I finally had time to sit down and really work with OpenRails Version 0.8 some in the last couple of days. Anyone who has not tried out this new version really needs to. There is so much to like here that going back to MSTS is getting harder and harder--by Version 1.0, it will probably be unnecessary to use MSTS to run most any activity.
I'll leave the discussions about activity building, etc. to others who have the experience in that area. My comments have to do with actually running trains in OpenRails. Here is my list of things I really like, though by no means a complete list and not listed in order of importance--some have been around in OpenRails for quite awhile, some not:
1. Stability. I've yet to crash OR, not from lack of trying. I deliberately built a long player train, chock full of of high-poly cars and locomotives (over 100 cars) that would often bring MSTS to its knees. I didn't even strain OR.
2. Frame rates. Typically about double what I can get with MSTS, even with a high-end computer with and SSD hard drive, fast processor, etc. The consist that I mentioned above would typically slow MSTS to about 40 fps with a few cars in view, to less than 30 fps with the full train in view. OR is running well over 65-100 fps with a few cars, barely dropping with the full train in view. Some extremely intensive areas on a couple of routes that I have would crash MSTS after dropping the fps into single digits, those are running at 30-100 fps in OR.
3. Display screens. In the 0.8 version, they are great.
4. On-the-fly changeable sky and time advance (regression)--wonderful.
5. Door controls that don't require a full stop of the train. I found this one out on this forum--Q and Shift-Q work like Control+7 or Control+9 in MSTS, but didn't show up in the documentation. (I wonder how many more undocumented features there are that we don't know about . . . ) Unlike MSTS, the doors can be open or shut anytime without the sim stopping. Great when you have a long train that has a lot of slack action--that would be enough to prevent the doors from opening and shutting in MSTS. (Besides, if the conductor wants to kick the locomotive door open to get some air, he or she can!)
6. Engine shutdown/startup feature on both lead engine and additional player engines.
7. Season/latitude sensitive sunrise/sunset and sun/moon position.
Among my suggested improvements, many of which have been mentioned before by others or are already in the OR future plans (I will leave signaling and physics discussions to those with more knowledge than I have about those features):
1. Distant mountains.
2. Fix for improper horn looping on some engines.
3. Sound on both AI and player trains that does not cut off when the car or loco goes out of camera view.
4. Ability to shut down individual locomotives in a consist or "isolate" them to idle, with sound and smoke corresponding to either circumstance. (Even neater would be a temperature/condition paramenter that would shut down and restart idling engines for fuel conservation the way most modern prototype locomotives are now set up.)
5. Engine exhaust perameters that are adjustable by locomotive as to color, thickness, quantity, etc.
6. More options for clouds and sky (though I really like the default ones), with weather that can change dynamically by either time, location, and/or distance traveled through an activity. (A really wild thunderstorm would be really neat.)
7. Sphere of light/illumination for more than player locomotive (e.g., AI trains, static consists, etc.)
Please do not take my "suggestion" list as any criticism of what the OR team has already accomplished. What they have accomplished in a relatively short time is nothing short of truly amazing. I really look forward to the next release. Thank you so much, OR team, for what you have already done for train simming.
I'll leave the discussions about activity building, etc. to others who have the experience in that area. My comments have to do with actually running trains in OpenRails. Here is my list of things I really like, though by no means a complete list and not listed in order of importance--some have been around in OpenRails for quite awhile, some not:
1. Stability. I've yet to crash OR, not from lack of trying. I deliberately built a long player train, chock full of of high-poly cars and locomotives (over 100 cars) that would often bring MSTS to its knees. I didn't even strain OR.
2. Frame rates. Typically about double what I can get with MSTS, even with a high-end computer with and SSD hard drive, fast processor, etc. The consist that I mentioned above would typically slow MSTS to about 40 fps with a few cars in view, to less than 30 fps with the full train in view. OR is running well over 65-100 fps with a few cars, barely dropping with the full train in view. Some extremely intensive areas on a couple of routes that I have would crash MSTS after dropping the fps into single digits, those are running at 30-100 fps in OR.
3. Display screens. In the 0.8 version, they are great.
4. On-the-fly changeable sky and time advance (regression)--wonderful.
5. Door controls that don't require a full stop of the train. I found this one out on this forum--Q and Shift-Q work like Control+7 or Control+9 in MSTS, but didn't show up in the documentation. (I wonder how many more undocumented features there are that we don't know about . . . ) Unlike MSTS, the doors can be open or shut anytime without the sim stopping. Great when you have a long train that has a lot of slack action--that would be enough to prevent the doors from opening and shutting in MSTS. (Besides, if the conductor wants to kick the locomotive door open to get some air, he or she can!)
6. Engine shutdown/startup feature on both lead engine and additional player engines.
7. Season/latitude sensitive sunrise/sunset and sun/moon position.
Among my suggested improvements, many of which have been mentioned before by others or are already in the OR future plans (I will leave signaling and physics discussions to those with more knowledge than I have about those features):
1. Distant mountains.
2. Fix for improper horn looping on some engines.
3. Sound on both AI and player trains that does not cut off when the car or loco goes out of camera view.
4. Ability to shut down individual locomotives in a consist or "isolate" them to idle, with sound and smoke corresponding to either circumstance. (Even neater would be a temperature/condition paramenter that would shut down and restart idling engines for fuel conservation the way most modern prototype locomotives are now set up.)
5. Engine exhaust perameters that are adjustable by locomotive as to color, thickness, quantity, etc.
6. More options for clouds and sky (though I really like the default ones), with weather that can change dynamically by either time, location, and/or distance traveled through an activity. (A really wild thunderstorm would be really neat.)
7. Sphere of light/illumination for more than player locomotive (e.g., AI trains, static consists, etc.)
Please do not take my "suggestion" list as any criticism of what the OR team has already accomplished. What they have accomplished in a relatively short time is nothing short of truly amazing. I really look forward to the next release. Thank you so much, OR team, for what you have already done for train simming.
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