How in the world do I get good performace and good looks from This?

S

SD45T-2

Going back in time...
I have a System that I want you to check out and see how I can get good performance When using high-ploy stuff and keep it looking good. I use TRS2010. Specs are as follows.


------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report : 09/02/2011, 19:09:41
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Screen Size : 1024 x 768
Ram Found : 1022 MB
Ram Free : 464 MB
Virtual Ram Free : 1954 MB
Raw Cpu Clock Speed : ~2.79 GHZ
OEM ID : 0
Number of processors : 2
Page size : 4096
Processor type : 586
Processor Architecture : 0
Processor Level : 15
Processor Revision : 1028
Allocation Granularity : 65536
3D-Now : Unavailable
FP operations : Not Emulated
FP precision error : Does not occur
MMX : Available
Physical Address Extension : Available
RDTSC instruction : Available
SSE instruction : Available
SSE2 instruction : Available

------------
Test Results
------------
CPU Speed : ~2.79 GHZ : Passed
CPU supports SSE instructions : Passed
System Memory : 1022 MB : Passed
Hard Drive Space: 94.67 GB Free : Passed
OpenGL : Version 2.1 : Passed
DirectX : Version 9.0c or later : Passed
Desktop Mode : 32 bit colors : Passed
Card Type : ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series : Passed
Video Driver's Age : 12 months old : Passed
AGP Memory : 117MB Free : Passed
Total Video Mem : 256MB : Passed
Stencil Buffer : 8 Bits : Passed
Multi-Texturing : 8 Textures : Passed
Texture Compression DXT : Passed
Texture Combiners : Passed
Vertex Shaders : Version 1.1 : Passed
Pixel Shaders : Version 2.0 : Passed
Bump Mapping : Passed
Spherical Environment Mapping : Passed
Cubic Environment Mapping : Passed
Vertex Buffers : Passed
NVIDIA driver compatibility : Passed
Monitor: No compatability problems detected : Passed

-------------------------------
Extra Details Return from Tests
-------------------------------
System Memory : 1022 MB : System Memory : 1022MB (461MB free)
Hard Drive Space: 94.67 GB Free : Drive C:\ : Total 298.08 GB Free 94.67 GB

OpenGL : Version 2.1 : OpenGL : Version : 2.1.8545 Release
Vendor : ATI Technologies Inc.
Card : ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series
DirectX : Version 9.0c or later : Driver : ati2dvag.dll
Description : ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series
Product : (PRODUCT) Version : 14 SubVersion : 10 Build : 6925
Driver not WHQL signed
Desktop Mode : 32 bit colors : Desktop Mode : 1024x768 with 32 bit colors
Video Driver's Age : 12 months old : Contact your card manufacturer at www.ati.com for the latest drivers.
Card's driver date is Wed Feb 10 22:45:14 2010
File Version :6.14.10.6925
File Description :ATI Radeon WindowsNT Display Driver
Product Version :6.14.10.6925
Total Video Mem : 256MB : Total Video Mem : 256MB
Stencil Buffer : 8 Bits : OpenGL stencil bits : 8
DirectX stencil bits : 8
Multi-Texturing : 8 Textures : OpenGL texture count : 16
DirectX texture count : 8
Vertex Shaders : Version 1.1 : OpenGL vertex shader : Version 1.1
DirectX vertex shader : Version 2.0
Pixel Shaders : Version 2.0 : OpenGL pixel shader : Version 2.0
DirectX pixel shader : Version 2.0
 
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You are short on RAM by at least 1GB, and your graphics card is well out of date.

You can try chopping back your draw distance to the minimum and turn off anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, and cut down texture detail to the minimum -- you will do all this to get some fun out of the game, but you still will likely not see smooth frame rates or any generally fluid performance in all areas of the various routes offered.

With these settings you might wish to download routes that eschew the use of speedtrees, which will help significantly.

Someone may be able to offer better solutions, but I'm afraid there isn't much that can be done to preserve visual fidelity on that system -and- make it any fun to play, and if it were me I'd be going for fun over fidelity.
 
If you can not afford a new PC, or add Ram chips, and update your video card, or upgrade to a better video card ... 09/10 may operate ... but may be choppy ... I don't really have any expertice, but the above upgrades may help somewhat.

If all the Trainzdiag shows Passed, I would try it and see how bad things are looking ... and make updates or upgrades.

Laptops are not really great for gaming, unless they are higher end models, although games may function, things may be choppy on low end PC's.

I watched a video on YouTube "Build your own PC in 10 minutes" which is possible (not in 10 minutes though). Most XP PC's can be upgraded and retrofitted for 1/4 to 1/2 less than buying a new Windows7 PC
 
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Without knowing more detail, particularly the motherboard, I can't give you specific suggestions aside from echoing what others have said: Add RAM and upgrade the video card. However, you should be able to free up some memory by eliminating unnecessary background processes - and, if your system is typical, a majority ARE probably unnecessary. Feel free to post a list of what's running - HiJackThis! is a good tool for listing processes.

Generally, if you can shut down your anti-virus, and maybe even take things a step further and unplug your network cable and shut off your firewall, you should see a performance boost. Those are some of the more egregious resource hogs.
 
(OP) just looking through your specs it says you have the page file size set to four times that of your RAM?
My first PC (2003) had similar specs to yours and I could run TRS2004 and 2006 on it but I am surprised you can run anything higher on it.
 
tycoonk4 said:
Well,what should I do?
Click to expand...

IMHO....

I stand by my original comments in this thread:-

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?p=739948&posted=1#post739948

My comp ( a beefcake quad core one) won't even run the DirectX version of Trainz 2010 without visual tearing along the seam of every vertex of the baseboards. OpenGL runs *cough* alright. My computer ran Trainz 2009 with framerates of 300~500 @ 1920*1080 and now manages 60 on a good day.

And yes I do have the latest Nvidia 266.58 drivers installed for my 1Gig DDR3 GTX285.

I don't subscribe to 'turning off antivirus and unplugging network' abilties to improve graphic performance ffs. It shouldn't make any difference to a game that isn't played online over a network. If it IS then it's just unoptimized and poorly coded. None of the other 'latest' games I run seem to suffer like this product.

I must stress however I run all the graphic settings at max.

I suggest you:-

1) Pray to Nama.

2) Play Minecraft:p
 
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Right now your RAM quantity is what's holding you back most-- it should be a quick and relatively inexpensive upgrade that will give you performance gains in every application you run on the computer, not just Trains.

After that, if you're running a desktop machine, you may wish to upgrade your video card. You likely have the PCIe interface for the newer cards on your motherboard if you are running a Radeon x550, though you will need to watch out to make sure your power supply supplies enough wattage needed by many modern cards. This can run you a good deal more than the RAM upgrade, and if you are looking to do both, it may be best to save your pennies and try to built a new system from scratch.

Can you tell us what processor you are running (Intel Pentium 4, or Core 2 Duo perhaps?)
 
Yes ram is inexpensive.

BestBuy Geek Squad can install an upgraded Power supply for $50 labor, plus the cost of the PS @ $80+, or you could do it yourself. Then you could put in a better video card for @ $100+.

I was drooling over some I7 PCs ... $950-$1350:hehe: Dreaming:mop: :'( :mop:Wahhh !
 
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Well, thanks for the advice. Looks like I will have to hold off one of my dream games.
Edit: Time to buy some RAM.
 
Last edited:
Ronayne said:
What I spend most of my life doing... :o
Click to expand...

Awesome...you know it makes sense, it's such a beautiful game:cool:. If you're interested in helping me & the missus build our world or just log in for laughs , I'll send you the IP via PM:D

Rich.

PS Lol at my sig....
 
Does anybody know how I can upgrade or update my video card without without paying. The trainz diag says everything passed. I got a warning about my video cards age. It says it has to be updated. My laptop seems to handle medium-high poly routes pretty well.
 
malikrthr said:
Does anybody know how I can upgrade or update my video card without without paying. The trainz diag says everything passed. I got a warning about my video cards age. It says it has to be updated. My laptop seems to handle medium-high poly routes pretty well.
Click to expand...

If you mean "update" the drivers, just go to the chip manufacturers website and look for "downloads".

tomurban
 
malikrthr said:
Does anybody know how I can upgrade or update my video card without without paying. The trainz diag says everything passed. I got a warning about my video cards age. It says it has to be updated. My laptop seems to handle medium-high poly routes pretty well.
Click to expand...

You should not hijack other people's threads.

If you mean "update" the drivers, just go to the chip manufacturers website and look for "downloads".

tomurban
 
Well,Stupid me. I changed it to full screen and it works much better now. I never knew that Trainz has lower frame-rates running in a window.

Topic is now closed for posting. DO Not Post.
 
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