A Bit Disappointed . . . Improving Performance

[rkillins]

Hi folks. I am new to Trainz Simulator 12 and am quite excited about operating the trains as well as hopefully jumping into route building.

I have to admit, I am a bit disappointed, not with the software but with the poor performance of my computer to run this application smoothly. When I try to play, the display lags miserably, very jumpy, not at all fluid. AS it is, it's not very entertaining, rather more frustrating. I'm hoping someone might be able to provide some tips on improving performance considering my system, or tell me that my expectations are higher than what is capable. I am able to run FSX, DX10, in windowed mode quite well with a locked 30FPS with this system.

My System:

Processor
3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-2600K, 256 kilobyte primary memory cache, 1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache, 8192 kilobyte tertiary memory cache, 64-bit ready, Multi-core (4 total), Hyper-threaded (8 total)
Main Board
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V Rev 1.xx, Bus Clock: 100 megahertz, UEFI: American Megatrends Inc. 1805 12/19/2012
Memory
8140 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Display Adapter
NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT [Secondary adapter]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti [Primary adapter]
Displays
3x Acer A231H Monitors (connection via primary adapter in Nvidia Surround Mode with recommended resolution 5760x1080x32 60Hz)
1x Acer X193W Monitor (connected via secondary adapter with native resolution 1440x900x32)
Storage
WDC WD10EARX-32N0YB0 [Hard drive] (1000.20 GB), 781.33 GB free
Other
Corsair H60 liquid cooler

Software
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Trainz Simulator 12 (61349), DirectX, Display Resolution: 5760x1080, Bit Depth: 32, fullscreen, Aspect Ratio: Autodetect, Antialias Mode: 2, Vertical Sync: Auto, Frequency:60, Disable Hardware TL: unchecked, Shadows:checked, Vertex Offset slider: midway

Does anyone use Nvidia Inspector to help optimize performace? If so, what are some suggested profiles?

Rob

 

[NeonTheGriffon]

I'd repost this in the hardware section if you want the best answer. I'm one of the tech gurus that often sticks around in that board, but I unfortunately can't assist you on this matter.

 

[shaneturner12]

I agree it would do better in Parts and Labour (the hardware section), although updating your DirectX files may help.

Shane

 

[Enzo1]

Do you know what your current FPS are in game? It can sometimes depend upon monitors. Yes I know that sounds insane, but considering computer is serious high-end, you have to be getting incredible FPS. If the monitor can't keep up with it, I would add these two lines to the trainzoptions.txt like I did with mine the first time because it too did a similar thing.
The two lines are:
-framerate=33 (Value could be anything, I would start at 30, and move up from there if the system can handle it, mine runs at 33 because it is a reasonable FPS rate for my system. This tells trains it is only going to do 33 Frames Per Second)
-framestoaverage=16 (This says how strictly trainz is going to run 33FPS with 16 being the most strict)
My system still sometimes lags and jumps if I have a lot going on in the background as well. So I have a tendency to shut down some background processes so it doesn't hog up resources. (Don't touch the windows processes though! They can cause the computer to do weird things if you shut them down!)

 

[itareus]

My gut reaction says this is related to running 4 monitors (with 1 being on a different card as an added complication).

I run 3 Iiyama 24 in monitors off a GTX 670 and get frame rates ~200fps with Trainz 12 running in a Window at the monitors native resolution (1920 x 1080).

Could you try running with the surround option off and running Trainz as I do - this would give a benchmark.

Chris

 

[nicky9499]

I am also surprised that two cards from vastly different generations can work together without any problems. I have two 24" screens running off a 4850 2GB OC and get solid 30s in even the most complex routes. Try removing the second card and see if that helps. I understand what you're trying to achieve reusing old hardware (and I've done it lots of times before) but sometimes running incompatible hardware may be counterproductive.

 

[JCitron]

This could very well have to do with the NVidia Surround and also the 2nd video card. Although you don't indicate it, Trainz does not support at least at this time, SLI or Crossfire very well.

The problem could also be that TS12, or Trainz any version for that matter, doesn't support this well. I suggest setting Trainz to a native resolution of 1980 x 1080 and try DirectX instead of Open/GL which is the default driver for Trainz, and setting up the program to run windowed mode.

My setup is similar to Nicky's with two 27" displays and GTX680 instead of an ATI card.

Here's a link you might find interesting...

http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/5224-Tri-SLI-2D-surround-poor-performance

John

 

[rkillins]

I want to thank you all for your replies, despite perhaps not being in the most appropriate forum. (I was debating between the general forum vs. the hardware section).

I can report that it may have been premature of me to report problems. I downloaded and installed Fraps so that I could report on the actual framerate. As part of the process, I had restarted my machine, and low and behold, a simple restart proved to be the simple answer to my immediate issue.

I am now reporting 30+ FPS, fluid and quite useable and enjoyable, with only an occasional pause. No apparent hardware issues. Nvidia surround and the potentials 4th monitor and older generation card incompatibility appears to not be a noticeable issue. These all play well with TS12.

I would still be curious if anyone is using Nvidia Inspector to optimize graphics with TS12. I do know that it had contributed to an improvement in FSX, and would think perhaps it may have a similar improvement in TS12.

Again, thank you all.

 

[itareus]

User: It's not working.

Tech: Is it plugged in ?

User: Er...

You know the rest !

I have never heard of anyone using Nvidia Inspector, but you never know. If you try it and find a good profile would you post the details please.

I'm still interested in knowing what FPS you would get from a single monitor setup as I described in my earlier post. For comparison the FPS rate is displayed in the top left hand corner when Trainz is windowed.

Chris

 

[clam1952]

I want to thank you all for your replies, despite perhaps not being in the most appropriate forum. (I was debating between the general forum vs. the hardware section).

I can report that it may have been premature of me to report problems. I downloaded and installed Fraps so that I could report on the actual framerate. As part of the process, I had restarted my machine, and low and behold, a simple restart proved to be the simple answer to my immediate issue.

I am now reporting 30+ FPS, fluid and quite useable and enjoyable, with only an occasional pause. No apparent hardware issues. Nvidia surround and the potentials 4th monitor and older generation card incompatibility appears to not be a noticeable issue. These all play well with TS12.
I would still be curious if anyone is using Nvidia Inspector to optimize graphics with TS12. I do know that it had contributed to an improvement in FSX, and would think perhaps it may have a similar improvement in TS12.

Again, thank you all.

Not Nvidia inspector as it didn't do anything beneficial here so I got rid of it and just use the Nvidia Control panel.

Don't normally use multiple monitors as have multiple PC's although I can switch one in via a KVM switch if required.

Using the Trainz 2004 settings, seems to apply to any Trainz.exe regardless of version, the only things I have changed are

Power Management mode - Prefer maximum performance
Texture filtering - Anisotropic Sample optimisation- On
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bios - Allow
Texture Filtering - Quality - High Performance
Texture Filtering - Trilinear optimisation

Use in Game antialias setting of 4 and avoid any control panel settings as they do odd things!

Using an i7 - 3770k and a 2GB GTX 680. 1440 x 990 resolution at 75Hz on a Hanns G 19 inch display. Frame rates average 40 in congested areas up to high hundreds elsewhere. Switching in the second identical monitor make zero difference.

Same settings plus single Monitor performance on a Phenom 6 core 1090T with a GTX460 frame rates are about 15% lower.

 

[LoGrant54]

rkillins,

You should have sufficient hardware resources. A lot more than I do. I do, however have a couple suggestions.

Personalize your display. Turn OFF Windows Aero themes. They are RAM hogs. Use Windows7 Basic. Windows Sidebar and Gadgets are also memory hogs you don't need running.

Shut down any unnecessary background programs and services.

Buy a large capacity flash drive and use ReadyBosst, (its in windows somewhere), to dedicate the entire flash drive as extra RAM. I bought a 32gig flash drive at Best Buy for less than $20 and it dramatically improved my performance.

Lo.