Train Simming

[Christopher Low 5,354]

Quote

Why feel sick about it when it did give you fun over the years...?

He is probably referring to all of the stuff that he paid for that turned out to be garbage.......and we have all fallen down that particular rabbit hole.
 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Christopher Low

[HiFlyer 9,360]

39 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

He is probably referring to all of the stuff that he paid for that turned out to be garbage.......and we have all fallen down that particular rabbit hole.
 

I have an entire 6gig drive devoted to flight sims, and on that drive, painstakingly categorized and and stored along with serial numbers etc, are whole terabytes of..... Things I grabbed in that first flush of enthusiasm that may last a few years, before you finally realize what's just flashy junk and what's an actual keeper.

At one time I was literally blowing a few hundred dollars a month, but eventually it all began to seem the same, and with just two sims, eventually you've seen it all... About fifteen times.

That's when you start praying for the variety found in other markets. (Look at how many racing, war, and and trainsims there are out there as opposed to our multiple decades of essentially two)

Wandering off to catch a breath until it at least seems to be a little fresh again (and trying other things) seems nearly mandatory.

Sometimes you just need to fish for a while, or maybe play some...... Plants vs Zombies, and angry birds. 😃

[HiFlyer 9,360]

1 hour ago, tttocs said:

Back on topic, for some reason the London Underground sim intrigues me.  Not enough yet to actually try it, but I've been tempted.  On the other hand, if someone did a quality sim of Chicago's "L", I'd be first in line.  As a kid growing up in Chicago, I thought a job running the "L" would be the best thing ever.  As an adult, well... I'm still very much a kid.

Scott

As a New Yorker, there are tons of commuter trains to choose from. One game I found good was one the World Of Subways series, as long as you avoid the incredibly horrendous voice acting and seriously dodgy character graphics.....

Not a long-term play, but it really does satisfy that thirst for nostalgia, and Aerosoft is selling these things for something like $6

 

 

 

 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

What I love about TrainSim are the free updates over the many years I have had it thru Steam.  I was able to migrate the license to my new computer this year after my old computer expired last year.  Kudos to TrainSim and Steam for such support.  I do not grow bored with it, when I run it I am flooded with memories of my train travel, from the Double Deckers from Tinley Park into Chicago back in the 60's, to San Francisco's Bart and Washington DC's Metro, and my three Eurail trips thru Europe in the 80's and early 90's.  And my train ride from Bologna to Venice, two of them, when I was working in Italy in 1995 shortly after I was married.  When I see trains I think "Harry Potter" and his making of friends on the train to Hogwarts.  I think of Professor Lupin protecting him from the dementors on the train.  When I see trains I think of airport trains, like the ones in Dallas, Dulles, Atlanta, SFO and Orlando, all of which I have been on.  Taking the train to the gate (as I did in Denver too) was so exciting, the train leading to soaring over the Atlantic, or the Pacific, or the US.

John

[ckyliu 1,749]

If you want to simulate UK railways properly you'll need a bus driving simulator 🤣

[tttocs 301]

2 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Not a long-term play, but it really does satisfy that thirst for nostalgia, and Aerosoft is selling these things for something like $6

Yeah, that's the thing.  It's the nostalgia that's the attraction more than the idea of a detailed realistic sim.  The Flushing line would probably be a fun one as well - hadn't seen that before.  A ride out to the late, but not so lamented, Shea Stadium could be fun.

Scott

[F737MAX 5,608]

On 12/17/2018 at 12:05 PM, nealmac said:

So I've been taking a bit of a break from flight simming lately. Just kinda lost interest in it. I've spend hundreds on addons and I know it seems ridiculous to lose interest in such a hobby I've invested so much in. But that's just the way it is. Hopefully it's only temporary.

That can happen, usually it is only temporary. Hope you rediscover your interest soon.
It does give you a good excuse to try something different.
 

1 hour ago, ckyliu said:

If you want to simulate UK railways properly you'll need a bus driving simulator 🤣

An especially appropriate understanding of the situation, given how the 'festive' engineering works which close vast swathes of the rail network will soon be upon us, like the ghost of Christmases past! 


I have TS2015 (now called TS2019), with a lot of UK based routes and rolling stock. To keep it of interest to me I was downloading lots of Workshop community content to vary the scenarios on the 6 or 7 routes I own. What I found was that I was spending too much time downloading, then installing, the extra scenery and repaints requirements of these more appealing community scenarios.
For me, train simming became very repetitive due to the restricted environment.


I found a massive change of pace in simming was to try a good quality racing game. I picked-up Assetto Corsa as it has very positive feedback and is a steal at £15 (or £30 for the entire DLC pack bundle on Steam) when compared to the less favoured and more expensive Project Cars titles.
I'm so glad I did!

If you own them, here's where things really gel. You can use your flight yoke as a steering wheel (feels a little like a Formula 1 wheel) and your rudder pedals as throttle and brake pedals by using the toe brake axes.
Improves the fine control and gives a sense of realism in a way that using a control pad never could.

[Captain Kevin 586]

3 hours ago, F737NG said:

If you own them, here's where things really gel. You can use your flight yoke as a steering wheel (feels a little like a Formula 1 wheel) and your rudder pedals as throttle and brake pedals by using the toe brake axes.

Did the exact same thing with American Truck Simulator, at least when I'm at home. Can't really do that with my laptop since I have no space in my truck to do it.

[ckyliu 1,749]

7 hours ago, F737NG said:

I picked-up Assetto Corsa as it has very positive feedback and is a steal at £15 (or £30 for the entire DLC pack bundle on Steam) when compared to the less favoured and more expensive Project Cars titles. I'm so glad I did! You can use your flight yoke as a steering wheel (feels a little like a Formula 1 wheel) and your rudder pedals as throttle and brake pedals by using the toe brake axes.

Exactly what I did, grabbed Assetto Corsa with all the DLC in a Steam key sale for just €23.50. At the moment I am using my PS3 gamepad via SCP tool kit but when my CH Pedals arrive I will be try those in conjunction with yoke steering (the CH pedals have the ability to lockout the rudder mechanics), glad to hear that setup is working well for you.

7 hours ago, F737NG said:

I have TS2015 (now called TS2019), with a lot of UK based routes and rolling stock. To keep it of interest to me I was downloading lots of Workshop community content to vary the scenarios on the 6 or 7 routes I own. What I found was that I was spending too much time downloading, then installing, the extra scenery and repaints requirements of these more appealing community scenarios.

This is why I suggest TSW; the issue with TS (aside from the extortionate DLC trains cost when not on sale and often low quality) is there are very few scenarios included with routes and if you want third party free ones they usually need a lot of paid DLC before they'll work, so you end up doing the same few scenarios or free roaming around an empty world devoid of any AI trains and having to set your own route.

Whereas TSW has a full timetable on each route and you just jump in and drive any train, so you don't have to download loads of scenarios and their prerequisites. Also it looks beautiful! Downside is not much content for it yet as I believe the editor only just got released.

Edited December 19, 2018 by ckyliu

[Christopher Low 5,354]

Quote

Exactly what I did, grabbed Assetto Corsa with all the DLC in a Steam key sale for just €23.50

I played Assetto Corsa for nearly four years until I got fed up with the lack of online road car racing. Most people seem to want to drive modern race cars, but they are just too stable and boring for me. I like my cars to slip and slide around. A shame, because the road car races that I had over the years were great fun

Edited December 19, 2018 by Christopher Low

[nealmac 260]

11 hours ago, ckyliu said:

If you want to simulate UK railways properly you'll need a bus driving simulator 🤣

Hahahaha pmsl

[ckyliu 1,749]

@Christopher Low I haven't tried racing online yet, I don't feel I'm good enough or know the tracks well enough! I've just been doing the offline racing series. I wish AC had an indicator telling you when to brake and what gear to be in for each corner (Gran Turismo has this), I don't get on with AC's racing line display. I definitely see the appeal of road car racing, I'd like to take the MX-5 online (tbh if I wasn't so precious over my real MX-5 I could just take that to a track day).

[ThomasAH 61]

For Assetto Corsa there are usually online races on the Monza track (usually with the Ferrari 458 GT2), which is quite easy to learn and has good tutorial videos which show good orientation and breaking points, and example setups for the car.

[Christopher Low 5,354]

Assetto Corsa is a race simulator, not a game. That being the case, you have to do some work (just like in the real world) in order to determine braking points for each corner. These will be different for every car, so it is a case of trial and error. Much more fun than being told when to brake, and what gear to be in for each corner.

I decided to pack my Logitech G27 racing wheel away on May 4 this year, and I did not miss Assetto Corsa until this thread made me start thinking about it again. I am going to resist the temptation to fire it up again, as I know that online will still be a massively disappointing GT3/GT2/F1/Nordschleife Trackday borefest. I certainly do miss driving certain cars (particularly the Porsche 911R, BMW 1M, and Ferrari 458 Italia), but I need to be strong. Anyway, bolting the wheel and gear shifter to my desk just gets in the way of my flight simulation, and general desktop activity.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Christopher Low

[ckyliu 1,749]

I just struggle to gauge speed in any racing sim, whereas in reality I don't seem to have that much difficulty. The numbers don't mean all that much to me, I tend to go off the sensation when I know the car. I suppose flight sim is similar, a friend of mine who is ATPL 737 type rated said he can no longer land the PMDG in FSX.