Railworks 2, soon to be Railworks 3: Train Simulator 2012

[CeeKay]

been looking at this one on Steam.  anyone have any experience with the series?

[Tscott]

I bought Railworks when it was on sale and bundled with some of the DLC.  I recently discovered that it had automatically updated to Railworks 2, which was a nice surprise.  But I haven't started it since it updated. 

The graphics were serviceable, and it captured the feeling of being on a train.  I played around in some "free rides" where there's no goal, you just drive as you choose and can pick from any train on the map.  The camera modes are nice- you can be in the engine working the controls, seated like a passenger looking out the windows, or view from various angles outside the train.  And yes you can crash the trains if you go too fast or run into another train, or do something stupid like decouple some train sections as your moving and slow down and let them hit you.  The crashes aren't too spectacular, though.

I also played around with a few simple scenarios.  The basic ones are get from point A to point B, make the stops and get there on time.  When you finish, it'll tell you how you did- how many times you broke the speed limit, how well you kept the schedule, etc.  The more complicated ones might have you throwing switches, backing up to couple with freight containers, and more.  I got lost trying to get the switches to work, when trying one of those.

Steam says I've played it about 18 hours, and that seems right.  I keep meaning to return to it and try some of the more complicated scenarios, but haven't.  Now that I got a free upgrade, that may motivate me (once I'm done with Fallout New Vegas).  It's a good rainy afternoon type game, if you want something that's not too demanding and have a few hours to kill.

Oh, and there's a TON of DLC for this game- Steam says it'd cost over $900 to buy them all.  I've got a few that were bundled together during the same sale that I bought the full game, but I've got no idea how to find the best DLC among them, if I ever wanted to find some more content beyond what I have.

[CeeKay]

well I grabbed this today since it was only 6 bucks, and it looks like it's going to be a fun diversion.  I wonder if something like the whole transsiberian railroad is possible to make....

[Huw the Poo]

Looking forward to digging into this.  I think I'll start by simulating certain aspects of British rail.  You know, the usual stuff...constantly running late, not having enough carriages on the rush-hour service so half the passengers have to stand and get to pay more for the privilege, not running at all when as many as five snowflakes touch the tracks, hostile staff, charging a fortune for a 50-mile trip, etc.

I'm not bitter!

[Tokek]

I played the BNSF Cement Snoot scenario and at the end of it, an AI train would keep colliding with a parked set of cabs at a siding. Apparently, this is a known issue. Just sucks that I can't finish this scenario after playing it all the way through due to an AI error. 

[Huw the Poo]

This is proving to be a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.  I've completely mastered driving diesels and electrics but haven't tried steam yet; I assume it must be quite different and much more complicated.  A few observations:

• Is it just me or do headlights do nothing?  I can see them come on in the external view, but they don't illuminate a thing.  Similarly the wipers don't do anything, at least in snowy weather.
• Going around a bend in excess of 200km/h is foolish.
• There aren't anywhere near enough routes in the base game (for me), but there are plenty of trains.
• How are you supposed to know when a different speed limit comes up?  The first I ever know about it is when the limit shown beneath my speed suddenly changes and I find myself 40km/h over the limit.
  
• The manuals are shite.  They cover almost nothing of the actual specifics of driving a train, although for things like controls and signalling they're fine.

[Tokek]

This is proving to be a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.  I've completely mastered driving diesels and electrics but haven't tried steam yet; I assume it must be quite different and much more complicated.  A few observations:

• How are you supposed to know when a different speed limit comes up?  The first I ever know about it is when the limit shown beneath my speed suddenly changes and I find myself 40km/h over the limit.
  

For speed changes you get a warning on the side of the tracks first, a yellow signal that looks like an arrow pointing down with the speed limit coming up posted on it. Usually there are 2 posted on it, the top number is for passenger trains the bottom is for freight trains. After that, the next yellow speed limit signal that you see will be the start of the speed limit area.

[CeeKay]

The manuals are shite.  They cover almost nothing of the actual specifics of driving a train, although for things like controls and signalling they're fine.

there's a manual?  I just started hitting switched until something started happening.

[Huw the Poo]

For speed changes you get a warning on the side of the tracks first, a yellow signal that looks like an arrow pointing down with the speed limit coming up posted on it. Usually there are 2 posted on it, the top number is for passenger trains the bottom is for freight trains. After that, the next yellow speed limit signal that you see will be the start of the speed limit area.

Splendid, thanks mate.  If that was explained in the manuals I must have missed it.

[Tokek]

Splendid, thanks mate.  If that was explained in the manuals I must have missed it.

I think the tutorial covered it.

[baelthazar]

I only have two tutorials, is this right? Or do I have to DL more somewhere?

[Tokek]

I only have two tutorials, is this right? Or do I have to DL more somewhere?

I only saw 3 tutorials. 2 freights and 1 passenger.

[Daehawk]

Actually looks like a fun time waster for off and on play.

[CeeKay]

I only have two tutorials, is this right? Or do I have to DL more somewhere?

I only saw 3 tutorials. 2 freights and 1 passenger.

I'll check those out.

[earicci]

I only have two tutorials, is this right? Or do I have to DL more somewhere?

I only saw 3 tutorials. 2 freights and 1 passenger.

I'll check those out.

Where do you find the tutorials?

[Tokek]

Where do you find the tutorials?

2 are in the TestTraK scenario and the other one is in one of the regular scenarios (I don't remember which one, sorry) but they all start with TUTORIAL as the name.

[CeeKay]

just saw this pop-up on Steam:

All RailWorks 2 users will receive a free upgrade to RailWorks 3: Train Simulator 2012 on September 23, 2011. Don't worry, all RailWorks 2 DLC is certified to work with RailWork 3: Train Simulator 2012.

 

[Raintitan]

 

It made me smile and I haven't even played it much.

Awesomely un-EA like.

[CeeKay]

Railworks 3 Rain video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nX5StDRP_EM

[CeeKay]

almost forgot the update is supposed to be out today, may have to fire this up obver the weekend to check out the new prettiness.

[Alefroth]

almost forgot the update is supposed to be out today, may have to fire this up obver the weekend to check out the new prettiness.

Mine wouldn't start after the upgrade. Haven't looked into it at all yet.

Ale

[baelthazar]

Thanks for the reminder Ceekay. I'm away from my PC but I'll be sure to look at the new one when I get back. The old version was quite pretty, and I just now got a logitech g13 keypad that I plan to keymap to make the game a lot easier to play.