Atomic Systems

I have had MSTS for a few years now and I have downloaded the patch, a problem I get on long routes is that they just crash about halfway through. I could be doing the Birmingham to London route and about 45 minutes in and it can randomly crash back to the desktop and it's over. I have no idea how I can fix it, is there actually a fix for it or is it just a case of my computer being too powerful (if there is such a thing!) for old software?

Hi Andy,

Andy20 wrote: is it just a case of my computer being too powerful

It's very unlikely that your PC could be too powerful! I'm sorry; I don't have a definitive solution to this problem, but have a few suggestions.
a) Install the MSTSBin patch, if you don't already have it - this improves MSTS memory management.
b) add the memory switch (eg -mem:1024) to the shortcut which runs MSTS from your Desktop.
c) replace the default soundcfg.dat file with that supplied with MSTSBin - increases the number of sound buffers available.

If you're unsure how to apply any of these, please come back.
I assume, from your 'powerful computer' comment that you've got at least 3GB of memory (RAM)!

Cheers,
Ged

Thanks Ged, I have downloaded the MSTSBin patch, I downloaded that as soon as I bought MSTS a few years back. Haha, I knew the "too powerful" statement would sound silly, yes my computer has 3GB ram and a quad core processor. I'll try and add the memory switch and replace the sound file too, hopefully they will stop the game crashing to desktop.

Another thing that greatly adds to the stability of MSTS is trainstore, as it only loads the stock and route needed for the activity that you are running, and stops MSTS from being overloaded with lots of routes, stock, consists etc.

Hi Mark,
Thank you, that's a very valid point, especially if you've got several routes installed.

Cheers,
Ged

I also have this problem - I've always put it down to the poor coding in the sim itself.

Sometimes I can run for well over an hour with no problems - other times it can fall over after about 15 minutes.

The sim is poorly coded and has many bugs that we work around, but I have to second Train Store.
I could not run without it.

Cheers
Derek

Andy20,
MSTS only uses one core of a multi core processor. Your quad core may actually be slower for msts because the individual cores of your quad core might well be less fast than a one in a dual core processor which is rated slower for most modern programs.

Tony

You might find your crashes depend on how much you have been using the sim. One of the coding errors could be that the memory stack does not clear between runs (activities). Its a good idea to exit MSTS completely between runs of a more complex nature and/or on routes/areas with intensive scenery. Its sometimes even necessary to save exit and restart completely in the middle of an activity.

Mick Clarke
MEP