North Eastern Railroad

MedicPilot · Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject: FBL Route Not Playing Well

Howdy,

I've noticed that when I run an activity on the FBL that MSTS really bogs down. I get a lot of clicks and scratches coming from my speakers and the frame rate drops to practically nil.

I've installed FBL3, along with the upgrade. I have checked the route with RR (which pointed out a wav file and a crossbuck that was missing - which I installed). I have installed/uninstalled everything twice.

I also carefully followed the directions on how to add new routes (i.e. making "supplied" folders for the specified files, etc). But it still runs really, really slow.

For a comparison, I have also installed MLT Cascades, and it seems to run quite well.

What I want to know is if there's something up with the FBL? It seems to be a hub route for the NERR.

I don't really want to repeatedly load/unload the same route (I'll just stop using MSTS if that's the case). Frankly, I don't know where to go from here. Are there any more "stable" routes out there?

Greg

JohnH · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:06 am Post subject:

Maybe someone else can think of what night be happening with your installation. The FBL is not hard on computer resources - that's why it has been such a popular route with work order developers for so long.

Try turning off or down some of the display options like shadows.

Try running it as the only active route in Train Store. That might help. How many routes do you have installed?

rlduncan · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:24 am Post subject:

I run with a pretty basic system (0.5GB RAM, 32MB shared memory on board video) and FBL is one of my better running routes. I typically get frame rates in the low teens except when there is an oncoming train. The main problem I have had that is unique to this route is blank signals.

One of the other routes I run (another VR - CNW) typically gives me frame rates of 3 to 8 due to the amount of scenery present.

My settings are:
Sound: all sliders to the far right.

Display: 1024x768x16, slider two notches to the right. The 16-bit setting is probably the most significant in keeping things under control. My monitor settings (independent from MSTS) are 1280x1024 with 16-bit color.

Advanced display:
Visibility: center
Terrain error threshold: center
World object density: 8
World object quality and Train object quality: 2
World and Train object texture quality: 1
Boxes checked: Water, Textured Sky, Precipitation

As an additional note, I am usually have Outlook (and sometimes Internet Explorer) running in the background and connected to the Internet. This doesn't seem to affect the performance of MSTS.

MartyW · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:49 am Post subject:

Try this link to communicate with the author. He also has some installation hints.

http://www.fullbucket.com/msts/install.html

Also what are your computer specs. My copy runs very well. I have found on some routes it helps to set your display to 16 bit color.

make sure to remove all the original activities into a folder outside of train sim. Talk to us don't give up It is a great route.

MedicPilot · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:53 am Post subject:

Thanks guys,

I'll get to work on those suggestions, once I get back home in a couple of days.

My computer specs are as follows:

HP Pavilion dv6450
Intel Core Duo 1.73 gigawatts
2 GB Ram
Windows Vista Home Premium (32 Bit)
Mobile Intel 945 Express Video Card

Thanks for the help.

Greg

dmacleo · Station Master Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 323

MedicPilot · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:44 am Post subject:

Mr. Fred · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:58 am Post subject:

MedicPilot · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject:

JohnH · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:17 pm Post subject:

If you are now running Train Store with just the FBL active, and you were not running Train Store when you started this thread, try changing back from 16-bit and see if you still have the problem that you had before. If you do, then keep it at 16-bit.

MedicPilot · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject:

I'll give it a shot. It will probably take a little while for me to really evaluate things, though. I'll be trying to tweak the settings for the next few weeks.

On a possibly seperate topic altogether (i.e. probably doesn't belong in FBL) I'm curious about running with Windows Vista and if it is better to have the program run in a different Windows compatibility mode, such as XP, 2000, NT, or 98 and whether that has produced better results for people.

Greg