English - 
ETR 460 at Alessandria station
Watch a demo of the new features of version 3.9r (enable close captions in the YouTube player)Train Director is a clone of the popular Train Dispatcher simulation software. With Train Director you can simulate the work of the Centralized Traffic Control (CTC). Your task is to direct trains running in a territory to their final destination, by throwing switches and clearing signals. Penalties are collected for incorrect or inefficient operations, or for trains arriving late. You can also create your own territories with the included track layout editor. Train Director is available for Windows (95, XP, 7, 8, 10) but can be executed on Mac OS X and Linux using Wine (see below).
Installing on Windows
Create a directory (e.g. C:\TRAINDIR3).
Unzip the content of the file using a decompressor that can handle long file names, such as WinRar.
Run the file TRAINDIR3.EXE from the same directory.
Running on Linux
You can run the Windows binaries on Linux using Wine. This gives much better performance, has better behavior, and is guaranteed to be always up to date with the latest version.
Follow these instructions:
Go to the Wine download page, and choose your Linux distribution. Then follow the instructions on the following page. Basically you would use apt-get or yum to install the Wine package. You will want to have 32-bit compatibility installed, since Train Director is a 32-bit application.
After that, download the file tdir39win.zip,
create a directory such as ~/traindir3, unzip the downloaded file there
and type wine ./traindir3.
You may be notified that a few "mono" packages are not installed. Just ignore
the warnings, as these packages are not required.
That's it! You should see the Train Director window open, and you can start
using the game.
Running on Mac OS X
As a matter of fact, the native Mac OS X executable had never been able to play complex scenarios, due to some technical limitations of Mac's graphics code.
But, you can run the Windows binaries on Mac OS X using Wine. This gives much better performance, has better behavior, and is guaranteed to be always up to date with the latest version.
Follow these easy instructions:
First install XQuartz 2.7.x. Go to the XQuartz site, and click on the Download link (for example "XQuartz-2.7.11.dmg"). After the download has completed, open on the downloaded .dmg file, then click on the .pkg file that appears in the window. You may have to provide your system credentials to install the package. When the installer starts, accept the license and proceed with the installation.
Then go to the Wine download page, and click on the "Installer for Wine Stable" link. After the download is complete, click on the downloaded .pkg file, and proceed with the installation. Installing 64 bit support is not required to run Train Director, but you may want to install it anyway if you want to run other Windows 64-bit applications.
After that, download the file tdir39win.zip,
create a directory such as ~/traindir3, unzip the downloaded file there
and open the traindir3.exe from the Finder.
You may be notified that a few "mono" packages are not installed. Just ignore
the warnings, as these packages are not required.
That's it! You should see the Train Director window open, and you can start
using the game.
Quick Tour
The following image shows the welcome page, from where you can load a previous simulation or start a new simulation.
Once loaded a scenario, the most relevant data to the execution of the simulation are shown in the same window frame. In the following image you can see the layout, the time table in the lower left corner, and information about a train in the lower right corner.
It's also possible to remove undesired elements from the screen, such as the toolbar at the top or the status bar at the bottom, so as to maximize the area used to show the layout.
It is now possible to show and print the summary pages (such as the performance page, the station schedule and the train timetable) directly from inside the program.
It is also possible to scroll the view of the layout using the arrow keys (use Ctrl+arrow for bigger scrolls).
Lastly, it's possible to load a scenario directly from the .zip file, without the need to expand the scenario in its own directory.
In version 3.1 it is now possible to zoom in/out the layout; this is very useful when looking at very packed territories.
Also new in version 3.1 is the possibility of always showing the layout coordinates, and also the ability to insert/delete lines/columns or move blocks during the editing of the layout.
In version 3.2 you can define up to 8 train types. Also a new action has been added to the trigger: "assign @". With this new command, one can automate almost every operation, allowing for full unattended simulation of a scenario. A lot of minor bugs have also been fixed.
In version 3.3 you can define approach signals and define signals with multiple aspects. This is accomplished by writing separate scripts that are associated with each signal, and that provide the logic for changing the signal's aspect according to the traffic conditions.
Version 3.4 introduces the management of rolling stock that is separate from running trains. It is now possible to split and join trains, thus increasing the simulation realism, especially when trains have the length information.
Version 3.5 is the first version that can be compiled and run on Mac OS X. This version uses Unicode support for the Mac OS X and Linux versions. I fixed a few bugs and I introduced the possibility of saving the performance report in a text file, as well as the possibility to select an itinerary from a list or using the Shift+Click on the beginning and ending signal of the itinerary (as in version 1.19).
Version 3.6 extends the scripting capabilities to cover tracks, signals and trains. See the scripts page for more information. It also introduces the ability to automatically display information about the simulation from HTML pages in the "Scenario Info" window.
Version 3.7 allows scenario creators to specify random delays for the entrance time and departure time of trains. Moreover it is now possible to connect to Train Director from another program and to control its behavior and receive user-generated events. Also, it is now possible to save an image of the layout as a BMP, JPG, GIF or PNG file through the File + Print menu. Finally many bugs caused by the split and join train feature have been fixed.
Consult the user's manual for further information.
This page is maintained by g_caprino@gmail.com
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Created on June 1, 2000