How to make Trainz run more smoothly

[clack45]

How to make a PC game run more smoothly.
This is exactly how it appeared in the Subsim.com forum.


THIS APPLIES TO WINDOWS XP


Here's a trick I do to help performance when I play a game thats a little too intense for my system:
Windows XP;
Start>Run>MSCONFIG
Pick Selective Startup and uncheck:
Process SYSTEM.INI file
Process WIN.INI file
Load Startup Items
(Leave Load System Services checked please.)
Switch to the Services Tab and mark the box that says:
Hide All Microsoft Services
Click Disable All
(Note: this will attempt to stop all running services, I disconnect my network cable so no Internet access. Not a good solution for Multiplayer, but OK for single.)
Click OK and the system will ask you to restart. The computer will restart without all the other “Stuff”, just what is needed to make your computer function, and the game should smooth out a bit for you.
After the reboot you'll see a message that you're running in Maintenance mode or something to that effect;
Ok it, and close the MSCONFIG menu without changing anything: enjoy SH4/SH3 etc {Run your game}


Undo: Run MSCONFIG again as above, and select Normal Startup – Load all device drivers and services.
Reboot, and you're back to “normal”.
Hope this eases some of the pain, works great for my setup, was a MUST for Oblivion with all the mods.


Ichi....

Clack45:
This worked incredibly smoothly for me, applied to two different games I use.
Stopped vitually all the stuttering.
I accept no responsibility for any faults it may cause on your particular system.
Its a very simple thing to do, and only takes a minute or two to follow through.

 

[manjoe]

Hello All............

Being the computer illiterate that I am, I will be awaiting feedback on this!!!! TRS2004 is running smoothly, and I am "AFFEARED" of blowing it up !!! But I am willing to go the extra mile to fine-tune it.........Thanks for the suggestion.............:wave:

 

[Tokkyu40]

Hello All............

Being the computer illiterate that I am, I will be awaiting feedback on this!!!! TRS2004 is running smoothly, and I am "AFFEARED" of blowing it up !!! But I am willing to go the extra mile to fine-tune it.........Thanks for the suggestion.............:wave:

Being computer illiterate myself, my feedback is don't monkey with the internal workings if you don't know what you're doing. It's an enriching experience (for the computer tech who fixes your mistakes) but very frustrating for you.
Personally, I just push the magic button, wait for the window thing to start glowing, then push the other button for the cup holder, put one of those fancy silver drink coasters in it and push it in. When the game starts, I thank the nice people who did the hard stuff so I could use the magic box without knowing what's going on inside.

Claude

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Hi,

The only problem is that by checking the box that says Hide All Microsoft Services you are actually missing out on the most services that use memory. Seriously, you will probably only see about 3 services in the list after checking that box and one of them just happens to be a Display Driver Service for your graphics.

I have gone through my Services manually and shut down all that I can, any more and I will probably run into problems, I have 14 processes running at startup, this drops windows down to only using about 140MB of memory.

I think if I try to shut any more down, windows will not like me...

 

[seward]

I would have thought that doing this could just possibly be a little dangerous? Simplest (but obviously not the cheapest) would be to buy some extra memory?

 

[manjoe]

Claude stated........

Being computer illiterate myself, my feedback is don't monkey with the internal workings if you don't know what you're doing. It's an enriching experience (for the computer tech who fixes your mistakes) but very frustrating for you.
Personally, I just push the magic button, wait for the window thing to start glowing, then push the other button for the cup holder, put one of those fancy silver drink coasters in it and push it in. When the game starts, I thank the nice people who did the hard stuff so I could use the magic box without knowing what's going on inside.

Claude

Hello Claude..........You and I are in complete agreement. When I click on CONFIGURE TRAINZ, and then add and subtract options in TRAINZOPTIONS, I have already exhausted the scope of my computer knowledge. I, too, hope that the fine developers and programmers take the time to get it right so that all I should have to do is get me a drink and push the start-up button. :hehe:

 

[wreeder]

OK, I get paid to do this for a living so I guess I should comment. If you follow the directions as written you should not do any damage that would keep your machine from booting and therefore you can undo what you did safely. Leaving the Microsoft services alone is the key to that. Of course, it is true that depending on your computer setup you may not see much of an improvement either. If you have lots of little icons down in the corner by the clock then you will see a difference. If you don't than you might not. If you bought your computer pre-loaded from a company like Dell, Gateway, HP or someone else. Chances are that there are many unneeded programs running in the background. The problem is that this method is dated and many programs now are started in ways that can't be turned off using this method. The better way is a free program from Microsoft called "Autorun". Go to Microsoft.com and search in the download section for it. BUT THIS PROGRAM CAN STOP YOUR COMPUTER FROM BOOTING IF NOT USED CORRECTLY! So that being said, in the right hands it can ferret out even the hardest to find programs and stop them. Use it at your own risk.

William

 

[john259]

If anyone wishes to delve deeper, Pacs-Portal has a large amount of useful information about Windows start-up applications, including methods of listing them, methods of disabling them and a huge list with advice as to whether each is needed or not. However, if you don't feel confident making these kinds of changes - and sorting out any problems which could occur as a result - then my advice is to look by all means but don't modify anything.

It might also be worth mentioning that if a computer starts responding slowly for no reason, run a full anti-virus and anti-spyware scan using up-to-date signature files as it might have got a infection by some malicious software.

John

 

[sethmcs]

Here is What I do.....

To be free of unwanted backround programs I hit Alt+Ctrl+Delete. Goto process tab and end any unwanted process. You can actually see how much more memory is available as you shut down unwanted processes. Windows needs some of these processes so only end ones that you know are associated with programs you don't want to run.

btw if you end a critical process by accident the worst I have experienced is having to reboot the machine.

PS when shuting off spyware and virus scanners I disconnect the internet.

Hope this helps