West Midlands Sims Released

[JN114]

SimSig have released simulations of Coventry, New Street, Wolverhampton and Aston, plus rebuilt the old Stafford sim

 

[DaveHarries]

Have downloaded and, where necessary, paid up for these. They look fantastic and I am looking forward to much fun on them.

Dave

 

[Trainfan344]

Downloaded Aston and Stafford, Just got to save up for the other 3!

 

[SuperOwl86]

What are the New sims like? Thinking of buying the West Mids ones fancy the challenge of New Street.

 

[andypops]

Also tempted by the collection. £40 seems quite steep though; addictive as they are, I'm not sure they're worth as much as a contemporary game.

Saying that, the hours I've spent on Lime St, Gloucester, Bristol, Swindon / Didcot, Euston, North Wales, Westbury, Worksop, Saltley and Exeter, I suppose it probably works out overall at fantastic value.

I would appreciate any comments on the new version of Stafford; for example, does it run on x64 systems, and does it run windowed (rather than the full-screen only mode, as before). Also, any reports on BHM NS would be really appreciated.

 

[Sacro]

Also tempted by the collection. £40 seems quite steep though; addictive as they are, I'm not sure they're worth as much as a contemporary game.

Saying that, the hours I've spent on Lime St, Gloucester, Bristol, Swindon / Didcot, Euston, North Wales, Westbury, Worksop, Saltley and Exeter, I suppose it probably works out overall at fantastic value.

I would appreciate any comments on the new version of Stafford; for example, does it run on x64 systems, and does it run windowed (rather than the full-screen only mode, as before). Also, any reports on BHM NS would be really appreciated.

Stafford is on the new loader, it'll run on 64 bit systems perfectly happily. It's a scrolly sim rather than the old paged format, so you get the nice long scrolling run from almost Nuneaton to almost Crewe.

Any other questions?

 

[oldrailman]

After what seems an age, I've become an avid Simsigger. Having worked at New Street, I opted for the Cov, Wolves and New Street sims and the new version of Stafford. All are superb, but it's taking me a while to make my way through New Street, talk about challenging! At least if anything goes wrong I won't have irate passengers getting on at me!
Mal.

 

[The Snap]

Shame Stafford's signalling layout will become totally different over the next 12 months!

 

[nottinghamcity]

Shame Stafford's signalling layout will become totally different over the next 12 months!

It is already quite different from reality - it is pre the quadrupling of the Trent valley line - where a fair bit of the complexity is.
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The Aston sim is a good one for beginners. With its low traffic, clock face timetable and lack of LCs. There are only a limited number of mistakes you can make, and you quickly learn not to make them again!

 

[Trainfan344]

Southampton is the best beginner sim, I personally found Aston a little dull, so I promptly sped it up and increased problems.

 

[DaveHarries]

Shame Stafford's signalling layout will become totally different over the next 12 months!

Presumably that is the closure of the two boxes (Stafford 4 & Stafford 5). Is there a date for this yet?

Dave

 

[Temple Meads]

Southampton is the best beginner sim, I personally found Aston a little dull, so I promptly sped it up and increased problems.

I found Southampton pretty challenging as a beginner, I'd recommend the ultra basic Royston or Lancing to a complete beginner, maybe Lime St for someone who already knows a bit about signalling.

Southampton makes a good next step from those sim's.

 

[ModernRailways]

I found Southampton pretty challenging as a beginner, I'd recommend the ultra basic Royston or Lancing to a complete beginner, maybe Lime St for someone who already knows a bit about signalling.

Southampton makes a good next step from those sim's.

Southampton is pretty simple, I think the main trouble with it is that if you start around 0700 then you have so much going on with trains into yards that it can be difficult to juggle.

Royston is simple, but then again there isn't much you can really do with it.

Personally, I would recommend the Barking sim. Gives a nice challenge, but is also pretty simple!

 

[Temple Meads]

Southampton is pretty simple, I think the main trouble with it is that if you start around 0700 then you have so much going on with trains into yards that it can be difficult to juggle.

Royston is simple, but then again there isn't much you can really do with it.

Personally, I would recommend the Barking sim. Gives a nice challenge, but is also pretty simple!

Assume you mean Fenchurch St?

A very good second sim with ARS off, but perhaps not one for a complete beginner, as it's payware, and the player won't yet know if they actually 'get along' with SimSig.

My Royston suggestion was very much for someone just starting out, as soon as you know what everything does, move on up.

 

[causton]

My first, favourite and best is Wembley Suburban. I do run it at 3x speed though as do not have 24 hours to play it

 

[Statto]

Assume you mean Fenchurch St?

A very good second sim with ARS off, but perhaps not one for a complete beginner, as it's payware, and the player won't yet know if they actually 'get along' with SimSig.

My Royston suggestion was very much for someone just starting out, as soon as you know what everything does, move on up.

Kings Cross is not one for beginners either mainly the sheer volume of the trains & it's not ARS, Peterborough is a good free sim with ARS, & North Wales Coast & North East Wales are good free sims for beginners, with absolute blocks which can be turned off on the NWC sim but no ARS.

 

[ModernRailways]

Assume you mean Fenchurch St?

A very good second sim with ARS off, but perhaps not one for a complete beginner, as it's payware, and the player won't yet know if they actually 'get along' with SimSig.

My Royston suggestion was very much for someone just starting out, as soon as you know what everything does, move on up.

That's the one. Is it payware? I could have sworn it was free! Although, if it is payware it's one of the £3 ones IIRC.

Royston is great for learning what each button does, how to control the trains so you're right it is probably the best 'first sim'.

Kings Cross is not one for beginners either mainly the sheer volume of the trains & it's not ARS, Peterborough is a good free sim with ARS, & North Wales Coast & North East Wales are good free sims for beginners, with absolute blocks which can be turned off on the NWC sim but no ARS.

Kings Cross was the first sim I ever played. Got to grips with it and then switched to Multiplayer, it's really quite easy when you're in Multiplayer since you can focus on a small section plus the fact that it's mostly just 4 lines with the depots etc. to the side probably helps. I personally find it one of the simplest sims, until of course everything goes t*ts up.

 

[Statto]

That's the one. Is it payware? I could have sworn it was free! Although, if it is payware it's one of the £3 ones IIRC.

Royston is great for learning what each button does, how to control the trains so you're right it is probably the best 'first sim'.



Kings Cross was the first sim I ever played. Got to grips with it and then switched to Multiplayer, it's really quite easy when you're in Multiplayer since you can focus on a small section plus the fact that it's mostly just 4 lines with the depots etc. to the side probably helps. I personally find it one of the simplest sims, until of course everything goes t*ts up.

Multiplayer probably is the best way to play Kings Cross, although i'm billy no mates on the net, it's the sheer volume of trains that gets me on Kings Cross sim although i do like the continues scroll sims rather than the ones that are split into sections like Sheffield.

Lime Street is another good sim for beginners not too big an area but enough trains to keep it interesting.

 

[Trainfan344]

Statto, join the official sim-sig forums, lots of multiplayer action on there.

 

[Temple Meads]

that's the one. Is it payware? I could have sworn it was free! Although, if it is payware it's one of the £3 ones iirc.

£5

 

[Statto]

Statto, join the official sim-sig forums, lots of multiplayer action on there.

I don't bother much with the SimSig forums prefer playing alone, but some sims are best played on multiplayer.
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Royston or Lancing are good free sims to start off with, Lancing has level crossings on the sim so you learn not to lower the barriers too soon that Road traffic is held up too long, or too late that the trains are delayed, Lime Street is good next one up learning to manually impose headcodes when trains have terminated, plus routing trains into the right platforms.

 

[Trainfan344]

Cambridge I found to be a good solo game, With lots of action, and a few level crossings to operate, it can provide a challenge :P

 

[hurricanemk1c]

I enjoy playing Satley alone and with maximum chaos - always produces interesting movements! Trent is a little too big for single player, even with auto working enabled

 

[Temple Meads]

I enjoy playing Satley alone and with maximum chaos - always produces interesting movements! Trent is a little too big for single player, even with auto working enabled

Saltley is a good sim, pity that chaining to Gloucester and New St is non-functioning, and the developer went AWOL, I believe.

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As an aside, perhaps this thread should be renamed 'SimSig General Discussion', or another one started?