Train Simulator 2012

G-TraX Product Updates

Planned Updates

Preservation Series Big Steam
STATUS:
   G-TraX direct customers: Update patch now available.
   Steam customers: Patch submitted to RSC. Update pending.


Lightweight Passenger Cars

Double-Stack Freight Cars

Genesis P42DC
STATUS: Updated on Steam!

Portland Terminal
STATUS:
   Physical route and asset updates: Completed.
   Scenarios: Checked and revised.


Well will you look at this. Hey, if I can successfully run all these scenarios, anybody can!

  • Add windshield rain effects to GP40s, SD40-2 and E7.
  • Smoke color darkened with increased tractive effort, all locomotives.
  • Replace selected street lights with point lights.
  • Adjust track speed to 25 mph near LPG supplier.
  • Adjust terrain "dips" in Rigby Yard.

    • Scenarios
    STATUS: Work in progress

    Scenarios that are known to misbehave at times are in the process of being updated. These include "Ridin' the Chief," "Meet the New Boss" and others.

    Update Schedule

    If you acquired any of the Preservation Series Big Steam locomotives directly from G-TraX, patches will provided. Look for announcements on this web page as well as in the News Briefs column along the left side of this site. All other DLC products purchased on Steam, including G-TraX products, will be updated according to a phased schedule to be established by RSC.

    Bug Hotline

    If you know of additional items that should be added to the above list, please e-mail G-TraX directly. If you post on a forum, the chances are it will go unnoticed. G-TraX will respond to Hotline e-mails only to request clarification or additional information, or if for some reason the bug cannot or will not be fixed. If you do not receive a reply you can assume the problem will be taken care of. That's especially true if you see it listed above. Feel free to include any bugs or other shortcomings you discover. If you wish to propose improvements of any kind, be prepared to justify them with verifiable data or references.

    Progress Reports

    16 Oct 2011    I made a bunch of changes to the Portland Terminal trackwork today. There were things in RW2 we could get away with that new TS2012 shadowing system reveals in vivid, living color, so I had to make adjustments. While I was at it I fixed several annoying anomalies in Rigby Yard and elsewhere. In so doing, I inadvertently and progressively buried the tracks all the way to the end of the line by at least 20 m. Got that fixed. I suppose all the scenarios are now hosed up. Gotta go through each one and fix 'em as necessary.

    This is my final Progress Report about TS2012 updates. Suffice it to say I will continue using my best efforts to fix any additional bugs you report, so by all means keep them coming. Other than that, as updates are made available I'll announce them -- even though you'll probably notice them before I do!

    Thanks for your patience throughout this challenging process.

     

    15 Oct 2011    The Big Steam locomotives are about as done as they're going to get. As I said earlier, I'll wait until Wednesday in case there are more comments before I release anything.

    I started working on Portland Terminal today. The street lights and high-mast lights on the Interstate were converted by replacing the fake light-cast ground planes with point lights. Now these lights actually light things up. I also experimented with the new TrainEmissiveGlow shader, applying it to the light towers that surround Hadlock Field. Play ball!

    I'll finish up today combing over the trackwork looking for unwanted dips in the terrain. On Sunday I plan to update the locomotives with projected lights and the raindrop effect.

     

    14 Oct 2011    I finished upgrading the companion locomotives for the three Big Steam packs -- mostly. Just a few minor items to worry about over the weekend. I'll release everything for G-TraX and Steam customers some time next week.

    I don't expect any major problems with Portland Terminal, but then I've always been somewhat naive.

     

    13 Oct 2011    I upgraded the "companions" to the SP&S 700 and the NKP Berkshire Big Steam products today. SP&S 701 and NKP 765 have joined the roster of TS2012-ready locomotives. I've started on the GS-4 set and it will probably be complete tomorrow. Next up: Portland Terminal.

    If you're able to see projected headlights and windshield raindrops on the P42DCs, congratulations: you've been updated! If you installed the "HL" demo patch and/or the Beta version of the "Ridin' the Chief Again" scenario (which requires the HL version of the P42DC), you should uninstall them now. A new version of "Ridin the Chief Again" which uses the updated P42DCs can be downloaded on the Scenarios page.

    If you're still not seeing the Superliner brake status lights turn green upon releasing the train brake, I'm told that verifying the game cache may reactivate them for you. However, I'm not sure this feature is working right now -- some people have been reporting problems with it today (Steam, as always, works in wondrous ways) -- so here goes nothing: Open Steam and click on the Library tab. You'll see an entry for TS2012 there. Right-clicking on it and selecting Properties from the popup menu brings up another tabbed dialog. Click the Local Files tab, then click the button labeled "Verify Integrity of Game Cache." If the progress bar hangs at 0% for more than a minute or two, shut it down and try again tomorrow.

     

    12 Oct 2011    I didn't get much done today. Unfortunately, I have a life! This morining I changed some of the shaders used on the Berkshire. The newer version is available for download as Big Steam Patch 6 on the Patches page. If you downloaded and installed the Berkshire patch from earlier this week (Patch 5), please use the Package Manager to remove the Patch 5 Berkshire only before installing Patch 6.

    I uploaded the P42DC updates to RSC's FTP server last night and this afternoon I heard that they've already been distributed through Steam. That being the case, you should have the update by the time you read this.

    Within the next 24 hours, I will removed the "HL" demo version of the locomotive from the Patches page. Also, new downloads of the "Ridin' the Chief Again" scenario will use the "regulation" locomotives.

     

    11 Oct 2011    I worked all day on the P42DC. I think I have everything where it should be, including TS2012 upgrades and fixes to old bugs as noted above. RSC wanted me to place a high priority on finishing the updates, so I assume an update release on Steam is imminent. My only regret is that there wasn't sufficient time for testing. If I didn't get everything right, or if I messed up something new, I'm sure you'll let me know about it! If further updates should be necessary, they'll happen in due course.

    For Mannu's part, he changed the Superliner interior textures so they're illuminated at night (in the original release, only the passenger figures were illuminated), and he replaced the fake brake-status light glows with point lights -- neat effect.

    Watch for an announcement from RSC and/or Steam.

     

    10 Oct 2011    As you can see in the News Briefs column to the left of this, update patches are now available for the three Big Steam products. These are a Beta patches and only the default locomotives are included. For more information and for the patches themselves, click here. Any comments should be sent to the Bug Hotline no later than the evening of 19 October. After that, comments will be resolved and complete update patches will be released for both G-TraX and Steam customers.

    Today I began converting the Genesis locomotives. The "HL" versions must have worked for you, as I received no comments about them. I added projected headlights to all the locomotives, and cab lights to the "crewed" locos. The rain effect is tricky, and it will require a bit more tweaking tomorrow. As you can see from reading above, there are several other items that will eventually be included in the update.

     

    9 Oct 2011    Back home again. Today I fixed the driver animation on the GS-4, as well as on the Berkshire which turned out to have a few problems. I also added working Mars lights to both locomotives. I polished up the audio on the Berk and will follow suit with the GS-4 tomorrow morning.

    Those night cabs sure make a difference! (L to R: SP&S 700; NKP Berkshire; SP GS-4. Click to enlarge.)

    I should have a Beta of each Big Steam loco available for download some time tomorrow.

     

    2 Oct 2011    Sorry to make excuses, but there are still problems with the steam locos. Today I managed to destroy the GS-4 side-rod animation! It will have to be rebuilt, but that's my problem. Anyway, I don't feel comfortable releasing something that's ~80% complete, even if it's only a Beta. Unfortunately I've run out of time. I will be away from G-TraX World Headquarters thei week and will be unable to work on the upgrade projects until about a week from today.

    I did put up a patch for the cab camera view problem, though. Read about it here. The patch fixes the most obvious issue brought about by changes to TS2012, whereby cab-camera positions were offset forward.

     

    1 Oct 2011    Some progress today but not as much as I had hoped. The Berk is probably as good as it's going to get for now. The oscillating headlight gave me all kinds of fits, so I finally disabled the effect. For now it's just a boring old non-moving light. Funny how we can say something like that about projected headlights -- only one week after the release of TS2012!

    Tomorrow, work will commence on the SP4449. If it's ready to upload by evening time, fine. Otherwise you'll "only" have the SP&S 700 and the Steamtown Berkshire to review.

     

    30 Sept 2011    I started to convert the Berkshire today. I say "started," because what should have been a breeze after what I learned working on the SP&S 700 was not to be. A lot of art-related changes needed to be done, much of which is due to my not knowing how to cope with so many new principles two years ago. That's understandable, but now some of the cab controls have decided not to work as they once did. Oh, well. I did sort of get the oscillating headlight to work on the Defalt (Steamtown) version, though it's not where you and I might want it to be. Maybe tomorrow!

    When the Big Steam locomotives are in good enough shape I want to put up another public Beta download. It'll just be the Default version of each one, but that should be enough to tell us whether things are working or not. Problem is I'm running up against a prior commitment which will take me out of town most of next week. Hopefully I can have something for you to look at before Monday dawns.

     

    29 Sept 2011    The "Ridin' the Chief" scenario seems to be functioning now and it's ready for download as a public Beta. Other than to remove the problematic bottleneck at Frost, I didn't change a whole lot. You'll also need the P42DC headlight patch to run the scenario, so there are not one but two downloads. The scenario is available on the Scenarios Page. Scroll down to the Barstow to San Bernardino group of scenarios. The P42DC patch is available on the Patches Page.

    Again, these are temporary public Betas, not permanent fixes. A permanent upgrade to both the scenario and the locomotives will be released through Steam, most likely in late October. Let me know on the Bug Hotline if there are any problems.

     

    28 Sept 2011    I was going to convert the Berkshire next, but I got sidetracked. A number of you have been clamoring about scenario bugs. Well, Timm is on holiday this week, and next week I'll be away so no better time than the present. I started with "Ridin' the Chief," which involves a Genesis train set running on Barstow to San Bernardino, and in which players sometimes run into a red-light standoff at the Frost crossover. The first thing I noticed is, the scenario being set in the evening, all the trains have working headlights now. All but my train, that is. So I added a set of projected headlights to the Amtrak locomotives. While I was at it, I enabled all five cab lights as well. The cab lights are all still individually switchable. Check out the results here.

    I hope to get the scenario running tonight or early tomorrow. When I do, I'll post a Beta of it on the Scenarios page, along with a temporary patch for the P42DCs. Look for an announcement tomorrow. Then it's back to the Berk.

     

    27 Sept 2011    The first of the three Big Steam locomotives, SP&S 700/701, is just about complete. The experience gained will make updating the other two steamer products much easier. I also added some things that I simply didn't know how to do two years ago when this locomotive was first released. Here's what's been done:

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