Tracks in O R T S

[OTTODAD]

Tracks being my main interest in railway modelling and train simulators below shows what has been created in the latter to date, ORTS should try to improve on !

Splining switches is not an option, nobody has yet been able to achieve perfection doing, switches wing and check rails having the same bright running surfaces rails tops as the ones being driven on by trains.

As I have said since MSTS, real looking and fully functioning switches and double slips should be fixed objects of the quality Norbert Rieger's DB-Tracks can supply and is working on easier to create Double-Slips, connecting flexible tracks to them.

At the moment Railworks with the to be released TS-2014 update is the best available, as shown by their recent release of the Great Eastern Main Line routes, more improvements being made to it all the time !

[seagoon]

Tracks being my main interest in railway modelling and train simulators below shows what has been created in the latter to date, ORTS should try to improve on !

It's an operational simulation, Otto, not a track simulation.

Highly-detailed and realistically-perfect track-work belongs in photographs and does not need to be a critical requirement for a railroad simulation, IMO.

BK

[eric]

Maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly does ORTS have to do with how good the track looks?...

The game engine is supposed to process traffic, sound, physics, and signalling... stuff that is parameter driven, and won't differ drastically from route to route.

Tracks and even catenary *should* be different from route to route... I'm all for high quality track objects, but I don't want to see the same track in 2013 Europe that I'd see in 1950's Montana...

[OTTODAD]

Maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly does ORTS have to do with how good the track looks?

Have you read some of the posts in this thread "Route & Activity/Scenario Creation" mentioning an ORTS Route Editor splining tracks ?

I expect the simulation of railroads to resemble what trains run on in the real world, TS-2013 / 14 coming closer with every update !

This is what an ORTS Route Editor will have to be able to let route creators do:
http://www.otto-wipfel.co.uk/video/psl3.wmv
like a French friend does in TS-2013, I am helping with creating his Paris St.Lazare route.

[mdeming]

Um well sorry but I am unimpressed.

[eric]

[COLOR=#000000]
Have you read some of the posts in this thread "Route & Activity/Scenario Creation" mentioning an ORTS Route Editor splining tracks ?

No, hadn't seen that. Referencing that in your first post of this thread would have been a little more helpful here...

[mikephfl]

It's an operational simulation, Otto, not a track simulation.

Highly-detailed and realistically-perfect track-work belongs in photographs and does not need to be a critical requirement for a railroad simulation, IMO.

BK

Totally agree. The basic premise of MSTS and OR is being able to run a train as you would in a simulator. It's not a scenery simulator. Yes, having quality graphics so that the environment looks good as well as the trains and track also look good but the primary focus is and should be on the operation of the train itself.

[OTTODAD]

Totally agree. The basic premise of MSTS and OR is being able to run a train as you would in a simulator. It's not a scenery simulator. Yes, having quality graphics so that the environment looks good as well as the trains and track also look good but the primary focus is and should be on the operation of the train itself.

That is not what the majority of Simulator users have been looking for since day 1 of MSTS and MS-FS.

They and I want Planes, Trains, Racing cars, etc. simulators to use real world looking scenery and perform just like real whatever, which MS-FX has achieved.

The Train Brakes release in ORTS is still not working like it does in reality !


.

[conductorchris]

I think it's pretty clear that there are some improvements Open Rails could make on how msts handles track. Like Otto, realistic track makes a big difference to my experience (which does mean accounting for regional variations). I expect the team will be thinking about that after the big push to release version 1.0 is over, that it will be part of thinking through a route editor. I am grateful for all the work that has been done and am looking forward to thankfully see what comes next.
Christopher

[OTTODAD]

The quality of Train Simulators Graphics has been complained about since MSTS DX-7, somewhat improved by TRAINZ later, but further developments by Microsoft, nVidia and ATI have not been taken advantage of by developers of Train Simulators, but have been by MS-FX and gaming software !

RS.com using their TSX graphics engine are still perfecting their Railworks scenery and ORTS using theirs has improved displaying MSTS 2D objects, as is evident in their scenery and distant mountains !

All that is aimed at improving the display of 3D objects populating scenery, specially created by 3D graphics software and has nothing to do with the performance of rolling stock.

RUN-8, said to have improved the physics of locos, has apart from creating multi-player options done nothing else to improve the visual enjoyment of running trains in it. I have tried it and discarded it.

Trainz, OPEN-BVE and other Train Simulators, like a Polish one, had something I liked but not enough.

TS-2013 and soon TS-2014 are getting closer to give me what I like best about Train Simulators and RS.com are responsive to my suggestions, having used quite a few so far !

[seagoon]

The quality of Train Simulators Graphics has been complained about since MSTS DX-7, ....

The graphics of train sims has been under discussion (not necessarily of a complaining nature, either) since the first iteration of Train Master!

RUN-8, said to have improved the physics of locos, has apart from creating multi-player options done nothing else to improve the visual enjoyment of running trains in it. I have tried it and discarded it.

Run 8 wasn't developed to give "visual enjoyment", and that is point that you seem to overlook in your desire to have photographic-quality in a train sim's graphics........particularly those of the tracks.

To each, his own...of course.
But even when I travel by train or am standing at a station or waiting at a level-crossing or am anywhere near a railway line, the last thing that I notice or even care about is the condition or appearance of the track.

The object of my attention is - surprise! surprise! - the train!

BK

[NorthernWarrior]

And there are those of us who would take an operationally viable route in Zusi 2 over a less functional but prettier version of the same route in another sim, despite the stone age graphics. Bruce and I have been around since the days when Jens Schubert's Railsim programme was a quantum leap over the hitherto text based sims (or the quirky Cab View Driver with its jerky ripped Railscene video) though those shots of early Trainz do look singularly awful in retrospect, I agree.

That settles my driving choice tonight when I come in from work tonight - Rhine Valley in Zusi 2!!

[eric]

Trains are only in the scene but for a fleeting moment. Trackwork is there for perpetuity...

[mdeming]

Trackwork is there for perpetuity...

Then explain to me all the nature trails in the Chicago area!!!

[eric]

Then explain to me all the nature trails in the Chicago area!!!

Touché....