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▪ Links
Please find a selection of links to other interesting sites listed below. Links
include community forums, openBVE / TSF and BVE Trainsim add-ons, developer resources.
If you find any broken links, please
let me know
so that I can update them, or remove them, if the sites in question are not available any more
and unlikely to return. Thank you. :)
If you would like to link to
Railsimroutes.net,
then you can find a selection of banners via my
Contact
page.
▪ Contents
Note: Newly added links are highlighted with a background colour.
▪ Banners and adverts
▪ openBVE / TSF project
The official homepage of openBVE / TSF, a licence free, open source, internationally aware,
cross-platform train simulator, which includes numerous new features and capabilities
allowing for a greater focus on realism, a more immersive driving experience, and
more engaging route environments. openBVE can also load legacy add-ons designed
for BVE Trainsim. The program has been written using .NET (with C# source code freely
available), OpenGL, OpenAL and SDL, which means running the program natively on
Linux and Mac becomes a possibility, as well as Windows.
openBVE / TSF offers full 3D cabs with driver's head/body model, animated object capabilities,
new camera views, lighting capabilities, faster rendering, and excellent physics and systems modelling.
Developer tools, such as Route Viewer, Object Viewer, Object Bender and Train Editor are
also available, along with DemoRoute1 which can be studied by developers wanting to learn
about the animated object format, a sample 3D cab, as well as resources for plugin developers
who wish to create cross-platform .NET assemblies for use with openBVE trains.
Extensive documentation for developers is also being provided on an ongoing basis.
Plenty of helpful instructions are offered on the homepage, and a forum is available
where ideas, features, and problems can be discussed; please read any stickied threads
carefully before posting.
▪ BVE Trainsim
Mackoy's BVE Trainsim website, where you can download BVE v4 or v2, and supporting
utilities. BVE v5 is also in development now, and you can read mackoy's blog for updates
and news. The homepage is in Japanese, however there is enough English text to help you
download the program.
▪ openBVE / BVE community sites and forums (international)
The official forums of the openBVE project, where ideas, features, development and
problems can be discussed; please read any stickied threads carefully before posting.
Forum for discussing openBVE and BVE related topics, with a portal containing information and articles.
A wide variety of busy forums are available, including a forum for BVE and openBVE.
A discussion board with various sections dedicated to transportation, along with
a busy BVE section.
Train-sim.com's forums include busy sections catering for a variety of railsims,
including a section for BVE discussion.
A forum where you can discuss the London Underground, national rail, buses, international
rail, light rail and railway simulation. A BVE discussion board is also present.
A forum for French speaking users of BVE, openBVE and other railway simulators.
[French Language]
A forum for Italian railsim users, including sections for openBVE and BVE. [Italian
Language]
A large, comprehensive U.S. BVE site, with downloads, forums, tutorials, photo and
screenshots galleries, and more.
A forum and site for Spanish and Latin American freeware railsim add-ons, including
a section for BVE/openBVE. [Spanish Language]
The I-Circle site includes a BVE/openBVE section for fans in Hong Kong, featuring
regularly posted news updates and articles, as well as a busy forum including a
section for openBVE and BVE. Help and guidelines for users and developers can also
be found, including an equivalent of the
BVETSS initiative
suitable for railways and trains in Hong Kong.
[Chinese Language]
This is Singapore's (open)BVE community site, and here you can find tutorials for
getting off the ground with (open)BVE, or developing add-ons, frequently asked questions,
and a very active forum hosted at sgTrains. [English Language]
▪ openBVE / BVE information and utilities
The official openBVE documentation for developers. Includes comprehensive file format
specifications, information, developer tools, template .NET solutions for plugin development,
and examples.
Odakyufan's website, which includes helpful tips and innovative development techniques
for openBVE developers. Developers who wish to develop plugins for openBVE, can also find
a new cross-platform .NET plugin complete with C# source code, which you can study, along
with my new
UkTrainSys plugin.
My own blog, which includes a variety of information and tips for developers, code snippets,
sample files, experiments with add-on creation, and so-on. Please use the search box,
categories or tags to find information.
An excellent tutorial for anyone interested in developing trains for BVE.
Visit Dennis' site for a range of useful and well written tutorials covering various
aspects of BVE route development, including route commands, object construction,
and example files.
On this site, you can find Guillyman's Platform Generator, Nameboard Generator,
Alistair Campbell's BVE Launcher, and a Timetable Editor utility.
The miscellaneous files section of trainsimcentral, where you can download Oskari
Saarekas' BVE.NET Route Randomiser (BRR.NET v1) and BVE Route Randomiser (BRR),
trainsimcentral's UK signal packs, and more.
Nils Busch's site, where you can download the excellent TrackGen utility, which
generates variable length, variable segment, curved or straight pointwork, with
optional point machines and texture direction reversal. Standard straight or curved
lengths of track can also be generated.
Derryck's site, where you can download the RailGen utility.
The homepage for RouteBuilder, a visual route construction tool by Uwe Post and
Thomas Tschofenig. RouteBuilder should open up the world of BVE route building to
new users who don't wish to code their routes by hand. A variety of ready-made objects
are included in RouteBuilder's Object Library to get you started.
Richard Helliwell's site, where you can download the Resolution Changer utilities
for BVE 2 and BVE 4, as well as the BVE Developer Calculator, in the 'Misc' section.
Here you can find Oskari Saarekas' BVE object import/export scripts for the open source
Blender 3D modelling tool, the very useful BRR.NET v1 utility, great Class 81/AL1 objects,
as well as the excellent Extended Suomi and Random LUL routes. All highly recommended.
▪ openBVE / BVE content
Please find a range of interesting openBVE / BVE related add-ons below, split into
international,
Japanese and
United Kingdom categories.
International add-ons and sites:
BVE-routes.com has returned as a Wiki, managed by the community. The wiki includes
an increasing number of pages containing links to, and information about routes
available for openBVE and BVE Trainsim. You too can contribute your own edits or
add pages for routes not yet covered.
Luigi Cartello's excellent site for Italian BVE fans; regularly updated, home to
some stunning Italian routes, and the place to visit for Italian speakers wishing
to get started with BVE. [Mainly Italian Language]
Roberto Benini's site, where you can download the superb FEVF Ora-Predazzo route
for openBVE or BVE4. The route features some beautiful scenery, detailed objects
and overhead line equipment, and in openBVE, the train features excellent exterior
car objects and car interiors, as well as a superb 3D animated cab. [Multilingual]
On this site, you can find some superb add-ons, including the stunning new Genova Brignole - Recco
route project for openBVE, as well as the FGC Ferrovia Genova Casella route, and Biella Oropa
route. [Italian and English Language]
Reude Hülsmann's superb BVE site, where you can find some of the most impressive
and innovative routes, objects and add-ons for BVE. The "Switch" utility creates
stunningly accurate and detailed pointwork for use in your BVE routes, and the new
U-Bahn (underground) Route demo is simply outstanding, with it's amazing lighting
and reflection effects. [German Language]
Nils Busch's site, where you can view a gallery of screenshots showing the beautiful,
photo-realistic Roth - Lohgarten section of the Gredlbahn route in Bavaria, Germany,
as well as download the excellent TrackGen utility, and a set of detailed German
colour light signals. [German and English Language]
Vince Black's great website, covering Czech locos and other items for BVE. On Vince's
site, you can download several loco classes from the Czech Republic, as well as
the SNCF Thalys. The site is also home to the ambitious Virtual Depot, an on-line
graphical database of BVE locomotives and multiple units from numerous countries
around the world. An excellent Czech language PDF magazine, Svět BVE (BVE World)
is also published periodically, which includes informative articles, a question
and answer section, screenshots and photos. Well worth visting! [English and
Czech Language]
A promising Czech BVE website by the very talented GYZMA, where you'll find some
amazing screenshots of his detailed and photo-realistic objects for BVE, including
the remarkably detailed CD 749 locomotive of the Czech railways. You will also find
more screenshots showing off GYZMA's BVE route project, with photo-realistic structures,
detailed track and wonderfully accurate "stitched catenary" objects! The site also
has many help and information resources for Czech BVE users. [Czech Language]
Viktor Mihaljeviæ's BVE site, where you can keep up to date with the development
of the promising Vallis Aurea (Golden Valley) line in central Croatia. You can also
download the nicely detailed Panorama and Bregi Lines, as well as 3D objects. There
is also a wide selection of links to Japanese routes for both BVE 2 and 4. [English
and Croatian]
On Derryck's site, you can find the beautiful First Brno Track (Lipnice Valley)
for openBVE and BVE 2/4, which features excellent photo-realistic objects, detailed
catenary, and great looking trains. You can also download some openBVE trains with
exterior car objects, other 3D objects for use in routes, and even the "Station
Fates" book in PDF format. [Multilingual via Google Translate]
Visit this site and blog for some superb screenshots of the upcoming Taipei
Metro Xinbeitou Branch Line, being developed for openBVE.
Joao Goncalves' Brazilian BVE website, where you can find the recently released
Guaianazes-Estudantes route for openBVE, which includes nice lighting effects, and
some excellent animated objects, including passing trains. This site is also home
to the stunning Caldas to Grama route, with excellent scenery and railway infrasturcture.
Also watch out for Joao's new route in development, the Pinda to Piracuama line.
[English and Portuguese Language]
Martin Pagnutti's site, where you can download the Ingeniero Maschwitz - Dique Lujan
Route and Alco DL535T Locomotive Exterior views for openBVE, as well as Quique's
fictional Buenos Aires Subway Line.
A large, comprehensive U.S. BVE site, with downloads, forums, tutorials, photo and
screenshots galleries, and more.
Visit this site for a nice selection of rail and road vehicles, as well as the Seneca
to Monett route.
On this site, you can find three fine Budapest Metro Lines; the Budapest
Underground, and Metro Lines 2 and 3. A selection of trains including some very nice
openBVE exterior car objects is also available for download. [English and
Magyar]
On Zaigron's site, you can find the very nice Szigetújfalu tram route, featuring
suburban and rural areas, plenty of road vehicles, and a good depiction of overhead
line equipment. The route is also fully openBVE compatible. [Hungarian]
An excellent Hungarian BVE site, with route and train downloads, an object collection,
gallery, forum, and more. [English and Magyar]
On winsome's site, you can download the excellent mtrain v2.0 for openBVE, which
features stunningly realistic exterior and interior details. Ideal for use with
the the Hong Kong Tsuen Wan or Island Lines (download links for the routes can be
found
here).
A 3D cab is currently being worked on too, which looks very promising!
Rave's new BVE in Poland website, where you can find openBVE train downloads with
exterior car objects, driving tips, and information about the PKP (Polish State
Railways).
Aaron Seeto's site, where you can download BVE2 converted route files, follow progress
with the NYCTA-E line, Cityrail Northern Line and Metronet Battery loco, find an
object collection, and more.
Japanese add-ons and sites:
Odakyufan's website, where you can download the beautiful Chashinai Railway
network for openBVE. The ATS-SN, ATS-P, ATC safety systems can be found in use on the Chashinai
network, along with the TASC and ATO driving aids where applicable, and the routes make clever
use of preprocessing commands to provide random variation, and in-tunnel lighting effects.
openBVE's $Include directives are also used extensively to avoid duplication of route
commands and provide easy random selection of alternative blocks of code. Animated objects
are being gradually added over time, as well. Trains supplied with external views and
working ammeters are also provided along with the route download.
The Chashinai Railway and trains offer an excellent demonstration of openBVE's capabilities,
and you can also find a new cross-platform .NET plugin complete with C# source code, which
demonstrates openBVE's AI Support feature, which assists openBVE's AI human driver in operating
the systems simulated by the plugin.
The site also includes plenty of background information about the Chashinai Railway
network and trains, detailed operation manuals, a relevant Japanese railway sign and
signalling guide, and a section containing helpful tips and innovative development techniques
for openBVE developers. [English Language]
In the BVE section of this site, you can find two gems for openBVE or BVE: the Tokyo
Metro Hanzomon and Ginza Lines. Both routes feature some excellent in-tunnel lighting
effects, superb atmospheric sounds, and the TRTA trains feature some sophisticated,
innovative functionality and ATC simulation thanks to their plugins. [Japanese]
The ATS-Sn/P Test Route (which can be found here) includes some superb photo-realistic
scenery, canted track and transition curves, detailed stations and infrastructure,
and excellent safety system modelling; ideal for openBVE or BVE4. [Japanese]
An imaginitive, futuristic vision of what travel could be like in the more distant
future, the IIYAMA Line 2060 is thoroughly enjoyable and includes some excellent
visuals, sounds, and the train includes a very nice control panel and information
displays. [Japanese]
The Joetsu South route features some excellent photo-realistic track, stations and
buildings, and the Joestsu Border route includes some wonderful tree-covered mountainous
scenery, photo-realistic rivers, and the railway runs parallel to a road for part
of the way. [Japanese]
Gaku's classic routes, the Iida and Tanigumi lines, can be downloaded here. Both
routes contain beautiful scenery, and the Tanigumi route features some excellent
forest scenery and shadow effects, along with flashing level crossing lights.
[Japanese]
On this site, you can find some superb screenshots of the new Iida line now being
developed. The scenery, exterior car and train interior all look impressively
photo-realistic and detailed so far.
[Japanese]
On this site you can find the nicely detailed Sobu and Narita line, which includes
some excellent train objects, detailed stations and scenery. [Japanese]
Here you can download the Keio Electric Railway (and KO8000SE train). The route
features some excellent dense urban scenery, and nice textures. [Japanese]
On this site you can download the BVE Minomachi Line, which includes interesting
sections running through the streets. [Japanese]
On this site, you can find the Saijou Line for openBVE, which includes some impressive
night lighting effects, lovely atmosphere and demonstrations of animated objects,
along with the Tozai Line, which includes a rather nice underground section, with
excellent in-tunnel lighting effects and stations. The
Local BVE Blog is also well worth a visit, where you'll find articles covering
the use of openBVE's new features and commands, with some screenshots.
[Japanese]
Usao Takahashi's site, where you can download the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line which
features both underground and overground sections, along with the Tokyu 2000 and
8500 series trains, which feature simulated CS-ATC. The Tokyu Toyoko Line, Tokyu
Setagaya Line, and JR Sagami line are also available here. [Japanese, with link
to English translation]
Excellent site with a range of Japanese trains available to download. [Japanese]
A fictional route which features nice residential areas and plenty of variety, and
which makes use of a continuation of the ATS system. [Japanese]
At Ron's BVE site, you can find the Matsuura-Dentetsu route which includes a version
for openBVE, featuring animated trains, buses, waves lapping a shore, and more.
There is also an extensive library of excellent train objects available for download,
with preview images. Also well worth a visit, is Ron's BVE blog where you'll find
updates, screenshots and videos of exterior car objects for openBVE, now with animation.
[Japanese]
United Kingdom add-ons and sites:
One of the original Western BVE sites, along with Railsimroutes (this site) and Scottish Rail
Sim Files below, this is Steve Green's highly successful site is where you'll find excellent
routes and trains, such as the new Northern Line for openBVE and BVE Trainsim, 'Southern
Electric', 'Clarendon' (by Dennis Lance), 'Bay Park' (by Sacha Dodd), 'USA Freight',
and more. There is also an extensive collection of BVE 4 drivable trains.
See also the home page of 'Network West Midlands' (by Tony Haylor, Steve Green,
Simon Gathercole and Don Hunt):
bve4.net
Another of the original Western BVE sites, is Robert Glass' excellent Scotrailsim,
where you'll find amongst the finest Scottish routes for BVE, such as the stunning
Sandymill to Invermay and the classic Sandymill to Balfearn series of routes, all
complete with detailed scenery, objects and varied trains. Scotrailsim is also the
home to the stunningly realistic "Clockwork Orange" Glasgow Underground for BVE.
Martin Corbett's nicely designed site, where you can download some fantastic openBVE
and BVE 4 trains, including classes 27, 31, 37/9, 50, 55 'Deltic', 56, 73, and 370
'APT - Advanced Passenger Train'.
Steve Thomas' site where you can download various trains, including those with exterior
car objects designed for openBVE.
Visit Don Clarke's site, to download the scenic Bo'ness Branchline and the superb
Edinburgh to Dundee route, which comes complete with excellent scenery, and detailed
civil engineering features such as the Forth Rail Bridge and Tay Bridge!
On this site you can download Tyne Valley route from Carlisle to Sunderland, and
the Aln Valley line. You can also download some fascinating BVE objects, including
lineside buildings, a scrapyard and even George Stephenson's birthplace!
Richard Helliwell's site, where you can download the fictional Richwell network
and Harcroft to Colliers Stone routes, along with Kelvin Liu's stunning Jubilee
Line for BVE4. You can also download the Resolution Changer utilities for BVE 2
and BVE 4 in the 'Misc' section.
Chris Lees' site focused on Cornish routes and trains for BVE, including the Plymouth-
St Austell route, as well as offering various other BVE resources.
Zane Saxton's new Oovee Simulation site, where you can download classes 153, 156,
170, 144, 142 and 47 for BVE, as well as add-ons for Rail Simulator and Euro Truck
Simulator.
Ireland West Railway is modelled closely on a real line, presently closed, which runs
through County Mayo, and which is part of a route running from Limerick to Sligo.
James Galbraith's BVE London site, where you can download or follow progress with various
London Underground route and train projects.
Shaquille Henry's site, where you can follow progress with his promising fictional
Duddston to Ashfield route as it's developed.
Visit this site to follow the progress of the very promising Tramlink Line 3, with
some excellent screenshots and a video already available. Lines 1 and 2 are also
planned.
On this site, you can find class 507, 508, 142 and 323 passenger views, and routes
including the Wirral Line and fictional Pinewood Line.
Sacha Dodd's website, where you can download his well known routes, including Bay
Park and the LUL Victoria Line.
Visit this site to download the Asford to St. Mary Cray section of the Ashford to
London victoria (via Maidstone) route for BVE. There are some wonderful screenshots
of the route on the site as well.
Mark Milmine's site dedicated to BVE and Scottish routes and trains, where you can
download the Milngavie to Springburn route, and a selection of trains.
Visit Phil Brooke's site where you can download the nicely detailed fictional Moorfield
to Westport route.
Visit Nick Willis' site dedicated to Nottingham Victoria, where a nicely detailed
BVE route depicting a section of the Great Central Railway, including detailed stations
and bridges can be downloaded.
Matt Lacey's website, where you can follow the progress of the new Tinsford - Highborough
fictitious BVE route, and also the Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly route for BVE.
▪ Railsim news (UK)
UK Trainsim is one of the premiere sites catering for MSTS and other rail simulators,
with regular news updates, large download library and lively discussion forums including
one for BVE.
Vern Moorhouse's all new UK transport simulation site, with news and reviews covering
many kinds of transport simulations.
▪ Other railway simulation software
Geoff Mayo's website, where you can download his range of excellent SimSig Integrated
Electronic Control Centres (IECC) simulations.
Signalling Centre Software's range of high quality railway signalling simulations
based on UK signalling centres.
A fantastic new simulation currently being developed in the Netherlands; visit the
forum to see screenshots of this promising simulator.
An excellent German rail sim with many realistic features, including cab systems
modelling, signalling, and superelevation. There are also screenshots of Zusi v3
which is currently under development, showing some excellent features and graphics.
[Demo available]
A very nice German cab-view simulator, with smooth graphics, cab sway, realistic
cab systems, good scenery and realistic catenary.
Mark Goodspeed's evolving railway simulator, which includes a range of features
such as realistic UK signalling and useable NX/lever frame panels, realistic OHLE
geometry, animated 3D models, and more.
▪ Miscellaneous railway related links
RailServe.com directory: Railroad Travel, Hobby and Industry.
iRail Railway Search Engine.
Andy Slater's excellent website with numerous high quality sound samples of UK diesel
loco classes, as well as class and cab photographs. These files are copyrighted
- anyone wishing to use any of these files in BVE trains should seek permission
first.
Paul Bigland's superb photo collection, with a huge and varied selection of professional,
high quality rail related images.
Colin J. Marsden's superb website, including UK and international rail news, traction
and stock recognition guides, artists impressions, and the Railway Photography PDF
magazine.
Excellent Fotopic site by Jon Patston, including many photos of the southern section
of the West Coast Main Line around the Blisworth, Leighton Buzzard, Linslade and
Ledburn areas, as well as photos of the Southern East Coast Main Line, Midland Main
Line and South Central areas, amongst others. This site may be of interest to those
awaiting my
Watford Junction to Rugby
openBVE route.
Fascinating site by Andy Doherty, containing information and photographs covering
the many railways and stations around the Birmingham area. I recommend the site
to users of my
Birmingham Cross-City South
openBVE route, as you can find out about the history of the line's closed and operational
stations.
An excellent site explaining the meaning of a wide range of lineside signs and signalling.
Users of my own BVE routes might like to refer to this site, along with the Lineside
Signs section of my own
openBVE Driver's Guide.
Jon Bradley's site which includes many excellent and interesting photos of trains
in the UK.
Nice fotopic site by Lee Emmington and Colin Arnold, which includes great railway
photos covering a wide range of classes taken in a variety of locations.
▪ Miscellaneous non-railway related links
A great open source video capture/processing utility which I use for encoding my videos prior to
uploading them to YouTube. Compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms.
A feature-rich open source code editor which I use for openBVE add-on development, HTML, PHP
and other text-editing tasks. The utility supports several languages, and is compatible with
Windows platforms.
An open source C# IDE (integrated development environment) for Windows platforms, which I use
for developing plugins or examining openBVE's source code.
A fantastic open source, cross-platform x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization project, which I
use for quickly testing different operating systems within my usual chosen OS environment,
and for keeping favourite old software alive. Great for testing openBVE under Linux as well,
as VirtualBox supports hardware acceleration via OpenGL.
A free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems.
An excellent free and open source FTP solution, for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. I use
this tool for all FTP related tasks where my websites are concerned.
An easy way to install Apache, PHP/PHPMyAdmin and MySQL on Windows. This is an open source
project, which I find enormously helpful and convenient for web development.
The homepage of Daniel Beardsmore, where you can find several handy utilities, including
Batch-RegEx, which I'll be using in the course of developing my
Watford Junction to Rugby route.
Content last updated: 12th May 2012
