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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Mon May 28th, 2007 07:26 pm |
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Hi all!
Randy and me were discussing about the RSD route performance. Be aware, that this is a high detail route!!! I compared it with René Rump's amazing Potash route. The RSD route has a slightly better performance than the Potash route, due to countless scenery object optimations. I'm talking of about 2 or 3 frames more in the average FPS performance.
Our goal was to create a high detail route which is around the lower 20's with all details maxed out (on a two y.o. computer!). But if you have an even older PC config, you have to disable the dynamic shadow option first or lower the visibility range slider to run the route fluently. This on a sidenote... 
It is also VERY important what loco and stock equipment you will run on the route. The worst thing I tried was the Amtrak Superliner set (Sean Lim's, James Hunt's & Matt Doti's stuff) with 3 P42's (Robert Fontaine's loco set) in the front. This is probably too hard for this route with some other AI traffic on an old PC config. So you should choose wisely what stock you will use on this route. With SLI stuff (3 or 4 locos) I'm able to run the route in a good way with more than 20 fps with all details maxed. Note, that you should use trail locomotives behind the lead engine to guarantee a better performance.
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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pnrailway
Mod
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Posted: Mon May 28th, 2007 09:54 pm |
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Tom,
If you really want to give this route a run for its money, try a well detailed MLT repaint - preferably an SP, along with a group of Tim Muir's well detailed box cars and a caboose on the end for good measure. Tim's equipment is super detailed and the best you can get but it can also put a strain on even the best computer.
Paul
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Paul Precht
Lehigh & Northern Railway
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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Mon May 28th, 2007 10:11 pm |
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Paul, I will try that during the beta testing period. I have a feeling that my PC goes up in flames when I do that... 
I already downloaded some of Tim's nice 50's or 60's box cars. He's a master modeler! Amazing details!
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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pnrailway
Mod
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Posted: Mon May 28th, 2007 11:42 pm |
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Tom,
Tim is a very good and close friend and yes, he is a master modeler. I have yet to see him do anything that isn't top notch and if it were built in one of the physical model railroading scales wouldn't win "Best of show"!!
Paul
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Paul Precht
Lehigh & Northern Railway
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uli
Member
| Joined: | Fri Aug 18th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 9 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 10:40 am |
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Hello!
I downloaded and installed the route yesterday. It looks fantastic, but in the city area my fps drop to 15-16. Is that "normal"? Of course the fps are affected by the rolling stock that I'm using, but not that much. I get those low framerates even with a single Dash 9.
Dynamic shadows and highly detailed shadows are disabled, all other options are maxxed. I am running MSTS with the latest version of MSTS Bin. My computer specs: AMD Athlon 3700+, 1 gig RAM, video card with 512 MB RAM. I have a lot of other payware and freeware routes, and since I got my new PC last year I have framerates above 20 even on the most taxing routes. I have got so much used to a fluent "look" of MSTS that it's hard to accept anything less . Any ideas what I could do to improve the performance of the route on my PC?
uli
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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 04:25 pm |
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Hey Uli,
Yes, that's usual! I would say that this is not a bad performance while you're in the cities. My PC allows not more than 16 frames in the urban areas with all details maxed (incl. dyn. shadows).
I know there are a bunch of people with frame rates around the one digit values. And they seem to be happy. As I already said... This is a high detail route and that's simply the way MSTS works. There's no chance to create such a high detail route without any impact on the frame rates.
The route is already optimized where this is possible. I guess you have to live with that.  What are your frame rates outside of the cities?
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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Doug Thompson
Member
| Joined: | Fri Jun 29th, 2007 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 04:38 pm |
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Hi,
First and foremost thanks for letting me join and thanks for a good route. I just ran it from end to end and I didn't have any problems at all with it, but you're right, the detail is very high. It reminds me of an article which I read in Model Railroader a few years ago on how to model desert routes and it's given me an idea for model layout in N scale. Watch this space...
Regards, Doug
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ILuvSantaFe
Member
| Joined: | Thu Jun 28th, 2007 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 05:20 pm |
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Glad to be a new member of your forum.
Downloaded the new route and all I can say is thank you for a outstanding well done job.
I noticed their was no mile markers on the route and I was wondering why they were missing.
Keep up the great work!!!!!
Bill Halpin
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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 05:29 pm |
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| Well, you're right there are no mileposts in the route. The reason is that I use to place my mileposts with the auto-gantry option. But Randy already placed the telephone poles in the route. That's the reason why there are no mileposts... Further I had not enough time to reset the poles for the entire route, because of the release date Randy had in his mind.
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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Eaglefan9727
Mod
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 05:41 pm |
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| July 4th was my target date and I got it released 6 days prior to my target date.
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ILuvSantaFe
Member
| Joined: | Thu Jun 28th, 2007 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 05:54 pm |
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Why Thank You Mr. Badlands for the quick response to my question concerning mile post.
Bill Halpin
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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 06:06 pm |
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| You're more than welcome! That's the reason why we are here!
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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MrBill
Member
| Joined: | Fri Sep 22nd, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 17 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 09:05 pm |
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Got a question, Why isn't there a track speed for passenger trains? I'm not complaining but just wanted to know why passenger trains have to run at the same speed as the freight. Was this route specificly made just for freight? It is a very nice route, overall.
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OOOOOOoooohhhhhhhhh NNNNnnnnnnnnooooooooo!!!!!!!
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Eaglefan9727
Mod
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 11:04 pm |
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| Never thought of it.
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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 12:00 am |
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| All I thought was that the track routing (with its sharp bends) should allow the same speed for both kinds of trains, freight and passenger. As simple as that...
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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Frank_Burns
Member
| Joined: | Thu Nov 2nd, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 27 |
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 03:54 pm |
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Kudos to Randy and Tom for a great piece of work. The only thing I would add would be a few more crossovers for those "runaround" type activities I like. I found out quite by accident that this route WILL run decent on an older computer...I put it on my "old" Pentium3/733mhz. laptop with 384 megs of ram,(64 megs of that dedicated to the shared video) and had really good results...Framerates on the mainline approaching 24fpm. and in the city areas it remained above 17-18 with just a tiny bit of stutter.....quite respectable in my book! BTW, I left Dynamic shadows "off". Here are some shots from the laptop install:
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uli
Member
| Joined: | Fri Aug 18th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 9 |
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 04:59 pm |
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tgalbardi wrote: What are your frame rates outside of the cities?
Hi Tom and Randy,
I have now explored the route from one end to the other with a train made of four MLT SP heritage set engines and about 40 cars (mostly MLT and SLI). Framerates in the desert areas were between 20 and 45, depending on the viewing direction .
This is not only a very detailed but also a highly picturesque and 'atmospheric' route in the best sense. At the same time I have the impression that great care was taken in building the route, paying attention to every detail. I guess I have only noticed half of all the goodies on this route so far, like the animated wind rotors, oil pumps, advertisement signs, galloping horses, the flying plane etc. This route is a piece of art. Thanks a lot to both of you for sharing it!
uli
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tgalbardi
Admin
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 05:17 pm |
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Thanks Uli for your kind and informative feedback! We both are glad you like it.
BTW, we're sorry that the performance drops into the lower '20s once in a while (in your case ). But we did what we could for the route optimation. In the cities there are plenty of dynamic shadows and that's the reason why it drops down a bit. Also, there's a high amount of scenery objects there.
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Tom
*** METALINGUS ***
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uli
Member
| Joined: | Fri Aug 18th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 9 |
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Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 06:14 pm |
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tgalbardi wrote: BTW, we're sorry that the performance drops into the lower '20s once in a while (in your case ).
No problem. I only had fps in the lower 20s in a few places looking back from the head of my train along the whole train (or at least to the next curve ). Most of the time the performance was very good. It was great to watch the train snaking through the canyon .
BTW: The detailed tree shadows add a lot to the realistic look.
uli
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ericmp
Member
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Posted: Wed Jul 18th, 2007 11:42 pm |
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| I have good performance also. I only get 10-12 FPS in Berkly, but that's the only low FPS area I experience.
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Eric
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