Problems with the Bristol to Birmingham Route Activites

[slipperman12]

Hi Eric,
I'm unable to find anything about the Dell Vostro 2205 on the internet!
Is it a laptop? If so, one of the problems may be the graphics 'card' if it is integrated into the motherboard.
I see you are using an external hard drive, but is MSTS on the main internal drive of the PC? Also, the external drive uses FAT32 - what about the internal drive? It would be better to change to NTFS, speedwise, but I appreciate that you may be unwilling to do this!

Have a look and see what fps you get when out in the country when running an activity in BTB - press Ctrl and tap Z and you'll see it in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It may help to determine if graphics are the problem. Don't do it in large station areas, because it will be low!

Cheers,
Ged

[eholly]

Hi Ged

Sorry, I misled you - my eyesight again - the machine is a Dell Vostro 220s (not 5) - a slim business machine whose family you can see at http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/busines ... cs=ukbsdt1

Yes, the main MSTS is installed on the C: in the Vostro and its file system is indeed NTFS. My boys have their own IT business - http://www.datapacific.com/ - and the Vostro was a gift from them over a year ago. I think this machine has now been superceded by the Vostro 230s series, you know how quickly the industry moves.

I'll check out your fps dodge and see what we get. I've just run down from Birmingham NS to Bath in Explore mode with all the display and sound settings on FULL WHACK. What a glorious experience! So sad that the quality cannot be maintained whilst running these Activities?

As to Activity Editor, sometimes it opens and at other times it fails to respond.

Regards

Eric

[eholly]

Hi Ged

CTRL tap Z doesn't show me anything on my screen. Resolution is 1280 x 1024 x32.

Eric

[slipperman12]

Hi Eric,
Thanks for the info - that's a lot better
I note from the spec that the 220s has, as standard, integrated graphics GMA x4500 which is, I think, very similar to that on laptops. Do you have the Nvidia G310 fitted in yours? If you're not sure, have a look at the 360 degree image on the site you mentioned and then turn to the back of the PC; if you plug your monitor into one of those socket on the blue panel at the upper left, then you are using the integrated graphics. If there are no similar sockets shown on the silver panel above the mains input socket, then you don't have a separate graphics card.
Having said all that, the G310 appears to be very weak at playing games, from what I've gleaned from the Web.

quote "CTRL tap Z doesn't show me anything on my screen. Resolution is 1280 x 1024 x32."

Apologies : It's Shift and Z, not Ctrl + Z

Come back.

Cheers,
Ged

[CWill]

Hi Again,

The message I last posted was to Eric, Ged, but I guess I type too slow!

Anyway, that NWC stuff has absolutely no part in my activities. I only use steam, that looks like a diesel. My only guess is you may have overstuffed your trainset (if that can be done. I always have to clean mine out once every two months due to MSTS moments!)

And you can only run the route "Full Whack" in Explore Mode? Not in any activities? Maybe store some routes if you haven't already.

If you got no errors while verifying the Starting State, GOOD! You don't have to delete the King. Are there still issues with that?

Actually one other thing you could try would be removing the Traffic pattern entirely by selecting "None" in the Drop-down box and seeing if the activity will run with the better display/sound settings.

[eholly]

Hi Ged

My pc is lookupable at http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/vostro-220s/pd
As you can see from that webpage, the integrated graphics card was the GMA X4500HD but my boys updated mine to the ATI Radeon® HD 4350 - the most modest card in ATI's range. Unfortunately, although jolly good for a lot of stuff the pc does for me, this card is not rated very well for running games. My monitor is the Dell E2210H flat panel, which is run via the DVI (White) ports.

The review ref my current graphics card at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/graphics ... on-hd-4350 is not very flattering. I shall be having words with boys at DataPacific shortly!

I have just run the BTB Act0023 - Worcester to BNS - and I only reduced my display settings to TWO notches below Best Graphics! Now that was pretty good and if that one runs ok, I hope some of the others will do so at the same settings.

Speak soon

Eric

[eholly]

Hi Cody

Many thanks for your tips. I will continue to learn and hopefully get this thing done!

Regards

Eric

[slipperman12]

Hi Eric,

this card is not rated very well for running games.

You're quite right about that! Then again, MSTS is a very old product (I won't say 'game' ) so should run reasonably OK, but it does seem to do better on newer cards. It could be that, according to the spec, your PC has a 250W Power Supply Unit, and the ATI 4350 may have been the only suitable one. If you wish to replace the graphics card with a newer, more capable one, you may also need to replace the PSU. Of course, if your boys are into PC construction, they will know all about that sort of thing

I have just run the BTB Act0023 - Worcester to BNS - and I only reduced my display settings to TWO notches below Best Graphics! Now that was pretty good and if that one runs ok, I hope some of the others will do so at the same settings.

That's great! BTB is quite a demanding route and I think you'll find it's a case of juggling the various settings to get the best results.

Cheers,
Ged

[eholly]

Hi Ged

Thanks - I too have great hopes and will continue to juggle. I'm able to work a little in Activity Editor now (when it deigns to open) so I can asked this question - do I have to unstore everything from Train Store before wotking in Activity Editor?

Also, earlier, Cody suggested I might have stuffed too much into my Trainset folder? Can that happen - he says he clears his out every two months or so! I have 2,338 items in my Trainset folder tonight.

Do I need to have a clear out and if so, what do I move?

Regards

Ericio de Rioja (hic!)
playing Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" album while I work with MSTS and you Gentlemen

[gswindale]

Hi Eric,

No - you do not need to unstore everything to use the activity editor - in fact doing so will cause it serious problems. Have a read of the manual for Trainstore & the maintenance mode section in particular.

I have over 3,000 items in the trainset folder with almost 6,000 consists. Using Trainstore enables me to pick & choose the stock (& routes) I want in the editors.

A couple of months back; when testing a route due to be released on DVD in the future; I set up a mini-route with shortcuts to the editors for that route. I installed all the stock and activities and loaded the editor up. It took about 20 minutes to finally load after appearing as if it was not responding. That route has over 350 activities and 1,200 items of stock and associated consists.

[eholly]

Hi Geoff

Many thanks for that advice. As I used to ask students, "Please read the manual!" I will. As to my progress tonight, I've just left BNS with the Jubilee to Worcester and it's working only three notches down on Best Graphics - so far!

Regards

Ericio de Rioja

[eholly]

Good Morning Ged

I carried out your Shift Z action whilst running the Scot out of Gloucester. It registered a score of 57fps. I don't know the scale this figure is referred to so don't know whether to laugh or cry? Perhaps you might enlighten me?

Regards

Eric

[eholly]

Hi Geoff

The route due out on DVD with 350 Activities would be a very desirable acquisition. Any further clues as to what and when?

Eric

[rfletcher72]

Good Morning Ged

I carried out your Shift Z action whilst running the Scot out of Gloucester. It registered a score of 57fps. I don't know the scale this figure is referred to so don't know whether to laugh or cry? Perhaps you might enlighten me?

Regards

Eric

57fps is an excellent rate to be seeing - I think the maximum is 60 in any case

[eholly]

Hi Richard

Thanks for that! It has cheered me up no end. At least something about this set-up is ok.

Regards

Eric