Shareware/Freeware Simulator?
- Thread starter TimePeace
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Nathanael
Guest
Are you looking for a "cab view" style game? I don't know of any of those. I know about transportation network simulators, and at least two dispatching simulators.
TimePeace
Disillusioned.
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Thanks... - well I was looking for a train driver one... and I found Trainz Driver for Android which works pretty well on my tablet. I decided that for now it's better on the tablet than on a computer, since I have the tablet with me most of the time and I can "play" it whenever I want. It is fun, although a bit tricky at first... I am just going through the tutorials now.
Any comments from users of this one? I know there is a Windows version as well...
PerRock
Engineer
Trainz is a very good rail simulator, and is the one I regularly use. However Trainz Driver is basically the demo version allowing you to drive a select few trains on a select few routes. If if buy the full PC (or Mac) version you will have access to the Download Station, which has hundreds of thousands of addition content as well as the ability to make your own or download content from 3rd party websites such army own: www.amtraktrainz.com
Here in the states Trainz is overshadowed by the quite old now Microsoft Train Simulator. MSTS has a lot of free content available, however it is quite old and uses out of date programming.
Also available is Kuju's Rail Simulator, which has pretty graphics, but is harder to use in general and most add-on content is payware.
To sum up, Trainz is best as a flexible simulator (easy to add-on to) MSTS is considered to have the best train-driving physics, and Kuju has the prettiest graphics; although being a Trainz man myself I would argue that you can get as good as Kuju graphics in Trainz.
Peter
PS. There is also a WIP spinoff of MSTS called Open Rails, you can get it for free, but it is still being developed and so is missing some major bits (last I heard they were having trouble getting headlights to work).
Here in the states Trainz is overshadowed by the quite old now Microsoft Train Simulator. MSTS has a lot of free content available, however it is quite old and uses out of date programming.
Also available is Kuju's Rail Simulator, which has pretty graphics, but is harder to use in general and most add-on content is payware.
To sum up, Trainz is best as a flexible simulator (easy to add-on to) MSTS is considered to have the best train-driving physics, and Kuju has the prettiest graphics; although being a Trainz man myself I would argue that you can get as good as Kuju graphics in Trainz.
Peter
PS. There is also a WIP spinoff of MSTS called Open Rails, you can get it for free, but it is still being developed and so is missing some major bits (last I heard they were having trouble getting headlights to work).
TimePeace
Disillusioned.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,166
Thanks for the reply. Trainz Driver is indeed limited as I am finding out... and I think, even though I like the tablet's portability, that the controls are limited and not nearly as quickly responding as they'd be on a laptop. I just have to decide if I am going to keep up enough interest to learn the more complete version, and spend some money on it.
In the Windows version, are the controls adequate using mouse and keystrokes, or would it be siginificantly better to use a joystick or other game controller device?
Thanks again.
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PerRock
Engineer
most people use a keyboard to control. there are 2 ways of controlling trains in Trainz (TRS) so it varies. If you want the best control simulation, I would buy a RailDriver: http://www.raildriver.com/
peter
peter
Swadian Hardcore
Engineer
I would also suggest taking a look at BVE, it's a nice Japanese simulator and is mostly subways and regional MUs. Trainz is a nice simulator, though. My favourite is Railworks but you must pay for that one.
