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Great fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game a couple of years ago, after the initial release. For one reason or another, I ended up getting rid of it. But I just had to re-purchase this game. It was a little cheaper this time around, considering the game has been out some time already.

My decision to purchase this game, twice, should reflect how much I enjoyed this game.

I personally like to play a "free" activity, and my favorite is to take the steam engine on the Northeast Corridore tracks. When driving any of the trains, play with full manual controls for the best effect.

The steam engine has a slightly steep learning curve, but it's definately worth it. Twisting the valves, opening the firebox, shovling coal, all these things (when done manually) can lend a great sense of realism to the game. To the point where I can imagine myself sweaty and grimy, sailing ~60mph trying to keep this infernal contraption from derailing! And yes, make sure you turn derailments ON, and switch to an external view as you realize, with horror, that you just cannot make that curve...

Riding the rails has never been this much fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: January 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As someone who loves riding the rails, someone who worships Gordon Lightfoot's "The Canadian Railroad Triology," Microsoft Train Simulator was meant for me. I have been learning it for a little over a week, and here is my verdict:

Pros:
+ Fairly detailled graphics, good textures, excellent sound recordings of train sounds and ambient sounds.
+ Three different types of trains to learn: steam, diesel and electric
+ Nine different locomotives to explore and learn
+ Hundreds of miles of track to explore
+ Excellent weather effects: snow and rain look real
+ Activities for each type of train: passenger runs, a murder mystery on the Orient Express, or just explore the routes
+ An activity editor that allows you to create new activities, geographic routes anywhere in the world, and import new locomotive/car skins and consists
+ Passenger view: sit back and enjoy the ride (much more fun while listening to "The Canadian Railroad Trilogy")!

Cons:
- Controls can be awkward, poor mouse sensitivity when trying to work controls with mouse instead of keyboard
- Some complicated procedures, especially with the steam locomotives.
- Onscreen help obscures the cab view
- No manual in box, only online help manual
- Activity and Route Editor are not covered under Microsoft's technical support
- All of the free consists and routes I've downloaded ... have either not worked, caused Train Sim to crash, or cause error windows to keep popping up even after I've uninstalled the malfunctioning components
-Attempting to customize routes is extremely difficult. I've already used the strategy guide that came with Train Sim, online help at the official website, and advice from fansites. I'm still hopelessly lost with the Route Editor, Activity Editor and Route Geometry Extractor

I still have A LOT to learn, both in driving trains, learning the horn and track signals, and how to create my own routes (I'm working on the Toronto-Gaspé corridor and a Canadian Rockies segment)

Funny software witch requaires high-level hardware.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: November 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

My grandfather was longtime train engineer driving either steam and diesel locomotives in Estonia (narrow gauge railways). I'm really true train fan. That's reason why I bought this simulator. But current software not only requires extremely quick computer, lots of hard drive space and ultra-performance video card. I found most important thing beeing amount of RAM memory - no less than 1GB to run trains smoothly. I have for example GF4ti4200 video adapter with 128 Mb of DDram and 1GB basic DDram and even can't use most high resolutions (over 1280x1024 px 32bit). Performance was improved totally when I upgraded RAM memory from 256Mb to 1Gb. Keep it in mind - is well-known thing, all simulators have very high requirements for computers to run.
Graphics look good, but I've seen many add-ons witch looked much better. Tools and editors are very complicated to work with and help is not easy to follow.
Resume: buy this software only if You have NEW COMPUTER WITH HIGH LEVEL COMPONENTS. Do not respect technical specifications given by Microsoft. You'll get interesting experience about railroading, but only with good stuff. With older machines You pay just for nothing, no fun. I'm also waiting for the new version of TrainSim with all bugfixes and improved features.

A Train Fan's Must Have

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: October 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

MS Train Simulator pretty much is what it is. If you're a fan of all things trains, this is a great game to buy and will offer you hours upon hours of entertainment. Microsoft did a great job detailing the scenery and objects in the game, and supposedly the simulation is incredibly simelar to actually driving the trains it simulates. My only problems with the game are lack of options/in game customization. For instance, the main function of the game (and one of the potentially funnest parts of the game), other than completing 'missions' is called simply 'Drive a train.' It gives you control over switches, so you can pretty much go anywhere. However, you can only start from a very limited number of stations (an option to start at any milepost would have been great), and there are no other trains out on the track with you. I wish Microsoft had taken just a little bit more time to add in some additional features that could have made this game even more fun and addictive.

Cool! Read on...............

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 26
Date: June 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The review of the gamer from limerick is surely pathetic. Everything this guy says is not true! I'm one of these guys who likes to collect car, sports and flight simulation games only. But now i have the chance to experience trains aswell. The gamer from limerick said wrong information. He gave a two star to this game saying that it will be boring sitting around and doing nothing while riding a train but i surely don't think its true! This game isn't made for you to just sit around and ride the train to your destination, but it's also made to teach how to handle your train. For example: You should make sure that you drive your train carefully or else you might crash into another train near you! You should also reduce the train's speed when you're driving it through the railway tracks. There are lots of things to do that doesn't waste your time when you're playing train simulator. The first time i've bought flight simulator i thought that you just fly the plane and do nothing for the next 3 hours but i was wrong. If i do this then my plane will have serious technical problems without me knowig it. And the same thing goes for this game aswell. I'm anxiously waiting for my game to arrive and i'm very pleased that microsoft finally had the brains to do this game. And now, it's time to get onto the real information. As flight simulator, you have a different variety of planes to fly and as for train simulator, you've also got the chance to pick your own train and carefully ride it on your track. Microsoft gave us a chance to pick an airport of our departure in flight simulator 2000 and the same goes for this. You won't just pick your train but the train station you wan't to leave. There are many trains and many train stations you can select from. Now, flight simulator had a selection of different varieties of weather you can choose and well, i don't really know about train simulator but i think its great to pick your weather and sky visibility, or you can simply download real world weathers. These information describe the game itself and what the game should have. I am really glad that microsoft thought of a great thing to do and i'm still anxiously and nervously waiting for this game to come. If you're still not convinced and if you don't believe my comments, then read other people's comments and check the screenshots. As i've checked the screenshots, i've spoted real tracks and real trains with wonderful real life graphics and real time detail aswell. For system requirments, i recommend you guys to check the top of this web page for more info. but i surely recommed you guys to have the latest system requirments in your computer or else i don't think the game will run well and it would probably run slow that you guys will start to hate it. My advise is you readers have to atleast have a pentium 3 winows me millenium edition computer. Once again people, i'd like to wish you the best on this game.

A Big Loser from Microsoft

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: July 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

One of the first things you do when you begin serious development of a general-market software product: consider the system configurations that it could work with and make it compatible with as many of those as possible without sacrificing tons of features.

That isn't how Microsoft did things though when creating the Train Simulator software.

This product just won't run on my relatively new PC -- which was designed for high performance gaming. Even after repeated attempts to work with Microsoft Support, no luck.

And after hearing and reading several other users' difficulties, I'm convinced that Microsoft made some basic mistakes on the development of this product.

Despite their claims to have designed this for a wider audience than the hardcore gamer, Microsoft has released a product that does require more configuration twiddling than should be performed when installing a PC game.

And purchase of a new video or sound card shouldn't be a requirement for getting a product like this to work either.

It is a shame too. Because this simulator seems to have so much to offer.

I was really hoping to have hours of fun with this...but I'll have to wait for a more robust product from someone else.

Train sim fans

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: May 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Here is a PC simulator game for all the family. Train simulator is fun, you can add more trains, passenger coaches, goods wagons and everything else to do with railways. This is one game that i would recommend to entertain the family for hours.

Be Overly Cautious Before Buying this Sim

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 18 / 25
Date: June 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

For those of you who have been awaiting anxiously this Sim as was I for the last several months, be prepared for the very real possibility of a major disappointment. Check out forums on this product elsewhere; if you are fortunate to be one of the limited instances in which the Sim works fine, consider yourself lucky indeed. If not, be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time trying to recover from the many system crashes you will experience, or looking for that magic setup that may allow you to work the sim for a handful of minutes before it freezes.

According to the product information, the system requirements are these: Multimedia PC, Pentium II 266 MHz or faster processor (with 4 MB 3-D video hardware acceleration); Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, or Me; 32 MB RAM for Windows 95, 98, and Me; 64 MB RAM for Windows 2000; 500 MB hard disk space; 4x CD-ROM drive or faster; Microsoft mouse or other pointing device.

My own computer far exceeds these minimums, is updated regularly, and yet I've been able to experience little of the sim itself. (This is the same computer on which I use MSFS2K flawlessly at framerates in excess of 30-40fps.) MSTS fails repeatedly, reboots the system, and so on. In forums elsewhere, simmers are being advised to purchase other video cards, sound cards, upgrade drivers, and so on. If a particular video card is required, the product should stipulate this clearly.

Software out of the box should not be so mysterious, so complex, so detrimental to a computer system. Technically quite literate, I've never experienced anything like this. My MSTS is being returned today.

Be careful when considering this purchase.

A great idea but....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: August 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I should have heeded the warnings of those before me, but the idea of having a train simulator put out by the same people who did such a fantastic job with the flight simulator, and combat simulator was too much for me to resist. I'd hoped to be one of the lucky ones who wrote the five star reviews, but alas, I wasn't so lucky. I've had nothing but problems...most of them already described in previous reviews. As badly as I wanted this program to work, I finally (and sadly) gave up and got my money back. I think this is a wonderful idea, and I look forward to seeing an improved version with some of the bugs worked out in the near future.

Best train simulator on the market

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: March 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The Microsoft train simulator ia better then other train simulators out there.I think is easy to run a train. With this train simulator you can buy add-ons for it. Not like Auran's Trainz version where your stuck with the same routes over and over again. I hope this helps.

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