Locomotion reborn: OpenLoco turns a cult classic into a modern transport sim

A new version of OpenLoco has been released, and for fans of Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion it is arguably the most important update the project has seen so far. By finally moving to a 64‑bit build and expanding many of its quality‑of‑life features, OpenLoco turns this once‑overlooked transport tycoon into a modern, highly scalable simulation that can comfortably live on today’s PCs. Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion launched over two decades ago as a spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon, but never quite reached the same acclaim despite slowly building a loyal niche audience. Official support dried up years ago, leaving it to the community to keep the game alive through patches, tweaks and fan tools. OpenLoco steps into that gap as an open‑source re‑implementation of Locomotion’s engine, recreating the original gameplay while running on a new, significantly improved codebase. Players still need the original game files, but once those are present, OpenLoco effectively acts as an unofficial remaster layered on top of Sawyer’s design. The highlight of the 25.12 update is the long‑awaited transition to a 64‑bit build, ending the project’s dependence on the old 32‑bit limitation inherited from the 2004 release. Under the previous architecture, large maps and heavily built‑up saves could suffer from performance drops and even stability issues, especially when pushing beyond the stock game’s original size limits. The 25.12 build further refines the interface, including the ability to freely resize many windows, which is crucial when juggling multiple vehicle lists, station windows and industry overviews at once. Earlier updates expanded configuration options, raised limits such as the maximum number of on‑screen windows, and enlarged the effective area of terrain‑shaping tools, all aimed at making large‑scale building less fiddly.

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