Comparing hardware setups with screenshots?

[bmheron]

Hi all,

Not sure how best to try this. But I have what id call an "acceptable" system for running trainz12 (see below for my setup) it may even be minimal needed. I see lots of screenshots posted on the forum here that look amazing. And my experience never seems to match up. So I'm thinking its just my limited system setup. For example, my NVIDIA NVS 4200M graphics card produces lower quality images, regardless of my settings in trainz right?

so I guess what I'm saying is would it be possible to post a series of roughly the same screenshot (say one from one of the out of the box routes and consists) across different users systems? So I would post a screenshot and then my system settings. Then someone else with a different system would post the same/similar shot and we could view and compare the differences? The end goal would be a thread where people with system setup and config questions could contrast and compare?

Hope I'm making sense and coming up with a way for all of us to learn more about the system requirements and live results of trainz.

thanks!


-----------------------------
My PC Information Report

Generated using PC Information Application by Shane Turner
System Information


System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model:Latitude E6420
System Type:x64-based PC


Operating System Information


Operating System Name:Microsoft Windows 7 Professional |C:\Windows|\Device\Harddisk0\Partition2
Build:7601(Multiprocessor Free)
Service Pack:1.0
Status: OK


Memory Information


Total/Free Physical Memory (in GB):7.96/6.19


Graphics Card Information


Graphics Card 1
Graphics Card:NVIDIA NVS 4200M
Driver Version:8.17.12.6883
Date of current driver:20110605000000.000000-000
Video Memory:0.50 GB (512.00 MB)


Processor Information


Number of Logical Processors: 4
Processor:Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2640M CPU @ 2.80GHz
Current Clock Speed:0.78 Ghz
Maximum Clock Speed:2.80 Ghz
External Clock Speed (If present):0.10 Ghz
Processor Type:64 Bit
Processor Status:OK
Processor information can be affected by power management and certain processor features.


DirectX and Drive Information


Detected DirectX version: (This may not match any expected values) 4.09.00.0904
Drive Information:
Drive C:\ : 236.07GB Free ( 297.74 GB Capacity after formatting)

 

[johnwhelan]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Your card isn't in the top ten.

Also with lap tops you pay extra for low power consumption not performance ie the battery lasts longer. In general Trainz runs better on the same priced desktop.

Does this help?

Thanks John

 

[shaneturner12]

Two things I've noticed:

Firstly, it appears that the processor is running in power saver mode, and secondly you may want to check for newer drivers for your graphics card.

Shane

 

[whitepass]

How good or bad a screenshot looks is due to the screen size, a 1940x1200 will look better than a 1024x780.

 

[bmheron]

Well I had a feeling I did a poor job explaining myself . Sorry.
Johnwhelan and shane, thanks for that info. While it wasnt what I was getting to I will definitely follow up since it may help my performance.
Whitepass, hmmm, didnt think about that.

Ok so let me try it this way. Two screenshots:

First, a screenshot from the official Trainz 2012 "box"



Now I tried to replicate the same screenshot (got close) from my own system using the same engine and same route.

Why does mine not look as good (ie - resolution) as the Trainz screenshot?
I'm guessing is has to do with system components I'm using (ie - subpar graphics card)?





Bryan

 

[shaneturner12]

That may be partially due to your in-game settings, specifically anti-aliasing (which can be found in Launcher > Options > Display Options) and antistropy (Main Menu > Options > Video Settings).

Shane

 

[bmheron]

oh ok great. I'll try that.
I see these amazing screenshots all the time and wonder if its due to my hardware, simply, or maybe game settings. trying now...

EDIT: here's what I found:

Antialias mode: 4
Anisotropy: 1 (lowest)

Also to the comments above, my Display Resolution I noticed was set to: 1024x768 (Open GL)

 

[bmheron]

I updated the Anisotropy from 1 (lowest) to 16 (highest) and definitely notice a slight difference. See screenshots below.
So I'm also assuming my system will drive a change to a setting like this? Maybe my performance will be impacted.

Here's a SS with anisotropy set to 1:



And now to 16



notice the improvement?

 

[bmheron]

And now I updated my resolution to the highest available setting. Not sure yet how this will affect performance but I LOVE how it looks now! Can you tell the difference?

Before - lowest resolution and anisotropy settings



After - highest resolution and anisotropy

 

[shaneturner12]

I thought that may help visually - be aware though that performance may be lower, but hopefully not by much.

Shane

 

[whitepass]

Trainz defaults to 1024x768 on install, it should be set to your monitors resolution witch will look better and run much better.

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Your card isn't in the top ten.

Doesn't mean it can't do the job, just means less people use it, doesn't mean it's not the best, just means that people with more money than sense, have
spent their cash on something costing more, but doing less, just because it's the latest 'in thing to have' cos johnny has one.

My card just makes it into the top 20 (scrapes in by the skin of it's teeth) but is quite adequate and costs 1/3 of the price of the latest bit of superfluouce glitter.

 

[johnwhelan]

Doesn't mean it can't do the job, just means less people use it, doesn't mean it's not the best, just means that people with more money than sense, have
spent their cash on something costing more, but doing less, just because it's the latest 'in thing to have' cos johnny has one.

My card just makes it into the top 20 (scrapes in by the skin of it's teeth) but is quite adequate and costs 1/3 of the price of the latest bit of superfluouce glitter.

No it means that the card mentioned is well down the list. Cards well down the list are less likely to give acceptable performance with Trainz.

It's actually quite difficult to say what level of card is required. It depends on the frame rate you find acceptable, the settings in the performance sliders, whether are running a lap top or a desktop, the assets you wish to display, and how many and the variety there are.

My personal view is the top half dozen are not the best value for the dollar but if you want to have a scene with lots of Sketchup produced assets and you are using high detailed locos and rolling stock without lod with the sliders set to more detail on a screen with lots of pixels then you may have to use one to get the visuals you desire.

If your video card is in the bottom third and you'd like better frame rates and you're selective in your rolling stock and how you lay out the scenery then it might be worthwhile upgrading the video card to something a little higher before scrapping the computer and buying a new one.

If you're happy with what you have then that's fine. Don't forget no matter how powerful or expensive the computer you can always find assets in Trainz to bring it to its knees if you put enough of the wrong ones together.

Cheerio John

 

[pdkoester]

I have a GTX 580, it is not in the top ten, is it? Still works very well. Same goes for the laptop I have, HD 5650 on that one. It works pretty good, also.

 

[johnwhelan]

I have a GTX 580, it is not in the top ten, is it? Still works very well. Same goes for the laptop I have, HD 5650 on that one. It works pretty good, also.

GTX 580 is in the sixth tier so well within the top ten tiers to me, in fact I think its 3 tiers above my own card which is getting a bit dated these days. I suggest if your video card is in the top ten tiers then look elsewhere for performance problems first, if its in the bottom third then look towards the video card.

Out of interest does the lap top have the same number of pixels as the desk top? If so on the same content and the same settings does it give the same frames per second?

Thanks John

 

[pdkoester]

Desktop is 1920x1080, laptop is 1336x768. So, yeah, there is an obvious reason for the laptop being able to work well. But, it still is decently high in resolution, for the 15" screen. The frames per second on the laptop are always 40s-50s. The desktop frames per second always exceed 60s, peak at 120s sometimes. I think something in the software throttles it back or restricts it. Seems once it gets up so high, it will soon come back down.

Paul