VRC U30C - Computer Specs. and DRM Issues

[FHRob]

First, a question about the VRC U30C. According to the manual, one needs a reasonably hefty computer to use this engine without getting stuttering.

If anybody who owns this can comment, would be appreciated.

Second, I'd like some opinions on the following contained in their EULA:

This licensed software is for your personal use only, and you may not give away, sell, or redistribute any part of it to anyone else. Redistribution in any form, whether for sale or free, physical or e-media, is considered an act of piracy, will immediately invalidate your license, and may bring legal action against you. Please see section three of this EULA for information regarding repaints and reskins.

You are not buying any software from this site, you are simply buying a license to use the software on your computer system, with the appropriate core simulation or game. If we actually sold you the software itself, we could be giving up ownership to you, which could be bad for us and anyone who may want future improvements and updates.

My thoughts on these two issues:

An act of piracy by giving away something, no money changing hands?

As for the second quote, taking this literally would mean we don't own our cars, computers or anything for that matter. We only own a license to use these things.

Rob

[buzz456]

It is similar to DTG and fairly standard for software stuff. Your car is a object and subject to a whole different set of laws and rules.

[FHRob]

It is similar to DTG and fairly standard for software stuff. Your car is a object and subject to a whole different set of laws and rules.

OK, good point there. So the issue would seem to be the "intangible nature" of software, i.e. I may or may not remove from my computer a gift to you of software I don't want. I understand, but it doesn't pass the smell test for me.

What's to stop the car companies from saying a vehicle is subject to copyright, therefore if I sell you said car, I owe them a royalty payment? Not very hard, given the nature of technology and the need to register the car with a state DMV.

Rob

[JerryC]

Don't make a bigger issue out of this than what it really is. As has been said, it's pretty much a standard and generic EULA, and from what I can tell those are written more to protect companies from getting their pants sued off over buggy software than shaming anyone from pirating the product.

The specs are the minimum that i would personally run. Again, it is a warning that this is a hefty burrito - about half-a-million polys and craploads of draw calls. That is three times more than the GP40-2 and some folks reported stuttering issues with it. To date so far though, I have not taken any CS complaints over slow performance.

BTW, you never really own anything, even if it's paid for. Just try skipping the taxes on it and see what happens.

[FHRob]

Don't make a bigger issue out of this than what it really is. As has been said, it's pretty much a standard and generic EULA, and from what I can tell those are written more to protect companies from getting their pants sued off over buggy software than shaming anyone from pirating the product.

The specs are the minimum that i would personally run. Again, it is a warning that this is a hefty burrito - about half-a-million polys and craploads of draw calls. That is three times more than the GP40-2 and some folks reported stuttering issues with it. To date so far though, I have not taken any CS complaints over slow performance.

BTW, you never really own anything, even if it's paid for. Just try skipping the taxes on it and see what happens.

CS complaints = ?

I'm running Win 7 64 Bit, Core i3-3240, 8GB ram, EVGA GTX 750ti 2GB GDDR5. Would this fit the bill?

[buzz456]

You should have no problem.

[BoostedFridge]

Hi Rob,

Your computer is a higher performing spec than mine, and I can say that the U30C doesn't drag down my fps much more than a basic kuju loco. I've been pleasantly surprised by this.

[tomgiorgini]

no problems here and love the scenarios jerry has written.he knows how to actually get you to "feel" the train which. is not that easy in ts as compared to run 8.excellent job jerry.
thanks tom

[FHRob]

no problems here and love the scenarios jerry has written.he knows how to actually get you to "feel" the train which. is not that easy in ts as compared to run 8.excellent job jerry.
thanks tom

Agreed. I'm really happy with this purchase, as I can use the engines "stock" without any fixes to the simulation or engine files -Yay!

The scenarios are involved, as the instruction book explains. I believe you need to finish the whole scenario - 180 minutes in the case of two of the three - in one sitting to get a green check mark. The beginning of the first scenario gives you an idea of what engineers talk about when they say "hurry up and wait."

So far, no stuttering issues. I also tested the locos on Horseshoe curve and New York to New Haven, and again nothing out of the ordinary, even with the extra long consist that's included.

Rob

[JerryC]

I had a lot of input from the Beta Tester's about the physics, and that led me to do a bit more research about the slow nature of old GE's. Still, there is room for improvement - the braking physics are still a bit of a mystery.

[JohnM1945]

Rob wrote:-

What's to stop the car companies from saying a vehicle is subject to copyright, therefore if I sell you said car, I owe them a royalty payment? Not very hard, given the nature of technology and the need to register the car with a state DMV.

The distinction is the same as the distinction between a car that you buy - which is yours to dispose of as you will - and a car that you hire/lease/rent - which is unquestionably not yours to dispose of.

For you (or me) to give software obtained under 'licence to use' to a friend is not generosity, it's theft.

Kind regards,

John M

[FHRob]

Rob wrote:-

What's to stop the car companies from saying a vehicle is subject to copyright, therefore if I sell you said car, I owe them a royalty payment? Not very hard, given the nature of technology and the need to register the car with a state DMV.

The distinction is the same as the distinction between a car that you buy - which is yours to dispose of as you will - and a car that you hire/lease/rent - which is unquestionably not yours to dispose of.

For you (or me) to give software obtained under 'licence to use' to a friend is not generosity, it's theft.

Kind regards,

John M

Hi John:

I'm not the kind of person who can't be convinced, so I'm willing to listen to what you say.

I don't know if you're an attorney or not, but you're parsing words here. You're saying the only thing a company need do is say a product is for hire/lease/rent, then you can't give it away? So if a car company were to say this when you "buy" a car - it's a copyright protected design - then I don't own the car?

It seems to me the lack of a physical nature is what gives software it's special hire/lease/rent status.

The reason I even mention this stems from when I used Symantec as my security product. Besides the product being overpriced, they're a little too cute for me. The program disc I "purchased" was "licensed" to me for 365 days. On day 366, the product bombed. I can see not being able to get updates, that's fine with me. But the software stopped working. The warnings I got were very unclear about this. Not to be snarky, but when was the last time you read every word in a EULA? Suffice it to say, I no longer purchase/use/lease their crappy product.

I certainly don't condone people who pirate software, but this whole copyright issue has been handed over to the vendors, with little or no consideration for us, the consumers.

Rob

[FHRob]

I had a lot of input from the Beta Tester's about the physics, and that led me to do a bit more research about the slow nature of old GE's. Still, there is room for improvement - the braking physics are still a bit of a mystery.

Jerry:

As I said previously, just having the product work right out the box is worth every one of the $15 it cost.

Rob

[awaken1977]

I have performance problems with VRC U30C - quite low framerate on all 3 scenarios supplied with the pack.
my computer has quite low end videocard Radeon HD 6630M/256M , but with VRC GP40 there was no such lags

[buzz456]

I suppose that this might just give your computer a problem then.

LnN U30 trio.jpg