RE: (erielack) Microsoft Train Simulator

["Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)" <paultup_@_lucent.com>]

Hank,

> Thank you for the MSTS news.  I'm just curious to know how 
> many members on
> the list have a computer that comes near the spec your demo 
> had, or are
> about to buy one?  TM4 was a great disappointment performance 
> wise.  And I
> suspect unless you own close to what Paul saw the demo on, 
> it's going to be
> a slide show performance.  My 500Mhz/128 notebook with a 
> decent graphics
> accelerator still has annoying screen shudder with TM4 on 
> medium quality
> settings.  M$ aimed this product at gamers, not railfans.  I 
> hope for our
> sake that strategy works.

Actually, the product manager claims that they realize many railfans might
not have high-end machines, and it is completely scalable. I'll believe it
when I see it, but you *do* need a graphics accelerator as a minimum.


 
> (Paul, was the demo running on Windows9x , MEd or Windows 
> 2000 which is NT
> by any other name.)

It was running on Windows 2000.

 
> I worry a bit about the editor and its usability.  TM4's 
> route editor takes
> programming professionals at least 4 hours per track mile to 
> write.  I know
> this because I looked into editing routes for them.  If I 
> understand the M$
> prerelease hype correctly, 'homemade' routes will have 
> extremely limited 3D
> capability. And they will offer no support for the editor add on.

I'm not sure what you mean by "extremely limited." It seemed fairly advanced
to me. It also appears there's a good learning curve, but not
insurmountable. Plus, there are enough beta testers who are familiar with it
that you should be able to find someone to help if you get stuck....


 
> We all hope for accuracy in the virtual scene, but if Paul 
> saw NEC color
> position light signals in WT district: that's wrong.  Unless 
> they've been
> changed very recently, the CPL's in WT are Baltimore and Ohio 
> style.  IMHO,
> correct signals are just as important as plunking down the 
> right tender
> behind a steam loco.
> But, I will have to concede, something is better than nothing.


I'm not sure about the accuracy of that, but I know that you can customize
EVERYTHING in this game (I think you can even design signals!).....

	- Paul

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