Microsoft Train Simulator
| Microsoft Train Simulator | |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Train Simulator retail box. | |
| Developer(s) | MSTS 1: Kuju Entertainment Train Simulator 2: Microsoft Game Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Designer(s) | various persons, mainly Rick Selby |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Microsoft Train Simulator (known in the Train Simulator community also as simply MSTS 1) is a train simulator for Microsoft Windows, released in July 2001 and developed by UK based Kuju Entertainment. On January 19, 2007 Microsoft informed the community about the development of Train Simulator 2 based on the Microsoft Flight Simulator X platform.
Original version features
Routes
The original game featured the following lines:
- Settle to Carlisle Railway line, with the "Flying Scotsman"
- Northeast Corridor (Philadelphia—Washington, D.C.) in the United States with the Acela Express
- Marias Pass in the United States with the BNSF Railway
- Odakyu Odawara Line in Japan with the Odakyu Electric Railway
- Hisatsu Line in Japan with the Kyushu Railway Company (or JR Kyushu)
- Arlberg Railway in Austria (Innsbruck – St. Anton) in the 1930s, with the Orient Express
These original models were criticised by many people for being inaccurate. However, as with uktrain sim, people started creating and distributing their own models and other content through websites. New routes, trains, sounds, cabviews, and other MSTS accessories are available either as freeware or payware from various websites and companies.
Editor
Included with Train Simulator was the Editors & Tools program, which mainly allowed the user to build railroads, or "routes", as they were called in MSTS. Users could also create activities for any route, create custom cabviews, or edit the default ones.
Bugs
The original version contained many bugs, for example the "front coupling bug", where the locomotive's front coupler would not work, the "white void bug", where the route scenery disappears, leaving a white void, and the "end-of-the-line bug", where the locomotive, if it crashes through the last buffers on the route, would fall into an empty void. There are also issues with the signalling and AI dispatching. However, through the work of people in the community, some of these bugs were either removed or avoided by applying "unofficial" patches to the program.[1]. The game is also somewhat unstable with a tendency to crash.
Version 1.2
Later, some more stock was added, including: Drivable SD40-2 with BNSF Heritage I paint, a Class 50 British Locomotive, new British Passenger Cars, a few new US freight cars, and a US caboose with a special "caboose view".
Version 1.2 also includes a few new activities for the new train equipment.
Add-ons
Many commercial and non-commercial add-ons for MSTS are available. These include route, activity, scenery, locomotives and rolling stock addons to the game. Some of these are listed below:
Commercial route add-ons
- London & South-East – by Making Tracks
- Great Eastern – by Making Tracks
- Severn Valley Railway
- Swanage Railway
- Nene Valley Railway
- West Somerset Railway
- London-Brighton Express
- West Coastway – Brighton-Portsmouth
- Berlin U-Bahn (Called 'Berlin Subway' as a title on the CD case. This add-on just includes the U2 and U8 lines.)
- East Coast Express Parts 1,2,3 (Leeds Loop) & 4 (Hertford Loop) – by Europeanbahn
- West Coast Express Part 1 – by Europeanbahn
- West Coast Express Part 2 (Cross City – Redditch to Lichfield via BNS)
Non-commercial route add-ons
- Dorset Coast – by Dave Corfield
- Thames-Mersey – by Dave Corfield
- North West England – by Terry Cunliffe
- Glasgow – Carlisle – by David Carmont
- Full Bucket Line - by Björn Arlt
- Many ATSF subdivisions by Bob Wirth
- San Diego and Arizona Railway Desert Line section by Mark Divecchio
Locomotives and Rolling Stock add-ons
- A British Rail Class 89 locomotive was produced as an add-on to raise money to save the only real class 89 from being scrapped, and it is now stored at Barrow Hill Roundhouse.
- Bubble's Railways Stock Pack
- Delaware & Hudson's renown ex-Santa Fe quartet, the final operating Alco PA's.
- Pacific Surfliner-Payware add on from 3DTrains.com. [1]
MSTS 1.0 today
Microsoft does not publish MSTS1 in the United States anymore. This is done by Atari since 2005, and the game is now distributed in the US by Atari as value software. In the European Union, the game is now distributed by Empire Interactive and Ubisoft. Ubisoft also distributes MSTS1 in small quantities in Australia. The Game is also distributed in Britain by Xplosiv, and can be found for a budget price of £4.99 in many video game retailers. Many people have created new locomotives, rolling stock, and routes for this game. There are also a lot of people who make activities. Activities, in Train Simulator, are realistic runs with traffic and other features. The player might have to set out or pick-up cars, or run an inter-modal train. Routes are another feature of MSTS1, and are like real railway lines.
MSTS1 add-ons
There are many add-ons for MSTS for free. Add-ons from UKTS or trainsim.com. there are also a whole range of payware add-ons from european bahn and aerosoft.
Successor
Microsoft Train Simulator 2
On May 7, 2003, Microsoft Train Simulator 2 was announced,[2] and it was first demoed to the public at E3 on May 15.[3] Seemingly its main improvements were the addition of people to the game (e.g. passengers waiting at the stations, people operating the new locomotive roster, etc.), more realistic crashes and other accidents, and turntables. It was being developed by Kuju Entertainment, the original MSTS creators. Due to restructuring efforts at Kuju, the project was however handed over to Microsoft Game Studios on August 18, 2003.[4]
Cancellation
However, this project was ultimately cancelled, as the following statement from Microsoft confirmed.
April 24, 2004 – As you know, every business segment within Microsoft is responsible for continually evaluating its strategy and investments in all areas of the business to achieve operational efficiencies. At Microsoft Game Studios (MGS), we must continually evaluate our portfolio strategy and investments to ensure we are achieving our most important objectives of creating successful, platform driving titles for Windows gamers. In addition, Microsoft Games Studio must streamline game development operations to be more efficient and critically examine all projects in development to position the business for long-term success and profitability. Microsoft Game Studios has cancelled the Windows-based game "Train Simulator 2.0." The decision to cancel "Train Simulator 2.0" was made some time ago and was based on a long, hard and difficult look at our business objectives and product offerings. We remain focused on the simulations category with successful, platform-driving franchises such as "Microsoft Flight Simulator." [5]
Project relaunch
On January 19, 2007, Microsoft announced the relaunch of the Microsoft Train Simulator project. This time the game is being made in-house by ACES Game Studio (Microsoft Game Studios) known for its long line of Microsoft Flight Simulators, as a part of the "Games for Windows" initiative. The game will use the Microsoft Flight Simulator X graphics engine and it will be released for Windows Vista and Windows XP. A post on the 'The Little Wheel Goes in Back' blog, written by one of the developers, on August 23, 2007 appears to suggest the working title is now 'Train Simulator 2'.[6]
Microsoft demoed Train Simulator 2 on August 25, 2007 at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, and released an official press kit which includes several "in-game visual prototype" images, asset renders and two videos. One video indicates that the game's terrain will cover the entire planet, similar to their modern Flight Simulators, with global rail network data available to route builders.[7][8] Little else is currently known regarding the title. Backwards compatibility with MSTS 1 is unlikely as this is a completely new product having only the name in common with its predecessor. Initial information can be found from Microsoft's official Train Simulator website.[9]
See also
- Rail Simulator – Kuju Entertainment's new train simulator.
- Train simulator – reference article to other train simulator products.
- Trainz Simulator 2009 - The newest addition to the 'Trainz' franchise!
Notes
- ^ http://mstsbin.uktrainsim.com/eng/eng.html MSTSbin homepage, one of the unofficial patches
- ^ Microsoft announces Train Simulator 2 – GameSpot.com (May 7, 2003)
- ^ Train Simulator 2 Impressions – GameSpot.com (May 15, 2003)
- ^ Microsoft takes over Train Sim 2 – GameSpot.com (August 18, 2003)
- ^ Train Simulator 2 canceled – GameSpot.com (April 24, 2004)
- ^ http://blogs.msdn.com/tdragger/archive/2007/08/23/guter-tag-von-leipzig.aspx 'The Little Wheel Goes in Back' blog post from August 23rd 2007.
- ^ MSTS 2: General Fact Sheet
- ^ Screens of Microsoft Train Simulator 2
- ^ Announcement of new Microsoft Train Simulator
External links
- Microsoft Train Simulator official website
- The original website of Microsoft Train Simulator 1
- Microsoft Train Simulator at the Open Directory Project
- Microsoft Train Simulator add-on download site
- Microsoft Train Simulator add-on routes, locomotives, and rolling stock
- Microsoft Train Simulator add-ons and discussion board
- Catalog of Microsoft Train Simulator locomotives
- Microsoft Train Simulator add-on download site
- great resource for Russian Routes, and Russian Rolling Stock just click a British Flag in an upper right corner