Railfan Technology > Microsoft Train Simulator

Please bare with me on this question.  I recently upgraded to a new computer with Windows 10 as a result of the Microsoft dropping support of Windows 7.    I have a copy of Train Simulator from 2001 that worked on Windows 7 but now I can not seem to get it to load and run on WIndows 10.  Is it safe to assume that I am out of luck with my upgrade to Windows 10?

Thanks in advance

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/20 10:15 by livesteamer.

I have and run several railroad simulator software packages, and I have a ton of content (locos, cars, routes etc) for all of them, but particularly MSTS. That said, I have not run MSTS itself in a long time, probably also including on Win 10. I honestly don't even recall if it runs ok on Win 10 with current updates, it's been so seldom if at all lately. I will have to check when I get home later!

I now use Open Rails to run all MSTS content, and I recommend the same to you. Its technology is far more current, and it has a regular, stable development cycle, unlike MSTS which is way out of date technically and is basically dead software. Everything for MSTS runs just fine under OR, often better, and with better graphics. Plus OR is completely free for download and all updates, which are regular and have added many additional features. I highly recommend that you make the move to OR. I think you will be pleased that you did. www.openrails.org.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/20 14:20 by ironmtn.

The solution could be simple. Navigate to the executable file for Train Simulator (probably something like TS.exe or Trainsim.com), and right-click on the file. It will bring up menu with a number of choices. At the bottom is "Properties".

Select that.

A rectangle will appear with 7 tabs.

Click on "Compatibility".

The second choice is "Compatibility Mode". Check that box and a pull-down box will appear.

Click on that pull-down box and it will reveal 7 choices. One of the choices, second from the bottom, will be "Windows 7". Select that.

Then click "Apply" and then "OK".

There you go, you should be all set.

I had another software designed for Windows 98, which worked on XP, but did not work on Windows 7. Luckily, a newer version was available (open source) where the maintainer added the "compatibility mode" feature that allowed it to work on different versions, from Vista and beyond. This is to add to the helpful comments by MX3MZ1.

Somewhat off topic, but people need to reconsider their PC/MAC upgrade strategies from now on. I've stopped "upgrading" OS on one machine after Windows 98. If I wanted a newer OS, I bought a separate machine (discounted or off the clearance section) with the new OS already installed.

It's not just the applications that have compatibility issues. Think of drivers, too, like for printers. I know many people who were forced to buy a printer after upgrading to Windows 10, and I got such an "obsolete" printer for free from a friend, because I stuck with Windows 7. I have saved tremendous amount of money and headache by buying separate hardware for the new OS, and keeping the older machines with the older OS intact. Keeping the hardware and upgrading to the new OS (Windows 10, even if it's "free") is not worth it, is what I concluded more than a decade ago.

I have older tools (video editing for example) that I still use on older OS, going back to Windows 2000 and Mac OS X Tiger (15 years old). With cheap network-attached storage and "cloud computing," it shoudn't be too much of a hassle to have multiple PCs for a project stored on shared storage. Definitely better than dealing with compatibility issues.

Just wanted to pass this advice to TO readers who are thinking of upgrading their OS and worrying about whether their current applications will have problems.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/20 23:16 by cchan006.

I've kept an old comuter with older Windows dedicated for use with my ALPS.   No driver for Windows 10 for it.

Thanks so much for the responses.  I have also found a "fix" about 18 pages of printout from Aleksandar Ognjanovic in a google search
 

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

Like the OP, I managed to hold off migrating from Win 7 to Win 10 until this past December. 

I finally bought a full version of Win 10 Pro 64 bit CD and put into my running Win 7 Pro computer.  It did a complete -update- and managed to keep my Signal Consultants RR Dispatcher program running with no problems.  This was a 'special' update from Signal after they announced they would no longer support the program about 10 years ago.  I was also stunned to find that my Office 2010 and a handful of other programs, including a Window-ized DOS program were automatically set up to run in 'compatiblity' mode and ran without a hitch.  Once I made various Win 10 settings changes, everything looked and felt just like I had in Win 7.  Note that when Win 10 first came out, there was documentation from Microsoft that indicated Office 2010 would not be compatible nor would other programs I had nor would it handle my ancient video card.  They obviously created work-arounds for all of them.

But I had a long running problem that I'd been trying to narrow down and think it was the SATA device driver in my Win 7 computer that was causing it to lock up every couple of hours for maybe 30 seconds running the SSD drive 100% and then everything resumed as if nothing had happened.  I did everything from SFC /scannow to reinstall Win 7 on top of the running version to downloading all new device drivers but nothing fixed the problem as it transferred to Win 10 as well.

So, I grabbed a new SSD and did a 'clean install' of Win 10 it.  For many programs, I still have the CDs or downloaded/paid for versions and simply installed them fresh, and moved the data over as needed.  I sometimes had to use 'compatibility' mode to install them.  For the others, I purchased a PC Transfer program that could be used to transfer applications from one computer to another or simply to another drive on the same computer, which is how I did those.  It took care of registry entries, too. 

However, the ONE program that it couldn't successfully transfer was the RR Dispatcher program!  I first tried the CD and ran the installation program in compatibility mode, but then kicked off a second program that bombed instantly.  OK, my next step was simply to copy the entire folder containing the running program from/to Program Files(x86) and tried running THAT in compatibility mode and it ran!  Except it did not have the paid for serial number that gets entered during normal installation of that program, so it ran in 'demo mode'.  So then it was off to copying Registry entries over.  I figured the serial number was buried in one of the dozen or so registry entries for the program.  Nope.  That didn't fix it either.  But then, the Win 10 registry wasn't happy with one or two of the entries when I tried importing them.  Unfortunately, I'm just a hack in the registry, but I can get by.  So, for now, I installed the program on my XP computer which I can't replace as there's a couple of programs in XP that can't run in Win 7 or would cost several hundred dollars to buy a Win 10 compatible version of.  No thanks.

So, for now, I'll just fire up the XP box and switch to it using my KVM box (one keyboard, mouse, video accessing any of several computers).  But in my spare time, I'll see if I can 'trap' the 'launched program' and run it stand alone in compatibility mode.  Then I'm good to go!

MSTS...
Keeps on rollin.

Not my thread but very helpful.
Thanks for the info, sirs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/20 12:18 by KA7008.

The best way to avoid problems running MSTS (or many other pre-Windows 10 programs) is to clean install them in their own folder in the root C:  directory, NOT in the Programs or Programs 86 folders.  Windows security routines in the Programs folders is often what causes pre-Windows 10 software to "choke" when trying to run it in Windows 10.  Also when you setup a shortcut on your desktop to the .exe file for the program, right-click on the shortcut, click on "Properties," then on "Advanced" and check the "Run as Administrator" box (assuming you have Administrator privileges on the computer).  Click OK to save the changes.  Those suggestions will usually solve most Windows 10 compatibility issues.

Best suggestion, though, is to not even try to run MSTS--use OpenRails as the simulator.  It can use MSTS files and can do many things that MSTS can't.