Updates from Trainz Dev. 22-09-2015
First I want to say I apologise for not having more information sooner, but we've all been busy with the previous test builds. If any of you have been reading the forum there, you'll see questions. With more, and more, and more questions about LOD, polycounts, big textures, and large models. I can't go into details on this, because I can't explain it well enough since I can't understand it well enough to give a good answer!

The gist is the big models need to be broken up rather than making gigantically huge ones, which worked in TS12 and below but caused awful performance.
When we thought this had quieted down, the subject was brought back up again by our dear form-mate and developer GeoPhil (Roland Ziegler), creator of the famous TransDEM. He brought up some questions on performance issues with his 3d UTM tiles. I've never used these so I can't comment on them. In the end he has to fiddle with stuff and he's working on it, which is what I understand of it.
More recently, however, we have received some newer builds to test. These have not been the best with a number of issues including some crashes, missing content, and other things. A more recent build was sent out the other day to replace a previous one, which was worse. The more recent build took care of some blank menus and some script errors on the menus in T:ANE itself. The performance is stable, but not spectacular as things are being tested in here. I got a bit better framerates in the Hinton division, and the overall lighting and performance is smoother. Zooming out to the map, however is sticky and it looked like the program hung but it came back to life. We will continue to test this build, and report back what we find.
Remember these are all tests of various bits of code. This is not beta and does not represent a full future version. I say this because many people have assumed we are working on the Hotfix beta. We are not, we are not even in the same group, unless some are and aren't saying anything. Like everyone else, we are anxiously awaiting the release of the Hotfix as that resolves the big crashes we are all aware of, and introduces other performance improvements which we did see in testing earlier code.
So yes, in some ways we are part of that Hotfix process, but not directly, and so long before anything could ever be considered a Hotfix or patch. The analogy I've used often is we're mere lab technicians testing vials of fluids and stuff (the program), and we never know whether this will be good or bad, or if any of it will be used in the future. In this case parts did make it across from one desk to another in the form of bits and pieces into the Hotfix, but outside of the early testing, we have not seen it or tested it yet.
Regarding the hot fix its self. The good news is the Hotfix is being tested and tested thoroughly. It's better to have a fully tested patch than one that breaks other things when installed. Anyone remember TRS2004, or more recently SP1 for TS12? So as anxious as we are for the patch, I feel it's best to let it be the one and all rather than one of many in a week to fix the previous hotfix which broke something else.
This is the news for now, and I'm sure the other members can clarify things a bit more on the LOD, which my head spins when I think about it, and other things including their thoughts on the new test builds.
As always post your questions or PM me with questions you want answered in the Trainz Dev forum and I will pass these over the wall.
John