Open Rails: Why Pixel Shaders and Vertex Shaders?

[JJtrain]

Hello everyone. I got Open Rails, but I can't use it because you have to have Pixel Shaders and vertex shaders. Is there any way to get them or run without them?
JJtrain

[Komachi]

To "get them", you have to get a pixel/vertex shader capable graphics card.

[BNSF4723]

What's your graphics card?

[JJtrain]

I do not know how to tell what the graphics card is, and right now I have just Windows XP. So, is there a way to tell or make it so it works?

[Mike_A]

I have the same problem. My video card is a GEForce2 MX/MX400. It does not support the shaders that OR requires. I am running Win XP SP3 and have an older motherboard. Is there a graphics card I can use to make OR happy and my wallet happy? I am not sure what type of slots I have. I threw the motherboard box away trying to cleanup.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mike

[GoGoran]

I have the same problem. My video card is a GEForce2 MX/MX400. It does not support the shaders that OR requires. I am running Win XP SP3 and have an older motherboard. Is there a graphics card I can use to make OR happy and my wallet happy? I am not sure what type of slots I have. I threw the motherboard box away trying to cleanup.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mike

Dear Mike,

I have an old PCwhich I assembled from individually bought components back in 2003 - an AMD Duron 1.8GHz (equivalent to an Athlon XP 2200+) with 384MB DDR1-RAM and a GeForce MX 400 with 32MB SD-RAM. It was enough at the time to run MSTS with 30 - 50 fps, but for current routes and stock it is absolutely insufficient.

You really should invest a few hundred dollars in a good pre-used PC, which should be around 3 - 4 years old and include a decent graphics card with 512MB or better 1GB video memory.

You can keep your old system for office, web and such tasks. My old Duron-PC serves as a multimedia station (equipped with TV- and FM-radio card, professional sound card with 2 MIDI ports and 4 digital coaxial and optical I/Os, etc.) and audio processor.

[JJtrain]

I have a laptop with a Celeron M processor. It is Gateway, and is pretty old. I can't afford anything newer. Will it probably work? Before, Open Rails was on my Desktop, which it didn't work.
JJtrain
CPR.jpg GOlogo.jpg

[muskokaandtahoe]

To date addressing the technical needs for old, slow, or incapable PC's has never been a part of the project's objectives (I mention this only to make clear to you why OR is what it is and requires what it requires).

Going forward... I've no idea of whether the team will change it's mind about the above and do something that would make a difference for you but if I were required to place a bet on it I'd bet the teams limited time would continue to be applied in developing in-game features... stuff that might require even more of a PC than today's program does. That's not an assertion of any plan, just a hunch.

When you do have an opportunity to buy new PC, if OR performance is a major part of your thinking then your money would be better spent on buying the fastest multi-core CPU instead of buying the fastest GPU.

[JJtrain]

I found a program called swiftshader which can be used, but it is hard to figure out. Is there anything in the way of virtual graphics cards?
I am also getting a computer and putting a NVIDIA GeForce 8400 in it. It supports pixel shaders 4.0 and Vertex shaders 4.0.
Also, Mike, on Tiger Direct you can get the above mentioned graphics card for $35, a very good price for a good graphics card.
JJtrain
CRLogo.jpeg CPR.jpg