Open Rails - Freeware shmreewar

[pwillard]

Try to imagine what it was like for us in 2001... we basically had "what Microsoft gave us" which we collectively agreed was horrifically inaccurate junk. What to do? We looked at what was bad and at what we could do about it and started learning how to paint or create 3d models ourselves. Some immediately went payware because it was clear that they were also wel advanced in 3d modeling already and were producing worthy items... while many others, including myself, would just innocently try to fill the gaps with stuff we thought was needed. We had graphics and processor limitations which mean "a lot of detail" was just left out. You might see this as crap and for todays standards it pretty much is. I would go so far as to say... any freeware in the file library older than 2005 is not really worth the download time unless you "really" need it.

[Erick_Cantu]

I dunno, those Goss boxcar models were pretty far ahead of their time.

[pwillard]

Very true and they were the items that 1) made me buy 3d canvas 2) showed me what was possible. So its really all *his* fault. Glad we cleared that up.

[ossie]

Having not been around anywhere near those early days, I thought I'd check those boxcars you guys are discussing. Typing "Goss" into the boxcar search gets 92 pages of results! I guess that says it all.

[crstagg]

Having not been around anywhere near those early days, I thought I'd check those boxcars you guys are discussing. Typing "Goss" into the boxcar search gets 92 pages of results! I guess that says it all.

And for those of us that are children of the 40's and 50's they are a MUST HAVE! Real Boxcars with roof walks.

[lateagain]

And for those of us that are children of the 40's and 50's they are a MUST HAVE! Real Boxcars with roof walks.

Exactly! ....and with those cars came a now rare type of railroad/railway operation, drop off freight. Local sidings, mixed traffic, stopping and local passenger trains etc.etc.

I mention this because the OP listed "bullet" trains ....well IMO you could provide a better "Bullet train experience" in an Arcade style game than a simulator? After all nothing else runs on dedicated High Speed rail tracks ....so there ain't much to simulate outside of the cab?

[kukailimoku]

...compatibility it has with most everything made for MSTS...any noob can run and enjoy the vast expanse of content for MSTS in OR...

Thanks for that sir! I will definitely check out some MSTS Activities after reading your post. Thank you.

[kukailimoku]

T... any freeware in the file library older than 2005 is not really worth the download time unless you "really" need it...

Thanks for the advice, and good point.

I am spoiled - I was an avid Flight Sim guy and there were oodles more stuff out there than with rail. Just the nature of the beast I guess. Were I to foray into sim maritime I guess there would be practically nothing, if the delta between sim flight and sim rail is extrapolate-able.

[kukailimoku]

Most of the US-based developers moved on to other platforms ages ago...OR is mostly just a way to continue running MSTS content at this point in time. We'll see what the future holds.

Interesting!
A) what "other platforms" might those be?
and
B) A-ha, just an attempt at rectifying/extending MSTS.

Got it! Thx!

[conductorchris]

It *IS* true that available activities for open rails (and MSTS) are a bit thin and many, perhaps even most, are of low quality.

One reason for that is the bloody MSTS activity editor was difficult and no longer works on modern computers. The new TSRE is creating a new activity editor which will fix that, but it certainly isn't done yet (though it is usable and already better than MSTS). A bigger reason is that creating and testing an activity is a lot of work. A least if it is a good activity. Much easier to just jump in a train and run.

If you are looking for the best source of open rails activities, you should check out skyline computing's activity generator. I know you said you don't want payware, but it is worth it and not much money anyway.

And lastly - stick in the back of your head - once you figure out the lay of the land here - maybe you can create and share some of your own activities and fill the gaps!

Oh, another thing. the previously mentioned TSRE (http://koniec.org/tsre5/) has a nifty consist editor that makes it pretty easy to change out the rolling stock in available activities and consists. Thus making it possible to fix a lot of deficiencies and extending your options.

Christopher

[lateagain]

....now call me an old cynic (because you're a bit dense if you didn't realise I am one... LOL!) but you're all bending over to justify your selves to the OP who as yet has not answered ONE of my questions?

As he claims to be a long time Flight Simmer (which BTW I a was for a while ...and BTW found MORE payware there and LESS high standard freeware than in MSTS) he must know his way around the Sim sites and forums?

He is not a newcomer to simulations (unless he lied about flight sims?) and so he's either getting you to do the work for him or this whole thread is a Troll.

So kokailimoku (what's your real name and location BTW?) prove me wrong and answer some of my questions in my post #15.

I'm happy to help any newcomer to the hobby but, and perhaps it's a question of two cultures separated by a common language, the OP and thread title was unnecessarily confrontational IMO.

[geepster775]

Interesting!
A) what "other platforms" might those be?

Answer: The platforms with heftier sticker shock for payware than MSTS/ORTS. Say, didn't those Railworks followers develop a reputation for being a bit eccentric among gamers on Steam due to the $4,000+ of available DLC, which left mainstream gamers scratching their heads over who would ever buy that much DLC ever? And then there is Run 8, where everything is payware and you can't even pass a repaint fart. And then that silly TSW, where trains have shooting-type game targets above their locomotive cabs.

[GokuMK]

Separately, but related: And what's with almost everything OR downloads being Indian???? How'd THAT come to pass? I don't mind the occasional Indian route next to an occasional Ecuadorian route, next to an occasional Russian route.... but why does every freaking thing OR need to be some passenger consist from Budifigu, India?

What ever happend to just good old fashioned Cajon stuff, massive trains across the Canadian plains, German commuters, Japanese bullets? And where is the Korean KTX bullet???

I think it's because young people in USA or western Europe prefer to use their credit card and buy TS2017 or TSW instead of contributing their work to OR.
And people from India or Russia can't afford to pay 30$ for one stupid loco. And piracy today is not that simple and you need powerful and expensive computer to run TSW or TS2017.

[muskokaandtahoe]

I am surprised to read some people believe there is some sort of problem running MSTS content in the Open Rails simulator.

Having been a Charter Member of hte OR team I was the lead advocate in the argument that OR had to be backwards compatitble with all MSTS content. My reasoning t the time was what is now DTG had just released their new sim... I think it was called Railworks... and it was not backwards compatible. All the stuff people had accumulated would not work in that sim. I thought that was a big mistake and hte rest of the team bought into that line of thought.

Subsequently the developers extended the principle to include activities. I personally thought that was a mistake b ut lost that argument. For about 2 years they DEV's busted a nut tracking down each report of incompatibility and fixed it.

I havn't been part of the OR team for a very long time but I'm pretty confident in asserting there are very, very few incompatibilities left.

What IS a problem is there are a lot of content that used to be available, stuff that was referenced in various activities, that has simply disappeared. That's not on OR and much of it can be fixed by substitution, often with better quality models.


p.s. I'm led to understand the OR team would welcome some new programmers. I believe there is a contact us link on their web page, www.openrails.org

[NW 2156]

Guys, I just spent some time having new 40 and 50 foot boxcars made on roller bearings to model the end of their life times for the bog standard 40 foot boxcars. They are not 100% perfect in many respects but are better than nothing.

Download link is around page 4. http://www.elvastower.com/forums/ind...ar-on-rollers/ If the last few corrections get done maybe they will get uploaded here.

Robert