Really poor graphics performance...

[2slow4u]

I get 5/8 fps with dynamic shadows activated, pretty unusable.

E8400, 4 Gb ram, 8600GT, Win 7 64

[twpol]

If you'd like help, I suggest you try and include as much detail as you can, including the routes & activities you've tried and especially graphics settings. I'd also suggest not running with dynamic shadows, in case that's not obvious.

[2slow4u]

If you'd like help, I suggest you try and include as much detail as you can, including the routes & activities you've tried and especially graphics settings. I'd also suggest not running with dynamic shadows, in case that's not obvious.

In my case, routes and activities are not crucial, the graphics performance is very poor with all the routes and rolling stock that I tried.
In the same pc, msts work much, much better in terms of framerate.
I'm using OR @1600x1200 with default setting in nvidia control panel.
I've also Railworks, and it work fine with graphical setting near to max.

[twpol]

Comparisons with other programs aren't generally useful; and what ARE the settings in the NVidia control panel? Did you try any of the 6 original MSTS routes? What are the usage and wait percentages for the "Process" data in the DEBUG F5 page? (Press F5 until it says "DEBUG INFORMATION".)

[lindsayts]

As James first asked what does the usage and wait figures say in the Debug info (press key F5 until the debug info shows up). These have a chance of seeing where the bottle neck is. The graphics card is not he hottest item on the planet although I would have thought it would do better than stated.
One of the systems I have tried OR on had an E8600, Gigabyte P35 DSO3 MB with an Radeon 4870 or Nvidia GTX 260 superoverclocked (tried both although the system normal uses the 4870). OR gave excellent results although there was I hint of jerking (high wait figures, frame rate OK though) when using very high detail rolling stock.

Lindsay

[2slow4u]

Comparisons with other programs aren't generally useful; and what ARE the settings in the NVidia control panel? Did you try any of the 6 original MSTS routes? What are the usage and wait percentages for the "Process" data in the DEBUG F5 page? (Press F5 until it says "DEBUG INFORMATION".)

Here is an example of OR working at only 1024x768 (native resolution of my monitor is 1600x1200):



Can you see the problem?
Is not only a framerate question, i've also a HUGE stuttering issue!
Thanks.

[longiron]

2slow4u,
What would be helpful to the Open Rails team is the following information. Pick a route and activity. Make a note of route/Activity. Run that Activity WITHOUT dynamic shadows. Press the F5 key three times (?) until the debug HUD is visible. After about 1 minute of running time, press F12 to start logging the debug parameters. Run the activity for another minute or two and quit the activity. An output file will be created in the Open Rails folder. Rename the file to "something_NOShadows". Repeat with Dynamic Shadows enabled. Attach both files as well as include information on Route and activity info you tried. A readable screen shot of when the stuttering occurs would also be helpful.

Please remember Open Rails is a work in progress. Developed by volunteers for the train sim community. We encourage community feedback to make Open Rails better, but your opening thread wasn't really helpful to help the Open Rails team diagnose your individual issue nor encourages volunteers to assist you by its tone as characterizing OR as "unusable".
Thanks

[2slow4u]

2slow4u,
We encourage community feedback to make Open Rails better, but your opening thread wasn't really helpful to help the Open Rails team diagnose your individual issue nor encourages volunteers to assist you by its tone as characterizing OR as "unusable".

I'm sorry, my tone did not want to be critical of your project, just wanted to provide some feedback about usability of OR on my pc.
Many thanks for your suggestion, i will post my log later.

[2slow4u]

What would be helpful to the Open Rails team is the following information

Ok Longiron, i hope i have do all in the right way!
Here is the NO dynamic shadows output: http://rapidshare.com/files/43284705...adows_dump.csv

...and here the log with dynamic shadows enabled: http://rapidshare.com/files/43284771...ws_on_dump.csv

The route is Marias Pass, activity is "Running with Hotbox"

P.S.: in terms of framerate/stuttering, switching on/off the dynamic shadows make a DRAMATIC difference!
Please, let me know...many thanks!

[longiron]

Do I have to join to download from Rapidshare? Is there anonymous access?
thanks
chrisvw

[twpol]

P.S.: in terms of framerate/stuttering, switching on/off the dynamic shadows make a DRAMATIC difference!

The dynamic shadows feature currently uses a lot of VRAM; GPU-Z claims it is using an extra 150MB here when enabled, which is a heafty chunk of what's available on your graphics card (256MB). Even if it's not that much, it is still going to be a sizable chunk and it's entirely possible that this extra usage is pushing things over the edge and forcing Windows to page VRAM - which will dramatically affect performance when (as in this case) it needs to be done for every frame rendered.

We're always working on improving performance, which includes VRAM usage. Hopefully things will get better in future versions.

[2slow4u]

Do I have to join to download from Rapidshare? Is there anonymous access?
thanks
chrisvw

Yes, i think you can download (as anonymous) this files without problems...

[2slow4u]

We're always working on improving performance, which includes VRAM usage. Hopefully things will get better in future versions.

Many thanks for your explanation!
In the coming days i will receive a new graphics card (GTX460 1Gb), i think it will help a lot.

[longiron]

Many thanks for your explanation!
In the coming days i will receive a new graphics card (GTX460 1Gb), i think it will help a lot.

I'm sure that will have a dramatic impact on your frame rates. Open Rails relies much more on the GPU than does MSTS, or even RW.

[GaryG]

Now, that is support! Thanks to the work being done and this type of info provided by THE team.

GaryG