ts2010 on a single core 2.4gh

[steamed]

Is it possible, under any circumstance, to run Trainz 2010 on an old single core 2.4gh, 1 gig ram, nvidia 7000 series card? Could I run 2004/2006/2009 routes; or simply turn off / replace / delete speedtrees from 2010 routes? With the global economy, I won't be updating the hardware soon.

I've read that 2010 has bug fixes and frame rate enhancements over previous versions; however, this may be exclusively multicore related. But 2010 also has fundamental game feature enhancements I am interested in; particularly, sound quality.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[johnwhelan]

I'm running it on a p4 2.4 although with 3 gigs of memory and a ATI 3850 video card. Set the video performance options down a bit and be selective on what you use but it runs.

Cheerio John

 

[stovepipe]

I have a copy running on a 3.0 Ghz P4, about 5.5 years old, with an ATI HD2600 512mb GPU, and 2.5 gigs RAM.

I can run the ECML route (250-300 route miles, 4500 assets) on this machine, but I had to change the track to MP Track, and lower the view distance to 1000m with full fog. I get about 15-20fps on average like this, less in built-up areas. I'm also being careful with which rolling stock I use. So playable - but only just. I haven't tried a smaller route yet, or replacing the Speedtrees.

cheers
Stovepipe

 

[Paulsw2]

I installed TS10 on my old machine - P4 3.0Ghz, 3GB RAM, GeForce 7900GT - and it worked, though I always felt if was on the edge of crashing.

TC3 on the other hand worked fine with that set-up and may be a better bet with what you have?

Paul

 

[EdrickV]

A big question is which series 7 card. A 7800 or 7900 would do a lot better then a 7600, and anything less then a 7600 probably wouldn't do so well. (My aging 7600GT doesn't do so well on higher settings even with a Core 2 Quad running at 3.0Ghz.)

Incidentally, depending on what processors the motherboard supports, it might be possible to make a modest CPU upgrade without spending a lot of money. You can get a P4 560 3.6Ghz for less then $50, at least in the US. Not sure where people outside the US might be able to find these old CPUs.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=660

Can't really say how much a CPU upgrade would do for Trainz. I do think that the video card is a bigger deal then the CPU though.

 

[steamed]

Hey EdrickV, thanks for the tip! Maybe a faster CPU and another gig of ram is all I need for now. I did not know fast, single cores CPUs were still available at a great price. The current system runs ts2006 default routes like a charm; although, that probably does not mean much.

The 7 series card is the last/highest AGP model Nvidia made; I think its a 7900.

 

[johnwhelan]

A big question is which series 7 card. A 7800 or 7900 would do a lot better then a 7600, and anything less then a 7600 probably wouldn't do so well. (My aging 7600GT doesn't do so well on higher settings even with a Core 2 Quad running at 3.0Ghz.)

Incidentally, depending on what processors the motherboard supports, it might be possible to make a modest CPU upgrade without spending a lot of money. You can get a P4 560 3.6Ghz for less then $50, at least in the US. Not sure where people outside the US might be able to find these old CPUs.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=660

Can't really say how much a CPU upgrade would do for Trainz. I do think that the video card is a bigger deal then the CPU though.

The problem on the older cpus is the motherboards and do they support the faster cpus?

Cheerio John

 

[EdrickV]

The problem on the older cpus is the motherboards and do they support the faster cpus?

Cheerio John

Without any motherboard info it's not really possible to tell what CPUs it supports, but if it's an LGA775 P4 then there's a good chance it can use the 5xx series CPUs, though a BIOS update might be needed.

The 7900GS was the highest Nvidia AGP card. There are (curiously enough) some newer PCI video cards. They are however the lower end cards. (9500, and 8400) I think those are targeted more at the HTPC market then the gamer market though.