Trainz 12 Still Lagging Despite More Than Decent PC

sfrr

Bankruptcy Blue
I'll start with specs:

CPU: Intel i7-870 Quad Core
GPU: 2x EVGA GTX480 (In SLI)
RAM: 12GB Corsair DDR3 1600
SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 512GB
MOBO: EVGA P55 SLI
PSU: Corsair 850HW

I know this is more than enough to run this game at max settings. I have them at low detail but high draw distance when running in Surveyor but I am still getting pretty bad lag spikes. Does anyone know what may be attributed to this? I'd appreciate any information or tips you could throw my way. It will lag regardless of the amount of detail or base boards.

Thanks again, glad to have the Trainz bug back.

Mike.
 
Hi Mike,
i7-870 runs at about 2.9 GHz, and I believe TS12 doesn't have support for multicore processors, effectively its not much better than running it on a single core CPU at 2.9GHz. Saying that, your CPU doesn't quite match up to a Core i5-2500K performance wise. Additionally your graphics, which were the top card back then, are pretty dated now as well (graphic architecture has come along way in 5 Yrs). 1600MHz memory is pretty standard these days also. Sorry, your computer just isn't "more than decent" anymore, but more like "just above average". I had an i7 860 overclocked to 3.2GHz and still found it ran like a dog in TS12 SP1 with similar symptoms to what you are experiencing. I upgraded to an i7 3770K and overclocked it to 4.1GHz, TS12 is running 99% smooth with just the occasional little stutter (on a large layout). I put it down to the game, its just how TS12 runs and no matter what you throw at it, it wont fix it 100% in my opinion.

Personally, I think you may have better luck running TANE, it seems to be more CPU friendly, works with multicore cpu's and although I haven't heard how it handles graphics in SLI, I wouldn't mind betting it would run better. I still have my 860 about with a GTX660 card in it and intend to try TANE sometime on it to see how it goes.

Good luck there, Ive been where you have and its very frustrating, I also thought my 860 was the ducks nuts and with most things it still performed fine, but for TS12, it just didn't have enough GHz on a single core.

Just my opinion based on my experience.
Cheers
Ian
 
iannz, I'd say my system is a bit more above average, yes technically the hardware is a bit dated but other games I am able to max out settings and play them on ultra (BF3, BF4, Batman Arkham City, War Thunder, etc...). There is a reason I haven't upgraded as I haven't needed to. This system will be good for probably 3-4 more years before I have to retire it. I was not aware that Trainz 12 could not recognize a multicore processor and utilize all cores. This is a bummer for sure. i7 is currently OC'd at 4.3ghz by the way. Not sure how I fell about TANE but we will see how it goes. Is any of my content (Locomotives, Rolling stock, etc...) going to be able to be used in TANE? I haven't been following it much. Thanks.
 
Mike,

Try disabling the SLI. This is known to drag down performance as TS12 is not compatible with it. I still have my old GTX480s and use them in some older systems. They were great cards and still are, but they do run hot like radiators. NVidia has since gotten much better in that department should you ever upgrade as you won't need to open the windows on a winter day. :)

John
 
Mike,

Try disabling the SLI. This is known to drag down performance as TS12 is not compatible with it. I still have my old GTX480s and use them in some older systems. They were great cards and still are, but they do run hot like radiators. NVidia has since gotten much better in that department should you ever upgrade as you won't need to open the windows on a winter day. :)

John

Thanks for the tip. I'll disable SLI and throw the second one into Physx. Hopefully this helps.
 
Thanks for the tip. I'll disable SLI and throw the second one into Physx. Hopefully this helps.

This might help quite a bit for you. I had an old dual GTX200; the one with a PhysX GPU and a video GPU. It worked pretty well with TS12 until the video card died and was replaced under warranty with my GTX480.

John
 
Mike, getting back to TANE a little, I just have my old 860 out to update the Windows 10 release on it and installed the latest TANE beta I have. I am very surprised at how well it performs. Without adjusting any performance settings Around 32 to 40 fps on the Healesville layout and 10 to 21 fps (mostly around 14) on the heavier C & O Hinton layout. Graphics (GTX 660) is 99% but CPU is hardly breaking a sweat. Very surprised at how smooth it looked at 1920x1080 windowed and full screen.
Specs: CPU i7 860 (@2.8GHz), 16Gb RAM DDR3 1333, Gigabyte GTX 660, Windows 10.
Just ran the C & O Hinton run on my good machine and its getting 18 to 22 fps (max performance settings), once again pushing the GPU to 99% (GTX 670). Looks like TANE will push any graphics card it can to its max, but as far as CPU goes, very easy on it. Early days as far as TANE goes yet, but in my opinion, definitely worth considering.
I cant really answer about content, more and more content is being updated almost daily it seems, there is a fairly good chance whatever content you are using will work in TANE I think. I know on my layout, I had to update some textures and a few other bits that were missing, but over all, the work involved and the improvements gained have been worth it in my opinion.
Cheers
Ian
 
Another big difference that is helping a ton in Tane is it is a 64bit program. All previous Trainz programs were 32bit and were restricted on memory usage.
 
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