NWE2 Activity Feedback

simont · Post by **simont** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:10 pm

What do people think of the activities on the NWE2 CD? Any feedback?

Lad491 · Post by **Lad491** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:25 pm

I only had a chance to try out one at the Horsham exhibition. Forget which one it was - sorry - but it was a return trip taking wagons to the docks (i think) then running light to pick up a load of empties to take back.

It was a good activity with a reasonable amount of ai traffic to see and some shunting stock. Not too difficult but entertaining.

terrycunliffe · Post by **terrycunliffe** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:33 pm

Super...., Smashin'...., Terrific.....
Terry (biased!)

117305 · Post by **117305** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:59 pm

havent got mine yet but i was wondering as theres a "304" unit in the game i belive does it have an activity????? or is it ai traffic only thanks

kreader · Post by **kreader** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:56 am

Had the CD for 10 days and so far have completed 5 of the activities. No complaints so far. Plenty of A1 traffic and variety. Would like to see some activities based upon latest stock but I am sure that these will appear as time goes on. As usual I am having great difficulties on meeting the timetales. Are these realistic or is it just me that does not give it enough "Welly"?
Came across what looked like a bit of a bug last night on the Auto activity Hailwood to Preston Docks. Semaphore signals home and "back un" (Distant) "Off" but then next Home signal was "On" which threw me somwhat. Managed to stop OK but not without a panic.
I am hoping that someone will update the V1 activities as I live near Euxton Balshaw Lane station I am keen to do the Morecambe to Liverpool Lime Street. I would try the updates but I have no knowledge of writing Activities. Thanks to all the people who do write the activities.
No the CD is excellent and Thanks to everybody who has been involved in it's production

simont · Post by **simont** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 4:33 pm

The 304 (I think there's more than one), is used as an AI train, but I did create an activity for NWE 1 which used the 304. I may update it for V2 when I get round to it; I may not need to.

WCML Slow [27635 bytes] - WCML_Slow.zip
File ID: 7564 Date: 05 Sep 2005 - 1383 Downloads

jbilton · Post by **jbilton** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 6:13 pm

kreader wrote: Would like to see some activities based upon latest stock but I am sure that these will appear as time goes on. Thanks to all the people who do write the activities.

Although I haven't been able to try any of the activities...(cant get the blasted CD to work)....I'd have to agree with the above comment....some of the included stock is a bit dated.

Nice route though.

jp4712 · Post by **jp4712** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:10 pm

As one of the activity writers, I take the point about some of the stock being dated. However there wasn't the time to commission new stock (people were pretty eager to get their hands on it) as it would have extended build time not by weeks but by months.

Also, much of the prototypical stock (eg Pacer) was covered some time ago, and we are now at the stage where it's getting quite hard to build a stock item that hasn't been done before. I know that's a slightly sweeping generalisation, but hopefully you get my drift.

Also, to an extent if you're interested in the railways of the north west in the period Marc, Simon and I covered, there's a good chance that you will have made sure that you have already downloaded stock that is prototypical for the area.

NWE v2 was never intended to be a 'package' CD - as a freeware route, Terry kindly invited some people to write activities to 'kick-start' people's imagination and ability to enjoy the route. Personally I'm looking forward very much to sampling uploaded activities from people who have loaded the route and whose running of the included activities and stock have spurred them on to producing their own work.

We already have an activity uploaded by a first time activity writer - I forget the guy's name, Cunliffe was it (ahem)?

Personally I shall, as time permits in between re-skinning buses for the car spawner, be revisiting my v1 activities and re-uploading them.

Lastly (sorry for long post) if anyone has a go at the Garston - Fleetwood steam coal, I'd be interested to hear what speed you dropped to on the bank. MSTS was feeling very skittish in testing and results varied widely from '6 mph and sweating' to 'had to throttle back to stay within the speed limit'. There was a great deal of adding and deleting wagons from the consist to get something that was consistently challenging but posssible. Any feedback on this one?

Cheers

Paul

terrycunliffe · Post by **terrycunliffe** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 3:27 pm

jbilton wrote:
kreader wrote: Would like to see some activities based upon latest stock but I am sure that these will appear as time goes on. Thanks to all the people who do write the activities.
Although I haven't been able to try any of the activities...(cant get the blasted CD to work)....I'd have to agree with the above comment....some of the included stock is a bit dated.
Nice route though.

Dated? Well, ahem, there is a Pendolino in there!

Terry

FuNky2k · Post by **FuNky2k** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:49 pm

Re-writing my Thunderbird activities for V2, hopefully out soon.

jbilton · Post by **jbilton** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:53 am

terrycunliffe wrote: Dated? Well, ahem, there is a Pendolino in there!
Terry

Yeah..........

On a slightly related subject...I read somewhere about the Chester club trains running again...top and tailed by class31s...just wondered if the latest issued Regional 31s would be suitable for this....and if so what coaches ?...how many etc....and in the real world do these operate as push pulls...or do they have 2 seperate crews?
Thanks
Jon

kreader · Post by **kreader** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 2:33 pm

I had a very disturbing experience last night I saw some flying trains.
I was on the Auto Transport activity from Hailwood to Preston Docks and I was just approaching Farrington Curved Junction on the down line when I saw a DMU coming up the ramp on my left. There was no bridge so the DMU launched into space as I drove under it. I was so surprised and so was my computer as it immediately reported a Fatal Error and closed MSTS down.
This junction is where the East Lancashire Line goes off to Colne and this explained the train. I had seen a couple of yellows just before this incident which would be explained by the Colne train crossing my line.

I later set out with the Southport to Blackpool Bank holiday special and much to my amusement just before Wigan Wallgate I saw a mainline electric sailing through mid-air again as it approached Wigan North Western.

I think the most interesting outcome of both these events was that the Activity Writers could have been so detailed as to have programmed these trains on lines separate to the one on which I was running.

simont · Post by **simont** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:43 pm

On a slightly related subject...I read somewhere about the Chester club trains running again...top and tailed by class31s...just wondered if the latest issued Regional 31s would be suitable for this....and if so what coaches ?...how many etc....and in the real world do these operate as push pulls...or do they have 2 seperate crews?

I'm not sure quite what livery the locos on the Chester trains are, but they don't tend to run these top-and-tailed trains push-pull, or with extra crews... as far as I know the rear loco is just dead weight.

terrycunliffe · Post by **terrycunliffe** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:56 pm

kreader wrote:I had a very disturbing experience last night I saw some flying trains.
I was on the Auto Transport activity from Hailwood to Preston Docks and I was just approaching Farrington Curved Junction on the down line when I saw a DMU coming up the ramp on my left. There was no bridge so the DMU launched into space as I drove under it. I was so surprised and so was my computer as it immediately reported a Fatal Error and closed MSTS down.
This junction is where the East Lancashire Line goes off to Colne and this explained the train. I had seen a couple of yellows just before this incident which would be explained by the Colne train crossing my line.

I later set out with the Southport to Blackpool Bank holiday special and much to my amusement just before Wigan Wallgate I saw a mainline electric sailing through mid-air again as it approached Wigan North Western.

I think the most interesting outcome of both these events was that the Activity Writers could have been so detailed as to have programmed these trains on lines separate to the one on which I was running.

If you haven't got your "world objects density" slider set to maximum in the Options / Advanced Dispay menu, you won't see all objects in the route.... this does include some bridges.

Regards,
Terry

kreader · Post by **kreader** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 5:57 pm

Thanks Terry for your comment. Unfortunately my machine struggles with frame rates (1.1 processor) particularly at the bridges south of Warrington and Preston so I adjusted some sliders. Will have another go.