Hello Everybody,
This question has been asked before but with todays software market progressing like it is I thought it might be appropriate to ask this question again. Which train simulation software is recommendable??? Being up here in a camp in northern Alberta makes for some long hours and thought this might be a great way to spend some time.
Please note that the game will be run on a laptop recently purchased with Microsoft Vista on it.
Thank you in advance
Frank
I got bored quickly with Microsoft’s Train Simulator 1 which I picked up for USD$9.99 at a Wal mart in the American west two years ago. There will be a release within the next year or so of the latest version now that a team has undertaken to revive the programme. It is reputed to run only on Vista. That doesn’t solve your problem currently, unfortunately, but perhaps you can get a copy of the original and bore yourself silly with it in the interim.
-Crandell
Without getting into a Vista Bash, from what I;ve heard, Most of the good Train Sims require too much attention from the comp for them to work right. As Selector ssaid before, there will be a new MSTS here soon. The other standard is Auran Trainz. I prefer the former, but both have some awesome add ons you can download, some free, some not, to keep you intrested longer. I had to stop though when something downloaded badly (my fault I suspect) and screwed Train Simulator to high heaven. So watch what you get into.
You will have to check the manual to see what kind of vidcard chip it has. It will most likely NOT have a high performance 3d capabilities. But I know a lot of Pc stuff now like laptops come with some level of 3D hardware support. But don’t expect to snatch one of today’s games and expect it to run as they demand high 3d technology.
MSTS 1 and I presume Trainz will be able to run on it most likely in their lowest resolutions as these are the first releases of Train sims and today’s tech may have allowed the same capabilities to be slimmed into a laptop (crosses fingers) for these older releases.
There is a lot of custom content you can download for either game, trainz may have an easier track editor, but both are workable, be sure to patch MSTS.
If you can buy both, do that.
However I do not reccomend trying Kujo’s new thing, Rail Simulator, as that is high tech today’s stuff, but it is awesome, they are the ones who made MSTS 1.
I’ve purchased most rail sims, and found all of the lacking.
Nobody has mentioned the latest, “Rail Simulator” released a few months ago.
Does anyone else remember Transport Tycoon, from the 90’s? I loved that game, I was always upset they never did a modern version with identical mechanics but improved graphics.
Go here-> http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrht_2008_nts
It will answer all of your questions.
Train Sim II runs on FSX’s platform. To run FSX with the sliders maxed out is impossible for most machines right now. It will be the same for Train Simm II.
However, running FSX at high settings gives a visual experiance un-availible in FS9. You noticed reduced frame rates but it’s still flyable, even with 26-28 FPS at high detail airports.
Train Sim II will run on WinXP OR VISTA 32-64. What Train Simm II really needs is some 3rd party developers like PMDG with flight sim. The flight sim community has many, many 3rd party developers. Train Sim II hopfully will garner more interest, I certainly hope so.
I dual boot XP and Vista-64. I get a performance rating of 5.9 on Vista, the highest! My daughters new laptop gets a rating of 3.0, but it’s fine, except for high end gaming. Therein lies the difference.
Running 2xFX-74 3.0 Ghz, 4 GB ram, 4 WD Raptor HD’s, NVidia 8800GTX, and a 1000 watt PSU. Still can’t push FSX sliders to the max. So it will most likely be with Train Sim II? In two years give or take it will be possible.
Jules
I love Auran’s Trainz, but it’s not anywhere as close as reliable as MSTS… It crashes quite a bit, and mine stopped saving properly after about a week…that and the content manager doesn’t work on my Vista laptop. Horrible customer support too. I wish Microsoft would buy the product and fix it or something…[banghead]
The graphics and ease of operation (when the software is working) are unbeatable though!
If you want something different, try Train Player. It is a sim for MODEL railroads.
I have Microsoft Train Simulator as well as Signalcc’s Train Dispatcher.
Kevin
Microsoft Train Simulator is really good. There are some really great downloads for it on www.train-sim.com. It has Cajon Pass on it!
Trainz 2006 is crap. My Windows XP hates it, and the downloads are not really good and take FOREVER to download.
If I was in a camp, I’d get MSTS (Microsoft Train Simulator).
Thank you
Thank you everybody for the responses. Will be back home next week and load up on old Model Railroader and Trains magazines from home as well as go out and purchase a train simulation program.
Great info everybody [:)]
Frank
There are two user created interfaces that give you better graphics, more trains, and more options currently being developed: OpenTTD and TTD Patch. I prefere OpenTTD since its adding 32bit graphics, multiplayer over the internet, and host of other cool features. It requires that you have the original version to play, since it uses many of the orginal files. http://openttd.org/
I have Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 and 2006, I have MSTS, and Kuju’s rail simulator. All are good. MSTS has the most content to download, and TRS has the easiest editing functions. KRS is a mix of the two except with very few US locomotives for download.
I like them all.