Tag Archives: Update

Train Sim Update Live

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Train Sim 2019

Train Sim Update is getting deployed to all supported ecosystems (iOS, Windows Store, Mac Store, Amazon, Android),

This process usually takes about a week or so. Its currently live on the Apple App Store & Windows Store, Mac OS & Android with Amazon coming soon!

What’s new in this update?

Completely redesigned rail system that allows me to produce fully 3 dimensional tracks as well as full 3D Electrical Wires.  So far only the rails are rendered in full 3D, the sleepers or (crossties) are still just a 2D texture, mostly for performance reasons on mobile.  However as mobile devices get faster, I will easily be able to extend this to full 3D sleepers (crossties) at very little effort. 

In fact, I can now place any 3D object along or on the rail continuously or in spots.  This opens many new possibilities in the future to allow Train Sim to grow well into the next decade.

Why did it take so long?

This was a complete redesign of a key system in Train Sim that affects every level.  The rail system is so core to the game that updating it required rewriting other key systems such as track switching, track connections, train controller, wagon controller etc.  Don’t even get me started on testing, every train wagon, track connection and level had to be tested.  And then when a bug is found, it had to be fixed and re-tested again.

What’s next?

Once the 3D model is complete my next focus will be to add the Pacific Surliner to Tran Sim as fast as possible.

New 3D Rail System

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Last week I started working on a new 3D Rail System for Train Sim. The current rails are actually a 2 dimensional texture that mimics the look of 3D. This was originally done to improve performance on mobile devices. While it looks OK on a tiny phone screen, it does not translate as well to larger high resolution tablets or PCs. Hence it has been on my list of fixes for a while now.

Unfortunately this will be allot of work as I will actually need to re-make all the rail paths in Train Sim across all of the levels. However I think I figured out most of the technical & performance unknowns and can now move to implementing this feature across all levels in Train Sim. At about days per level it should take a few weeks to finish.

So why invest so much time on new rails? I think as new mobile devices get more powerful it makes sense to update some of the core features in Train Sim to ensure it does not look dated compared to newer games. Although this is a large investment in time, I think it will be well worth it at the end