Train Sim World: NEC New York

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Yes all good 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Release is today. 3/20/2018 Introductory sale price of $17.99 ends in a few hours........ 

[steve310002 1,198]

Just pre-ordered after watching bits of the twitch developer play through video just posted by Dovetail-

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/240529417

I was a bit on the fence but this is my kind of route and I have many fond memories of taking the train in places like Newark, Secaucus and Penn Station. I just love those shiny metallic Amtrak trains and the graphics engine makes them look beautiful. Only shame is that as of yet there are no station announcements. Dovetail should really improve the ambience of TSW and bring some more life to it. It can be a bit sterile. All in all though 40% off is too good to pass up on and worth the risk for the price even if it is not mind blowing. It does look very good though so far. And even better, you can now take the train to Newark International, and then transition X-Plane 11 or Prepar3d and take a flight to where ever you want in your virtual imagination and vice versa  This should keep me busy until Far Cry 5 is released later this month when I can then explore the dizzy heights of Montana's beautiful back country all whilst fending off fictitious cult members out to steal my soul 

[n4gix 4,947]

Good grief! The st u tt er in g in that twitch video drove me nuts. Not impressed at all.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

It is downloading now for me, won't have time to check it out until after work tonight.

One of my favorites is from Newark Airport to Penn Station as well, I love all the abandoned industry along the way and Newark always has a little more rejuvenation every time you go through it, a lot of different decades in architecture and industry is well represented. Then you get to New York which is always amazing.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Matthew Kane

[HiFlyer 9,343]

3 hours ago, n4gix said:

Good grief! The st u tt er in g in that twitch video drove me nuts. Not impressed at all.

It depends on what you're rocking for hardware. At this point, I get between 90 and 100 fps maxed in TSW.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Here is the manual:

Without it, users will most assuredly go mad. 

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/577357/manuals/EN_NEC_Manual.pdf?t=1521459443

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I had a brief look at it, this is exactly what I wanted, the tutorial starts out at Newark Airport headed towards Newark Penn. It is killing me that I have to work today 

I will explore tonight 

Edited March 20, 2018 by Matthew Kane

[HiFlyer 9,343]

It looks like Trainz: A new era is on sale till 3/26 for $9.99

I've been curious about that title as a counterpoint to trainsim and TSW for quite some time, and this is a low enough price to make pushing the "Buy" button not as much of a risk for giving something else a chance.

[Angelo Cosma 61]

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

It looks like Trainz: A new era is on sale till 3/26 for $9.99

I've been curious about that title as a counterpoint to trainsim and TSW for quite some time, and this is a low enough price to make pushing the "Buy" button not as much of a risk for giving something else a chance.

Let me know how you like it. I was curious about that one as well. 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

1 hour ago, Angelo Cosma said:

Let me know how you like it. I was curious about that one as well. 

Looking at the videos. It seems clear that this can't be in any way approached as a comparable next-gen graphics showcase to Trainsim world.....

But having used it for a few minutes, it already seems that it might possibly be quite a bit more actual fun to play around with. I'm enjoying the tutorials, and actually found myself smiling. I suspect its best to think of this as an enormous tabletop model railroading set, designed to bring out the choo-choo in you, with very easy "model railroad" type controls in DCC mode, that can also be changed in settings for more realism when you are ready.

The controls seem very logical and intuitive, and I can see myself actually giving this some serious time. On my machine, with all settings maxed, I hit a steady and smooth 50 to 60fps, which is also nice.

I would recommend this after this short look, especially at $9.99, but your mileage may vary!

 

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I've has a blast with Trainz: A New Era in the past. Kind of like model railroading but in the 3D Poly World without having to spend thousands at your local hobby shop, for $9.99 you can't go wrong. tons of downloadable content and easy to build your own layouts.

I like making my own layouts and setting up automatic train runs to the different industry and passenger service running between, you can spend hours setting up the signaling matrix 

[steve310002 1,198]

Quick review of the New York DLC from me. It is okay but not great. I enjoyed the route in general and the train included looks beautiful if you have a good PC. However, it does not really bring NY to life. It feels almost like it could be anywhere. Like the other content released so far for the sim, it feels lifeless which is a real disappointment considering NYC is anything but lifeless. There are no moving cars or pedestrians on the roads. No birds in the sky or other little details that immerse the user. Also there are no voices either in the tutorial or announcing the stations on the train. The timetable is literally a train every 10 minutes even at 3am which is a little unrealistic. There are also some weird graphical bugs and not all the scenarios are included yet. They will apparently add more freight scenarios. I reckon this release was rushed out which for the full price is not really okay. I got it at 40% off as I pre-ordered. No way would I recommend paying full price unless you are flush with cash. It is enjoyable in some ways as its just good fun to drive an Amtrak train in NY. However, it does not feel like NY should feel or look from an immersion point of view at the price they are charging. The track length is also very short. Please keep in mind I know very little about trains so there might be a load of other stuff missing I didn't notice.

[HiFlyer 9,343]