Trainz
Trainz is an ongoing series of 3D train simulator video games produced by the Australian studio N3V Games, the first installment being released in October of 2001. Each installment of the series implements realistic or fictional simulated railway operations alongside the ability to create custom maps and contains a vast collection of real-life rolling stock for the user to drive in their maps.
One of the most revered aspects of Trainz is the ability to support user-created custom content, with over millions of assets to choose from, created by thousands of members of the Trainz community. The ability to support custom content was originally introduced in Trainz 1.1.1, but was not officially marketed until the release of Trainz Driver 2.
Gameplay
In the route editor, Surveyor, the user can shape the landscape, paint with ground textures, lay tracks, and place buildings and roads. The user then operates the trains in Driver, either in free play, or according to a scenario called a Driver Session which can range in difficulty from beginner to expert. In CAB mode the train physics are more sophisticated than in DCC mode; adding real-life considerations such as wheel slip on the rails; how the weight of the consist slows acceleration and deceleration. Any train can be given directions to be driven by the computer.File:Trainz amtrak HHP-8 at 30thstreet.jpg|thumb|Screenshot of TS12 or Trainz Simulator 12 in driver mode showing an Amtrak HHP-8 at 30th Street Station
Other software
The simulators are supported by a large library of freeware assets which can be downloaded from the N3V servers, referred to as the Download Station. Unless users purchase a First Class Ticket with real money, download speeds for the DLS are throttled, which tends to be a point of contention in the Trainz community. PaintShed is a simple program for aiding and easing the process of 'reskinning' traincars, altering their livery, by recoloring and adding new heraldry to Trainz locomotives and other rolling stock. The Content Manager module is a Windows program that allows management of the in-game database files. It was renamed under the name of Content Manager Plus in TRS2006.Trainz rolling stock assets were also used in a Microsoft Train Simulator expansion pack dubbed the "Regional Add-On Pack", which allowed users to drive locomotives used in Trainz in MSTS maps, with some locomotives being unused in the former altogether, such as an ATSF Dash 9, UP DD40AX, and a Penn Central GG1. Another add-on, "MSTS Paintshed", was basically a reskinned version of the Trainz Paintshed module, which allowed users to make reskins of the same templates found in Trainz Paintshed, and export them to MSTS. Both of these add-on releases were created by N3V, originally Auran at the time.
Games
''Trainz''
The first ever version of Trainz originally started life as a set of downloadable files in 2000, eventually becoming Trainz 0.9, which was a CD-ROM beta that was mailed to testers by Auran.Trainz Community Edition was released in December 2001, with Service packs 1, 2 and 3 being released in 2002, in which they progressively updated the Community Edition, Trainz 1.0, to versions 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 successively. Two retail builds existed; the English/USA version is commonly known as Trainz 1.0.
Trainz Retail Edition was released in June 2002 aimed at the United States and other North American markets.
Service pack 3 was released in November 2002, this updated both the Community and Retail Editions to version 1.3. Thus all USA versions are commonly known as Trainz 1.3.
The Ultimate Trainz Collection, or UTC, was released on 26 November 2002 in North America as a 3-CD set including extra rolling stock, and a CD-ROM with TrainzScript-based scenarios and route map content based on Trainz 1.3 tech. This was the first edition to include the formerly separately retailed PaintShed program and support RailDriver, as well as the first incorporating Trainz user developed freeware content as part of the release, some of which became Trainz staple content in TRS2004 et al. through current releases.
Special hardware support
The desktop cab controller RailDriver was first supported for use in Service Pack 1 for the Ultimate Trainz Collection, and is also supported by all subsequent Trainz releases.''Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004''
Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004, orTRS2004, was released in September 2003. Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 incorporated a load of technical changes and these required many bug fixes that were released as four service packs throughout 2004 and 2005.
Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 was the first version of Trainz to include interactive industries and loadable rolling stock capabilities, which allow the player to deliver various resources and passengers to various industries and stations across the playable area. There were many industries included and much of the bundled rolling stock was updated to include this new dynamic loading and unloading animated capability with a corresponding load-state dynamic driving physics change in the handling of a consist. It was also the first version of the Trainz series to have built-in steam engines.
Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 Deluxe was a later 4 CDROM follow on with the first two service packs pre-installed. It also included PaintShed, and a bonus content CD.
This edition was also the first to support downloadable fan-made content, such as characters, buildings and scenery from the popular Thomas & Friends franchise, which has since seen the birth of a massive community on YouTube involving users recreating episodes of the series using Trainz or creating their own original stories.
''Trainz Railway Simulator 2006''
Trainz Railway Simulator 2006, or TRS2006, was a transitional release, incorporating the stable Auran JET based TRS2004 GUI modules with only some graphics improvements, but introducing the data base manager Content Manager Plus as a new core technology. ContentManager.exe combines data base management, and secure FTP upload and download facilities and special user definable filters all in one integrated system. By defining a good filter, the user could 'selectively not see' the clutter of regional items in the Surveyor asset selection menus saving user time when world building. This important filtering feature was further improved in Trainz 2009, becoming far more powerful and easier to use. In addition to these improvements, several new routes were included, such as Hawes Junction, Toronto Rail Lands 1954, and Marias Pass Approach. TRS2006 was published in September 2005, and the base release with its single service pack formed the core of the regional releases over the next four years until the introduction of new technologies in TC3 and TRS2009. In Germany, it was published by Bluesky-Interactive, as ProTrain Perfect.''Trainz Driver''
Trainz Driver is a version of Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 released in 2006, lacking the Content Manager and Surveyor GUI world building module, having only the Driver and Railyard modules. Note this is precisely the formula utilized with the 2011-2016 release of iPhone and iPad-based Trainz releases, as well as the new '- The package includes three large routes with 21 driver sessions, all set in North America. Trainz Driver is the first instance when Auran turned to blatant marketing measures to boost sales. Current CEO Tony Hilliam had taken on an increasing role in company management beginning in 2005, and by 2008 would end up a principle investor in Auran with rights to develop and distribute the Trainz franchise.
- Over the same three-year period, Auran licensed eight separate 'Regional releases' based on the stable JET2 game engine releases aimed at opening new market niches. These versions had few game improvements, and Driver and Surveyor were technically equivalent to The TRS2004-TRS2006 games, albeit, given new skins and better graphics interfacing. Prior to those releases, if you had a high end graphics system, to let the game know about your superior hardware you had to edit an ini file called TrainzOptions.txt with apropos height and width entries.
''Trainz Railroad Simulator 2007''
''Trainz Classics (TC1—TC3)''
Trainz Classics, also abbreviated as TC, is a series of 3 standalone Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 joint venture customizations put together by Auran and different professional providers of third party content. Unlike typical Trainz releases which feature a round-the-world sampling of content typical to different regions of the planet, the Trainz Classics versions feature a large railroad layout with plenty of special professionally written sessions exploiting the featured railroad. Trainz Classics 3 renewed evolution of the Trainz base technologies incorporating various changes to the older stable four-year-old data models resulting in the publication of a new.pdf file .TC1 focuses on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line in the 2000s, TC2 focuses on a freelanced city called "Modula City", featuring European trams running in the city and to an island. TC3 focuses on the famed Settle-Carlisle Line from Skipton to Carlisle in the late 1950s/early 1960s during the steam-diesel transition.
Demos of Modula City and the Settle-Carlisle line were included in TRS2006, along with a limited amount of content in unrefined states.
The content from Trainz Classics 1 and 2 were later released as built-content for TS2009 and TS2010, and can be downloaded from the DLS for all future games. Trainz Classics 3 was re-released as an expansion pack for all subsequent games as the Settle & Carlisle Route, with extra content added from the original release.
;TRS2008
A version of Trainz Classics which included regional French content and staple content from previous games was also published by Anuman Interactive. This version of Trainz was built on the Trainz Classics interface which later paved the way for future Trainz releases.