Inquiring on OR users Computer specs, getting decent frame rates

[qballbandit]

Good day,
I struggle with OR ever getting the same good FPS that MSTS did on my desktop.
I configured my WIN 7 rig 6 years ago:
AMD Phenom II 865, Quad Core CPU at 3.4 ghz
Asus M4A79XTD EVO mobo
ATI Radeon 5770 1gig mem, Vid Card
300gb WD Velociraptor 10,000 rpm hdd
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card
(sitting in a Coolermaster full tower/big fans/case with a Thermaltake 850 watt psu)

I never seem to get more than 20 fps, on any activity, and train, populated tiles or not, even with minimal AI trains, and minimally populated yards/sidings/etc., with mixed low-poly and regular car strings. True, I do mod my routes, adding additional objects throughout, mosaic the ROW and roads.

My target framerate is set to 30 in OR. I only use 2200 for a viewing distance. Even try with dynamic shadows off.

People are raving with the high FPS they get in OR. Is it because they run routes bare, no traffic, no route scenery editing/modding?

I know I have seen people state that even with their older computers, OR is flying.

How do you guys do it???

[snootnose]

What is your AA/AF set to?

[qballbandit]

AA: 24x/CFAA (Edge Detect); Supersample
AF: 16x

Managed through the Radeon Pro tool.

[Vince]

Gd morning Neil,
I'd suggest setting the video to it's default settings and work from there.

Temporarily disconnect from the net and turn off or pause your anti virus protection. Some AV programs are intrusive.
Some AV programs have an 'Exclude' list or some such name that will prevent the AV from scanning files as OR is loading them while running the sim may prove helpful..
Also have a look at the F5 HUD Debug panel. (hold Shift while pressing F5 to step through the HUD panels)
The debug panel shows a lot of interesting data and graphs of the processes running withing OR and may provide a clue as to what's happening.

Use the Task Manager Performance Tab to display your system. It should be pretty easy to determine what processes if any are hogging your system.

Check on what background programs are running and shut down those that are running under your system logon ID if not needed for running open rails. Programs like Adobe Updater, Adobe, or any graphics programs that are not necessary for running OR.
Use Task Manager to do this, Also, posting the the OR log may also be helpful.
regards,

[ossie]

Neil, I've used ORTS on 2 desktops now... (Win7 & Win8 machines) and both have run ORTS spectacularly well, rarely dropping below 58-60 FPS. With the exception of the Cheyenne end of Sherman Hill (which the Win 8 machine hates for some reason), it's rare for me to get much of a frame drop on any route unless I get a couple of big trains all crossing each other in a densely populated area in quick succession. Even then, I can't think of too many times I've seen the FPS drop below 30.

I think my setup is pretty much straight out of the box standard:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570 CPU @ 3.40GHz 3.40GHz
8.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670

PS. FWIW, MSTS was fine on the Win7 machine, but doesn't work very well at all on the Win8 one, but if anything, ORTS probably runs better... although that may just be the natural improvement of ORTS over the last year or so.

[wwhall]

I have to think that something is not running right for you. My frame rates on most any route or activity are about 3 times higher in OR than they were in MSTS. If I was getting 15 fps in MSTS, I get 45 or 50+ in OR. Many routes will get over 100 fps. My setup would not even run Horseshoe in MSTS without constant errors and crashes--in OR, it never hiccups. My computer setup is not a lot different from yours.

One thing that I do not use in OR is the target frame rate. For me, it seems to slow OR down when it has to load lots of stuff. By the way, my hard drive is just a standard 7,200 rpm model, so you've got me beat there.

You might check your shape files. In both OR and MSTS, I've found that one bad shape file can really bog a route down, especially if it's used often in the route. By "bad" I don't mean large file size or high poly; I mean one that has something major wrong in the file. I remember one that I found in the original Blackfoot 2--a barn or something. Every time I'd get close to one of them, it would crash MSTS. When I replaced that one bad shape file, the whole route ran 100% better.

I can get OR down to around 15 fps on some really scenery intensive spots on routes, but it's usually when I'm also running a 100 car train with 3-5 high detail locomotives. MSTS usually couldn't even load that kind of stuff on my computer.

[geepster775]

With the exception of the Cheyenne end of Sherman Hill (which the Win 8 machine hates for some reason), it's rare for me to get much of a frame drop on any route unless I get a couple of big trains all crossing each other in a densely populated area in quick succession. Even then, I can't think of too many times I've seen the FPS drop below 30.

My 8.1 machine is similarly afflicted on that one route in that one location as well. Works fine on everything else.

I7 4790K @ 4.0
GTX 970
16 GB
AA 16x
AF 8x

I get 47 FPS in downtown Cheyenne with 4000m distance, shadows enabled, and FOV at 45 degrees. If I scroll FOV down to 20 or so, zooming it in, FPS rises to 56 or so. If I scroll FOV out to 100 degrees and get more of the "cardboard city" in the camera, FPS drops to upper 30s. And I don't recall this being a problem until one day all of a sudden it was there. Either the route got 'built up', something got patched on the OS side, or something changed deep inside OR.

When I ran MSTS, my frames would stick consistently regardless of route intensity, but would vary based on PC configuration. The initial OS install that came on the PC, about 22 FPS. When I reinstalled the OS, MSTS was jacked to 59 FPS, The last time I ran anything MSTS, after many OS updates, it was hanging around 35 FPS. And whatever it landed on, it seldom budged. Something in the configuration was changing and impacting MSTS FPS, but the scenic density of the route had little impact on that number. Routes with bloat ran just as well as bare routes. The application was too old, and the OS was changing, and it became harder to nail down with any consistency. Part of the reason I said screw it to running MSTS anymore.

[qballbandit]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the responses thus far.
I run a program (always have for MSFS & MSTS, and now ORTS) called "AlacrityPC". It is configurable, allowing you to select all programs and services to shutdown prior to launching your game. Also gives an option to defrag memory prior. Between that, and my Kaspersky Security Suite manually shut down prior, I am running pretty lean when ORTS starts.
And I apologize, the locked 30 fps target is actually "greyed out" on second look, because I have "Automatically Tune......" unchecked.

FWIW, and I know it's a totally different program, MSFS (FS2004) runs high frames, even with the entire simulator redone with freeware and payware add-on's, so my system ain't a dog by any stretch!

Drivers are all up to date, as much as they can be for the age of my system and components.

I know with MSTS, I messed with Affinity and CPU Priority. Is this as much of concern with ORTS? Is running on one core vs. multiple desirable, or not necessary?

[Vince]

Any luck eyeballing the Task manager Performance tab while running OR? Have you look through the OR F5 HUD for clues?

OR uses 2 cores as I recall. It may use more. That should be covered in the OR Manual. The Manual is PDF format and is searchable.

Put a check in the box(on the opening screen) and run OR in a windows so you can display the Task Manager performance screen while OR is running.
best regards,

[ossie]

Yr welcome Neil.... and given the lean setup you describe, it is hard to work out why you're struggling. When you say "greyed out" & 30FPS... I have mine checked on the "automatic mode", set at 60 as my target frame rate & it isn't grey. Without removing the check mark, I can move my target rate up or down.. it's not greyed out. I doubt that's the reason, but interesting you seem to have something different happening with your setup.



And while not wishing to sidetrack the thread, geepster, that can't be coincidence re Cheyenne & 8.1. I'll double check it with my older Win7 machine and if its fine (which I believe it to be) will drop Marc a line to see if he has any suggestions.

[baldwin]

I have my Auto tune settings off, same as Neil, but use the vertical sync instead to run OR at the monitor refresh rate, which for me is 60 on an Nvidia. I get the occasional hiccup when FPS drops to 56 or 57 with a tile load, but not very often. Even the new LIRR from Vince runs at an almost rock solid 60fps. If I take the sync lock off, my FPS will be up in the 100s on most routes. No difference between Win 7 or 10.
Processor is an i5 slightly o/ced to 4.2Ghz from 3.9.

[qballbandit]

Vince,
I'll have a go at running OR in windowed mode, and looking at Task Manager, and the F5 HUD this afternoon, and report back.
How about the "Level of Detail Bias" slider? I had mine at 100%. Is this a setting that noticeably chews up resource at the highest setting?
What % do you guys have yours set at? I see Peter has his at 48%.

[mikeebb]

Looking at the computer specs, the older-model 1G ATI/AMD video card stands out for me. I had a situation similar to that (with a good quad-core but low-end video) and struggled to get 30fps in Open Rails. Worked much better in MSTS, but as we all know now MSTS doesn't require much in the way of video while OR does. I replaced the card with a low-end NEW Nvidia and have been happy since. Since you seem to have done most of the normally-recommended settings and background-app tweaks already, the next move IMO would be to replace the video card with something newer and better.

FWIW, in a low-mid-grade older laptop with i5 and Intel graphics, I get around 15fps reported by OR, though at least it's smooth. In the desktop with the old ATI card (HD5350 iirc) frame rates could reach 25 or rarely 30, but very jerky and with scenery issues like white voids and fog. Replacing with a Nvidea 750ti (low end of their new Maxwell range at the time) eliminated the frame rate issue, in both Win7 (at the time) and 10 (now). The equivalent model in their current range would be a GTX 1050 or 1050ti, though the 750ti is still available (demand a deep discount!!). After upgrading the video, you may find that other parts of an older system, possibly the CPU and almost certainly the hard disk, may become bottlenecks, but if OR runs better, at least up to the refresh rate of your monitor, then who cares?

For the multi-core question noted above, I've seen all 4 cores in my machine working hard when OR is running. My impression looking at the OR debug display and Task Manager in Wi10 is that OR will effectively use at least 4 cores. Only the designers can say for sure, or whether it could use even more - though how many of us use a 6-8 core machine anyway?

[qballbandit]

Great info Mike, really appreciate your response.

[baldwin]

Neil
I have my Level of Detail Bias slider at 0%, right in the middle.