Rendering Issue?

I've been playing with Trainz2009, creating my own layouts and having a blast. But I've noticed that sometimes - not always - it renders selective details, cars, buildings, trees, etc. like a multi-colored mesh pattern. It's hard to describe, but it doesn't happen all the time and there doesn't seem to be a pattern what it does it on. Recently, it did it to half of my passenger cars (half the cars appeared fine, half "meshed") and just to the bogeys on woodchip gondolas! But I've seen it on buildings, trees and shed doors. It will sometimes go away when I zoom in or out. I'm guessing it's something with my graphics card? Any clues as to what's causing it or if there's anything I can do to fix it would be appreciated. Thank you!!

NJCurmudgeon said:

...I'm guessing it's something with my graphics card?

Click to expand...

Yep - I'd guess either your graphics card is severely under resourced or it is over heating.

System specs?

Andy

I'm drawing a blank of how to get my graphics card spec...I know there's a way, but I forget now. Ah senility...

I installed a bigger drive a year ago (Dell Vostro 1500 laptop) and because it had a faster spin was generating more heat. I have a cooler pad under it and it keeps it a lot cooler, at least to the touch. I would assume it's colling the card too.

If someone can remind me how to get the specs, I'll provide them. In the meantime, would it help to simplify the layout so it doesn't have to work as hard? I have some stuff in the backgrounds I can probably get rid of since you hardly see them from the trains.

Many thanks!

From the Dell website at http://www.dell.com/us/en/bpi/notebooks/vostronb_1500/pd.aspx?refid=vostronb_1500&s=bpi

With integrated graphics: Intel® 965GM Express chipset
With discrete graphics: Intel® 965PM Express chipset

The "integrated graphics" usually means that the graphics card is built into the motherboard (which is common with laptops) and therefore cannot be upgraded without upgrading the entire motherboard - it would be cheaper to buy a new laptop.

Lower left corner of the desktop, Start, Run, type in "dxdiag" will give you more info about your system than you really wanna know, including graphics chip and driver version.

Thanks.

Yup - that's what I was looking for - the dxdiag command! Thanks!

It's the internal type. It's just about good enough. in that this doesn't happen all the time. I can probably live with it for now. Just thought I'd ask.

Many thanks for your assistance!

Try disabling hardware TL in CMP. Then find the offending asset, open for edit and recommit. I am betting that will solve most, if not all of the asset rendering for you.

tomurban

"TL in CMP"

"TL in CMP"

I'm new to this world of Trainz, so you're gonna have to spell out what that means.

Another thing I notice is that there is a flickering "bar" along the top of the screen where the menu drops down even when the menu is retracted. It's not solid - almost like interference on a TV. It's small but annoying. I would assume it's all related to the graphics card issues, so perhaps what you suggest might fix that as well.

Thanks for the reply.

NJCurmudgeon said:

"TL in CMP"

Click to expand...

Opening Screen > Content > File > Settings > Misc > Uncheck 'Enable Hardware accelerated Textuer Compresion'

Helps on laptops and some other 'graphically challenged' computers

If you dont see a difference, turn it back on...

That seems to have fixed the "rainbow mesh" effect but I still have the flickering at the top of the screen. I can live with that, though, since it's out of the way. The color mesh effect was far more distracting and impacted the experience more.

Thank you!