Recommended System Requirements

[bmheron]

So I was so excited to buy Trainz 12 a few months ago I didnt pay attention to the system requirements. Didnt expect such powerful specs to be needed to run it. My fault.

Anyway, I cant play the game but am always checkout out deals on new PCs/Laptops. My questions are around some of the specs recommended specs, specifically:

• Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8800 (or equiv) - this seems to be a bit old by now. What kinds of newer cards do I need?
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c or compatible Sound Card - how important is this?
• DirectX 9.0c - I can upgrade to this? Or is this a permanent component somewhere?

Eventually I will have the cash to buy a new computer and want to make sure I get the right one.

 

[shaneturner12]

My advice on it is:

Graphics - the one mentioned is the minimum - any newer ones are good for it.
Sound - Trainz 12 makes use of sound quite a bit.
DirectX - I have a sticky thread on this in this forum.

Shane

 

[RRSignal]

Check out the Parts and Labour forum as that's where hardware questions are answered; quite a few people have posted specs of recent builds. Long story short, an i5, nVidia 550Ti and 4Gb of memory represent a low-cost, yet high-performance system. You can go up a bit on the GPU, but Trainz can only use a maximum of 4Gb memory, and you'll find it's hard-pressed to use much more than 2. Trainz is a DX9 game, so there is no benefit to having DX10 or DX11 capability. Also, you don't need a separate sound card; modern motherboards have pretty good sound built in, and I don't believe discrete cards provide any real benefit.

 

[bmheron]

thanks so much. LOL - I had no idea there was a specific forum on this! Already went over and its just the discussions and info I'm looking for. thanks!

 

[RRSignal]

thanks so much. LOL - I had no idea there was a specific forum on this! Already went over and its just the discussions and info I'm looking for. thanks!

No problem. As a general rule, avoid laptops; you pay dearly for portability both money and performance limitations. Don't get me wrong, there are gaming-grade laptops available, but they're extremely expensive, and very limited compared to desktops. HTH.

 

[maruffijd]

As a general rule, avoid laptops; you pay dearly for portability both money and performance limitations. Don't get me wrong, there are gaming-grade laptops available, but they're extremely expensive, and very limited compared to desktops. HTH.

As someone who has a gaming laptop, this is very true. I did pay out the (HEE-HAW!!!) for it, and it handles TS12 like a champ, though it still pales in comparison to my desktop.