Should I buy Railworks 2

[stevefran]

Hi,
have been with MSTS for 8 years and feel like its part of me!
Just recently been looking at screenshots of RW2 and have to say that I am impressed.
Now the big decision - should I buy it?
Basically I am a steam man, so will RW offer me enoough in the way of steam?
What comes with the basic RW2 package etc
Would really appreciate some views/advice,
Steve

[Acorncomputer]

Hi

I think the first place to look is the RailWorks Web Site where a lot of your questions can be answered. Once you have the background information, I am sure that others will give you a additional information -

http://www.railsimulator.com/products.php

[Darpor]

No doubt some will advise you to purchase and some won't.

What is included?

Rolling Stock
Locomotives

Standard Black 5 4-6-0 Locomotive
S&D JR 7F 2-8-0 Locomotive
UK Class 55 ‘Deltic’ Locomotive
UK Class 47 ‘Spoon’ Diesel Locomotive
UK Class 37 ‘Tractor’ Diesel Locomotive
InterCity125 “High Speed Train”
Class 166 ‘Networker Express Turbo’
DB Class 101 Electric Locomotive
DB Class 294 Diesel Shunter Locomotive
DB Class V200 Diesel Locomotive
DB Baureihe BR 52
DB Baureihe BR 143
DB Baureihe BR 151
North American Locomotives
EMD ES44-AC Diesel Locomotive
EMD SD40-2 Road Switcher Locomotive
EMD F7 A & B Unit Diesel Locomotive

Coaches

Mk1 FK/SK/BG Coach
Mk2 FK/SO/BSO Coach
Mk3 High Speed Train Coaching Stock
Avmz and Bimz
Siberling Commuter car
ACF Chair Car

Freight

UK
Five and Seven Plank multi-purpose wagons
7.1.2 Sixteen Tonne Mineral Wagon
7.1.3 Standard British Rail Van
7.1.4 Wooden Cattle Van
7.1.5 Six-wheeled Milk Tank
7.1.6 Twenty Tonne Brake Van
7.1.7 HAA 2 Axle ‘MGR’ Coal Hopper
7.1.8 PCA Powder Tank
7.1.9 HTA Bogie Coal Hopper
7.1.10 FSA Bogie ‘Outer’ Container Wagon
7.1.11 TTA 2 Axle Fuel Oil Tank
7.1.12 Southern Brake Van

German
7.2.1 Shimmns
7.2.2 KBS Container Flat Wagon
7.2.3 Kkt Hopper Wagon
7.2.4 Ssylms Multipurpose Wagon
7.2.5 Eanos Hopper Wagon
7.2.6 Ktmm
7.2.7 NPP tankers
7.2.8 FALN hopper car
7.2.9 FAS hopper car
7.2.10 GBS Boxcar
7.2.11 IFBWW refrigerator
7.2.12 OMM 52 Gondola

North American
Bi-Level Autorack car
Double Door Boxcar
Caboose Car
Coal Gondola
Coil Gondola
2 & 3 Bay Covered Hopper
2 & 3 Bay Cement Hopper
53ft Double Stack Car
Refrigerator Car
16,000 Gallon Tank Car

All of the above come in different livery variations etc, e.g the Standard Black 5 in Black, Green & Rusty, HST in BR Blue, Intercity, FGW and so forth.

Routes

5 "Real World" routes.

Bath-Templecombe
Oxford-Paddington
York-Newcastle
Hagen-Siegen
Cajon Pass


3 "Fictional" Routes

Seebergbahn
Hedborough North
Castle Rock Railroad

Also provided is the "Testtrak" based on the Wildenrath proving frounds in Germany and "The Port Road" is available as a free download from Steam as well.

In terms of being a Steam man, although freeware isn't up to the level of MSTS and understandably so as it hasn't been out as long, Steam is very well covered. A lot of these free Steam locos are in the Rail Simulator section of the file library here but are also compatible with Railworks.

[bickley]

Hi Steve

I am also a steam man and my experience with Railworks may help you. I have run MSTS for a number of years and always enjoyed it. Having said that I had real problems with shape files on MSTS, frequently getting half way through a run only to have it fail with missing shape files.I had a go at Rail Simulator then Railworks and have been learning the latter over the past few months ably assisted by the forums (thank you Darpor!). I have to admit I struggled early on; it is quite different to MSTS and takes some learning. Railworks 2 is a great improvement and I am now a dedicated RW fan. Indeed I have not run MSTS for some months.

Railworks provides much better graphics, better scenery and an infinitely better driving experince imho. One can set up scenarios, place trains on the 'network' and drive a train from A to B and at B simply move over to drive another train you have placed there. One can drive a line and on reaching one's destination uncouple, run round and drive back ; something one could never properly do with MSTS. This is really scratching the surface I have lots to learn and have not begun to try creating my own railway world!

So far touch wood I have had no glitches running RW; it does not freeze up or fail enroute although I do have a fairly powerful desktop which helps.

As Darpor says there is much less software than MSTS due to its newness but much is coming through on a regular basis. Apart from the steam locomotives mentioned there is increasing steam payware, A4s, Flying Scotsman, V2, Britannia, Jubllee, Bulleid Light Pacific (Unrebuilt), Hall etc. I find the whole steam driving much more like the real thing. Boiler pressure v steam chest pressure, starting by opening and then closing the regulator to let the pressure build and braking are much more prototypical. Braking for example with a steam loco is realistic; put the brake in, nothing happens then it bites, if you do not release it well in advance you stop before the station. Just like a real steam loco!

As always overall it is personal preference but if you try RW, get Carlisle to Glasgow (WCML) put a Britannia on 9 coaches and drive the high hills my bet would be you will not look back.

By the way IHH have a Duchess under construction!

John

[stevefran]

Well chaps you've made my mind up!
Ordered and on its way, thought I would start with just the basic RW2 package, and try and get the feel of it!
No doubt I will be featuring on the "newbie forums quite soon!
I expect my first posts will be on "how to install downloads" !!
Thanks to all three of you, as usual informative and helpful advice

Kind Regards
Steve[quote][/quote]

[Darpor]

Hi Steve

Presuming you have bought the boxed version although "on its way" could mean a current long download from Steam!

Whichever way, just be aware that to activate the product, you do need to create a Steam account, this enables you to receive any core updates automatically if chosen and also to purchase DLC directly from RSC as well as things like "The Port Road" for free which set in the 50's/60's, could be right up your street.

[stevefran]

Hi Steve

Presuming you have bought the boxed version although "on its way" could mean a current long download from Steam!

Whichever way, just be aware that to activate the product, you do need to create a Steam account, this enables you to receive any core updates automatically if chosen and also to purchase DLC directly from RSC as well as things like "The Port Road" for free which set in the 50's/60's, could be right up your street.

Hi darpor,
have bought the boxed version, I had a quick look at Steam yesterday, it seems a bit of a minefield!
Thanks for this info, will post if I have any grief!

Regards
Steve

[michaelhendle]

It's the steam account bit that puts me off even though the sim is dirt cheap at Amazon being advertised for just over £13.00 at present.

Mike

[alanch]

It's the steam account bit that puts me off even though the sim is dirt cheap at Amazon being advertised for just over £13.00 at present.

Mike

Why?

There have been very few reports of problems with Steam, and none of the more extreme predictions have come true. I still have control of my computer, and there is no suspicious network traffic. What (or who) specifically is putting you off?

[Acorncomputer]

It's the steam account bit that puts me off even though the sim is dirt cheap at Amazon being advertised for just over £13.00 at present.

Mike

I am the definitely not a lover of the way RailWorks is dependent on Steam and the restrictions that this imposes on the user, but my assessment is that Steam is quite a brilliant system and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages so I compromise by using the online services as and when I need them and stay offline at all other times. This does not hide the fact that Steam is still controlling my use of RailWorks even when I am offline, but I can generally ignore this and for a long time now, Steam has not prevented me from running the program at any time.

Advantages include always having the latest version of the program, corrupted files easy to repair through Steam and the ability to have copies of the program and DLC on several different computers.

Go for it at £13.00, definitely extraordinary value for money or if you buy through Steam, you can have it up and running tonight for a little more (if your PC specs are OK, etc)

[Kromaatikse]

I did run into one of Steam's more subtle foibles when I wanted to demonstrate something to a friend (on his own computer) recently. This is very simple: once you've bought some DLC, there's no way to stop it from downloading before Steam will let you launch RailWorks. So we had to wait five hours for everything to be squeezed over his relatively weak connection.

[Blackpatch]

Welcome aboard Steve. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with your purchase and there is lots of helpful souls on here to help you make the most of Railworks.

[brianbwlim]

Now the big decision - should I buy it?
Basically I am a steam man, so will RW offer me enoough in the way of steam?
Steve

Big Decision - No!
You can make it with around $20.
So, I strongly recommend you to buy RW2.
In the Basic Package there are only 3 or more Steams included.
But there are hundreds of freeware steam - all of them are top-notch quality - all over the world.
Canada - 2
China - 4
Croatia -4
Germany - 2
Hungary - 1
India - 2
Spain -2
UK - 77 - All in the UKTS library
US - 15
Yugoslavia - 1

I also heard some US site sells RW+Voyager pack around 20 bucks.
So, with just 20 dollors, you can drive 100 of Steam Locos.
I think this is lucrative deal .

See here for freeware loco catalog.
http://railworks.banal.net/catalog/catalog.html

[Trainguy76]

Now the big decision - should I buy it?
Basically I am a steam man, so will RW offer me enoough in the way of steam?
Steve

Big Decision - No!
You can make it with around $20.
So, I strongly recommend you to buy RW2.

RailWorks is RailWorks 2.

[bobdawkins]

Well after reading these posts, I think I will be buying Railworks 2 too (tutu) especially after doing a re install of MSTS, and it wouldn't install on the second disc, reason being as I shut the CD Drawer the cd wasn't quite in place properly, and it caught it enough to crack it all the way across, So when next year comes I shall be looking to buying Railworks 2 before I get symptoms of withdrawal,
thanks for all the info chaps much appreciated