I seem to be struggling with frame rates in a way that I haven't before, even with my densely reforested portions of the StL&NA.

It is generally when I have largish consists (like the standard ones behind #44 and especially #46), but happens with loose consists around as well. No problem with the engines (side on, with the drivers I have, I am sometimes getting 30 to 40, but as soon as I come round to the front of the consist the framerate drops to around 7 to 9).

My processor is only 1Gig and I have an ATI Radeon 9500SE (the new drivers have uprated it to Pro equivalent, hence the 30 to 40 in some views).

Is this a general problem, is it just the number of poly's in Gaetan's stock, or is it just me and do I need to get a new computer (some time - dream away!).

Rod

Yes Rod , the real pictures skin need heavy work (more realistic more hard to run) from your processors and video card

I have P4 1.6 and Gforce3 TI200 and same problem here , i thinks upgrade soon

Gaetan

Rod:

Have you tried using FSAutoStart?
There was a post about it awhile back, so I thought I'd give it a try.

On my 2GHz P4 running WinXP/SP2 it increased my frame rates into 40s & 50s
and significantly reduced the old "MSTS stutter" when loading new tile.
On my 600MHz P3 running Win98, it did very little; less things to shutdown.

What is that ? FSAutoStart ?

Gaetan

Rod,

my experience is the same as yours: Gaetan's engines are not the problem, but the beautifully looking freight cars hit hard on the framerates . Much harder than for example the freight cars from MLT's Cascades Crossing route, in my impression. I would really appreciate if something could be done about this, other than turning down the "advanced options" sliders, which also doesn't help much. I don't know if the freight cars have LODs.

uli

Maybe if you resize the ace files at 515x512 ?

Here at disable the dynamic shadow for up the frame rates

Gaetan

Here's the URL: FSAutoStart

Well, I have reduced all applications down to the essential minimum (using FSautostart and an application killer). I have, at the same time freed up all available RAM, and I went from 7fps looking at the stock all the way up to a steady 8fps. Hmmm!

Gaetan, how do you go about reducing the texture size, and exactly what effect will it have on the models? I notice that the engines are 512 x 512 and they look great.

Rod

Gaetan mentioned the possibility of reducing the ace files for the non-loco rolling stock from 1024 to 512. This indeed can be a problem.

I've got a system that probably makes Andre's 'puter look like a racehorse with stamina to run the 1 1/4 without losing speed or steam. My system just can't handle it and drops dead with an error message (Send/Don't send) while loading if there are cars present. So, I can run the explore and the #0 with only the switcher to explore Eureka.

I've had to do the transformation from 1024 to 512 on ace files before. I need to see if I can find the instructions on how to do that. If I find them, I'll post them here. In case I can't, I don't mind if someone else can post the info because I'd sure like to run railroad soon. Meantime, I'm saving for a new system.

(If you make the conversion, don't forget to save the original .ace files, since you'll someday upgrade your system and you can run all the activities again and think you've just purchased a new route.

Great work and thanks to Andre, Gaetan and all the others who helped bring us this great route.

Erik Erickson

Ok Guys , you need TGAtool2
http://fly.to/mwgfx take care some popups open


open ace file , check if is 1024x1024 , go file and save the file (now ace come in tga) , use paintshop or similar program for resize at 512x512

return in TGAtool load your TGA resize and export ace(alpha) if You have alpha channel
or ace (no alpha)

You can see the alpha channel at right (little white windows)

Gaetan

Gaetan,

Thanks for the refresher course on resizing.

Erik

Gaetan, thanks very much for that - tried it on the tankers, but I wasn't too keen on the alteration to the textures, so went back to the originals.

Strangest of all, I have increased my screen resolution from 1024 x 768 32bit to 1280 x 1024 32bit and I now get regular 10fps where previously it was regular 7 or 8. Why should that be?

At 10fps it is reasonably acceptable outside the cab looking back at the train.

Any thoughts anyone?

Rod

May be is more easy for your video card work with this resolution Rod

Gaetan

Just a thought - try running the "mprofile.exe" utility in the main MSTS folder. If you had changed video drivers at one time, you may need to use this to refresh your game's settings.

FWIW, the A&O runs like a champ on my PC - better than 80% of the routes currently available.

Cheers!
Marc

Thanks Marc, I'll try that.

The fps around the route is generally in the 25 to 35+ range - it is just Gaetan's stock that causes the problem.

Rod

Hi cuz, I have very similar computer specs as you have and like you I have some problems with the rolling stock cutting the frame rates down but mine doesn't get as low as yours. Don't know the reason for that. I don't use dynamic shadows and I have some of my sliders backed off on all routes. My frame rates other than that on the A&O are also near yours, perhaps a little better. I just downloaded a program that I am going to try out to see if it will help. If it does help I will post it here for others to use. Personally, I don't like cutting down anything from 1024 to 512 unless it is like Dick C's stuff that offers both. Haven't had luck doing that.
I would suggest the same thing as Mark and also cut down some of the sliders in the game. With some of them they help the frame rates without causing a discernable difference in the view in the sim. If you want my settings of the slider etc, just let me know.
Overall, though, I am not having any problem running the sim with reasonable frame rates and my system is an AMD +2200 with 1gb of memory, an Nvidea 5200, 512 onboard ramdac memory, AGP slot, latest drivers. I am running trainstore which has helped on the framerates as well, although I was more than surpised to see that. But it helps!

Durn ... Even Uncle Herb is leaving me in the dust on this thread. All I know about my computer is that the farmer in the DELL left it on the front porch an' I plugged it in.

6ET and the Johnson Bar are in a weird place on some new-fangled typeewriter. But boy, when she loads and I'm a sittin' in those Alcos it all comes back a flood of memories!

Thanks Andre and Gaetan for some nice short-line railroadin'!

Cuz, if you wouldn't mind mailing your slider positions that would be great - I do have mine all maxed out (but no dynamic shadows or other fripperies). Ran mprofile.exe, and it was worse than ever! - used System Restore to turn all back to how it was.

Will be getting a new pooter (as my youngest calls it) later this year (I hope - dream on). Till then it is still great fun running V Scale!

Rod

Ok Cuz will get them off to you as soon as I can. Had to watch my Patriots win their third superbowl in four years. Boy this has been a great year for us New Englanders, what with the Red Sox winning the world series for the first time since the turn of the century and now this football team......oh, sorry, keep forgetting you are a Brit, Rod. We get carried away over here with the Super Bowl.
Anyway, my thoughts would be that your sliders should be cut back on all of them. You will not lose much really. The only thing I lose is distant areas which are drawn a lot later but I have gotten used to it. Helps though. And I would seriously consider either train store or the other application mentioned earlier that comes from the flightsim world. They both will help your frame rates. I have also found that using some of the exotic camcfgs that are out there can really raise heck with the frame rates in certain views. I realize you rely on some of these to get your great shots but I had to stop using some of them just for the reason that they would either cause real frame rate hits or actually freeze up the sim on real closeups in the 2 or 4 view.
Let's face it, with people using 1024x1024 over 512x512 textures now on engines, rolling stock and even external buildings, etc. it's a real wonder we can even get the sim to run a frame rate over 10. But, of course that is the price you are going to have to pay in this sim if you want it to look the best. And it certainly does look a whole lot better. The problem of course is that the underlying MSTS engine is so old it doesn't have the ability to take into account the new graphics and directx, etc. So, until we get an update to that with TMTS, I am afraid we are going to have to each mess with our own individual settings and come up with what is the best for our individual computers. But, it can be done. Just takes patience.
What I'd kind of like to see is some posts of various settings being used by others along with the specs of their computers. Might help some others.

But I will get them to you cuz, but mine might not help you. What I did was drop one at a time down one notch, try the sim, repeat it with another slider etc., until I came up with what seemed to work best for me and my computer. You might try that first. You can drop distance settings down quite a bit (top slider) and not lose too much. Anyway, just some suggestions. Try it first and then if you can't come up with anything that works, I'll send you my settings.

Good luck cuz!