Trees and Grass Vs FPS

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Deano5

New member
Hi all, I would like an up to date opinion from all you great route builders out there regarding trees and there effect on fps.
What im upto is updating my now very large map and have reached the stage where the foliage desperatly needs replacing with modern realistic looking greenary, being a UK route it will have large amounts of greens by the track side and in the hedges and so on.
What I would like advice on is which of the many great trees and grasses out there has the least effect on frame rates and what advice can you all share with me on how best to plant my trees.
Also, I recall reading in an old forum thread that spline trees and forest can eat up the frame rates, is this true and should I stay away from these?
To give you an idea of what im after, a great route called B Project but times that size by 6 or 7. The effect of the foliage on that route is amazing.
Thankyou for any advice you can share with me. :)
I should also add that I run TRS2006 and NV6800 GT, 2 gig ram. Tree names or Kuid No's would be nice, Ta.
 
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I"ve just splashed out on a new pair of speakers for my PC and they have an LCD readout for the CPU and RAM usage of whatever Programme is running .When I go into Surveyor the RAM usage stays at around 50% whatever I point the Cursor at but the CPU goes to 100% when I point it at large field (Texture only, not 3D).So I"d say that its large areas of detailed Texture that really hit your frames.I"m also having to do lots of UK greenery and I"ve put some Tips in "Tips and Tricks for Surveyor".I generally find "Trees Mixed" and "Trees Mixed 2" to be best although they have a tendency to become transparent when they cross.The secret is to use a dark texture for the Forest floor so you need less trees to make it look dense.Also , study Google Earth photos to get ideas to make the forest look more interesting.;)
 
Hello! My recommendation about trees is to use Dmdrake's tree splines. They are wide-covered and low poly so you only have to place one on each side of the tracks and it reads it as only one object = great FPS. They say it kills FPS because they use many splines, it's ok if you use 3-5 Maximum and you won't notice much and use dark textures for forest floor like Lewisner said. -Chris
 
"Deano" the only Hedgerow I have that looks really good is "Hedge 15 Spline".For Fences I normally use "Weidezaun Spline" (barbed wire on wooden posts) or "Fence 3 Bar" (there are two colours-the brown one looks better). For single trees I usually use "Poplar 2b , 5b , 8b , 13b , or 15.Poplar 18 is a good colour to mix with "Trees Mixed" or "Trees Mixed 2".
 
Deano5 said:
Thanks for the advice guys. What about for the hedgerows at the side of the rails?
Click to expand...

I use the one that lewisner has mentioned, Hedge 15 spline. The thing I do with it is to add several spline points along its length and at various points pull it into the ground at irregular heights. Another thing to make it look less uniform is to overlap it quite a lot in places so that it has various thicknesses.
 
Some great info, thanks. Can I just ask if I use this hedge and the poplar trees mentioned in mass amounts will I get the slide show effect.
I did look at some great screen shots too with nice looking trees in them and wondered what they all were as they seem to be used in large amounts.
Thanks all for so far. :)
 
I have a small forest with a main line running through it and the Tree splines don"t seem to have any great effect on FPS.Like I said earlier , I think its more likely Textures that do it.But then again its also to do with how powerful your PC is !You would find that trying to cover large areas of forest with individual trees would drive you crazy. I nearly forgot "Undergrowth 6" is great way to cover the sides of embankments quickly - if its too big click "adjust height" and push it lower down.
 
I tend to use the trees on the top row of the image below

escafeld said:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/escafeld01/22-NOV-2006-002.jpg

Top row - left to right

Ash18 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22007 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Beech26 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22008 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Birch15 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22000 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Doubek_9 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22171 - Josef Korejs
Locust14 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22002 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Oak20 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22003 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Oak25 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22004 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Poplar15 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22001 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Poplar18 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22006 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Poplar30 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22005 - Roman Trunecek - Briki
Spruce20 - Scenery - CzechRepublic - Foliage - 71619:22009 - Roman Trunecek - Briki

Bottom row - left to right

Krovi_1 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22166 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_2 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22167 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_3 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22172 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_4 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22173 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_5 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22174 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_6 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22175 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_7 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22181 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_8 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22182 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_9 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22179 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_10 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22180 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_11 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22183 - Josef Korejs
Krovi_12 - Scenery - Czech Republic - Krovi - 145747:22184 - Josef Korejs
Baum - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:251062 - niffi
Baum2 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:251064 - niffi
Baum3 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:251065 - niffi
Baum4 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:251066 - niffi
Baum6 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:251090 - niffi
Baum7 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:251091 - niffi
Baum8 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:27008 - niffi
Baum9 - Scenery - German - German1 - 147131:27009 - niffi

http://trainz.idisk.cz/

Will someone please post the links to Niffi's content. NOTE - There are more of Krovi, but you will find that out for yourself. The last baum does not quite show in the picture. I apologise for that.
Click to expand...

I have square areas on my layout that I have planted with groups of trees I have laid out in random order. They are nothing to do with the layout except to copy and paste elsewhere. When pasting them, I overlap, rotate and lay in brickwork fashion. There are times when the pasting overlaps an area I don't want covered and also dosen't touch areas I do, but it's no problem shifting the trees across.

Only you knows what effect trees have on your layout. You need to plant some and see for yourself. You can just as easily paste a blank area over the trees to delete them.

See more trees and grass in this thread I started: -

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=878&page=3

Best wishes, Dave (escafeld) :)
 
You don't need a forest to create an effect.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/escafeld01/02Scenery.jpg

You can use the big trees pulled into the ground to create shrubs. Five textures were used here. You can add more of one and less of the other. Undulate the ground for effect. With an area like this laid out on one of your baseboards, you can copy and paste the lot and have 12 combinations of texture, trees and gound surface by using the rotation in 'paste'. There is also overlapping, which adds to more.
 
There are a good few bare winter trees in the 'Perfect Series Arboretum' - dmdrake tree collection and one or two in the shot below which are a good stand-in for 'dead' trees.
 
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Kin3,
Yes very on subject and what a great idea, Also, paste a blank area to clear it, thats brill, id never thought of that.
Cheers you guys :).
 
The "Perfect" tree series are not good if FPS and a low to mid computer are being considered. The descriptions state they are high poly so they eat into FPS. I have a couple of downloaded routes that used some, once I replaced them with other tree from Tall Trees, FPS improved.

I can't remember who but there are some other good looking trees out there that will eat FPS. Basically it is how they are made. If a tree is simply some drawings on planes, then it gives good FPS. If some things like branches, trunks and leaf clusters are actually molded and shaped in gMax, it will look better but chomp some FPS and thus be good only for better comps.
 
That would explain why Mixed Tree Spline 1 + 2 don"t affect Frame Rates.The Poplars I mentioned are "3D" models (they look solid from any angle) but I use them sparingly.:cool:
 
StorkNest said:
The "Perfect" tree series are not good if FPS and a low to mid computer are being considered.
Click to expand...

I decided to test that out on my comp and downloaded 'Perfect Series Arboretum', which is a single baseboard with a mass of different trees on it. I laid a single track of MP-wood (or whatever it's called) and ran an HST flat out on it. FRAPS recorded a low of 38fps in the 'avenue' of trees and a max of 42fps where there were trees only on one side. Why the counter isn't showing in the screenshot I don't know.

The settings weren't maxed out, but nearly, and particle effects were on full; not there are any particles to be seen.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/escafeld01/Screen_016.jpg

Draw your own conclusion. Dave
 
As I mentioned in "Tips and Tricks" another thing I noticed from Google Earth is that where Powerlines or other posts cross grassland there is a circle of rough grass around the bottom of each post since farm machinery obviously doesn"t plough right up to the pylon or post.In some cases there may even be a wire fence round Pylons.This is easy to do and it makes it look extremely realistic when viewed especially from above..:cool:
 
Can you tell me what this counter is and how do I get it, I would like to try that single board test too with lots of things to see what eats the fps.
Sounds like a good idea and a smart piece of software to have.
Thanks for all the tips so far. :)
 
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