Difference between Open Rails, BIN and Kosmos

[hnt4redoktober]

I know I may not be the most MSTS savvy guy, but what exactly is OpenRails and how does it differ between BIN and Kosmos?

[mdeming]

Open rails is an opensource simulator. Bin is an enhancement to MSTS, Kosmos is an enviroment changing utility for MSTS.

[hnt4redoktober]

But openrails is MSTS...and from what I read on the website, is an change to lighting (BIN) and weather (KOSMOS)....

[mdeming]

No. Open rails will run MSTS routes but it is not just MSTS.

[hnt4redoktober]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

[derekmorton]

Lets try again,

Kosmos changes the weather within MSTS.

MSTSBin replaces the MSTS exe file and gives enhancements and stability.

Open Rails is a new system that can run MSTS routes.

Derek

[sniper297]

It's a new game under development intended to be backwards compatible so that MSTS routes and trainsets can be used with the new game when it's ready.

https://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthread.php?t=292856

You can try out the latest test version yourself;

https://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthread.php?t=292866

[=FI=Ghost]

I just have one question - will Open rails have multiplayer support?

[derekmorton]

They are talking about it

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php?

Derek

[longiron]

I just have one question - will Open rails have multiplayer support?

Eventually, yes. Open Rails is being developed with multi-player support in mind, but it's a ways off.
chrisvw

[hnt4redoktober]

Got ya, that clears things up. I appreciate the insight everyone.

[kingconrail76]

Got ya, that clears things up. I appreciate the insight everyone.

It only clears things up IF you do not read the PDF information on the Open Rails web site. (Very thorough, but contradictory to popular opinion)

If OR NEEDS MSTS to be installed, and uses the MSTS registry...how can it be classified as a "simulator" and not an "enhancement to an exsisting simulator" ? I guess I am asking (because no one on Open Rails web site says); Is Open Rails ever going to be truely "Stand Alone" ?

[jovet]

If OR NEEDS MSTS to be installed, and uses the MSTS registry...how can it be classified as a "simulator" and not an "enhancement to an exsisting simulator" ? I guess I am asking (because no one on Open Rails web site says); Is Open Rails ever going to be truely "Stand Alone" ?

Right now it needs MSTS content in order to do anything. OR doesn't yet possess its own editors. It uses the Registry only to locate the existing MSTS content. At some point it certainly can and should break free... but that is still a ways off also.

It is in no way an enhancement because it is a standalone program written from scratch. An "enhancement" implies that MSTS has been altered and improved--which is what MSTSBin did.

[baldwin]

I do not think that Open Rails refers to the windows registry for MSTS apart from knowing MSTS is installed. It certainly does not use anything of MSTS apart from routes activities and stock. If you want to run a route not in the users default install, you have to point Open Rails to the location. If I read the OR site correctly, The use of existing MSTS items in an MSTS install is only the start, and the end intention is for Open Rails to have its own content. A usable activity and route editor are a long way down the roadmap, so the MSTS ones right now are the only game in town.

Is it an enhancement to MSTS?. No, because it does not use MSTS to run routes, activities and stock. An enhancement is a plugin like Xtracks and MSTSBin.

[kingconrail76]

I guess this is where my misunderstanding of it's current state lies. (I fully understand the long term Goal, but..)

If it has no provision at this stage, to have itself installed, and then I "copy" the appropriate Routes, Activities, Trainset and Consist folders into the seperate OR install, how will it ever be able to progress to that point without significant changes to the code? (That would seem to be stepping backwards, no?).

I am by no means a "coder", so forgive my ignorance of "programming", but it just does not seem logical to create a truely "Stand Alone" program that relies on the MSTS Installation to locate require bits of/for its functionality.

I do "get" the backwards compatability, and that the project is mainly focused on said backwards compatability, but I see no indication, or say, "Parallel effort" of any attempt to create even a single file that is anything more than "MSTS compatable" (at this point in OR progress). I would imagine even a single Locomotive/Engine would be enough to test the feasability of OR's "extended abilities".

I would also think that if OR can not currently "read" msts Activities fully and/or correctly, that an OR Activity Editor would be of some priorty, not something slated for the "Distant Future".

...and again, I will acknowledge that even after reading everything on the OR site multiple times, I don't fully understand the intent of the project, compared to the progress of the project.