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I bought Dovetail Train Simulator (Classic) back when it was still called Railworks 2, and bought several add-ons for it throughout the years too, but as I learned more about the actual operation and function of railways and the rolling stock, I got gradually more fed up with the thing too. My general experience is that it's too much arcade game and too little simulator. Or rather, the official content tends to give you goals that don't line up with actual railway operation, score you in ways that don't make sense, and focus the simulation on aspects that matter less while leaving gaping holes on things that matter more. Shortly before dropping TS entirely, I also tried to make my own content for it. I never really finished anything meaningful, but I did learn a lot of limitations of the game engine, and how it was basically impossible to do things right. So I guess that experience left me thinking why even bother with this, it's never going to be what I want it to. The one piece of content for TS Classic that I suppose I can recommend would be Trains vs Zombies, if that's still available. At least it doesn't pretend to offer some kind of realism. Edit: Take a look at Diesel Railcar Simulator too. It's a very specific train sim, focusing on a few select models of British diesel railcars. nielsm fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jun 21, 2023 |
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Jun 21, 2023 20:00
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Crazy that Train Life got abandoned so fast. I was under the impression it came out recently, but apparently it has been around since last summer. As for Train Simulator, over the last decade or more I’ve learned to not give any money to Dovetail Games ever. They are a shoddy company, running a hostile DLC-based business model, regularly re-releasing the same games with different numbers and breaking addons and dropping projects and leaving people out to dry (see their ill-gated Flight Sim). The fact that people keep buying into their poo poo is holding the train sim genre back, and that genre needs to get into the XXIst century stat, like Fligh Simulator has, with real-world data being used to generate the routes, instead of every map being a hand-drawn FPS level, only really narrow and long. poo poo, even that Berlin bus sim and the Vienna tram sims are based on photogrammetry.
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Jun 21, 2023 21:04
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For the people who play nucleares, does anyone else have problems with mouse look basically not working? I tried turning up sensitivity and it has basically no effect. Same with "alternative input" or whatever.
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Jun 22, 2023 01:18
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Nextfest trip report Americas Tower Simulator is an fun entry level tower sim. It boasts realism but it really is not realistic at all, although it's not a mobile atc arcade game either. By not focusing on graphics and using a blocky art style, the two brother development team can probably focus on other aspects of the gameplay. It's the first atc sim I know off where you have to send an ops car to scare away the birds. I'm guessing this has a future as a simple "pick up and go sim" for people wanting to flex their towering skills a bit, witout going the whole Tower! or ATC Simulator route. Offroad: Dead Planet is something similar to Snowrunner I guess, in that you drive vehicles slowly over rough terrain, trying to achieve goals and not damage them. It's based on Unity and has a realistic style, though the characters use a cartoony/anime-ish style when conversing (yes, there seems to be a light sprinkling of plot). The demo gives you small slices of Mars, each with a set of puzzles and goals, limited in size to maybe half a sq km? The promise is this is the training before you go to Earth, I assume the maps will get more massive as you go in deeper. Nice if you're really into Snowrunner, this is more of the same. It's also charming. Route 66 Simulator is a eurojank/Playway game that starts you off in an old Mustang somewhere in the desert and promises you'll drive across the whole Route. I gotta say the scale here feels right, at least initially, but the gameplay is typical PlayWay stuff - drive up to a gas station, pick up the fuel nozzle, click on the fuel cap, go into the store, pick up a package for a mission, walk to the back of the car and add it to your inventory, drive to the bar down the road, take out the package, drop it off. The world is littered with candy bars and various items to keep you going and your car will break, requiring you to have parts and cash on the ready. It's a slow burn. They may stick the landing on this, but I lost intrest after I pulled up to a Teepee hotel and was asked to find 15 pieces of garbage scattered around the motel grounds. Driving feels meh too, which is a choice for this kind of game I guess. Starship Simulator is the pearl and the game I am waiting for. From the people behind Messy Desk Interactive, responsible for the TNG Enterprise model shut down by Paramount, and the Orville Experience, comes a game where you get to fly your own Start Trek-style ship across a real galaxy. Explore strange new worlds, seek out... well not much yet, this is the Alpha, so all you get is a sample ship you can walk around and the galaxy to throw it around in. Sit in the captains chair and engage red alert. Go to the nav console and choose a system to fly to. Take to the helm and transfer the target data from the navigation console and engage FTL or fly manually. My understanding is you will get to engage with all, and I mean ALL, ship systems in the final product, because you will actually be building the ships and connecting all the systems together into your very own USS Frankenmonster. This will also come with crew (and multiplayer support for flying with friends, which is already in) and a lived in universe to explore. If they keep this open for the community to fill with content, I think this will be one of the bigger community success stories in many years.
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Jun 22, 2023 15:09
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Mokotow posted:Starship Simulator is the pearl and the game I am waiting for. From the people behind Messy Desk Interactive, responsible for the TNG Enterprise model shut down by Paramount, and the Orville Experience, comes a game where you get to fly your own Start Trek-style ship across a real galaxy. Explore strange new worlds, seek out... well not much yet, this is the Alpha, so all you get is a sample ship you can walk around and the galaxy to throw it around in. Sit in the captains chair and engage red alert. Go to the nav console and choose a system to fly to. Take to the helm and transfer the target data from the navigation console and engage FTL or fly manually. My understanding is you will get to engage with all, and I mean ALL, ship systems in the final product, because you will actually be building the ships and connecting all the systems together into your very own USS Frankenmonster. This will also come with crew (and multiplayer support for flying with friends, which is already in) and a lived in universe to explore. If they keep this open for the community to fill with content, I think this will be one of the bigger community success stories in many years. Noctis V let's goooooooo
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Jun 22, 2023 15:16
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Update from Space Ship Simulator - turns out I have a fully staffed engine room. I also met a chicken on the main staircase.
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Jun 22, 2023 16:25
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Nucleares is neat but they desperately need a normal human to go through and make them label things sanely. Words like "Core" and "Condenser" are overused and vaguely so. You have poo poo like "condenser flow speed" next to "condenser cooling flow speed" where the load is controlled (I think?) by nearby switches labeled "Main core loop" and "condenser loop". There's a reason real nuclear systems use terms like "Primary/Secondary/Tertiary" to avoid ambiguity. It kinda reminds me of Tin Can where the irrational layout of the repair manual was meant to be like, part of the challenge I guess? I find it annoying. Is Derail Valley good? What's the gameplay like? I want something kinda chill; it looks to me like a Snowrunner-like level of challenge.
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Jun 23, 2023 06:02
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Derail Valley is very much a sandbox. You just grab a loco, start it up, couple some cars to it, and go somewhere. And then you can do stupid poo poo like try to run a steam and diesel engine as multiple traction and enjoy a life of going between the two cockpits and constantly try to adjust them to run at equal speed. There is also the career progression system that has you earn money for doing jobs, and spend that money in buying licenses to do more advanced jobs. And spend them on repairs and cleanup fees when you set a switch wrong and smash a train of gasoline into a line of cars carrying nuclear material.
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Jun 23, 2023 06:17
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JerikTelorian posted:Nucleares is neat but they desperately need a normal human to go through and make them label things sanely. Words like "Core" and "Condenser" are overused and vaguely so. You have poo poo like "condenser flow speed" next to "condenser cooling flow speed" where the load is controlled (I think?) by nearby switches labeled "Main core loop" and "condenser loop". There's a reason real nuclear systems use terms like "Primary/Secondary/Tertiary" to avoid ambiguity. I feel like the fact that it's translated from the Dev's natural language (Portuguese? 'Video Vigilancia?' 'Inyeccion de Potassium Iodide?') hurts the experience a lot. Without saying too much, my day job is very adjacent to the type of "UX" that is the main gameplay in Nucleares and honestly its... Mixed? Some sensors that are shared make perfect sense, even if their worth isn't immediately obvious. Other sensors/displays are... Direly confusing. Several are clearly game compromises so that everything is manageable by one person, others are just what feels like a game developer trying to design these type of systems without the full picture. (I'll also say I'm still green enough relative to this that maybe I'm missing something.) As much as I love the game, the dev is absolutely leaning into the idea of "Hey, its a community and we all learn together" to compensate for what amounts to really poor explanation of whats going on within the game world. If you don't inherently understand a PWR and you look at the diagram of the plant by the valve controls, you'll be needlessly confused. A very minor improvement in the UI could explain what circuits there are, but instead it makes it look like all of the coolant flows through the condenser and steam generator all the time. There's actually 3 loops there, and it isn't obvious! There's other compromises that feel game-y, too. An early trap is that you burn coolant off in the condenser loop and may need to replenish it. The fact that you have to interpret the level dropping combined with a loss of pressure and climbing temperature in the condenser feels... Wrong? A single indicator light that shows "Blow off/evaporator" working would help greatly. So many physical things happen and switch in this game that aren't reported because they don't easily fit the SOP, or you're intended to infer from raw sensor data. I could go on and on. It's amazing that next to every control enable/disable "switch" that is the equivalent of a huge fuse there's also a "mute alarms" button, and then near to the control rods controls and scram there's a random "acknowledge alarms" universal button... All of that is truly insane and game-y. There's also a lot of confusion with exactly how many of the displays show and... Okay, like I said, it's not truly realistic. It's still a game and it works, but if you really take it seriously you'll realize that the game is you get to be a human PID but you have to learn the inputs first. I can't say that I know a nuke control room first hand, but what I do know is so many of the guardrails and sensing in the game are, well, made to make the game interesting. If you think too long about how it might actually work IRL you'll realize that the ingame system is diabolically unsafe.
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Jun 23, 2023 08:48
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Maybe off brand for a nuclear plant but the controls being poorly translated and organized by unit operation instead of process sequence is incredibly accurate to awful process HMIs. In addition to the start up instructions in the robot, the robot should lead you by the nose around the core room so you can physically understand the loops. I did this for myself but I've also worked in the process industry in the past. Most of what needs included for safety are interlocks stopping control rod insertion and various full flow triggers for over temperatures or under levels which are sorely missing for accuracy but would also fully cement the game as a process puzzler and not a Homer simulation.
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Jun 23, 2023 13:43
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Got into the beta for [Sengoku Dynasty ! Check your emails if you signed up.
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Jun 23, 2023 16:38
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Anime Store Adventure posted:If you think too long about how it might actually work IRL you'll realize that the ingame system is diabolically unsafe. This is a spoiler
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Jun 23, 2023 16:47
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Tatrakrad posted:This is a spoiler I wanted to follow up my post with the game rules and I love it, still, its just got some very silly things.
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Jun 23, 2023 18:26
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Harminoff posted:Got into the beta for [Sengoku Dynasty ! Check your emails if you signed up. Nothing yet Please let us know how it is compared to medieval dynasty. And hopefully nothing at all like the most recent Wild West dynasty
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Jun 23, 2023 18:34
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Anime Store Adventure posted:I wanted to follow up my post with the game rules and I love it, still, its just got some very silly things. I finally got the reactor started with a guide and realizing you need to manually override to get the fuel loaded. Other than the view jittering whenever the mouse moved side to side, having the coolant boil over while I haplessly sped the condenser and coolant pumps up and wrecking everything in the first 5 minutes was a fun spooky time.
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Jun 24, 2023 01:52
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JerikTelorian posted:
It's good, more like Mudrunner in that the missions are a bare minimum excuse to drive trains around, but it works really well and is very satisfying to play. I think the price might go up when the upcoming big update happens, unless I've just lost track?
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Jun 24, 2023 05:14
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PerniciousKnid posted:It's good, more like Mudrunner in that the missions are a bare minimum excuse to drive trains around, but it works really well and is very satisfying to play. I think the price might go up when the upcoming big update happens, unless I've just lost track? Oh nice. I'll probably get it during the coming Steam Summer Sale then.
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Jun 24, 2023 05:31
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Tatrakrad posted:I finally got the reactor started with a guide and realizing you need to manually override to get the fuel loaded. Other than the view jittering whenever the mouse moved side to side, having the coolant boil over while I haplessly sped the condenser and coolant pumps up and wrecking everything in the first 5 minutes was a fun spooky time. You shouldn't have to hit the manual override to load the fuel unless you've forgotten to throw the main mode switch into 'Nominal'.
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Jun 24, 2023 05:37
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They already increased the price for Derail Valley (to $40) when they announced the new update release date in May
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Jun 24, 2023 05:47
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E4C85D38 posted:You shouldn't have to hit the manual override to load the fuel unless you've forgotten to throw the main mode switch into 'Nominal'. Yeah that’s why the computer voice says nominal mode when you try to insert the fuel. It’s fun but having to baby the condenser level manually with the switch two panels away from the monitor was annoying. Looking forward to its evolution
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Jun 24, 2023 19:16
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30.5 Days posted:For the people who play nucleares, does anyone else have problems with mouse look basically not working? I tried turning up sensitivity and it has basically no effect. Same with "alternative input" or whatever. Does the lack of response here mean I'm the only one having this problem or that everyone else is just muscling through it?
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Jun 24, 2023 21:43
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30.5 Days posted:Does the lack of response here mean I'm the only one having this problem or that everyone else is just muscling through it? I've found it to be a bit janky, one minute I'll be looking down at the controls, the next minute I'll be staring up at the warning light things. Hopefully that'll be one of the things which get fixed shortly along with the head Bob.
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Jun 24, 2023 22:36
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I am once again considering buying the entire A-Line -> Waycross route for Run 8.
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Jun 24, 2023 23:07
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30.5 Days posted:Does the lack of response here mean I'm the only one having this problem or that everyone else is just muscling through it? I figured out it's tied to vsync for some reason, force it on in advanced options and mouselook gets substantially more usable.
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Jun 25, 2023 01:21
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algebra testes posted:I am once again considering buying the entire A-Line -> Waycross route for Run 8. Man, just yesterday I picked up the base Run 8 with just the two subs and have an immediate urge to do the same thing - but I'm torn between that and adding on to California. I also like the sound of the Roseville sub, but I'm sad it doesn't connect to anything. Squiggle fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Jun 25, 2023 |
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Jun 25, 2023 05:18
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I recommend getting as much of California as you can. The A line is decent too.
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Jun 25, 2023 05:21
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I could add a few on - I figure Cajon for sure, any other picks out of the others? I wouldn't mind some more varied terrain. And out of curiosity, do the locomotive packs have sharper cab textures than the base?
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Jun 25, 2023 05:35
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E4C85D38 posted:I figured out it's tied to vsync for some reason, force it on in advanced options and mouselook gets substantially more usable. Ah, yeah, that did it. What the gently caress.
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Jun 25, 2023 05:41
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skooma512 posted:Yeah that’s why the computer voice says nominal mode when you try to insert the fuel. yeah and I still get the warning about control rod position and the reactor core not being empty. Do I have to drain the pool and or the primary loop first?
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Jun 25, 2023 21:34
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Tatrakrad posted:yeah and I still get the warning about control rod position and the reactor core not being empty. Do I have to drain the pool and or the primary loop first? Rods have to be 100% inserted to add the fuel. Don't have to drain anything.
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Jun 26, 2023 02:44
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Squiggle posted:I could add a few on - I figure Cajon for sure, any other picks out of the others? I wouldn't mind some more varied terrain. Bakersfield has a lot of suburban running, and a lot of green. Also a lot of industries to switch. However, the actual drive is generally just flat 55mph, horn fully depressed bell on gong over a crossing every 2 minutes. Cajon pass obviously, rules, but it also has some intermodal terminals and stuff to give end points to deliveries. It does also feel sort of like you really need San Bernadino to complete that part of the route because you come down over the hill from Cajon towards LA and then you... pull over and get out like 1 hour from LA? But obviously I don't want to be an idiot that just buys tonnes of DLC so I haven't actually played San Bernadino.
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Jun 26, 2023 03:08
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JerikTelorian posted:Rods have to be 100% inserted to add the fuel. Don't have to drain anything. Yeah i get that so whats the other part
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Jun 26, 2023 13:55
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algebra testes posted:Bakersfield has a lot of...horn ...Cajon pass obviously, .... you really need San Bernadino .... be an idiot ... buy... DLC .  "I should get one" turned into "everything in the SW but the $20 routes and Arizona". Got an SD40-2 pack and the Amtrak stuff too. I probably would've done worse, but the fact that you have to buy them one at a time gives a real "re-spinning the cylinder and pulling the trigger" feeling to the whole "overbuying DLC" experience. Now I need to take a day off work and figure out how the Industry stuff works, or how I do anything other than drive. I know it's a "make your own fun" kind of thing, which rules, but I'll take suggestions on fun to make. I realize now that I have no real idea of how freight rail works. I'm glad San Bernardino came with an Amtrak "scenario" world that had the signals open all the way from LA to Riverside. It was a nice sundown run, I just didn't know if I could open the doors or anything, so I just used my imagination. Squiggle fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Jun 26, 2023 |
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Jun 26, 2023 15:59
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I really like switching and terminal railroad stuff so I spend most of my time in San Bernadino. The amount of industries in that DLC is staggering. Would ya'll be into a casual run8 MP session at some point?
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Jun 26, 2023 16:04
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Tatrakrad posted:Yeah i get that so whats the other part Maybe you are trying to insert fuel into a spot that already has it? Does the main status display say fuel is loaded or unloaded?
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Jun 26, 2023 18:22
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I was only able to load fuel into the core using the middle panel that just has "insert/extract" buttons, and only when I turned on manual override. I don't know if there's a more normal way to do that.
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Jun 26, 2023 19:11
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Squiggle posted:
To roleplay this properly, you first must refrain from taking a day off work 
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Jun 26, 2023 19:25
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30.5 Days posted:I was only able to load fuel into the core using the middle panel that just has "insert/extract" buttons, and only when I turned on manual override. I don't know if there's a more normal way to do that. this person gets it
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Jun 26, 2023 21:31
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All of you chatting about run8 reminded me I bought this last year and since lost access to my "gaming pc" (it was my work pc... i was the IT manager so it had many uses) and haven't got into it. It'll probably run on my potato laptop but it doesn't have enough keys and i feel like trying to get it running on the deck is a non-starter but man that seemed like a cool simulator. I wish there was any alternative to Derail Valley as a train driving game. But nothing comes close. I hope the update runs acceptably on deck... uh oh.
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Jun 26, 2023 21:59
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Tatrakrad posted:this person gets it This started working for me without manual override when I changed the operating mode to nominal
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Jun 26, 2023 23:28
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