Disclosure

In writing this review I must ask readers to note that I did have a very small part in putting together one of the new routes in Railworks, for which I declined any payment or benefit in kind.

Introduction

Railworks (RW) is the successor to Rail Simulator (RS), developed by Kuju and released in 2007 by Electronic Arts. The title has had a somewhat volatile history as Kuju initially divested the title to a subsidiary company Rail Simulator Developments Ltd. (RSDL) who now operate wholly independently as RailSimulator.com (RS.com). It should be noted that RW is not a new simulator per se, but rather an extended housekeeping exercise and content expansion. One of the problems with the initial RS release was that different versions were put out for the UK/European market and the North American market causing something of a headache for route builders in particular as both contained assets unique to that version. RSDL attempted to address this by releasing the missing routes/rolling stock as add-ons but these had to be purchased and could not be downloaded as freeware. RW has now unified the UK/US releases in the one version however it does not incorporate the other payware items released by RSDL, in particular the Isle of Wight route and Class 158 DMU. RS.com have indicated that support will be concentrated on RW and patches/Developer Tools for RS have been taken down at the official site. RS.com have chosen to use the Steam distribution and management system for updates to the core game and supply of additional content. This has led to criticism from some corners of the hobby but it has to be said that Steam is an established system in the wider PC gaming arena and will hopefully be to the advantage of developer and user alike.

In The Box/Content

RW was initially released via digital download from Steam with a DVD version coming out a couple of weeks later. It has to be said RW is one of the most impressively packaged PC games I've bought in recent times. The box is big and includes several manuals - a quickstart guide, driver manual and content creation guide. The DVD supplied is one of the new style "ecodiscs". These are much thinner than conventional DVD's and I must admit I do have concerns over the longevity of this medium. However once installed you don't need the DVD in the drive to run RW. While RW does not contain some of the more insidious DRM measures, purchasers of the DVD version should note you still require a Steam account in order to install and run the game and therefore must have online access. This is another aspect which caused some consternation on the forums, until it was gently pointed out that, unless you're using an Internet Cafe, you must have been on line to whinge on the forum in the first place... RW launches through Steam and if you are online the process will check for any updates. You can run without connecting to Steam in "offline" mode. It should be noted you can install the game on multiple PC's, providing the Steam user account is the same but only one instance of these can be "live" at any one time.

RW includes all five routes from the original UK and US versions:
York to Newcastle
Paddington to Oxford
Bath to Templecombe
Siegen to Hagen
Cajon Pass

In addition there are three new fictional routes:
Castle Rock - Western US style setting with mainline running.
Seebergbahn - Scenic Alpine route in a hybrid European location.
Hedborough North - UK Freight orientated short route.

All the motive power and rolling stock in an assortment of liveries from the previous releases are included:
(UK) LMS Black Five steam loco.
(UK) S&D 7F 53xxx 2-8-0 steam loco.
(UK) (ex)BR Class 253 HST.
(UK) Class 55 Deltic diesel.
(UK) Class 47 diesel.
(UK) Class 166 DMU.
(Germany) Class 101 electric.
(Germany) Class 294 diesel.
(US) ES44AC diesel.
(US) SD40-2 diesel.

RW adds:
(UK) Class 37 diesel.
(Germany) V200 diesel.
(US) F7 A+B type diesel.

A few new rolling stock items have been added notably some North American passenger cars though rather disappointing not to see any new types of BR Mark One coaches or some different liveries.

The other big change is that the "Developer Tools" have now been integrated into the core programme and can be accessed from the initial menu on launching the game, as can options to change display resolution though, perhaps confusingly, some graphic options such as detail levels and shadows are still changed from the sub-menus after starting Railworks proper.

Sub-score for presentation and content, 9/10. I'm a sucker for big game boxes and the new routes/motive power are an excellent addition.

Turning to the simulation itself, it is probably time to repeat that RW is not a new simulator and in most respects everything works pretty much the same as in RS.

Graphics

This is one area where some improvement has been made with changes to lighting effects and shaders. Draw distance has been improved slightly, giving a deeper feel to the scenery. Things look less garish than they did in the original release. Otherwise if you've played RS then you pretty much know what RW is going to look like - an advance on the earlier sims with swaying grass and detailed trees adding to the lifelike appearance. One thing I must repeat from my earlier RS review is though the degree of realism is good, you shouldn't expect something quite along the lines of Oblivion or Crysis. Weather, sky and diurnal effects are impressive - some have commented the nights are too light but this boils down to personal preference. I actually disliked the pitch black of MSTS and a little ambient light can lead to some striking effects when on a night drive. This also offsets to some extent another little gripe - that the headlights on traction units don't actually project a cone of light. Again there is some debate as to how effective this actually is on the prototype given that train headlights are primarily to warn anyone trackside of its approach, rather than illuminate the track ahead.

The somewhat poor implementation of cab sway and motion in RS was addressed by the expedient means of removing it altogether in the first patch. Other train sims manage this feature quite nicely and RW still feels flat without it. This to me is a one of the more vital areas RS.com need to be looking at - imagine a motorsport game where the car suspension gave no physical sensation of bounce over potholes etc. By the same token you no longer get the sprite-ish look in external view but not to see some pitch and roll as the train passes doesn't look right either.

Possibly as a result of more experience running the sim and editors I quite like the graphics in RW, albeit with the caveats above. I'm prepared to go with a sub-score of 8/10.

Sound

Not too much has changed here since the original RS, however the new diesel locos are supplied with soundsets of a much higher quality than the original default motive power, possibly as a result of out-sourcing. There is still no distinction between internal and external sounds though. Track sound remains a weak point and still far too shallow with no noticeable "swoosh" as you get up to speed on welded rail and a rather tinny sound for rail joints and traversing points/crossings. What has been well captured however is the flange squeal as a train rounds a sharp curve. The rather annoying birdsong at 90 MPH is still present though!

Largely as a result of the new diesel sounds I'm going to push the sub-score for sound up to 7/10, but that is really quite generous and another core aspect of the sim RS.com need to do some serious work on.

Physics

From the outset I was quite impressed with the physics in RS and it remains a strong point going forward into RW. You do get the feel of handling a heavy train although for the future I think RS.com need to look at dropping the Kuju/MSTS legacy of the % throttle and brake system and implement (at least for professional mode) something more akin to that used on the real thing. Wheelslip still seems a bit elusive and overloading the generator on diesel locos non-existent. I'll go with 8/10 on the physics sub-score.

Operations/Gameplay

Each route comes with a number of scenarios varying in difficulty and some are carried forward from RS. I would have liked to see more scenarios on the original routes using the new motive power. Out the box, it would be nice to stretch the Class 37 on a relief train from Newcastle to York, or a coal train from Southall to Didcot.

One of the biggest complaints about the original RS was that the signalling system worked very poorly as did the control of non-player (AI) trains. It was not unknown to get a scenario end because two AI trains had been deemed to collide 50 miles down the route. Some improvements were made in the patches but the general concensus is that the coding for signals and AI remains one of the weakest points in RW. While this must remain a concern for users and RS.com alike, I'm going to break with tradition a little bit here. In at least one quarter I've heard it described AI trains in RS are little more than moving scenery, but to some extent isn't that true? I think the key here is that RW is primarily a train driving simulator. You take control of your train, maybe in some cases fuelling the loco or doing some shunting first, then take it from A to B (then maybe on to C). It isn't meant to be a network simulation or a strategy game and to that extent the AI traffic is a bit like the props on a movie set. That building doesn't have anything behind the frontage, because in the film you don't need to see it. That's not a real gun firing real bullets, it's a replica firing blanks, because shooting Hollywood actors for real is not a great idea. So don't try and run every non player train exactly as per the timetable. If the player is going to see the AI train between Didcot and Reading, run it from Didcot to Reading not all the way from Oxford to Paddington. If you're on a single track railway and you're going to cross a train at a passing loop consider using a static consist. It's not as dynamic as seeing the train running in off the single line for sure but the net effect for the player is still the same. It would be nice if RW could function as a comprehensive railway network but it doesn't (if it did they would be selling it to the real railway for £millions) so scenario authors put your director's hat on and think how you can achieve the desired effect within the constraints of what it can do. The bottom line is, do the signals work correctly so far as the player train can see and does it feel like you are driving a train on a real railway? If the answer is yes then the job is done. Of course that's not to say there isn't room for improvement and in time it would be nice to see features such as dynamic routing or random events (stopped and cautioned for a trespasser perhaps).

As a counterpoint, the competition ain't perfect either. MSTS stuck rigidly to running trains on the fixed path defined in the Activity Editor leading to frequent lock ups, while Trainz...doesn't really have an AI despatcher at all. That's not to say I'm letting Railworks off the hook either of course!

The curious bug of not getting a "Right Away" message from the origin point is still present. Timetable operation was implemented in a RS patch but RW perpetuates the moving arrival and departure times as you progress along the route, rather than marking you as late or early. It would have been nice to see some sort of career mode or tracker implemented, maybe that will come in a future version.

I'm in a bit of a dilemna about the operations sub-score. On the surface it still doesn't really deserve to be that high, but is there also an issue of how we are perceiving or using the programme? Probably a bit of both, so I'm going to slap 'em with a 6/10 on this one.

Sandbox

This is an all encompassing term for the user interface with the game as soon as you want to do something creative on your own. NB: this is as related to constructing your own route or scenario as opposed to building and importing new scenery items or trains which requires the use of specialised 3rd party 3D modelling and graphics packages. At the easiest level you can open an existing route to edit it (not necessarily recommended) or to set up a new scenario. A detailed description is outwith the scope of this review but the process is accomplished by means of a set of graphical tools. Setting up a new route from scratch is a little more involved as you first need to create a blueprint for the route before you can set it up. While the Blueprint Editor is now integrated in the RW opening menu the process is just as convoluted as in RS. Certain features such as adding a route description or splash screen can't be done through the menu at all and need to be done either manually or through use of a third party utility (Mike Simpson's excellent RW Tools to be precise). If building a real world route, RW recognises markers based on Google Earth latitude/longitude "pins" but not in native kml/kmz format. It is necessary to convert these into a format RW recognises and this is again best accomplished using the invaluable RW Tools. Possibly due to concerns over copyright there is no facility in RW to overlay scanned or downloaded maps. This can make the process of creating sufficient markers a little onerous, bearing in mind you need to pin not only the railways but rivers, lake outlines/coasts, main roads and any other significant features in Google Earth. One drawback of relying on Google Earth is that not everywhere (including some parts of Europe and North America) necessarily has the high resolution imagery so a means of georeferencing and overlaying raster maps (similar to Transdem does for Trainz) is another item to add on the RS.com "would be nice" list. Terrain itself can be created quickly in RW by importing DEM (Digital Elevation Models) in the hgt format.

Once a basic route has been set up, terrain imported and markers pegged out the actual editing process is a mixed bag. First up is the good - tracklaying is similar to the Trainz spline system but with the ability to control the radius of track curvature and lay multiple lengths at once. You can highlight sections of track (or any of what are known in the game as lofted objects) and lay another lofted object - though notably not another section of track - alongside. 3D placement is pretty much the same as any other sim, i.e. fairly time consuming and RW lacks the shortcuts or flexibility that MSTS and TRS offer. A major omission is no thumbnail view in the menu, nor is there any easy means of identifying what an object in the route is called.

Terrain painting is one of the more challenging aspects of the RW route editor. First of all the palette is fairly small and there are separate texture sets for the default UK/Euro and US environments. I'm sure the original intention was to combine the two sets for RW to provide more flexibility but this did not happen and you need to select one or other when starting a route. The file and core structure of RW means it is virtually impossible for the casual user to add new third party textures so you are stuck with the basic set that Kuju provided originally. This leads on to one of my other main gripes about terrain texturing - I find the tools make it very hard to achieve a subtle blend or transition between different textures, exacerbated by the stark contrast between the available textures. In addition, if you do manage a good mix, there is no copy and paste function to re-use in another area. Put bluntly, every single square kilometre of the route that may be visible in detail from or near a train needs to be individually painted. There are no shortcuts. Without going too much into comparisons, in Trainz you could copy an area of terrain texture and (say) trees together and paste onto another part of the route even rotating prior to placement for variety.

You might think I am implying the RW route editor is too difficult to work in, but I'm not. Some good results have already been obtained and published. Building a route in any of the sims can be a daunting experience and RW is no exception - each has its own challenges and foibles and the route author needs to adapt and decide how to get the best out of the tools. In the longer term I hope that RS.com can review how some of the processes work and any changes to make things easier for the end user would be welcome.

7/10 is a reasonable sub-score for the tools, recognising some of the issues above.

Conclusions

The cancellation of MSTS2 aka World of Rails has left RS.com in a particularly strong position to service and dominate the train simming scene for some time to come. No amount of unofficial patches can change the fact that MSTS is 8 years old, doesn't always work well on modern hardware/OS and coming to the end of its useful life. Auran continue to tweak and repackage their own 8 year old software as seen with TS2009, a few cosmetic changes but nothing really over TRS2006/TC3 and much less stable too. The impression coming out of RS.com is that they fully intend to rise to this challenge and they are already starting to announce significant items of new content. Of course this needs to go hand in hand with fixes and improvements to the core game engine itself. On the other side of the equation, the end users need to get behind and support the programme. RW still lags considerably behind the other sims in terms of even basic items such as buildings or scenery. Ultimately this is a partnership between RS.com and their customers to get the best out of the software and ensure its continued growth and success. I think the difference may prove to be that, in the grand scheme of things, Rail Simulator was just another game to Kuju and EA which they needed to push out the door finished or not. Railworks is essentially RS.com's only product so they have to get it right if they want to survive as a company.

I sincerely hope they can do it and I'm pleased to throw my support behind the programme.

Taking the average of the ratings above, the final score comes out at:

Final Score: 75%

Useful Links:
RS.com HomePage
3D Trains (Foliage Pack and other add-ons)
All Aboard Productions (Rich Garber's excellent routes)
Just Trains - add-ons for RS & RW.
Railworks America - Forum dedicated to constructive discussion of all things RW.
RW Tools - Mike Simpsons essential utility, make sure you tip generously.

This page created on 05/07/09 and last updated on 25/01/10.

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