MSTS and Windows 10

Can anyone put together a few notes on using MSTS with the Windows 10 Operating System? Alternatively can fellow simmers advise links that might help in this respect? This could then be put together as another "Helpful Facts and Links for MSTS" part. This area of the forums appears to be a popular source of information based on the number of views.

Hi Alec,
There's very little difference between using MSTS under Windows 10 and Windows 7.

The most important point being that if an AMD/ATI graphics card is being used with an Intel CPU, or an older AMD CPU (like the Athlon and Phenom), the fix must be applied.

Cheers,
Ged

I've just located the reference in the "Useful Links" section of the TSSH Forums HERE. Based on this I assume that no specific HFL Part is required.

Hi Alec,
I don't think so.  The existing HFL Part 2 could be amended to include Win 8.1 and Win 10 with an addendum to point to the link you showed for those two Operating Systems.

By the way, how to you show the link as "HERE" instead of the full path??

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged.

The way to display a link as "HERE" (or any other words) Is to place the link in an extra bit of code, (template below.)

[url= Link][ b][ u]Text[/u][/b][/url]

but without the 3 added spaces.

EG:-

[url= https://tsforum.forumotion.net/][ b][ u]TSSH[/u][/b][/url]

will become

TSSH

Spaces are allowed in the text section as in:-

[url= https://tsforum.forumotion.net/][ b][ u]TSSH Home page[/u][/b][/url]


TSSH Home page

Hi Mark,
Thank you very much There's always something new to learn, whatever your age!

Ged

Hi All,
While experimenting, trying to help a member of another Forum, I came across a problem when installing MSTS into Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, although it may happen with earlier versions.  It occurs when installing from the CDs or a hard drive folder containing a combined copy of both CDs.

The important point is that it ONLY applies when installing MSTS v1.2 - NOT v1.0.

The effect is that when clicking on the installation completion screen, or double-clicking the Desktop icon or right-clicking the executeable, nothing happens!  Rebooting after installation doesn't help.  

I'm pretty certain the reason is that v1.2 interrogates the optical drive, looking for an MSTS CD, but Windows 10 doesn't seem to permit that action, at least, not the way MSTS does it.  It makes no difference if a CD is in the drive.

The solution is to apply the v1.4 update before trying to run MSTS.

I apologise if this is already known!  I have a vague recollection of reading something similar but haven't been able to locate it.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi All,
I know this is an old thread, but it seems most appropriate.

Over the last couple of days, prompted by a post from Jonathan David, I've been struggling to install MSTS from its CDs into Windows 10!
I have three versions of MSTS, Microsoft original v1.2, Xplosiv and UbiSoft and all, as expected, have the same CD2 problem.  I can't comment on the Atari version so can only assume it'd be the same.

Installing from CDs
CD1 installs fine, in about 4 minutes; for CD2, in each case I aborted the installation after about 20 minutes with only 30% if the installation complete.

Copying CDs to Hard Drive folder
CD1 took about 3 minutes.  CD2 took a total of 32 minutes, with the section between 50% and 60% taking most of the time.

Other Method
Thinking there must be a better/quicker way, I found one program which would create a .iso from CD2 in about 12 minutes (my usual program wouldn't touch it, giving a 'failed to read' error). Using 7Zip to unpack the .iso file (a few seconds) enabled the CD2 folders and files to be added to those copied from CD1 (1 minute max).  Installing MSTS from this combined folder took 3 minutes.

Having come across these, and other 'funnies' with installing MSTS, I have reconsidered and think that a new Helpful Facts & Links entry would be useful, particularly as it would avoid the need to post the same procedures in each thread as the problems are reported.
I'd appreciate your opinion on my proposal, please

Cheers,
Ged

EDIT : Apologies - I made a boo-boo!! The time to create a .iso file was 12 minutes, not 3!

Hi Ged.

Creating a post in the helpful facts and links is a good idea, as you say, if anyone else has any questions on the subject you can just refer them to the post.

Hi All,
Recently, a member of the trainsim.com Community reported that he couldn't install Just Trains TGV Pack. As this was covered by our Helpful Facts and Links - Part 35, before linking him to it, I tested it. That was very fortunate, because I found that my procedure doesn't work under the current version of Windows 10 (1909). Previous versions allowed the SecuRom driver to be added and the service to be started - now, that latter action is prevented. I haven't tested the SVR and WSR CDs but strongly suspect that they, too, will not be loadable.

I have amended Helpful Facts and Links - Part 35 accordingly, but will make further changes if a solution is found.

If you've still got a Windows 7 installation, I recommend that you use it to unpack any of the routes mentioned and back them up somewhere securely!! If it's too late for you to do that, it's possible that I, or another member, may be able to help if images of the route CDs could be uploaded to Google Drive (or similar) with an unpacked version being returned in a similar way (Note that currently, I only use Google Drive).

Cheers,
Ged

Hello everyone.
My Windows 10 was updated last night and I have something called Microsoft edge which is trying to take over my computer and also
wants to become my default browser, taking over internet explorer against my will!
To you Computer experts out there, What is Microsoft edge? I take it that it is not a virus! but I certainly will not attempt to install it
without some help and advice.
Primarily, I am concerned how it will affect MSTS.
Any help and advice very much appreciated.
Cheers Andy

Hi Andy,
Edge is Microsoft's new browser which is automatically made the default browser on installing Win 10.  It could be that your recent update did the same!

Rather than try to explain how to do it here, I suggest you have a look at this video to make IE your default browser :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wnh8CrrcBk (You'll need to skip the initial advert when you're able to - they're a bit of a pain!!)

Cheers,
Ged

If you just got the upgrade, you got the Newer version of Edge.  This version is base on Chrome and is much better than the original Edge.

"The new Microsoft Edge is a complete rebuild of the web browser that is no longer based on Chakra. It doesn't use the company's own rendering engine EdgeHTML, but use the same rendering engine found in Chrome. Due to this, you can handle websites like YouTube and TweetDeck quickly without any lag or performance issues."

Hi Charles,
Thanks - I wasn't aware! I've never heard of TweetDeck, but found out it's an add-on for Twitter - No Thanks !!

Cheers,
Ged

Hi All,
A problem which has plagued Windows 10 users since its introduction is the inability to install the Severn Valley Railway, West Somerset Railway and TGV (and maybe some others) route CDs.  The reason is that the drivers for the SecuROM/SafeDisk anti-piracy system are not included, for, apparently, security reasons.  If that was the only problem, it might be relatively easy to overcome, but these CDs use the InstallShield installer which uses proprietary versions of .cab files which cannot be unpacked by the regular archive programs like WinZip and 7Zip.  There is one program, Universal Extractor, which will unpack the folders and files, but my tests, particularly with the SVR CDs, have shown that it missed a few files, even though they were on the list of files to be extracted.   I have found a freely available Open Source program which appears to do the job, but I still have more tests to do!   The procedure is not very user-friendly, especially for those users who are not so computer-savvy, so I'm looking at a more 'automatic' way of running it, although it will still be necessary for some files to be copied from the CD/s into a hard drive folder.

A few files for the WSR route, and a large number of files for the TGV route, are copied, by the installer, from an MSTS default installation.  This cannot be automatically replicated so will probably require the creation of installme.bat type files which will need to be run after the extracted data has been copied into its required location.

One final, possible problem is the application of the SVR update.  This requires that one of the CDs is present in the drive although I don't know which files, if any, are interrogated.

More information when (if?) I get things sorted out!  In the meantime, I wish for everybody to keep safe in these very trying times

Cheers,
Ged

Hi All,
Further ...

Please see here : https://tsforum.forumotion.net/t1237p150-ged-s-utility-room#18124

Cheers,
Ged

A RECENT WIN 10 UPDATE MAY??? BREAK MSTS
................................................................
I had an interesting problem today ........ early last week (about 10th / 11th) was the last time I used MSTS RE to finalize the LYR Heartland route V4 before release. I haven't tried to use RE until today ......... then INSTANT CRASH - it would attempt to open then instantly exit to the desktop with no messages. I tried this around 5 - 6 times without success.

Looking back over my system, the only thing that has changed in that time period was the fortnightly Win 10 update (dated 13th / 14th ), so I rolled back these two updates and rebooted the system.

VOILA !!! I can now use RE again, adding, deleting and saving objects repeatedly without crashing !!!

I'm wondering if there is some change in last weeks updates that crashes MSTS - it certainly crashes RE.
Can anyone else experience this problem ?

Regards, Brian

Hi Brian,
As you probably know, I'm not a route builder, but after seeing your post, I was concerned about the 'welfare' of MSTS!

I have just installed the latest build of Win 10 - 2004 (OS Build 19041 450).
MSTS Explore and Activity modes run OK - the only thing was that the NVIDIA aspect ratio setting was lost and had to be reset.
Starting MSTS RE and opening the Settle - Carlisle route, I panned around a bit with no problem.
Likewise, opening an activity in MSTS AE was trouble-free.

I should point out that I haven't actually "done anything" in RE and AE!

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged,

Thanks for that. I might re-install the 2 Win updates, and then try the MSTS video profiler, to see if I can get it working again - at least if it doesn't work after that, I know I can always roll back the newest Win updates.

Brian

It looks as though there has been another tweak to Windows 10 affecting downloads from UKTS.
Fairly recently we have had to right-click on "Open link in new tab". For me this no longer works.
However, I discovered that if instead I right-click on "Open link in new window" and THEN click on the "refresh" circular arrow in the top bar the download happens.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Also I have reported the problems with Norton flagging some of our posts as dangerous and not allowing access to Norton and as an incentive to that company to check properly have reported, correctly, that several people had advised me that because of false positives they had stopped using the Norton program and had advised me to do the same.
I am awaiting a response.
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,
I agree with you regarding the change in procedure needed to download files from UKTS.

As for Norton, I wouldn't touch it with the proverbial!!  I know that's easy for me to say, especially if you've paid your subscription!  All I can suggest is that when it comes to renewal, don't!  I have absolutely no problems with Windows Defender, which is built in to Win 10.  I hope they are not "famous last words" for me!!

Cheers,
Ged
.

Hi Jonathan.

I have just gone into UKTS and downloaded a file, it downloaded first time clicking on the download link, I have never had to click on open in new tab (it does that automatically) or open in new window to download a file.

I have an up to date version of windows 10, I am using the waterfox classic browser, and avast premium security, maybe it is Norton or your browser that is causing the problem rather than windows 10.

Hi Mark,
I believe the UKTS download "problem" is limited to the Google Chrome browser.
I've just successfully downloaded from the "Download this file now" button with Mozilla Firefox and Edge.

Cheers,
Ged

Thanks Ged.
That has confirmed my suspicions.

Correct. I have just tried.
It also deals with the Norton problem.
Jonathan

Glad its sorted Jonathan.

Hi All,
Yuri Sos (of Steam4Me) has updated the tutorial for installing MSTS.  The new link is :-  https://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/installing_msts_win10.html

The "Using MSTS with Widescreen Monitors" tutorial has also been updated :- https://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/msts_widescreen.html

Cheers,
Ged