eholly wrote: I don't know the scale this figure is referred to so don't know whether to laugh or cry?
To answer the question. FPS = Frames Per Second. 25 FPS is broadcast quality so you should be laughing.
Re-the AE only working occasionally. MSTS was programed to work on Windows 95 through to 2000. although does run well on XP.
No one has yet mentioned running the AE on 16-bit Coluor Quality. It is changed on the Display Setting screen (at least is is on XP).
Good luck
Doug
"If it is not broke do not try to fix it" Rest in Peace Doug L, you will be missed by many, many members of the Forum.
Least We Forget.
Doug L
I'm running on 32bit colour and when everything's ok - it is brilliant. However, during my trials and tribulations, as well as turning down my main display to around "Best performance" level, (nearly not worth looking at), I have also reduced resolution to 16bit, which has helped.
How sad that I can't enjoy these fabulous two routes (BTB & S&D) as the designer intended. Ok, I can run every train on every route in glorious condition via "Explore Mode", but it isn't the same, is it! No A1's and atmosphere just a sterile artificlal experience.
Other routes e.g., Burton; Bala Hub; Cambrian 2; Dorset Coast; Thames Mersey etc., all perform at Best Graphics or one notch below, so I doubt there is much wrong with the graphics card and as you can see Frame Rate is good.
As you say, the programme is old and if it wasn't so loved, none of us would be persevering with it anymore. I'm beginning to regret the change from XP to Windows 7, but I need the newer for all the other business stuff I have to do along with my boys.
Hi Eric,
I have absolutely no issues with my system. 'Famous last words'.
Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 3
Medion
Professional Computer
Intel(R)
Pentium(R)4 CPU 3.00GHz
2.99GHz,2.00GB RAM
ATI 9200 graphics card
I have had a graphics card failure, but the machine is six years old.
XP machines can be found new for beer money the dealers are glad to shift them.
People will say XP is not state of the art but neither is MSTS.
You have the external drive so it does not even need internet capability just swap the drive with your downloads on from machine to machine.
Of course your finances might not run to this but MSTS will run fine.
Good luck
Doug
"If it is not broke do not try to fix it" Rest in Peace Doug L, you will be missed by many, many members of the Forum.
Least We Forget.
Doug L
If you run MSTS and some of the older games, It's worth keeping your old XP machine, if you do decide to purchase a new computer. I am running XP and if I ever decide to upgrade for a more powerful machine. I will keep this one for MSTS and some older games that I run occasionally.
Owner of The First Steam Powered Computer by James Watt Creator of The Blackpool Illuminations for The Blackpool Tram Route Joint Author of the SCOTTISH CENTRAL PLUS ROUTE
Presently TAKING A BREAK!
Hi Eric,
Sorry I'm a little late responding, but I've been out all day
eholly wrote: It registered a score of 57fps
That's brilliant - it equals the figure I get on mine. It does drop down to about 12/14fps in heavily populated areas where it gets a bit jerky, but, to me, anything over 25 is acceptable.
Following Doug's comments, I have received an old XP machine with a Pentium 4 - I may well set MSTS up on it and see what happens
To tell you the truth, I don't know? I tried to do it but nothing changed, so I might have misunderstood the method. Moi tried to point me in the right direction by sending me to http://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/xtra_mem.html - but having got there, I don't know whether or not the change I made was effective, or whether I made the change on the correct shortcut, as I continued to struggle running these activities, as borne out by all the posts above.
I have my MSTS installation on D: and I have 2Gb of RAM. The rule of thumb is to set the mem switch at half of your RAM but making it more that 1024 is not supposed to make any difference.
Something possibly mentioned before, but not discusses recently to my knowledge....
I have MSTS on a second hard drive.....a 10,000rpm SATA2 drive....and the extra speed the drive has allows MSTS to come alive! The average seek time is around 7-8 milliseconds compared with 12-14 milliseconds for normal speed IDE drives.
My experience is that to get the most out of MSTS on a modern system, there's a compromise between cpu type/speed, memory, graphics and sound as far as hardware is concerned....and a trade off of display quality and acceptable framerates as far as MSTS settings are concerned.
As has been mentioned, 25-30 fps is what is used as acceptable for video, as its faster that what the human eye can detect....so a running framerate above this should be the target. But....whenever you encounter a heavily populated area of a route, then there will be a hit on framerates for short periods...hence the perceivable "stuttering".
I did do some experimenting a few years ago with removing multiple LODs (levels of detail) from scenery items to see what the effect was. The theory is that where a scenery item has two or more LODs, the size of the file is greater...and hence takes longer to load and uses more memory. With a single LOD, the file loads quicker. Where there sre few scenery items, this is not a problem...but on densely populated tiles, there is a difference. Balanced against this is the reason for Lods in the first place....which is to lighten the load on resolution of the 3D scene. But modern PCs, with far greater processing capabilities, are able to resolve complex objects in time for us mere humans to see!
Another thing that has been discussed is the shutting down of background tasks such as virus checkers, print servers, and some of the things that get loaded when your PC starts up. I have to admit, I've not noticed problems with such applications...and my view is that if these run in "background", then they are not going to get in the way of "foreground" software. Apart from any virus checking software that is set up to check every file every time its read from disc!!
As you may see, MSTS performance is a rather complex subject, and I suppose there will be some that disagree with my thoughts.
And the final comment .......MSTS can only ever use one cpu, so if you have a multi-processor cpu, don't assume MSTS will run 2 or three times faster. Replace a 3.2MHz single core cpu with a quad core 2.4MHz cpu....a typical upgrade path!!!...and MSTS will be processed at around 75% as fast by the new cpu...cos its slower! Any gain will come from your system taking advantage of the extra cpus for other things...and I'm excluding gains from other things such as faster drives and graphics, etc.
Some very interesting snippets of information there.
I have just replaced my pc as the motherboard in my old one gave up, it wiould only run on inboard graphics which was not good enough. The replacement machine, I opted for a higher speed twin core processor rather than an entry level quad core and it runs ver well even with windows 7.
I have been able to install the new geforce GT250 graphics card I purchased. I then went onto the Nvidia support website to let the site search my graphics installation and install the correct graphics card drivers. The best part is I have cured the streched problem of viewing MSTS correctly scaled on a widescreen monitor.
Hi Mick,
I do not claim the "ideal solution" just, as you see from the screen shots, what works for me and "If it ain't broke don't fix it".
Looking at the Processors line in Computer Management I have two entries both with the same name. If this means I have dual core or what ever I have no idea or if there is a particular way to use/set them up if they are.
Good luck
Doug
"If it is not broke do not try to fix it" Rest in Peace Doug L, you will be missed by many, many members of the Forum.
Least We Forget.
Doug L
Back from church. Just ran the Fowler goods from Bath GP to Sharpness. Thoroughly enjoyed it - because the memory fix above must have worked! I ran at only one notch down from Top Whack display settings and FPS didn't drop below 21 through the whole activity.
Wow, things are defo looking up. Gonna try to run the Scot to BNS now, having turned off all the A1's in AE.
just, as you see from the screen shots, what works for me and "If it ain't broke don't fix it".