Trainz

Trainz, also known as the Trainz Railroad Simulator or (in Britain Since 2006) Trainz Railway Simulator or (since 2009) Trainz Simulator, is a family of 3D train simulator computer games created by Australian games developer N3V Games (previously Auran), and which exploits (today) an interactive internet community sharing resources, and able to send consists (trains) transcontinentally, as well as construct and share game resources. The game has been released in several earlier versions, including localized ones with landmark major (eponymously named) releases being Trainz, TRS2004, TRS2006, TS2009 {from 2001 ("Trainz") to 2009}, and "Trainz Simulator 2010 - Engineers Edition" Trainz 2010 - Engineers Edition is currently the latest instalment in the franchise, which was released on Auran's online store in late 2009, and worldwide retail on DVD throughout 2010.

Overview
The Trainz simulator user interface and its various modes of operation is designed with the model railroading enthusiast in mind rather than the lay purchaser who believes the idea of model railroading is to emulate the "toy train" circular railway bought in the box from a department store—though elements of that "layout style" and play possibilities in that simple mode are certainly achievable—indeed moreover, are common experiences in "Surveyor" mode/user-interface as one tests out newly laid route track, routing, turn tightness, yard operations, signals, interactive industries and so forth before decorating a 'route' and adding newly defined and saved 'Driver' scenarios. The Trainz emulation offers that simplistic mode even on a newly laid undecorated 'layout' ("Route" ) one can put together in less time it takes to set up said store-bought toy trains. In Trainz parlence, such a trial play would take place from within the construction mode called "Surveyor", most often as a test as implied. In the Auran's "DRIVER" instead, Trainz offers a far more in depth experience, one much more like that the dedicated hobbyists have enjoyed having spent thousands of dollars and invested hundreds of hours in designing routes, building tables, adding sculpted terrain, laying finicky track, constructing scale models from scratch and by kits, modeling scale industries within the terrain, purchasing and tuning-up dozens of pricey cars, pricier locomotives, then spent hours more playing with the scenario mimicking real railway operations at scale sizes. Trainz offers all that and more without the need to get dust up ones nose, paint off the kitchen table, or expensive materials, model cars, and electrical devices—all working without need for finicky mechanical tweaks or even wiring.

Model railroaders have several focii: some like modeling real world railways, their rolling stock, locations, routes, and so forth almost to obsessive amounts of details—spending time faithfully replicating a building built a certain place a certain year, and so forth. Amongst those are those focused on big picture amiability, or decorating the environment, mock towns, surrounding countryside, and so forth in pretty fall colors, or stark winter bleakness. Others prefer "Operations"— running a train region— performing task oriented individual operations (switching out cars to and from a siding for a particular series of industries, and so forth whilst coping with and avoiding other nearby rail traffic, etc.)

The various Trainz simulators offer all that and more immediately in canned scenarios ("Driver sessions") from those which mimic limited home hobbyist operations scenarios with a space limited layout ("Routes", meaning a mapped virtual layout not limited to one's basement) of only a few industries and some connecting track with one or two operators stations to model train club sized banquet-hall sized layouts incorporating dozens of operator stations, tens of trains, and many interactive industries. Additionally, the simulations allow one to build up a dream railway, or model a real world railway from nothing with tools and object libraries which are extensible and to begin with, extensive as well.

Auran's simulations allows one to operate from inside the virtual cab of the locomotive or inside a car (wagon), view the passing consists from trackside, follow above or around outside the train facing any direction, or go haring off 'flying' above the virtual world surface independent of one's train or trains. Obedient helper drivers, robots of sorts can be given directives and aid in operations of the larger, much more capable and complicated scenarios. Online archives supported by a plethora of dedicated hobby web sites can be used to download new content (building, models of a railways particular rolling stock, etc.) and extensions.

Concept
The game is divided into modules: Driver, Surveyor, and Railyard, and in some versions, Scenarios.

In game 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, along with sessions (TRS 2004 and later only) to go with them.


 * 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 Cabin mode, which simulates real-world physics. Alternatively, the trains can be given instructions and driven by the computer (Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 and later only). This is known as "scheduling". Also in TRS 2004 and later, in order to use driver you would have to use Sessions. These are very similar to scenarios, and take the place of simply putting a consist together of certain vehicles and then rolling it out onto any route at any point. To do this now, you would have to create a new session from the Surveyor.


 * Routes: Since the release of Trainz Simulator 2010, the Surveyor and Driver modes were merged to the Routes section. The list of routes which are locally installed is first shown before the list of sessions which are associated with the selected route.


 * Scenarios Trainz version 1.3, Ultimate Trainz Collection, Trainz 2004 and Trainz Simulator 2010 have Scenarios, which are pre-scripted activities which allow the user to go through a specific set of challenges, such as getting passengers to their destinations on schedule, or switching rail cars in a rail yard without damaging the cargo. In Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 (TRS 2006) and all later versions, the scenario feature was merged the driver module, where scenario-like activities called sessions could be run. Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 (TRS 2004) also had sessions in the driver module, but the main scenarios had much more advanced programming that did not allow cheating in-game by changing around driver schedules, making timetables easier in the surveyor, and other things. This makes TRS 2006 and later versions more like freeform games than the previous games in that scenarios would be easier, but less like freeform because the only way to play is now by using a scenario unless you create another one for every possible situation you want to drive.


 * Railyard (known as My Collection in Ultimate Trainz Collection (UTC) and earlier versions of the game) is a virtual trainshed where the user can view locomotives and rolling stock, and use some functions of the locomotives. (UTC and later only), and view the trains' descriptions.

External modules

 * Paintshed 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 but is not included with TS 2009.


 * Content Manager Another module is the Content Manager program. This program allows management of the in-game files far easier including full descriptions, a photo, the last date modified, and its current state. It also made downloads easier by placing objects in their proper files. It also made it easier for content creators, by making imports easier. TRS 2006 and Trainz Classics included the Content Manager Plus, TS 2009 included Content Manager 2.0 and TS 2010 included Content Manager 3.2 which has proven to be a more stable program than previous versions.

Trainz
Trainz: Beta version 0.9 was released in November 2001 for testing purposes. The cover art contained a quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery.

Trainz 1.3
(December 2001, also known as Community Edition.)
 * Trainz 1.3 service packs released during from 2002, the last of which was for non-English versions only. Thus the USA version is commonly known as Trainz 1.0.

Trainz 1.3.1
(January 2002, also known as Retail Edition)
 * Trainz 1.3.1 had two service packs released during 2002, the last of which was for non-English versions only. Thus the USA version is commonly known as Trainz 1.1.1.

Ultimate Trainz Collection
The Ultimate Trainz Collection series, also known by the abbreviation UTC or Trainz version 1.5, was released from 26 November 2002 in North America. This was the first edition to include the Paint Shed program and add support for RailDriver.

Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004
(September 2003, also known as Trainz Railway Simulator 2004 in the UK, TRS2004 or Trainz 2.0)
 * Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 or Trainz Railway Simulator 2004 in the UK, TRS2004 or Trainz 2.0 was released in September 2003. Trainz 2004 had four service packs released throughout 2004 and 2005. Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 was the first version of Trainz to include industries and loadable rollingstock capabilities which allowed the player to deliver various resources (such as Coal, Wood and Steel) and passengers to various industries and stations across the playable area. There were many industries included and much of the bundled rollingstock was updated to include this new capability.

Trainz 2006
(September 2005, also known as TRS2006 or Trainz 2.5)
 * Trainz 2006 was released in September 2005. In Germany, it was published by Bluesky-Interactive, and called ProTrain Perfect, instead of TRS2006.

Trainz 2007
Trainz Railroad Simulator 2007 (sometimes shortened to TRS2007) was first distributed by Anuman Interactive for sale in France, Belgium and Switzerland. There were initially two versions: the standard version which consisted of Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 with Service Pack 1 applied and the Gold edition, which included French regional add-on items. Halycon Media later distributed Trainz Railroad Simulator 2007 with German region-specific content for the British, Austrian, and Swiss market.

Trainz Classics
(July 2007, known as Trainz Railways & Trainz 2008 in the UK and US, sold bundled with Trainz Railroad Simulator 2007 as De Trainz Railways in France)

Trainz Classics (first installment of the series was released on July 9, 2007) was a series of 3 standalone programs based on Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 but with some improvements to the coding and instead of having a lot of built in content like Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006, each release instead has only one or two routes with some rolling stock and locomotives made for that route. The series attempts to focus on a particular region and point in time of the region's railway infrastructure history, for example the current release is focused on the line of Settle-Carlisle in Great Britain in the 1960s. Trainz Classics 3 was released on July 23, 2008.

Volume 1 featured a 40-mile section of the MTA-owned Metro North Harlem Line, Volume 2 featured Metropolis, using the Modula City system by the developer Trainzland, and Volume 3 featured the Settle-Carlisle Railway between Leeds & Settle. A demonstration of the route between Dent & Wharton with Garsdale & Hawes titled Hawes Junction was also included in Trainz 2006.

Trainz Classics is known for having limited backwards compatibility, due to the limited built-in content, making it hard to find and install addons, as only few have been created for Trainz Classics, and only select other content is compatible, depending on the dependencies required (for example, some routes will work because of having similar objects, but locomotives will not due to incompatibilities in the.ja files, etc.).

Trainz Simulator 2009
Trainz Simulator 2009 was released at the end of November 2008 for digital downloading via Steam (magazine), and December 2008 for boxed retail editions, and it is perhaps best viewed as a partial incremental version that demands a less powerful hardware platform and which is a preliminary step towards the fuller, richer TRAINZ 2010 which TRAINZ owners can purchase at a considerable discount.

The graphics of the simulation are much improved over the somewhat dated simpler graphics of older editions which did not require leading edge graphics capabilities. In addition, the edition supported many new features, and the improved graphics are an incremental improvement on the way to the high end graphics of Trainz 2010 (released for Christmas 2009 online). Trainz 2009 is nonetheless an attractive upgrade to prior major releases (most based on graphics extant since the original 2001 version) for train enthusiasts with dated computing hardware—minimum computer is only a Pentium IV processor and a nowadays run of the mill graphics card vice more demanding gamer computer specs needed for the 2010 full graphic update.

Its first version, Trainz Simulator 2009: World Builder Edition was released for digital download, on 27 November and the first boxed copy orders were shipped in mid December 2008—the same pattern being followed for the more major release, TRAINZ 2010. The World Builder Edition is the full version and provides all the tools to create new and improved assets for the TS2009 engine with the inclusion of Surveyor. TS2009 contains all content from all previous versions of trains, including regional ones like Trainz Simulator 2007 and 2008. These, however, were not presented in English. Their content did not show up in English either.

The second edition, Trainz Simulator 2009: Engineers Edition was due for release by the end of April, and it can be now downloaded or shipped in boxed version on Auran's web page. The Engineers Edition would have focused on driving and operating, as well as further new content. The Moniker "Engineers Edition" has subsequently been applied to the newer higher tech software in Trainz 2010.

Trainz Simulator 2010: Engineers Edition
The "Trainz Simulator 2010: Engineers Edition" was released on 23 November 2009 as a digital download and retail boxed version solely via the Auran online store. Regular retail releases became available for the various regions throughout 2010. The primary additions to this edition are the use of the SpeedTree system, graphical improvements for built-in content, and performance improvements for both custom and built-in content.

Despite being called "Engineers Edition" and focusing on the train-driving experience, the signature Surveyor module is still included. Specifications were announced 13 November 2009


 * Minimum
 * Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
 * 1GB RAM
 * Pentium D 3.4 GHz (or equivalent)
 * nVidia Geforce 7200/128MB (or equivalent)
 * 15GB Free Hard Drive Space


 * Recommended
 * Windows Vista/Windows 7 (64bit)/Windows Server 2008
 * 2GB RAM
 * Core 2 Duo (or equivalent)
 * nVidia Geforce 8600 (or equivalent)
 * 15GB Free Hard Drive Space

Regional versions

 * Trainz Railroader 2010: Engineers Edition will be a re-release of Trainz 2010 for the US market. it will be Released in July by Auran & Published by Microsoft.
 * Trainz Driver (called Trainz Driver Edition in the USA) is a version of Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 lacking the Surveyor module, having only the Driver Module, and being considered a demo for TRS 2006. It did however have different rolling stock, such as the Amtrak engines and cars, and a railroad that was previously incomplete, Marias Pass, was now complete. it is free to download only to members via Auran's Website. A review is available on V-Scaler. The UK release date was 24 February 2006.

Community involvement
Auran has, on a number of occasions, involved community members in the development of Trainz, via their online forums. Some of the community initiatives have included:


 * The Language Beta Translation Group was set up in 2003 to translate Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 into the many versions it was going to be released as. The lengthy translations were never used.
 * The Content Creation Group (part of the beta testing group) was created for Trainz Railroad Simulator 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 Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 and Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 having been created by the CCG.
 * 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 Download Station (DLS) facilities.
 * The First Class Ticket is an option of paying for a DLS service that operates at a faster speed (much faster downloads). It also removes the daily 100MB download limit.

Content creation
Content creation has been supported since the first release of Trainz. Using third party modeling programs such as Gmax, 3D Studio Max and Blender (software), community members are able to model their own assets and import them into Trainz. Members can then can then contribute to the large number of 3rd party assets made available for download through the Download Station or personal websites such as the US site Jointed Rail and the UK site United Rail

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 fora. Some sites offer their creations free of charge, some suggest that a voluntary donation is made while others sell items commercially. Many people have created all types of trains, including famous ones like Thomas the Tank Engine, LNER A4 Pacific (in silver, brunswick green, NE WW2 black, and garter blue) and the Austerity 0-6-0ST. Also, other people have created many routes (Arezzo-Stia, Cinque Terre, Zaandam/Alkmaar-Beverwijk, Polish sand railways and West from Denver)

Special hardware support
The desktop cab controller RailDriver was first supported for use in the Ultimate Trainz Collection Service Pack 1, and is also supported for all subsequent Trainz releases.