[Train-a-Mania]

...most routes for train simulators are designed to replicate a real railroad. This is a route aimed at looking like a model railroad while functioning like the real thing. Can the Diamond River Mining route for Trainz 12 combine model and v-scale railroading? We'll find out in this review...at the railyard!



At The Railyard Website: http://attherailyard.com/
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Have your own opinions about these add-ons? Share them here:
http://www.attherail...nd-river-mining

Diamond River Mining:

Route: http://jointedrail.c...-co-module.html
Content Pack: http://jointedrail.c...-mining-co.html

[sawyer811]

Yeah, when Davesnow released his model railroading assets (fascia, support legs, etc.) on the DLS, everybody went a little Model Railroad loony over in "Trainz with a Z" land.

But there's a few things I'd like to point out:

NO sim, as far as I have seen (having run both MSTS/ORTS and Trainz since the TRS2006 era) handles distant scenery very well. I will admit trainz is towards the bottom of a poor lot, but to criticize the game for a flaw MSTS, Railsimulator and (possibly: I don't own the game and have not seen enough footsge to really know either way) Run 8 all have as well isn't fair.

Creating sessions (or "scenarios") in Trainz is absurdly easy compared to other simulators: MSTS especially. when I re-installed MSTS after a long hiatus, I wanted to rip my hair out by the roots the first few times I attempted to tango with the activity editor. Heck, compared to MSTS and Railsim, the AI actually behave themselves in Trainz! Thus I feel that your complaint about too few activities being supplied with the route is without merit: this is especially true when you consider the price of the payware content pack. Having done business with Jointed Rail before, I can tell you that you're getting one heck of a bargain at $30.00 price for the custom content pack. Each one of those engines (including the slug) would have been about $5.00 each, and although I have not known them to sell payware rolling stock (most of it is freeware: in fact the caboose, tankcar, and probably the hopper too are simply repaints of their freeware modern rollingstock) Or buildings I'd suspect the cars would have gone for $5.00 bucks as well, probably the buildings too. Thus if bought separately, you'd be be shelling out $35.00 on the lot of needed content.

Just my 0.02 cents.

[Train-a-Mania]

Valid points Sawyer811.

It is true that all of the sims (Run 8 included) have some difficulty processing distant scenery. However, I don't notice the "scenery-popping-in-and-out-randomly" issue in any other sim. Most of the time it deals specifically with the distance limit. It's possible that the model railroading aspect would not work with any of the sims, and thus my hesitation at the implementation.

Creating scenarios in Trainz is easy (and having the player consist do the driving while filming is a great bonus). However, because this route is a model railroad, creating activities for it is less immersive because I ultimately feel like I'm just moving cars around; it doesn't have as much of a purpose as when it is a "real" landscape. Again, this would probably be true if the route had been created for a different sim. Having more built-in activities would allow me to fall into the illusion easier.

Ah, yes, pricing. That's always a difficult thing to review because it ultimately comes down to how much one gets out of the experience. I would have liked to get more out of this experience, and I get a lot more out of a route like the Maerdy Branch for RW ($28) which also involves hauling coal.