Is Train Simulator 2013 appropriate for a beginner?

[NorthernWarrior]

I believe the Darjeeling route has been/is in process of being upgraded to run in TS2012 (Trainz). There's more on the "official" thread at N3V's forum. It's a crowning achievement of what can be achieved when a team of people devote themselves to reproducing a part of the world in great detail. If the route was ever made for Railworks I'm sure it would be equally as popular, but unfortunately at present the sim doesn't have much narrow gauge support.

[rdamurphy]

If you can afford it and have the disk space buy them both, after playing for a few months toss the one you like least in the dump. Can't build a 4x8 HO scale layout with 1 simple trainset for less than $200 these days, so buying both train simulators is actually pretty cheap.

Oh yeah, sniper?

Try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc9agizlC2s

For the record, I have MSTS, Trainz2004, and RailSimulator. Oh, and Open Rails. And with the 75% offer, I've talked myself into getting Trainz2012. My son, 7, plays with RailSimulator, and I really like my Trainz2004, but I still want the upgrade - and access to the download station again.

I might even get Run8!

TrainSimulator2012? But don't tell anybody ;-)

Robert

[sniper297]

Hmmm, MSTS, TS12, and RW, MSTS might be hard to find cheap since speculators are selling MSTS on ebay for psychotic prices, but you should still be able to get all three for less than $100. Whatever that K-27 and cars in the video cost I bet it was more than that.

Route creation for beginners - Railworks, hands down. More stable than the other two and an easier learning curve, plus the end result looks better with less work. MSTS is the worst, but trainz comes in a close second simply because the tracklaying tools want to "help" by bending the previous track section to what it thinks is a proper transition for the one you're laying now, twisting the whole mess into improbable pretzels you have to go back and fix afterwards.

Scenario / session / activity is a different story, railworks is the absolute worst, and a beginner could never make anything beyond a very basic free roam. MSTS activity editor is probably the easiest to learn, but the results are pretty lame even after you get the hang of it. Trainz has the most powerful versatile intelligent tools and AI traffic of the three, but I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner to train simulators since it has a fairly steep learning curve if you have no previous experience with other trainsim editors, and a lot of the tools are non intuitive and poorly documented or undocumented.

It's possible to master all of them even if you're not a rocket scientist, but any of them will require patience and persistence in one area or another.

[OTTODAD]

MSTS might be hard to find cheap.

https://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthread.php?312346-Cheap-MSTS-seems-to-be-available-at-Amazon-and-E-bay&p=1786340#post1786340

Also avialble from US Amazon.

O t t o