American Content or Lack Thereof

[CPTrainman59R]

I agree with MsSheare. There is no shortage of information here, but a lot of programmers I guess are upset of too much disrespect of their work. I have found after a little searching that their is enough information about Canadian Steam that almost makes my plans useless and yet they complain of nothing to work with & I presume walk away. Just one example.

Rick

[CPTrainman59R]

As far as hackers & cheaters as MsSheares mentioned I don't know how some of the payware companies continue. Example "DW" all of whoe's payware library is downloadable for free. Train Sim programmers are not the only ones, Example I have a friend who is a well known & liked Author of a series of vampire ebooks, based in Toronto, ON - Lynsay Sands - who's entire payware series of Ebooks is downloadable free on the internet.
pretty discouraging.
Rick

[lateagain]

As far as hackers & cheaters as MsSheares mentioned I don't know how some of the payware companies continue. Example "DW" all of whoe's payware library is downloadable for free. Train Sim programmers are not the only ones, Example I have a friend who is a well known & liked Author of a series of vampire ebooks, based in Toronto, ON - Lynsay Sands - who's entire payware series of Ebooks is downloadable free on the internet.
pretty discouraging.
Rick

Perhaps there are enough folk like me who understand why supporting payware is a good idea? Piracy and Rip-offs have been around for centuries ...and yet some folk seem surprised about that. The one thing that a few folk round here got wrong in my opinion, is that they withdrew everything from the GOOD guys ....which of course had NO effect on the bad guys AND will have driven some of the "Not so good guys" to search for stuff on the torrent and pirate sites.

I deplore these parasites. BUT you don't beat them by hurting those who DO support you

Back on topic.... It has to be said that many of the older supporters and contributors to the Sim have moved on (in many ways) and the more adventurous may have looked to create stuff for newer sims. What is really needed is some newer models of older stuff. There are a good few reskinners who are frustrated by older models? As for activities there are a few excellent programmes out there and a few acts created using them have been uploaded. However there has been little enthusiasm in the forums for these and many are reluctant to pay for utilities even though they may spend on stock and routes.

[MsSheare]

I can say this and i will be honest, one of the most talented people I have met on here is Pete Abrams. He is teaching me about FA and shape files granted I am a slow learner so yes it will take me some times to master. But Pete has sent me one of the best looking F45 i have ever seen. He did a major over haul of the locomotive top to bottom. I want to get to the level he is at. along with a few others who I greatly admire. I made some big mistakes here and I have paid for them. I will not make those mistakes again.

But as has been pointed out many have moved on. New models are needed but how many more SD70 ACE units Tier 4 3 2 1 GE do we need? We have many SD45 and SD40 but how many are original without ditch lights some were just set to a particular railroad. I know DW did a bunch of SP units they look great would love to get them but can't.

We really need new GP units and early U boats there is hardly anything for GP 35 38 40 without cog wheels. Many of the talent migrated over to RW or just vanished, sadly some passed away. The creators are there they are just not vocal anymore and are keeping a low key.

I love SLI/TS products they do a great job so do the others and to those who keep making new stuff.

[drelyea]

Hi,

And maybe some new models of old stuff we don't have?



Electric flashers on a wooden 30d Crossbuck. Who knew?



Looks to be an AREA / Reading RR NE caboose on a bobber frame, possibly the Belvidere and Delaware RR who was bought up by the PRR and became their Bel-Del division.



Take your pick. The large Brownhoists unloading the large turn of the century Lake boat, the smaller Brownhoist unloading the smaller lake boat next to the rail cars, the Erie RR triple hopper in that paint, the Erie RR 3 truck wooden side dump gondola.



I would settle for the 50 ton capacity Pressed Steel Co. Iron Ore car ( I can make the rest as an FA ) Lehigh and Hudson River had 24 of the 50 ton, as well as 25 of the 40 ton capacity model. This particular car was used at New Jersey Zinc's Franklin NJ mine and processor.



Hmm, that's probably September 1917 for the build date. Hadn't heard of the Blue and Grey CSX drying up and blowing away. Cool huh?, a rail car over 100 years old lettered CSX. {Cue the twilight zone theme}

Doug Relyea

[lateagain]

LOL! well yep they certainly aren't in the library!

Apart from stuff that's NEVER been modelled I was thinking of newer models of old models already in the library which were made to suit the ability of the hardware and software of their creation date to actually run at all . You know the stuff I mean? 2D trucks, 512 textures, block couplers, no brake pipes, no windows etc.etc.

It's not that many of these weren't FAR superior to the default stock it's just that folk seem to shy away from redoing anything that's already been done .

There's SO much that's missing or only just being created, especially from the transition era.

[pwillard]

You have a point... Its why I'm starting to revisit work I did in 2002.

[sburr]

Have to agree on this one as well. There's a lot of routes, rolling stock, locos and otherwise that were done early on, and were very good for their time that are worth redoing and upgrading. There's also still much that hasn't been done as well. Yeah, things have slowed down somewhat, but I'm still very thankful for what we have and the talent that's on display here.

[opskeeper]

[/QUOTE] I would settle for the 50 ton capacity Pressed Steel Co. Iron Ore car ( I can make the rest as an FA ) Lehigh and Hudson River had 24 of the 50 ton, as well as 25 of the 40 ton capacity model. This particular car was used at New Jersey Zinc's Franklin NJ mine and processor.



Hmm, that's probably September 1917 for the build date. Hadn't heard of the Blue and Grey CSX drying up and blowing away. Cool huh?, a rail car over 100 years old lettered CSX. {Cue the twilight zone theme}

Doug Relyea[/QUOTE]

I am all for this one... 50 Ton Ore car much needed. There was whole life of the Iron Ore trade before Taconite came around.
I think this hobby will be OK, if they can come up with a way to get the OR Engine Dynamics settled. If there is one thing I would not have a problem paying for is good set of Or Engine dynamics. I have been following the posts, but they sound like Professor Irwin Correy or Sheldon Cooper talking. I know that is what is holding me up for doing more with OR. I am too old to spend my time calculating engine physics. Good thing though is Erick is back, been a big fan of his work for TS /FS for years.

Stefan

[wcl]

I was going to ask this same thing that now all you see in the F/L is Indian stuff and stuff that is non American any more....I recall back in the day when MSTS was hopping with new stuff almost everyday with great content, I guess a lot of people have summed it up and I guess at times this sim seems to almost be dead....Just wish some of the bigger content makers like SLI/Train Simulations or DW make some new stuff...But its almost to a point on what else can be made for locos....Some new routes would be nice to see done by SLI/Train Simulations but one can only wait and hope for something good to come out....I was wondering also if others had other places they were uploading stuff that I was missing out on but now I see that I haven't been missing out and things are just slowing down a lot...Hopefully it makes a turn around and a come back and more US content will be made in the near future........................And that's all I have to say, about that....

[drelyea]

Hi,

Two more on the "Don't have" and I'll stop



Hall or 'Banjo' signals. Beside the Reading RR, the Erie had these on their Erie and Wyoming Division.



From this dainty Reading 0-4-0, thru the L&NE and CNJ 0-8-0's to the Erie's 0-8-8-0's (they had 3), not 1 Freight Camelback. Built to run on the culm from the Anthracite mines, to keep up steam pressure they required the oversize firebox.

Hi Geoff, I thought that's what you meant, improved models of things already made, but I thought this a good opportunity to present that for some, we don't have it all.

Hi Stefan, Yes, it is interesting how today the 1830-1930 Iron and Steel industry of the US Middle Atlantic. and North Central States is overlooked if it does not involve taconite.

Beside he who should not be named, there have been other issues that have deflated this niche. Promised two improvements to the original MSTS that never arrived in the US. Other piracy for the sake of Instant Gratification, and Cred on YouTube and 4 Chan.

It's like any other technology, some will use it for good, some will use it for bad.

Like McSheare, I plan to keep chipping at this until I can no longer. ( the Centennial of the ICC Val maps is next year, I've been around for 3/5's of that. )

For those who think they know or seen it all, I offer two topics for when you have a free moment or might be bored. 8 and 40 (as relates to post WW II) and Owney (as relates to the US Railway Mail Service) Stuff that showed up after the first page of hits on Google.

Doug Relyea

[TrainSimulations]

Hi folks,

This is an interesting topic. I know that I can tell you that we do have some new stuff, routes included, on the way. Things are different today, for sure. I began building content for MSTS in the summer of 2001. At that time, you could build anything and someone would want it. Unfortunately, the market has dwindled so much that it is a labor of love now. That said, I can assure you that TS will keep building new content. In fact, we have a new route that's getting closer to completion. It is designed, from the ground up as an Open Rails route, so I am excited to see how it will be received. From a commercial vendors position, MSTS/OR sales aren't nearly where they could be. I can understand MSTS sales going away, but it's a shame that Open Rails hasn't experienced more growth. We can only hope.

Cheers,
Jason@TrainSimulations

[ebnertra000]

"Be the change you wish to see in the World"

Gandhi was on to something there. I have, as it stands, three routes in the works, only one of which I've really talked about, as the others are still in very early stage-construction. The one I have posted about has garnered almost no attention...but that's okay - I'm still enjoying myself in building it. If a bunch of would-be content creators look around and see the diminished activity as a disincentive to creating content, the hobby will not last long. If you enjoy it, do it, and it will likely be snapped up

[muskokaandtahoe]

I can understand MSTS sales going away, but it's a shame that Open Rails hasn't experienced more growth. We can only hope.

Cheers,
Jason@TrainSimulations

IMO because w/ rare exception, there is no OR content, only MSTS content. OR cannot grow w/o new, OR specific content and that won't happen w/o significant changes: A new world file design, a new shape file format (probably an extension to .s), adoption of Include() file standards to name just three issues.


A comment about our Indian pals... I'm sure from their perspective a lot of them thought this is a really cool game... except for all that North American content.... As for why the growth of Indian content occurred in the last 5-6 years instead of at the beginning of MSTS... my guess is that as a large developing country the middle class hadn't reached a point where lots of families could afford both computers and the internet. Perhaps that occurred in recently years.

[eric]

I think onto something with the timing, Dave, but I suspect there was also a word of mouth component from their railfan community.

The payware sims don't create Indian content, but since it's possible to make it easily using the MSTS file formats, that's influencing what's in the file library.