RailWorks Multiplayer

[Shortliner]

If you have been following the MSTS Multiplayer Forum on TS.com, then you'd notice a group called the Virtual Railroader's Multiplayer Association. Well after RSC.com announced that RW will have Multiplayer capabilities, I started talking to the leader/owner of VRMA about starting to do Multiplayer sessions for RW. Well, before we'd start planning RW's Multiplayer session, We'd like to gauge how much interest there is for this kind of activity in the RW community. That's why VRMA is inviting the RW community to listen in onto two of their MSTS session.

The first session will be on 2/19, in which they'll be running at CP Mactier Subdivision. The session will start at 1:00pm EST.

The next session will be on 3/5, they'll be running on a route to be announced, and the starting time again will be at 1:00pm EST.

http://www.vrma.webs.com/

This is the website and on the two dates mentioned above, there will be a link to streaming audio. On those two Saturdays, just click on the "Player" link.

On 3/9 there will be a chatroom Q&A session (link to be provided closer to that time) in which the RW community is welcome to join in and provide their input.

Hope to see a great interest in this from the RW community!

[thecanadianrail]

MSTS has multiplayer too?!?!?! (the last time i ever played that game was back in 2006 untill i uninstalled it and lost the disk and gave up on looking for it and playing that game that back then i found confusing. don't forget i was 13 at that time!)

[RedWhistle]

Thanks for the information! I am massively interested in multiplayer, and I think you're right that there's much interest in it in general.

Something I'd like to see in a multiplayer version is dispatching. That would be SO awesome - and unprecedented?? - to have that feature in a multiplayer adaptation of a railroad simulation game. Make and use track charts (like Tori showed) and station charts, and just imagine what we could come up with. I could TOTALLY get into being a dispatcher... and I would love it if there wasn't even a way for me to see the simulation of the trains; just me and the board, the other dispatchers, and Skype or something similar to talk to all the crews.



Red

[Chessie8638]

MSTS has multiplayer too?!?!?! (the last time i ever played that game was back in 2006 untill i uninstalled it and lost the disk and gave up on looking for it and playing that game that back then i found confusing. don't forget i was 13 at that time!)

It still doesn't. Basically if I have it right a bunch of people join up into Teamspeak or Ventrilo and start on a route at the same time at various locations. You don't see the other players but it's sorta realistic. I'm looking forward to RW mulitplayer. Especially waiting to see how they implement it with the various routes and assets. I would give dispatcher a try, I do it down at my model railroad club. 5 trains running around a single main with passing sidings (I'm evil and put a Amtrak passenger train behind a loaded coal train ). As for using a track chart if the RW guys implement it right it wouldn't be out of the question to make the chart into a ATCS board, with the dispatcher routing trains with it. Example link below:

http://www.parailfan.com/Images/image_atcs_ns2_jpeg.jpg

[ATSF3814]

Check this out. Seems that some guys already succeeded in getting multiplayer sessions going. They even have someone serving as the dispatcher:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvRiCswkm4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdzTp9miwoI&feature=related

I tried visiting the website to sign up but unfortunately it apparently doesn't exist anymore.

[RSAdam]

Hi Guys,

This is really exciting. I'll be interested to listen in as part of the RSC team.

Regards
Adam

[RedWhistle]

... As for using a track chart if the RW guys implement it right it wouldn't be out of the question to make the chart into a ATCS board, with the dispatcher routing trains with it.

This... is... err... no words. The dispatcher's view of the multiplayer game would "load" from the route...
from community routes...

I wonder if such a view of a route could even provide a way to set signals, debug signals, or even change signal rules for portions or all of a route based on track network... then come back into world editor to fine tune signal head locations on gantries or posts.

[TrainMaster1]

Thank you to all who listened to our session on Mactier sub on Saturday...We had multiple listeners from the start at 1 pm until the last train pulled into Toronto after midnight on Sunday morning. Yes I was nutty enough to be the RTC (Canadian for dispatcher) for 11 and 1/2 hours straight. Hope my check with the overtime comes in this week.

I hope you will join us again for our session 3/5/11. Same start time at 1 pm eastern. Route will be announced publicly this coming Sunday. We are already busy developing crew call board, track charts and crew paperwork for the session.

Also, I will be hosting a Q&A session on Wednesday March 9th at 8 pm for all who are interested in learning how we do what we do and discussing how to bring prototype railroad action sessions to RW. Details on how to join in will follow soon.

Thanks again,

Nick C.

[RedWhistle]

Thanks NIck. I wasn't able to listen to the whole session, but I listened for about 30-40 minutes. Felt a bit like I was listening to a very active channel on a scanner. Nice work; professional, clear communications is what I heard.

[TrainMaster1]

Thanks for your kind words. We aim to make every session as professional as possible and to mirror the actual operations of the railroad we are on at the time. Next session we return to the US in the 1988-1990 time frame. Railroad will be announced on Sunday 2/27. The session runs on Saturday 3/5/11.

Nick