Railworks Activities and their stock.

[Rafair7643]

Hi,

I have recently ugraded to Railworks 2 and was looking forward to downloading many activities from this site.

Having also purchased a couple of add-on routes, I reckoned that there would be numerous available to me.

I am somewhat surprised at the amount of activities/scenarios which call for the inclusion of further "payware" items (stock/routes etc).

I fully understand that payware items do enhance gameplay and overall look, but I wonder if creators/developers are becoming rather too reliant on that particular genre.

If you have a youngster starting out on an interest in this subject, do we really want to be putting that fella off, because he - or more likely his parents need to shell out around £100 just to get an activity to function?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating an end to such activities, but I would like developers/creators to at least consider the use of an "alternate default stock" activity.

Thanks

[FoggyMorning]

Hi

There is currently a Scenario Challenge in progress with the express objective of only using default stock or items from the UKTS Freeware Packs

More info here http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewforum.php?f=341

Steve

[gptech]

RW Tools is your friend!! ( http://www.rstools.info/rw_tools.html )
You can easily swap out stock you don't have with stock that you do, it's not free but the small donation Mike asks for won't buy you a pint in your local!

Perhaps info about RW Tools should be included in each downloads description?

[Darpor]

There are numerous default activities in the library, but I appreciate they can be hard to locate.

In terms of scenarios using payware stock, its something we discuss regularly to be honest. The basic crux of the situation is that primarily these scenarios are free, in that the user creates them for no charge. Whether the user uses payware is irrelevant, if they choose to share them it is a bonus to the community, much of this content is primarily for personal use then released.

I completely understand how intimidating it can be for a new user, ideally the new user would come into Railworks and share their own creations, utlilising only what they have from start up. But at the same time, I can appreciate that a new user might struggle to immediately take a grip of the tools involved.

It's swings and roundabouts I guess, we will struggle to find a happy medium here.

[donny]

Part of the problem with what you are asking here is that most freeware scenario writers write scenarios first and foremost for their own use and enjoyment. As many of us have built up large collections of payware its only natural we wish to use it in scenario writing. Its also not always quite as simple as making a "default" version of a scenario as different stock has different characteristics and would almost be like creating a new scenario which ultimately may hold little interest to the author.

Whilst I realise they have a lot on their plate, I've always been very surprised that RS itself hasn't introduced further default scenario packs specifically for new users to try to hold the interest, perhaps an email in their direction wouldn't go amiss. In the menatime as Foggy has said the great scenario challenge should bring a wealth of completely default scenarios our way very soon

[RudolfJan]

Part of the problem with what you are asking here is that most freeware scenario writers write scenarios first and foremost for their own use and enjoyment. As many of us have built up large collections of payware its only natural we wish to use it in scenario writing. Its also not always quite as simple as making a "default" version of a scenario as different stock has different characteristics and would almost be like creating a new scenario which ultimately may hold little interest to the author.

Whilst I realise they have a lot on their plate, I've always been very surprised that RS itself hasn't introduced further default scenario packs specifically for new users to try to hold the interest, perhaps an email in their direction wouldn't go amiss. In the meantime as Foggy has said the great scenario challenge should bring a wealth of completely default scenarios our way very soon

I have published a number of scenarios at UKTS that require only small amounts of payware, though you will need some for most scenarios. Some use freeware only.

[Rafair7643]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As has been pointed out RW Tools does allow the swapping of stock etc, I was aiming my post towards the newbie user, who meay be a tad daunted (put off) by the amount of payware that some scenarios require.

[route64x]

Good points in this thread. Yes, as ever it is a balance.

I think the bigger problem comes when the dependant payware (e.g. a route or in some cases more than one) is not one that I would normally have an interest in for itself - eg. For me the IOW does not attract me at all, BUT it and WCML are seemingly becoming almost 'default payware'. That is not a criticism, just a preference.

I really do appreciate the creators are trying to get the best result by utilising the most appropriate assets, or some key characteristic / function of the paywar route, plus bringing some variety without the need to duplicate the development of similar assets - which would indeed be crazy.

Yes RWTools provides some relief in this respect, and an excellent job it does too. But if the freeware route itself has the requirement for payware the dependency costs are a very important factor.

Personlly, I try to capitalise on the various 'deals' that appear from time to time in the payware arena, and live in hope that they provide me with the means to grow my collection of routes and activities.

The future however is bright - The UKTS Freeware packs bring a much expanded collection of assets, which with the competition as a focus will, I am sure, see much more variety in future developments.

Keep the faith

John

[smarty2]

There are numerous default activities in the library, but I appreciate they can be hard to locate.

In terms of scenarios using payware stock, its something we discuss regularly to be honest. The basic crux of the situation is that primarily these scenarios are free, in that the user creates them for no charge. Whether the user uses payware is irrelevant, if they choose to share them it is a bonus to the community, much of this content is primarily for personal use then released.

I completely understand how intimidating it can be for a new user, ideally the new user would come into Railworks and share their own creations, utlilising only what they have from start up. But at the same time, I can appreciate that a new user might struggle to immediately take a grip of the tools involved.

It's swings and roundabouts I guess, we will struggle to find a happy medium here.

What that man says.