Line news November, 2006

• <27-Nov-2006>: Some snippets of MSTS news - some good, some not so good (confusing and worrying to be more specific):

• The Australian MSTS scene is in some turmoil due to a revision of Australia's copyright laws currently being reviewed by a Federal Senate committe (Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee) with various amendments proposed. You probably don't want to wade through all that material so, in short, Yuri Sos' (Steam4Me) view is the most informative - he's posted on the UKTrainsim forum and on the Australian Railpage forum (this is one of several places). As he explains in his post (scroll until you see his post under his steam4me forum moniker), Yuri has sought legal advice and the problem seems to be best summarised by this comment: They [routes and rolling stock] may be freeware but THEY HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED to third parties and that's where the whole issue gets murky and legislatively tricky. web•TrainSim hasn't had time to look around for reactions to the copyright amendments from the Australian modelling scene (e.g., model aeroplanes) but these proposed amendments appear to throw a dark cloud over many Australian's hobby.
• Graphics15 has announced that work is underway on Wupper Express 11 and Stadtbahn U79 4. Look under Screenshots on the left-hand menu to see some scenes, especially the Schwebebahn.
• The Train-sim.com library has the latest version of XTracks (version 3.18) from Okrasa Ghia and contributors. The standard edition setup, the one most of us will want, is in xtracks.zip (16Mb, 22-Nov-2006). The route builder's version is download xtracksr.zip (29Mb, 22-Nov-2006) and those who want the standard files need xtracksf.zip (16.9Mb, 22-Nov-2006).
• Mike Simpson has just updated Route Riter to version 6.4.46. Download from the Route Riter page at Steam4Me.

• <12-Nov-2006>: Believe it or not, but it's raining - well, sort of - there are clouds and some drops are getting to the ground (2mm in the last 24 hours may not seem much but that's more than the whole month of October which normally has about 50mm). It's much too late for the crops but this rain is freshening the air and settling the dust. Anyway, onto some MSTS news:

• You can find some discussion about Russell Beer's NSW Great Southern Mainline Route on the Railpage MSTS Routes forum (but start at the end of the posts, currently page 7, and work backwards).
• Loco builders, please don't give Bob Boudoin (plainsman) heart palpitations when you upload ENGine files that have incorrect parameters that were fixed years ago - see his ORW RS3 post for the latest.
• Ottodad has news about Wupper Express 11 which the Graphics15 team are working on. The famous Wuppertaler Schwebebahn is to be part of WE11 (link is to screenshots at Graphics15). Ralf also has opened a discussion thread, Wupper Express 11 inkl. Schwebebahn, on the Graphics15 forums. Here's a link to a photo gallery of the real thing.
• The Train-sim.com library has a freeware version of the ATSF Cajon Pass route: cp.zip (135Mb, 05-Nov-2006). There's some discussion of this route on the Train-sim forums.
• web•TrainSim will expand the search scope of the search box above by testing and implementing a macro search to look through MSTS download libraries for whatever rolling stock you're interested in.

• <11-Nov-2006>: Just above is a new search box that enables you to either search webdottrainsim.com (i.e., this site) and the webDotTrainSim Live Space, or the web as a whole. Enter a search term and click the magnifying glass search button; then choose the webdottrainsim.com tab or the Web tab. Close the search result windows by using the X at the top right.

About | Contact

• Email me at info@webDotTrainsim.com if you have questions or comments. I'll try to answer as best I can. Certainly post me if any step-by-step instructions on various how-to pages need clarification.