I'm doing everything I can to ensure I back up every single file before the deadline. I want the legacy of UKTS preserved in case someone makes a new site.
You mean WorldPay? It'll be your bank provider likely coming back with a decline for some reason in that instance - best bet is to check with them, if it's a foreign transaction it's more likely to have problems like this I guess but i'm not aware of any active issues with cards. if i get chance later i'll jump on an dsee if i can fin dany more info - but historically for data protection reasons all I see is "declined" in the reports and I can't get any more info as it's your private data.
Yes, Its the WorldPay part. But my bank (Through VISA), cant seem to tell me why it its declining it. I purchace stuff online, and TSC and TSW DLC and other things on Steam, and there is not a single glitch. And You have probably lost a lot of subscriptions because of this. And you are just not aware of it. (who knows) I am In Australia
Mastercard or VISA? If its VISA, that might be part of the problem. And I need to have a phone chat with them. about what is wrong.
Renewed my premium membership this morning with no issues. (Mastercard Debit) Still cant log on through FTP though.
ummm. It might be the fact that you are with a UK bank. I still need to chat with my bank. They put me on hold for 20 Minutes, I just couldn't wait any longer for a living breathing person to come to the phone, , so I hung up And will leave it until tomorrow. I wonder who else has had problems with this? As I said, there is probably more willing subscribers than you think, and this has put them off. I know I am one of them. And have always renewed my Subscription, that was until my bank started doing this nonsense.
Can you contact them Online? I can log in to my bank account and leave a secure message and they reply - again I have to log in to see it.
Has there been any movement towards finding a new owner, or even just fixing the FTP functionality? It will be a travesty for all of those files and the metadata associated with them to simply vanish. Even with all of the UKTS files I've downloaded over time (mostly MSTS), a huge list of UKTS numbers without being able to search in a database for the information of said numbers makes for a very difficult mass of materials to wade through -- thousands of them!
There won't be a new owner unless those people who placed content on UKTS agree it to be hosted on another site. As to fixing the FTP functionality - nobody seems to have done anything. Any news DTG Matt ?
Ok - found the code, clearly hasn't been used in an extremely long time... and doesn't work, typical. I've made some progress with it tonight, but have run into firewall issues - and when you DO get connected you'll need to put your FTP client into "insecure" mode as my custom ftp server doesn't support TLS. Matt.
Not until i've actually made it work really - no - and i am only familiar with FileZilla at this point so not sure how it relates to others. FileZilla defaults to expecting a TLS secure FTP server and you have to set it to "old school insecure" for it to work in "PASV" mode. Looking at that dialogue box, my guess is "Encryption" set to "no Encryption" is probably the same as "old school insecure" so should be fine. But as I say, it's not working yet so you won't get any joy out of it - it's also not on ftp.uktrainsim.com (that's the main ftp server used for uploading files and is just a bog standard FTP Server) it usually sits on another URL since it's a completely separate bit of software. I'll update when I figure something out, I think a conversation with ISP to widen the firewall might be all that is needed to allow PASV to work. Matt.
Depends on the terms that they agreed to. It may be the case that it says something like 'the file is to be shared only on www.uktrainsim.com' in which case a new owner could use the same domain and wouldn't need permission. That said I doubt anybody will take UKTS on.
That's what I was thinking. There was a guy on UKTrainSim who was really keen on taking over the site, but was having real difficulties in contacting Matt, but it all looks to have gone quiet on that front now.
If that's who i think it is then I am aiming to get back to him soon, just been extremely busy for ages and UKTS has not been a priority unfortunately. Matt.
I did notice the site now says "A reminder that UKTrainSim in its current guise and ownership" as if to suggest a new owner will be found. Or at least leaves open the possibility that someone may take over the site.
The UKTS site is a treasure trove of old things that don't have much relevance or are quite funny today. For example the CD ordering page used to say "not everybody has broadband internet!" when the page was still available. The copyright date on that page was 2003. It was also ironic in places, with Matt writing an article that talked about the positives of MSTS over Rail Simulator and RailWorks, the game he'd eventually work on. He also said, in the review for the JustTrains A4, "you will also see the Digital Traction Mark 1 coach pack being used behind them. These coaches are not included in the pack and I use them because I just can't face the default ones after using these!" - the default ones being the Kuju ones, although granted they are not the ones we know today, but the original Rail Simulator model. It is still ironic however that Matt complained about the coaches that they kept including until very recently, as I believe new instances of the Mark 1 coach in TS will use the TSW models. In the same article we get the beautiful sentence "The download will set you back about 210mb so you can immediately appreciate that this is no small loco pack." which harks back to a time when we didn't need to instead gigabyte-big loco DLCs. Other fun things include a review for the original, pre-Advance Rail Simulator Voyager by JT - it's hard to think of a time without the Voyager Advance for me. Anyway, it's June now and soon it'll be time to get my final month of UKTS subscription. I've downloaded as many assets as I can and there are still things I want to get, like all of the route building challenge routes and more assets. It's sad to see it go, although I won't miss the enormous banner that reads PLEASE NOTE: THIS SITE USES COOKIES just in case you didn't know.
It still does if you know where it is. The link to it has been removed; the page is still active. No advice on whether it's safe to place an order.
The service has been shut down, so it's best not to use it. That said the homepage for UKTS said 'most items are out of stock', so I wouldn't be surprised if you'd be able to buy one of the things still in stock even though the service has come to an end, but I wouldn't bet on it.
I mean it's literally a CD that they burn things too - so "out of stock" is probably a stretch even then. Although do they still sell recordable CDs anymore? I mean even DVDs / Bluray Drives in PCs are pretty much non existant now. (I say that and have a Blu-Ray RW Drive that can also Read HD DVDS! - even though the latter is pretty much useless now because all the software companies have removed all the encoders so .... ) I believe these were updated in 2011 for TS2012 - along side the 166, 47 and Mk2s? (it was a while ago though - I certainly know the 166 and 47 were updated, so while in Kuju are not Kuju )
I know, I tried to say but it didn't come across well. Yes, I still buy them. I think I'm one of the twelve remaining people who still burn CDs and DVDs... The other week I made a Windows 7 repair disk to fix my own one. Yes, I'm weird. I also try to only buy movies on Blu-Ray. I would have bought a Blu-Ray USB drive but unfortunately they're much more expensive than DVD ones.
I would still use CDs if not for the fact that both of my currently used machines don't use them at all. If I have something CD I want to install, I have to make an ISO out of it and move that file to "mount" as a drive. The really sad thing is I then have to keep the damn thing there if I ever want to use the game, meaning I lose that disk space permanently unless I use an external drive (which might not be mountable anyway). So my CD collection behind me is mostly unused because of it.
There are a variety of USB disc drives you can find online. Assuming you're on Windows (although macOS still supports them too I believe) they will work just fine, unless there's some other thing preventing you from using them.
Please do NOT order from the cd ordering system. We are no longer getting stock (we have to buy in bulk for it not to make a loss and that's totally impractical at the order numbers now), and many of the commercial cd's are now out of stock. If you place an order, you're almost certainly wasting your time and actually costing me money as refunds cost me over and above the amount refunded. It's difficult for me to just shut the cd ordering system down entirely without it damaging other things though, but if orders come in, i'll just have to do it regardless, so please don't. Matt.
Yeah, I have multiple external USB things. Though I have not purchased any for the purpose of playing CDs; it's more "the files are here, stick this in and it will work". I'm not. Just noted the page is still actually there. It's too bad, though, as some items include scenarios and stock that are not in the download library. Was thinking of picking some up before the closure, but I guess they must have been out of stock even long before now.
We're on the cusp of August ... D-Day, in other words as far as UKTS is concerned, and I haven't heard anything since Matt's post of June 6. Please please please get the ftp working, as I've heard nothing concerning an interested party willing to take on the server.
I need to do another scan for any new files in the last month, and any last things I need to grab. Worth a final check and daily checks until it goes.
It's really a shame UKTS will soon close, for many years I've enjoyed the website. It would be GREAT if the download waiting queue and download speed limit was removed allowing users to download without a hassle whatever they want before it's too late. I've still got a few routes to download from UKTS, but I hate the waiting queue and the download speed limit.
But why pay for the premium when the site is shutting down? It makes no sense. I've decided to post over at UKTS forums. Not every user has a credit card to purchase UKTS premium, I'm not talking about myself there. I could purchase UKTS premium but it seems pointless and in my opinion UKTS should had offered free premium to all users before it's too late.
So you are saying a site that is closing because of soaring costs compared with number of users buying premium should give away premium for free *rolls eyes* That isn't how economics works...
Look at RWA no charges for downloading from their file library but users are asked to make a donation instead.
UKTS has always charged though... I'm not sure of the exact in's and out's BUT what I do know is, storing and allowing the download of Terabytes worth of data for UKTS isn't cheap. UKTS has 1000's of active users (might even be in the 10's of thousands). You can't just give every user premium and let them download to their hearts content because that would cost a small fortune in costs. As to donations, it would be interesting to know how many RWA users actually use the 'honesty box' vs those who just go sorry can't afford it or not going to bother.
I'm done arguing this point. It does not matter how every other site operates. There is a cost involved with maintaining UKTS, it is not insignificant, and Matt Peddlesden, the person fronting costs no longer covered by user subscriptions, has decided to close the site.
My assumption is that the biggest portion of expenditure on UKTS comes from storage and traffic for the files and images hosted on the site. There are ways to drive the costs for that down (use "pay for what you use" cloud services), I have managed to keep the costs of running the TrainSimCommunity.com website reasonable while paying for it out of my own pocket. Given the age of UKTS, it would probably be a rather significant engineering undertaking to have the site benefit from that. If Matt does not have the time or energy available to him to make such changes, and no longer wishes to foot the bill to maintain the status quo, then it simply ends.
NOT every one and many of them depend on donations or charge a membership. Anything worth anything is worth paying for, if you want free stuff there's plenty in the garbage bins. I am a member and contributor to the RWA, I am a downloader and I make donations. Worth every cent.
A modern implementation of the site would probably be much cheaper to run, for sure. The site is 20+ years old, and still has much of the original implementation, patched and bodged over the years to keep up with the increasing demands placed on it - some of which probably arent needed now (I had to write my own web download system because the HTTP servers at the time simply used far too many resources for that amount of concurrent downloads - most likely not an issue today, for example). I did consider running it on donations a long time ago, but opted not to for a couple of reasons. If one month it didnt get enough donations to pay the bill, that'd be the end of it, bang. I simply don't have the money to keep paying for it, again, using old tech as it is, the monthly bill was very high (less so now, but still FAR higher than it should be really for the activity). I also felt - why should a small number of generous people be footing the bill for those who don't feel they should pay? That didn't sit right with me at all. Because those smaller number of generous people would actually have to pay considerably more, whereas this way, it spread the load and kept it fair. Bottom line, it's shutting because I simply don't have the time, haven't had the time for 10 years, but I kept it running because it was still being used - it's being used much less so now, and people are preferring to stick with free access, so the last 5 months or so i've been paying for it out of my own money and its bluntly been crippling but due to the contract for the server hosting I couldn't end it any earlier. Matt.
The quality argument makes no sense, because the people actually making the content aren't getting paid.
Where did I ever mention anything related to the soaring costs of living? I was stating the fact not all users who use UKTS has a credited card referring to it's young users 'Children and Teenagers' alike. Fair enough, yes they could ask their parents permission but what's the point paying for UKTS premium is the site is being SHUT DOWN? There's absolutely NO point paying for premium, so therefore UKTS should remove the premium features and let all users download everything what they want without the limits and waiting queue.
You didn't and I didn't. Re-read what I wrote carefully please. It would not be economically viable for UKTS to give every user premium download speeds as this, based on various factors would cost the site owner a small fortune. Bandwidth costs money. If you read what Matt wrote above you might understand why what you are asking for is simply put not possible
