Tweaking the PC for Trainz performance improvements

L

Lataxe

Member
Like many others, I suspect, I find a need to tweak Trainz and its Windows-PC environment to try and get a better framerate and/or less stuttering. I've managed to get an acceptable framerate - FRAPS tells me that it is (depending on the complexity of the route/session) between 25 - 50 fps, once a session is well-loaded and has run for a few minutes. Things then look smooth.

This is on a 2560 X 1600 screen, which seems quite a good framerate given that the PC is not state of the art, with a Phenom II 4-core 955 3.2MHz processor and a Radeon HD6670 GPU running on Win7 64bit with 8Gb of DDR2 1066 RAM. The Windows Performance Indicator shows 7.5 for the processor, 7.3 for the RAM, 6.7 for the GPU and 5.9 for the HD access times.

But there is still some stuttering when I initially load a session; and also when I swap driver views - although the latter tends to minimize as the session progresses and the program/GPU has (presumably) cached more data in RAM.

What I'm asking here is for any other tweaks that might improve things, in two categories:

a) changes to settings in the software of Trainz, PC or GPU.

b) inexpensive hardware additions or changes.

I have Trainz set with zero anti-aliasing and anisotropy, no shadows, a 3500M draw distance, a touch more good-weather fog and all those other settings recommended by Auran for upping the frame rate a bit. The GPU software is also set to defer to application settings for these things.

The picture quality is still very good at these settings, in terms of detail and so forth. At lower screen resolutions (even 1920 X 1200) the image looks much less crisp and the stuttering seems to be exactly the same, with only marginal & insignificant increase in the frame rates. I suspect the monitor works best at its native resolution.

* I have read in these forums that it may help to disconnect from the internet, switch off the security software and stop all the Windows and application processes that may normally be running in the background but which are not needed to run Trainz or basic O/S functions. Do such tweaks have a significant effect on the frame rate?

The main hardware options, apart from a faster processor and/or graphics card, seems to be a faster data source and/or some overclocking of the CPU & GPU. I am reluctant to overclock (my last GPU died after overheating, due to its fan getting flogged then graunching). Neither do I want to spend £3-600 or more on a state-of the-art CPU/GPU and the necessary new motherboard.

* My HDs are all 5400rpm SATA IIs so one option might be to get one with a faster spin speed; or to obtain an SSD. Is a move from 5400rpm to 7200rpm HD likely to show less stuttering in Trainz as data loads faster? Is an SSD a fundamentally better option?

* I understand it is also possible to buy a PCIe X1 card that will provide a SATA III connection (double the 3Gbs of SATA II albeit limited by the PCIe bus to 5Gbs). Is it worth installing such a card or will a SATA II SSD result is enough data-load speed increase to avoid load/view-change stutter, if I install an SSD and locate Trainz stuff on it?

Any advice, particularly from those who have tried some of the above tweaks, will be gratefully received.

Lataxe

PS Sorry for the long post.
 
There is little you can do to improve framerates.

Trainzoptions tags do little or nothing to improve framerates.

Turning off you Antivirus, and disconnecting the Eithernet cable, as well as stopping all un-neccessary startup programs does help, and Gamebooster will minutely improve framerates by a couple single digits.

A good video card is the only real answer for framerates as smooth as glass.
 
Lataxe said:
This is on a 2560 X 1600 screen, which seems quite a good framerate given that the PC is not state of the art, with a Phenom II 4-core 955 3.2MHz processor and a Radeon HD6670 GPU running on Win7 64bit with 8Gb of DDR2 1066 RAM. The Windows Performance Indicator shows 7.5 for the processor, 7.3 for the RAM, 6.7 for the GPU and 5.9 for the HD access times.
Click to expand...

That's still far better than mine, although a faster CPU (in terms of raw GHz) helps a huge amount. Can you/are you comfortable with overclocking?

* I have read in these forums that it may help to disconnect from the internet, switch off the security software and stop all the Windows and application processes that may normally be running in the background but which are not needed to run Trainz or basic O/S functions. Do such tweaks have a significant effect on the frame rate?
Click to expand...

Disconnecting from the internet and disabling A/V, firewalls, etc. should have an appreciable impact. Also, disabling Windows Indexing service should help.

* My HDs are all 5400rpm SATA IIs so one option might be to get one with a faster spin speed; or to obtain an SSD. Is a move from 5400rpm to 7200rpm HD likely to show less stuttering in Trainz as data loads faster? Is an SSD a fundamentally better option?
Click to expand...

While I haven't personally used one, many here say and SSD results in a major improvement in performance. I'd get one. However, I don't think it's worthwhile to upgrade from SATA-II to SATA-III unless you can pick up a card for cheap. I do believe there are <$30 in the U.S. that would be worthwhile, but I don't know what's available in the U.K.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

As Cascade mentions, there seems to be little significant improvement when things like the draw distance (eg 5000 to 3500) and the detail tags (eg from high to normal) are changed. The one thing that definitely stops stuttering (other than those start-a-session jerks) is to switch the anti-aliasing to zero. As the monitor is showing such a high resolution anyway, anti-aliasing doesn't seem needed.

I will try turning off as many background processes as I can, to see if the frame rate goes up. It seems unlikely that the data-load-from-HD processes will speed up - unless the anti-virus or the Windows indexing is somehow creating a bottleneck by examining each Trainz file as its loaded into RAM.....? Is that how those processes work? It's worth a try, switching them off.

Mr Signal mentions the overclocking possibility. It is tempting to turn it on - there is an easy control for both the CPU & the GPU within the AMD Catalyst software that looks after those processors. This software comes with dire warnings about fan-knackering and processor-melt though, so one is rather wary, especially as I just fried a GPU due to overworking & knackering of its fan. (Two years of Trainz and HD video flogging).

The SSD option does seem to get a lot of recommendations around this forum. At present they seem to go for about £1 per Gb; I imagine a 60-64Gb SSD would do as a host for Trainz (and nothing but Trainz). Perhaps even a 128Gb SSD with the O/S on it as well? It is tempting to wait for prices to descend a bit more yet, though.

One tweak I have noticed as effective is a change of certain elements within a route. Use of some of the more detailed track types, for instance, seem to have an adverse affect on the frame rate. If I do a global replace with a less-detailed track there is often a frame rate improvement of around 5fps.

I wonder if there are other common elements (detailed fences, certain trackbed textures) that tend always to be in view that might also have an effect? Has there been any discussion that anyone can recall about such effects?

Lataxe
 
First, be careful about shutting down system and motherboard/driver/storage processes besides indexing. You seem like you are not unfamiliar with the workings of your system, but I just want to make that clear. That said, junk like the 3, 4 or 5 addons like printer and scanner manufacturers like to install with their product should be eliminated. As for overclocking, I only brought that up (usually, I advise against it) but you may be able to bump it a light 5% or less without cooking anything. Pay close attention to temperature though and be sure you have any alarms available set, especially when running Trainz. Most modern boards allow you to safely overclock as long as you only do so very slightly and are monitoring temps and voltages. Stop overclocking if you get any alarms.

Yes, A/V scans every disk read as does indexing and, yes, the quality and efficiency of content plays a major role in performance. Track - especially highly-detail track - can bring the fastest machine to its knees and is one of the worst offenders, along with splines, especially tree and shrubbery splines.
 
I don't think the track would really decrease the frame rates because on one of my routes, at first I used the MP tracks. I wanted to give my route that realistic look so I switched to the tracks from JR along with a new track that USLW just released. Along with that, I have some jvc grass splines. For a laptop that has integrated graphics, what would be the best thing to do to improve trainz performance. Right now, Gamebooster seems to help a good amount.
 
Try lowering resolution to 1280X768 , if wide screen. I doubt it helps stutters but it could help FPS, depending on your system. It helped me before I got my current video card.

My current route project, Stockton to Milpitas circa 1962, had an area with lower frame rates. It was because of an abundance of fence splines, even though they are built in.
 
I would like to try some of these suggestions. disconnect from Internet....Is turning off DSL modem sufficient, or do I actually need to pull ethernet plug? I have searched Microsoft and cannot find out how to temporarily turn off Microsoft Security Essentials. I understand they don't want you to turn it off, but jeez they should at least tell you how.
 
There are ways (depending on the type of your PC's Network and Sharing connection) of temporarilly turning off your internet connection.

There are ways (depending on your type of Antivirus program) to temporarily turn off your antivirus and firewall.

Always remember to turn it back on again after closing Trainz.
 
Try increasing your "virtual memory" to the maximum that your version of windows will permit. I have found out through experimentation that it does make a difference in the smoothness of TRAINZ10. It is both simple and effective. Best part is that there is no additional cost involved

tomurban
 
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Oh excuse me did I forgot to phrase it as a question? Does anyone know how to turn off Microsft Security Essentials? Microsoft won't tell u. Ya know Cascade, I'm a 60 year old man, my first computer was a Commodore 64. I've built and rebuilt computers for as long as there have been computers. It was an honest question. I don't need condescending smugness. If you don't have an answer, simply Don't answer. If you wish to help, then help.
 
Thanks all for the further suggestions.

I do keep the PC as free as possible from spurious background processes, using one of those toolsets that reveals what's going on and makes suggestions about what is safe to turn off or prevent from starting in the first place.
But it seemed likely that turning off the security process that examines each & every file as its loaded & used would have the greatest effect on Trainz, so I tried the internet-disconnect/security-off option first. Alas, no real change in either the data load times or the frame rate.

I suspect the real bottleneck is the data flow rate from the rather slow 5400rpm hard disk hosting the Trainz program & data, as once a session has got going there is less and less delay in the screen-painting when switching driver views. Eventually there is no significant delay at all when switching views. Presumably the Trainz data is getting cached in RAM as it loads, by the program and by the GPU.....?

It also looks like the virus-checking process is faster than the hard disk data-flow process. The PC does have those 4 cores with the ability to run several processes or threads at once without one process hitting on other processing rates. Presumably this allows the virus checking process to match the pace of the data loading/passing process...?

The tip about increasing virtual memory also sounded worth a try - although it is a 64bit O/S with 8Gb of RAM and a corresponding 8Gb of virtual RAM set as the default. The new graphics card also has a 64bit driver and a process that allows it to use at least 1Gb of otherwise unused PC RAM as well as its own onboard 1Gb. I tried adding another 8Gb of virtual RAM but this didn't make any difference either.

Presumably the existing RAM is enough. Windows performance monitor seems to show, anyway, that Trainz.exe is only using 1Gb of RAM, no matter what else is running (or not running).

It sounds like it might also be worth finding and replacing (or eliminating) various resource-hungry splines, especially in those sessions that tend towards an average 25fps rather than 50fps. Some detailed track types definitely seem to affect frame rate; and also tend to "blink fully on" only as a moving train approaches each new section of track, showing as a haze beyond the "blink on" point. Less detailed track doesn't seem to behave like that.

I noticed a strange effect on the FRAPS framerate that seem to be connected to the viewpoint.... A moving view (including the train) looking at where the train is going or where it is coming from seems to slow the frame rate. Looking at the train sideways on, the framerate is up to double that indicated for the look-ahead/behind views.

This seems strange, as there is less apparent movement in the scenery surrounding the train when looking ahead/back than when looking at it sideways on. Perhaps Trainz needs to notice/load more stuff stretching away in front/behind than there is sideways on, as many routes are several baseboards long but only 1 or 2 wide....?

I notice also that locos blowing smoke tend to slow the frame rate compared to a diesel or other non-smoker travelling through the same scenery with the same viewpoint.

But in general my frame rates are high enough to give a smooth action, as they stay above 25fps except when data is being initially loaded. It's really only the initial load times and early driver-view-change times that need improving - and that looks like its fixable only with a faster data source/pipe. SSD here I come.

Lataxe
 
Thank You RRsignal, I truly appreciate your answer. I searched Microsoft for over an hour and they just wont tell you how to turn off their programs. Unfortunately social media of all sorts, have taken away face to face interaction between humans, where everything can be read in the eyes and body language. Perception is left to chance, oh well. Thanks again
 
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