Can't start

[CShaveRR]

I'm a total novice when it comes to any sort of computer game that has to be installed. I received the Train Simulator for Christmas, and, according to the game, successfully installed it. Yet, when I try to start playing the game from my desktop, I get a quick flash on a dark screen (nothing discernible), then it returns me to the desktop. If I try to start via the "programs/games/Train Simulator" route, it will bring me back to that field. "Troubleshooting" doesn't have a category for anything like this. Has anyone else encountered it? (I have Windows 95, but, as I said, it was supposedly succesfully installed.)

[Anonymous]

You don't say what other kind of hardware/memory etc. your system has, but if you're still running win '95, you may need to look into upgrading things a bit.

You may get a faster response if you post your question over here:

http://www.train-sim.com/cgi-local/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

[Anonymous]

I agree with Steve. It sounds like you don't have enough memory in your computer for the game. If I was you I would try to uninstall the program,buy a new memory card(only 15 bucks),and defragment my drives. That I think would work.

[alangj]

I'm having a somewhat similar problem with starting the program (to say the least!) I'm running Win98 on a Dell 800mHz Pentium III system with 768mB of RAM, a 40GB drive (with about 30GB still empty), and an NVIDIA GeForce 256 AGP video board with 32mB of video RAM, plus the usual other bits and pieces (all of which should be well in excess of the "minimum requirements" for this sim to operate.

When I double-click on the desktop shortcut icon or choose the "Play" option from the Troubleshooter menu, I get an all-black screen with a perpetually-turning hourglass icon. There's no indication that anything is happening at this point (no HDD activity, etc.), and waiting for a "reasonable" amount of time doesn't change anything. Some of the troubleshooting information (?!) implies that a newer video driver would help, but neither Dell nor NVIDIA shows any updated video drivers for that video board newer than the 3-1-2000 date that mine reports. The only way to "break out" of that black screen is to CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the Task Manager and select the sim from the list and then choose "End Task".

Does anybody else have this sort of "non-response" problem, and/or any inspired ideas on how to solve it so that I can at least get the sim started???

Alan
Evergreen Park, IL

[alangj]

FYI, I recently downloaded Microsoft's 2/5/02 update to Train Simulator from their website:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/trainsim/

and after installing it, was actually able to get the sim running, as opposed to the black screen that I had been seeing. The update is 7+ Meg in size, so it took about 25 min to download over my dial-up phone line at 49333K speed. I think that there are still a few "glitches" in the updated version (some of the landscaping has random white flashes showing through the "grass", and one of the demo videos froze up on me - requiring a full reboot), but at least now I can get things running.

More work is undoubtedly needed, but at least this is a start.

Alan
Evergreen Park, IL