Sid Meiers Railroad

[Repairman_Jack]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Yes but Repairman, the whole thing about trains is getting from point A to point B, which is what pathfinding is, and they didn't get that one right.

It really does seem odd.

You can get from Point A to Point B without any problem. It's just when you start screwing around with switches and multiple trains on the same track that the game can get loopy. I actually didn't know it was a problem until people started bringing it up. I NEVER put more than one train on a track at a time, and almost always use dedicated lines. And when I didn't, I still never really saw any problems with the trains. -Shrug-

I do know that there's a patch being released on Friday afternoon that fixes at least 85% of the CTDs that have been reported to them through MS reporting, though, and they believe it'll probably fix almost all of them. That should make some of the crash-happy people a little happier. I'm just hoping they fix the industry glitch in there, too.

[FrostyBoy]

Willem: The engine they are using is the same as Civ4's (I forget the name of it); there should be a bunch of xml files which you can edit to change the scaling size of the graphics and also adjust the growth rate of the cities.

You should be able to remove those modern buildings as well.

Repairman, you say dedicated lines work fine, well if thats the case, then maybe I shall give it a go without waiting for the patch, I can live with single trains on single tracks for now. And I would like to adjust the xml files (if at all possible!).

[Dale]

Originally posted by Repairman_Jack


You can get from Point A to Point B without any problem. It's just when you start screwing around with switches and multiple trains on the same track that the game can get loopy. I actually didn't know it was a problem until people started bringing it up. I NEVER put more than one train on a track at a time, and almost always use dedicated lines. And when I didn't, I still never really saw any problems with the trains. -Shrug-

True, as I've said before if you create simple one-to-one networks you're fine. But as soon as you try to create a profit-maximising network you're screwed. That's why you need to be able to run multiple trains on one line. That's why signalling and switching is critical. To be able to maximise profit, and the bottom line is, that's all this game is about, making money to buy out the competitors.

In that respect, the game fails.

Also, Sid is famous for his 1996 (I think it was) quote that if there is only one logical decision, then it's not a strategy game. Well in Railroads, there is only one logical transport chain: ore --> steel --> arms/cars --> people. Once that's setup you WILL win, no question.

In that respect, the game fails as well.

So the game fails at the fundamental goal of the game (to make money faster than the AI's) AND at the goal of the genre (strategy). In my book, that's a **** game.

Dale

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by MarkG
didnt they already have the civ4 pathfinding algorithms? or was it that Soren didnt keep notes?

Soren always did like improving the AI in each patch. I guess he just wants the first few AI improvements to be easy to code.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Willem: The engine they are using is the same as Civ4's (I forget the name of it); there should be a bunch of xml files which you can edit to change the scaling size of the graphics and also adjust the growth rate of the cities.

I've looked all over for the basic graphic files, but I haven't been able to find anything, especially not in XML format. All I've been able to come up with have been for the trains and depots, not the map graphics themselves. There's a reference to graphic files in some of the XML files, but they don't exist in any folder. It looks to me like they've locked them up in a fdk file, or something like that, and I don't know how to access it. Even if I could, I don't know enough about working with dds files to be able to make any of the changes I'd like.

You should be able to remove those modern buildings as well.

Yes, that you can do. All the skyscrapers are considered large buildings and you can choose not to have any in a city. What's left are just generic buildings that would be appropriate for any time period. You can also select what types of industries appear in each scenario as well.

[Grandpa Troll]

where are these files located?

Thanks

I am a hack with a desire for scenario making, just a little tweaking here and there

Gramps

[Willem]

Originally posted by Grandpa Troll
where are these files located?

Thanks

I am a hack with a desire for scenario making, just a little tweaking here and there

Gramps

Just look for the Assets folder, they're all in there. The XML files have their own folder, you shouldn't have a problem finding it. Be sure to look in the folder titled -Scenarios- as well, there's more in there. That's where you can control the grid spacing and number of buildings in your cities, as well as what industries appear in each scenario.

I've also discovered that you can adjust the yields of all the industries in the game as well. I felt they were too high and lowered everything by 50%. It seemed a bit much having to send two large trains to a farm or Ranch just to keep up with the demand. That should reduce the congestion on the tracks as well, so you don't get as many bottlenecks. That's my main complaint with the game right now, if you start getting a complex economy happening, you inevitably end up with a gridlock.

[Grandpa Troll]

Gracias Hermano

[Willem]

Originally posted by Repairman_Jack
I do know that there's a patch being released on Friday afternoon that fixes at least 85% of the CTDs that have been reported to them through MS reporting, though, and they believe it'll probably fix almost all of them.

So where are you getting this information anyway? I've been looking around for news of a patch but I haven't seen anything. And it is Friday afternoon, Pacific time.

[Repairman_Jack]

Originally posted by Willem


So where are you getting this information anyway? I've been looking around for news of a patch but I haven't seen anything. And it is Friday afternoon, Pacific time.

From Dan Magaha in the Gamespot Railroads forum. I didn't say it was supposed to be *released* today. I said it was going to QA at 2K. It's up to them when it actually gets released.

[Repairman_Jack]

Originally posted by Willem


So where are you getting this information anyway? I've been looking around for news of a patch but I haven't seen anything. And it is Friday afternoon, Pacific time.

Crap! I DID say that. Sorry! I meant to say that it was being released for QA. My bad. They have no idea when it'll be released to the public.

Again, sorry!

[Willem]

Originally posted by Repairman_Jack
I said it was going to QA at 2K. It's up to them when it actually gets released.

In that case, I guess we can expect it two months from now. I'm getting the distinct impression that 2K needs to hire more QA staff, it always seems to take forever for them to release patches.

[Mudhut]

So - asking for advice, if I may.

Does anyone know if Railroads is out in Australia? Or expected release date?

The other thing is whether I should buy this or RRTycoon3. I've downloaded the demo, and loved it... but was really frustrated by the stupid pathfinding and the dumbed down signalling system. So I'd get those if I just went and bought RRT3 - but what else would I be giving up? Any advice much appreciated.

[snoopy369]

If you want to play with maps, they are .TGA files. Photoshop or the Gimp can open them, though I am not sure how one has to edit them in order to change the map - I think you end up with five or six 'maps' on top of each other, essentially, each showing a different part of the detail.

[Repairman_Jack]

Originally posted by Mudhut
So - asking for advice, if I may.

Does anyone know if Railroads is out in Australia? Or expected release date?

The other thing is whether I should buy this or RRTycoon3. I've downloaded the demo, and loved it... but was really frustrated by the stupid pathfinding and the dumbed down signalling system. So I'd get those if I just went and bought RRT3 - but what else would I be giving up? Any advice much appreciated.

There's a lot of fixes coming in the patch that address the path finding and AI... Not the signaling as far as I know, but that might get addressed down the road.

As far as what you're giving up, it's really a totally different game than RRT3. RRT3 is a much more complex, yet slow paced, game. There's a lot of meat to that game. Railroads is all about being quick and simple. It's certainly not a bad thing (I like Railroads MUCH more than the RRT series), but it depends on the type of game you're looking for. My recommendation is to try the RRT3 demo, too.