At Last I have got Railworks Running Smoothly

[AndyUK]

....Of course, what one man may consider stutter, another would happily ignore, and a third would call it micro-stutter.

Indeed. I'd like to know Richard's (rml345) definition of running smoothly.

Andy L

I am not sure I know how to answer that one Andy, I wasn't aware there was different types of running smoothly, either something does or it doesn't.

My definition of running smoothly is that there are absolutely no minor pauses, stutters or any other disruptions to a completely fluid viewing experience. As an example a TV broadcast is running smoothly in my terms. If you have RW2 running so that the experience is like watching a cab ride video of the same scene then congratulations, you've achieved something that few others have - enjoy it!

Andy L

[gptech]

At what point does bad 'micro-stutter' become mild 'stutter'?

It'd be fair to say we all have our own definitions of what constitutes smooth game play, and if you've experienced pauses of 1 second with an older set up and upgrading the equipment drops that to 1/2 second then you've 'smoothed' it out. Not fully, granted, but subjectively that may be enough for you to call it now 'smooth'

[smarty2]

That's interesting as RW's uses sounds as a scenery asset, usually with onboard sound there is a lot of stutter!

Thats very much dependant on what CPU and amount of RAM that is fitted---what were you using?

Alright fella, it was a bit dire I have to say but thankfully that went in the bin and I built my own.

[gptech]

Not meaning to be picky or argumentative, but

That's interesting as RW's uses sounds as a scenery asset, usually with onboard sound there is a lot of stutter! Noticed this when I upgraded to a dedicated sound card and the reduction in stutter.

doesn't tie in with

Alright fella, it was a bit dire I have to say but thankfully that went in the bin and I built my own.

You can't offer "use a dedicated sound card" as a fix when it transpires you've changed the whole machine, or am I reading it wrong?

[smarty2]

My original machine I had had onboard sound and every time a loco went past in fly by cam the whole sim juddered and dropped to about 1 fps and sound dropped out, I bought a sound card and the improvement was very noticeable, but in the end the machine wasn't very good so I scrapped it and built my own. I can live with the odd slowdown when loading tiles now but it isn't too bad, but I will need a new mobo at some stage and an improved cpu and faster ram, but it plays other games very well mass effect 2 for instance was a breeze for it.

[gptech]

The addition of a sound card would certainly take the weight off the CPU, but dropping to a FPS that low indicates a seriously under powered machine, or one thats badly configured and not utilising the resources properly.

but I will need a new mobo at some stage and an improved cpu and faster ram

...so basically the guts of a new PC.. plenty of good deals about, retailers are getting desperate to keep sales going so prices are being very aggressively trimmed.