Wayne Campbell the creator of the London and Port Stanley route is working on an open source train simulator called Open Rails that will allow using MSTS routes/objects.

Still in early development stages but there could be a new sim on the horizon. You can download an early example of the code. Note that it is just a teaser and there are many known issues that need to be addressed but you can get MSTS routes running in it.

Check it out.

http://www.openrails.org/

Hello.

Thanks for the warning.

I've tried but I do not work. Loading activity, a message appears:

"The car is on a track section that could not be found in the TDB file"

This alert is displayed in all Routes, including originals.


Anyway, I thank this exciting project here.

Hi,

the OpenRails project continues, and it has gained a lot of steam !  

In the next few weeks a new build will be released on the official website, http://www.openrails.org ! This is a major update, and it will feature countless bugfixes and several new functions ! Stay tuned, and check the OR website regularly !

OpenRails is the future for all those who love the wealth of routes and rolling stock available for the MSTS, since it makes use of all the opportunities modern computers have to offer (dual, tri or quad-core CPU support, advanced GPU acceleration functions etc.) and will run much more stable than MSTS does, even with the BinPatch and other updates !

But please heed the installation instructions ! You have to get the latest Microsoft .NET-Framework and the other things which are required !

does it need train simulater

You must have MS Train Simulator installed, as far as I know, but only to installe freeware routes and rolling stock -- you know that freeware authors often copy default MSTS sounds, textures, shapes etc. into their routes and stock.

Apart from that, OR is a completely independent simulator, an not to be compared to the BinPatch. It's a whole new program !

And since it is a whole new, independent program, in the near future you will not need the original MSTS any more, at all, provided that freeware authors include the default MSTS textures in their route and stock packages !

Theoretically those things are still copyrighted by Microsoft, but since the MSTS is a ten year-old program and they are not selling it anymore (except in cheap licenced copies by third-party companies) I doubt there would be any problems in reality. Microsoft is not going to enforce its copyright on a couple of old MSTS shapes and stuff, as long as you do not distribute the whole MSTS program complete with the exe-files on the web.

And for those who want to be 100% on the safe side there is no need any more to use any of the default MSTS shapes and stuff, since there is so much more freeware replacements out there !

Ultimately, OR will get its own route editor and other tools, too ! Though those are not included in the coming release, this is still gonna take a while.    

New version V0.645 released on 9th March 2011.

http://www.openrails.org/