How to Install OpenBVE Train Simulator Easily on Your Computer

In this post, I will show you how to install OpenBVE train simulator on your system whether it runs on Windows, Linux or Mac OS. So let’s get ahead.

Before installing, please make sure you meet the following system requirements:

Minimum System Requirements:

• Intel Pentium D or AMD Sempron, 2.6GHz or Higher
• 1GB of RAM
• ATI Radeon 7500/NVIDIA GeForce 6150, 128MB or higher Graphics Card
• Windows 7/Vista/8/10 or Linux (Debian/Ubuntu versions) or Mac OS
• NET Framework (For Windows only)

Recommended System Requirements:

• Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 x2, 2.0GHz or Higher
• 2GB of RAM
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 or NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT, 512MB or higher Graphics Card
• Windows 7 or Windows 8 / Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) / Mac OS
• NET Framework (For Windows only)

Installing on Windows:

• Before installing OpenBVE, kindly install Microsoft .NET 4.6.1 framework from Microsoft website in your system otherwise the simulator won’t run.
• You can install OpenBVE in windows in two ways, through setup file (.exe) which is a standard Windows Installer or downloading compressed folder (.zip) and extracting it in your computer and open the main file (openbve.exe) to start the program. To get the latest stable release of standard windows installer, Click here to go to OpenBVE download page. To get the latest stable release compressed versions (.zip), click here.
• If installing by standard windows installer, follow the instructions in the installer, and then launch the program which will look like below.

• After installing make sure that the Directory Structure is proper. OpenBVE uses the following directory structure for fetching Routes and Trains.Railway
  This folder contains 3 sub folders namely:Route – All the route files are put inside here
  Object – Object files like pictures and other details
  Sound – All the sound files like engine, coach etc.
  Train
  This folder contains the locomotive/engine folders/files

You can mention your custom folder in any of your drives (c, d) and create custom folder structure as above and install your routes and trains in those and use those to fetch data from there to start the game.

Installing on Linux:

Some Linux distributions like the popular Ubuntu & Debian provide OpenBVE as a ready-to-install package. In some cases, this version may be behind the most recent stable version.

Ubuntu and Debian:

OpenBVE is part of the main package repositories, and may be installed using the following apt-get command:

apt-get install openbve

Arch Linux

OpenBVE is part of the ‘City’ unofficial repository.

Other Distributions:

Download the latest stable version of OpenBVE and extract it to a folder of your choice. This folder will be called your OpenBVE folder from here on.

You will then need to install the latest version of the Mono framework, using the packages provided by the Mono Project from the link below:

http://www.mono-project.com

Alternatively, Mono will usually be available via your Linux distribution’s package manager.

Launching the Program:

OpenBVE may be launched from a terminal using the command in the root OpenBVE folder.

mono openbve.exe

If you installed OpenBVE using a distribution’s packaged version, then an icon will hopefully have been added to your Games menu.

Installing on Mac OS (Apple)

• Download the latest stable version of OpenBVE.
• Mount the .dmg file, and drag OpenBVE to your applications folder.
• Please note that OpenBVE is an unsigned application, and depending on your security settings may require you to add an exception to OS-X’s gatekeeper, as described in this Apple Support document: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18657?locale=en_US

• Double-click on the OpenBVE application, and it will automatically prompt you to download and install the Mono framework if required.

So that’s it! I hope you find this article informative and useful. Keep driving 🙂