Frame rate slowdowns

[MontanaRails]

I've been paying more attention to whats going on with framerates in scenarios. I have a strange issue, that I've never had happen with any simulator or game before (including RW2).

In any of the HSC standard scenarios, my average frame rate is around 30 fps. This is with everything on "high" except shadows, which are on "low". It fluctuates very little (26-32 fps).

The issue is I'll have periods of about 30 seconds where the frame rate dips down below 14 fps. Sometimes way below. Then seemingly without a reason, it goes back up to 30 fps, Instantly. I've paid attention to AI, scenery loading times, etc. There seems to be no connection to AI trains. Scenery loading doesnt specifically seem to be associated with the slow downs either. It's not like most games where a slow down is gradual or clearly associated with an increased graphics load.

Then, after a period of these while running a scenario, I exited TS2012 and looked at my GPU and CPU meter (Win 7 Sidebar). It showed a 'map' of the slowdowns, if you will. And what it shows is rather shocking. When framerates are at 30fps and life is good, GPU load is around 90-100%. When the framerates slow way down, it reflects this in the GPU graph by showing the load go from 100% to about 30%, instantly. I thought maybe it was due to temperatures getting too high, but from what I can tell, GPU temps never exceed 55 degrees C.

Image of the sidebar immediately after exiting TS2012:


Throughout all this, the CPU graph show both my cores at a constant 60-70% load and around 70 degrees C (TjMax for my i5 is 105C). So I'm really confused.

I thought maybe it was hard drive speeds (I have two at 7200 RPM). But it doesnt make sense why other games arent having these issues. I then thought maybe I should move my paging file to the non OS drive. I did it, but this too has had no effect on eliminating the slowdowns. Also, these issues pop up regardless of graphics settings. They can be at low or high, TSX or no TSX, and it still happens.

Anyone have a clue whats going on? Is anyone else experiencing this? Like I said, this never happened with RW-2, or any other game.

System:

TOSHIBA - Model Qosmio X505

Processor Intel® Core™ i5-430M processor @ 2.26 GHz (2.53 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology), 3MB L3
Cache

Memory G-Skill RAM 8.00 GB DDR3 (CL 7-7-7-20)

Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M with 1GB GDDR5
Total available graphics memory (incl. shared) 4095 MB

Hard Drive 2x 500GB Hitachi (7200rpm) Serial ATA
1gb Paging File on OS HDD, 12gb Paging File on 2nd HDD

OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

[plethaus]

Looking at those graphis I would say you almost certainly have a 3rd party process running in the background that is taking up resources periodically. That would be things like antivirus/antimalware, programs checking for updates, programs that poll for certain USB devices regular (like a camera or printer), etc. etc. Then of course there are things like virii that you could have and not realize it, or really really atrocious spyware.

Also, when you're doing gaming on any laptop, you want to be sure that the power saving options set to max performance when on AC power.

[MontanaRails]

Even with all antivirus turned off, I still have the issue. I'm 99% sure theres no malware on the machine. I've run several good programs at various times and nothing has ever come back.

When you're looking at the graph, I feel I should point out that the peaks, where the yellow line is at 100%, is the place where the sim is doing well. This is the 30fps region. The toughs in the yellow line are the 14fps region. So theres nothing using more resources, its just that...all of the sudden, the graphics card slows way down to partial power. Again, there isnt a heat issue.

I also tried re-installing PhysX. Apparently this didnt do anything either, except for make my 30fps a little choppy now...so all in all, all I've done is make it worse.

[MontanaRails]

Okay, this is absolutely TS2012 based, not a virus or spyware or system thing (maybe a hardware issue...though...?). As far as I can tell, my system is clean as a whistle. Up to date with software, firmware, drivers, etc.

What I did is run the HSC scenario #3. The Champion, and any time the frame rate randomly dropped down to 14, I would slow to a crawl and drive forward until it went back up to 30fps. Then hit the brakes, and slowly back up. Strangely, at exactly the same point (in the scenery) where the fps changed the first time, it changed again, back down to 14 fps. I then stopped, and went forward again, and sure enough, it went back up to 30fps. So there's definitely something in the scenery or scenario that is causing the frame rates to drop for me. Maybe it has to do with the block assets all loading when I go from one scenery tile to another? I dont know enough about how RW3 works...does it have scenery tiles? However, whether it was 14 fps or 30 fps...the frame rate would stay the same regardless of how long I'd sit in the spot. So that makes me think its not a scenery loading issue. Plus, I can see large areas of scenery loading in the distance even when I'm getting good framerates...

So...again, I have no idea what to make of this.

Also, I noticed I only seem to get this issue with the HSC Route. No other default route (that I've seen yet) has this problem. Still trying to track it down.

I emailed RSC about it; no reply yet.

[MontanaRails]

Also, I forgot to mention, it seems like others are having this issue too -

http://www.coarw.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=125

Read the 8th post down:

The Horseshoe Curve Route seems to be reasonable but the frame rates kill me to nearly a sudden stop in a lot of places.

Hmm....maybe its happening to everyone, but some people arent noticing?

[Abco]

I have the same problem than you on HSC ! I don't think that the problem come from your hard disk, I have a SSD on my system and it occurs too.

Usually the framerate is between 25-40 fps on my system, and sometime it falls at 14-18 fps, with medium settings. I noticed it occurs often when I meet big AI consist, but not all the time. For exemple, when I start the free roam scenario Horseshoe observer, and when the first and the second trains are in the curve, the frame rate drops at 14 fps. If I pause the simulation, the frame rate become normal (> 40fps), even if I move the camera. For me it doesn't come from graphic card, because in pause mode the amount of polygons and textures is the same to display.

For me it's a trouble with CPU usage, it's maybe why the multicore is not ready, there's some things to be fixed yet.

[Toonces]

Hmm....maybe its happening to everyone, but some people arent noticing?

I was playing HSC last night, and I didn't notice anything at all like this. But I have a quad-core machine, so if there is extra computation that needs to happen in some other thread, that it can take place without pre-empting the main thread in TS2012.

I was playing wtih a tool called "Process Explorer" (free download from Microsoft - lot more information than just the task manager). You can right-click any process to get a properties window, and there is a "threads" tab it will break down CPU usage by thread. What I found interesting was that TS2012 does use multiple threads, but there is one that seems the be the main workhorse.

[PapaXpress]

What I found interesting was that TS2012 does use multiple threads, but there is one that seems the be the main workhorse.

This is fairly common and oddly enough is referred to as the "worker thread".

BTW Multi-Threading is very common in many applications (just showing a message box will start a new thread), this does not mean that the application is Multi-Core aware.

[MontanaRails]

I have the same problem than you on HSC ! I don't think that the problem come from your hard disk, I have a SSD on my system and it occurs too.

Usually the framerate is between 25-40 fps on my system, and sometime it falls at 14-18 fps, with medium settings. I noticed it occurs often when I meet big AI consist, but not all the time. For exemple, when I start the free roam scenario Horseshoe observer, and when the first and the second trains are in the curve, the frame rate drops at 14 fps. If I pause the simulation, the frame rate become normal (> 40fps), even if I move the camera. For me it doesn't come from graphic card, because in pause mode the amount of polygons and textures is the same to display.

For me it's a trouble with CPU usage, it's maybe why the multicore is not ready, there's some things to be fixed yet.

You are right! If the sim is paused, framerate jumps right back up to where it 'should' be. I dont have time to test it now, but I'm thinking this may have something to do with triggers in a scenario. Maybe when an AI with LOTS of cars starts or changes instructions?

In free roams, I have yet to replicate the slowdown issue. Its scenario based, I'm almost positive. Really hoping a patch fixes it. Still no word from RSC (certainly understandable, they must be busy over there).