Freeware route showing Openrail's potential?

[deltatango]

Hi all,
I recently went through my old games and found MSTS. After a bit of googling I learnt that it is better to use Openrails as a frontend. Works very well, but with MSTS about 15 years old, the graphics leaves much to be desired by today's standards.

As Openrails is much newer and also might run without any MSTS legacy baggage I wonder whether there is a route that shows what's possible with today's decent gaming hardware. Any suggestions?

[EricF]

Let's see... There's Surfliner 2 and Horseshoe Curve here in the File Library. Also the Monon-2. These are all excellent routes by any standard. Many more; those are just some of my favorites.

[ckawahara]

I do not think that there has been a OR specific route built yet...by that I refer to the latest file extensions that can be supported.

[lateagain]

Hi all,
I recently went through my old games and found MSTS. After a bit of googling I learnt that it is better to use Openrails as a frontend. Works very well, but with MSTS about 15 years old, the graphics leaves much to be desired by today's standards.

As Openrails is much newer and also might run without any MSTS legacy baggage I wonder whether there is a route that shows what's possible with today's decent gaming hardware. Any suggestions?

My first question would be when did you last have MSTS installed? Secondly what, if any, add-ons did you buy? Thirdly are you aware of the BIN patch?

I ask this because talk of "legacy baggage" seems a weird concept to those of us running state of the art MSTS stuff and as the previous poster said their is not much purely OR stuff out there yet. There's no doubt it has the potential to outperform MSTS in many ways but it certainly enhances MSTS stuff and the "legacy" of MSTS that it brings to the party are hundreds of routes and even more pieces of stock from just about every corner of the globe that has railways. Not a bad starting point as "legacy" goes

MSTS is arguably still the best functioning simulator for rail. Other newer Rail Games might have prettier graphics but they have little freeware and still have limited functions in some areas.

IMO MSTS and OR are enthusiast supported and developed simulators and to get the best out of them you have to learn some basics. For "spoon feeding" other Sims are just waiting to take your cash for instant gratification?

[ckawahara]

I am sure routes will follow once a full blow editor becomes available, but in the mean time check out the OR ONLY engines. Most will not even open in MSTS due to the increased poly levels (hence increased detail).

[deltatango]

@lateagain: With "legacy baggage" I mean content that was designed for the capabilities of computers from 15 years ago. Maybe even with the old MSTS engine and content format, if you design for today's hardware you could use many more polygons, bigger textures and so on.

I installed MSTS again a few weeks ago. Didn't work well with today's 16:9 displays, so I googled and found Openrails. Installed that and some Routes like "Cajon Pass V4.X". Also have some old content from the early 2000s (e.g. "Biggetal")

Never heard of a BIN patch before. What's it for?

Am just looking around for alternative Train sims. Run8 is nice handling-wise but only really useful in Multiplayer (no AI) and the graphics is nothing to write home about (not even shadows). Train Simulator 2016 looks nice but the sound is a mess and its editor is still a bug-ridden piece of shit (and will remains so for ever as DTG never fixes anything) and T:ANE is a complete train wreck, with its abysmal graphics performance.

@Ericf: thanks for the links will try everything out this weekend

[OTTODAD]

Never heard of a BIN patch before. What's it for?

Read its MSTS Bin Help forum here !

Train Simulator 2016 looks nice but the sound is a mess and its editor is still a bug-ridden piece of shit (and will remains so for ever as DTG never fixes anything).

Have a look into the TS-2016 General and Routes Creation forums and you will see what my friends and I can do with it, no other Train Simulator editors are capable of !

[deltatango]

Have a look into the TS-2016 General and Routes Creation forums and you will see what my friends and I can do with it, no other Train Simulator editors are capable of !

Hi Otto, I know quite well how to create scenarios for TS2016, having already made some of it public on the Steam workshop:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198009683023/myworkshopfiles/?appid=24010

Although I don't know what other sims are capable off as I never touched their editors yet.
I also know that you are a bit of a TS2016 fanboi

And I also found the website for the Bin patch.

@EricF: the downloads from the file library might take the better part of this year, so I won't see any new routes this weekend.

[conductorchris]

Getting back to the original question . . .
Eric's route suggestions are good ones. I would add to that, all the routes by Paul Charland.

There is also the matter of rolling stock. There is a lot of excellent stuff out there that far exceeds early standards of before 2003 or so. Some great repainters that you can search for (there are many), for example Bernard Grant, Mark Giltz and many others.

Christopher

[mword77]

I am sure routes will follow once a full blow editor becomes available

Is this still even on the table? I haven't been over to ET in a while but, the last I remember hearing was that the editor was DOA, due to people having to step away from the project. I love Open Rails but if this is the case, then that's a big blow. A new, more-user-friendly route editor would have really kick-started interest in OR/MSTS again.

[drelyea]

Hi,

This thread here: https://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showth...w-Route-Editor. Its not fully done (signals, speedposts can't be placed yet and saved) This one is an outta the blue project, if you find the two threads at ET about it.

It does work a bit different than the MSTS editor so copy the directions, as far as what keystrokes do what.

A tile object count limit not easily reached, and 99,999 tracknode capability.

Doug Relyea

Outta the Blue meaning here the author wrote it on his own and should be taken as a compliment.

[ckawahara]

Is this still even on the table? I haven't been over to ET in a while but, the last I remember hearing was that the editor was DOA, due to people having to step away from the project. I love Open Rails but if this is the case, then that's a big blow. A new, more-user-friendly route editor would have really kick-started interest in OR/MSTS again.

Mayhaps you should visit ET. Last look saw the author answering queztions...not something someone who is doa would likely be doing.

[muskokaandtahoe]

As Openrails is much newer and also might run without any MSTS legacy baggage I wonder whether there is a route that shows what's possible with today's decent gaming hardware. Any suggestions?

AFAIK, WP 3rd sub from 3dtrains is free of KUJU content.

Just to be clear, Open Rails Software has NO REQUIREMENTS for MSTS to be present. It is the individual routes that you have that include old KUJU content -- that is what creates the need to own MSTS. When you start digging into what KUJU stuff has been used over the years in routes, it's not just the original track shapes that pop up everywhere, but terrtex art and sound files too. The track could be replaced w/ some effort but the later two would be very hard to replace.

[mword77]

Hi,

This thread here: https://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showth...w-Route-Editor. Its not fully done (signals, speedposts can't be placed yet and saved) This one is an outta the blue project, if you find the two threads at ET about it.

Thanks for that Doug. I was aware of GoKu's effort but haven't checked up lately on his progress, which seems to be cranking right along!

Mayhaps you should visit ET. Last look saw the author answering queztions...not something someone who is doa would likely be doing.

I guess I was under the impression the OR team was tackling this project as well, hence the doa statement.

[lateagain]

@lateagain: With "legacy baggage" I mean content that was designed for the capabilities of computers from 15 years ago. Maybe even with the old MSTS engine and content format, if you design for today's hardware you could use many more polygons, bigger textures and so on.

I installed MSTS again a few weeks ago. Didn't work well with today's 16:9 displays, so I googled and found Openrails. Installed that and some Routes like "Cajon Pass V4.X". Also have some old content from the early 2000s (e.g. "Biggetal")

Never heard of a BIN patch before. What's it for?

Am just looking around for alternative Train sims. Run8 is nice handling-wise but only really useful in Multiplayer (no AI) and the graphics is nothing to write home about (not even shadows). Train Simulator 2016 looks nice but the sound is a mess and its editor is still a bug-ridden piece of shit (and will remains so for ever as DTG never fixes anything) and T:ANE is a complete train wreck, with its abysmal graphics performance.

@Ericf: thanks for the links will try everything out this weekend

Sorry to be late in responding but I see most of the points I raised have now been answered .

I would point out that even a full install of the old MSTS is not that huge? There is a concept called "Mini Routes" where you add new routes to a "Virgin" Copy of MSTS (usually modified with all the latest roads, track and other general pstched + BIN) and then convert that installation into a "stand alone" Route.

This route can be used as is OR opened in Open Rails which brings a whole lot more in the way of widescreen, cab sway etc.etc.

This might leave a lot of redundant stuff in the Mini Route but with todays hardware I've not noticed that it's been an issue

MSTS can be run on 16:9 monitors either by setting that up on your graphics card OR by running it in a window. How to do that is here in the forums

As far as Rolling stock and detail is concerned “polygons” add potential ....but not necessarily content. Until such content is developed the progress made by the many Commercial add-on publishers (to say nothing of some freeware here in the library) is light years away from the original KUJU, and even TA, content.

Open Rails has achieved a huge step forward but it’s still a work in progress. The MSTS legacy enables you to run most of that content in OR and utilise its newer features. That has to be a Win-Win?

There are some great routes nowadays for MSTS with superb detail, scenery and a lot of custom content. As these can take years to build it's unlikely that anything of that scope and detail will be available purely for OR in the near future? ...but until it arrives why not explore the best that's already available?