Looking for recommendations for PC rail simulation software

[sn1975]

Hi all,

I'm looking recommendations for a PC rail simulation game.

I used to use MSTS a few years ago but I understand things have moved on quite a bit since then.

I'm mainly interested in UK routes/trains from the 1980's to the present day.

Must haves are West Coast Main Line and Virgin Trains rolling stock, i.e. Class 390 and 221.

Realistic traffic would be a bonus.

Would also be interested in creating my own routes and if possible rolling stock liveries.

Which one has the most free downloadable content?

Finally, would have to run on my PC which is a few years old now.

(Pentium D830 3GHz, 1GB RAM (could upgrade to 2GB or 4GB), NVIDIA GeForce 6700 XL with 128MB)

Many thanks.

 

[Stigy]

I think the only sensible option is Trainsim 2013, although 2014 is to be released soon. Just tap it in to YouTube to see the graphical detail etc. Of course the quality of the graphics etc much depends on how your PC is spec'd.

 

[sfbasher]

Hi sn1975

I was an MSTS user and changed over to what was then called "Railworks" - now called TS2013. My poor PC could not handle the graphical and processing power that ran MSTS with ease, so had to do some major upgrading. My graphics card alone cost £250!

You can purchase the West Coast Main Line North and Class 390 through the 'Steam' Website. Class 221 Voyagers can be purchased through 3rd party companies such as 'Just Trains'.

Web link for TS2013:
http://www.railsimulator.com

Web link for Just Trains:
http://www.justtrains.net

Good luck in whatever you decide to do

 

[MCR247]

I'm not sure his PC would be upto achieving very graphics and frames on TS2013, especially 1GB of ram

 

[Stigy]

I'm not sure his PC would be upto achieving very graphics and frames on TS2013, especially 1GB of ram

I don't know excessive amounts about computers, but is it not the processor that counts most (3GHz is quite fast. My Mac has 2.7GHz and it runs seamlessly)?

 

[MCR247]

I don't know too much, but when it comes to something like this, AFAIK RAM is very important. I think even the lowest specs for the game would need at least 2GB of RAM.

The fact that your PC runs it well won't just be down to your processing power, it'll be down o the rest of the specs just as much, if not more

 

[Class172]

If your more interested in the building routes and creating your own content side of things, I would recommend Trainz 2012. As well as having access to a huge free content library rivalled by none other, the game has a very easy to use route building module. TS12 includes ECML Kings Cross - Newcastle (along with lines to Lincoln/Hull etc) set in the 1980s.

There is a basic class 390 model that tilts and there used to be a brilliant class 220/221 model but sadly that's no longer available; there is a very good 222 however that can be used as a substitute.

If you like steam/early diesel there is also the Settle & Carlisle (plus Skipton) add-on set in the 1960s that can be purchased.

If your computer cannot run TS12, you can also use TS10 (which includes the ECML to York) or TS2009, which are very similar.

 

[Crossover]

(Pentium D830 3GHz, 1GB RAM (could upgrade to 2GB or 4GB), NVIDIA GeForce 6700 XL with 128MB)

I don't know too much, but when it comes to something like this, AFAIK RAM is very important. I think even the lowest specs for the game would need at least 2GB of RAM.

The fact that your PC runs it well won't just be down to your processing power, it'll be down o the rest of the specs just as much, if not more

I would agree with MCR247 - really, 2GB should be a minimum. Though a 128MB graphics card could also be a bit stretched.

The processor itself should be fine - I believe the application is single core only still, so although you'd be able to do nothing else on your PC whilst running it, it would be OK.

I've used the comparison a few times, but I used to run on a 2GHz Intel Dual Core laptop with integrated graphics (boo-hiss!) and 2GB RAM.

On minimum graphics (no TSX), it ran just about OK, though more detailed sections were a bit too demanding and became laggy (extremities of the PDL where there is lots of traffic and anything with lots of movement such as rain or falling snow)
WCML North was pretty much a no-go - had it for over a year without being able to play on it. With the advent of TS2013, it became slightly less demanding and did run, but slowly and loading times were lengthy also (but at least it no longer crashed!)
The processor also tended to get very very warm in all cases!

I now run on a desktop with an i5, 8GB RAM and 1GB graphics card - it will happily consume a good 3GB RAM on its own (granted, with higher graphics settings), but even this gets laggy if I run above about 1280x1024 - shows how demanding it can be.

 

[MCR247]

My new PC can run TS2013 on the highest settings without lag, with a 4.0GHz processor, 16GB ram and a ATI graphics card that I can't remember the name of (not at that PC atm)

 

[trentside]

I manage to run high settings on my PC, which is a 3.3GHz i3 processor, with 4GB ram and a 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 graphics card. Overall, things run pretty well and it's only OMSI that really pushes things (and thus has to be on low settings) due to its poor coding. TS2013 runs well on my system, but I do get some lag on more demanding activities (e.g. London - Brighton with realistic traffic) - doesn't ruin my enjoyment though, and I don't feel it's worth lowering the settings for as it's infrequent!

For just standard scenarios, you can probably get away with lower specs.

 

[glbotu]

If your more interested in the building routes and creating your own content side of things, I would recommend Trainz 2012. As well as having access to a huge free content library rivalled by none other, the game has a very easy to use route building module. TS12 includes ECML Kings Cross - Newcastle (along with lines to Lincoln/Hull etc) set in the 1980s.

There is a basic class 390 model that tilts and there used to be a brilliant class 220/221 model but sadly that's no longer available; there is a very good 222 however that can be used as a substitute.

If you like steam/early diesel there is also the Settle & Carlisle (plus Skipton) add-on set in the 1960s that can be purchased.

If your computer cannot run TS12, you can also use TS10 (which includes the ECML to York) or TS2009, which are very similar.

I'd say even with Trainz, which takes lower spec than TrainSim, I'd strongly recommend upgrading RAM. As a regular Trainz user (both TS12 and TS2010) I can't tell you how often I'm glad that I have 4 GB RAM. The issue with Train Simulators is that on top of some high end graphics processing, they also have to load libraries of content to display (as opposed to say a FPS which only needs to load the immediate surroundings of a "world", although even then, modern FPSs also take huge RAM to make them more immersive). If you're looking for something for driving and don't want to upgrade, OpenBVE's great. Low specs required and it runs on Linux...........

 

[ModernRailways]

1gb RAM would be enough. But don't expect any frills. You would have to run with TSX off and everything else on their lowest to get some sort of relatively smooth frame rate.

Route building in Train Simulator (Railworks) is really easy, once you get the hang of it and follow a few tutorials. Trainz is a lot easier in that you can just drop in and edit with quite a lot of ease however I've found you are more limited in what you can do.

My current specs are:
CPU - AMD Phenom X4 955 Black Edition
GPU - Nvidia GTX 570
RAM - 8gb

I can run Train Simulator smoothly with everything at maximum. I sometimes go into the code for trains and remove shadow casting lights as they can cause a performance hits, especially on routes such as London to Brighton. Every other game I've played I can also play on Maximum, with the exception of OMSI which lags at whatever settings.

My other problem with Train Sim is Anti-Aliasing. The OHLE can look really jagged and trains can too even though I have AA set to it's Maximum - if anyone has any idea why and a possible fix can you let me know, please