Microsoft Train Simulator 2
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Train Simulator 2 (MSTS 2) was a train simulator
that was being developed by Microsoft Game Studios
until being postponed indefinitely due to the closure of ACES Studios.
MSTS 2 was first announced on and originally scheduled for release in the last quarter of 2009. The program's lead designer, Rick Selby, also announced in late 2008 that it was to be compatible with Windows XP
, Windows Vista
and upcoming Windows 7. It was to be the successor to Microsoft Train Simulator
and was being developed by ACES Studio (Microsoft Game Studios), known for their long line of Microsoft Flight Simulator
games, as a part of the "Games for Windows
" initiative. The simulation was to use a modified version of the Flight Simulator X software platform. However, with the closure of Microsoft's ACES Studios on , development of this simulator was immediately halted.
, whom were the original creators, once again. On , a preview of the title was shown at the E3 Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles
to demonstrate much of the new work, such as its new routes, rolling stock, and other features including animated people & functioning turntables.
However, only three months later into the Summer on , Kuju had handed the project over to Microsoft Game Studios and they would eventually halt the entire development by Spring of 2004 as the following statement from Microsoft confirmed:
Much of the former development team from Kuju later established Rail Simulator
in order to continue development of their own simulation platform. Its first version was later released in October 2007, Later Railworks in June 2009 then Railworks 2 Train Simulator in October 2010
, which was most known for its successful Microsoft Flight Simulator
series line, as a part of the "Games for Windows
" initiative. The simulation leveraged most of the existing core components of Microsoft Flight Simulator X
's platform, thus providing an entire earth model in which to play from, and was planned to be compatible with both Windows Vista
and Windows XP
. A post on the 'The Little Wheel Goes in Back' blog, written by one of the developers, confirmed the working title was 'Train Simulator 2'.
Microsoft
's first demonstration of Train Simulator 2 occurred on at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany and released an official press kit which included several in-game visual prototype images, asset renders, and two videos. One of these videos presents a brief demonstration of the simulation's ability to model the entire planet's track corridors, reproducing a similar concept in Microsoft's Flight Simulator series, with global rail network data for anyone to operate their trains around freely without limits. The data would've also been available to route builders for modification of any kind to suit their modeling needs anywhere in the world of their choosing, which would more or less require simple cosmetic details & object placement to depict accuracy as opposed to starting an entire route from scratch.
Despite having the name in common with its predecessor, backwards compatibility with the first version of Train Simulator would not have been possible due to its completely different base platform used for development and programming designs between the two versions. The original Microsoft Train Simulator
uses routes based on individual levels which are loaded separately within the application, where as this version would have introduced the entire world as a single game playing area where railroad corridors would have been based on their actual real-world locations just as in Flight Simulator.
, the internal development studio responsible for both Microsoft Flight Simulator
and Microsoft Train Simulator
. As a result, all future development on Train Simulator 2 (which was just entering the final stages of development at the time of closure) was immediately halted, marking the second time that this project was terminated. A week later, Microsoft issued the following official announcement from Train Simulator Insider:
However, Kuju game studios have continued to make train simulation products such as Rail Simulator and Railworks which are technically MSTS 2 games only under different publishers such as EA games. Both have more routes, trains, scenery, and graphics than the original MSTS.
While Microsoft states that they are committed to both the Flight Simulator and Train Simulator brands, it is currently unknown if the Train Simulator 2 project will ever be resurrected and completed sometime in the future. Information regarding the product can still be found on Microsoft's official Train Simulator website.
On , several members of the former ACES Studio team announced the launch of a new simulations-based development studio named Cascade Game Foundry. Further details relating to their first project are to be announced.
Train simulator
A train simulator is a computer based simulation of rail transport operations.-Industrial train simulations:Like flight simulators, train simulators have been produced for railway training purposes...
that was being developed by Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
until being postponed indefinitely due to the closure of ACES Studios.
MSTS 2 was first announced on and originally scheduled for release in the last quarter of 2009. The program's lead designer, Rick Selby, also announced in late 2008 that it was to be compatible with Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and upcoming Windows 7. It was to be the successor to Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator is a train simulator for Microsoft Windows, released in July 2001 and developed by UK based Kuju Entertainment, and is available for purchase through Amazon.com.-Gameplay:...
and was being developed by ACES Studio (Microsoft Game Studios), known for their long line of Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
games, as a part of the "Games for Windows
Games for Windows
Games for Windows is a brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of Windows Vista. The brand represents a standardized technical certification program and online service for Windows games, bringing a measure of regulation to the PC game market in much the same way...
" initiative. The simulation was to use a modified version of the Flight Simulator X software platform. However, with the closure of Microsoft's ACES Studios on , development of this simulator was immediately halted.
First attempt: 2003–2004
An earlier attempt at building a second version to Train Simulator was originally announced during the Spring of 2003. Unlike the latest project, this one was going to be based upon a modified Flight Simulator 2002 platform engine like its predecessor and was going to be developed by Kuju EntertainmentKuju Entertainment
Kuju Entertainment is an English computer and video game corporation consisting of three studios, two of which are located in the UK: Zoë Mode , Headstrong Games , and one in the Czech Republic: Vatra games...
, whom were the original creators, once again. On , a preview of the title was shown at the E3 Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to demonstrate much of the new work, such as its new routes, rolling stock, and other features including animated people & functioning turntables.
However, only three months later into the Summer on , Kuju had handed the project over to Microsoft Game Studios and they would eventually halt the entire development by Spring of 2004 as the following statement from Microsoft confirmed:
Much of the former development team from Kuju later established Rail Simulator
Rail Simulator
Rail Simulator is a train simulation published by Electronic Arts . It was produced by UK based Kuju Entertainment, the company which developed Microsoft Train Simulator with Microsoft...
in order to continue development of their own simulation platform. Its first version was later released in October 2007, Later Railworks in June 2009 then Railworks 2 Train Simulator in October 2010
Development
The re-launch attempt at Microsoft's second version of the "Train Simulator" project was officially announced on . This time around the simulation was instead being made in-house by Microsoft's ACES StudioMicrosoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
, which was most known for its successful Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
series line, as a part of the "Games for Windows
Games for Windows
Games for Windows is a brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of Windows Vista. The brand represents a standardized technical certification program and online service for Windows games, bringing a measure of regulation to the PC game market in much the same way...
" initiative. The simulation leveraged most of the existing core components of Microsoft Flight Simulator X
Microsoft Flight Simulator X
Microsoft Flight Simulator X, also known as FSX, is the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator after Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004...
's platform, thus providing an entire earth model in which to play from, and was planned to be compatible with both Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. A post on the 'The Little Wheel Goes in Back' blog, written by one of the developers, confirmed the working title was 'Train Simulator 2'.
Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's first demonstration of Train Simulator 2 occurred on at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany and released an official press kit which included several in-game visual prototype images, asset renders, and two videos. One of these videos presents a brief demonstration of the simulation's ability to model the entire planet's track corridors, reproducing a similar concept in Microsoft's Flight Simulator series, with global rail network data for anyone to operate their trains around freely without limits. The data would've also been available to route builders for modification of any kind to suit their modeling needs anywhere in the world of their choosing, which would more or less require simple cosmetic details & object placement to depict accuracy as opposed to starting an entire route from scratch.
Despite having the name in common with its predecessor, backwards compatibility with the first version of Train Simulator would not have been possible due to its completely different base platform used for development and programming designs between the two versions. The original Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator is a train simulator for Microsoft Windows, released in July 2001 and developed by UK based Kuju Entertainment, and is available for purchase through Amazon.com.-Gameplay:...
uses routes based on individual levels which are loaded separately within the application, where as this version would have introduced the entire world as a single game playing area where railroad corridors would have been based on their actual real-world locations just as in Flight Simulator.
Routes
In addition to the entire global earth model from which FSX was based, Train Simulator 2 was also going to feature four high-detail routes. They decided they would have only 4 routes including the following lines, along with their respective railroad carriers:| Railroad Line | Route Description & Locale | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Horseshoe Curve Horseshoe Curve (Pennsylvania) Horseshoe Curve is a famous railroad horseshoe curve in central Pennsylvania, near Altoona in the United States. Called an "engineering marvel", it was completed in 1854 by the Pennsylvania Railroad... |
Norfolk Southern's "Pittsburgh Line" from Altoona Altoona, Pennsylvania -History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868... to Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County... . |
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
| Stevens Pass Stevens Pass Stevens Pass is a mountain pass through the Cascade Mountains located at the border of King County and Chelan County in Washington, United States.... |
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary... 's "Scenic Subdivision" from Everett Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and... to Wenatchee, Washington Wenatchee, Washington Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington and is the largest city and county seat of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925... . |
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
| BLS Lötschbergbahn Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway The Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway, known since the merger of the "old" BLS with the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn , the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn and the Simmentalbahn in 1997 as the BLS Lötschbergbahn, is a Swiss railway company. It is the largest standard gauge network on the Swiss Railway... |
BLS's "Lötschberg Line" from Thun Thun Thun is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland with about 42,136 inhabitants , as of 1 January 2006.... to Interlaken Interlaken Interlaken is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, a well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland.-History:... and Brig, Switzerland Brig, Switzerland Brig, officially Brig-Glis is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.The current municipality was formed in 1972 through the merger of Brig , Brigerbad and Glis.-History:... . |
Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
| Deutsche Bahn Deutsche Bahn Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany... |
Deutsche Bahn's "ICE ICE 3 ICE 3 is a family of high-speed EMUs of Deutsche Bahn. It includes classes 403 and 406, which are known as ICE 3 and ICE 3M respectively... " route from Cologne Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the... to Duisburg, Germany Duisburg - History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC... . |
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
ACES Studio closure
On , Microsoft announced that it was permanently closing its ACES Game StudiosAces Studio
Aces Studio was an independent game studio. They were bought by Microsoft and produced manypopular titles, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator and Combat Flight Simulator....
, the internal development studio responsible for both Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
and Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator is a train simulator for Microsoft Windows, released in July 2001 and developed by UK based Kuju Entertainment, and is available for purchase through Amazon.com.-Gameplay:...
. As a result, all future development on Train Simulator 2 (which was just entering the final stages of development at the time of closure) was immediately halted, marking the second time that this project was terminated. A week later, Microsoft issued the following official announcement from Train Simulator Insider:
However, Kuju game studios have continued to make train simulation products such as Rail Simulator and Railworks which are technically MSTS 2 games only under different publishers such as EA games. Both have more routes, trains, scenery, and graphics than the original MSTS.
While Microsoft states that they are committed to both the Flight Simulator and Train Simulator brands, it is currently unknown if the Train Simulator 2 project will ever be resurrected and completed sometime in the future. Information regarding the product can still be found on Microsoft's official Train Simulator website.
On , several members of the former ACES Studio team announced the launch of a new simulations-based development studio named Cascade Game Foundry. Further details relating to their first project are to be announced.
See also
- Microsoft Train SimulatorMicrosoft Train SimulatorMicrosoft Train Simulator is a train simulator for Microsoft Windows, released in July 2001 and developed by UK based Kuju Entertainment, and is available for purchase through Amazon.com.-Gameplay:...
- The Original Microsoft Train Simulator - Microsoft Flight SimulatorMicrosoft Flight SimulatorMicrosoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
- The Microsoft Flight Simulator Series - Flight Simulator X - Latest FS release, which was TS2's simulation platform base.
- Rail SimulatorRail SimulatorRail Simulator is a train simulation published by Electronic Arts . It was produced by UK based Kuju Entertainment, the company which developed Microsoft Train Simulator with Microsoft...
- Related product built by former Kuju (MSTS) developers. - List of Games for Windows titles
External links
- Train Simulator Insider – Official Microsoft Train Simulator 2 Website
- Rick Selby's PBase Gallery – Pre-Production TS2 Screenshots
- Cascade Game Foundry – The simulation development studio founded by former ACES Studio veterans.