Foliage Problems (Large image warning)

I started this route in compatibility mode but found that turning this off improved my frame rates, it seems to have had a detrimental affect on quite a lot of my foliage though (see screenshot). Is there a way to fix this without turning compatibility mode back on or redoing a lot of splines?

The foliage in the foreground seems to have a set of what look like wires at the top and the trees in the background have gone very light from certain angles.

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As a first thought this looks like problems with the alpha channel (transparency) that allows an asset to be see through in certain areas - something that is obviously important for the gaps between the leaves in a tree. I seem to remember there were major problems with this when the graphics in Trainz was upgraded between versions 2006 and 2009 and the method of handling transparencies changed, hence the need for a "compatibility" mode. The latest version of Trains, 2012, does not, I believe, have a compatibility mode.

No doubt some-one will correct me on this matter.

Is the layout you are using an old one? Or if it is one you created yourself are you using older (less than build ~2.9) assets?

I recall the solution required either abandoning all old assets that used the alpha channel or upgrading them to the newer post 2006 graphic system.

Thanks for the reply. The layout is a new one I'm in the process of building.

How can you tell from surveyor which assets will work though? I can use the replace asset tool but finding trees and foliage that look right is a bit difficult. For the sake of time I prefer to use either groups or splines and decent looking ones seem thin on the ground.

i would prefer not to use speed trees as they also seem to slow the game down badly.

From my experiences as a route builder group trees and tree splines are often the problem. It has been quite a while since I used compatibility mode (TS2009 I think) and I abandoned it because of the loss of performance that resulted. I no longer have Tainz 2009 or 2010 installed on my system.

I do use speedtrees close to the track without any performance issues but I also use "UltraTreez" by Mcguirel but as these are build 3.2 they may not be compatible with Trainz 2010.

Also look at a series of trees and bushes "CL Tree" and "CL Bush" by Clam1952 - but these are also a later build (3.1)

I'll give them a look, many thanks.

pware said:

...I also use "UltraTreez" by Mcguirel but as these are build 3.2 they may not be compatible with Trainz 2010.

Also look at a series of trees and bushes "CL Tree" and "CL Bush" by Clam1952 - but these are also a later build (3.1)

Click to expand...

Trainz 2010 handles anything up to build 3.3, I believe, so all those trees should work in this case.

pware said:

Trains, 2012, does not, I believe, have a compatibility mode.

No doubt some-one will correct me on this matter.

Click to expand...

Or confirm your believe:
You are correct, TS12 does not have a compatibility mode.

Dinorius_Redundicus said:

Trainz 2010 handles anything up to build 3.3, I believe

Click to expand...

You are correct.
For a full list, check here:
http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/"Trainz-build"_tag