[Sven]

Must MSTS be installed on the computer in order to run MSTS add ons in OR?

Greetings

Sven

[charland]

Hi Sven,

If a route requires any of the default files that came with MSTS, then yes. But, for the most part, routes these days do not rely on any of the original MSTS files and therefore MSTS does not have to be installed to get things to run on OR.

Paul :-)

[conductorchris]

Amplifying what Paul said - it depends on the add on.

There are a remarkable amount that DO depend on MSTS content, but far from all.
Many routes (especially older routes) use default sounds and shapes and textures. Anything with a .bat file as part of it's install process probably does.
Paul Charland's routes do not depend on msts content.

various default rolling stock sounds are referenced by other soundsets.

The default rolling stock is not particularly worth running.

Christopher

[Mike B]

I would expect that unless you are using only the newest routes, especially those that expressly state that they're for OR, you probably do need MSTS installed. Trainsim.com allows you to view the zip file before downloading; if it includes an "installme.bat" file or something very similar, or the readme file talks about that, then you definitely do need MSTS installed because that's where all the stuff is copied from by the bat file.

I would agree that the default stock isn't particularly worth using. However, many routes, even those that otherwise don't seem to depend on MSTS content, have basic activities using MSTS stock (because, after all, everybody has it, right?). And as noted, some sound and cabview items are aliased (at least) to the default stuff.

So unless you plan to run on the bleeding edge, probably revising a bunch of stuff in activities and services to use non-default stock and such, and making sure that downloads don't need MSTS otherwise, you probably do need MSTS installed.

Now whether you need to have it WORKING is a different question. I would think that as long as you have MSTS and the MS updates (for Class 50 and SD40-2, mainly) installed, and run something that patches the typos in the SD40-2 and a couple of other spots, you probably have all that you need to go ahead with OR. BIN is really necessary only if you're actually going to run MSTS.

Question/thought for the house: MSTS has to build "terrain buffers" the first time you run most routes. ORTS seems to run fine whether or not you've done that. So where does MSTS put those buffers? It would seem that using ORTS and never MSTS itself might save the disk space used for the buffers assuming they're persistent.

[Genma Saotome]

OR does not use any MSTS executable software. None.

The routes you use w/ OR may have MSTS content and to use those files you should be licensed to use MSTS. The most common ones are sounds, terrtex, and about 500 of the most common track shapes.

There might be some freeware routes that do not include any of that but your best bet is to look at some payware routes that make use of alternative track sets -- 3dtrains WP 3rd sub is one such example.

[Jovet]

Mike B, on 05 February 2016 - 06:12 PM, said:

Question/thought for the house: MSTS has to build "terrain buffers" the first time you run most routes. ORTS seems to run fine whether or not you've done that. So where does MSTS put those buffers? It would seem that using ORTS and never MSTS itself might save the disk space used for the buffers assuming they're persistent.

The "buffers" are the *_e.raw and/or *_n.raw files in the Tiles folder of the route. One of those caches the specular lighting state of the terrain mesh for the associated .t file (think lowering some terrain in the RE and then pressing J), and I don't know what the other one does. They only need re-generated if they're missing; they can take up a chunk of space, so many routes are distributed without them. Open Rails's lighting system (for example) is far more sophisticated than MSTS's, so it seems reasonable to me that OR doesn't even need or use these files. But I am only guessing on that.

[Sven]

conductorchris, on 05 February 2016 - 02:08 PM, said:

Amplifying what Paul said - it depends on the add on.

There are a remarkable amount that DO depend on MSTS content, but far from all.
Many routes (especially older routes) use default sounds and shapes and textures. Anything with a .bat file as part of it's install process probably does.
Paul Charland's routes do not depend on msts content.

various default rolling stock sounds are referenced by other soundsets.

The default rolling stock is not particularly worth running.

Christopher

Thanks.
Quite some of my addons need MSTS, I'm afraid. Then I get another problem: My current computerplatform (windows 8.1) does not accept my old installation discs for msts. Is a newer version of msts available, i.e. which can run on windows 8.1?

Regards

Sven

[slipperman]

Hi Sven,
There are no "new" versions of MSTS - they all date from 2002...but there are older ones, dating from 2001!!

There should be no problem using any MSTS CDs in Win 8.1 (I have used my original Microsoft v1.2 CDs), unless there is physical damage to one or both CDs. Can you tell us exactly the problem you're having, please?

Cheers,
Ged

[ckawahara]

Your cd should install. Is the cd drive not recognizing the media? Have you tried any other cd to check the drive? If you have access to a usb cd drive, or to another pc, vive the media a try in them. If you can read the cd's copy them to a flash drive and install from them or copy them to your had an install. Be sure to store them in the event you need to access the manual or something.