Microsoft Train Simulator: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets [Paperback]

David Chong (Author), Rick Selby (Author), Richard Wayne Smith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782129102 | ISBN-13: 978-0782129106 | Publication Date: June 26, 2001 | Edition: 1

Microsoft Train Simulator brings the excitement of some of the world's most famous trains to your home. Harness the engines' power as an engineer, using the fully functional gauges and working controls. Sit back and enjoy the ride as a passenger, taking in the scenery as you rumble through the realistic settings. Or take on the responsibility of a railroad designer, using Train Simulator's open architecture and tools to customize and extend the game.

Written with the full support of the game's developer, Microsoft Train Simulator: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets gives you everything you'll need to stay on track.

Inside you'll find:
* Expert advice on operating everything from the Orient Express to The Flying Scotsman
* Essential strategies for handling the game's challenging operating strategies
* Hands-on tutorials covering Train Simulator's extensive track and activity building tools

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Microsoft Train Simulator brings the excitement of some of the world’s most famous trains to your home. Harness the engines’ power as an engineer, using the fully functional gauges and working controls. Sit back and enjoy the ride as a passenger, taking in the scenery as you rumble through the realistic settings. Or take on the responsibility of a railroad designer, using Train Simulator’s open architecture and tools to customize and extend the game.

Written with the full support of the game’s developer, Microsoft Train Simulator: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets gives you everything you’ll need to stay on track.

Inside you’ll find:

• Expert advice on operating everything from the Orient Express to The Flying Scotsman
• Essential strategies for handling the game’s challenging operating strategies
• Hands-on tutorials covering Train Simulator’s extensive track and activity building tools

About the Author

David Chong has authored and contributed to numerous strategy guides across a wide variety of genres and platforms, including Crimson Skies: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets. His first time behind the controls of a locomotive was aboard an F-40 at the age of 8, and he's had the bug ever since.

Rick Selby works for Microsoft as a Program Manager in Training and Certification. His lifelong interest in railroads led him to offer his services as a subject matter consultant for Train Simulator. Rick has written how-to books, as well as magazine articles and a monthly column for Model Railroader Magazine. He has numerous hours “in the cab” of diesel locomotives from various railroads.

Richard Wayne Smith was the lead designer for the original SEGA Genesis Triple Play Baseball at Electronic Arts Canada. Rick left EAC when his friend, Chris Taylor, formed Cavedog Entertainment. At Cavedog Rick was an assistant designer for Total Annihilation and later designed TA: Battle Tactics. Currently Rick is teaching C++ programming at the Center for Digital Imaging and Sound.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Sybex; 1 edition (June 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782129102
• ISBN-13: 978-0782129106
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Strategies yes, but secrets maintained., July 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft Train Simulator: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets (Paperback)

Sybex' "Train Simulator - Official Strategies and Secrets" book was eagerly anticipated. The Microsoft product is so poorly documented, that I was counting heavily on this book to help fill in the cracks, and give the software more depth.

If you don't own it, the Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS) has incredible potential. Several tools are released which allow you to create 'activities', lay more track, implement interiors (with instrumentation and controls) and much more. The release of a common set of development tools allows a tremendous degree of interoperability as home-grown developers flesh out the rest of the planet with rail interconnections.

Like most Microsoft documentation, the book is long on the obvious, but short on specifics. To be fair, the provided examples gave me JUST enough experience to understand the game developer's intent, but too many questions go unanswered.

There is considerable overlap between the Sybex book and the MSTS-provided PDF documentation. All too often, the obvious is described (like the track monitor tool), but no attempt is made to explain the difference between the blue lines (in the tool), and cyan ones. We KNOW what "speed" means, but the symbology goes undescribed - and still misunderstood.

All too often the phrase "..is beyond the scope of this book" appears, and I understand the complexities of the product. BUT, to use this phrase instead of describing how to drive a steam engine borders on unacceptability. Again, in their want to document the obvious, they show all the controls, but you can see them quite easily in the program itself. I would have been infinitely more grateful if the same time was spent DESCRIBING the use of the injectors, etc, or how to properly drive a train.

Online forums and real-life locomotive engineers have provided the needed answers and experience I had assumed would be intrinsic to the book. I salute the work of thousands of people collectively struggling to understand the tools

Find the forums, the websites, and save your money.

- adm -

88 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Only skims the surface, June 26, 2001

By 

Chris OLD Crawford (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Train Simulator: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets (Paperback)

The first chapter is a re-hash of the on-line tutorials in the game itself. The bulk of this paperback is taken up by descriptions of the various activities in the game. The different game editors are discussed in the last third of the book.

If you're looking for better instructions on how to run the steam engines, look elsewhere. The on-line tutorials actually provide more information than is printed here. The authors claim it is "impossible" to go into more detail in the book. Disappointing.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Spend five minutes with it at the bookstore., September 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft Train Simulator: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets (Paperback)

It is a nice book to scan in the bookstore. That's really all the time you need with it. The information that it provides is really worthless after you play the game a couple times. I would love for the coverage of the editor to be better. If you're thinking about buying the game and your not sure buy the book. It gives more detail than the box. But if you have passed the tutorials in the game the book is really not worth it.