This mod features realistic trains and various equipment for railways, with a focus on automated train operation.
Main features:
- Almost-realistic tracks with actual curves and switches
- Railway signals, controllable by various means
- ATC: Simple, command-like automatic train control
- LuaATC: Powerful Lua-scripted automatic train operation(requires some programming knowledge)*
- An Interlocking system, featuring track sections, routes and automatic stopping before signals
Please note that the base modpack does not include any trains. Please see the Train Catalogue
Kind of rough, kind of laggy, kind of buggy, and not always intuitive, but we love what it can do
Advtrains is the kind of mod that has twofold appeal: From the perspective of people who will never learn its ins-and-outs, and from those who will learn all about the mod and enjoy its richness. It's the definitive method of public transport for Minetest - even the boats and buses of linetrack are based on this core, and teleports can't compare. The way all trains are always operating, even through unloaded areas, is just the beginning of its rich features.
The track system is first class among railway mods for block games, with 30 degree increments, slopes, 45 degree slopes, diamond crossings. No limitations on placement. It's still not 'realistic' but it leaves minecart tracks looking janky.
The signalling and interlocking system has profound depth, though at cost of complexity and being notoriously hard to learn. If you're a lover of signals, this goes beyond OpenTTD or Factorio. Save yourself some trouble and ask other players for help learning.
The trains can also carry your cargo. Moving stuff by train is great fun, better than any other way I can think of. Challenge yourself to build a realistic freight railway, and then sit back and enjoy automatic operation.
Don't like driving? Need to run a timetable? Want something even more elaborate? Start with basic ATC tracks and station/stop rails, and later discover how automation and full control is always available through Advtrains' Lua environment "LuaATC" for anything the train can do.
I have to admit Advtrains' faults: It's hard to learn, it can lag your server badly (the more trains the merrier.. er.. laggier) and one misstep with LuaATC can crash the server. The selection of trains is growing but still not that broad across people/goods, city/country, nationality. It's not super survival friendly. Waiting around at a station for a train to come is probably even less fun in a video game than real life. But I just can't name anything that gives you this much control of computer game trains!
Great mod in many regards
I only have 4 noteworthy issues with it currently:
It spams the chat and debug.txt with thousands of Warnings about textures and other issues due to a deprecation change prior to MT 5.5.0.
Edit: Mod configuration might already cover topic [It should have a better way of figuring out where to put bones boxes instead of dropping all the player's items on the track when run over.]
It should be able to do client-side simulation and federated synchronization of the player position and movement so its not so glitchy on bandwidth limited servers, broadband connections, or thread-limited execution environments which may skip instructions.
Edit: trains not provided by advtrains [It needs a few train versions that work over longer distances at higher speeds, and also in environments without atmosphere, to keep a player from suffocating in otherworlds.]
Good functionality, realistic trains!
This mod is a HUGE step up from the default carts. Aside from having bigger, nicer-looking transportation, the trains can run automatically no matter where you are. I find this very usefull in creating large worlds where walking everywhere is extremely tedious to say the least. I can set up trains that run to various places, and getting where I need to go takes a fraction of the time.
It also includes advanced train control and signal systems so that you can have multiple trains running on the same stretch of track, while avoiding crashes. Also, when installed alongside the Mesecons mod, you get more features like detector rails, which can be used for making station lights, and also can be used for programming more complex train control systems (I have yet to dig into all that myself).
There's a slight learning curve for track placement and the signal system, but once you get the hang of it, it's logical and straightforward. Also, the trains look great!
Don't miss the train
Well-engineered mod, unfortunately limited by the poor entity management of the Minetest engine.
Highly Sophisticated train simulation
This mod provides an extremely sophisticated and complex train simulation, which is able to simulate pretty much all aspects of train operations: signaling, shunting, timetables, loading/unloading, etc. You can easily buildvery large train networks with this mod on your server.
Best train mod
Trains are the best form of public transport, and bringing them to Minetest is brilliant. This mod offers realistic railways, with high-level automation APIs and cargo possibilities.
All the other transport mods have nothin on Advtrains, and can only offer little of what Advtrains offers.
I have used it to connect my server. I can sit and watch trains pass at high speed or board a train and get somewhere in style. Whilst teleportation is more convinient, it does not help with cargo transport, one thing that Advtrains handles amazingly.
Overall, this mod is very good for making good transport systems whilst keeping realisim high on the agenda.
Best Transportation Way
it is nice & more realistic to use trains as the main transportation way in your server.. without using anyway to teleport..
A good advanced and complex mod
This mod has a very realistic trains with a complex interlocking system. I'm learning about the interlocking to make it efficient.
But tricky to use but very rewarding
This mod is the best mod in the transportation category, having a fully automated train network that can carry lot of players in your world is extremely satisfying. Great community and lots of add-ons. I wonder why it's not in the "Featured" category of contentDB
Having trouble
could be on my end but after I put a train down and a few tracks its like it locks can't break it drive it and my trashcan stops working if I drop items they pop back in my inventory as well I'll keep goofing around with it could be this or basic trains or that dix or dlx trains mod