
- RUN 8 TRAIN SIMULATOR BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTE FOR FREE
- RUN 8 TRAIN SIMULATOR BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTE FULL
- RUN 8 TRAIN SIMULATOR BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTE SIMULATOR
In Rail Simulator, you could check switches ahead of you, check signal indications, or just enjoy the new and refreshing scenery. In MSTS, you were always constrained to the train. Graphics were extremely good, there were 3D cabs, you could control multiple trains in a session instead of loading a new session, the world was interactable (transfer tables, turntables, coal load/unload, etc.), and most importantly, you could roam throughout the world using the 8 key. They built off of what MSTS was good at, and improved the things that needed improving. For the most part, they released what would have been MSTS 2.0. For those of you who don't know your train sim history, Kuju was one of the major players in the development of MSTS.
RUN 8 TRAIN SIMULATOR BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTE SIMULATOR
Rail Simulator was developed by Kuju in 2008.

I also had several lag-inducing, crash-to-desktop bugs in 2012, and was so disgusted by the time Trainz: A New Era came around that I didn't bother to pick it up. 2006 was much like 2004, and 2012 was a clone of 2006, but all with different routes. Unfortunately, the new features pretty much stopped. It had very user-friendly world editors, actual 3D cabs with animated controls, the ability to add AI easily, and a load/unload system that worked great. And if I want a model railroad, I've got my own set of HO engines and cars, some with DCC/Sound/Keep-Alives in them.īack on track to Trainz: Developed by an Australian developer in 2004, this sim went right for MSTS's throat, attacking at all the areas that MSTS was weak at. I can't ever get over the feeling of a model railroad while playing this. I like the level editor, and I like the model train feel, but when I want a train sim, I want to feel like I'm on a full-sized railroad, running real trains.
RUN 8 TRAIN SIMULATOR BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTE FULL
Even though I've spent thousands of hours in MSTS (and hundreds in OR), I still have to conclude that there's only three reasons to still play it: the in-train physics are excellent, it's a free program, or you still insist on running trains over the Full Bucket Line (looking forward to a UE4 remake).īias time: I'm not fond of this one. As cool as this all sounds, though, the basic core of OR is still MSTS. They upgraded the core program to accommodate newer computers, allowed for new features not implemented in MSTS, and fixed several game-breaking bugs.

But back in 2009, Open Rails swooped in to save the day. With the advent of the newer simulators in the late 2000's, MSTS seemed to be relegated to the nostalgia heap. Most of the issues stem from the limitations of the computers at the time I remember getting 10-20 fps on some of the default routes with our old Gateway we had at the time. Model detail is exceedingly poor, the sounds are sub-par, and the environment looks like crap. However, as good as it was, the original MSTS has not held up well.
RUN 8 TRAIN SIMULATOR BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTE FOR FREE
Thousands of locomotives, cars, and routes were available for free (and pay). You could run a train with all of the controls and features, view it from the outside, and run over vast distances from one edge of a route to another. When it was introduced in 2001, the world MSTS created was revolutionary. The mainstream granddaddy: Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS)/Open Rails (OR):.With that in mind, let's review some of the most popular train simulators and my thoughts on them. No, that will not help its case in review-time. For the sake of fairness, I am only grading based on original developer content, and NOT on 3rd party content. While reviewing, I'm looking for several things: PHYSICS (how well the train handles compared to life), GRAPHICS (how good the simulation looks), SOUND (how good and accurate the sound quality is), AMBIENCE (the ability to make you believe you are in the simulation), and ACCURACY (how much attention is paid to the little details, like angle cocks and gen.

Those of you who can parse this information might be led to believe that I prefer accuracy, realism, and North American switching in the modern age. My background is that I am from the US, was born in the early 1990's (yes, part of that generation), an ex-conductor from a short line railroad, and have been an occasional engineer on some EMD locomotive types (SW1200, SW1500, GP8, GP40, SD40-2). When checking out people's opinions, it helps to know of their backgrounds and biases. If you don't like my opinions, that's your opinion.

This may not be enjoyable.Įveryone has an opinion. Alright, I've heard a lot of different questions and opinions as to which simulator is best, so I thought I'd weigh in.
