Atomic Systems

I was just having a quick review of my settings - came to the advanced settings for graphics and couldn't remember the decode for all of the options (fsaa +8, MSAA ) etc. A quick look through the manuals hasn't helped, nor has a forum search to date and yet I remember reading something about all this when TS2013 updated. Anyone have a quick link please?

Kevin
There are some graphics settings in the "sticky" above "Settings for upgraded Railworks "
Don't know if they help you?
Regards
pH

Thanks. Had a look but not quite all the info for the latest version; I'm going to have to keep experimenting & searching!

http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_6.html gives an explanation of what the various acronyms are and do, it might help to de-mystify it a bit.

If its any help Ill post my settings this after noon what I have to get 50fps down to 20fps,this will include setting on graphics card and settings in game.Nvidia card

Daz

tads1970 wrote:If its any help...

The more information the better, so I'm sure it'll be of help. Even if not directly seeing what others use is a good way for all of us to find thet 'sweet spot' that suits us and our particular machine/configuration.

Thanks all!

As Gary says the more information the better.The FPS test was done with the same scenario as it loads/starts,the camera was never moved so the GPU has exactly the same
to render each time graphic settings are changed-no more no less.

RW @65FPS

Master detail level Custom
Screen resolution 1680x1050
Fullscreen Fullscreen
Brightness 30
TSX Enabled

Advanced

Anti aliasing FXAA +8 X MSAA = @65FPS ////////FXAA +1 X 2 SSAA & FXAA on Nvidia Global settings =@40FPS////////FSAA+2 X 2 SSAA & FXAA =@22FPS
Texture filtering Anisotropic X 8
Scenery 10
View Distance Highest
Shadow Highest
Water Highest
Proc flora Off
Bloom Off
Depth of field Off

Nvidia global setting

Ambiant Occlusion Off
Anisotrpic Filtering App Controlled manual setting gives **X2 / @75FPS**
FXAA Off
Gamma Correction Off
Anti aliasing mode App Controllled override any application (i prefer this setting)
Anti aliasing setting App Controlled manual setting gives **X2 /@75FPS**
AA transparency Off
Cuda All
Max prerendered frames 1
Multi display Single display performance mode
Power management Adaptive
Texture filtering Anis Off
Negative LOD Clamp
Texture filtering High Quality **I only have this set to high because my card copes.Will effect FPS**Lowering this will improve FPS
Trilinear optimization Off
Threaded opt On
Triple buffer Off
Vertical sync Off

I hope this helps.It shows how I can go from 65FPS down to 22FPS.

Daz

I mentioned this in another thread, but it seems relevant so I'll provide more detail here.

I have all my graphics options maxed except shadows and antialiasing, which I vary depending on route (highest shadows and 8x MSAA except on electrified routes, where I go to 1x2 SSAA and turn the shadows off since I don't like medium-quality shadows).

I did a series of tests to see what my system would cope with, and whether the CPU or GPU was the limiting factor.

System is a (now fairly old) Core2Duo E6850 with a GTX 260. For these tests the CPU was overclocked from 3 GHz to 3.3 GHz. Resolution is 1680x1050.

I tested Paddington at the start of "Chasing Yellows", and Polmadie at the start of "Polmadie Hop". Framerate and GPU usage was as follows:

Chasing Yellows:
8xMSAA / no shadows: 40 FPS / 70%
Highest shadows: 26 FPS / 74%
1x2 SSAA / no shadows: 40 FPS / 100%
Highest shadows: 25 FPS / 97%
2x2 SSAA / no shadows: 26 FPS / 100%
Highest shadows: 17 FPS / 97%

Polmadie Hop:
8xMSAA / no shadows: 24 FPS / 60%
Highest shadows: 17 FPS / 70%
1x2 SSAA / no shadows: 22 FPS / 70%
Highest shadows: 15 FPS / 85%
2x2 SSAA / no shadows: 22 FPS / 100%
Highest shadows: 14 FPS / 100%

In summary, you can see that turning the shadows up increases the demand on both CPU and GPU (and will reduce framerate no matter which is the limiting factor), whereas turning the AA up rapidly increases the GPU load. My graphics card can't run full shadows at 2x2 SSAA at decent framerates, but it appears that even my slightly aging CPU is capable of handling full detail in all but the most densely-sceneried areas.

Out of interest I have just done some tests on my new pc.
The spec of the pc is Intel Core i7 3770K @3.5GHz, 8Gb RAM (DDR3) 500w PSU, Sapphire ATI HD7870 FLEX 2Gb GDDR5, Windows 7 64-bit Pro.

Using similar settings to 'ttjph' ie:

Master details level = Custon
Screen resolution = 1440x900
Fullscreen = Fullscreen
Brightness = 32
TSX = Enabled

Advanced
Texture filtering = Anisotropib x8
Scenery = 10
View Distance = Highest
Water = Highest
Proc flora = Off
Bloom = Off
Depth of field = Off

With the following Anti aliasing settings I get the following FPS readings using my SBB Route 1 - train at station - raining - another train passing:
FXAA +8 x MSAA = 82
FXAA +1 x 2 SSAA = 58
FXAA +2 x 1 SSAA = 66
FXAA +2 x 2 SSAA = 40
FXAA +2 x 3 SSAA = 28
FXAA +3 x 2 SSAA = 31
FXAA +3 x 3 SSAA = 21

Any comments on these settings and which one would be the best to use would be mosat welcome.

The findings above are very similar to mine, and I find that if I can keep the GPU load (Nvidia GTX570) below 99% as measured by MSI Afterburner the sim runs more smoothly whatever the frame rate.

Although discussed previously in other threads not yet mentioned here is that significant gains in frame rate can be obtained by disabling shadow casting lights. There's a useful utility linked in this thread: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 0#p1520038 that makes it very easy to do.

Can anyone explain why SSAA gives such a big increase in GPU load and large frame rate hit when TSX is in use compared to the case before TSX when I could set very high levels of AA in the Nvidia control panel and get very good visual results with little performance loss? With TSX I can't go higher than 2 x 2 SSAA in the in game graphic options without the game becoming a virtual slide show and even at that setting the AA isn't good, particularly outside a 'bubble' around the player train.

Andy L

AndyUK wrote:...There's a useful utility linked in this thread: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 0#p1520038 that makes it very easy to do....

Health Warning!!!

Although I've used the utility a while ago without problems I've just tried it again and found that it seems to be corrupting the *.bin files when shadow casting is turned off. It may be putting unwanted spaces in the .xml files which when recompiled produces *.bin files that cause TS2013 to crash. Converting, editing and recompiling the same .bins manually doesn't produce an error. No idea what's changed to cause the problem now .

Andy L

h5djr wrote:FXAA +8 x MSAA = 82
FXAA +1 x 2 SSAA = 58
FXAA +2 x 1 SSAA = 66
FXAA +2 x 2 SSAA = 40
FXAA +2 x 3 SSAA = 28
FXAA +3 x 2 SSAA = 31
FXAA +3 x 3 SSAA = 21

Any comments on these settings and which one would be the best to use would be most welcome.

Well, it really depends on how much you value framerate over smooth images (no jagged edges).

Personally, I'd expect 2x2 SSAA to give a pretty acceptable image at that resolution, and you have enough horsepower to give 40 fps at that which should look silky smooth. I'd probably then apply /FPSLimit=30 to minimise any variation in the framerate (~= perceived 'stutter'), and to let the GPU run a little cooler most of the time.

3x3 SSAA will drag your framerate down to 21 which for me is probably too low... but you might like to test out either 3x2 (good for smoothing vertical lines AIUI) or 2x3 (better for horizontal lines) and see whether you can see any benefit over 2x2 in terms of smoothness, or flickering of distant/thin objects.

I use 1x2 on electrified routes such as WCML-N because I find it minimises flickering of OHLE gantries in the distance (compared to 2x1, or to MSAA), but do what looks best to you. If you can't see any benefit then go for the highest framerate.


... This discussion should really be copied / transferred / linked / summarised in the (now locked) sticky thread
http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 1&t=118632 - nicht wahr?

h5djr wrote:Out of interest I have just done some tests on my new pc.
The spec of the pc is Intel Core i7 3770K @3.5GHz, 8Gb RAM (DDR3) 500w PSU, Sapphire ATI HD7870 FLEX 2Gb GDDR5, Windows 7 64-bit Pro.

Using similar settings to 'ttjph' ie:

Master details level = Custon
Screen resolution = 1440x900
Fullscreen = Fullscreen
Brightness = 32
TSX = Enabled

Advanced
Texture filtering = Anisotropib x8
Scenery = 10
View Distance = Highest
Water = Highest
Proc flora = Off
Bloom = Off
Depth of field = Off

With the following Anti aliasing settings I get the following FPS readings using my SBB Route 1 - train at station - raining - another train passing:
FXAA +8 x MSAA = 82
FXAA +1 x 2 SSAA = 58
FXAA +2 x 1 SSAA = 66
FXAA +2 x 2 SSAA = 40
FXAA +2 x 3 SSAA = 28
FXAA +3 x 2 SSAA = 31
FXAA +3 x 3 SSAA = 21

Any comments on these settings and which one would be the best to use would be mosat welcome.

Just wondering, are these figures without any level of shadows set? Only I don't see shadows in the list at all.

What kind of hardware would it be taking to run this game on the higher settings at bigger resolutions? I have a 2560x1440 screen, which I can get 30fps on Woodhead (sat at Manchester station) using the following settings

Master details level = Custom
Screen resolution = 2560x1440
Fullscreen = Fullscreen
Brightness = 30
TSX = Enabled

Advanced
Anti-Aliasing = FXAA + 1x2 SSAA
Texture filtering = Anisotropic x4
Scenery Quality = High
Scenery = 10
View Distance = High
Shadow Quality = Medium
Water = Medium
Proc flora = Off
Bloom = Off
Depth of field = Off

And about the same (+2 fps) if I swap to Anti-Aliasing FXAA + 8 * MSAA & Anisotropic x8.

But I still get a bit of rubber banding and tearing, especially noticeable when a rake of carriages is passing.

Given the spec in my sig, the only thing I could do with the GPU is crossfire another 7970, but that seems overkill, my CPU is clocked as far as it's going, but even the newer SB/IBs only get to 4.x ghz don't they? Would that make much of a difference, or is it just at the point that the game engine will only go so far?

Matt