DAR MSTS line BETA 5.5

[hecrowell]

My first reaction to this beta version when downloaded, installed and tried was - - - WOW!

Hats off to Paul for this piece of work. The switchyards themselfs are a masterpiece of work and dedication. Scenery along the route - fantastic.

I have travelled several times now Halifax toward Coldbrook but haven't finished a trip yet (due to derailment) - my fault for not setting the switches properly, but I will read again the documentation in the email I received from Paul.
I have travelled the route from Wolfville to Kentville and having been there several times in real life can only remark how real it feels to look around and see many familiar landmarks in the town. I don't think I would tire easily even on this short section of the route. Also enjoying very much the section from Kentville to Aldershot.

This is a great job, paul and I do have an idea now how much work goes into building each mile (or Km) of route (having begun my end at Yarmouth). What you have done here sure inspires me to get cracking on the Yarmouth sub and at least produce something.

Keep up the good work, Paul, even though you may or may not receive posts on the route, I believe you can rest assured that it is and will be much appreciated by any and all that install this route.

[bennycdn]

This version 5.5 is pretty awesome,I can't believe the detail level and still the framerates are decent on my computer. Benny

[downeastrailfan]

Hi Paul,

Can you please post a link to the current beta version? I now have a computer savvy friend who might be able to help install the game.

[stem]

Who does not yet have MSTS and who wants it? I may be able to find some copies of this for a good price.

[engineeral]

The work is very good and I really enjoyed running on the line. The buildings in Wolfville and Kentville are great. It's nice to run on a line you know in reality.

But have you considered switching to Trainz? Because MSTS seems to be going no further and its graphics, etc. will be more and more out of date, while Trainz is now in active development, with a lively user community and lots of user-contributed free content.

I think making an accurate map in Trainz might not be as easy as in MSTS but I wonder how long people want to work with an old program.

I don't want to start any flame wars about which program is better, just Trainz is newer and has newer graphics and support.

I sure wish there were an easy way to transfer all this hard work to Trainz, but I don't think there is for a route. For buildings and rolling stock I think the original geometry can be used in Gmax or similar and "compiled" into a Trainz mesh.

[Paul Charland]

Hi Al and All,

Can't say I have considered switching from MSTS to any of the eight or ten alternatives that are available. Every program has a learning curve and I've already gone through that with MSTS and the other programs associated with route building you need to learn. Open Rails is shooting to become a more modern version of MSTS but still be compatible with older files, Railworks is working on version two but is said it will not be compatible with version one files, plenty of people willing to work with all these programs for one reason or another.

I've got about a year of work into the MSTS DAR route, not too sure I want to stop and learn another set of programs and start over again.

Paul

[engineeral]

I wasn't aware of Open Rails but I just looked at the website and I will have to try if out soon. I sure understand the aversion to switching to a new program when what you have still works. Maybe Open Rails will be the solution.

[Paul Charland]

Hi Al,

Open Rails has a few bugs to work out, I'm sure this is true with all the rail sim programs out there. Guess you just have to find one you are comfortable working with and hope for the best. The guys involved with Open Rails are long time MSTS users who are determined to fix what was wrong with MSTS and keep it as open source to make it easier for others to add things at the programming end of things.

Paul

[stem]

I remember reading about Open Rails a few years back. Never thought to check them out recently but now that you mention it, I'm going to DL it and see how it works on Windows 7 64 bit and then on Windows 7 23 bit in a VMWare machine. I'd love to have my routes back on my regular computer with widescreen support.

In the meantime, just DLed Trainz for the iPad. Let you know what I think as I get used to the new interface but it does look pretty good so far.

One has to say that the boyz at Trainz have been keeping up with lots of great features over the years. Multi-player has got to be a blast. We could have quite the sessions! It's still got that painting like rendering though even after all these years that make it look significantly different than MSTS.