Regarding Frame Rate . . .
Hello,
For people with VERY large and complex routes on SP2 build 40040 and running in "compatible mode ON".
Things have changed a lot regarding "behind the scene" software operation in Trainz. The result is a far better FPS performance for the most part.
There is an "anti-crash safety" that is constantly working "behind the scene".
The first symptom, as usual, is the drop in frame rate, followed by reduced "draw distance". These visual cues will occur within the "complex" viewing distance from the current view point.
This is due to the drain on the your computing power due to the amount of 3D objects withing viewing distance. There is a "hard limit" of 2GB memory imposed by Microsoft for use by softwares working in 32bit environment. In TRS2006, reaching this limit caused the software features to stop working, freeze up or crash. In 2009, you can continue to work but the draw distance gets diminished and the frame rate drops significantly, but it won't crash.
Most people will not experience this, unless you are an "extreme" route builder like I am. In some areas on my route I get as high as 30FPS, but in some complex areas it drops to 4 or 5 FPS, which is unacceptable.
The "direction of view" is now more sensitive than ever. As an example, when I enter one of my main yard as I look down the yard, I get 7FPS. When I turn around and look 180 degrees the other way, I get 12 or 13 FPS. That is a difference of about 50% in FPS performance difference just by changing the direction of view.
There are "deadly" assets on DLS with regards to FPS performance. These are assets that were incorrectly built to start with or employed methods that are "resource robbing" when used in higher numbers. During the Beta test, these were identified as spline objects. The fixes to these spline objects are quite simple, individually. The problem is, due to the sheer number of splines that require "fixes", you can expect over 100 hours to fix them all on your computer.
I don't want to say exactly "how to fix" and "which to fix" since SP2 isn't officially out yet. But the time spent on these fixes is supposed to be well worth the effort. I'm sure the "official word" from Auran will accompany the "final official release of SP2" regarding asset "fixes". The problem is, with every new route you download, you will need to download more "deadly" assets for the route to run. All these "deadly" assets belong to "other authors" so none of us users are allowed to upload any of the "fixes" to the DLS or any other site without permission from the original author.
I am getting ready to go through my spline assets to do the "fixes". I don't know how much improvement I might see for performance increase on my particular route. I'm in contact with someone who spent over 200 hours doing the "fixes" to all of his spline assets. He downloads a fair amount of routes, and reports that in most cases he sees noticeable performance improvement.
I have to look at re-doing some of the areas where FPS drops below 10FPS. I thought my routes were near completion . . . NOT.:'( I'm looking at another 8 to 12 months before I can consider making my routes available.
