Aside

Elvas Tower Clarification…

There’s been some confusion with respect to availability of the Elvas Tower forums, as that’s where a large portion of discussion of Open Rails goes on.

The Elvas Tower forums are currently open and readable to anyone; you do not have to be logged on with an account.

Registration for new accounts is currently not open.

Disclaimer: I have no connection to the operation or administration of Elvas Tower. I simply report the current state of affairs around the MSTS / OR community.

We’ve Moved! (Again…)

With thanks to an associate of mine in the information technology and security arena, the site has been moved to sub-domain on a new host. The old host just wasn’t keeping up, and tended to serve up pop-under ads in spite of a no-ads promise. If you entered the old URL, or clicked an old saved link, you should be redirected here to the new host.

Everything should be in place — I spent a day importing the old files and database, and re-configuring references so the images and files all work as they should. If anything is missing, I’ll probably track it down in the next few days as I double-check the site.

Elvas Tower Forums on Hold

Elvas Tower Forums on Hold

Due to a frivolous potential DMCA-related action, the Elvas Tower forums are temporarily “on hold.” New members can’t join, and the MSTS-specific forum section is offline. Open Rails and other forum sections are still operational, but only for current members — so the “shop” is effectively locked for the time being.

It’s a very unfortunate turn of events propagated by a particular individual. I have no desire to name anyone or go into specifics, but it’s safe to say that Elvas Tower itself has done nothing wrong. The board has been targeted by someone angered over being legitimately rebuked for inappropriate conduct.

In the best-case scenario, everything will right itself and things will be back to normal in a couple of weeks.

If not, then Elvas Tower will need to change or re-form, or even close down (at worst).

Sic transit gloria mundi…

Added Link to Elvas Tower

Aside

Added Link to Elvas Tower

After much deliberation, I’ve added a link to Elvas Tower. It’s become more well-known in the trainsim community, particularly for users of Open Rails. It’s more focused than the other well-known forums; it’s populated mostly by content creators and active testers and users of Open Rails. It also has a high standard for courtesy and thoughtful posting. So please, if you visit and wish to participate, do try put your best foot forward.

Open Rails v1.0 Getting Closer

Aside

Open Rails v1.0 is getting closer…

According to a recent post on the Elvas Tower forums, it’s not long until v1.0 of Open Rails will be ready. There’s been a lot of discussion over just where the cutoff should be for MSTS compatibility in order to declare a 1.0 version. As of now, it looks as if the last few un-met milestones will be held off for version 1.1 and the current state will be wrapped up in preparation for a 1.o release.

There’s still work to be done; primarily in the realm of updates to the documentation, the creation of an installer for version 1.0, updates to the Open Rails website, and even a demo route (Which may likely need to be self-contained, with no MSTS assets or dependencies).

Open Rails has come a long way in the last year or so — not only with excellent compatibility with MSTS routes and assets, but with the first steps into new improvements, including an entirely new timetable operation system, multiplayer features and the beginnings of support for 3D cabs ,to name a few.

There is no date set for a 1.0 release yet — but it’s probably safe to say that 2015 should be a banner year for Open Rails development!

Site Development Poll

Aside

Site development Poll is Closed

And the results are… No changes for now! While there’s some interest in a small forum function, it’s most likely limited to a fairly small group. There’s enough room on the existing train sim forums to go around, and I really don’t want to have to moderate one. 🙂

ZDSimulator Version 5 Is Here…

Aside

ZDSimulator Version 5 Is Here…

I’ll replace this post with more details once I’ve had some time with this newest version. In general, it appears many of the refinements the developers have been working on were finalized and put into this update.

And, a hint of things to come — version 1.6.1 of the route editor is downloadable from the ZDSimulator website. The main interface is now in English, but the documentation is yet to be translated.

…Aaaand — We’re Back!

Aside

It’s been a while! The new host has been stable, and aside from a brief issue with false positives for some sort of spam or adware activity on the host’s domain early last year reported by a couple of TrainSim.com visitors, everything has been running smoothly. You may notice the “Contact” option on the menu now; it’s working as it should. Occasionally, I may open a posting for comments as well as I have a working anti-spam module installed on the site.

Have a great 2013, everyone!

New Web Host

Aside

Good free web hosts are hard to find. The first one started out great, but then performance dropped. Once that as fixed, it improved but then came and went as the host operators blamed abusers of the service, but never seemed to be able to do much about it. Then it was sold, and ads were inserted. Then mail forwarding broke, supposedly just for my site, but magically it fixed itself. Every problem reported got the response of, “you could always upgrade to a Premium Account…” If this is how free users get treated, are what do I get for paying? Finally, after a pop-under ad debacle, it was time to jump. I had been parking on this new host for some time, “just in case.”

Everything should be working fine, although you might notice a few things out of place in the sidebar until the migration is complete. Links and articles should all be working fine, and once I have the forwarder set up, I’ll open up the “Contact” page.

Host Move, and Contact link on the way…

Aside

A “contact” link will be available, hopefully soon. I had hoped to put it up at the same time that Op-Ed pieces appeared, but it may take a little longer. My old host has gone through a string of issues with mail malfunctions, ad malfunctions, and general mess-ups. Once forwarding is set up here at the new host, the contact option will show up.