open rails tutorials, comparisons to other sims?

[TrainSimJack]

Hi Folks,

Are there any good marketing style videos that discuss open rails advantages vs other sims?

- Jack

[rdayt]

No, just a bunch of passionate users.

Randy

[R. Steele]

Utente appassionato di Open Rails

Jack, I'm gonna assume you visited the usual suspect sites ( UToob -- etc ) and found nothing meeting your specifications?

[eric]

I don't know that anyone's done a real positioning of ORTS the way it's been positioned against Dovetail. It certainly isn't marketed...

TSW is like buying a Mac -- it looks incredible, it's not cheap, and all you have to do is turn it on and play what they let you play.
ORTS is like Linux -- you have all the flexibility to do whatever you want as well as all the flexibility to break things without knowing what you broke, but it's free and there's lots of support and opinions.

Run8 is harder to peg, not being a user... I'd say as an observer it's more like ChromeOS than Windows -- it has all the functions you need without the fluff, and it works without a lot of drama.

It comes down to how you want to use it. I'm a builder, so that forces me into the ORTS camp. I'm also not a big fan of closed systems, which unfortunately both Run8 and DTG are right now unless you go with Trainsim Classic in non-Steam mode.

[TrainSimJack]

Thanks guys!

[ftldave]

ORTS is like Linux --

True, that. And like Linux, which last count was running on less than 3 percent of the world's desktops (desktops, key word there) some 29 years after it was created, ORTS is not going to be comparable to other sims when it comes to marketing, slick tutorials, or well edited documentation appropriate for beginners. Like Linux, you must learn learn the ORTS how-to's from various sources that are sometimes outdated or not 100 percent accurate ... or just hard for any beginner to understand without lots of time and effort. This comment doesn't mean I don't like or don't use Linux and ORTS. It's an answer for the original question that hopefully may add some useful perspective.

[TrainSimJack]

Feels like I need to give it a try, I've got every other sim minus zusi and I'll pick that up on the next sale.

I have sims I prefer, but none that I would talk bad about - they all seem to offer something unique to the market.

It'll be neat to see what openrails offers. I'd likely just stick to east stuff like payware routes that are easy to install and get going.

[eric]

For routes, you can't go wrong with what TrainSimulations.net has to offer. I've yet to see a dud, and the last two (Mullins and Shasta) have some incredible scenery.