Installation is typical Windows-simple; insert the CD-ROM and let the install wizard do its work, with only a few questions to answer along the way. During installation you're given a choice of language, German or English. I chose English but during use of the add-on still found quite a bit of German, especially in the activities.
The designers really could not have picked a nicer route. Though I've never been there in person, having run ProTrain's route from end to end it's clear what a scenic place this is. In many places the Rhine is in a deep valley, so you have the wide river surrounded by hills. Towns and cities have been built on both sides of the river, so there is plenty of man-made scenery to see too. Noteable are several castles located on islands in the middle of the river and most spectacular is the Koln cathedral which is conveniently located right next to the train station.
The choice of this particular area is really quite clever, from a route designer perspective. The reason being that one set of scenery gets you two sets of track, since there are separate rail lines on each bank of the river. No doubt this saved the designer significant time in doing the basic terrain layout. It's interesting to see the effects of this. In many places it's possible to look across the river and see the buildings and other scenery on the opposite bank. In some places the river is even narrow enough Train-Sim's station/siding name monitor picks up things on the opposite bank. They may be close as the crow flies, but by rail they are hundreds of kilometers away. Don't get confused on where you actually are!
The overall quality of the ProTrain components is comparible to the default components that come with Train Simulator itself. This is true both of the good and the bad. The locomotives and cars are realistic looking, though not overly detailed. Buildings along the route are unique and definitely "German looking". Many buildings appear to have been made using photoreal textures and so are quite nice looking. Buildings also have different textures for night and for different seasons; the Koln cathedral at night is quite a sight. Trees also have different seasonal textures.
Though the overall effect is quite good, some Train-Sim weaknesses do show up. The cruciform trees look pretty good in summer but the white winter textures often get lit oddly and the illusion of a 3D tree is lost. It's too bad as otherwise the winter texture is quite nice looking and complements well the winter textures of buildings. Some other scenery tricks also don't quite work depending on how you look at them. Some of the bigger towns and cities have a texture of a large block of buildings that from a great distance is fine but closer up doesn't quite look right. There are some similar objects used out in the country to represent crops (I think!) that look OK from some angles and not so good from others.
No doubt what's being done is a trade-off of scenery detail versus frame rates, and that's a good design consideration. Frame rates do deserve a mention here. As with any route frame rates vary, but in general they appear to be somewhat lower than the default scenery. Not terribly so, but if your frame rates are marginal to begin with ProTrain might be too much for your system. The slowdowns are most noticeable in the deep forest, where a great many individual 3D tree objects are in view at the same time. This slowdown is noticeable on any route when you have a large number of objects in view. In some places along the ProTrain route there are so many trees it's actually amazing how good the frame rates are.
The ProTrain route has some of the other problems found in the default routes. This includes several places where you derail for no apparent reason, even while obeying the speed limits (I found ways to switch around the worst problems though, so it's not a stopper). Also, while in explore route mode you will run into places where the default switch settings send you down dead ends rather than along the main line. While annoying, it's something that can be resolved by learning the route.
Running the route is great fun if you like passenger operations. You have a choice of three locomotives, the Series E 103 (in two different paint schemes) and the ICE-3. The ICE is a modern, high speed train set which is capable of 330 km/h, though on this route the fastest it will be able to go is half that. The E 103 locomotives are a roughly 30 year old design that can be mated with several different sets of cars.
It's worth noting that though only passenger trains are included, the route has numerous sidings and industrial tracks, so with the addition of appropriate locomotives and cars freight operations would be quite possible too.
Since all locomotives are electric anyone familiar with the default Acela will quickly be comfortable driving the ProTrain locomotives. The trains can accelerate quickly, as you'd want to on a route with many stations and many stops. Top speeds are higher than the route allows. The route is pretty flat so speed control is not a big problem.
There seem to be a few glitches in the locomotives though. The first thing I noticed is what appears to be a slight gap in the sound loop for the main motor sound. As an elective locomotive there's no engine noise as such but rather just a hum; this hum changes with speed but always seems to have a slight gap that is heard every few seconds.
It also appears that only train brakes are available; at least using the normal controls for dynamic brakes and locomotive brakes had no apparent effect. I can't be sure (not being familiar with the real thing) but it seems like the sounds for brake changes are not always in sync. The locomotives have visible wipers on the windshield but the usual wiper control does not seem to make them move. Other than this there were no problems operating any of the trains.
ProTrain includes five activities that allow running the various trainsets under a variety of conditions. The activity goals seem appropriate for the trains and route. English speaking users will be challenged, though, by the on-screen information being available only in German. The printed manual that is included does have English language descriptions of all the activities fortunately. I tried several of the activities and the only complaint is that the schedules seem overly optimistic...I was not able to make the stops on time even though I was pushing the speeds as much as allowed. Still, the activities do give you something specific to do and also add to the interest by putting a large number of additional trains on the tracks.
Documentation is probably the weakest point of ProTrain. It does come with a printed manual, in both German and English. But each section is only ten pages. Keystroke charts are included for the locomotive but no driving instructions--personally, I'd like to learn some proper operating techniques when faced with a new locomotive type.
The activities are described, but there is nothing about the route itself, which is really a shame. Some tourist information would really enhance enjoyment of the route. I'd love to know more about those castles in the river, or the great cathedral, or some of the other sites along the way...
Even the basics of the route are missing. A good map with mileages and with switches shown (to prevent going off on dead ends) would have been a great enhancement. There is a map shown on-screen when you start up the route, of course. But unfortunately it's wrong in a key spot: where the route on the east side of the river connects to the route on the west. While this is shown at an unnamed spot just west of Opel Wiesbahnhof in reality the connection is a wye between Mainz Hbf and Biebrich. The map screen shot included here has this corrected. This error caused quite a bit of confusion. Heading out of Frankfurt if you want to take the route up the east side of the river you really have to know the switching details to go the right way. Even knowing that, it appears that coming down the east side it's not possible to switch yourself onto a track that goes to Frankfurt; the only way you can go is back up the west side towards Koln. The necessary switches are there, they just don't switch.
Well, enough nit-picking. No, ProTrain is not perfect, but certainly the good far outweighs the bad. There's a nice set of new train types to try, some 400 km of track to drive and some interesting sightseeing awaiting anyone who picks up this add-on. With all that's included I can certainly recommend this add-on to anyone who wishes to explore this scenery part of the world by rail.
Official web site:
Purchase ProTrain from Target-Shop (English or German):
Nels Anderson
nels@train-sim.com
http://www.deutsche-strecken.de/
http://www.snapcart.de/targetshop
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Nels Anderson.
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