The future of Open Rails

[The-Technocrat]

I completely agree, Brandon. There have been some great steps forward with Monogame and Reshade, but it still doesn't approach what DTG has achieved in their game engines.

On a parallel path, we need to be encouraging the next generation of route builders and model makers. Guys like Pete and Erick have been showing what's possible and are even sharing their source in some cases, which is huge for those who want to learn Blender. Every week I see someone asking for a new variation of a GEVO, but I don't see those folks asking for the tools or skills to build them. That conversation needs to happen, and for those of you who are actively building, PLEASE write about it here so that there are people to share that. Jerry Sullivan's been doing that with his route progress updates, and I'll be doing likewise as my development sprints pick up again over the winter.

As long as we're talking about route building.... Something I've noticed with the routes that seem to be selling quite well in the DTG world... short routes....

I'm talking 15-60 miles with seriously decent scenery. That seems to be a sweet spot for folks with limited time, and it should be an easy go for route builders. Some of us can build 15 miles in a day or two. We do ourselves no favors by coming up with 300+ mile routes that never quite get finished.

Yeah, I know. I'm one of those who have multiple routes with over 300 miles of track, but when I have time to rune one, my favorite is still the IRM followed by switching on Packerland (not released).... things I can spend 30-60 minutes doing and then walk away from.

Last point on the band wagon... we can limp along on TSRE for a few more years, but we really need an editor that follows the same development standards, and can serve as a jumping off point for developing routes with new file formats and data structures.. We still don't have one from the OR Development Team, nor have I really been satisfied with any of the commentary back from the ORMT when the questions have been posed.

Every three to four weeks on the somewhat private team development forum, there's a request from the ORMT asking if there's a topic for the steering committee to discuss. Be sure to let them know your thoughts. It may not result in immediate action, but it does get some attention.

I agree with most of what you have said (Although, I do feel that a combination of highly scenic short routes as well as a sprinkling of detailed long routes will work really well). I am asking this question to you here because I am unsure as to where I can ask it on this site, can you direct me to certain informative links/videos which can act as a guide on making high quality rolling stock and scenery objects for MSTS/Open Rails? I am planning to start using my modelling and design skills to make realistic routes (mostly Indian Railway routes) with high quality scenery objects as well as high quality, realistic looking rolling stock for OR. I have never done this before but I want to try and contribute at least a tiny bit to improve OR. Can you point me towards reliable learning sources? Sorry if this was too difficult to read as English is not my native language.

[The-Technocrat]

I feel like the physics are always going to be tweaked again and again, that is one of the strongest suits of this game after all. Got a guy over on the trainsimcommunity site doing an excellent job at that.

Something I see is that newcomers have a harder time trying to get all this stuff to actually work and spend more time doing that than playing the actual game. I've gotten a few into the game and a lot of the time they would just have to download 20 sound and cab files because the original model was aliased to the MSTS sounds or whatnot. I feel like some sort of "common" download that includes sorts of replacements for default stuff so newer players have less time trying to get things to work. (Hopefully, that makes sense to some?).

Agree with the part about just getting the game setup to work properly. It takes ages to just do all of that instead of playing the activity.

[The-Technocrat]

The first step towards the eye candy aspect of things would be dynamic lighting. Station and trains at night look so dull and boring. Night activities are genuinely unfavorable.
I know, achieving the level of DTG or TSW would be difficult and will take time (who knows, maybe I'd grow up one day and move on with my life). It would have been nice to enjoy beautiful lighting as a teenager.
But that's my stuff. I really wish the coming youth gets to enjoy the legacy of OR as well as the new features.
No matter what other sims I play, OR will always take the first place in my heart. ❤️
Why? My entire childhood was OR. Yes, that PC was old and laggy, but OR ran fine on it. That feeling I used to get in my childhood getting the vibes of train travel can NEVER match the feeling I get today playing DTG.

I'll always stand up for OR. 🥳
Let it not die. 🙂

Very True! Dynamic lighting is the way to go! I am that odd duck who loves train journeys at night. There is always an air of mystery to them. Driving a night time sleeper train is always a lot of fun. But if OR got dynamic lighting, that experience would be so much more amazing!

[BrandonS261]

Thank you so much for your prospective because I completely agree with you! Being that we are both younger and see how the train simulator games are going along with technology ORTS is way far behind in many aspects and the main reason I started this thread to try and wake a few people up in the community who seem to be so called old school and not up with the times!

Brandon

[superheatedsteam]

I agree with most of what you have said (Although, I do feel that a combination of highly scenic short routes as well as a sprinkling of detailed long routes will work really well). I am asking this question to you here because I am unsure as to where I can ask it on this site, can you direct me to certain informative links/videos which can act as a guide on making high quality rolling stock and scenery objects for MSTS/Open Rails? I am planning to start using my modelling and design skills to make realistic routes (mostly Indian Railway routes) with high quality scenery objects as well as high quality, realistic looking rolling stock for OR. I have never done this before but I want to try and contribute at least a tiny bit to improve OR. Can you point me towards reliable learning sources? Sorry if this was too difficult to read as English is not my native language.

Check out the 2 pdf files at Pete's github.

https://github.com/pwillard/ebook-ORTSBCCN/tree/main

Create a new thread if you have problems or questions and someone is sure to help.

Hope this helps you.

Cheers,

Marek.

[The-Technocrat]

Check out the 2 pdf files at Pete's github.

https://github.com/pwillard/ebook-ORTSBCCN/tree/main

Create a new thread if you have problems or questions and someone is sure to help.

Hope this helps you.

Cheers,

Marek.

Thank You for this Marek. It may come really in handy.

Regards,
Ad

[The-Technocrat]

Thank you so much for your prospective because I completely agree with you! Being that we are both younger and see how the train simulator games are going along with technology ORTS is way far behind in many aspects and the main reason I started this thread to try and wake a few people up in the community who seem to be so called old school and not up with the times!

Brandon

Well done on that, honestly. ORTS seems to have a lot of potential which is still untapped. Who knows, maybe your thread will actually get the ball rolling. (I am not sure if you were replying to me by the way.

Regards,
Ad

[singhsumit]

With the advent of Sim Rail, I see no future in Open Rails.
😅

[BrandonS261]

Thanks! I just feel Open Rails has so much more potential then what people give it credit for. Like I said before most of this community are older folks and I would like to see younger people get involved as well so we can keep Open Rails alive for years to come.

[BrandonS261]

With the advent of Sim Rail, I see no future in Open Rails.
😅

Sim Rail is totally different then Open Rails and will end up becoming just another sim that you have to pay for everything you want to download where Open Rails does have the advantage as there is a bunch of stuff you can download for free!

Brandon

[R. Steele]

I agree Brandon, the member is just engaged in "yanking our train" 😄 --- the comparison is farfetched.

[BrandonS261]

There are so many different aspects to the Train Sim community that Open Rails has not even started to dabble in and yes Open Rails will NEVER be done and will always need improvements as time goes on to keep up with the times. I will give the ORTS management team and coders huge props for what they have accomplished so far but it has a very long ways to go until we get to the current standards of today's technology!

Open Rails does have potential but it takes many people involved to make it work. The nice thing I really like about Open Rails and why I have stuck with MSTS/Open Rails is the fact it is still easy to modify files, make sound sets and repaints.

That all being said it took me an extremely long time until I decided to switch over to strictly Open Rails because I still liked some of the features that MSTS had like the way smoke reacted on steam locomotives along with a few other aspects that Open Rails still has not figured out quite yet or has just pushed it off to the side.

Now route building is a different question all together! Yes right now route building is manageable. However it still needs a lot of work in that department and we really need a new editor for Open Rails! Myself being a route builder, YES TSRE gets the job done for now but many aspects are missing from it and we truly need new editors if Open Rails is going to be successful.

Some stuff that has been mentioned in the past I feel would be easy to add yet the Open Rails team does not seem very interested in doing so. Here are a few things I am talking about.

1. Improved Water and sky textures- Multiple water and sky textures for a route.
2. Improved Smoke and Steam for Steam Locomotives- Smoke and Steam separate instead of the same ACE file
3. More then one light Cone for a locomotive
4. Dynamic Weather- We are getting there but still needs a lot of work
5. Dynamic lighting
6. Multiple whistles/Horns for locomotives
7. Streamline Game Setup like I have mentioned earlier along with a New To Open Rails version
8. Update the Menu Layout. This would include a full screen layout instead of the little box we have now when we open up the program. To me Open Rails the way it looks right now when you open it looks very cheap and not very appealing to the eye at all. Yes it is somewhat organized but I feel we can do better!

I am not trying to knock the ORTS development team at all or the ORTM team because they have done some great things for Open Rails over the years all I am saying is these things DO need improvement and many of us feel as if we are preaching to the choir some times and not being heard by the ones who are doing the coding or managing of Open Rails. I mean how many times do we need to keep bringing these things up over and over again until we are heard? That is why I feel many have already left the community and gone off to other train simulators!

Brandon

[singhsumit]

Free stuffs is not as good as paid stuff.

[Unoriginal]

Not really, there's some free stuff that can be better than most paid stuff (3d cabs for one).

I know a few who play open rails while playing other sims, heck some even prefer ORTS to other games like trainz and TSC/TSW. I do agree the game could look better.
If you want a better skybox and better water textures for routes, use Scott Brunner's items. They improve those by a lot.

[The-Technocrat]

I haven't built a route yet for ORTS but is it possible for the route builder to have some features similar to Trainz's surveyor/route builder? It looks easier.

There are a few Indian route makers and rolling stock makers for ORTS who make some really great quality stuff but they do not seem to be interested in joining this community. They are currently happy with selling their products in an ad-hoc way to customers through personal transactions. Anyway, they seem to have made some progress in terms of different terrain and water textures.