So long...

[styckx]

My time with Train Simulator is over and just wanted to say goodbye.. This may sound petty but it's the truth and not a rage quit..

From the day I quit beta testing for RSC two years ago I was granted all DLC for free as a token for my "time served" in the RSC dungeon.. Yesterday my on the house DLC privilege was revoke and in turn rendering my entire install nearly useless since about two years worth of DRM kicked in since all the on the house DLC I received is now technically not mine as far as Steam is concerned... I'm back to only owning what I paid for back some years ago (still a lot). Terrain won't even render on Test Trak at this point...

So.. I'm deleting my install and leaving permanently.. I'm just so far behind at this point in DLC and with a now botched install.. It's just not worth it to me to start over and I can't afford to even start the catch up process unless I pounce on sales only.. Just everything I knew is now gone and the rebuilding process is just too much to comprehend..

Take care folks! It was fun and don't regret a thing.. I always stayed honest about the product regardless... I'm going to miss the community a lot. It's been a part of my life for some time now.. But.. I just can't afford to rebuild at this point and need to walk away..

Cheers
Bill

And thanks to Derek... He did a lot for me and I'll always appreciate it.

[sundog]

Very sad to see you go styckx. You've done an awful lot for the community and you will be sorely missed

Seems a very strange method of payment? I've never heard of payment being "reclaimed" in that way. Was this made clear when they engaged you as a Beta tester?

Whatever, I wish you well in wherever future hobby you engage your skills in - our loss is someone else's gain

All the very best Styckx, and thank you

Ken

[Stanlow]

I agree with the above, it seems very strange that you could lose your DLC like that. Was it an account that they had access to? I mean, even if they gifted you DLC, if you redeemed it using your account, is it not then tied into that account forever?

[hertsbob]

Au revoir, Bill.

It's been nice knowing you through the ups and downs of the last few years and I hope that whatever you turn your attention to in future gives you pleasure.

I hope we'll still see you around occasionally.

Cheers

Bob

[styckx]

Very sad to see you go styckx. You've done an awful lot for the community and you will be sorely missed
Was this made clear when they engaged you as a Beta tester?

Very much so.. What you paid for you paid for.. What you didn't you didn't, and they were free until they decide they aren't.. Think of it as a loan with the right to revoke at any given time no matter what.

Anyway.. I'm sad about this but.. Eh.. Even Old Yeller got put down eventually.

[msey0002]

A sad day indeed, I always enjoyed (and agreed with most of) your valuable and honest input, Bill

[growler37]

Hi, i will miss your refreshingly honest posts, Styckx,Big Brother is watching,good job i have not got any loanware it would have been pulled years ago!
Take care.
Regards Kev

[ChrisBarnes]

Damn, what a great shame. Must have been quite a nasty shock when you found all the content gone or revoked. I hope we do continue to see you around, Bill, but otherwise take care.

Chris

[jetstream]

Sad news indeed but you seem to be taking it rather too much on the chin imho. Was there any contract, verbal or written, during you time as a beta tester?

[ihavenonamenoreallyidont]

I always wondered how come you always had the latest piece of DLC on Steam, Bill, even when you were taking a hiatus - now I know

Good luck. I sure will miss your posts.

[jimmyshand]

I suppose that's the risk you take when you dance with the devil!

I never even considered applying to join the beta team. I much preferred to remain as a bog standard paying customer and be able to maintain neutrality and freedom of opinion. In a hobby like this that has gone from being almost exclusively freeware and community driven to being an international corporate business with huge sums of money trading hands, there is a massive need for us customers to be able to get honest and critical feedback and reviews of DLC before we spend.

There are not many places left where the politics and influence have not infiltrated either directly or indirectly.

Whenever a new item of DLC gets released, the very first thing I do is scour every single source of independent review possible. In an expensive hobby such as this it is vital to watch every penny spent very carefully indeed. I need to know a full technical breakdown of the details, what issues there are, what shortcuts might have been taken, are the sounds good enough, how does it compare to other benchmark products etc. It's very hard to do and getting increasingly harder as many critical reviewers have been gradually banished from various sites and Facebook is notoriously unreliable due to it being under RSC or other dev control and the posts very short and uninformative.

I think a big shout of thanks should go to the unseen few who post up Youtube videos of products. These are vital in the decision making process and have saved me from making some big mistakes recently when I've been considering buying certain items of DLC that are sub-standard in the sound department in particular.

[ovale]

Very strange behaviour indeed. I have done beta testing for a number of companies, and whilst I expect that if I stop testing any future product I will have to pay, but for past products suddenly invalidating why I already am using seems petty.

[tads1970]

Take care Bill,hope to see you return soon.Alway's enjoyed reading your post's/input,sometimes it's nice to have a break and comeback fresh.
Have you emailed and asked why all the free content has been revoked?,where you aware that content was only time limited?,somehow
I think this might be an error.

A crate of Stella says you'll be back within months. You done well to get free content,I beta tested for 2012 and did not receive anything,
only the beta.Maybe I pushed for more of a simulator,than what we got?

Take care.

Daz

[Stanlow]

As msey said, I enjoyed reading your posts, and most of the time found myself agreeing with your opinions on certain subjects. I haven't been around long, but take care!

[jarmstro]

Bill

Nonsense! I don't know what has happened and I have read your posts on Trainsim.com but please stick around here. What's the big deal? You've had two years free simming? I no longer use any of my US routes and addons and will gladly gift them to you on Steam if you PM me. Sometimes I wish I could go back to square one to stop all the damned SBHH's!!! There are only two payware routes worth having: WCML-M and WLOS. But there are a lot of good freeware routes out there such as LAV Madrid Valencia.

Best Regards
John A