Stuttering since release 8.0

[csantucci]

I think this is an important point so I open a new topic on it.
A forumer in a local forum here in my country draw my attention on the fact that from release 8.0 a significant and continuing stuttering takes place.
So I made a test, in both cases without dynamic shadows, and with logging disabled, in Explore route and running a loco after having uncoupled it from the rest of train.
Release 7: 55 FPS, no stuttering
Experimental Release 1330: 33 FPS, significant and continuing stuttering.
Any comments on that? Is it an experience also others have? Can something be done to overcome this problem?

[derekmorton]

I too see a lot of stuttering with V0.8.

[muskokaandtahoe]

The signalling code is the big difference between the two versions and does account for some of the drop in fps. No idea what the stuttering you report is all about.

What happens w/ other routes? Other sections of the route you were testing?

[UP_4848_Thunder]

I as well get stuttering too even at a high fps of 60. Tends to happen even in a view watching my train go by with just 1 or 2 car or locomotives at a time in view and not just a view of a train going by face to face viewing most of the train.

Makes my train go by like a pigeon walking.

[baldwin]

I have no stuttering using OR. I have both 0.7 and 0.8 installed with no discernable difference in performance between them.

[csantucci]

The signalling code is the big difference between the two versions and does account for some of the drop in fps. No idea what the stuttering you report is all about.

What happens w/ other routes? Other sections of the route you were testing?

What I can tell you that visually it seems to me that the most visible stuttering happens twice in a second (but I am not sure if the two stutters per second are distanced half second one from the other). Stuttering is reduced in other routes. However, as always said, it is absent in version 7.

[conrail1]

I as well get stuttering too even at a high fps of 60.

If you can maintain a frame rate that consistently matches the refresh rate of your monitor (usually 60Hz/60 fps) then using v-sync is going to provide the smoothest game play.

I've never run any game yet that was ever completely stutter free without v-sync even with the frame rates averaging in the triple digits (there's always going to be frame rate fluctuation without v-sync or a frame rate lock).

[dennisat]

I've also noticed the stuttering and I'm using an Nvidia GTX 460 with v-sync enabled which used to give very smooth performance in V0.7. I'ts not the MSTS sort of stutter where you get sudden deadly pauses and then it all lurches back into life but an almost continuous "flicker", rather like a bad fluorescent tube.

Dennis

[conrail1]

I've also noticed the stuttering and I'm using an Nvidia GTX 460 with v-sync enabled which used to give very smooth performance in V0.7. I'ts not the MSTS sort of stutter where you get sudden deadly pauses and then it all lurches back into life but an almost continuous "flicker", rather like a bad fluorescent tube.

Dennis

Sounds like the stuttering you'll see with v-sync enabled when the frame rate drops below the refresh rate of the monitor. Unless your frame rate can consistently match or remain above the refresh rate of your monitor you will see stuttering with v-sync enabled.

[gp18]

I had stuttering with 8.0 and my fps is around 30 with my setup. Fixit utilities removed 690 files from the registry after I ran Ccleaner. The stuttering stopped, then the next time I booted up, the stuttering started again. I removed Fixit Utilities and now there is no stuttering. This was with The Feather River Route payware. As soon as the fix comes out, I'll try it on the PRR Eastern.

[csantucci]

I have found a very big Italian route (Adriatica 1) that lets ORTS crash. Following the ORTS log file I was able to find the culprit, that were eight "decor" Signal ( ) entries in a specific world file. I removed the entries and the route started. But even if the shown FPS are about 15, ORTS accepts commands with big delay and trains aren't able to be put in motion. At that point I renamed sigscr.dat. ORTS logs that sigscr.dat is not available, but it is able to start and run, with no signalling computations. The FPS increased only up to 18, but the trains now regularly move. So signal management really seems to be very computing intensive, especially on big routes. Maybe it computes every time all signals in a route even if there are no trains in the nearby?

[conrail1]

I had stuttering with 8.0 and my fps is around 30 with my setup.

If you are using an LCD with a 60Hz refresh rate and can't maintain 60 fps then you can try creating a custom resolution with a 30Hz refresh rate which isn’t as smooth as 60Hz/60fps but smoother than unlimited fps without v-sync.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier which might help (if you are using an Nvidia GPU) is using adaptive v-sync. This will turn v-sync off momentarily when you can't maintain the refresh rate of the monitor, eliminating the stuttering that takes place when v-sync divides the frame rate. There's even an option to use half the refresh rate.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/adaptive-vsync

I haven’t tried it yet but I think the latest version of the Radeon Pro utility has a similar option for AMD GPU's.

[jjtang]

How many signals do you have in this route? OR only updates 1/20th of the signals in every frame.

[csantucci]

Route Adriatica1 (the one where trains can't be run with signal management) has 3385 signals in the .w files and 9134 SignalItems within the tdb file.
Route Lombardia (the one that let me start the thread because of visible and continuous stuttering) has 1463 signals in the .w files and 3189 SignalItems within the tdb file.
The sigcfg file is in both cases of a certain complexity.

[twpol]

Are these routes available for free download? I'd be interested in looking at them in more detail.