What I love about Railworks is........

[jimmyshand]

After all the gloom and doom lately, let's brighten up this approaching winter with a thread about what we love about Railworks!!

Despite all the bugs/drawbacks/limitations etc it's obviously a great hobby that has all of us ensnared, so come on, let's share the good stuff.

I'll start the ball rolling;

I love the fact you can move the power handle on and off and the engine sounds respond accordingly, quickly. i.e. you can thrash the power big time!! One of my biggest pet-hates of MSTS was that the engine sounds were about 30 seconds behind the throttle changes! You could apply full throttle, go back to off, then apply half throttle and back to off but the sounds would still be ramping up to full from the first move! It always felt strange to be trundling along at idle but with the engine still spooling up to full revs.
The RW method works especially well on the 47/37 with Armstrong sounds when pulling away you can power on and power off repeatedly and get the initial bark /tweet repeatedly just as you would in the real thing.

[jimmyshand]

I also love the 360 degree 'panable' cabs. For me the cabs are the best bit about RW and are what made me immediately uninstall all my other trainsims the moment I first stepped foot in the marvelous FGW HST cab!!

RW cabs send the immersion factor through the roof and despite all the other simulation shortcomings, the cab environment totally makes up for it and firmly stamps 'SIMULATOR' all over this product.

[jimmyshand]

Key '8' marvelous!

[emrhd01]

One thing I especially like is the way you can look at and move around the 2D map of the Route, which is available at anytime and not just when Editing.

[RSderek]

I like seeing how creative folks get using the tools.
keep it up.

regards

Derek

[Slammer423]

I love the Tools provided for route building & Scenario creation, Just can't help myself with the UKpro Signals and Dereks building assets pack no.1

[karma99]

Fantastic graphics, and nice high poly counts for modelling

3D cabs add a fantastic element of immersion

Sneaky stuff like lua scrips and clever use of dynamic numbering - Dave's 86 is an excellent example of what can be done with scripting, and quite a few locos now have an amazing selection of head/shed codes and name plates through the use of some clever application of an existing feature

I think to add to the above point, the excellent flexibility of the whole blueprint, scripting, particle systems.. so much is achievable with some thinking outside the box.
That's really my favourite part of the RW community/dev team, is when someone comes up with something new using things that are already there by being creative and we all go "Cooooooool!" - be that "hardcore" loco controls, animated crossings, dynamic smoke effects, head codes/name plates, laying 3 or 4 scenery items in a way to make something totally different or in a way that they represent something where you'd never guess what the component parts were.

Creativity sums it up for me I think

[styckx]

Replay value. I've logged 1647hrs of play time. I barely break 50hrs in most games before it's lost in the pile of junk I forget about and only play when I'm having a "Ohh, I remember that game" moment and replay some of it again before remembering what the rest is like and stop playing again.

[msdejesus]

The most important factor for me is the huge potential it has, proven fact by the awesome things designed by such talented people as Dave Brindley, to mention just one

Regards


Manuel

[Tankski]

I'll probably be disputed for it, but in one word it's:

Everything

Now time to get back to the DVT .

[transadelaide]

The openness of the RS.com team to take on good ideas that folks like Dave B have had is pretty good. It would suck if they were limited to what they know currently.

The inclusion of the Port Road was a pretty significant step forward as well, releasing such a great work of art to all the users who don't keep up with things on this one website. Hopefully some other high-standard freeware routes may get added like that soon, Alternberg-Wildau would be number one on that list!

[sundog]

For me (and even though it seems from some folks' attitudes it's a bit like wading through mud), it's the fact that RW is still progressing - and not just with 3rd party products, but with the developers themselves.Through thick and thin RS are still hanging on in there and seem determined to keep a positive attitude, as shown by the string of patches and add-ons.

Of course the cynics will probably say something about it just being a money-making machine, but at the end of the day I get an immense amount of pleasure from this sim, so there you go. It's great to be wondering what's coming up next, especially as each add-on seems a step forward from the previous.

Derek says "the future's bright" - so you'd better wear shades!

The thing I love the most? The immersion factor!

[phat2003uk]

Has been mentioned already but the '8' key really was great to have after MSTS. The freedom of being able to see a train approach from a distance really gives a better suspension of reality. I seem to remember MSTS made you change view when using '4' even before the whole train had gone past!

[67016]

Is... the way we have been allowed to edit the routes, trains and scenary to our hearts content!

[stephenholmes]

Hello Everyone
Hopefully following the next update receiving a message SWHH Something Wonderful Has Happened
I like the editor both in RS and RW
Kind regards Stephen