Framerate drops at Hiawatha F7

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

I've just downloaded the brandnew Hiawatha trainset. It' great, really amazing.
But there's just a little problem: when viewing the train from certain angles I get a massive drop of the framerate: from 25 - 35 down to 2 - 3 fps. It's probably the F7. Coupling any other unit to the consist fixes the issue. And, moreover, when passing by and viewing from the top there is no problem as well. The dropdown only occurs when looking from outside and then from the sides along the whole consist. It also occurs in the headout view.

I haven't got the latest computer, but there has never been such an effect concerning performance. Maybe a huge ace-file?

Best regards,

Horst

Gaetan · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:10 pm Post subject:

Have you try with another of my F7 Horst ?

all my F7A use 12000 polys

Gaetan

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

I haven't so far, but I will couple the NYC F7s to the consist and tell you about the effect.

Thanks,

Horst

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

I have spotted the problem: It's the F7s in combination with the Skytop, that brings my machine to its knees. I had the same effect with the NYC F7 units. But after I uncoupled the Skytop from the consist (and drove a few miles farther, out of sight) all problems were gone.

Well, you do not intend to publish a, well 'less poly' version of your fabulous Skytop, do you?

Or what kind of PC do you recommend to run those great cars on great routes more or less fluently, without slide showing?

Best regards,

Horst

Gaetan · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:59 pm Post subject:

Yes your problem come from the Skytop

reduce polys is too a big job but maybe reduce the LOD is possible

but you can not the see the car if you are in distance

Maybe you can create a new consist with less cars and use only AB unit

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

Well, it is one of the great advantages of MSTS to drive prototypical consists. Therefore I rather upgrade my computer than saving cars. Perhaps at some time computers are so fast and MSTS-Bin is so sound that polycount is a matter no one is interested in any more Laughing

Thanks a lot and best regards,
Horst

Gaetan · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject:

What kind of computer you have Horst ?

Gaetan

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

P4, 2Ghz, 768 RAM. Yes, I know, more RAM would be not too bad, but I will invest in my new machine (some day)

Horst

EDIT: And XP SP2

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

Well know, I fiddled with the files and found out that not necessarily the number of polygons kills the framerate but the size of the ace files. Especially F7_01.ace and F7_03.ace turned out to be heavy frame rate killers. I also could reduce the texture qualtity of train objects in the options menue, but I do not like to do so as trains look too fuzzy then. Do you think there is a way to reduce texture size? Or do I really have to buy a new machine that increases the frame rate by massive computing power?

Regards,

Horst

Gaetan · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:09 pm Post subject:

1024x1024 is better textures Horst, you can resize at 512x512

The best way for more framerates is create an light consist

1 F7A + 1 F7B and reduce the amount of cars (9-10)

And maybe remove the shadow options

Here i have P4 3 gig , Asus 9600XT , 2 gig ram

Gaetan

horst · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Essen, Germany

Well, yes and no. The problem even occurs when I just couple the Skytop behind an A-unit, so there is a consist of only two. I switched off everything I can and I even tried a resolution of 800x 640. I reduced visual range, no shadows (much less dynamic shadows), no sky structure etc. In my personal case (am I the only one?) the drop of the frame rate occurs in this special combination: F7 + Skytop. When I put another set of locos in front of a prototype Hiawatha trainset (13 cars incl. Skytop) and run this on the newly released Rocky Mountain Sub by Swissie - no problems. When I run the Hiawatha consist with the ABA F7 set and drop the Skytop - no more problem after the Skytop was out of visual range.

Have I already mentioned: It's just this confounded combination of Skytop and F7!

However, the Hiawatha trainset itself is more than great and though these troubles I encountered I still recommend to everybody to purchase this package - there is nothing comparable out in the freeware scene.

Regards,

Horst

Gaetan · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 5:58 pm Post subject:

I thinks Horst maybe i say maybe is a problem of video card or lack of memory

I have trouble here too when i have ABA and 15 cars included skytop Rapids

But when i replace ABA by ABB and 10 cars is smooth

Gaetan