Stadtbahn Karlsruhe Project v2b
Fizzbin has done a great work, so far, on his beta version. Lots of tracks and there are many future days and weeks ahead waiting to be spent at playing being the best tram driver in Karlsruhe (please don't wake me up). It is Wörth (worth) a look and download is free. It still needs a lot of editing, as it is only a beta, and there are various tracks where the rules are changed - I can understand when someone works on a project for weeks and forgets to look at the track rules. It's a pity that one of the extended lines is blocked by buffers, which is a simple fix of welding in World Edit. It is a complicated system on a large scale with many things to consider. It is beta; for us to have a look, so we can be like a child outside a sweetshop window.
The route itself will look like 3 or 4 commercial add-on's once completed. It is worth buying the retail routes, in my opinion, and I believe there is more 'bang for your bucks' for the savvy simulator gamer when this beta becomes a finished product. The ride is a little bumpy and there are no speed signs on the extended routes, but who looks at the "Speeding" warning, anyway, when testing it out
The route is fictitious, but is widely based on the Karlsruhe tram/stadtbahn (low-floor tram) system and fizzbin keeps close to it as possible with artistic license. Best of all - it's free!
Unlike the real thing, the route is not really for low-floor trams. This is down to the author wanting to use trams from the U-Bahn Farnkfurt am Main V2 add-on. However, if you can lower the platforms in World Edit then you can perhaps use a yellow low-floor tram that is available for free on this site. It takes up far too much time to raise the platforms just to lower them again for a free tram that isn't as good as the commercial ones from Just Trains, unless you want to copy the route and have two routes for two systems - I wish you well!
Fizzbin has done a great work in his fictional stramstop Alb 1, 2 + 3, probably named after the river that suppose to flow past it. I have searched the whole of Google Earth and I cannot find a tramstop or "transit stop" named Alb. This is not the only "fiktiv" stop on fizzbin's route. However, they do add a little something to it and this is where 'creative license' comes in. I don't know why transit stops/platforms are laid down before the tracks, maybe it is just planning and marking for further production.
We might get to see a line stretching all the way to the Rhine, that would fine should he have time. I'm not sure if trains share the same stations as the trams, but I personalise it for myself if I wanted to run a DB-BR425 or ICE 3 along it. Maybe I'll try a steam train as a tourist scenario.
It looks like a great start, a chalk drawing on a canvas and waiting for the painting to be finished. Hopefully, not watching paint dry until fizzbin releases v2 fully edited and fully tested.
I am already doing some of my own editing to get the Wörth and European School lines working fine for myself to play around and create my own scenarios, when I have rainy days in North West England - which are plenty btw.
Opps! I nearly forgot the improvements to v6 + my v7 version. This part is complete and with turning loops at Wolfartsweier Nord and Hirtenweg. I am pleased he kept my fiktiv (fictitious) Schloss Gottesaue loop in this new version. Other trains/trams/rail vehicles may not be able to open the doors automatically on some platforms that he put back, but I am not attached to them and I won't be moving them again. The U-Bahn Frankfurt trams can open their doors manually from the tram's dashboard, but to unload passengers takes a click on the HUD. The only thing is, it's 35 seconds on the HUD and 20 seconds on the dashboard; once the bell sounds, just like Pavlov's dogs, it is easy to set off and forget you're still loading/unloading passengers - ouch!
Fizzbin sure has a lot of work on his hands finishing this project and I am sure there will be 100's of TS gamers out there who will be very greatful for his time and effort - I know I am. My thoughts are: download it, have a look, play around, edit it if you can, but mostly enjoy.
You can download the beta route using this link: Stadtbahn Karlsruhe Project v2b
[size=14]
Skipper