White flicker of trees at hi-res/lo-res transition distance

[ElStoko]

TRS22, Windows11 with DirectX 11

In Surveyor I see a high frequency white flicker in any trees at the distance band within which a transition from high to low resolution rendering takes place. Here is an image showing the white elements in trees at the transition distance. Of course, the flickering over time is not captured here.

If I open the Trainz Settings dialog, I am given the option of choosing DirectX 12 (Beta). If I choose DirectX 12 (Beta), and relaunch the Surveyor, the flicker problem is gone, but video performance is unstable for large routes, the screen blacking-out for extended periods.

I can’t find on this Forum any similar report. Have others experienced this problem and found a satisfactory solution?

 

[JCitron]

This was reported in the beta some time ago, but apparently it was never repaired. DirectX 12 is definitely not working, so don't even try it.

 

[ElStoko]

John, I have only recently acquired TRS22, and did not follow its Beta testing (too busy on route creation in TRS19). You advise "apparently it was never repaired". You write "apparently" because you do not experience this problem yourself, and rely on the reports of others?
If everyone using TRS22 was experiencing this distracting flickering, wouldn't there be an uproar on this forum? Creating good screenshots of scenes with vegetation would not be possible, and yet I have seen screenshots where the problem is not present. Perhaps my video card (GeForce GTX 1070, 8GB) is not up to scratch forTRS22? I do not see this problem in TRS19 on the same computer.

 

[wreeder]

This was reported in the beta some time ago, but apparently it was never repaired. DirectX 12 is definitely not working, so don't even try it.

The response I got was that it was a driver issue which I find odd since it only just started with SP3 in TP and TRS22 and it only effects the LOD 2 level rendering of certain trees made by a specific creator. But I can't get Windows to accept the latest driver. If someone is experiencing this with the latest video drivers installed then perhaps QA would reopen the bug report.

 

[ElStoko]

Following on from the remark by wreeder, I have checked the performance of trees in 6 routes purchased with TRS22 PE.
Not one route was unaffected by the flashing tree problem, which was not limited to the trees of one creator.
You would anticipate all the trees made by one creator for the same trainz build would have a been created with similar characteristics and therefore either all would be affected by the problem or none would be affected. Curiously, I found this is not the case.
Here is a summary:
User root name Creator Build Affected by flashing prob.
Tree eucalypt Auran 3.9 YES
Tree broadleaf Auran 3.9 YES
Tree sugarmaple Auran 3.9 YES
Tree maple Auran 4.0 YES
Tree hemlock Auran 3.9 NO
Tree conifer Auran 3.9 NO
Tree fir Auran 3.8 NO
Tree gum group Auran 3.9 NO
Murray red gum dmdrake 2.0 NO
Sydney red gum dmdrake 2.0 NO
St_rmm RMM 4.2 YES
St_rmm_sosna RMM 4.2 NO

 

[wreeder]

Then it has gotten worse rather than better. At the time I and another user reported it the trees were St_rmm RMM that I documented as flashing at the LOD 2 level. The other user updated his driver and the problem appeared to go away but later returned. At this point, unless you are using the latest driver for your card. QA's response is going to be to update your driver.

 

[JCitron]

The response I got was that it was a driver issue which I find odd since it only just started with SP3 in TP and TRS22 and it only effects the LOD 2 level rendering of certain trees made by a specific creator. But I can't get Windows to accept the latest driver. If someone is experiencing this with the latest video drivers installed then perhaps QA would reopen the bug report.

Yeah, I remember that response. But why is it a driver issue if it's only his trees that have the problem? I'm running the latest NVidia driver and I still see the flickering white speckles.

 

[wreeder]

Oddly, I'm glad to hear that from you. I was never convinced that it was a driver issue. That just doesn't make sense when only some trees show the issue and only at LOD level 2. This goes to the point that you have often made. You give them a reproducible bug with builtin content and it gets dismissed with "update your driver". It is a bit like the old vaudeville joke of the man that goes to the doctor complaining that it hurts when he raises his arm over his head and the doctor says "Well, don't raise your arm over your head."

 

[JCitron]

Oddly, I'm glad to hear that from you. I was never convinced that it was a driver issue. That just doesn't make sense when only some trees show the issue and only at LOD level 2. This goes to the point that you have often made. You give them a reproducible bug with builtin content and it gets dismissed with "update your driver". It is a bit like the old vaudeville joke of the man that goes to the doctor complaining that it hurts when he raises his arm over his head and the doctor says "Well, don't raise your arm over your head."

Exactly. I get that all the time from them which is frustrating.

 

[boleyd]

Well the issue can be anywhere, except hardware. That would a stretch too far. It was in my system for awhile about a year ago and then suddenly disappeared. I have seen a rare re-appearance, but very few. May take lots of people time to corral it unless luck steps in.

 

[JCitron]

Initially the problem was with specific trees, I think some of the oaks or Dub trees. Since this error occurs with LOD 2-level my gut is telling me that these trees have some missing or corrupted textures and that's why we see the white flicker.

 

[hutten]

Hello,

The same experience here for TRS22 build 123794. No problem in TRS19.
I even experienced a CTD in TRS22.
I just happen to find that I have kept a copy of the offline installer for build 122411. I have installed that build and it works without the flashing and fireworks of the trees. Glad I have this copy, and I think that N3V should make installers of older builds available.
Now we will just have to wait for a build that does not show this defect.

Paul

 

[pware]

I just happen to find that I have kept a copy of the offline installer for build 122411.

Good point. I keep archived copies of past non-beta releases of Trainz Plus "just in case". So far I have not had the need to revert back to them.

 

[HPL]

So, if the glitch in 123794 doesn't exist in 122411, it is not related to the video driver or anything else soft or hardware, but to the game itself.

 

[wreeder]

Just an update on the driver solution offered by N3V. This past weekend I had an opportunity to mess about with updating my video driver with the one suggested by QA which was 474.44 desktop win8 win7 64 bit international. I finally got the driver to install successfully by using device manager to update the driver of the display adapter. Windows started without a problem. All the programs I depend on for my daily work were happy with the new driver but when trying to start Trainz Plus to see if it fixed the tree issue the program failed to Initialize the Render engine and refused to start. So I reverted back to the older driver that has no problem with running any version of Trainz except for the white dots on trees.

 

[HPL]

474.44 is highly outdated (it was a special "security driver" out in June). There has been at least 10 updates since (til current version which is 546.29). Are you sure QA suggested this one or is it a typo?

 

[derhildener]

it should be fixed once the graphic drivers have their latest update (nvidia)

 

[whiteheadj883]

TRS22, Windows11 with DirectX 11

In Surveyor I see a high frequency white flicker in any trees at the distance band within which a transition from high to low resolution rendering takes place. Here is an image showing the white elements in trees at the transition distance. Of course, the flickering over time is not captured here.

If I open the Trainz Settings dialog, I am given the option of choosing DirectX 12 (Beta). If I choose DirectX 12 (Beta), and relaunch the Surveyor, the flicker problem is gone, but video performance is unstable for large routes, the screen blacking-out for extended periods.

I can’t find on this Forum any similar report. Have others experienced this problem and found a satisfactory solution?

TRS22, Windows11 with DirectX 11

In Surveyor I see a high frequency white flicker in any trees at the distance band within which a transition from high to low resolution rendering takes place. Here is an image showing the white elements in trees at the transition distance. Of course, the flickering over time is not captured here.

If I open the Trainz Settings dialog, I am given the option of choosing DirectX 12 (Beta). If I choose DirectX 12 (Beta), and relaunch the Surveyor, the flicker problem is gone, but video performance is unstable for large routes, the screen blacking-out for extended periods.

I can’t find on this Forum any similar report. Have others experienced this problem and found a satisfactory solution?

Same here and I don't know how to fix. Is there setting somewhere?

 

[whiteheadj883]

I got problem of this? Is there a setting on trainz to fix anyone?

 

[whiteheadj883]