people have plans for schemes and routes - enough to keep going for years. IMHO I would rather see 4 to 5 years between versions that offer substantial differences and improvements over the previous version. It gives the content creators plenty of time to do their thing.

Yes, Auran have released 4 versions of Trainz in that time, but most of it is marketing and hype - without setting off the "Auranites" the core of the programme is still the same as borne out by the long wish lists which still include many items that were requested at the outset. They keep adding a few new features to each version and charging for a full price release and within that 2 year space there have been substantial compatability issues too between certain versions, which doesn't exactly encourage long term (i.e. long route) content creation.

Far better to have a product which remains valid for a number of years (albeit with a proper patching process to catch the bugs) which users can settle into.

For my money, I have a feeling Rail 3D 2k3 could be the surprise hit of 2004, especially judging by the quality of the screenshots.

johndibben · Post by **johndibben** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 11:31 am

jains15 wrote:fair point. but if there was no follow up, wouldn't the ball that msts1 started rolling just grind to a halt?

Yep, that was me in optimistic mode .... I darn't type the pessimistic side. This site is MSTS orientated and the only positive thing to do is to sit and hope. I'd have to agree that doesn't sound much like fun though.

As Vern said, there's plenty of add-ons planned and there's life in MSTS for a couple of years. After that it would really look pessimistic.

There's all sorts of possibilities. Even X-Box which MS are well into.

What niggles me is that it appears turntables have been made to work in MSTS by Kuju. Possibly the front coupler as well and yet we can't benefit from it.

There's a railway sim in which both work but the name escapes me

Post by **martinhodgson** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:01 pm

I think it was called 'Railwayz' or something John

tubemad · Post by **tubemad** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:13 pm

yeah mechanik!
if anything Auran Trainz 2060 will be out by MSTS2!

I think MS is trying to find someone else, but who would they choose? JustTrains?

Post by **martinhodgson** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:24 pm

JustTrains aren't developers, just publishers.

mattcarey · Post by **mattcarey** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 6:26 pm

tubemad wrote:yeah mechanik!
if anything Auran Trainz 2060 will be out by MSTS2!

I think MS is trying to find someone else, but who would they choose? JustTrains?

3dtrainstuff??????????????

Matthew

LucaZone · Post by **LucaZone** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 6:50 pm

jains15 wrote:although if auran got their act together they could easily take over the genre

Wait till you see the photographs of their effort to be at the Waverly Exhibition at the NEC over the weekend.

I dont think they know the meaning of that phrase.......