Why Do Routes need other routes

[michaelhendle]

Hi
Can some please tell me why so many suposebly free ware routes seem to rely on a number of payware routes for them to work? so far It seems you have to spend at least £26.00 minimum,and quite a few seem to need about £52,00 spent on payware routes, then umpteen pounds for stock,It ends up by the time you have bought all the extras it looks like the supposedly free ware route could cost you near on £80 -100.00.

At least with good old MSTS a route in most cases only needs the base routes,and mostly free ware extra's,even loco's that are aliased to payware loco's there are cabs and sounds in the libery to replace them.

I have just bought Raiworks 2 mainly because it was substantionaly reduced but now I'm begining to think it is money down the drain,I was looking forward to running Railworks after reading it was so much better than MSTS,but as said you need a very deep pocket,I was also hoping tere would be some comunity DVD's but looks like there are none.

This is not a knock at Railworks it is a genuine question.

Mike

[FrankJ]

Because they use assets from the payware routes which are not available elsewhere

Frank

[NeutronIC]

Michael,

Why not start with the Route Building Challenge routes:

http://www.uktrainsim.com/rbchallenge/one.php
http://www.uktrainsim.com/rbchallenge/two.php

(challenge #3 is about to get underway if it hasn't already).

There are a number of great routes there that do NOT require ANY other items to be installed at all.

Unfortunately it's a fact of RailWorks life now that many items of freeware make use of items in the payware world and therefore you will either need to buy the commonly used ones OR you will need to stay away from those that require them. The thing to do is work out which are the key add-ons that help you get what you want and then wait for the discount periods on Steam - then pick them up for a steal. E.g. thanksgiving is coming up over in the US and there's usually some great discounts to be had on Steam then, similarly at christmas. One of the key add-ons that many freeware routes use, for example, is Isle of Wight, this is for some of the additional infrastructure items, the 3D trackwork, and extra scenery.

It's unlikely that there will be community dvd's for RailWorks for a number of reasons, the dependency of most routes on commercial assets is certainly a major factor that limits the selection but then even if you get something in the frame the big problem is that you can't auto-install an RWP, so either the installer has to be non-standard (which these days i'm tending to favour) OR it has to require the user to install themselves, which isn't really the aim of the CD's.

To be honest, it's so easy to download and install with RailWorks that it's less of an issue to have the DVD's, plus since RailWorks is inherently an online product most of its users have acces to downloads; which wasn't always the case with MSTS.

I'm not ruling out DVD's and if an opportunity arises i'll jump to it, but I am just being realistic

Matt.

[stephenholmes]

Good morning
I think the Route Building Challenge is going to be just that in light of recent events
Good luck
Kind regards Stephen

[davejc64]

Perhaps they should introduce a train driving challenge, the challenge being to arrive at your destination with the same amount of passenger coaches that you started out with!

[jp4712]

Michael asked a reasonable question and got a reasonable answer, there is no need to follow up with gratuitous sniping even if it is meant with tongue in cheek.

Paul

[chrisiveson]

Well it gave me the first laugh of the day.

[msey0002]

Indeed, Chris .

Shame they seem to be few and far between these days.

[ihavenonamenoreallyidont]

Aww, come on, Paul. It was a genuinely funny, tongue in cheek, slightly irreverent quip. Surely we can afford a quick chuckle?

[jp4712]

Some people are having issues, for sure, and everyone is free to voice their opinion. But there's no need to bring down EVERY topic with a whinge that really doesn't help anyone or move things forward. If you want to do that, there's a great forum in another country that's perfect for that very thing...

Paul

[EDIT] Lest anyone think I have had a sense-of-humour bypass, please don't get me wrong: no one is in trouble or will be burned at the stake, I'm just a bit fed up with the general negativity around here today and it would be great if everybody - just for today - made a point of actively and constructively helping ONE other user.

[davejc64]

If I had been having a "whinge" I would not have put the , that was put to signify I was joking. I hope that clears things up.

[MisterWho]

Mike,
some of the best routes available for Railworks are freeware. Here are four of my favourites, in no particular order of preference -

Altenburg to Wildau

http://rail-sim.de/railsimnew/index.php ... urg-wildau

Northern Europe A

http://rail-sim.de/railsimnew/index.php ... n-europe-a

Albula

http://rail-sim.de/railsimnew/index.php ... 580-albula

Dublin to Cork version 2

Dublin to Cork Version 2 [103693712 bytes] - Dublin_Cork_v2_RW.zip File ID: 23329 Date: 01 Mar 2010 - 1070 Downloads

It's true that in some cases, you need to download quite a few more files to provide all the bells and whistles for these, but all those extra files are also free.

Incidentally, Brendan has also released version 3 of Dublin to Cork. That does need one payware item which is the Isle of Wight route. Yes, that is payware, but once you've bought that in the Steam / RS.com Christmas sale, it's the only payware item needed for quite a lot of otherwise freeware routes. And yes, Brendan does say you need the Class 66, but that can always be swapped out using RW-Tools until such time as you feel like buying it.

And Erich has also released Northern Europe B, which is an expanded version of Northern Europe A ...

Hope that actually helps ...

[michaelhendle]

Hi Thanks

Once again thank you for all your help and advice,and thank you Matt for the two links you gave,I will have a look at them as soon as my copy of Railworks 2 arrives.

So far there are at least two payware routes that look interesting to me Falmouth Branch,Bristol Exeter,and thanks for the explanation about assets from routes being used for other routes.

It just seemed a lot to pay out when you are on a limited budget,as I said that £52.00 is more than a months grocery shopping to me,or 2 weeks shopping and half a tank of diesel for the car.

Mike

[briyeo1950]

So far Mike you are on winner, you have the sim at reduced price with a great deal of content. Next step is to make the most of the free routes and rolling stock, there are plenty, have fun finding them out or just ask. After that, as its already been mentioned, the Steam sales will come around and if you are patient and a bit lucky sometimes, you can get DLC 75% off. Im afraid this sim will always be more expensive than MSTS.

[Darpor]

I agree with Brian, if finances are tight, just take advantage of what you can for now, there is no shortage of content out there for you to enjoy. Sales do happen and then you can slowly build up your collection, believe me, some of the routes that do require payware dependencies are more than worth the wait.

I see Bristol to Exeter interests you, must be a man of good taste.