PC Tsw4 Enhancement | Lighting & Graphic Enhancement V4.7 (inc Lossless Scaling Guide)

I'm having the same problem with blurry textures. I think it could be related to TAA somehow not keeping up when the camera is in motion, as I'm also seeing long "trails" behind stationary objects like lamp poles or passengers waiting on platforms as my train passes them (this has always been noticeable with TAA, but it's way worse with this update). Switching to FXAA seems to fix the blurriness but is not ideal.

 

I just don’t understand how all of the sudden this is occurring when it didn’t on the previous version. Especially since JetWash said that nothing related to texture settings were changed. And I haven’t touched any of my graphics settings which might be causing this. It was just introduced in v3.3 and like I said, I have no way of reverting back to the old version temporarily as that version has been pulled. So I either have to run with this, which really makes the experience kinda lame with the blurry textures, or not run with the mod at all. And since the mod is almost a deal breaker for running TSW4, it’s a really unfortunate spot to be in. Switching to FXAA gets rid of the blurriness but as you said, it’s really not ideal for running TSW4 in.

Not to mention adding any custom lines to the ini file within the game (like adding r.TextureStreaming=0) has absolutely no affect. It’s as if it’s ignoring anything you put in.

At this point, I don’t know what to do.

 

Does it happen with the Low preset, too? That should still give you some nicer lighting. And maybe delete your DX Shader cache after swapping the presets (as explained in the mod documentation). Just as a temporary measure of course, so you can play with nicer lighting and mood until the streaming issue is found.

As an aside, the streaming behavior you describe sounds *very* similar to what I've been seeing myself, with text or even tree textures only loading in when they're right in my face at some times. I've chalked it up to VRAM pressure (my card only has 4GB), but maybe there's more going on? Might even be related to a TSW or graphics driver update that was released in the same time frame as v3.3 of this mod, who knows. Though VRAM could still be an issue with your 8GB if you're playing at higher resolutions and Ultra, I think geloxo described 12GB+ usage with some settings that increase view distances, shadow quality etc.

 

This is just really bad... everything gets so blurry. You can't even read the screens.

 

It's probably not the same, but that used to happen to me when the 'screen percentage' setting on the Advanced menu was at 100%. I had to bump it up to 200% to be able to read a gauge.

 

Now I've got this random thing in the sky and if you look up at it, the frame rates completely die almost to the point where you can't even pan the camera around.

I'm really sorry to say that this latest version has completely messed up my TSW4.

 

Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but this version hasn’t ‘totally messed up your TSW4’.

Nothing like this has been seen by me, or anyone that has tested it. You’re the first person to ever see things in the sky, of that I’m 100% certain. It also doesn’t sound like you’ve followed the instructions to delete your DXcache when installing a new version. If it’s causing you that much of a problem remove it and see what happens but I repeat, there is nothing in there that does anything to texture streaming.

In the screenshot above I don’t see anything blurry at all. The screens don’t look as clear as they should be but that could be the compression on the screenshot. Again, there is nothing there that affects screens, everything in that regard is 100% default.

What is your system spec? Clear your DXcache then apply the low preset and tell me what you see.

One final thought, you’re not talking about ghosting are you? I’m pretty certain you’re not but thought I’d ask.

 

I have an RTX 2080 Super, i9-9900K @ 4.7Ghz, 32GB ram. I ran your 12GB Ultra as my previous version with no issues. I deleted the DXcache again and applied the low preset and while it helps, I’m still seeing issues with the texture streaming. You can tell because even if I set it to night, when I turn the cab light on, you can see the textures “fade in” if that makes sense, from lower quality to being fully rendered. Like they have a jagged edge around them for just a second. The problem still persists though as soon as I start moving. Things will turn blurry.

 

As a follow up, I was able to recover the old version and installed that and confirmed there is virtually no texture streaming issues with it. I did delete the DXcache again before applying it. With the same environmental settings, the screens in the locomotive don’t go blurry, neither the scenery when moving, and there’s no jagged edges on certain objects at night when you turn the cab light on. The only difference is everything doesn’t appear nearly as sharp but the main thing I’ve noticed is there’s almost no texture streaming issue with this one. This is so weird.

 

That is weird. Which preset do you use? Are you around for the next 20 mins or so?

 

I am, yes. About how much longer I was willing to spend on this tonight. It’s getting late here in the US. Lol. If it’s easier, you can DM me, too. Otherwise, I’m perfectly fine to do it on here, too.

And if I recovered the correct one, it should have been the Ultra 12GB one.

 

I’m gonna DM you, keep an eye out.

 

Any joy?

 

Sorry just replied to your DM.

 

All, I've just released an updated version (sorry!) that addresses TAA related ghosting that some people were seeing amongst some other things. This is not, unfortunately, related to the issue discussed above which I can't replicate. I'll keep working with amtraknick to try and figure out what the issue is he's having but I'm confident it is not being caused by these changes/tweaks/mod/whatever we call it. Changelog below;

v3.4

- Fixed issues that were causing excessive TAA ghosting for some users (the main reason for this update)
- Added command to improve in-game upscaling which now looks great. I use 90% screen percentage at 4K and it looks no different to the native resolution but with the associated performance benefit. I no longer recommend using NIS as I think a recent GPU update has left it not working as well as it did.
- Made further tweaks to the lighting and tree colours on Voralburg, MML South, Cross City, Bremen Oldenburg (including brightening the screens over the default level because they're too dim) and London Faversham

TSW4 - Lighting & Graphic Enhancement Version 3.4 - Train Sim Community

 

I certainly appreciate all the help you've provided. Regardless, TSW4 still looks and performs way better now than it does without this mod and I still can't recommend it enough. My frustration in some of my earlier replies were not at all directed towards JetWash but at TSW4 itself. And my TSW4 isn't messed up as I suggested. Something is up on my end I think and I'm hoping to track it down. Please download this mod if you haven't yet!

 

Thanks We’ll get it figured out. If it looks ok as the default game btw try the low preset and see how that works.

 

Just installed this excellent mod (been using my own ini tweeks up until now). I am running the ultra presets, but there seem to be some missing routes. Niddertal and the Rhein strecke are both just blank?

Which are the most suitable inis to load in for these two routes?

 

Jetwash has only done the routes he owns. I am sure he will be along at some point to tell you the best match for those 2.
You could try copying the lines from one of the other routes. Open the dymanic ini in GOD mode, copy the text, and paste it into the route you desire.

 

After EDIT:
When render scale 100% @3K resolution TAA looks fine to me...
Higher render scale (>100) at 1080p TAA doesn't seem to work very well...

before EDIT:
It's strange... Your work + Godmode is a real transformation to the experience.

But now i also see the blur (everything is too blurry with TAA). Especially with Blackpool Omskirk and the pacer the amount of movement makes TAA constantly washing out everything (incl. dials in driver seat).
I tried without god mode and your settings and saw how horrible that really is (compared to what we have now). The blur is there too.

With Jetwashs efforts i get 98% stutter-freeness, no pop-ins (to a degree i am perfectly fine with) and because of that fidelity i am now bothered by the blurryness (which is stock to TSW). TAA is too agressive...
I now went to FXAA (8x supersampling and all the stuff my 3070 settings give me). Of course i now have a certain amount of shimmering but what i gained is: crisp details near and far. of course it looks more obviously like "computer gfx" but sharp (as my eyes are in reality). The overall look of TAA is more "photo-realistic" but i'm losing a lot of detail even in closer vicinity (like houses i drive by...) .

TAA needs an overhaul... (Btw: i'm using a 27" 1080p monitor, 200% renderscale). Ultra preset (V3.4)+god mode.

 

Just some comparison shots. Using High ini, 2k native. (Screenshots reduced for forum)
If anyone wants a particular route comparison, let me know. (If I have that route)

ECML, 10.50am, November.

 

MML, 11.11am, July.

 

I took this screen shot on September 27th so I can confirm the newest version has nothing to do with whatever is happening is in the sky. But it does tank the frame rate and changes shape while you're moving.

 

Looks like a..... carpet?

Whatever it's made up of, it seems to vary in density.

Closest thing I've seen to it is when Elite Dangerous' skybox glitches out in loading neighbouring chunks' stars, and you get the "Borg Cube" effect in the sky of super dense cubes of them clearly delineated against the less dense regions neighbouring them.

 

Yeah this is exactly what I'm experiencing. Everything looks extremely sharp and clear when the train is stopped but once you start moving, everything gets blurry. The ditchlights (auxiliary lights) on engines with LED lights like the F125 also have a noticeable fade effect now when you see the flash on the ground. Before, there was no fade in or out which mimicked how the LEDs flash in real life. They come on and off instantly. As you said, this is especially noticeable on the digital numbers on the speedometer. I know JetWash said they didn't touch anything related to texture streaming and I of course believe them but this is where the issue seems to be for some reason. And I for sure did not have this issue on the previous version, 3.2. I used the Ultra 12GB preset and that worked flawlessly. Kind of relieved in a way to see someone else is sharing the same issue and it's not just localized to me.

What I’d like to do, if possible, is revert back to version 3.2 and the Ultra 12GB preset as that was flawless with zero issues like texture streaming.

For what its worth, adding the "r.TextureStreaming=0" line to the ini does not do anything. There is zero change.

 

Have you tried it with the .sav removed? Also, have you tried it with ‘low’ only? Jensens is saying he’s seeing the blurriness with the stock game. You have to trust me, the last version had virtually the same things in it except I removed the streaming tweaks because I wasn’t seeing any benefit to them being there. The only other things I’ve added are things to do with the lighting and that would have no effect on anything being blurry.

It would really help if someone could grab a video of what exactly it is you’re talking about because I can’t replicate it. Let me ask you this also, do you have your page file set correctly in Windows? I wonder if you’re struggling with VRAM?

 

As countcussy has explained, I can only do the routes I own. When you open those routes they would be blank as for me they don’t exist. Hope that makes sense.

I’m hoping, if the sale is a good one, to at least pick up Niddertalbahn and maybe NYT next week. I’ll update with those if that’s the case. You can copy really any of the TSW3/4 routes in the meantime but it would require quite a lot of manual intervention on your part to set it up in the same manner. If you read the manual it should at least give you some pointers and I would imagine Niddertalbahn would need the Cascaded Shadow resolution to be no higher than 2048

 

JetWash I reread what he said and based on these statements, it sounds like he’s also reporting the same thing. “But now I also see the blur.” “I am now bothered by the blurriness”.

I did indeed test with a vanilla setup. The blur is clearly there with default DTG settings but even with that, your mod is better so running without it isn’t an option at this point for me personally. It still helps the default DTG issues. I tested all of the presets. Low, medium, high, and ultra. The blurriness gets more pronounced with each higher preset but not as bad as v3.3. I haven’t touched a single hardware setting at all from how it was previously. I ran v3.2 Ultra 12GB no problem. So why would v3.4 Ultra be any different with the exact same settings? I feel like if I can run MSFS on nearly all high or ultra settings with minimal performance hit, I would certainly be able to run TSW4 the same way, as I was doing previously on v3.2. If it worked before, it should still work now, especially if this v3.4 is helping even more than v3.2 did.

I don’t see how I could all of the sudden be struggling with VRAM if I wasn’t before given I haven’t changed any of those settings. All I did was remove the old v3.2 preset (and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t back it up and I’m really good about backing up old files) and the old GodMode, then cleared DXcache and installed the new preset and GodMode. I didn’t touch a single hardware setting or any graphics setting within the game as why would I need to? Ultra v3.2 worked fine so in theory, Ultra v3.3 (or 3.4 now) should as well. As for the page file setting for Windows, it looks like it is system managed and I could swear I had it set to a specific setting. It’s currently allocating 4607MB and I have 24133MB available for it to allocate. Should this be changed? Maybe this IS the problem. It’s just, this is how it was on v3.2 with no issue. But I’m willing to try at your suggestion.

 

v3.4 is different because I removed the lines relating to TAA that had caused ghosting for some people. They have been in the other versions as well but people had mentioned the ghosting this time so I removed them.

If it’s there in the default game as well then that at least gives me something to aim for.

 

hey maybe someone here is an ini genius because I have a small render issue with shadows

they already get so blurry when getting this distant, only moving 2cm forward makes them sharp on the front, but this is not good-looking.
I am using some ini commands for shadow rendering, but I don't actually have any idea how it works, so maybe someone can help me out
what I have is the following:

r.Shadow.MaxResolution=2048
r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=2048
r.Shadow.DistanceScale=5
r.Shadow.TransitionScale=10
r.Shadow.CSM.TransitionScale=10
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.005

 

Shall I try increasing the page file size? I certainly couldn’t hurt and there’s a lot available to allocate.

 

Update: I increased the page file size to 10000MB from 4607MB, a vast increase from before. Reinstalled v3.4 and there’s virtually no change. Still seeing the blurriness around certain objects like the digital speed readout in the Rotem cabcar and any of the text labeling objects. Anytime something passes in front of it or you zoom in on it, it fades until the camera stops or the object has passed by, then you get the sharp quality. I guess a ghosting effect. TSW4 is the only program I’ve ever experienced this so I’m not used to it. Still minor blurriness when the train is moving and everything very sharp and clear when it is stopped. v3.4 is a VAST improvement over v3.3 however in terms of this blurriness.

I’m gonna run with v3.4 Ultra preset for now as it’s definitely tolerable and nothing like I was experiencing before. This is far better than what I was dealing with yesterday.

 

I remain baffled. Did you do as I suggested and try it without the autoexposure speed up/down lines?

 

JetWash at 4K is the best setting for "screen percentage" 100% ?

 

It depends on whether or not your card can handle it. I have a 3090 and set it to 90% and it looks really good.

 

I did indeed. They are removed from my current v3.4 Ultra preset. Made no difference. I removed the lines and then did the Console Commands> TimeofDaySystem> TimeofDaySystem.Reinitialize and there was no change. Still see this fade or ghosting effect around the text anytime it moves or something passes in front of it. I also notice it now, albeit very minor, when the windshield wiper passes over the windshield and passed the outside scenery. It’s very minor but it does appear to be some kind of ghosting effect. I too remain baffled. I have no doubt you are correct and I definitely trust your mod is setup properly. I just don’t see what’s going on. Why would this not happen on v3.2 but it does on a newer version designed to fix the issue I wasn’t even experiencing in the first place. I almost wonder if this is some weird DTG thing now.

 

Does it happen in DX11 as well?

 

Just saying, using vanilla settings using 200% ScreenPercentage (playing in HD, 200% equals 4K rendering which TAA needs to look good.)

Everything is crystal clear here.

 

I'm seeing the same thing. It only happens in cab view, external cameras aren't affected (or perhaps it's just less visible). This was on the new BPO route.
i7-4790K 4.4GHz + RTX2070 4K screen 100%

 

Yes it’s only in internal camera in cab view. The ghosting or fading is hardly noticeable on external view. What version and preset are you using and what one were you using previously?

 

It still looks really nice!

 

Can we maybe start to differentiate between what this mod is doing and what is actually ‘just the game’. As I’ve said, I can’t replicate this issue and haven’t actually seen it in a video. I’ve had a number of people testing this over the last couple of months on a variety of cards and haven’t had these issues mentioned once.

As it has been confirmed to be in the game ‘as it is in it’s basic state’ I’m beginning to wonder how much more mileage there is in this discussion on this thread as it’s not related to this mod. It does feel like it’s going round in circles a bit and beginning to detract from the purpose.

In other words;

- It’s present in the game in it’s vanilla state
- All possible elements in the mod that could feasibly (albeit tangentially) be the culprit have been ruled out as the cause
- There is nothing in this mod that could actually cause this issue anyway
- Therefore the only logical conclusion is that the mod is not the cause of whatever this problem is

 

I definitely agree there and apologize for being the one to detract it so far. At this point, I’m satisfied enough with what I’ve got now on v3.4 Ultra. Game still performs flawless. Nice and smooth with no stutters or hitching and a constant 50+ FPS. Increasing the page file size actually helped with no stuttering on the first run after clearing the DXcache. I’m overall happy at this point. Way better than what I was experiencing yesterday on v3.3 when I first brought this up.

The only last thing I will do for now is try to take a video. I say try because anytime I have done so before, I always get an error saying the file is too big to upload. But I will try nonetheless. I can send it here to share with the class or send it via DM. Lemme know what works.

 

This may have been covered or may not be the issue you're experiencing, but I just noticed this blurring, especially in movement. The characters on screens would become more difficult to read when the train would rock, and the view outside looked a big smeared like a painting. The culprit was the JetWash's suggested Reshade TAA option. I turned that off and immediately the blurring went away.

 

He’ll probably be able to explain further but was it a line in the ini file that you removed? This is exactly what happened to me yesterday.

 

Nothing to do with the .ini. In the manual for the mod, JetWash also recommends optionally installing the program ReShade and turning on the package for TAA. I previously hadn't done this, but this evening decided to give it a shot. I immediately started noticing the blurring. While still driving the train I disabled the TAA package and it immediately went away. Did you install ReShade?

 

No I do not use ReShade at all for TSW4. I've had bad experience with it in the past with other programs so I decided not to use it.

 

I had some issues with the weird pixellated square clouds - what caused slowdown was the very intense dot matrix pattern they cast on the ground if you went under them. That was on Antelope Line using GodMode and an earlier version of the ini - but I think I was just using something that was too adventurous for my GPU at that time. Using the latest ini set, I haven't seen anything like it since.

 

That makes sense. This isn’t directed at you Phil, just a general ‘you’, but if you are seeing artefacts of any sort it is not the ini that is the problem, it is that you are using a version of it that is too much for your GPU. Not everyone can run Ultra or High. Ultra particularly is intentionally and unashamedly pushing the limits of what the game currently do. High is very similar albeit with lower shadow resolutions. If you’re struggling then use Medium. If that’s still too much then Low contains only the changes to the lighting.

I’ve gone to great lengths to cater to as many people as I can and at last count there were roughly 155 separate presets included covering close to 40 routes. The tweaks work, are long standing and have been tested extensively not just by me but by a number of different people with different hardware configurations. It goes without saying however, that I cannot cover every base. I do this in my spare time to try and improve the look of the game, and have frankly spent an awful lot of time on it.

 

Yeah, on my 6600 system I'd never think of trying anything higher than Medium for these mods, on my handheld I don't go above Low.
I wouldn't even think of touching something like Ultra without a 4090 or 7900XTX paired with an X3D processor.

In any game, even unmodded, I always knock down a couple of settings for the shadows, always one of the most demanding, once I find a preset that is capable of getting me a reasonable FPS, to make it steadier at hitting that target. I think a lot of users take for granted that if their system can hit a performance target in a given game in optimal circumstances on a given preset, it should be able to do that consistently, but you should always be willing to prune those settings back to hit that target under load.