And This Is Why I Keep Going Back To Zusi

Yep, pros and cons for all sims, we don't have the ultimate rail sim yet, imo. Personally I would prioritise physics,sounds,realism, constant 60fps and playability (random events etc) over nice graphics. I sometimes wish that I was handy at programming and could write my own sim! A UK Run8 (freight workings) would be quite a nice thing I reckon.

 

If the best features from each sim was taken we would have a great thing. Instead each one does its own thing sometimes well sometimes not so well but with DTG the market leader. I do wonder why players of TSW don't wonder why more that their train uses the same platform every time and that weather and day light aside all the AI does the same thing.....

 

Yes a UK style Run 8 would be good. At least one of the people doing Run 8 is from the UK side of things in their former life as 3D Train Stuff.

 

I've just watched a Zusi video on YouTube and it looks better than the pictures on the steam store. It looked pretty decent. Seeing that and the comments in this thread, I'll pick it up when funds allow.

Whilst I enjoy beautiful graphics it's not the be all and end all if the experience rewards.

 

Kinda seems like people are wanting TSW to be other games... so why not just play the other games?
Appreciating the differences of sims lets you enjoy them more.
Seeing only the flaws in each seems like a quick way to make yourself disappointed and sad.

 

Just so you’re aware as it’s difficult to know before getting into it - the graphics quality is highly dependent on what loco you’re running. As you’ll probably have seen, Zusi uses simple 2D (stitched together) pictures for the cab. Many of the newer locos created in the sim use HD or I think some even 4k cabs now. The locos that have been along for longer often use very low resolution cabs, which is a great shame. The great classics like the Einheitseloks (110, 140, 150) do suffer from this unfortunately.

I don’t know if it meshes well with an automatic translation program, but https://www.zusidatenbank.de/ is very handy to find a run that fits what you’re looking for (locos, service type, time to complete, …).

 

Fired it up last night and had quite a pleasant trip along the Obereruhrtalbahn. Discussed elsewhere about DTG doing a secondary main line German diesel route and this certainly fits the bill. As usual though the frustration set in having to come off before getting to Bestwig and being unable to save progress.

 

One of my favourites (a lot of them in Zusi tbh) is the Marschbahn with the 218 to Westerland and back. Great sounds and physics, very smooth performance (very important for me) and nice scenery. The thing is with Zusi you have the feeling that no run will be the same which adds so much to the playability.

 

Had a go on that last night and while the terrain is a bit flat, yes it’s a nice route at least the section I ran driving one of the car ferry trains. Certainly one DTG or TSG could look at to bring a diesel main line into German TSW, though Obereruhrtalbahn still remains my first shout.

 

Loads of operational interest with Marshbahn, shunting and stuff at Niebull and lots at Westerland too. 218 is right at home on this route.

 

Another go yesterday evening with a 110. Very nice and sounds much better balanced than the TSW version which just has the incessant fan noise you can’t switch off. As I was able to finish the run, I managed a score of 29%! Not so much luck on the next run. Found myself in a BR428 EMU but couldn’t get moving. Tried autopilot but as soon as I turned it off, the train just ground to a halt.

 

I don't think you're supposed to switch the fans off while driving.

 

I know that! Just that, same as on the 103 and 111 in TSW it completely dominates the sound field. Zusi seems more balanced so you can actually hear the traction motor pitch rise and fall. Need to check out their 103 and 111.

 

Then ZuSi doesn't seem to be that realistic. See (and listen) to this cab ride video of the BR 103. It dominates the soundfield irl. So you have to decide: either you want realism (which you always ask for, and i agree with that!) or you don't want the more realistic experience.

 

Well yes the traction fans are audible, but on the first clip the track and bogie sounds are equally present. On the second clip although the fan noise is present you can still clearly hear the traction motor sounds rising alongside it, which you can’t in TSW. Yes, I’m all for realism but a wall of white sound dominating everything else is not good for the hearing or entertainment value. So Zusi 3 may be less accurate but think I will still take that over the sound mix in TSW.

 

Actually really getting into this. Getting round the save game either by using F4 to time skip then jumping to my previous train. Or the 3rd party Zusi Data Bank to choose a traction type to drive then you can order the list of trains by duration (allowing that Zusi is quite slow to load). Had a superb run on the western end of Obereruhrtalbahn into Hagen with a 212 on a local train, coming in through Schwerte. Managed a score of 60% on that one!

One question, which I asked on the Zusi forum but so far didn’t get an answer. Is there any way to resize the font in the Train Data (Ebula) window slightly smaller to fit more text in the box?

 

It's very moreish, I have had quite a few 100% on my last few runs not using any of the HUD 'cheats'.