How do I fix periodic lag?

[jadebullet]

For some reason when I play trainz, my game will run smooth for a few seconds, before lagging very choppily. It will then start running smoothly again, before lagging again. What is the problem here, and how can I fix it. (If it is possible.)

I have an Nvidia FeForce Go 7600 graphics card
2g of RAM
and an AMD Turion X2 Mobile Technology TL-56 processor.
Thank you very much.

 

[Captain_Collins]

For some reason when I play trainz, my game will run smooth for a few seconds, before lagging very choppily. It will then start running smoothly again, before lagging again. What is the problem here, and how can I fix it. (If it is possible.)

I have an Nvidia FeForce Go 7600 graphics card
2g of RAM
and an AMD Turion X2 Mobile Technology TL-56 processor.
Thank you very much.

You are running this on a laptop, yes?

If so, then what OS are you using? Do you have any power saving options enabled? Are you running the laptop off of the mains or battery?

This could also be caused by the fact that laptop graphics are worse that a desktop card of the same make and model, as most laptop cards, as in your case, are designed to use less power and create less heat by reducing the speed at which they work, thus lowering performance.

 

[worthless]

I have had a similar program. Although I have a fairly high end machine (Quad-Core, 4GB RAM, 2 X 1GB NVidia cards) the heavily detailed route I am developing was causing me problems. Playing the perfectonist, I wanted at least 3km of viewable scenery, all with multiple textures, buidings, lots of trees etc.

I found that, even for a good machine, I was just asking it to cope with too much. Using Open GL, I found the frame rates were slow enough to provide a constant slight but annoying judder. Changing from Open GL to Direct X provided much smoother running, but this was accompanied by a periodic "hang", presumably as the cache/buffer was renewed. I imagine your experience is a similar one.

I have managed to overcome the problem by lowering my sights a little. I have slightly reduced the draw distance and have carried out a lot of deforestation and removal of other objects in the little-seen areas.

You will have an idea of the level of work and detail that is going into it when I tell you I have so far completed about 19 route miles, working the equivalent of about 3 days a week - for just over two years! That's what retirement is for!

Peter

 

[johnwhelan]

For some reason when I play trainz, my game will run smooth for a few seconds, before lagging very choppily. It will then start running smoothly again, before lagging again. What is the problem here, and how can I fix it. (If it is possible.)

I have an Nvidia FeForce Go 7600 graphics card
2g of RAM
and an AMD Turion X2 Mobile Technology TL-56 processor.
Thank you very much.

Go TRS2009 since it can take advantage of your dual core processor. In general laptops are not built for performance, using it plugged rather than on the battery may help. If you can squeeze another 512 mb or more of memory some how that may help as well.

The other thing to look at is the hard drive, yours is probably 5,400 to keep the power load down. Dropping in an SDD (Solid state disk) can improve this but do your home work and do the sums first. TRS200 may well be the cheapest option. Run Trainz from the SDD.

Cheerio John

 

[jadebullet]

Yeah, I am running it on a laptop. I oddly enough had the same problem with KRS, when I played that. It is probably the processor. I am running XP pro edition by the way. I will lower the graphics a bit, and it should help. 09 certainly runs smoother(I can run GFisher's routes with only the periodic lag rather than the slideshow that I got in 06, but I was still having the problem, though I think I might have found the problem. I was running a steam engine, in heavy snow, so the particles might have been an issue.

Thanks for the tips. I really need to invest in a Desktop, this computer has been nothing but problems since I got it.

 

[johnwhelan]

Yeah, I am running it on a laptop. I oddly enough had the same problem with KRS, when I played that. It is probably the processor. I am running XP pro edition by the way. I will lower the graphics a bit, and it should help. 09 certainly runs smoother(I can run GFisher's routes with only the periodic lag rather than the slideshow that I got in 06, but I was still having the problem, though I think I might have found the problem. I was running a steam engine, in heavy snow, so the particles might have been an issue.

Thanks for the tips. I really need to invest in a Desktop, this computer has been nothing but problems since I got it.

Steam engines are usually heavy on the polys and the smoke and steam can have an impact. Try adjusting the smoke volume down in the config.txt file.

Cheerio John

 

[gisa]

Silly question, but when was the last time you opened up the laptop and cleaned it out? One of my ex-coworkers had some problems with his laptop and after ascertaining that he had not cleaned it out, we opened it up and found some dust had clogged the fans up a bit. See if that will help you...but of course be careful and take your time!

:wave:

Gisa ^^

 

[jadebullet]

I will try that. Though, I am now thinking of using some of my college grant money that has been accumulating in my bank account to buy a new desktop.

 

[gisa]

Lucky you!

Lucky you!

If I were you, I'd wait until after Christmas. You can bet with the way the Global economy is going, that they'll be desperate to sell things after Christmas.

Just remember that dust to a computer is like kryptonite to Superman. I generally try to clean my desktop every 3-6 months if possible. I'm always shocked to find the dust bunnies and the dust particles that accumulate on the motherboard, the cooling fan, the video card, the power cooling fan etc...

:wave:

Gisa ^^