Railworks for Linux

[gptech]

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Those with the need to retain XP, for the few games and applications that won't run under Win7, could easily set their systems up to dual boot.

A large proportion of people will have some hardware support issue doing that, hardware companies being at least as good as software companies when it comes to making things inconvenient for people who don't want to upgrade.

To a point, yeah, I'd agree...but in many cases it's easier to work round harware issues than software, applications/games on USB 'sticks' rather than optical media for example....

mmmmm XP embedded on a USB stick?????

[SuperTux]

Why not just use OpenGL and move away from DirectX? This opens up possibilities for Railworks to run on many other devices away from the PC and to have different derivatives of Railworks.

Linux itself is doing very well, but not so much on the desktop, rather in server space where its less visible to the general public, but in terms of skills it is much harder to find skilled *Nix users than Windows unfortunately.

[transadelaide]

Why not just use OpenGL and move away from DirectX?

I agree with the 'use OpenGL' bit but not so sure about the 'just' bit. I'm not really in the know as I'm no programmer, but the impression I've gathered to date is that Kuju/EA tied themselves to all Microsoft's stuff so thoroughly it would probably result in most of the program being rewritten from scratch. But we're talking about a title developed and released in 2005-07, back then nobody thought the prospect of a closed Windows would be possible, Linux was still only a hobby for nerds and Macs were still using the impressive but somewhat mysterious PowerPC G5 processor built by Motorola.

However, I do think it's high time that development on the current platform be stopped and RS.com release a new program that doesn't have the Kuju legacy tied around its ankle like a ball and chain holding progress back to just a shuffle, because while some games of that vintage have managed to age gracefully it is clear that RS/RW is not one of them. In creating a new platform from scratch the Kuju legacy would be used for just one thing - learning from mistakes, such as a physics model using a mix of Systeme International units, other non-SI metric units and obsolete imperial units instead of SI across the board. A new program from the ground up could use OpenGL from the word go so that it could be simultaneously released on Windows, Mac and Linux versions of Steam, and new export plugins for all the existing modelling tools could allow a decent number of the same original asset files to be recycled for the new program.

If the current RW platform was to be finalised and development efforts put into a bottom-up replacement, it wouldn't be the end of the world for users who couldn't upgrade to the new platform. Some third-party providers would still be producing for the old platform, either out of choice not to move forward or out of convenience if they could use the same 3D models on both old and new platforms. Look at MSTS, it's ten years since the developer last did anything for it and it's still spawning new content regularly.

[SuperTux]

Why not just use OpenGL and move away from DirectX?

I agree with the 'use OpenGL' bit but not so sure about the 'just' bit. I'm not really in the know as I'm no programmer, but the impression I've gathered to date is that Kuju/EA tied themselves to all Microsoft's stuff so thoroughly it would probably result in most of the program being rewritten from scratch. But we're talking about a title developed and released in 2005-07, back then nobody thought the prospect of a closed Windows would be possible, Linux was still only a hobby for nerds and Macs were still using the impressive but somewhat mysterious PowerPC G5 processor built by Motorola.

However, I do think it's high time that development on the current platform be stopped and RS.com release a new program that doesn't have the Kuju legacy tied around its ankle like a ball and chain holding progress back to just a shuffle, because while some games of that vintage have managed to age gracefully it is clear that RS/RW is not one of them. In creating a new platform from scratch the Kuju legacy would be used for just one thing - learning from mistakes, such as a physics model using a mix of Systeme International units, other non-SI metric units and obsolete imperial units instead of SI across the board. A new program from the ground up could use OpenGL from the word go so that it could be simultaneously released on Windows, Mac and Linux versions of Steam, and new export plugins for all the existing modelling tools could allow a decent number of the same original asset files to be recycled for the new program.

'Just' is relative, but trying to get away from what most PC users think in terms of operating system because porting to any other system such as Linux will involve replacing DirectX calls with OpenGL ones and if you're going to do that why not "just" go fully OpenGL? This opens far more possibilities such as the world of handhelds, tablets etc, in other words iOS, Android, plus consoles such as PS3 and Xbox. May seem silly to some, but imagine riding a train and playing a simplified version of RW? Just a route or two and a selection of appropriate stock? Probably no editing tools though.

It will take RSC time though, even if they will make such a move to do it properly, oh the same goes for the audio too as they move towards OpenAl. The sound of kettles at speed is quite infuriating, but Railsim as we know was rushed out by EA/Kuju and we're still paying the price .

[gougha]

Back to win 8 for a mo. I have been using windows 8 for the last couple of months and have to say that once u are used to the metro system, which is basically a full screen start menu with some fancy bits added, the desktop side of it works exactly the same way as win7. I have been using RW and developing my route without any issues. I will be downloading the final pre release version on 20th August but cant see it changing very much from the version im running now.

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[gptech]

However, I do think it's high time that development on the current platform be stopped and RS.com release a new program that doesn't have the Kuju legacy tied around its ankle like a ball and chain holding progress back to just a shuffle, because while some games of that vintage have managed to age gracefully it is clear that RS/RW is not one of them. In creating a new platform from scratch the Kuju legacy would be used for just one thing - learning from mistakes....

Got to agree with that, it's obvious that the Kuju way of thinking has been the cause of many of the reported woes---hence RSC's move to having route folders conatining all the needed assets etc. The original Rail Simulator was rushed out, as has been mentioned, and whilst 'backwards compatibility' can be a good thing it often means 'well, the old stuff still works but to allow that to happen you're still stuck with some of the old problems'