Official v645 Thread

[cp5513]

Sorry but I'm having problems getting this version to run a train, last version worked OK for me.
Following error message is displayed:



My specs:

[GoGoran]

Here are further questions from the german community:

2. Is the OR able to use the performance of CPU's with more than one core? E.g. dual-, triple-, quadruple- or even sextuple core CPU's.

ORTS makes use of up to 4 CPU cores.

3. About using the MSTS, the majority in Germany is still using Windows XP. Does the OR run on other OS's like Windows Vista or Windows 7, or could come out problems by using these OS's?

Dunno about Vista and 7, but certainly does, otherwise we would already have heard lots of complaints.
And I can add from my own experience that ORTS also runs on Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, and probably also all other Windows Server OSes, provided you enable hardware acceleration, install DirectX and all the other required programs.

[longiron]

Here are further questions from the german community:

1. Does OR have any recommendations about the hardware, which should be used. Especially what kind of CPU and graphic card?

From the updated system requirements on our web site Technical FAQ

We have the following recommendations for the MINIMUM System requirements:
Operating system - Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit)
Processor - 2.0 GHz or faster
Memory - 512 MB system RAM; Recommended 1GB+
Graphics - 128MB video RAM with Pixel Shader 2.0; Recommended 256MB dedicated video RAM (Pixel Shader 3.0 will deliver better visual performance)
DirectX® - version 9.0c
Hard Drive - 40MB in addition to your MSTS installation
Sound - DirectX® 9.0c compatible dedicated Sound Card recommended

2. Is the OR able to use the performance of CPU's with more than one core? E.g. dual-, triple-, quadruple- or even sextuple core CPU's.

Yes, Open Rails software's threaded architecture uses multiple core CPUs. Please read page 8 of the Operations Manual available on our web site for more detailed information

3. About using the MSTS, the majority in Germany is still using Windows XP. Does the OR run on other OS's like Windows Vista or Windows 7, or could come out problems by using these OS's?

We have many OR team members and community members who run Open Rails on Vista or Win7. The software is tested on XP, Vista and Win7 (32bit & 64bit). I personally run OR on Win7 (64bit) and XP SP2 (32 bit) on my home systems

4. In V 0.645 the OR has extensible effects for smoke and steam. What means "extensible" in conjunction with these effects?

The design of the steam/smoke effects is not limited by the number and type of effects now available in MSTS. In v645, we only provided a standard effect for diesel and steam ENGs. We will be improving them in the near future.

Farther down the road, with no promises as to when these will be available, model builders will be able to add more effects per ENG (steam escaping from poor connections for steam engines, steam or smoke effects for electric ENGs, basically limited only by the imagination of the model builder), define steam/smoke effects for any WAG, and ultimately, define effects for any object in the OR 3D world (e.g. smoke stack for a factory).

We have a lot of work to do before OR gets to that goal - it will not be soon. A word of caution, all these effects will take compute horsepower so route and model builders will need to take this into account - so not to reduce FPS performance for community members who don't have the most powerful systems.

[longiron]

Sorry but I'm having problems getting this version to run a train, last version worked OK for me.
Following error message is displayed:

When reporting a bug or issue, please attach a copy of your Open Rails log file and some information about what route/activity/consist you are using. You can find the log file on your desktop. This information is extremely helpful to the team in debugging your issue.
Thank you

[longiron]

OK, I tried again and did manage to see the word CARSPAWN printed during loading along with the TRK TRP and so forth

Mike

Mike,
You can always go to the OR log file on your desktop. It logs all that stuff you see go flying by in the DOS B&W screen.

[twpol]

About the dynamic shadows performance issues: Does dynamic shadows use lodding or something? Because of example 500m + far from the camera it doesn't needed, since it's hardly noticeable in that distance. The shadow map can be lower and lower resolution as the distance rises, and at 500m it completely disable. Maybe it can save resources, while the game looks nearly same.

OR uses 4 shadow maps for this purpose; if you press F5 until you get to "DEBUG INFORMATION" you'll see the line "Shadow Maps" that lists the distance each map's center is from the camera and its diameter. Each shadow map is the same pixel resolution but covers a wider and wider area of scenery. Currently OR defaults to trying to shadow everything up to 50% of the view distance, which means 1000m normally.

[CurlSnout]

A quick note for anyone having camera control issues: Experiment with turning Num Lock ON and/or OFF.

I had assumed that since the key controls listed in the documentation specify "Num" that Num Lock should be ON (which it is by default on my giz). And my camera controls (some of them anyway, on a random schedule) were not working as advertised. Turning Num Lock OFF makes all camera controls happy here.

Hi-Ho,

Sam

[valerio90]

another error...

http://www.filefactory.com/file/caff29a/n/OpenRailsLog.ra

[apco25]

The crossing bell sounds are extremely loud and overpowering in this version release. I'm also getting random issues with locomotive bells not sounding in the exterior and interior views across a wide variety of locomotives.

[GoGoran]

A quick note for anyone having camera control issues: Experiment with turning Num Lock ON and/or OFF.

I had assumed that since the key controls listed in the documentation specify "Num" that Num Lock should be ON (which it is by default on my giz). And my camera controls (some of them anyway, on a random schedule) were not working as advertised. Turning Num Lock OFF makes all camera controls happy here.Hi-Ho,Sam

Thanks a million, Sam ! I deactivated the Num-block and voila, now the cams are all working just phenomenally ! You can even jump from waggon to waggon like in MSTS, using "Alt + 9/3", as specified in the ORTS manual ! That definitely does not work when the Num-block is enabled !

Now I take back all the criticisms I had in regard to the cameras ! They're great ! I especially like the feature that allows you to adjust the angle and distance of cam 4, have yet to explore that one fully !

So the only negative in regard to the cameras is that camera 4 is not watching the whole train pass by, but as I understood it that issue will be solved soon.

With the hidden adjustments of the dynamic shadows posted in the other thread I also get decent performance now with DynamicShadows (set to 512 pixel map size, Blur ON), and stellar performance without DynamicShadows !

The odd sound process issue (always at 50 - 100%) remains, however. There must be something wrong, since v0.360 was alright in this regard.

Oh, and I get worse reloading stutter than in MSTS, when new files are loaded from the HDD into the RAM, and it takes up to ten seconds to load the files at a single time ! I hope this will not persist in future versions, either. It cannot be my HDD, it's a new 2GB SATA2 drive with 64MB cache, and it cannot be a lack of RAM, either, since I have 2.5BG installed, and the stutter occurs when ORTS shows only 500MB of RAM usage, so probably no swap file transfers are involved there !

[csx101]

The real reason you are having lousy frame rates is probably because dynamic shadows are enabled. Disable the dynamic shadows and everything should run OK.

the dynamic shadows were disabled and i still get between 2-5FPS.

[GoGoran]

Three observations:

- I get wheel slip with the stock, unmodified Acela Express - on dry rails, in summertime, and it keeps slipping up to more than 120 mph ! Only above 130 or 140 mph the slip finally ends ! Until then you have to accelerate with sanders on all the time ! I bet the real Acela can accelerate at full throttle upwards of say, 20 - 25 mph, without experiencing any wheelslip on dry rails ! I dunno how the slip is calculated in OR, but obviously it's a little different from MSTS.

- Loading files is really a worse issue now than with MSTS. On the default NEC, the track and all scenery suddenly ended, and my train continued on into the void ! Only after some three or five seconds, the loading of the new files was finished, and the track and scenery objects showed up again !

- camera zoom-out is restricted as in the stock MSTS. Should be extended to the levels of the BinPatch-MSTS, which basically allows you to zoom half a mile away from your train.

[SurvivorSean]

I still haven't tried the new version but there is something I want to mention. I certainly see what hasn't been implemented such as some of the stronger textures in the comparison shots in the foreground as mentioned. I know the mention about distant mountains too. But there is some incredible strengths I'm also noticing that MSTS can't do.

First the water textures to me look amazing and look much more alive. Also I can't quite explain but in one of the shots that was critiqued about distant mountains the tree line appeared to have more depth to it.

I'm sure as you guys go along more exception handling will be put into place. This will catch many of the errors that some people may be encountering or certain routes and activities that don't run etc. For me C# is one of the more challenging languages I've ever programmed in but you guys are doing a great job. I think you guys are much further along then I expected to not see until later this year. If my father gets in better health and I can get RTS off the ground this spring I'd love to join the effort later this year.

Thanks

Sean

[kox]

- Loading files is really a worse issue now than with MSTS. On the default NEC, the track and all scenery suddenly ended, and my train continued on into the void ! Only after some three or five seconds, the loading of the new files was finished, and the track and scenery objects showed up again !

What is worse? In msts if you hdd can't read fast enought, the game just stops. Here at least doesn't locks the game.

[GoGoran]

What is worse? In msts if you hdd can't read fast enought, the game just stops. Here at least doesn't locks the game.

I never had MSTS locking due to file reloading. Stuttering, yes, at worst down to 1fps, but only on a very few exceptional routes for a few seconds.
On almost all other routes I don't notice any stuttering anymore, even on very complicated and realistic ones like the German Ruebelandbahn (it's freeware, and comes complete with consists, acts and rolling stock - besides it's an automatic mini-route install, so be sure to check it out - Link: http://www.freeway-gmbh.com/include....6b33c6ca9efb77 - click on "Download starten"), since I installed the BinPatch 1.8, set my /mem:2048 switch and bought my 2TB HDD. The framerate may go down once in a while, but in a barely noticeable way.

In OR v0.645 on the other hand it's like I said - the whole world disappearing, massive stutter and the whole process takes 5 - 10 seconds to complete.

Something must be changed in the way OR handles the files. Today, basically everybody got 2, 4 or more GB of RAM, so why not use it appropriately ? OR could load most routes into the RAM in their entirety at startup, bit by bit, instead of waiting until files are needed and then stuttering or displaying empty landscapes because the stuff can't be loaded just in time.