Just Bought - Low FPS

[josh44]

So i downloaded the game yesterday. However i cannot get framerates higher than 20. Its always around 14-16 even if i lower the graphic settings and scenery settings all the way down. This is only on the default routes as well

PC Specs:
CPU: Intel E5300 2.6Ghz
GPU: Nvidia 9500GT 1GB
RAM: 4GB DDR2
OS: Windows XP 32 bit

MSTS is running fine without a problem and i'm getting my normal FPS on that. On RW i can't seem to do anything to fix it. Really troublesome since i haven't really been able to play the game because of this problem.

[Kromaatikse]

The E5300 is basically a Core 2 Duo. Your performance results are roughly on-par for that type of CPU, unfortunately.

The good news is that Railworks is usually playable at 20fps due to it's relatively gentle pace, unlike most high-budget games.

[Naucano]

The E5300 is basically a Core 2 Duo. Your performance results are roughly on-par for that type of CPU, unfortunately.

The good news is that Railworks is usually playable at 20fps due to it's relatively gentle pace, unlike most high-budget games.

... eh ... are you sure ? Surely those performance results are less then on par ? I get better results and I have the same CPU. Slightly boosted to 2.8 but that does not make much of a difference, does it? Actually he has a better graphic card, so his frame-rate should/could be better then mine. So why isn't it? Graphics-driver perhaps ...

Josh44, do you have problems with any other games ?

[nobkins]

RailWorks at the moment is VERY CPU dependant. So yes overclocking your CPU to 2.8 will make a noticeable difference and the most amazing graphics card in the world would make no noticeable difference compared to a fairly standard one.

Also it would be handy to know what route is being used to gauge frame rates and where in that route we are getting 20fps.

For example WCML is very busy in places so 20FPS in those areas would be very respectable indeed.

[josh44]

Other games are running fine. A default route on MSTS with every maxed is at the highest FPS it will go. On some of the most detailed routes i have it in the 20's to 30's on MSTS. From that i know its not something which is really wrong with my PC, i think it is more RW specific.

Eg. At Newcastle on the Default Newcastle route i am only getting 16 FPS with medium settings. Surely that cannot be right. I know i can get higher FPS somehow. On the other default routes like the Seebergbahn i'm getting FPS of about 25 usually.

As you can understand it is quite annoying to be running default activities at 16 FPS when you know it can do better. Also putting me off getting any DLC until i can get this problem resolved.

[nobkins]

You can not compare a game made 10 years ago with RW.

Just because you can run everything max'd on MSTS does not mean that every game you could buy will behave the same way. Especially something that does a lot more in terms of graphics than MSTS (like RW).

You mentioned you are using an onboard graphics card (in your other almost duplicate post). I would guess this might be holding you back a little but it is not possible to know for sure. I am not advising you to buy a graphics card etc. I am advising that using an onboard graphics card with relatively a modern game is unlikely to give good performance.

You are also NOT being clear about your situation. On the one hand you are complaining of things slowing down when you add lots of stock in yards. This has already been explained to you that this will require more work for the computer and thus slow things down. But on the other you say you can not get above 16fps on Newc - York. What scenario, where on the route, etc etc

You need to be clear in the information you supply otherwise people can only guess at what is the cause. But.... Do not compare RW to MSTS and assume that because you can run a graphically inferior game engine like MSTS at full settings that RW should do the same.

They are not the same game they have not even be designed in the same decade.

[josh44]

Since i am not much of a PC gamer i cannot compare between many games.

No where did i state that i have an onboard graphics card??? I said i have an Nvidia 9500GT.

On just about anywhere on the Newcastle route the FPS is around 16 FPS.

I never said when i add lots of stock to a yard things slow down i am only talking about the default routes in default activities.

I am pretty certain you are getting what i posted confused with another thread. Cause i saw a thread of a dude complaining about RW slowing down a lot when adding stock to a yard. Its like you crossed my post and his post together.

MSTS is a lot older game i know but all i am saying is on the highly detailed routes such as the PRR and a couple Hungarian routes i have the FPS is higher than what i'm getting in the default routes with RW. On the PRR it is around 25 FPS and drops in the heavily populated areas.

[nobkins]

Doh. Big confusion my sincere apologies. You are correct I have gone and got the threads confused. That will teach me to have so many tabs open in Chrome!!

Please accept my apologies and having re-read my previous post in the correct context you can pretty much disregard most of it.

Right back to the problem at hand.

It does appear that your frame rate is much lower than it should be. Can you try check the settings on your graphics card and let us know what sort of anti aliasing etc etc level you are using.

If these are all set to very high then you might try reducing them slightly.

Jim

[josh44]

The anti aliasing is at 8. All my settings in game are at medium and the 3 checkboxes are unchecked(High Detail Shadows, Procedural Flauna etc)

Anisotropic filtering is at x8 gamma correction on.
AA transparency is OFF
Maximum Pre-Rendered frames 0
Texture Filtering quality-QUALITY
Vertical Sync-OFF

Those are the main ones i think.

Loading times are fine so its not running slowly itself even at the menus there is no lag.

FYI I am using the Newcastle Free roam as my test. Everytime it always seems to be at 14-17

[nobkins]

Umm I think on my ATI card the texture filtering quality setting has a big effect on FPS.

That is all I can think of I am afraid.

[cilldroichid]

I'm no expert, but try setting anti aliasing to the lowest setting, or turn it off altogether. I believe anti aliasing, from reading various forums, has a major effect on fps's.

[Kromaatikse]

On your low-end graphics card I would definitely recommend turning off anti-aliasing. You should be able to leave anisotropic filtering and everything else on, though.

I have a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo myself, in the form of a 17" MacBook Pro (and therefore is not upgradable or overclockable). This comes with a Geforce 8600M, which I suspect is comparable to your 9500GT. And yes, it does get fairly low framerates, although it's gaming performance may well be limited by thermal throttling. However, it did better than a 2.6GHz Athlon X2 I also had, which is what prompted me to upgrade to a Phenom II - I think the Athlon suffered from a relative lack of L2 cache.

Newcastle has quite a lot of objects (including several large bridges and the station itself), a complex track layout (including a balloon loop, several branch lines, Gateshead depot and Dunston Staithes in the middle distance) and can have quite a lot of traffic in motion, depending on the scenario. Of course it is also one of the places where you need to really pay attention. Under those circumstances, 16fps is both understandable on your hardware and particularly annoying to live with. I said that 20fps is playable, and it is, but it rapidly gets less acceptable below that.