Well MSTS has been around for three months now. I have been following most of the forums on it and have come up with the following thoughts. If you do anything other that run it straight out of the box, it is a definite learning curve Most install problems are self induced. If you do a clean and safe install after a defrag and reboot, you should have no problems except hardware. Most of those only require the latest drivers. If you do not have the latest in gaming computers, spelled $$$$, there are a couple of things you can do that really help. First buy more RAM. It is getting real cheap. You can get Kingston 256/100 for $33.33. Don't buy cheap RAM. I paid $40+ for 128, 128/133, four months ago so you can see how much it is going down. The nice thing about RAM, no software or anything else required. Just pop it in and go. Second, buy a new graphics card. Three things to look for. 32 woo woo woo RAM, APG 4X, nVidia GeForce 2. Did some looking around and you can pick up a low end one for $81.00. You can get a CT for $99.00 that insures no install problems and great software. You can pick up a high end 32 woo woo woo for around $150.00. These have DDR RAM. No matter what you buy, you will have to upgrade the drivers. Add-ons. Ah, the fun begins. First off, not all are created equal. Some just flat don't work. Before you start playing with add-ons, BACKUP YOUR WORK. If you don't, you will be sooorrrrry Second, unless you know exactly what you are doing, DO NOT change any Windows settings to make something work. Why do I say this?? After three MSTS installs and one Win98 reinstall, I learned. What I did was make a new folder to keep all the MSTS stuff in. I also made up a folder, marked Master, to keep the unmodified engines or activites in prior to changing stuff. Unless you have totally messed up, all the files are on the install disc's. Just delete the bad file, throw in the CD and copy and paste. New routes, Don't look for any soon. Even then, the file will be too big to put on line. They run about 250 woo woo woo. Later,
That's all great advice Jim! One thing that I do is when I add something new, I change the names of the directories for easy management. For example....... gp38-newhaven1 sw1200-up1 tank-texaco tank-gulfoil boxcar-atsf1 boxcar-atsf2 hopper-alberta On the zip files of add-on files, name a directory in your downloads folder for each download so you know what they are. Example: c:\downloads\msts\engines\dash9\up\01\ When you have unzipped the file, move the directory into another directory called "completed" or "installed" or something similar. As soon as you install anything new, go into the activity editor and see if it works. If not, move the directory out of the trainset directory until you figure it out so it won't clutter things up. As Jim said, some things just don't work or you don't have everything to make it work. I'm no expert but those are just a few tips that come to mind. Charlie
