Railworks, Then and Now, The Community

[Acorncomputer]

I am still just an apprentice so everything I release will be freeware until I get my RailWorks diploma and pigs fly .. that is when things might change.

Those with much more talent than me are welcome to charge for their work as far as I am concerned. You do not have to buy it if you do not think it is good value for money.

[jimmyshand]

What is this Vulcan scenarios thing that everyone is talking about?? I've never heard of them, do they have a website?

[Kariban]

It's Almark & friends, check RWTS.

[Tankski]

-snip-

[37075]

Vulcan Productions was set up originally for the sole purpose of producing Rail DVD's due to the irregular release of DVD's and not being so cost affective, we decided to dabble into an area that we know a lot about and that is Railworks. We aren’t trying to push Armstrong out of the business, but would just like to offer an alternative if his pack doesn’t justify what you desire. For instance our packs are based around pre 2006, meaning that we don't affect Armstrong’s work. Also alongside that our Scenario packs aren’t just scenarios, we are offering add-on little bits such as, Headboards, 3D nameplates & new scripting for smoke effects. And we hope that the Community won’t just take us as a Rip of as Armstrong but as our own company, who create something a little different for the Railworks User. On top of that instead of people buying the scenario straight off we are going to make available a “try before you buy” option which means if you don’t like what we offer, you can go and purchase the Armstrong pack.

Our website can be found at: http://vulcanproductions.weebly.com/

We didn’t announce ourselves on this forum as we weren’t ready to, but sadly someone stumbled across our site and started a thread on RWTS. Our packs are very much still in the making.

Any questions about our up-coming releases please feel free to PM me or if you have any questions at all please do the same.

Regards,
Cameron

[adburgess1992]

As part of Vulcan I would just like to say these are my own views and do not reflect what I am doing with Vulcan at the moment

The reason I believe our pack is low price is mainly this is just a tester to see how people respond and also the fact that if you pay £15 for a route for example then another £10 for a locomotive pack you really don't want to spending much more on getting scenarios and content for something you enjoy and have already spent money on getting how you want it to be.

So we decided that apart from scenario we decided that you would get little details and extra content making it look and feel and look better and overall improve the experience of RW.

[Retro]

I am still just an apprentice so everything I release will be freeware until I get my RailWorks diploma and pigs fly .. that is when things might change.

Those with much more talent than me are welcome to charge for their work as far as I am concerned. You do not have to buy it if you do not think it is good value for money.

Likewise Geoff. A good point. Nobody is forcing anybody to Buy Railworks Stuff or download Freeware.
Everybody has opinions. I feel if you make comments based on opinion you should always qualify them and give some insight as to how you came to your conclusions. That way people understand your reason for having that opinion and no problems are caused for the Moderators. Our community is then enhanced.
Kind regards James.

[albionrail]

I would have thought that once the payware providers cover their overheads, hosting and such the profit is minimal anyway.

[jimmyshand]

Vulcan Productions was set up originally for the sole purpose of producing Rail DVD's due to the irregular release of DVD's and not being so cost affective, we decided to dabble into an area that we know a lot about and that is Railworks. We aren’t trying to push Armstrong out of the business, but would just like to offer an alternative if his pack doesn’t justify what you desire. For instance our packs are based around pre 2006, meaning that we don't affect Armstrong’s work. Also alongside that our Scenario packs aren’t just scenarios, we are offering add-on little bits such as, Headboards, 3D nameplates & new scripting for smoke effects. And we hope that the Community won’t just take us as a Rip of as Armstrong but as our own company, who create something a little different for the Railworks User. On top of that instead of people buying the scenario straight off we are going to make available a “try before you buy” option which means if you don’t like what we offer, you can go and purchase the Armstrong pack.

Our website can be found at: http://vulcanproductions.weebly.com/

We didn’t announce ourselves on this forum as we weren’t ready to, but sadly someone stumbled across our site and started a thread on RWTS. Our packs are very much still in the making.

Any questions about our up-coming releases please feel free to PM me or if you have any questions at all please do the same.

Regards,
Cameron

Looks great guys and I'm sure you are on to a good thing. There is definitely a healthy market for scenarios and good on you for tapping in. Personally I think it's healthy to have more than one company producing a particular line of product, it promotes constant improvement and value and everyone wins in the end. It's only when competition arrives that the bar really gets raised and I'm sure that your entering of the scenario market will have a good effect.

Good luck

[oldgreyowl]

Here's my twopennorth.

Without appearing to boast, I do not have a problem ( financially ) buying payware, and must admit the add ons that I have purchased have given me much pleasure. I'm 66 and don't have the best of hearing, but I can tell the difference that the Armstrong add ons make. Likewise with other stuff.

The point I want to make is that in the last 2 weeks or so, I have downloaded 2 freeware routes ( The Central route & The Blyth & Tyne route ) along with freeware activities and I am highly delighted with both. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recollect seeing a lot of praise being showered onto James and Joe. It could be that a lot of people find it easier to slurr something rather than praise it. But there again that is just me.

I will now retire before the warden comes round and pulls the plug.

keith

OOps just spotted the thread " new scenario pack for the B & T "

[Darpor]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recollect seeing a lot of praise being showered onto James

I don't think praise comes much higher! A thread entitled "The Central Route from Retro; Best RW2 Route Ever?"

http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 4&t=114747

[nineercharlie]

Getting off payware and back to the original poster's comments. What a lot of .!~!

Most of you realise by now that I dabble in both Trainz and RailWorks. In the Auran Trainz forums there is plenty of robust, and at times very heated, discussion about a whole range of issues. Sometimes there is even rampart criticism of Auran itself, and even this is tolerated. It all bubbles and simmers along, and it's stimulating and informative, where many issues are debated; some are even resolved.

In fact, one of the most interesting threads running over there at the moment is "any opinions on Railworks2?"

Over here it's all tightly Moderated where any contrary views disappear very quickly. In fact in one Trainz thread the view was offered that the RailWorks crew that lurk here are very quick to press the panic button and the Mods jump immediately.

My suggestion is that this forum really needs to man-up. Criticism, even when aggressive, can be healthy; debate clears some of the air. Maybe the Moderators need to appreciate that the over-moderation that is occurring now is not healthy. The result I see is very sterile and, frankly, very boring.

But I suspect that this post will disappear very quickly too.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi all

UKTS is a site that covers a wide range of simulations and subjects, RailWorks happens to be just one of them. (See the Board Index). This is a family website and there have to be moderation rules to follow and apply to all of the forums and RailWorks cannot be singled out for special treatment.

There is ample opportunity to debate most relevant subjects and people can have their opinions but unsubstantiated remarks or accusations are not fair in any forum and there are the possible legal consequences to consider, an example of which was very high profile recently.

Boring it may be for some, but UKTS is still here and has a library full of content for a wide range of simulations and for all to use and it is still a top place to exchange ideas, help others and debate important matters in a meaningful way.

[styckx]

Despite sometimes completely not agreeing with some actions at the moderation level, but understanding that really, no board is perfect but "most" do their best to accommodate as large as an subjective audience as possible; I actually consider this place a second `internet home'.. There are some great people here, some I talk on Steam chat away from here and also in PMs. Some I consider "virtual friends" as silly as that seems. If not for UKTS I may have given up on this game ages ago as my frustration with the way things were going on the other side of the pond grew more and more... Well... Frustrating. I've learned more here skill wise, and game wise then I could have imagine. Even have learned how to have some more patience than I once did. Even though I have differences in opinion with certain people, and god knows others do with me as well, I'd shake hands and shoot the breeze with any of of the members here over a cup of coffee... Er.. Tea right?

UKTS is a fine place and ran fine, and really, if no one has noticed they loosened the reigns a lot and really are no where near as quick to yell, lock, and send a PM as in the past. The much more friendly and persuasive approach to moderating hasn't gone un-noticed.

I never would have imagined two years ago I'd be an American completely and utterly transformed into a UK Railroading fanatic.. Everyone here is responsible for that. Thank you!

/sappy rant off

[bigvern]

To some extent I must agree with Ninercharlie.

Donning my flameproof jacket and knowing the howls of protest that will arise, I must restate what I said some time ago to the site owners and mods. If you want to host discussons about payware and/or allow announcements about payware items then this should be in a specific section. Anyone going in there knows what they're getting into. With regard to the AP19 thread, I felt quite justified in asking how the creator justified asking £5 for a handful of scenarios, while accepting others may not have an issue paying for that. The following discussion was quite interesting and provided an opportunity to air both sides of the coin.

Part of the problem also is that MSTS and Trainz are/were to a large extent supported by an almost 95% freeware providing community who were happy to share their work in exchange for a download count and the odd bouquet (or brickbat!) on the forum. Unfortunately Railworks has not followed that path (after three years that seems unlikely to change) and you just have to accept that will temper the type of discussion and people's views towards it. Let's face it, you can't easily build a freeware route without including at least some payware material. I'm not anti-payware, having bought many items over the last few years! However the second people start charging for things, it becomes a whole different ball game. You've got to accept the quality and pricing policy may come under scrutiny and, yes, there is a certain amount of resentment at suddenly having to pay for stuff we readily shared with each other in MSTS and Trainz. And as much as I'm sure many would like to see payware discussion kicked off the board altogether, where Railworks is concerned that doesn't leave much else to talk about.

At the same time we're discussing a core product which many of us still consider far from perfect and lots of frustration that it doesn't seem to be evolving down the path we would like to see.

As a final thought, it might be worth considering how different things would have been for UKTS had MSTS2 not been cancelled. I think we would still have seen predominantly freeware as train simmers from all over the world united to flesh out the "World Of Rails" detail and the product was seen as the natural migration path by all the MSTS content developers who have steadfastly refused to have anything to do with Railworks. Guess that's me wearing the rose tinted spectacles for once but hopefully you can see where I'm coming from.