Which train simulation do you recommend?

[Navy Chief]

I've been thinking about possibly buying a train simulation, but didn't know there were so many to choose from.

Recommendations?

Thanks.

NC

[Thoe6969]

I have railworks and like it a lot,the only drawback is the lack of US routes.As of now there are two nice ones for the US,and they give updates for free to existing customers.

[rohan]

There are four sims generally available - the original MSTS, various flavours of Auran Trainz, RailWorks2 and OpenRails.

MSTS is still available and can be found at a cheap price. There are lots of add-ons available covering train operations all around the world, and the vast majority are freeware. Because it's an older sim, modern PCs can usually cope easilly with running complex scenarios. For the same reasom, it runs well under an older o/s, but cannot gain from the extra memory available under, for example, Win7. As an introduction to train sims, it's a good, cheap, easy option.

Trainz isn't quite as old, and has been kept up to date, but each of those flavours comes at the price of an add-on. There are far fewer add-ons available, though again most are freeware.

OpenRails is still in development. It's generally available, but effectively a Beta release. As such, there are very few add-ons available yet.

Railworks2 was released just last month, as an update to Railworks (still available on disc), which was itself an update to RailSimulator (also still available on disc). The biggest problem with RailWorks is that you have to connect with Steam in order to register / activate / use the sim. Having done so, connecting with Steam at a later date gives you the option of downloading and installing all the latest updates, including those for any add-ons you bought from Steam. That Steam connectivity earned RailWorks, and many other gaimes, a bad reputation as a lot of users just could not get the connectivity to work properly (for a lot of different reasons). Originally, it was also only possible to play when online, though that has now changed. There are not a lot of add-ons available for RailWorks, and the majority are payware, though a fair number of the add-ons produced for RailSimulator can be used, sometimes with minor adjustments. Most add-ons are either repaints of default stock or payware items, or are routes with a variety of scenarios / activities (some even come with extra stock).

If you want to browse the world of MSTS, browse through the library at Train-Sim -

http://www.train-sim.com/

Likewise for RailWorks -

http://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/

Hope that paints the balanced, general picture for you,
Ro

[Navy Chief]

Thank you!

All the information I needed!

NC

[beana51]

Always the last to find out Stuff,I needed a screen saver...and on the NVIDIA home page,in Cool stuff,Screensavers..I found this remarkable screen saver....I look at it for hours...maby some would like it also......better than a home model railroad set up!!. great Ole clock also...Vin!!...CHOOO CHOOO!!

[James]

Are the graphics for any of these FSX-quality? If not, what's the closest comparison?

[rohan]

I couldn't comment on Trainz or OpenRails as I don't have them, so the "best" for graphics output has to be RailWorks2 - in my opinion, since all answers to that question are subjective. I suggest you look for rail sim videos at youtube, or even the intro one at the Steam link I posted above,
Ro

[MrReset]

I would recommend OpenBVE -> http://openbve.trainsimcentral.co.uk/

Look at this video


And the best: OpenBVE is free and open source!
I don't like RailWorks because of it's userunfriendly DRM!

[Navy Chief]

WOW! That is stunning!

[Terry]

Lets put the main question another way. There seems to be two main types of sim, the first where you spend most of the time in the cab, and the other where your time is mostly spent in an overhead view creating a rail system.

So which sim is best as the driver and which is best as a railroad designer?

[beana51]

It seem,s in all the Sims ,the only place yer at, is on yer BUTT!......Have fun!.....

[Gramps]

Just to add to the open rails sim.................................it is fully compatible with msts...and it's free.

There are ALOT of free stuff for msts, from routes, to engines, rollin stock,....................

and it all works in OR. As Ro said, it's still a beta, but it shows a lot of promise.

[gera]

I have MSTS and Rails. I love MSTS since there are literally thousands of engines and cars of all types totally free. You will find many payware addons and again many freeware routes. I have around 300 engines and when my grandson comes to play with me we fire up all Thomas engines and Friends!!!. If you have a good video card the scenery is rather good and you can add all kids of goodies like rails and roads, camera views abound and there are thousands of train activities....for around $30.00 you should try it (Amazon), you might get a used cd cheaper.....:salute: ( Oh, MS was going to make version II and it killed it like it did with FS11)....Check www.trainsim.com and see all that´s is available, the Forum there is full of very helpfull guys ready to give a hand when you need it, really a great bunch.....maybe much nicer than pilots!!!!

[CrisGer]

There are two ways to go: pretty and working railroad. For pretty, and the best eye candy, Railworks is the best yet. Very nice realistic layouts. You can get a moderate range of routes mostly UK and european and equipment..a few US routes and some equipment but very little from Steam era...but..and a big but it is VERY not easy to add equipment to routes ie choose what you drive for which routes. it is a big pain in the caboose and the developers just dont give a damn to make it any better after some time after release. And most add ones are payware, it is NOT as cheap or easy as the standard which is... so it is not really user friendly.

It is part of Steam and you have to belong to that monster to get content but once you own it, you can unplug from Steam and run the sim happily ..tho not many know that. You own the content so you get to run it as you want as far as i am concerned.

Microsoft Train Simulator 1.0 (2.0 was cancelled when almost ready to go Gold)...

It is an older sim, so the graphics will never be equal to even say FS9....but there are thousands of routes and tens of thousands of engines, cars and equpment plus buildlings and scenery elements galore to make whatever route you can imagine from mainline US, most of the major routes, to UK tons of great ones from steam era to modern, French again steam to modern, Germany ditto, Switzerland a tonne of nice ones, Germany some mostly payware but decent, Italy wonderful steam era routes works of art really, Italy ditto, Spain, even as obscure as the tiny narrow guage route in Eretrea, North Afrika pre WWII! And MSTS has working routes, i e signals, switches, lots of accuracy in daily operations possible, and even some virtual cabs for engines, and you can really get into the technical side of steamers and what you have to do to make them work....



The Daylight in the Days of Steam: Jeff Farquhar's great Coast Route running thru Del Mar with the SP 4449 pulling to San Diego..



Orient Express pulled by a great French Pacific by Granado..on the default St. Anton's Pass Route with enhanced trees and more...



the Fi Li Po Route from Steam Era Italy, one of the greatest routes yet, beautifully done and available from Il Deposito website in Italy



Skipton 1920 Steam Era from the UK, some of the very very best routes ever yet done by the UK extensive train sim community and they are still making more.



Highball at Night on the Hudosn Valley 1940 route

New Routes are being made, not as many as in the Golden years a while ago, but still some major ones like the west coast route which is getting extended north from LA, and the PRR which is constantly getting enlarged....and more european routes on the works all the time..

Open Rails is promising, it is MSTS with better graphics and new add on features it is in the works but there is a beta you can try.

This is a pic from Open Rails Beta it will run any MSTS equipment but some OR stuff wont run in MSTS..

this is a nice engine by Capt. Bazza...


Default St Anton's Route from MSTS with some great french equipment a Pacific pulling the full brake of the Orient Express....




I dont know about OpenBVE...but the graphics look limited..flat light and not much bump mapping and landscape looks artificial. I like realistic

enjoy.