LNERlover5
Average Grad
Those were external video card docks of sorts that were connected via express card slots, however since said interface became less common the docks soon followed. However with 40GBit/S Thunderbolt expect to see a comeback.
I have eliminated all graphics shuttering problems with Trainz.
- Thread starter fen_tiger
- Start date
Those were external video card docks of sorts that were connected via express card slots, however since said interface became less common the docks soon followed. However with 40GBit/S Thunderbolt expect to see a comeback.
Not a hard drive but an external adapter for a normal graphics card that plugged into the PCI Express slot along the lines of this here:
http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...-external-laptop-graphics-adaptor-915616#null
http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...-external-laptop-graphics-adaptor-915616#null
There were two kinds. One of them ran off the parallel port and was really, really slow. The other was a PCMCIA device with okay video, which was faster than the internal video on a laptop, but still too slow compared to today's systems. The device was known as a z-port or something like that plus it had a flash memory device slot that acted like a hard drive with cartridges. The problem with these was the access time since this port was extremely slow, and the video play back was fine for slide shows and old games but not for movies which people would think they were capable. These things were a pain in the backside to setup too due to the PCMCIA setup issues with old laptops.
John
* Test screenshot *
Trainz running from its Sandisk Cruzer flash drive installation. Test screenshot taken of Wisbech Goods Yard under initial construction and track alignment. No problems reported from running Content Manager nor when running driver test sessions to check initial graphics and framerate. Photos uploaded using the 'Hostthenpost' website.
(North end of the yard) -
(South end of the yard, with the soon to be constructed Wisbech Goods / Station junction) -
Trainz running from its Sandisk Cruzer flash drive installation. Test screenshot taken of Wisbech Goods Yard under initial construction and track alignment. No problems reported from running Content Manager nor when running driver test sessions to check initial graphics and framerate. Photos uploaded using the 'Hostthenpost' website.
(North end of the yard) -
(South end of the yard, with the soon to be constructed Wisbech Goods / Station junction) -
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I read through the thread quickly and did not see flash drive write caching mentioned (except for Shane momentarily in post 26) but may be relevant. Usually flash drives have caching disabled by default for quick removal, but their performance can be enhanced by windows doing write caching (e.g. in Win 8.1 - flash drive Properties in the Device Manager > Policies > Removal Policy > Better Performance radio button).
This would make sense, and it's pretty obvious why this is disabled by default for these devices. Since they are plug-in devices, they can easily be knocked out which would corrupt the data, or worse destroy the device.
John
No matter which USB flash device I have plugged in the PC, the policies for each one all come up as 'Better performance' enabled, for faster Write caching in Windows 7. This USB policy came as a default setting when I first purchased the PC. Having this USB policy setting means having to safely disconnect the device if I wish to unplug it.
Andy.
Andy.
Eclipse247
New member
So it would seem that an SSD will smooth out some juddering but what if the CPU is running at around 80-90%? Would that be a bottleneck or is it the HDD? I have an FX4300 CPU that I am thinking of upgrading to the FX8350. I also might move Trainz from the 1TB HDD to the 240GB SSD to see if that stops the judder on T12.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
TS12 works by slicing the CPU time, go off and do this then it goes back and takes whatever results are available after a certain time. This means one core will almost certainly be running at 100% and probably a second will be quite high. Note it only runs on two cores so adding an 8 core CPU just means you have 6 cores sitting idle instead of two.
Probably the cheapest way forward is to move to TANE which is less demanding in the CPU but you'll need a fairly decent GPU such as a GTX1060, you might get away with a GTX 1050 depending on your expectations. A pascal titan would not be overkill.
Cheerio John
johnwhelan
Well-known member
The FX 4300 is up there strangely enough especially for two core performance.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
I wonder how many and what screen resolution is being used? Performance does depend on the number of pixels being driven and these days with 4K screens you need a fair chunk of horse power.
Cheerio John
Problem is - no CPU/GPU and RAM combo, however powerful, is sufficient to offset the annoying, micro-stutters exhibited by TS12 during driving mode sessions.
Despite constant hardware upgrades, including throwing the fastest CPUs and GPUs at the task, I wasn't able to eliminate these mini-freezes completely.
64 bit T:ANE, on the other hand, with its new engine and capacity to handle more cores and threads, responds exceptionally well to hardware upgrades (especially GPUs) and the micro-stutters and scenery pop-ups observed in TS12 now completely absent in T:ANE SP1 HF4.
Despite constant hardware upgrades, including throwing the fastest CPUs and GPUs at the task, I wasn't able to eliminate these mini-freezes completely.
64 bit T:ANE, on the other hand, with its new engine and capacity to handle more cores and threads, responds exceptionally well to hardware upgrades (especially GPUs) and the micro-stutters and scenery pop-ups observed in TS12 now completely absent in T:ANE SP1 HF4.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Eclipse247
New member
I have upgraded the CPU to 8350 and moved Trainz to the SSD. This has improved it a lot. The 4300 was hitting 100% at times. The 8350 seems happy and never seems to go above about 60%. However I will need to test further with other apps open like OBS studio and Premier Pro. One annoying thing is that the free roaming camera flies all over the place with the slightest mouse movement!
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Have you looked at the cores and how they are running? I suspect you'll see the 8350 has idle cores since TANE isn't using them.
Cheerio John
Just looked at mine, i7 and according to the identical graph pattern on all 8 cores it's using them in driver albeit two cores sometime three are more heavily loaded which effectively isn't actually much.
My old AMD Phenom rig used three cores with TS12 most of the time but 5 or 6 in heavily populated areas.
Might stick the latest TANE on it and see what that's doing, should / did run as it has a GTX680.
Actually looks as if AMD's Ryzen Chip may actually equate to or come close to an i7 6700K if the leaks are to be believed.
Eclipse247
New member
peed ajustment.
It seems like 4 cores on ~50% and the other 4 are sporadic. Its T12 I'm using. The fast camera just needed compass s
johnwhelan
Well-known member
I'm sorry I hadn't realised you hadn't moved to TANE. Welcome to the world of TS12 and now perhaps you understand why most have moved to TANE.
Cheerio John
Eclipse247
New member
I will probably go to TMR17 eventually but some of the assets I am interested in are T12 based and I am not sure what works in TANE.