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 -

"Only skims the surface"
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.