What are the Must Have addons?

[Griphos]

I'm new to RW3 and to this forum. I'm an old MSTS user from way back, but just got RS2012 a few weeks ago. I've been having a blast. I just discovered Railworks America this week, and have been reading and looking. I do love American railroading the most, although exploring the other routes in RW3 has been a lot of fun.

So, I've been looking around a lot, and I've installed the two free scenarios from the RRYard, and Smitty's Default Duties. I've just bought the Donation Rollingstock package for the R&WA (and downloaded the other freeware rollingstock packages along with the MC&SA route necessary for Footeforward's scenarios). Looking forward to getting that and trying it out.

But my question -- driven by my long time use of FSX and the knowledge that there are some addons that are just "must have" addons, like pretty much anything by A2A, and the scenery of Orbx -- what are the addons that should be at the top of my list for US railroading? Payware or freeware. I've been looking hard at AllAboard's Ohio Steel and his Kent and Eagle Lake routes. I'm looking at the Portland Terminal. But those are easy to spot, sitting on the Steam DLC page. What are the ones I don't know about that really should be on the top of my list? The best and most enjoyable addons? I like freight more than passenger, but I like it all! Of course, I'm needing those packages that work with TS2012 now, as we all are.

Thanks for any help pointing me in the right directions.

Phil

[steve_the_slim]

As far as DLC goes, I consider the GP9 to be mandatory. Of course, if you have the HSC it's not as important since you get a GP7 with that. I'd also recommend the G-Trax steam locomotives if you're a steam fan. As far as I can tell all the DLC is good, although there's a lot I don't have. For non-DLC payware, there's Britkits (www.dickyjim.com), Golden Age of Rails (www.golden-age-rails.com) and DigitalTrainModel (www.digitaltrainmodel.com), among others. However, I'd recommend holding off on non-DLC purchases until what you want has been upgraded to TS2012 standards. Most if not all of the third-party payware makers are providing the updates for free, but a lot of the Railworks2 stuff doesn't work all that well in TS2012 anyway and if you get the RW2 version of something you'll just have to redownload it anyway when the update is released. Freeware-wise, I'd recommend just looking through the file libraries here, on www.trainsim.com, and on Digi-Rails (http://s1.zetaboards.com/DigiRails_Forums/index/). UKTrainSim has some good freeware too, but you have to pay to be able to get remotely reasonable download speeds.

[Griphos]

Thanks for the reply. I do have HSC, since I got 2012 new (not having had RW2). I've found the non-DLC you mention, as they are all listed on the homepage here. I'll be sure to look for non-DLC that has been updated. There are TONS of freeware though, and quite a lot of payware as well, so I was hoping someone would make some suggestions about the ones that stand out in the pack. How's the Portland Terminal, for instance? Must have? Dover? Others that you keep on your drive permanently because they are so good?

[eyein12]

portland terminal is a must have. I dont know about the dover division, i dont have it. Ive been told its good too.

my 5 US must have routes that will never leave my drive:

PORTLAND TERMINAL
NEC
SOO-LINE (shameless plug)
BNSF SEATTLE SUB (not out yet but will be in 2 days, sorry another shameless plug)
HSC

[Chessie8638]

If you don't mind UK stuff. The WCML (West Coast Mainline) and Edinburgh-Glasgow are must have routes. While I don't have these yet they are on my list:

Portsmouth Direct Line
Hatchet Hill Quarry
Class 156
Class 455
4CIG (Class 421)
Class 150/2 Not out yet but seeing how it's from Oovee and Thomson Interactive; I'll probably get it as well.

[Griphos]

The WCML is sort of the model that got me thinking about this. That seems to be the must have UK addon. I don't have the same sense of the US equivalents. This is great so far though. Thanks for these suggestions. Looking forward to seeing which ones turn up the most on others' "top 5" lists.

[miata54]

Well, I'm going to try this again. Had a thread all written, hit the "submit" button, and it went ...poof.

Having lived just to the west of the city line of Portland, Maine, I was very anxious to see what Portland Terminal was all about. The preliminary screenshots looked fantastic, so I bought it. It was and still is a "must have". I was blown away but the authenticity of the various buildings architectures. The attention to detail was awesome. Union Station showed the restoration of a magnificent building that over the years, had fallen to disrepair. The buildings on Commercial St on the waterfront are just what you will see if you visit the city today. G-Trax did their research and homework.

But wait a minute. We are talking railroad here. Rigby Yard in South Portland is wonderfully done with enough scenarios for switching and consist building to keep you busy for a long time. Plenty of open ladders to build your own. Be aware that PT was built for RW2 and there are some issues running it in RW3 (RW2012). Rick Grout (G-Trax) also produced some magnificent steam engines which have already been patched to run in RW3 and we are all sure a patch for PT will be forth coming very soon. In the meantime, I just run it with TSX off.

Get it.

[arizonachris]

If you like North American, I highly recommend all of Rich Garber's routes (allaboardrails) you can get them from him or Steam. I love all of them. Portland is great, but, it's being updated for RW3 by Gtrax as we speak.

Several great freeware routes:
Toripony's C&O Allegeny: http://www.coarw.com/
Lonewolfdon's Kings Arm Highway: here in the file library
Eyein's Soo Line: here in the library

Smitty's Locomotive Shed has lots of scenarios: http://www.smittyslocomotiveshed.com/ If you get the Big Boy, Doug has a free scenario for it.

Dig around for a while and you will literally find hundreds of freeware items as well as payware. I've probably got enough to keep me busy now until 2013. BUT, keep in mind, not all has been tested or updated for RW3. Be prepared for a few hiccups.

[Hawk]

Well, I'm going to try this again. Had a thread all written, hit the "submit" button, and it went ...poof.

Could it be that you accidentally hit the 'Save as draft' button? That happens sometimes.
If you did, it would be in your User 'Control Panel/Overview/Manage Drafts' folder.

[Kali]

Ft. Kent of the Allaboard ones is the one I really like. There are a couple of unfinished freeware routes I just love the atmosphere of; Bay of Quinte for over that side of the pond, and Wales & Borders over here - which has a really nasty install process ( the list of assets is about as long as my arm ) but is so well worth the effort; it was built by a career driver and I've never seen anything before or since that's got the atmosphere just right. WCML is a no-brainer also, that is just wonderful & there is a big update ... sometime. I suspect it's gone back for RW3-izing.

I'd get at least one of the Gtrax steamers to start ( I like the Northern best personally ), the GP9, one of the SD70 or Dash9 packs, the Gtrax Genesis, and then go poke around at Britkits or Golden age and pick up whatever you think looks good. UK wise there is a bit too much to recomment tbh :p If you like buttons anything Oovee has done or had much to do with is good stuff ( the 57 is a nice experience for a freight engine also ). Otherwise you will end up picking up stuff to run scenarios rather than the other way round if you're anything like me. Generally there's an expected list of items for modern scenarios, usually older items like the 66, the 08, the 158, DT Mk1s and Mk2s which are a bit long in the tooth, but pretty ubiquitous. Otherwise if you can ignore the fact that a lot of people are never happy, check the UKTS forums for general opinions ( you don't need to pay to use the forums ).

[Griphos]

This is great. So, I'd already bookmarked the blogs both for the SOO line (downloaded today) and Seattle routes and also for the King's Arm Highway Deluxe and so am glad to hear good reports on those, as well as on Garber's routes. I think both the Dover (since he's working on the expansion for that) and Ft. Kent are going in the cart. Good to hear good reports on Portland as well. Will be looking for the update for that. I hadn't realized the Genesis is by them as well. I was looking at that in the Commuter package, but am a little leery of the NEC after the update. The Genesis looks great to me though.

And thanks for the head's up on the Bay of Quinte. Just looked at some videos of that and it looks fantastic. Downloading now! It seems that these routes, like Garber's, that use the Scale Roads and Rural landscapes are beautiful routes. I'd bought those already in anticipation of getting at least some of Garber's routes, and so am happy I'll be putting them to broader use.

[styckx]

Two of my favorites

http://www.justtrains.net/product.asp?pid=642

http://www.justtrains.net/product.asp?pid=289

[johnmckenzie]

I'll concentrate on payware (since freeware is free, if you don't like it it hasn't cost you anything!)

US
Ohio Steel (Dover Division) is fantastic, I love it. And you have the added bonus that if you buy it from Steam you get the highnose NS SD40-2 thrown in as well!
Colton and Northern is a fictional route - whilst I usually much prefer real routes this one feels right.
The Horseshoe curve is lovely - it reminds me of happier times.
Portland Terminal is a lot of fun too.

The NEC runs too slowly on my PC, personally it's a disappointment only for this reason.

The G-Trax steamers are great, I prefer the SP&S Northerns and the NKP Berkshires to the SP GS-4 but that's no reflection on the quality of the product. Super freight wagons to match can be bought very reasonably from Golden Age Of Railroading - I particularly like their USRA 40' boxcar packs (currently being revamped) - you get a wonderful selection of different companies' boxcars for only a couple of pounds/dollars. Fantastic!

The Challenger and Big Boy packs are very nice indeed and I think essential purchases.

The GP9 pack is great, you get a lot of different liveries for your money, as you do with the SW1500 pack.
The SD70 packs are nice, model is good but a tad expensive for the few livery variations you get (particularly true of pack 1)
I like the warbonnet SD40s too.


UK
Where to start? The UK is the country best served by Railworks.

I was born near Reading (the English one) and my family moved to just outside Glasgow when I was a child, so I am also very familiar with the Edinburgh-Glasgow and WCML(N) routes in real life. I can vouch for how accurate the addons are; I don't just know where my old haunts are meant to be, I actually feel as though I'm there. So I can wholeheartedly recommend both of them in terms of accuracy. I would have preferred the E-G to be modelled pre-1982 so we would have had Eastfield loco sepot, Cowlairs carriage depot and Cadder marshalling yard too before they all closed but what's there cannot be faulted.

The class 67 addon is very good, but I would wait until it's fixed - it doesn't seem to like TS2012!
The class 60 is a very well modelled modern freight loco.

I absolutely love the UK steam addons and in particular the Jubilee, V2 and Tornado packs. But probably my favourite will be the GWR King class, to be launched next week complete with beautiful matching coaches. The first one built, No. 6000 (King George V) spent a month in 1927 on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and carries a commemorative US-style bell because of this.
This video demonstrates the beauty of the King class far better than I ever could: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71ZhIRo9 ... ure=fvwrel

Germany
The addons from virtualRailroads and Eisenbanwerk are of a consistently high quality and I can recommend any one of them!
I believe the Koeblitzer mountain route addon is good but I have no personal experience of it.

Hope this helps
John

[miata54]

Could it be that you accidentally hit the 'Save as draft' button? That happens sometimes.
If you did, it would be in your User 'Control Panel/Overview/Manage Drafts' folder.

Nothing there Hawk. A complete mystery as to where it went. Not the end of the world!

[Hawk]

Well, it was just a thought.
Weird stuff does happen on the net at times.