I'm not suggesting for a moment that whenever you see the screenshot above, you should re-install MSTS, but sometimes there is no other way to correct some of MSTS' weirdnesses that crop up from time to time (for example, my last failure was that MSTS stopped recognising electric locomotives - it didn't matter whether they were default or add-ons, they simply were not recognised by the game). It is not intended to be a full list of available utilities, patches, physics upgrades and fixes, but rather just the basic necessities that you should consider immediately after (re)installing MSTS.

Whether you're installing MSTS for the first time or, as many of us seem to, for the umpteenth time, this checklist of the basic 'essential' steps will get your MSTS installation 'back on the tracks' in a minimum of time with a minimum of frustration.