Atomic Systems

Hey guys, i havent actually bought railworks yet, (As I am sailing through the gulf of aiden (Yarrr matey)) it will be some time before I get a good enough internet connection to either download or buy railworks. I have been reading these comments and threads, and am still trying to workout weather to buy it.

So I have a few general questions to ask which have probobly already been asked by other people but im going to ask again anyway!

1. Does railworks REALLY smash all other simulators off the shelves?
2. Is it really that much different to railsim?
3. What are the steam engine effects like (I am a steam enthusiast primarially, so this is the biggest deal for me)
4. Is the high cost justified?
5. Is this just a base to begin a series of updates which we will all have to pay for?

I would like to explain some of these questions a bit better.

(2) from what ive been reading, railworks is just the same as railsim, but with a few little extras. I actually felt bitterly dissapointed when I read that it would only include like 4 new engines and 3 new routes.

(3) Are they any different to railsim? are they any good at all? or do they look cheap and nasty?

(4) Railsims add ons have always had a massive cost for a small product. (I bought the 08 add on and fair doos it was ok, lots of different liveries, but hardly any scenarios!)

(5) If I am honest, thinking about the railsim guys as a company, they need to support themselves as a company by earning money. are they really going to start a product, which they intend to keep putting time and effort into for the next few years, where there is no comercial aspect for its continued funding? they willl be putting lots of time and effort into making updates, to give them out for free. there has to be some catch here. I know I may sound cynical, but Ive worked for some pretty nasty people before and it definitly does happen in business. (YES loans being a VERY VERY good example)

so on the whole, what do the vast majority of railsim guys think out there? is this really going to develop into the rail enthusiasts dream game? or is this simply a ploy to get us to keep purchasing more and more things which are supposedly going to be updated. like I read somewhere before, the boost from railsim to railworks could have been done with a Mark 3 patch to railsim.

I know this post may seem very negative, but as a student (Yes Im a deck officer cadet - Long hours, long studying, naff all pay for it! lol) I cant really afford to spend 40 quid on something I already have. (I know there are promotions on, but I wont be able to buy this until august at the earliest)

So I really want to know if you think its worth buying. I have read so many threads and all of them have mixed feelings, so its hard to judge what is good and what is bad.

Over to you guys.

Rhysicus

PS. If someone makes me a 42xx, 56xx, and Tornado, I will kiss them!

rhysicus1989 wrote:So I really want to know if you think its worth buying. I have read so many threads and all of them have mixed feelings, so its hard to judge what is good and what is bad.

Simple answer, if you don't mind using the d/load Steam version and have the Promo Code so that you can buy it for £17.49, then yes. I have it and use it as a separate Program from RS (which I still have installed because of the myriad updates I've bought over time) - and I will be going back-and-forth between them until I can port my add-ons over.

It isn't, for me worth full-whack. It WILL be when all RS add-ons become compatible as was promised from the beginning...

HTH.

I think your fifth question is most relevant. I have been also wondering how many free updates we get since as known RW owners won't pay for the product again. That is the reason why many commercial games lack of updates after initial release. I hope someone at the RS.com would give us answer on this. Will RS.com addon development be able to make enough profit for programmers too? Now as the RS.com is staffed to proceed with the product is that financially sensible anymore?

Here's my thoughts on your questions:

1. Does railworks REALLY smash all other simulators off the shelves?
As an overall product, I'd say it is presently the best on the market. MSTS isn't "on the shelves" per se any more, yet has by far the most add ons available, BVE still does cab views much better, but is limited in its scope, Trainz I've never personally used, so can't comment directly, but I've never liked its graphics. So I'd say, while others do some things better, RW is probably the best overall product.

2. Is it really that much different to railsim?
Not really. It does some things better (lighting, most notably), other things are just the same and many persistent bugs in RS are still in RW. However, if the marketing spiel is to be believed, Steam will allow those bug to be fixed much more efficiently and promptly. Time will tell on that issue and in my opinion, if we don't see an update fixing some of the more glaring issues (the greyed out advanced options button for example) withing a very short time (say a couple of weeks) then we'll know where we really stand on that issue.

3. What are the steam engine effects like (I am a steam enthusiast primarially, so this is the biggest deal for me)
Yes, they are different to RS. You now get puffs of steam synchronised with the sounds which actually helps the realism for me a great deal. On the other hand, steam / smoke from stationary engines now looks horrible (it ends up in a big ball rather than dissipating). That said, we've already been told that this is the first step so I'm prepared to believe a much more flexible mechanism is now in place and that this will improve. On balance, I'd say they are better than in RS, but there's room for further improvement.

4. Is the high cost justified?
It all depends what you consider high cost I suppose. If you qualify for the half price upgrade, in my opinion, yes, it's worth it. At full price, it's a tougher call. Being cynical, if you want other new addons for this simulator, it's worth it as you may not see RS addons being released (free or payware) for much longer.

5. Is this just a base to begin a series of updates which we will all have to pay for?
Good question. I hope it's the base for many updates and I'd like to think there will be a balance of free and paid for add ons, but bug fixes and feature updates to the base program should in my opinion be free. As for what is really in store for us, we have no idea, and given RSDL's history of marketing (or lack of) we won't know until it hits us. One thing I'd really like to see is far more scenarios being released both by RSDL and 3rd parties. The biggest dissapointment for me was that I was hoping for many more scenarios for the supplied routes (new and old), not just the handful we had before. That and the fact that several of those that are supplied are also faulty, so "out of the box" fun is still very limited and scenarios seem to remain RS/RW's achilles heal...

Paul

I keep reading back over the News items on the RS website and the do seem to suggest improvements are coming. I was hoping however that we would see some considerable differences in the driving experience of RW.

What i want to feel is like i am actually driving a train e.g. what you feel when the train is in motion. As we mostly view the train inside of the cab thats where we need to feel the driving experience.

If I play the old Grand Prix 4 ... which i have been recently it has wonderful physics. You can feel the car when its heavy, when its brakeing, when is got a flat tyre, when its hits kerbs at high speed, the car bounces around at high speeds. But we do not seem to see much or any evidence of this in RS/RW.

I certinaly hope that we get this sorted now that steam is in control of everything.

Simon

The cost issue should be weighed up in considering what you are getting for your £30 odd quid! 2 new routes say seperately costing £15 each? three new loco's 37 and V200 and F7 say conservatively £10 each? Plus revamped routes from the original, better and smoother gameplay, basically you would spend more than £30 in a restaurant for one nights entertainment, but with this it lasts, so it's really down to what you percieve as value?

Mart

smarty2 wrote:...better and smoother gameplay...

just to say that, from what I've read here and in my own experience, this is rather user-specific.

My system gives no performance boost when running RW than it does running RS.

RichyV wrote:

smarty2 wrote:...better and smoother gameplay...

just to say that, from what I've read here and in my own experience, this is rather user-specific.

My system gives no performance boost when running RW than it does running RS.

I have noticed a big improvement from RS as that used to run like a dredger with a broken engine! But Rw runs niiiiice

Mart

smarty2 wrote:I have noticed a big improvement from RS as that used to run like a dredger with a broken engine! But Rw runs niiiiice

...and of course, that's a good thing. If RW has enhancements that means more people can play it then that's a growing community which is good news all-round. But a bit strange if you think about it, as eventhough they've obviously been able to tweak the in-game 3D-engine I can't see how it could have changed THAT much.

RichyV wrote:

smarty2 wrote:I have noticed a big improvement from RS as that used to run like a dredger with a broken engine! But Rw runs niiiiice

...and of course, that's a good thing. If RW has enhancements that means more people can play it then that's a growing community which is good news all-round. But a bit strange if you think about it, as eventhough they've obviously been able to tweak the in-game 3D-engine I can't see how it could have changed THAT much.

My framerates have doubled, but saying that though RS did improve after service pack 2 for vista 64 was installed, but that aside RW's seems alot more stable on my setup than RS was, i still get the railworksproc error on exit though, but that is DEP causing that!

Mart

I just checked that RailWorks is seventh on the top sellers list of the steam. I hope this will mean more freedom for RS.com in future. Its nice to see any train simulator in top sellers list as it doesn't happen so often. Being in the group with counter strike and call of duty tells that sales must be going very well

SaMa1 wrote:I just checked that RailWorks is seventh on the top sellers list of the steam. I hope this will mean more freedom for RS.com in future. Its nice to see any train simulator in top sellers list as it doesn't happen so often.

Cool

Mart

SaMa1 wrote:I just checked that RailWorks is seventh on the top sellers list of the steam. I hope this will mean more freedom for RS.com in future. Its nice to see any train simulator in top sellers list as it doesn't happen so often. Being in the group with counter strike and call of duty tells that sales must be going very well

The longer it stays up there the better. It might just be a sudden rush of us nutters!

To the op: RailSim/Works is very much what you as an individual want out of a Sim as no one person necessarily wants the same. I have my own opinions about it, but what i will say is: Can you honestly say that there is another sim out there that will give you this:

(Pic nicked from Darpor on my site)

That to me could be a real photo.

Basherz wrote:To the op: RailSim/Works is very much what you as an individual want out of a Sim as no one person necessarily wants the same. I have my own opinions about it, but what i will say is: Can you honestly say that there is another sim out there that will give you this:

(Pic nicked from Darpor on my site)

That to me could be a real photo.

no it couldn't - the sleepers and ballast aren't 3D.