Sudden TS12 performance drop?

[epa]

I have encountered a sudden performance drop in TS12, mostly when using newer JointedRail locomotives (BNSF and CNW Dash 9's to be more precise). They used to work smoothly, but I started TS12 today and ran them, and the game suddenly slowed to almost only 1 FPS! And this was on one of my least detailed routes! This has never happened before and I'm not really sure why it's happening. When I start TS12, I close all other running programs, and in most cases even close a few things on the system tray, and I even go to the point where I end a few services, yet the game still crawls where it used to fly. I am running TS12 build 49922 (I haven't upgraded to SP1, and I have no plans to). I'm on a fairly low spec laptop with the following specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium (x86)
ATI Radeon Graphics (not sure what card)
AMD Turion X2 2.10 GHz
4 GB RAM (3.75 usable)
3.9 Windows Experience Index
DirectX 9/10/11

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[JCitron]

It sounds like you are trying the right things to make it work and keep the performance where it should be.

Have you checked for malware?

What is the temperature inside your PC? It is summer (well almost) and it's a bit warmer now.

You don't say what kind of hard drive or the size, but if it's NOT an SSD have you defragged recently?

Have you cleaned your fans?

Updated any drivers? Sometimes an update is worse than the previous one. I found that out the hard way years ago. Just a few things off the top of my head.

John

 

[epa]

It sounds like you are trying the right things to make it work and keep the performance where it should be.

Have you checked for malware?

What is the temperature inside your PC? It is summer (well almost) and it's a bit warmer now.

You don't say what kind of hard drive or the size, but if it's NOT an SSD have you defragged recently?

Have you cleaned your fans?

Updated any drivers? Sometimes an update is worse than the previous one. I found that out the hard way years ago. Just a few things off the top of my head.

John

I have not checked for malware (thanks for reminding me, my Anti-Virus is expired!) but I will do that.
I haven't checked heat on it, but I have some canned air. Haven't defragged the drive, but it's a 500GB, I think a SATA.
It does start feeling very warm after a while, but has never overheated. All my drivers are up to date. Thanks for the help, John. I will try these out. Right at this moment, I'm attempting to fix some assets for SP1 (I have 3200+ that need thumbnails *faints*).

-Matt

EDIT: I have TS12 installed on a Toshiba external hard drive, which is also 500 GB.

 

[fran1]

Check your system has not changed itself from dx to openGL or vice versa, also your running at your screens native resolution.

 

[epa]

Check your system has not changed itself from dx to openGL or vice versa, also your running at your screens native resolution.

It's running in DirectX mode, as it crashes in OpenGL mode. The game is running at 1366x768, which is the native resolution.

-Matt

 

[epa]

John, I took your advice, still didn't upgrade to SP1, and performance has greatly increased, so thanks for that, but performance still nose-dives when I use JointedRail's Dash 9's. Any solution to that?

-Matt

 

[shaneturner12]

That may be due to script-related issues. Check the Jetlog.txt file in the Trainz installation folder for any errors relating to textures or script errors.

Shane

 

[epa]

That may be due to script-related issues. Check the Jetlog.txt file in the Trainz installation folder for any errors relating to textures or script errors.

Shane

Shane, there appears to be nothing in the JetLog except for the word "Begin". Maybe the locomotives are just too much for this lil' ol' laptop and I just wasted $36 on locomotives that I can't run...

 

[shaneturner12]

As it's JR locomotives, have you made sure you've got the latest version of the Train FX library? If you haven't, get hold of it.

Shane

 

[epa]

As it's JR locomotives, have you made sure you've got the latest version of the Train FX library? If you haven't, get hold of it.

Shane

I do have the latest update. It's still stumping me that just a few days ago these locomotives were running fine and now they really drag the FPS down.

 

[shaneturner12]

It may be worth making sure they haven't become faulty for some reason in Content Manager.

Shane

 

[epa]

It may be worth making sure they haven't become faulty for some reason in Content Manager.

Shane

No errors and no warnings. I haven't installed SP1 yet. Would that have anything to do with it?

 

[shaneturner12]

That may affect it, especially as JR released SP1-related updates for their assets.

Shane

 

[epa]

That may affect it, especially as JR released SP1-related updates for their assets.

Shane

Well if that's the case, I'm waiting until morning before I start updating to SP1. I'm too tired to deal with it tonight.
But if it matters, the game normally runs about 25-35 FPS. Soon as a JR Dash 9 comes into view, it drops to about 1-3 FPS.
Does SP1 contain performance fixes?

 

[shaneturner12]

There are several fixes as well as bugs in TS12 SP1 - I'd advise reading my TS12 SP1 bugs thread in the TS12 forum first though before patching.

It may also be worth asking JR about the issues you've encountered, as it may be something specific to those assets.

Shane

 

[JCitron]

If this is happening "all of a sudden" then this is a technical problem and not the content. Is there a way to take the bottom off the laptop and blow the dust out completely? The graphics processor has a heat pipe over it which maybe clogged with dust. You blowing out the fan only cleaned part of the path.

I had a similar laptop, also a Toshiba, that used to cook and one day it turned off completely. I had to remove the bottom and clean the dust out. Shame on me for not being attentive, but after that it worked fine for a few more years before it was retired due to age. It was still functional and I gave it to my 12 year old nephew for his games. He's still using it today.

John

 

[epa]

If this is happening "all of a sudden" then this is a technical problem and not the content. Is there a way to take the bottom off the laptop and blow the dust out completely? The graphics processor has a heat pipe over it which maybe clogged with dust. You blowing out the fan only cleaned part of the path.

I had a similar laptop, also a Toshiba, that used to cook and one day it turned off completely. I had to remove the bottom and clean the dust out. Shame on me for not being attentive, but after that it worked fine for a few more years before it was retired due to age. It was still functional and I gave it to my 12 year old nephew for his games. He's still using it today.

John

Wait... How did you know my laptop's a Toshiba?

Anywho, that happened to this laptop once before. After it died I put it in a box and set it in the basement. A year later, I dug it up again and it fired right up.