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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas...

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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 16:09 #103931
Meld
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1111 posts
Online 		postal in post 103928 said:

PS Sweepstake on whether it's before or after dinner.
Now will that be lunchtime dinner or after 'Daves' dinner in the evening
Passed the age to be doing 'Spoon Feeding' !!!
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 16:31 #103933
jc92
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3685 posts 		northroad in post 103930 said:
headshot119 in post 103927 said:


Sidestick Priority guessed correctly!

Newport will be the fourth simulation of the South Wales area, covering the now closed Newport PSB.

It will be available at £22.50 until 23:59 on December 31st 2017, the normal price will be £25. For anyone who doesn't own Cardiff, Cardiff Valleys and Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan, a multi buy including Newport will be available at £55 until 23:59 on December 31st 2017, the normal price will be £57.50.

A preview of the simulation in screenshot form can be found here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkfd33w33culvij/Newport.bmp?dl=0.
Wow, Sorry to say this, £55, might have to think twice about this, having just bought the Manchester multi buy for which Piccadilly is not really practicable for me as a single player. Not that I can't afford it but this Sim Sig hobby is starting to become an expensive one.
Sorry.......

Geoff
Geoff,

I can guarantee valleys and vale of glamorgan are both more than workable single player. IMO cardiff is too but it will depend on skill level. £55 is a decent buy for all four sims although a big investment in one go.
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 16:39 #103934
Steamer
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3984 posts 		jc92 in post 103933 said:
northroad in post 103930 said:

Wow, Sorry to say this, £55, might have to think twice about this, having just bought the Manchester multi buy for which Piccadilly is not really practicable for me as a single player. Not that I can't afford it but this Sim Sig hobby is starting to become an expensive one.
Sorry.......

Geoff
Geoff,

I can guarantee valleys and vale of glamorgan are both more than workable single player. IMO cardiff is too but it will depend on skill level. £55 is a decent buy for all four sims although a big investment in one go.
If you want to assess Cardiff PSB's difficulty, most of the supplied timetables have a 14:00 start. You can load that up in Demo mode and see how you find it.
"Don't stress/ relax/ let life roll off your backs./ Except for death and paying taxes/ everything in life.../ is only for now." (Avenue Q)
Last edited: 13/12/2017 at 16:39 by Steamer
Reason: None given
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 17:01 #103935
HST125Scorton
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1191 posts 		All my guesses were wrong then oops.. Nice to see Newport coming to SimSig a little more of Wales added in nicely.
But I have more of a question.. When is Carlisle Loader coming out? this might sound tedious but TomOF did mention it was nearly ready at the start of the year. Yes I understand work and family is important as I know that myself when testing timetables for the current version of Carlisle.exe, if anyone can find out it would be much appreciated.
Aaron (AJRO) | Timetable Writer
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 17:06 #103936
northroad
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872 posts 		Steamer in post 103934 said:
jc92 in post 103933 said:
northroad in post 103930 said:

Wow, Sorry to say this, £55, might have to think twice about this, having just bought the Manchester multi buy for which Piccadilly is not really practicable for me as a single player. Not that I can't afford it but this Sim Sig hobby is starting to become an expensive one.
Sorry.......

Geoff
Geoff,

I can guarantee valleys and vale of glamorgan are both more than workable single player. IMO cardiff is too but it will depend on skill level. £55 is a decent buy for all four sims although a big investment in one go.
If you want to assess Cardiff PSB's difficulty, most of the supplied timetables have a 14:00 start. You can load that up in Demo mode and see how you find it.


Thanks Steamer and others.
I did not want this to turn into a slanging match and although it hasn't so far I fear it might and for this I am sorry it's just that £55 in one hit is rather a lot of money. I realise that I don't have to buy them all at once but it seems to me from it's original concept of being a donation ware site we now have to pay for nearly everything that becomes available. I am probably expecting too much so please accept my apologies for saying something I should not have.

Geoff
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 17:33 #103937
jem771
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102 posts 		I'm happy to buy.
One thing that must be raised is we do need to make the Sims "playable" for single players
I can name a few Sims that I have purchased that are far too hectic for single player and you just get too tied up and can't think in time so give up.
Piccadilly, New St to name a few
The Victoria ones can be ok with ARS but as soon as you add delays in then that gets hectic too as ARS starts getting "confused" and you have to tend to it
ARS, Sunday timetables or perhaps the better way would be to allow you only to control the area's you select (I expect that’s a long way off mind)
I know the developers put in a lot of work and deserve rewarding for their efforts BUT it needs to be playable if we are going to buy.
I have purchased some non SimSig games on steam and if they are not playable you get a refund. I certainly don’t want us all to be going down that road.
Just an observation guys
Keep up the good work
(you may want to re-post this in the “general” forum)
Jem
Jezz
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 17:36 #103938
Sacro
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1171 posts 		northroad in post 103936 said:
it's original concept of being a donation ware site we now have to pay for nearly everything that becomes available.
SimSig was originally paid for. Geoff (M) released codes for the existing simulations when he moved to donationware.
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 18:23 #103939
Trainfan344
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262 posts 		jem771 in post 103937 said:
I'm happy to buy.
One thing that must be raised is we do need to make the Sims "playable" for single players
Jem
I find that with most sims such as New Street and Piccadilly are doable single player, with limited delays. Just a case of getting to know the sims and accepting that you're not going to be 100% perfect, pausing and checking all the routes occasionally helps.
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 20:57 #103941
GeoffM
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6376 posts 		northroad in post 103936 said:
I realise that I don't have to buy them all at once but it seems to me from it's original concept of being a donation ware site we now have to pay for nearly everything that becomes available.
Originally it was payware, then donationware, now mixed donationware and payware. The reason it went donationware was because I could not commit enough time to it and could not meet people's expectations of a paid-for simulation.

If I didn't charge now then there would be no SimSig. Think of it like a duck on water: on top it looks like not much is happening. Underneath I'm working nearly full time on SimSig. Somebody has to pay the rent!

jem771 in post 103937 said:
I'm happy to buy.
One thing that must be raised is we do need to make the Sims "playable" for single players
Can't please all the people all the time unfortunately, which is why we try to release a mix of small single player sims, and bigger multiplayer sims. Some bigger sims have ARS but not all layouts are suited to it, and/or still require a lot of manual intervention. Though not a big sim, the recent single-player Oxford sim wouldn't work with ARS *and* requires a lot of manual intervention (phone calls).

jem771 in post 103937 said:
I can name a few Sims that I have purchased that are far too hectic for single player and you just get too tied up and can't think in time so give up.
Piccadilly, New St to name a few
I believe it's quite clear in the description for Manchester that it's a multiplayer sim. The real New St box was closed to most visitors for years because any interruptions to the signallers was considered unacceptable, such was the signallers' workloads, so I wouldn't expect even a sim to be very playable for one person.

jem771 in post 103937 said:
I have purchased some non SimSig games on steam and if they are not playable you get a refund. I certainly don’t want us all to be going down that road.
Careful here as "playable" in this context is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. Man Picc is, of course, playable. It just requires more people.

Steam - mostly buy before you try, apply for a refund if you don't like it within a certain timeframe and other paraemeters
SimSig - try before you buy
SimSig Boss
Last edited: 13/12/2017 at 20:59 by GeoffM
Reason: None given
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 22:22 #103942
bfcmik
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100 posts 		Like most people I like to get stuff for free. Unlike most people I recognise that even 'free' things have a cost to someone.

I feel happy to pay for sims that take my fancy. I sample sims several times before I decide whether it is one that I would enjoy and could manage to run reasonably well as a single player. I have to be selective because money is restricted but I can either run sims I have previously purchased or one of the 'free' or donationware sims whilst I save up. I haven't bought a multibuy because I couldn't afford the purchase but I have bought, singly over a period of time, all the different elements of a couple of multibuys.

With regards to playability as a single player I just slow down time in the more complex sims or at times of excessive difficulty. Pause, scroll and check is my friend! It takes me days, if not weeks, to play a single day of the more difficult single player sims. I doubt I will ever try BNS or Man Picc unless it was running at one of the rare meets I attend.
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 22:45 #103943
GeoffM
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6376 posts 		Something else I forgot to mention is the timetable. Get a sim with a 1980 weekday TT featuring loads of loco-hauled services with loco changes and even experienced signallers in a multiplayer will struggle. The same sim with an EMU/DMU only Sunday service and it's completely different.

I mentioned elsewhere about us thinking of ways to make Man Picc more accessible to solo players. The idea I had at the time was adding ARS but the unusual ACI system in place precludes it - at least for the time being. Another option is a scenario which cuts off the sim near Deansgate so that the sim is somewhat smaller - but that requires a new timetable. A third option, per my first paragraph, is a Sunday timetable. I'm open to other ideas, too.
SimSig Boss
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 22:55 #103944
nroberts
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227 posts 		Peter Bennet in post 103912 said:
nroberts in post 103910 said:
Please say it's Par :)
It's Par.

Peter
Thanks for saying so
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 23:03 #103945
Steamer
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3984 posts 		GeoffM in post 103943 said:
A third option, per my first paragraph, is a Sunday timetable. I'm open to other ideas, too.
I've got a Sunday TT in development, and I believe Meld is, or will be, working on one as well.

Would adding simple first-come, first-served ARS at Crow Nest, Lostock Jn, Salford Crescent and Ordsall Lane be practical?
"Don't stress/ relax/ let life roll off your backs./ Except for death and paying taxes/ everything in life.../ is only for now." (Avenue Q)
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 13/12/2017 at 23:04 #103946
DaveHarries
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1285 posts 		I will look forward to Newport. More of my regular work territory getting covered!

Dave
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 14/12/2017 at 05:09 #103947
jem771
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102 posts 		like I said, not critisising, just observations.
20 odd quid here and there isn't a bank breaker.
certainly think sunday timetables are the way to go.
happy to have a go at some if there are some decent tools out there?
Jezz
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 14/12/2017 at 17:13 #103948
DaveHarries
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1285 posts 		On the subject of bridging gaps (see a post earlier in this thread) it would be nice to bridge another gap and be able to chain Gloucester to Saltley.

Dave
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 14/12/2017 at 19:26 #103949
bri2808
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162 posts 		bfcmik in post 103942 said:
Like most people I like to get stuff for free. Unlike most people I recognise that even 'free' things have a cost to someone.

I feel happy to pay for sims that take my fancy. I sample sims several times before I decide whether it is one that I would enjoy and could manage to run reasonably well as a single player. I have to be selective because money is restricted but I can either run sims I have previously purchased or one of the 'free' or donationware sims whilst I save up. I haven't bought a multibuy because I couldn't afford the purchase but I have bought, singly over a period of time, all the different elements of a couple of multibuys.

With regards to playability as a single player I just slow down time in the more complex sims or at times of excessive difficulty. Pause, scroll and check is my friend! It takes me days, if not weeks, to play a single day of the more difficult single player sims. I doubt I will ever try BNS or Man Picc unless it was running at one of the rare meets I attend.
This sums me up too... I like to see a map of the layout (people moan at me for that I know) but it gives me an idea of whether or not it takes m fancy. I do spend weeks too running a single day.

As for cost, if I will enjoy the sim then I buy it, simple. If it holds no challenge then I don't buy it. There are some things I would pay a lot of money for (London Bridge) and some that don't give me any interest whatsoever so unless they are cheap or on sale, then not interested.

Keep up the good work Geoff and thank you
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 14/12/2017 at 19:28 #103950
headshot119
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4869 posts 		bri2808 in post 103949 said:
bfcmik in post 103942 said:
Like most people I like to get stuff for free. Unlike most people I recognise that even 'free' things have a cost to someone.

I feel happy to pay for sims that take my fancy. I sample sims several times before I decide whether it is one that I would enjoy and could manage to run reasonably well as a single player. I have to be selective because money is restricted but I can either run sims I have previously purchased or one of the 'free' or donationware sims whilst I save up. I haven't bought a multibuy because I couldn't afford the purchase but I have bought, singly over a period of time, all the different elements of a couple of multibuys.

With regards to playability as a single player I just slow down time in the more complex sims or at times of excessive difficulty. Pause, scroll and check is my friend! It takes me days, if not weeks, to play a single day of the more difficult single player sims. I doubt I will ever try BNS or Man Picc unless it was running at one of the rare meets I attend.
This sums me up too... I like to see a map of the layout (people moan at me for that I know) but it gives me an idea of whether or not it takes m fancy. I do spend weeks too running a single day.

As for cost, if I will enjoy the sim then I buy it, simple. If it holds no challenge then I don't buy it. There are some things I would pay a lot of money for (London Bridge) and some that don't give me any interest whatsoever so unless they are cheap or on sale, then not interested.

Keep up the good work Geoff and thank you
You know you can just open the simulation in demo mode right?
"Passengers for New Lane, should be seated in the rear coach of the train " - Opinions are my own and not those of my employer
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 14/12/2017 at 20:26 #103951
bri2808
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162 posts 		headshot119 in post 103950 said:
bri2808 in post 103949 said:
bfcmik in post 103942 said:
Like most people I like to get stuff for free. Unlike most people I recognise that even 'free' things have a cost to someone.

I feel happy to pay for sims that take my fancy. I sample sims several times before I decide whether it is one that I would enjoy and could manage to run reasonably well as a single player. I have to be selective because money is restricted but I can either run sims I have previously purchased or one of the 'free' or donationware sims whilst I save up. I haven't bought a multibuy because I couldn't afford the purchase but I have bought, singly over a period of time, all the different elements of a couple of multibuys.

With regards to playability as a single player I just slow down time in the more complex sims or at times of excessive difficulty. Pause, scroll and check is my friend! It takes me days, if not weeks, to play a single day of the more difficult single player sims. I doubt I will ever try BNS or Man Picc unless it was running at one of the rare meets I attend.
This sums me up too... I like to see a map of the layout (people moan at me for that I know) but it gives me an idea of whether or not it takes m fancy. I do spend weeks too running a single day.

As for cost, if I will enjoy the sim then I buy it, simple. If it holds no challenge then I don't buy it. There are some things I would pay a lot of money for (London Bridge) and some that don't give me any interest whatsoever so unless they are cheap or on sale, then not interested.

Keep up the good work Geoff and thank you
You know you can just open the simulation in demo mode right?
You love it when I ask for my photo ;-) I do, but I am not always at my laptop that has SimSig on it so its easier to look at a photo.
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 15/12/2017 at 12:41 #103993
Ar88
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310 posts 		headshot119 in post 103927 said:


Sidestick Priority guessed correctly!

Newport will be the fourth simulation of the South Wales area, covering the now closed Newport PSB.

It will be available at £22.50 until 23:59 on December 31st 2017, the normal price will be £25. For anyone who doesn't own Cardiff, Cardiff Valleys and Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan, a multi buy including Newport will be available at £55 until 23:59 on December 31st 2017, the normal price will be £57.50.

A preview of the simulation in screenshot form can be found here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkfd33w33culvij/Newport.bmp?dl=0.
When I said "Newport?" & was told by all that it is NOTHING in South Wales...

I knew I was right - pennies are alloted.
The Welsh contingent. Aron, or Ar to mates. Also known as 88E or ThatManCalledAr.
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 15/12/2017 at 12:46 #103994
Ar88
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310 posts 		northroad in post 103930 said:
headshot119 in post 103927 said:


Sidestick Priority guessed correctly!

Newport will be the fourth simulation of the South Wales area, covering the now closed Newport PSB.

It will be available at £22.50 until 23:59 on December 31st 2017, the normal price will be £25. For anyone who doesn't own Cardiff, Cardiff Valleys and Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan, a multi buy including Newport will be available at £55 until 23:59 on December 31st 2017, the normal price will be £57.50.

A preview of the simulation in screenshot form can be found here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkfd33w33culvij/Newport.bmp?dl=0.
Wow, Sorry to say this, £55, might have to think twice about this, having just bought the Manchester multi buy for which Piccadilly is not really practicable for me as a single player. Not that I can't afford it but this Sim Sig hobby is starting to become an expensive one.
Sorry.......

Geoff
Have you got Valleys and/or PSB? Have you not seen the size of those 2 sims?

Admitted - VoG is the smallest of the South Wales sims, but with this/PSB/Valleys/VoG, the multibuy is WELL worth the money.

Although I already have all 3, so only need to pay for the single sim.
The Welsh contingent. Aron, or Ar to mates. Also known as 88E or ThatManCalledAr.
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 19/12/2017 at 15:01 #104249
headshot119
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4869 posts 		The manual has been uploaded to the wiki.
"Passengers for New Lane, should be seated in the rear coach of the train " - Opinions are my own and not those of my employer
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 19/12/2017 at 21:00 #104254
bri2808
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162 posts 		headshot119 in post 104249 said:
The manual has been uploaded to the wiki.
Is there a picture? ;-)
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 20/12/2017 at 10:47 #104264
JamesN
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1607 posts 		bri2808 in post 104254 said:
headshot119 in post 104249 said:
The manual has been uploaded to the wiki.
Is there a picture? ;-)
There was one posted further up the thread...
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It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Christmas... 20/12/2017 at 12:12 #104266
Guts
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604 posts 		GeoffM in post 103941 said:
northroad in post 103936 said:
I realise that I don't have to buy them all at once but it seems to me from it's original concept of being a donation ware site we now have to pay for nearly everything that becomes available.
Originally it was payware, then donationware, now mixed donationware and payware. The reason it went donationware was because I could not commit enough time to it and could not meet people's expectations of a paid-for simulation.

If I didn't charge now then there would be no SimSig. Think of it like a duck on water: on top it looks like not much is happening. Underneath I'm working nearly full time on SimSig. Somebody has to pay the rent!

jem771 in post 103937 said:
I'm happy to buy.
One thing that must be raised is we do need to make the Sims "playable" for single players
Can't please all the people all the time unfortunately, which is why we try to release a mix of small single player sims, and bigger multiplayer sims. Some bigger sims have ARS but not all layouts are suited to it, and/or still require a lot of manual intervention. Though not a big sim, the recent single-player Oxford sim wouldn't work with ARS *and* requires a lot of manual intervention (phone calls).

jem771 in post 103937 said:
I can name a few Sims that I have purchased that are far too hectic for single player and you just get too tied up and can't think in time so give up.
Piccadilly, New St to name a few
I believe it's quite clear in the description for Manchester that it's a multiplayer sim. The real New St box was closed to most visitors for years because any interruptions to the signallers was considered unacceptable, such was the signallers' workloads, so I wouldn't expect even a sim to be very playable for one person.

jem771 in post 103937 said:
I have purchased some non SimSig games on steam and if they are not playable you get a refund. I certainly don’t want us all to be going down that road.
Careful here as "playable" in this context is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. Man Picc is, of course, playable. It just requires more people.

Steam - mostly buy before you try, apply for a refund if you don't like it within a certain timeframe and other paraemeters
SimSig - try before you buy
Can I add my 2pence and say for those finding it hard to play multiplayer sims, please feel free to message me and I can arrange a hosting session where you can at least play the sim in a more manageable way.

I'm not always available but I will always make time.
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