Questions about Upgrading to Railworks 3

[Retro]

I am at the moment thinking about letting my Main Machine Upgrade to Railworks 3. However I have some concerns:-
Does the Upgrade add or remove any other Programs/Drivers that Railworks 2 did or did not require ?
I have backed up my entire RW 2 Steam Folder. Will this allow me to revert back to Railworks 2 if I do not go online with Steam.
I realise that most on here will have Updated and will not go back. I just want to make sure I can.
Thanks and kind regards James.

[philspace]

Hello James,

It's easier than you might think - simply go to ...Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\, and rename the current "railworks" folder as, for example, "My_RW2".

Go online with Steam and Verify the cache and it will download an entire new verstion of TS2012, in the same place but again with the folder-name "railworks"

If you then rename that folder "TS2012", for example, you have both versions available to run by simply renaming the one you want back to "railworks".

It sounds cumbersome, but once you have downloaded TS2012, it's as quick and easy as changing the folder-name of the version you want to use.

There are no registry changes to worry about - your system will change back to RW2 (v117.3) straight away, without any adjustments.

Best wishes

Phil

[Retro]

Thanks Phil for that information. Much appreciated.
Just another couple of points. Does Railworks 3 use a different version of PhysX to the Ageia one that came with Railworks 2/ Rail Simulator. If so would that be removed when Upgrading
Am I breaking any Rules by having both versions on the same Machine.
Sorry Edit. How big would the whole download be. I have quite a lot of DLC.
Edit again. I suppose I could let it update my current Version of Railworks 2 which would be a smaller download and then copy and paste Railworks 2 from my backup and rename it to My_RW2 ??
Kind regards James.

[philspace]

Hello James

Please excuse a delay in replying - about to go out for a while - will get back to you later

Best wishes

Phil

[Retro]

Thanks Phil. No problem.
Anyone else have any advice to offer.
Kind regards James.

[gptech]

Just another couple of points. Does Railworks 3 use a different version of PhysX to the Ageia one that came with Railworks 2/ Rail Simulator. If so would that be removed when Upgrading.

It's a newer version of PhysX but it doesn't overwrite the old one...you'll have no bother running both RW2 and RW3

Am I breaking any Rules by having both versions on the same Machine.

Not at all, there are no restrictions on how many copies of what version, or mix of versions you have.

Sorry Edit. How big would the whole download be. I have quite a lot of DLC
Edit again. I suppose I could let it update my current Version of Railworks 2 which would be a smaller download and then copy and paste Railworks 2 from my backup and rename it to My_RW2 ??
Kind regards James.

Rather than let it overwrite a known working install, copy it and upgrade the copy. Any DLC you have in there will not be re-downloaded unless there are fixes/enhancements to it.

[Retro]

Thanks for that information. I already have a full copy of Railworks 2 on backup anyway.
Edit Just backing up again as this current version worked today.
Kind regards James.

[philspace]

Hello James

I'm back - it seems gptech has answered your questions - I couldn't have done any better.

It certainly works for me - I run RW2 most of the time with the occasional visit to TS2012 to see if things have improved.

Best wishes

Phil

[Retro]

Thanks Phil will try to Upgrade in a short while.
I wonder how many people are still using RW 2 as their favourite choice until RW 3 starts to improve.
Kind regards James.

[gptech]

....I wonder how many people are still using RW 2 as their favourite choice until RW 3 starts to improve.......

I'd say it's already started.... we've had updates and fixes quite regularly since release.

[Retro]

I accept it does seem to be improving for many people but unfortunately I am not one of them unless this Machine I am going to Upgrade shortly surprises me. My older Machine has problems even in Legacy Mode.
Kind regards James.

[Retro]

Updating now. Steam is slow. 3 Mbps variable with EA Origin I get a Steady 10.9 Mbps.
Kind regards James.

[Retro]

Well it has removed the Ageia PhysX. They don't want people to go back.
The installation has also taken up to 80% of my memory and not cleared it on exiting.
My other games all return the memory back when I exit them.
Will have to do a Restart.
Kind regards James.

[gptech]

I accept it does seem to be improving for many people but unfortunately I am not one of them unless this Machine I am going to Upgrade shortly surprises me. My older Machine has problems even in Legacy Mode.
Kind regards James.

As you haven't yet upgraded a machine that's (hopefully) *new* enough to make the most of RW3 I don't see how you can state that it's not improving, have you ever posted the specs of the ailing machine to see if anybody could offer help or advice? Have you posted the specs of this newer machine to see if anybody has any opinions on whether it'll cope?

Think of the so-called 'legacy mode' as more a 'breathing space', a wake up call if you wish, so you can plan for a hardware upgrade to move on to the full TSX enabled version. The argument that 'it worked OK before, why doesn't it now?' doesn't wash I'm afraid as the history of computing is littered with improvements to operating systems, programs and games that have necessitated an improvement in our PC hardware.

[AndyM77]

Well it has removed the Ageia PhysX. They don't want people to go back.

PhysX is still there. Basically the version that shipped with Railworks (& RW2) was the last of the Ageia software releases - nVidia bought the IP and they have been updating it ever since, the current version is now 09.10.514 that ships with nVidia graphic drivers and is also available as a standalone download from http://www.nvidia.com

The version that ships now with TS2012 is a little bit out of date (09.10.0513) so you might want to visit the above site to get the latest if you wish.

The old 6.10.25 were pretty inefficient for the latest game releases and I'd always used the latest install rather than the version shipped with Railworks (& RW2).

So if anything you'll see improvements with the latest code, so it's no big loss to lose the "Old" Ageia driver.