TS Mulitplayer- A healthy discussion

[shawster]

Good day everyone,
Now I realise there are practically two ends to the spectrum on this topic and often it's heavily divided. Multiplayer is something that divides this community and often for the worst. I thought however that a little HEALTHY discussion would be useful. First however hear me out.

If TS was to have multiplayer, I would be opposed to huge open sessions which would attract the attention of, well lets say... unwanted guests. A real break through in mulitplayer would be small lobbies, where friends could either run their own services on ready made routes or perhaps even create new routes to their design. Running Galas and such like.
I think this would be rather neat. Creating routes with friends or even getting to know new people and just having some fun really.

Now i'm a realist and realise this type of this is difficult to set up and even harder to code everything, TS already has enough problems as it is. Not to mention all of the asset problems. However I think that this sort of approach to multiplayer would really be welcome by many and may open new doors into friendships in the community.

As always it's nice to hear your opinions as you've listened to mine. Take care, S.

[Wilburton]

I think Multiplayer is a great idea, although it is unlikely to appear in the current generation of DTG Train Simulator. It might feature in their next generation UE4 sim.
I don't recall if they've made an announcement to that effect.

I agree the "small lobbies" idea is the way to do it.
Otherwise You'd be asking trouble by hosting open sessions. That would be like inviting the local yobbery hanging outside the community centre to come in and play with the club railway layout.

Kevin

A real break through in mulitplayer would be small lobbies, where friends could either run their own services on ready made routes or perhaps even create new routes to their design. Running Galas and such like.
I think this would be rather neat. Creating routes with friends or even getting to know new people and just having some fun really.

Now i'm a realist and realise this type of this is difficult to set up and even harder to code everything, TS already has enough problems as it is. Not to mention all of the asset problems. However I think that this sort of approach to multiplayer would really be welcome by many and may open new doors into friendships in the community.

As always it's nice to hear your opinions as you've listened to mine. Take care, S.

[pjt1974]

Multiplayer has it's place firmly in gaming and with the evolution of Broadband and ever faster internet connections, it has become the stable rather than the exception. Multiplayer seems to be the by word on the lips of most games players. It's as if without multiplayer, a game or sim is classed as second rate.

I'm not including Shawster in this as it's obvious he has thought this through properly, but many automatically cry for multiplayer before thinking it through and realising what it means and what little difference it would make to a sim that by it's very nature is very linear. You drive a train from A to D stopping at B and C on the way, nobody can do that at the same time, with the exception of services going in the opposite direction, you are always going to be separated, you may aswell not be on multiplayer. Even players going in the opposite direction, what difference would that make whether it was ai or human? Just so they toot their horn at you?

I've thought long and hard about Multiplayer for TS and however much excitement and hype it would initially cause if it was implemented into the sim, the novelty would soon die off.

If I'm personally honest again, I would much prefer Dovetail Games concentrated all their effort in producing the most realistic train simulator they can without diverting their efforts into implementing a system which I believe would only cater for a very small percentage of users. It might be a selling point to many, but in reality, they may aswell simulate you running the Costa Coffee at Paddington, for all good it would do.

[ChrisBarnes]

Even players going in the opposite direction, what difference would that make whether it was ai or human? Just so they toot their horn at you?

Sounds good to me.

I have both feet planted firmly in the "pro" multiplayer camp, if it is executed well. For me, the ideal set up would be sandbox gameplay, where the players are responsible for making their own fun and games in a session, rather than lobbies with specific missions or goals or points to score - not every multiplayer game needs to be Call of Duty in closed arenas with hard rules. Something more along the lines of the Just Cause 2 multiplayer mod would be preferable to me, although hopefully without all of the chaotic shenanigans!

When I was a "route detailer" for the TPR project, I practically made all of my railway friends through being part of that team, rather than by chance meeting at some heritage railway, so there is a definite social element to train sims. I don't think the current generation engine would cope with multiplayer, considering it's already under alot of strain, but maybe something to hope for in the Unreal engine? I'm with Phil that the priority should be an excellent simulation with a focus on realism, but I hope that multiplayer will be attempted at some point.

Kind regards,
Chris

[almark]

I'd love a multiplayer TS so that I could run preserved lines etc with friends,I don't think big servers open to the public would ever work,you'd get too many trolls and idiots,but it'd be nice to be able to do "private" servers I think,at the very least.

[bigmull]

I am trying hard to see just how and what could be implemented into TS 2016 for MP.The vast array of different Rolling stock that "players" own would be a challenge for a start.Do you have a Driver and a Fireman on each Footplate(that would be fun)?How would the Routes be implemented?Would we have to own the said route(thereby lies another issue)to take part?Its a difficult platform to implement MP i think.

[davep]

Firstly, and rather obviously, there would have to be a common route. If there was
enough interest, there could be more than one route, of course.

I think the main hurdle to get over for a MP game, would be that the signalling would
have to be 'manual' i.e. get rid of the built-in dispatcher, and have in its place one player
controlling the signalling - along the lines of Sim-Sig perhaps?

The timetable would have to be a full - or nearly full - recreation of the real thing,
with players being allotted a train to drive, automatically or manually. Any train not
allocated would be AI driven. As mentioned up-thread, each driver would be on his own,
as is the nature of being a train driver in reality.

[shawster]

Hello again chaps.

Firstly it's good to see a HEALTHY debate for a change, not just people shouting their views. Firstly i'd like to reiterate that if there ever was to be a multiplayer type aspect, I wholeheartedly agree with Chris that a sandbox type session would be the way forward. People could then run their own locomotives at their own leisure. While I certainly think DTG need to sort the single-player problems out first, I think a well done multiplayer option would be great. It is then there for people to choose whether they want to use it or not. If someone just wants to play out scenarios on their own then that's fine. If however a group of people would like to drive on a route or build a route together, that option is also there.


Once again thanks for keeping the discussion sensible chaps, Take Care, S.

[chocorua]

I think this multiplayer could be implemented immediately. If you hate Career Scenarios, stop reading.
This is a Career Scenario League (8 week season). Meets every Friday evening. A TeamSpeak channel is available. At 21:00, a 60 minute scenario is loaded to workshop. At 22:15, scoring closes. Scores are recorded and standings posted. A champion is crowned after week 8.

[gptech]

DTG's fishing simulator has Multi player mode. That game is based on the Unreal engine, so............
I'll let you do the sums yourself, but valid answers lie between 3 and 6.
Pure speculation of course, and whilst multi player doesn't particularly appeal to me it'd be a huge bonus for many.

[pjt1974]

.
Pure speculation of course,

[gptech]

More speculation......

How this would be implemented has been mentioned, along with the possible pitfalls of all players needing the same revision of the same route and the same stock etc. Perhaps to start with we'd see a much smaller server side route/stock implementation of a route. Not as 'grand' a scale as the 'go anywhere you like' freedom of movement we have in our local copies, but does open up some interesting multi-player activities.
It wasn't a particularly busy night at work, so I had time to give the old crystal ball a polish and have a peek.....
Thinking about what routes are available, focusing on the smaller routes that could (theoretically/speculatively) be used as server side 'game board' but give a full(ish) range of railway jobs, but tied to a common theme rather than random---how about a server side version of a preserved/heritage line? (West Somerset for example, as we already have this)
That sets the scene nicely enough, short route but a valid reason for a lot of stock from different time periods---steam day, diesel gala, 40s/50s weekends etc with the object being collaborative play to re-create a days activities. Despite not being a fan of the multi player idea even I could enjoy that; a stint as a driver, then into the signal box/despatch, then a pint of real (real real, not virtual real ) ale and a sandwich for dinner, then back to the trains

Something reasonably self contained like that would allow the system room to *grow* and develop, and hopefully expand then into the bigger routes eventually leaving the server side only platform to allow a little more freedom.

Possibly a load of gibberish, possibly miles off target, but also possibly the most workable option to start with at least.

[shawster]

Yes I see where you're coming from there. If DTG started with one route (like the Somerset and Dorset) people could join FREE sessions and just enjoy a gala type environment. While the premise of creating your own route and then driving on it with others sounds like a grand idea, starting a little simpler might be the answer if they ever go down this route.

[TransportSteve]

A few years ago DTG stated that Multiplayer wasn't on the cards, however, now that they have teamed up with Microsoft and XBox, which is Multiplayer mad, then I can see it happening in the future, but, you're going to have 2 inherent problems.
1) Servers, who will provide them all for each Continent, how much will they cost, will they be secure and work 24 hours a day, we have folks from around the world playing this game. This has been a bone of contention for many other games played online over recent years, how will DTG respond?
2) As you said in the OP ''I would be opposed to huge open sessions which would attract the attention of, well lets say... unwanted guests'', therein lies the moderation issue that needs to be addressed before anyone even thinks about a Multiplayer version, who will run it and who will get the job of booting the troublemakers out, hmmm, actually I wouldn't mind that job myself, but, then, we'd possibly be left with only 1 person playing, so, maybe not...
I'm sure DTG have this Multiplayer request on their radar, it's up to them to accept it into a new version, or, keep it up their sleeve until they see how well received the XBox gaming version is and if it's financially viable for them to implement in the future, we'll wait and see.

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[tjm20000]

I feel like this is a good idea especially the idea of small lobbies with friends and maybe friends of friends that have the game. However I think I have an idea for the not having the same assets (especially locomotives and rolling stock is where I see problems coming in) is if I have say the Castle class from what is it DTG but my friend doesn't but has lets say the Stanier Jubilee class from i believe it's RSC but I'm not entirely sure, then if I place my Castle class then they wouldn't be able to see it however, it could place the closest thing they have to the Castle class which in this example scenario would be a Single Chimney Jubilee I suppose, or let's say I have the E7 (if i could get it to work because I actually do have it but it won't work for some strange reason) from Dicky Jim (no that's not sexual that's some guys actual name and he makes different things for Train Simulator), and they have the F7 (which is basically the E7 but with a slightly higher power output and top speed I think, oh and 2 lights instead of 1) from Kuju, then if I were to (somehow) place the E7 then they wouldn't be able to see it however they have the F7 so it would place that instead. Do you see what I'm getting at if not, what I'm getting at is placing similar assets to counteract the fact that not everyone has the same assets.

Kind Regards, Trevor

P.S did you notice I used British steam locomotives in the first example and (rather old at this point) American diesel multiple units in the 2nd example.