Frame rates suddenly worse

[chippiearnold]

Hi,

I have been enjoying Rail Simulator since getting it on Saturday last. My system isn't the best in the world, but I was amazed at the smooth frame rates I got when I first installed and played.

Last night and more so tonight though, framerates have suddenly dropped (hovering between 15 and 17fps) and the game is stuttering really badly. I noticed that the HDD was being accessed a lot too, so I exited the game and made sure nothing had fired up in the background (e.g. Norton virus scan, updates, diskkeeper etc. etc.) - nothing had. I went into Task Manager and stopped any services which were using a lot of memory (only ones I know are safe to stop, mind). I restarted the game and frame rates had improved slightly to around 20-21fps, but as I got into the run (Rush Hour with the 125) - the stuttering started again. It's really annoying, as it ran so smoothly the first time I played, and nothing's changed on the machine.

Anyone any ideas what it could be? I'm going to try a restart but I don't suppose it will make much difference.

System Specs:
AGP GeForce 7800 GS OC (overclocked version by BFG Tech - about the best AGP card available, I think, but I know this will be a performance hit)
Windows XP Home Service Pack 2
Direct X 9.0c 4.09.0904
AMD Athlon64 3200+ 2000MHz
Asus K8N8X-LA Motherboard
nVIDIA NForce3 250, AMD Hammer chipset
1024MB DDR SDRAM

Temparatures at the moment:
MB Temp 57C
GPU 54C
HDD 43C

I would turn the graphics options down a bit, but I don't want to lose my passengers!!

Thanks

[drwho200]

I think you need 2GB of RAM, as you say about memory. That appears to be why you are getting the stuttering.

[stuartrayner]

This seems to have happened to me too. My system is ancient (still 32 bit!), but I was really pleased with the framerates upon first install. Now, they seem to have dropped in general. For example, looking around the cab always seems as if it is struggling.

Sadly, a new system will have to wait till the release of MSTS2, but maybe I could pop a second gig of RAM in there, and maybe I could find an Athlon XP3200 knocking around on Ebay.

[SloopJonB]

Get rid of Norton and get a free alternative. Norton uses so much resources that it will bottleneck your system no end.

[tomtoon]

ya mine changes constantly..

i mean when i got it it went up to 14

and then it gradually when up to 21

and then at one point it even went up to 28!

[exshunter]

This seems to have happened to me too. My system is ancient (still 32 bit!), but I was really pleased with the framerates upon first install. Now, they seem to have dropped in general. For example, looking around the cab always seems as if it is struggling.

Sadly, a new system will have to wait till the release of MSTS2, but maybe I could pop a second gig of RAM in there, and maybe I could find an Athlon XP3200 knocking around on Ebay.

I wouldn't worry about your system to much,it's happening to me and i have 2x 8800 gtx , 4 gb of ram and a qx6700 .
Regards-Rich

[jbilton]

Hi
Well hopefully its not because people have added one or two re-skins.
Or have any of you built any custom routes ?
Cheers
Jon

[chippiearnold]

Quick update again - although it seems to be taking ages for my posts to appear......

Bought and installed nice sparkly new 2 gig of RAM, and seems to have improved the stuttering - frame rates still drop to 14-17 while HDD is accessed, but the stuttering has definitely gone, or at least got a lot less noticeable. So now I'm happy again

One question, though - off topic, but it's my topic

How on earth do you get the water to top up on "running on empty" - I spent about 20 minutes moving back and forth thinking I was in the wrong position, but wherever I put the loco, pressing "T" did nothing, I just couldn't get the water to top up. Am Im missing something? I've got "simple" controls on at the mo.

Thanks