Trainz, fully Trainz Railroad Simulator or (in Britain) Trainz Railway Simulator, is a 3D computer game and train simulator created by Australian games developer Auran. The game was rated fairly well by the gaming community. It received an average of 7.6 on Gamespot [1], and an average of 6.8 on IGN [2].
 A screenshot of Trainz 2004 in Driver mode, showing third-party British rolling stock. | |
| Developer(s) | Auran |
|---|---|
| Stable release | Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 (Trainz 2.5)
/ September 2005 |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux |
| Type | Simulation |
| Website | http://www.auran.com/TRS2006/ |
Concept
The game is divided into four modules: Driver, Surveyor, Scenarios, and Railyard.
Modules
- Surveyor is the route editor. Here, the user can shape and 'paint' the landscape, lay tracks, and place buildings, scenery and trains. Users can create their own routes as well.
- Driver takes the scene created in Surveyor and allows the user to operate the trains. There are two methods of manual control: DCC mode which simulates the simple stop-and-go of a model railway, or Cab mode, which simulates real-world physics. Alternatively, the trains can be given instructions and driven by the computer, or known as "scheduling".
- Scenarios are pre-scripted activities which let you go through a specific set of challenges, such as getting your passengers to their destinations on schedule, or switching rail cars in a rail yard without damaging the cargo.
- Railyard (known as My Collection in earlier versions of the game) is a virtual trainshed where the user can view locomotives and rolling stock, and sometimes their description.
An additional 'module' is the external program Paintshed, which is a simple program for recolouring Trainz locomotives and other rolling stock. Paintshed has been included with Trainz since version 1.5.
Trainz has a large content creation community who use modelling software such as Gmax to create additional scenery and rolling stock models for use in the game. The more recent versions of Trainz include a lot of third-party content; registered owners of the game can download third-party content and upload their own creations via the Trainz website.
Community Involvement
Auran have, on a number of occasions, involved community members in the development of Trainz, via their online forums. Some of the community initiatives have included:
- File:Trainz LBTG icon.gif The Language Beta Translation Group was set up in 2003 to translate Trainz 2004 into the many versions it was going to be released as. The lengthy translation were never used.
- File:Trainz CCG icon.gif The Content Creation Group (part of the beta testing group) was created for Trainz 2004 so that more regional content was to be included in the game. The group was a success with much of the new content in TRS 2004 and TRS 2006 having been created by the CCG.
- File:Trainz TotR icon.gif Trainz on the Road was a program to demonstrate and sell Trainz at model railway and computer shows. The TotR concept is a success in the way that the community itself organised shows to promote the game. Auran rewarded demonstrators with premium access to its DLS facilities.
- File:Trainz FCT icon.gif The First Class Ticket is an option of paying for a DLS service that operates at a faster speed (much faster downloads).
Auran's Download Station (DLS) offers a huge number of additional items for the various versions of Trainz created by users. This facility is free of charge to purchasers of the program (unless an FCT is activated, see above).
A large number of third-party web sites have been created which offer additional items for Trainz created by groups of enthusiasts, together with a wealth of technical information and assistance. Many of these web sites have discussion forums. Some sites offer their creations free of charge, some suggest that a voluntary donation is made (often bringing additional benefits) and some sell items commercially.
Version History
- Trainz version 1.0 (The Community Edition) was released in December 2001.
- Trainz 1.0 had four service packs released during 2002, the last of which was for non-English versions only. Thus the original version is commonly known as Trainz 1.3.
- Ultimate Trainz Collection (UTC or Trainz 1.5) was released in November 2002.
- Trainz Railroad (or Railway in the UK) Simulator 2004 (TRS 2004 or Trainz 2.0) was released in September 2003.
- TRS 2004 had four service packs released throughout 2004 and 2005.
- Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 (TRS 2006, Trainz 2.5) is the main version available and was released in September 2005. In Germany, it was published by Bluesky-Interactive, and called ProTrain Perfect, instead of TRS2006.
- Trainz Railroad Simulator 2007 (Trainz 2007) is the latest version of the game available. It is published by Anuman Interactive and was released in November 2006. The game exists in two versions, Standard which consists of Trainz 2006 with service packs applied and bug fixes and Gold which also includes addon packs. [3][4]
- Trainz Driver Edition (TDE) is a cut-down version of TRS2006 sold in the USA.[citation needed]
- Trainz Classics will be a series of versions of TRS2006 with additional layouts etc.[citation needed]
- A version for Mac OS X is in the testing phase as of April 2006. It is expected to be officially released soon. A Linux version is in the early planning phases.[citation needed]
Future of the series
It has been discussed on the Trainz forums what path the series will take. Auran has announced that it is likely for Trainz to be broken up into an even more detailed simulator, hypothetically named Rail Simulator Pro, and spin-off products to be created, such as a Railroad Tycoon-like business management game, among others. [citation needed]
External links
- Official Trainz forum
- Trainz2006 website
- Trainz2004 website
- Trainz website
- A Brief History of Trainz with images of the box cover art to help identify the many published versions.