New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc

Just got MSTS, for my 2 1/2 year old grandson, who absolutely loves trains. Wife said it was really for me, but it is for the grandson...eventually Anyway, having done some Flight Simulator, usually there are a few utilities or graphic or sound patches that are must haves. Did a search through the forums and didnt quite find any posts that covered this. So if you might suggest some good ones to get started with it would be greatly appreciated. Not looking to do editing, and havea good handle on the locomotives and rolling stock so I am ok there.Thanks!Jeff

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RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., sooner, Jun-04-04, 12:38 PM, (1) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., ejbentz, Jun-04-04, 12:40 PM, (2) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., railfan4ever, Jun-04-04, 01:43 PM, (3) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., railfan4ever, Jun-04-04, 01:48 PM, (5) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., BNSFLADY, Jun-04-04, 01:47 PM, (4) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., railfan4ever, Jun-04-04, 02:09 PM, (6) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., sniper297, Jun-04-04, 02:40 PM, (7) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., Jeff4449, Jun-04-04, 03:25 PM, (8) RE: New to MSTS, what are the must have utilties, etc.., railfan4ever, Jun-04-04, 03:50 PM, (9)

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LAST EDITED ON Jun-04-04 AT 01:32 PM (EDT)

Everyone has an opinion - especially here, you'll find. But these are a few of my favorite picks off the top of my head:I think the single most important add-on you can have is a sky program. The first was Sky!Conductor, now largely supplanted by the Kosmos utility available here in the file library. The original Sky!Conductor skies are still available as plugins (see info at http://www.howintheworld.com/downloads.html and get the trains menu quick fix while you're there - very helpful).I don't know if you're interested in installing additional routes right now - if you stay with the sim you will for sure; but at least you need to download Marias Pass 3.1, a huge improvement over the original USA2 route that comes with the sim. You should also get the "new" sd40-2 from the MSTS website - a vast improvement over most of the default equipment and the foundataion for many excellent repaints in the library.Among the excellent free add-ons from payware vendors are the BNSF Dash 9 from Maple Leaf Tracks at http://www.mapleleaftracks.com/EN-USA/news.html - mercifully replaces the default Dash 9; Diesels West's RSD-5 at http://www.dieselswest.com/; and 3DTrains' free downloads at http://www.3dtrains.com/downloads/trainsets.shtml as well as the Michael Berger repaints at http://www.3dtrains.com/downloads/repaints.shtml Good luck!Oh, I almost forgot my all-time favorite free-ware developer: John Peterson, "alabamarailfan," especially for his excellent GE locos available at http://www.alabamarailfan.com/msts/And one more thing ... unless you're a masochist, get hold of ConBuilder for building consists instead of the Activity Editor, a royal (or possibly roil) pain.

Bud

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First of all, welcome to the train sim hobby and welcome to the forums. I'm sure you and your grandson will have a lot of fun.To answer your question, I would recommend downloading a file called basics.zip from the File Library. You'll need to create a different account to access the library. BNSFLADY put basics.zip together and it is a great help.Take care and I wish you and your grandson the best. See you on the rails!

"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." - Wayne Gretzky

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Welcome to Train-Sim!
I would second all of the previously mentioned suggestions. If you got MSTS for your 2 1/2 year-old grandson, and happen to have $150 to make him happy, you could get the raildriver similar to a joystick for flight-sims, but made for trains. I bet anyone would have a blast with one. For more info on the Raildriver go to http://www.raildriver.com/

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As for add-on routes, I would HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHLY recommend the Full Bucket Line v3 at http://www.fullbucket.com/msts/
It should be the FIRST add-on route you get. Plus, it comes in one sinlge download and is easy to install.

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Hi Jeff:
Welcome to the forum. I bought MSTS for my grandson when it first came out. I am now a confirmed and registered MSTS addict. EJBENTZ kindly reccomended basics.zip, this will help to get you started. Also the FAQ section here contains a trainload of helpful information.Cyndi@EJ: GO LIGHTNING

Am I the only 1 who loves BNSF Great Pumpkin 38s?

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No editing eh? then just download, download, download! I have about a dozen non-default routes, 129 different locomotives, and 293 different cars. Talk about variety!

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If you have a driveable SD40-2 then you already have MSTS 1.2, so no need to hunt down the patch or content update.Conbuilder is a must if you want to put together different trains for exploring routes.Route Riter is a must for hunting down problems if you download add-on routes or activities.Keyword here is "grandson" tho, there are a number of "must haves" for him:Alas, nobody has made Percy yet, but search here and at UKtrainsim and you'll find many of Thomas' friends, a few off the top of my head:ttank.zip (Thomas himself)
henry.zip
mstsgord.zip
duck.zip
brtoad.zip
stepney.zip

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Thanks everyone!With what I invested in my flight sim and racing controls, shouldnt be too hard to justify the Raildriver!sniper297, thanks for the Thomas info, that will go over really well.First train I downloaded was the 4449 Freedom Train, since its based here where I live, saw it as a kid in '76, kinda neat to drive it now.The Amtrak line runs 4 blocks from home, so naturally its the grandsons favorite train in the sim.Once again, thanks for the responses, gives me a good idea of how to approach add ons now.Jeff

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If you want Amtrak, you can't go wrong with GEN_PACK_1 and GEN_PACK_2 by NALW and Amtrak RoadRailers (roadamtz.zip in the file library).
Those Thomas the Tank Engine models are adorable!

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