Performance issues, what is the cause?

[gremlin1812]

G'day, We have been told that trainz performance is affected by inefficient assets and the important statistic is "worst buffer count" but in these shots 16 is the worst, but, this area has the worst performance in the route.

So what is the cause of poor performance here? Ok it is a yard area therefore a lot of track but that alone cannot be the reason, the rest of the route is quite good with performance, with similar statistics throughout. The assets "<kuid2:342053:37233:1> is DS Fence Wire Mesh 01 and <kuid:354694:8960884> is V_rail_beton_1435_leto" one a fence mesh the other track, so obviously it takes meshes into account so if they are the worst what is the problem.
My PC stats are:-

Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Card name: GeForce GTX 680 directcu 11 oc
Dedicated Memory: 1994 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
HDD: Samsung SSD series840 500GB
Regards
Barrie

 

[fran1]

The only thing about shot 1 is 43 speed tree types, shot2, 3, 4-19 or 20. Shot 5-30.
Shots 1 and 5, tni memory usage 39 and 31 which is a lot higher than 2-4.
I've no idea what the tni thing is.
I'd say shots 1 + 5 give you worst performance, so I'd thin the trees out.
All guesswork by the way.

 

[gawpo50]

G'day, We have been told that trainz performance is affected by inefficient assets and the important statistic is "worst buffer count" but in these shots 16 is the worst, but, this area has the worst performance in the route.

So what is the cause of poor performance here? Ok it is a yard area therefore a lot of track but that alone cannot be the reason, the rest of the route is quite good with performance, with similar statistics throughout. The assets "<kuid2:342053:37233:1> is DS Fence Wire Mesh 01 and <kuid:354694:8960884> is V_rail_beton_1435_leto" one a fence mesh the other track, so obviously it takes meshes into account so if they are the worst what is the problem.
My PC stats are:-

Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Card name: GeForce GTX 680 directcu 11 oc
Dedicated Memory: 1994 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
HDD: Samsung SSD series840 500GB
Regards
Barrie

First things first, looking through each of your shots from top to bottom, it is the middle one with the worst stats although generally speaking, they are all bad, just the middle one is the worst. To explain further:

1. The track is a very in-efficient track, try different types and compare the worst buffer and worst index figures. Find one you like with the least amount for both of these numbers.
2. Have a look at your scene load in the middle shot, it is at 86.82% which is pretty high. This is a combination of all assets in the scene, I would start looking for assets with a high poly count and or no LOD for starters.
3. Too many speedtree types. When I do routes, I try to keep the amount of speedtree types to between 12 and 15 individual types.
4. Your material requests are quite high also. Items that are repeated which have many separate textures can cause this.

You basically have to hunt down the offending areas, a long drawn out process. There is probably no easy way. As for the speedtrees, you could try cutting the number of types using 'Replace Assets' from the menu in surveyor. Example, take two or three trees that look closely similar in appearance and substitute only one type for all three. Keep doing this until you get down to around 15 types, making sure you save after each change, also it can take a considerable time to do the replacement so you probably require quite a few coffees or something. After that change track type for a more efficient track. See what all that does to your FPS and stats figures.

Hope that helps a little for you.

Regards
Peter

 

[gremlin1812]

G'day fran1 and Peter, thank you for the reply's, it would be nice to know what these statistics mean and what there range should be.
N3V seem to believe that a "worst buffer count" should be below 100 but this surly blows that theory out of the water.
I assume that "scene load"is the amount of resources being taken up by the scene.
Regards
Barrie

 

[fran1]

"worst buffer count" should be below 100 but this surly blows that theory out of the water.

That is where you start, getting it below 100 or as low as possible. If still laggy you look elsewhere, the number of speed trees you have for eg. If still laggy look for " high poly count and or no LOD for starters." quote gawpo, .

Certain splines be they grass, telegraphs or fences can drag fps down. Issue is finding them.

 

[clam1952]

Scene load, that's affected by everything you add to a route be it SpeedTrees or assets, track etc, starts causing issues here at about 85% aim to keep it as low as possible, not easy if you want a realistically detailed route.

 

[gremlin1812]

G'day All, thanks for the reply's, I was hoping for an easy fix as this is not my route. To change track would probably be a nightmare as it has animated points/switches/junctions but could probably do something with the trees. I will clone the route and see how I go, is changing track like anything else using the replace tool?
Regards
Barrie

 

[fran1]

"is changing track like anything else using the replace tool?"

Yes with build 49922, not tried it with build 61388 yet.

 

[BobCass]

Yes It works just fine 61388..I like to dump my Ram if I am working on my route or I feel it necessary..It helps my frame rate..You also have to think about what your camera Is seeing..Swing the camera slower..Reset your sliders..I have trouble in surveyor, skipping and freezing..But it seems to run OK when in Driver..I like to change from Direct X to Open GL , this has a tendency to help..Happy Trainzing..