Trainz Update Announcement (SP6)

[ColPrice2002]

Hi,

For the Gurus out there, I've checked my versions and I have 2002 PE still at 126273. There doesn't appear to be a patch for this version? So I try the one from the 2022 standard version?

Cheers,
Colin

 

[pware]

I've checked my versions and I have 2002 PE still at 126273. There doesn't appear to be a patch for this version?

I am assuming that you have checked for Trainz Upgrades in the Trainz Launcher / Install tab? Also check that you are not on the beta stream in the same location.

Build 126273 is Retail TRS22 SP4 (Windows). I could not find a Retail SP4 build for TRS22PE (Windows) so I am assuming it is the same as the TRS22 SP4 (Windows). There should have been an update to take it to Build 128487 Retail TRS22 SP5 (Windows) and then to Build 129335 Retail TRS22 SP5 HF/TRS22 PE (Windows). From there a final update should take it to Build 131965 Retail TRS22 SP6/TRS22 PE (Windows). Unless, of course, N3V released a single update from Build 126273 to Build 131965.

 

[paulper]

Downloaded and installed. Some assets labelled "Unknown Location" or "Third Party". On loading into Surveyor there was a noticeable number of "missing asset" cubes scattered around the layout - not all seemed to be related to those listed as missing. As per my usual practice, I deleted all missing assets.

Yes, issues in rendering distant objects.

I did some experimenting with the following observations.

• Saving the Route (with a new name) upgraded it from build 4.5 to 5.6. Reloading the upgrade made a noticeable difference. Still not perfect.
• I noticed that the route contains a huge number of billboard trees including many tree splines. Perhaps the "(Updated)" in the route title indicates a very early origin?
• Deleted (via the Disable option in CM) all the tree splines. Another significant improvement in performance. Almost no rendering issues.
• I replaced (via the Bulk Replace option in Surveyor) as many of the billboard trees with their PlantFactory equivalents (or "close-enoughs") as I could - I didn't get them all because some of the billboard trees had no PF equivalents.

The end result, in both Surveyor and Driver, was the elimination of the rendering issues.

Now I know that this is not the solution for everyone but it does illustrate a point that posters have made over the years about the continued use of legacy assets (in this case billboard trees and tree splines) in the latest Trainz versions. They are clearly a drain on system performance.

In my own routes I have not seen any issues after the update.

I've followed your steps and can report that the issues remain, albeit the re-drawing of assets is perhaps less frequent.

EDIT: I would add that for my own route (also problematic), the best performance uplift I've seen under SP6 was after disabling the assets that were version 4.0 to 4.9, not necessarily indicating that the oldest assets are the problem.

 

[wreeder]

The last two updates for TRS22 PE have both been on the TRS22 Beta Stream for some reason. My TRS22 PE SP5 is offing me this update. I'm holding off for the moment as TRS 22 PE is the main version of Trainz I use. I did the same with the SP5 update as well.

 

[pware]

New "lods system" makes object blink in 800 meters instead of complete revealing or disappearing. Some rules stopped working and plenty of other issues.
I can see such feedback through many channels.

What can I say. I can only go by what I am seeing on my systems plus the posters here who are also saying that they are having no problems with SP6. This does not say that you and other posters are not having problems. So what is the cause?

In one case that I investigated the cause of that users problems was a very old route that used a huge number of tree splines and billboard trees. The problems were fixed by deleting the old legacy tree splines and replacing the billboard trees with PlantFactory equivalents (where they were available). That was just one case. I recently experienced a sudden and severe drop in frame rates on my current project route after updating to SP6 on one machine but the same drop was also happening when the route was on the machines running SP5 so the update was not the cause. It was a small grass asset that I had added to a scrapbook and had painted almost everywhere using the scrapbook brush - the asset had a file size of over 1MB and was clearly overloading the rendering engine. Removing the asset from the route and scrapbook fixed the problem. Some, but clearly not all, of these issues are caused by external factors.

Submitted bug reports, exchanged emails with QA, but what was the point? The RC build was released without change.

I have also experienced that. I submitted a bug report, got confirmation that it was a bug and that it had been passed on to the devs. A few weeks later I received another communication informing me that the bug had been resolved but that the "fix" was too late to be included in the next SP update. It was in the following SP update. You cannot simply make sudden changes to an update to fix an error just prior to its release without risking the change causing other issues. That is standard practice and is fully understandable.

I don't understand the groans about people not submitting bug reports when those that do don't appear to have made a difference.

How do you or they know that the reports make no difference?

There have been bug reports that I have submitted that have never received a human response, others that have, seemingly, been "lost" in the system but eventually surfaced in a new release where the bug was fixed (was it my report that did it? Who knows and who cares? The fix was made). Just because you don't get an immediate response or the problem is not fixed the next morning (as some posters seem to think should happen) is no reason to give up. My personal record was two complete versions from TRS12 to TRS19 before a bug I reported was eventually fixed - it seems that I was the only one who reported it and my post about it in these forums still has zero responses (the last time I looked).

 

[paulper]

What can I say. I can only go by what I am seeing on my systems plus the posters here who are also saying that they are having no problems with SP6. This does not say that you and other posters are not having problems. So what is the cause?

In one case that I investigated the cause of that users problems was a very old route that used a huge number of tree splines and billboard trees. The problems were fixed by deleting the old legacy tree splines and replacing the billboard trees with PlantFactory equivalents (where they were available). That was just one case. I recently experienced a sudden and severe drop in frame rates on my current project route after updating to SP6 on one machine but the same drop was also happening when the route was on the machines running SP5 so the update was not the cause. It was a small grass asset that I had added to a scrapbook and had painted almost everywhere using the scrapbook brush - the asset had a file size of over 1MB and was clearly overloading the rendering engine. Removing the asset from the route and scrapbook fixed the problem. Some, but clearly not all, of these issues are caused by external factors.


I have also experienced that. I submitted a bug report, got confirmation that it was a bug and that it had been passed on to the devs. A few weeks later I received another communication informing me that the bug had been resolved but that the "fix" was too late to be included in the next SP update. It was in the following SP update. You cannot simply make sudden changes to an update to fix an error just prior to its release without risking the change causing other issues. That is standard practice and is fully understandable.

How do you or they know that the reports make no difference?

There have been bug reports that I have submitted that have never received a human response, others that have, seemingly, been "lost" in the system but eventually surfaced in a new release where the bug was fixed (was it my report that did it? Who knows and who cares? The fix was made). Just because you don't get an immediate response or the problem is not fixed the next morning (as some posters seem to think should happen) is no reason to give up. My personal record was two complete versions from TRS12 to TRS19 before a bug I reported was eventually fixed - it seems that I was the only one who reported it and my post about it in these forums still has zero responses (the last time I looked).

I prefer patience over haste. My question was why rush out SP6 when N3V were aware of issues with the RC?

Even you cannot deny the feedback on SP5 was far less negative than SP6 has been to date.

 

[sw1500]

I have noticed that when Driver Control Center is open the graphics become choppy until I closed it again.

 

[pware]

My question was why rush out SP6 when N3V were aware of issues with the RC?

Only those at N3V can answer that.

Even you cannot deny the feedback on SP5 was far less negative than SP6 has been to date.

I never checked but even if true that is not surprising or unusual in software development these days.

 

[pware]

I have noticed that when Driver Control Center is open the graphics become choppy until I closed it again.

I just did a quick check and could see no difference. Put in a bug report which includes your performance settings and system specs.

 

[JCitron]

I have noticed that when Driver Control Center is open the graphics become choppy until I closed it again.

Submit a bug report.

Trainz Bug Report

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