German Railroads vols 2, 3, 4

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 11:23 am

I bought vol 1 when it came out a long time ago and enjoyed it. Can someone please do me a thumbnail review of the other 3 please. I'd like to know mainly about the period set and the types of lines (main, or branch, urban or rural) and the types of train operationes (commuter, fast passenger, stopping/pick up freight, block freight, shunting?).

Also general quality of rolling stock and scenery.

I've browsed their web site but don't read German so am not much the wiser!

Many thanks

simont · Post by **simont** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:18 pm

2- MÃ¼nster to Bremen: a mainline set in the late 60s, early 70s, electrified, lots of yards and sidings, quite a fast line, relatively flat, with three major cities on it (OsnabrÃ¼ck is the other). The stock is of a high standard, and quite a wide range. I think GR5 will be this route set in the steam era, though, if that's what you prefer.

3- An East German local line, set in the days of steam/diesel operation. Don't have this one.

4- Trier to Koblenz: Quite a main line, not so fast, but scenic, as it follows the mosel valley. Electrified, and set in the same era as 1 and 2, but with some steam locos) The stock with this is a combination of what's in 1 and 2 (indeed the exact same files), with some additions.

The standard is generally high, and consistent between the two I have- as good as, possibly better than, what I've seen of GR1 (don't have it). A lot of care clearly goes into the addons, everything is just so, right down to stuff like cabview positioning, which really helps. The objects and stock use large textures, which gives great detail, but can also have the effect of making the world seem slightly unreal- too clean, and model-like. Also it's hard on the performance, GR routes in my experience are a real resource hog. You'll need Train Store or some such- in fact, GR4 installs its own specially modified version of Train Store.

simont · Post by **simont** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:20 pm

Here's a fuller review of GR2 I wrote when I first bought it:

http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?t=11534

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:27 pm

Thanks Simont, I may well get one or more of these then. I too found the textures in GR1 a bit too squeaky clean with the result that the route looked a lot like a Faller or POLA demonstration layout at a model show

The requirement to sound the horn before each crossing or the activity ended was a major frustration, particualrly as I tend to drive in outside cam view enjoying the scenery to the side of the train and the first I know about some level crossings is when MSTS tells me the activity failed.

I haven't felt though that GR1 was a resource hog. I use a small utility written by Matt that renames folders. So each route I have sits in it's own ROUTES folder and has an accompanying TRAINS folder, also with just the stock for that route in. No need for Trainstore around here (I've never used it). This method wastes disk space with multiple copies of common files (cabviews and sounds principally) but hey, what else do you use a 200Gb HD for

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:30 pm

Thanks for the link to the review. A response to that asks about English versions of the activities - do you know if these are available for all their routes now?

I also know a patch was issued to GR1 fixing a couple of activities, do you know if there are d/l fixes required for GR2, 3 or 4?

simont · Post by **simont** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:21 pm

It's quite possible that GR2 was the first to really sap the resources- it's on a much larger scale to GR1. Certainly, at the time, it was the first addon I'd used that had required me to move absolutely everything out of my TS installation, although I tend to do that with all routes now. I don't use Train Store either, I also use folder renaming, with lots of separate folders for routes and consists, and the trainset split into Europe and the UK. I'm increasingly starting to think I'll need to divide it further, but it's difficult, because there's so much overlap.

Only GR1 and 2 seem to have separate English versions, and I can't see any link on their site to download any English activities. All of the addons have patches, though.

ianmacmillan · Post by **ianmacmillan** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:57 pm

All my routes and trainsets are zipped up on the second drive.

Ijust unzip them to the MSTS folder when I want to use them and delete them afterwards.
Also, all activities are packaged to keep the consist folder clear.

Common.cab and all other aliased stuff are kept seperate in the Trains folder so they don't have to be moved.
Just as well cos my Aliased folder is now 1.29gig.

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 4:36 pm

I still need to do that monster common aliasing project Ian

As the others don't yet seem to have English versions I will have to give them a miss. Might get vol2 though.

ianm42 · Post by **ianm42** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 4:58 pm

I fancy getting the Mosel valley route. I know the area and it is beautiful. However, the route seems to be priced a bit high in my local Saturn compared with other routes.

Post by **fgrsimon** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:00 am

Not sure there are English language versions of GR3 and GR4 planned at all, it's been quite a long time since the German versions came out. There was nothing on the website last time I checked. Same with PT since PT3. I've been waiting for English versions of these for some time but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and put my trust in 'O' Level German once again pretty soon.

All the PT and GR routes I have are very good and they've improved already high standards with each release. I'd have no hesitation in recommending them

ABABAB · Post by **ABABAB** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:46 pm

Hi
just thought I'd let you know, I have bought and played German Railroads vol 1,2, 3 and 4. Volume 3 as you were enquiring is called Dampf in Werratal, it is made up of serveral lines joining up here and there roughly 100km. I could only get this in German like GR4 however in the end I roughly fathom out the activities as I have roughly got a slight idea of German now.
I buy these because I think the general senery, AI traffic and playability in the activities is really excellent.
Incidentally there is also a German Railroads pluspack which is excellent and has lots of activities for some of the add-ons.
I recently purchased their newish one German Trains volume 1 which has updated trains etc and roughly 20 activities for GR2 and roughly 20 activities for GR4 and I thought the locomotives looked really good. hope this was of some help to some people.

Cheers
ABABAB

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:13 pm

Thanks yes, that helps. I'm going to ask Santa for GR2 English version.

ianm42 · Post by **ianm42** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:49 pm

I bit the bullet and got the Mosel route at the the weekend. I still think â‚¬35 is a bit steep - nearly double the price of ProTrain 6.

Plenty of interesting locos (steam, diesel and electric). Some nice buildings in the towns, but scenery is a bit sparse outside the towns. Definitely not an accurate model of the Mosel valley, but still nice to drive. I liked the shipping on the river. Driving is what it is about - double track, lots of loops and sidings at stations. I did like the grinding noises as you wind along the valley's sharp curves, and the changing speed limits keep you concentrating. A very well put together package, but don't expect the realism of SVR or Swanage.

One nice touch is that the CD includes all the patches for the previous GR routes and stock if you want them. There are also RailDriver files and other stuff on the CD.