Boso View Express:
I was always fascinated by rail travel when I was a child. We went everywhere on the trains. I used to love old steam trains and the carriages with individual compartments where just your family could sit, a luxury which is still available on many of the European countries railroads but sadly no longer in the UK. Sticking your head out of the window (that opened up using a leather strap) and the smell of steam and fire mixed together. When I was a young dad I spent a small fortune setting up a spare room with a decent rail layout purportedly for my young son, but I made it so complex with homemade lighting (made out of brass tubing and sheet brass soldered together then painted with airfix and humbrol paints) and electric points all of which were controlled from a unit I built myself. Now I have Railworks 2 plus most of the DLC that comes with it (nearly a thousand pounds worth) plus the latest few releases of Trainz, both of which are great rail games.
Boso View Express is quite basic compared to the above games, but is still an excellent simulation of rail travel which anyone who loves rail travel and doesn’t at lease own Microsoft’s Train simulator or doesn’t have Railworks/ or Trainz will love, especially if they liked train sets when they were young. The following description was copied from the Caiman Games site with download links to Caiman. You’ll also find links to the developers site on the caiman site, which is in Japanese, so I’ve only bothered to link to Caimans. The latest version of BVE is version 4 which was released back in 2005. The developer is as far as I know still working on the fifth in the series. I’ve linked to the original, the second and the fourth versions, plus there’s also an open BVE version which has been under continual development up to the present. The main difference between the original BVE and the Open BVE is in the BVE versions (1,2 & 4) you can only view from inside the trains engine cab, there are no external views unlike open BVE which you can. I’ve posted links to both the original and open BVE. I’ve also (out of respect for the original developer) based this post around the original and haven’t given any detail about the open version apart from posting a link to the main site hosting the game.
Both games have loads of scenarios available for download. Just Google both BVE4 and Open BE for various sites where you can download files. You may find some of the BVE4 sites no longer exist due to it being over five years old, but you will find some. The reference I’ve posted below for BVE4 lists several sites, all of which are no longer available apart from the original developers site. I still included the link to the review though because it gives a good account of the game.
A very nice 3D train simulator from Japan (the game is in English)
Be a train driver and pick up the passengers. Take care of your speed, don't drive through the red traffic lights and don't forget to stop at the stations.
In the caiman download you got two trains. The first one is rather difficult to steer, the second one is easier. Both trains have their own track, very nice tracks, but too short for me. They are so beautiful that they be always too short for me. The sound is great and I really love the speech...
There is no explanation in English about the controls, so I tried to figure it out and I have more or less found some keys...
Menu:
Click on the button in the bottom left corner (or press the Alt key) to open the menu (in English). Therein can you select another train, do some settings as full screen/windowed, restart, exit, etc..
Controls:
arrows up/down = Forwards, Neutral, Brakes
Z / A = gearbox: Neutral, 1, 2, 3, 4
< / > (or , / . ) = RL, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
/ = EMG
F4 = time table
Alt = pause + menu
Shift F3 = show the time
Ctrl + Enter = horn
INS = stop the chime
End = brake release
Home = reset safety installation (when you are in Neutral,Neutral,EMG)
yet a few keys I don't understand (I didn't need them for playing)
F3, Del (reset EB), PgUp, PgDn, Backspace (speed limit), Enter (alarm 1), Shift+Enter (alarm 2), space, Q (brake)
Starting your locomotive
Put the loc in Neutral, Neutral, EMG (arrows, Z/A and / ), then press arrow up (Forward), press Z (gear 1), press < till you see "RL"
If your brakes are on, first release them by the key "End"
Review of BVE4: (with download link to the developers site)
You can find a decent review of Boso View express HERE
Video & Images:
You can see a short slideshow of Boso View Express images from all versions HERE and some OpenBVE images HERE
You can see video of a Class 323 in Boso View Express HERE, a 37421 HERE and a 255 series HERE. There's also a whole load of videos that you can access for the Open version of Boso View Express HERE; which also shows external views of the trains and environments as well as cab shots and inside passenger carriages.
Because the free image client (Picdepict) seems to go offline regularily I've also posted several images of BVE and OpenBVE to my Photobucket account. I'd use Photobucket all the time but they restricted the amount of bandwidth a free user can have on a monthly basis wheras Picdepict doesn't. The more images I posted to my Photobucket, the sooner my monthly allowance would end and then you'd just see a message saying something about registering for a paid for subscription. At least Picdepict works most of the time and is always free. :)
Images of the open version
Download:
You can find download links for three versions of BE and an openBVE version that’s being updated all the time. If you like to see your trains from outside the cab the last open version is probably the best to consider downloading.
BVE:
You can download the original Boso View Express HERE
BVE2:
http://mackoy.cool.ne.jp/
You can download the second version of Boso View Express 2 HERE
BVE4:
You can download the latest version of Boso View Express 4 HERE
There is a fifth version being developed by Mackoy but I’ve not found any details of it yet. If you are interested it will be a good idea to keey an eye on the developers web site HERE
Routes and traction:
You can download routes for the above HERE
Open BE:
You can download the open version HERE
----EDIT by graylox----I corrected some links.
