I had seen EEP videos on YouTube, but was apprehensive about giving it a try, for the following reasons:
1) the software appeared to be quite technical for the average gamer
2) the rendering engine did not seem to include effects like ambient occlusion, which helps to give buildings and other models a more realistic appearance
3) the majority of users were from germany, so there is a language barrier, and this would compound the difficulty issue, and make finding answers on the forums problematic.
4) The models available were all priced individually or in small packs, and were predominantly european in origin.
5) I had read that permission was required from Trend if you wish to produce your own models with their Home-Nostruktor software (a separate purchase) and release them for free on the web. (I'm not sure why that is exactly)
Despite the above reservations, I finally decided to give it a try when it was on Steam and on sale, because I had already tried a number of other train games, in the hope I would be able to build my own virtual model train sets - and hardly any of them seemed to make the process accessible to the average gamer/user.
I'm glad I did, because I have been most pleasantly surprised with EEP13, and here's why:
1) You don't need to learn many of the technical aspects to get started. Creating a basic track circuit, putting a train on it, and make the train travel around the track is something I learned without the tutorial videos with only brief glances at various parts of the english manual. The tutorial videos (which I am yet to watch in much detail) and manuals appear to be quite thorough.
2) I will typically stop using any train simulator/builder software that does not include a rendering engine without Ambient Occlusion, or which requires a lot of work modifying models to support ambient occlusion. As an example, I tried enabling Ambient Occlusion in other products using free third party software like ReShade, and the results were quite hit and miss. If the rendering engine makes the 3D scene look mediocre, then there really is little reason to put a heap of effort into building a model railroad! Thankfully by turning off Antialiasing in EEP13 I am able to activate Reshade in DirectX9 mode with the MXAO (Ambient Occlusion) shader, and the results add a lot more punch/impact to the rendering quality you get out of the box with EEP13. The only downside is, ReShade+the MXAO shader seem to cause issues with the 2D Plan views in EEP13, but that is not the developers fault, as I am trying to push their engine to do extra post-processing. I hope the developers will consider including full scene Ambient Occlusion options in future patches/versions.
3) The language barrier can be overcome with Google Translate, but it would be easier for English speakers if some kind of translation feature was built into the EEP forums so users from different parts of the world can collaborate/discuss the software more easily. I know this is a lot of work, but it would reduce people's reluctance to purchase the software somewhat, I believe.
4) The quality of models available through the EEP Shopping website appears to be high, so I understand why each model is priced appropriately. For those of you on a budget, like me, I highly recommend you purchase the Expert DLC for EEP13, despite the extra cost, as the additional models give you a lot more choice, and also include more (much needed) 3D plants and trees, which makes your layouts more realistic. To be honest, whenever I see 2D trees in train software (and EEP is not the only one) I will check online to see if 3D plants/trees are available. 2D trees were okay in 2005 but times have changed. :) The Expert DLC also gives you the option to increase the draw distance, which shows you more distance parts of the scene, and is well worth it for that and the Depth of Field camera options alone, IMO.
5) As for the policies around user-created content, I'm not sure what to think exactly. There are third-party websites with free models like the EEP Download Base (unofficial), and Free Modell Katalog, but I believe some of those contain models for older versions of EEP (up to 7.2) so may need to be updated using the EEP-Modellkonverter (approx 55 EUR). Alternatively, the HOME-Nostruktor 13 software appears to let you import models you've created in other 3D packages (ie. Blender), so if the EEP Shopping website does not have what you are after, at least the tools are available for a reasonable price to give you the ability to make or convert your own. Compared to games like Cities Skylines which have huge fan communities and Steam Workshop support with a heap of free content, the range of 3rd party models for niche products like these is always going to be a bit limited, but there's a decent amount of models in their store so as long as you choose wisely when purchasing additional models, you shouldn't have any issues.
Overall, a bit on the pricey side compared to other products in this field, but I believe EEP13 is unmatched in terms of performance and features as far as model railroads are concerned, and personally, I spent more on Microsoft Train Simulator when it came out many years ago. If you are a model railroad fan, I highly recommend it, but be prepared for a few quirks, following the tutorials until you become familiar with it, and remember that not all engines have full 3D cabin interiors like other train simulators, as the focus here is more on a model trains.
Tech Details:
6-core AMD 1055T with 8Gb RAM
Using 64-bit version of EEP13. (Don't know if there's a 32-bit one!)
Radeon R9 380 with 4GB VRAM
Frame rate is typically 60FPS although I have ticked the "Limit framerate to 30fps" option as I noticed some shearing at 1920x1080, even with "Wait for Vertical Refresh" enabled in the Radeon Application settings for this program.
