Stop Already, I Need To Get Off!
Coping With The Technology Spiral
By Alfred Barten
The train to the future is leaving and I'm not on it (yet).
Virtual railroading is one of the great by-products of the technology revolution. It has been a major interest of mine since the spring of 2001 when Microsoft released its Train Simulator, a full-featured 3D out-of-cab simulator with what seemed at the time to be astounding detail and realism. That led me to an exploration of a great variety of train/rail sims and the creation of the Virtual Railroader website.
I've thoroughly enjoyed each new development by the various sim developers and done my best to support their works by buying their products and writing about my experiences. I even bought a hot gaming laptop a few years ago so I could take my sims on the road and sell Trainz and related gear at train shows.
The one concern I've had through the years, though, was keeping up with the increasing demands on computer system resources that each new development promised to make. Now that I'm retired and have stopped doing the train show circuit, I no longer have the resources nor the excuse to keep up with the ever increasing demands made by new software releases. Thus I'm faced with the problem of "getting off the bus" for a while until I really need (and can justify/afford) a newer, hotter computer.
By "getting off" I don't mean abandoning virtual railroading, but rather I mean settling on a certain level of development and living with it for a while, perhaps leapfrogging a few releases later on when I can upgrade my hardware. I'm certainly not the first person to have done this, nor will I be the last. The good news is that there are a number of jumping off places that will leave you with a very fine simulation experience. Moreover, nearly all these simulators have built-in abilities to accept third-party add-ons that others are still creating and you yourself may want to create. In other words, there is no reason to ever feel deprived or bored just because you don't have the latest and greatest.
Following are some recommended jumping off places based on your preferences and budget or computing power. There's no reason to limit yourself to one jumping off place.
System Sims
System sims generally sacrifice realism for stylized (simple) graphics and ease of viewing entire railroad divisions and transit systems. They are logistically challenging, though not difficult, to build routes for and they provide fascinating viewing. Three sims come immediately to mind in this category: Bahn, Rail3d v116 (original version) and Rail3d (current version).
Bahn. Bahn goes way back to the days of DOS, so you can be assured it will not place inordinate demands on your system. It currently costs 27 USD and has a huge collection of available 3rd-party layouts to draw on. Most of these layouts are true-to-prototype and simulate transit systems in cities around the world. Nearly all simulators are for Windows, but Bahn can also run on Linux via Wine.
Bahn Wuppertal route. Stylized graphics work well with large system sims.
Rail3d. Rail3d began in 1999 in pre-DirectX days. The original version (v116) is stylized, God-view with a big library of add-on rolling stock and routes. The current version, now called simply Rail3d, is more realistic, requires DirectX and seems to place a relatively high demand on the PC. It also has a good collection of available freeware add-ons. Both versions allow you to build models using a simple tool like Notepad, and earlier models can be upgraded to work with the newer version. I have a real fondness for the first version and have also found some of the routes developed in the current version to be too taxing for my system. Both versions are free.
Recommendations. Bahn is an excellent jumping off point with relatively low system demands. Rail3d v116 is also an excellent jumping off point with low system demands. The current Rail3d is not a jumping off point since development continues on an ongoing basis and system requirements do not appear to be changing with each new release.
Cab-View Sims
Four cab-view sims come to mind: TrainMaster, BVE (2 and 4) and Open BVE.
TrainMaster. This sim is an early 3D cab view sim with such good physics that PI Engineering bought the rights to it and has made a business of devloping simulation training for Union Pacific and others. The original PC version is still around, though not much of a bargain at $20 when there are other cab-view sims available for free. Worse, there are literally no add-ons available and there is no provision for creating your own.
BVE. BVE goes back to about 1996 when it was first released by a then 14-year-old Japanese student, Takashi Kojima, using the nickname Mackoy. BVE was designed to be a challenging drive-it sim with strict requirements as to keeping a schedule, stopping the train smoothly at exact spots, and obeying rules of the road. In the first version, you received a score at the end of the run. BVE has great physics to mimic track conditions and changing train load as well as running dynamics. Routes and objects can be built with Notepad or any spreadsheet that can produce CSV files. Building trains requires graphics and sound editing software as well.
The original BVE 1 was replaced by the more capable BVE 2, which has a legendary following and can run on a 350 MHz PC. It has a small window, 640 x 480 pixels, but the recent release of ResChanger now makes any window size available. BVE2 has an informative interface that I find useful in driving.
BVE 4 provides high detail and realistic cab driving at an affordable price: free.
BVE 4 succeeded BVE 2 and introduced the need for .net. It also provided a big window and clean interface with a major portion of the window being available to show scenery, as opposed to the cab-dominated view of BVE 2. Third-party developers, particularly in Britain, have taken BVE 4 to new levels of accuracy in terms of cab rendering and train operation. BVE 4 does not require significant computing power, at least in terms of any computer built within the last five or six years. The most complete source of BVE info and add-ons is Steve Green's Trainsimcentral website.
Open BVE. Open BVE is still in beta, but can be downloaded and used. It is an all-new program by someone other than Mackoy (michelle). It can run BVE routes and trains (at least in theory) and offers new capabilities, such as out-of-cab viewing and scenery animation. Computer requirements do not appear to be significantly greater than BVE 4, if at all, and the open source nature of the program leads to the possibility of it running on other platforms besides Windows.
Recommendations. BVE 2 and BVE 4 are excellent jumping off points. I've never gotten into TrainMaster and OpenBVE is not yet ready for prime time. OpenBVE does offer potential, so it is not a bad choice for ongoing involvement and does not appear to be resource hungry.
Full-Featured 3D Sims
This is a rapidly expanding group, and one that will continue to push the envelope on computer system requirements. First out of the gate was Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS) in the spring of 2001, followed that fall by the first iteration of Trainz. Since then we have had Trainz Ultimate Collection (UTC), Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 (TRS 2004), Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 (TRS 2006), Trainz Classics (TC) and now Trainz Simulator 2009 World Builder Edition (TS 2009).
About a year ago we had the release of Kuju Rail Simulator (KRS) and one of these days we will have Microsoft Train Simulator 2 (MSTS 2). I'm listing the latter separately because it is a completely different program from the original Microsoft offering.
MSTS. This old standby is nearly eight years old and solid as a rock. There is a huge amount of available 3rd-party freeware add-ons available and more on the way. You can still buy MSTS on CD from Atari, or on the Internet for around 10 USD, and you will find systems requirements, other than disk space, to be relatively low. It is limited to running one train at a time, is not user friendly when it comes to building add-ons and is limited to several preset window dimensions (ie, it does not support laptop widescreens, though there are workarounds). Still, if you had only one sim to live with, this would be a fine choice.
MSTS Northeast Corridor route. Eight years old and still going strong.
Trainz. Trainz has evolved over the years while MSTS has stood still. The result is that Trainz added features such as dynamic loads, interactive passengers, train emitting/receiving portals and so on to the basic hallmark of extremely easy graphical route building. The favorite jumping off points are TRS 2004 and TRS 2006, which are nearly alike. Trainz has always been more demanding of computer system resources than MSTS, and the more recent TC and TS 2009 have gone over the edge for me. I'm faced with jumping off at TRS 2006, a place where I'm more than happy to be. Many others are happy with TRS 2004.
Trainz Classics Harlem Line route staggers my laptops.
KRS. This promising simulator, the product of a joint venture between Kuju (original creator of MSTS) and Electronic Arts, does not yet appear to have a large collection of available 3rd-party add-ons, at least of the American variety. Aside my original first look review last winter, I confess to not having had much involvement with KRS.
KRS sample route, great realism.
MSTS 2. Many MSTS enthusiasts and other would-be simmers are eagerly awaiting the release of MSTS 2. It is a brand new sim built from the ground up by a team at Microsoft. It holds great promise - at least from the screenshots and video clips we've seen - but little to nothing is known about what the salient features or requirements will be. One can almost certainly expect it to be high in computational demands.
Recommendations. MSTS, TRS 2004 and TRS 2006 are excellent jumping off points. All three have more than enough features and available add-ons, as well as ongoing community support, to be viable simulators for a long time.
Empire Building Sims
There's a host of empire building sims, the RR Tycoon series being the originator. Others include Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Locomotion, Transport Giant and so on. The above are all commercial sims. There are also similar freeware sims such as Simutrans and Open TTD. RR Tycoon is avalailable for Mac as well as Windows, and Open TTD, by being open source, can run on various platforms. More info on all can be found at the Transport Tycoon Forums.
Transport Giant displays trains at larger scale than other empire building sims, but there is not much available in add-ons.
In general, empire building sims are engrossing and keep you busy at all times. They have stylized God-view graphics and some, such as TTD, OTD and Locomotion, have large collections of available freeware 3rd-party add-ons; routes are relatively easy to build. These three in particular could keep you going for many years and, as such, are excellent jumping off points. None are particularly demanding when it comes to computer system requirements.
Other Sims
The final category of sims includes signaling and dispatching sims. There are a number available, such as Train Dispatcher 2 and Train Dispatcher 3.5. They tend to be very stable, slow changing and computer friendly. In the case of Train Dispatcher (both versions), there are plenty of 3rd-party freeware add-ons available. Train Dispatcher 2 is free; Train Dispatcher 3.5 is payware.
Train Dispatcher 2 DL&W; route.
References
Over the years I've written at length about a number of these sims. Here's a listing of my detailed reviews:
Cheers and welcome to the New Year,
Al
Article and screen shots �2009 Alfred Barten. All rights reserved.
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