Hi all; I was wondering if it is a better choice to purchase Virtual Railroads DLC from the Steam Store compared to their own website? Something I notice lots of the DLC on their site lists their products as having no ingame scenarios; yet the the Steam Store versions do. Is this because the VR Website versions don't come with scenarios, or they do they just aren't listed? Which if so I find strange. The scenario thing is the main thing I'm inquiring about; but other tips and tidbits about VR Website vs Steam purchases would be much appreciated.
Personally I would always use Steam. It keeps your stuff in one place under one e-commerce system. More importantly you get the two hour (base game)play time refund window if what you buy turns out to have quality or other issues. Any patches to the item will be automatically applied, rather than hoping the vendor emails you or having to check their site. You can also fund your Steam Wallet by buying gift cards with cash, a good way of ensuring your spouse doesn’t see quite how much you are spending on the hobby!
I'm guessing depending on the route, it could be the same with JT. However better to buy the Western Mainlines and Midland LIne routes from JT themselves as they can all be merged into 1 route. But for routes like Tohoku High Speed, 3 country corner or U-Bahn routes, maybe best to get off steam.
Thanks guys; I don't really mind about having my content all in one place on Steam. Yes it's preferable and most convenient but in the grand scheme of things I don't mind as long as if I'm getting it from the website of the developer it has some sort of superior feature or attribute compared to the Steam version. As mentioned about JT it mostly seems buying their stuff from their site has an advantage to it; one thing I have noticed is that sometimes you can only get the version with some proper branding from their own site. It's minor but still something I like to keep in mind. At the moment what I'm most intrigued in about VR is if their website DLC comes with scenarios like the Steam versions do. If only the Steam version has the scenarios to go with it; then I'll be purchasing their stuff off steam probably. Also curious how often they have sales; if any, as I barely hear about sales from them.
Just note that sometimes the trains sold on steam miss something that is included when you buy directly from vR. For example the 103 on steam lacks LZB and the 151 lacks the coupling car. There is also som repaints offered for free in the vR shop that can't be used with trains from steam. Never seen a sale from vR (except a few times a lower price for new release).
Most of vR's stuff is only available from their own webshop, which is a bit clunky and slow loading imho. Be sure to back up your downloads though. A crash of their servers in 2018 removed all customer accounts, and I cannot access any updates for my purchased stuff because I discovered it too late. Fortunately, they are usually not updating their DLC as it works well.
vR never does sales anymore since there was a shitstorm in the German community many years ago. For anything concerning recent vR stuff: you will only get bugfixes and repaints through the website (not on Steam) and they come without scenarios. Different story for the Konstanz-Villingen + Hausauch extension route. You can buy that from Steam no problem. I also did that. But for the recent rolling stock released in the last couple of years: vR store. The BR 218 has 7 repaints and a soundupdate, that you wont get on Steam. PS: if you are looking at the BR 111 or BR 143, there are two versions of them. vR did "revamps" recently. Be sure to get the new versions.
Thanks a lot Tom; exactly the info I was looking for. Looks like I will mostly be sticking to Steam for vR products then; unless I want extra variants or differences I may be missing out on from a Steam purchase.
Have you noticed if the developer's site offers any exclusive features or content beyond what Steam provides, especially regarding DLC scenarios? Also, how frequently do they run sales directly on their site, and are the discounts comparable to Steam's offers? I'm curious if there's any advantage beyond branding that makes purchasing from their site a better deal.
Just go for Steam, that is fire and forget. Reinstalling TS, to clean up things, is easy peasy using Steam.
I obliterate and reinstall every six months or so, and only re-install what currently interests me. I find it has the benefit of faster loading and improved frame rates. I back up any editor mods before blowing it all away of course.
Some things don't easily delete, leaving unexpected remnants and dependencies. Some are nearly impossible to delete, like AP's generic expansion packs.
I do it several times a year. A lot more people should do that, it solves a lot of issues. Especially when one does a lot of fiddling with files.
Never had the need to do it..and I do my share of *file fiddling* The key is to be careful, aware if what you're doing, and check that what you install from other users is correctly done.
Proper German rail enthusiast will own everything or most stuff by virtual railroads just like english folks own all the AP stuff.... and among the German players it´s common knowledge to buy everything direct from the store, because they offer all repaints only through the store and not on Steam. But if your just a casual German driver, go buy it on Steam.
Unfortunately many vR cabs are missing the back wall and have restricted camera views to hide that fact... and quality dropped with scripting god Maik leaving imho. They're making strange bundles composed of existing stuff, and very confusing at times, sometimes you pay for the same loco twice if you don't check carefully. And if you play a scenario and are missing stock it can be a pain to figure out in which pack this is hiding, especially the cab car / loco combinations.
I don´t really care... love the driving physics, the pzb, the sound. Still one of the best in TSC! The couple of cases where they did not get the sound right have community soundupdates. So it´s all good. Can´t deny that. But that is a general trend... Rivet and JT also left TSC for TSW. The goal of the whole thing was to make BR 111, BR 143 etc. compatable with all the different cab cars. Something the community was asking for...but it´s super confusing and not great, that they are charging for all these updates. Yes true... adding to the confusion there are several freeware repaint packs for everything =)
The one part of Virtual Railroads I find a pain is buying multiple versions of the same loco instead of having them bundled. Example - the BR 181/2 - there are three different packages depending on the livery of the loco. There might be differences between the locos apart from the colour but I'm not sure. They could have just released a Single loco and then sold the livery packages
