Trainz Plus Beta Mac Update - 122071

[n3v_laurence]

Thank you to all those who have been testing Trainz Plus Beta and your patience for the Mac update. We have an update to fix some of the issues found in the last build as implementation of new shader settings.

Due to new shader settings, you will be prompted with a Trainz Performance Configuration after the update.

Please report any bugs using this link: https://n3vgames.typeform.com/to/xRdryu


Key Features:

• New HD Grid resolution
• New Shader Options, Basic, Standard & Extreme
  • Basic is equivalent to old Standard
  • Standard is equivalent to old Ultra
• New Update Route option
• Clutter Effect Layer Rework
  • GPU Clutter
• New Color Tint Effect Layer
• New User Interfaces
• Water Effect Layers changes including options for water color

Change log from 121370 to 122071:

• New Shader settings
  • Basic: Basic (Former Standard settings) - Parallax and Displacement are disabled
  • Standard: (Former Ultra settings) Parallax and Displacement enabled (HD only) - Tessellation runs at reduced resolutions
  • Extreme - Parallax and Displacement enabled (HD only) - Tessellation runs at an enhanced resolution
• Water Effect Layer
  • Option to set Water Effect Layer color can be found in the Advanced Options of the Effect Layer
  • Multiple Water Effect Layers can be used, each with their own assigned colour.
• Performance Palette (debug feature)
  • Tool to view frame rate history over time. Green = Trainz Engine, Red = Overall time per frame
• Water Effect Layer Fixes - Rendering and Upgrade Route fixes
• Upgrade Route Fix - Resolve a freeze that was occurring in some routes
• Adjustments to Shader Settings - Improved visuals for HD terrain height details
• Tweaks to Terrain Height draw - Improved updates to terrain in distance when roaming
• Tweaks to Brush Radius sensitivity for better consistency
• Improvements to HD lossy compression with HD texture and scrapbook edits
• Update to Trainz Performance Configuration
• Shadow and Tessellation Improvements

HD Grid:

• 30km draw distance
• Tessellation ensuring detail up close, reduced detail in the distance
• Original textures used for mini-map/satellite view (No "Low LOD" textures)
• Maximum 16 textures per baseboard
• Minimum 0.125m Radius brush size
• No baseboard "walls" (extend your terrain indefinitely)
• Rotation and Scale options for HD Textures
• Scrapbook support should be good now (please report bugs with detailed steps)
• Lots of tweaks to parallax and displacement mapping
• "Add New Baseboard" option
• "Convert Existing Baseboard to..." option
• "Upgrade Route" option to automate conversion to HD
  • Converts legacy water to water effect layer (all water will appear 5m below ground surface)
  • Updates all baseboards to HD
  • Checks for the 16 most used textures on each board and replaces other textures with nearby textures (Automatic Handling)

Effect Layers:

• Color Effect Layer type added (S20 & HD Terrain Only)
• Rework and improvement of Clutter Effects
• Implementation of GPU Clutter for smoother performance
• Water Effect Layers now support color changes

User Interface Changes:

• New Driver Properties Window
• New Driver Settings, Driver location, Player Assignment, Dispatch Status, Command status, Activity log
• Vehicle Properties Window updated with new properties as per Driver
• New Driver MiniMap (found in Driver Properties Window)
• New Driver Palette for S20

Important Information:

• HD Terrain is only editable in S20
• HD Terrain does not support seamless joins to legacy terrain (so we recommend converting the entire route)
• HD Terrain is not compatible with Legacy Water
• Converting from HD Terrain to 5m & 10m will cause some loss of detail
• Large Copy & Paste operations do not support HD detail
• Color Effect requires a minimum 5m radius
• Use Sensitivity % to adjust the rate of update when painting/terraforming
• New Detail windows and logs
• Asset naming (previously done via properties) has been moved to Info Palette

Known Issues:

• High resource usage on HD routes
• Assertion Errors are enabled for this build. Trainz will pause until Assertion Errors are closed. Users can select Continue and Ignore Errors. (Reporting when these occur with bugs will help with troubleshooting)
• DLC packages will report a failure to download precache data. Clicking retry will ignore the error and proceed to complete installation
• DLC Packages will report a precache assertion error during database rebuild. Select Continue and Ignore Errors
• MPS is unsupported for this build
• Water Effect Layer does not work with color from skybox, but instead has its own color options, now allowing for different water colors for each individual Water Effect Layer
• Potential Deadlock when using Bulk Replace
• Driver Properties window not correctly updating
• Dark Mode causes property boxes to become illegible

REMINDER:
** Please ensure you have a backup of your local data folder before using it with Trainz Plus Beta **


INSTALLING & PATCHING:
For Trainz Plus Beta via the Trainz Plus Beta Stream

Mac Trainz Store Only:
Requires build 121370 (Mac). This is a small patch 100 MiB for build 122071


This build introduces several new key features coming to Trainz Plus in 2023. Please note this is a Beta release and as such, some features are still in the final phase of development.

 

[Sanek17]

So I'll update soon and wait for Steam)))

 

[capdiamont]

Installed quickly as it is small.

Trainz Performance Configuration popped up, with nothing indicate which performance standard to choose as they are still Windows examples. Can we please have some Mac examples? It has been my complaint for a bit now. Are we supposed to stop, look up the windows examples to try to figure out which performance option to hit? I choose high, as that is what I normally used, and sometimes used ultra. While the shader settings are different, I figured Performance Configuration would give me equivalent. No, it put some settings at ultra, and shader at standard, which is the new ultra. What settings do I change to get the same equivalent performance as the old high? I ask as I benchmark it to figure out if there is performance problems between versions. Does this mean Trainz will take better advantage of higher end Macs now?

Off to play around more.

I had to reduce settings a bit more, to get somewhat equivalent frame rates.

Previous beta settings:
Shadow Quality: high
Main Shadow Resolution: 2048
Shader quality: standard
Texture detail: normal
Post processing: high
Water quality: high
Detail scenery: clutter only
Antialiasing: 4x
Use PhysX simulation: unchecked
process objects behind camera: checked

New settings:

Shadow Quality: medium
Main Shadow Resolution: No longer available
Shader quality: basic
Texture detail: normal
Post processing: low
Water quality: high
Detail scenery: clutter only
Antialiasing: 4x
Use PhysX simulation: unchecked
process objects behind camera: checked

Please understand, I am not complaining about the need to change the settings, just it needs to be more blunt that your settings will have to downgrade, that there is no Mac examples to guide users, and there is no help on choosing settings. Will there be performance improvements?

For my setup M1 Mac mini with external hard drive and this build I recommend starting with Medium settings, and bump up performance settings from there. I did that and bumped up water quality to high without much effect. I'm getting 34-59 fps and Kickstarter Country, Fossil Fuels session, for the first leg.

I had repointed my directory to a new, empty so I can try the config again. That meant redownloading the KickStarter Country. This meant, the I ran in to errors on installing that route. Not a big deal, if the error dialog box would have popped up in front of everything, instead of behind and thus hidden. Instead it stalled, waiting for me to do something.

Changes to compression, changed file format. When will file formats be finalized enough to try building something on them?

 

[jaur1]

Clutter and turfx are nov available in Mac??

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

Clutter yes, turfs no. Copy paste error I suspect.

 

[jaur1]

I thought so..are there any plans to bring this feature in Mac on the way?

 

[majortom100967]

@capdiamont

I have no numbers with me because I know the "after" but I don't know the "before" as my settings are for 60fps (@4K). I just can say that in route Nidderbahntal's AVMZ 9771 Intercity is 60fps both with Basic and Standard Shaders but in the Milwakee Transcontinental Westbound fps dropped from >=60fps to 42 with Basic Shaders and 30 with Standard Shaders. Therefore, as by now (no or little code refinement, AFAIK) impact on frame rate is visible depending on routes.

My settings:
Shadow Quality: high
Shader quality: basic/standard as discussed
Texture detail: high
Post processing: high
Water quality: high
Detail scenery: clutter only
Antialiasing: 4x
Use PhysX simulation: unchecked
Process objects behind camera: unchecked

 

[capdiamont]

I don’t think we can do a comparison between the versions using FPS. I think each level, while the name is the same, each level does a a higher amount of processing. What was called Ultra in the previous versions, is now called High.

 

[majortom100967]

I don’t think we can do a comparison between the versions using FPS. I think each level, while the name is the same, each level does a a higher amount of processing. What was called Ultra in the previous versions, is now called High.

Then which parameter should we use to monitor performance in a game?

 

[capdiamont]

The problem is what the settings do, is different from the previous version. Unless we know how to set the settings equivalent to the previous version, FPS is meaningless between this version and the previous version. Settings of high in this version gives the equivalent of ultra in the previous version, I think.

 

[majortom100967]

The problem is what the settings do, is different from the previous version. Unless we know how to set the settings equivalent to the previous version, FPS is meaningless between this version and the previous version. Settings of high in this version gives the equivalent of ultra in the previous version, I think.

Ok, I may be misunderstanding your thoughts because I'm not English mothertongue but my question is still the same: how do you measure the impact of a change of one or more parameters if not monitoring the changes in frame rate? In visual impact? This is subjective, frame rate isn't.

 

[capdiamont]

Normally FPS is the best we can do and works well. The problem is only between this version and the previous version. The next version is probably fine to compare FPS with this version, unless there is a large change in settings again. I have no idea how to compare this version with the previous version as I think the settings changes are too different.

 

[majortom100967]

Normally FPS is the best we can do and works well. The problem is only between this version and the previous version. The next version is probably fine to compare FPS with this version, unless there is a large change in settings again. I have no idea how to compare this version with the previous version as I think the settings changes are too different.

I do agree but I personally wouldn't get to much into numbers or options matter especially when hd terrain is in beta and when the overall gaming experience is what really counts. Just an example: what matters to me hd or non hd terrain when my preferred routes are the high speeds such as the French TGV or the Italian Frecciarossa WHERE EVERY SECOND COUNTS and neither are available here?