Strange FPS Drop in cab

[Thugsy]

Hi All,

Have been driving one of the excellent Victory Works Small Prairies along the excellent Wycombe line and have a strange drop in FPS that I don't recall seeing before. At the start in cab I am getting 30+ FPS but shortly after it drops to about 20. However any outside view (including head out of the cab) is giving me something in the region of 35 FPS as I progress along the route. When I pop my head back inside it is down to 20 again. However after a long period of heads out activity or after one of those brief stutters where the game is loading some more tiles (or indeed on a save and resume) the in cab FPS will shoot back up to 30 FPS briefly before drifting down again.

Anyone got any ideas why that might be ?

Thanks

[gptech]

Do you get any noticeable changes in the 'fluidity' of the game-play? Do you get the same effect on other routes?

[jstange]

Could it have something to do with the state of the firebox door - if it's open or not?

[Thugsy]

No real issue with the fluidity of the game - indeed all very smooth except FPS goes downhill in the cab. Will need to experiment more to see if it happens elsewhere. Occurred to me it could be the firebox door but I don't think so as it would go up again once shut. It's as if something inside the cab is slugging the performance. I have only ever really seen this sort of thing in very busy areas before - but in this instance I am starting with excellent in cab FPS in Oxford and by the time I am out in the country on a single line it has shot right down. Have also driven the Castle and a Western on this route and not seen the same effect. In fact once it has dropped even looking right up at the roof or down at the floor doesn't make much difference - but stick my head out and all shoots up again. Weird.

[peterfhayes]

Thugsy
A similar phenomenon used to happen with some planes in FSX. It was explained to me that inside the cockpit (cab) the sim is rendering the cab and the outside view together, and in outside view just that on its own.
It may be in some cabs (wrt way that they are coded, or the scenery/cab coding) that this could affect frame rates.
But as Gary, says if its still fluid - why worry?
It would be interesting to see your computer specs plus TS settings, plus Monitor resolution, where is TS installed and how much free space on the disk where TS is installed. These factors could also have an effect.
pH

[Thugsy]

Thanks Peter,

I have a Medion Erazer Gaming PC which is getting on a bit now - once it was the business for running TS. But it still generally does a decent job. Processor is 3.4Ghz and graphics cards is a Nvidea GTX 580. TS2017 is installed on my D Drive which is 2TB - have about 750 GB spare. In TS I have all the settings at Max , Anti Alias is FXAA + 2 x2 SSAA and Anisotropic X8. In manage 3D settings for the graphics card I have 2 non-default options selected for TS - which are Prefer Maximum Performance under power management and Vertical Sync off.

Since posting I have completed a run with a HST and a Warship neither of whom showed any real difference inside or outside the cab. I have often experienced the framerate dropping in busy areas and then picking up again afterwards but never this which seems to start high even in a busy area and then drop right down.

[markpullinger]

Hi, possibly a silly question, but has your PC had a clean lately as it sounds like it is throttling back.

[Thugsy]

Do you mean some sort of physical clean or something like a defrag ?

[markpullinger]

Thinking more of a clean of heatsinks and fans.

[Thugsy]

Not properly cleaned no. To be honest the PC is getting on a bit now and I probably want to do as little tinkering and as much backing up as I can as I am sure one day in the not too distant future it will be time to say goodbye and find the money for a replacement. That said it still does a pretty decent job on TS2017 and even TSW - I don't get fabulous framerates that I have often heard others get but anything above 27 is generally good enough for me. I agree with your comments about throttling back but I would expect that to be more general - so in external views seem to be totally fine. And most cabs seem to have been OK. Maybe some cabs are just taxing it and the poor old thing can't cope with them?

Will keep monitoring the situation.

[markpullinger]

Ok, extra load = more heat.

[peterfhayes]

Thugsy
That's a reasonable rig and settings in TS.
It's obviously peculiar to the steam loco.
pH

[Thugsy]

Thanks all. Jstange I think hit the nail on the head with the firebox door. I did a quick Newton Abbot to Heathfield run with the Prairie and this time established the FPS drop did coincide with the firebox door being open. The Riviera Line Panier seems OK with firebox door open but the 14xx also from Victory Works shows the same issue.

This is not to cast aspersions at Victory Works excellent models it may just be the graphics are better quality which is adding more load to my older (dirtier?) machine and it is not coping as well as perhaps might be hoped. But that would seem to be the cause and would explain why it is not an issue outside the cab or in a diesel or electric. I think I am also right in saying that most steam locos do not make it that easy to see through the cab window and so I am usually driving with head out so if there was a firebox issue I would seldom notice it. The Victory Works models being more sophisticated in Advanced Mode mean you need to be in the cab - and as it happens you have a better view out the windows so it is possible to drive in cab.

Maybe I should stop obsessing about it and get on with enjoying the game - but you all know what it is like when something doesn't seem quite right !!!

I appreciate everyone's thoughts/help anyway

[mikesimpson]

Just to show you what happens if you don't clean your PC regularly - this photo was taken of the video card in a PC tower which was on the floor beside which the dog sleeps



Mike

[Thugsy]

Yep that picture prompted me to really take on board Mike/Mark's advice so this morning before I powered up I had a go at cleaning. Whilst nowhere near as bad as the photo it did certainly need it. So early results after a re-run of my Newton Abbot to Heathfield scenario would suggest that you are all right ! Opening the firebox door certainly pulls down the framerates but this morning it was going down from 38 to 28 rather than about 30 to 21 !

That is what I love about this community - constructive help from everyone and you seem to have made a difference. Many thanks one and all