Tsw6 Vs Tsw5 Performance

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by jstange, Oct 1, 2025 at 7:17 AM.

  1. jstange

    jstange Member

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    I have seen several posts claiming that the performance of TSW6 with the same settings is noticably better than that of TSW5.

    I would like this thread to collect people's experience and attempt to answer if it is indeed so.

    Thank you very much.
     
  2. vodka#2734

    vodka#2734 Active Member

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    Yesterday I literally took a 15-minute ride on the SBD line. In some places, the FPS almost doubled, despite the game being new and the shader cache being empty.
     
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  3. JLD95

    JLD95 Member

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    Hi, no differences for me
     
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  4. WillStanier

    WillStanier Member

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    Placebo effect…

    No performance differences noticed so far on routes i know very well.

    People saying it loads quicker almost certainly didn't have all their old DLCs installed and/or layers switched on.
     
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  5. magicaces

    magicaces New Member

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    Better for me on PC. TSW5 routes were awful on release and put me off playing the WCML line. Same with TSW4 and the ECML line. TSW6 i can play with 60fps with the odd stutter.
     
  6. BeastyBill88

    BeastyBill88 Well-Known Member

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    The game definitely boots up quicker for me than TSW5 did, Id' be waiting about 5 minutes as it would hang on loading mods I'm assuming, yet with TSW6 I have the same mods and dlc installed and it loads within about 30 seconds give or take. Performance wise, not seen much difference to be fair it's on par or slightly better than TSW5 in some places but again as WillStanier mentioned it's probably a placebo effect.
     
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  7. pedro#1852

    pedro#1852 Well-Known Member

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    it's the same thing for me (the same annoying stutters as always)
     
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  8. drdavewatford

    drdavewatford Well-Known Member

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    Yep, same for me on XBOX Series X. Maybe not 30 seconds, but appreciably faster. Hopefully this state of affairs will persist!
     
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  9. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    No difference in either loading time or gameplay. It is taking me longer to navigate the UI though. I'd like to dial that back a few years.
     
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  10. candy76041820

    candy76041820 Member

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    Better on my machine. Loading times decreased on HDDs, and so did the pressure on my nVidia GTX 3050 - fans spinned less, and temperature dropped.
     
  11. Gianluca

    Gianluca Well-Known Member

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    I would say much better in this version
     
  12. Dustysideboard

    Dustysideboard Active Member

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    Load time quicker on Series X, no difference in gameplay on ECML (one I’ve played since downloading DLC), same blur around front window edge as you drive, trees and scenery loading as you approach. Free starter pack for me again will be fine.
     
  13. GeraltDW

    GeraltDW Active Member

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    Loading times more than halfed for me including all DLCs and almost all Mods I had in 5 (excluding Godmode, that didn't have an update yet).
    On the other hand, I moved my installation from my S-ATA SSD to a new M.2 SSD which should be faster, so it might also play into the speed-up. Maybe it's a bit of both.
     
  14. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    Can’t say anything on loading time, this year I’ve opted to only do UK content, so it’s naturally faster.

    As for performance I can’t definitively say it’s better - everywhere that had bad performance still seems to have it. Across the board it doesn’t seem any worse.
     
  15. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Not so. On Steam, so all DLC present, and I have every layer on (except one train), and the load time is markedly quicker. Certainly no longer get those “not responding” pauses where RAM is tapped out any more
     
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  16. jesper2805

    jesper2805 Well-Known Member

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    Maybe its helpful to give some more information than only "placebo effect"....
    For me the new routes are stunning in performance. Specially the Riviera Line is extreme good. Loading times are also shorter than TSW5 with lots of mods active.

    I played on PC with DX12 enabled. And my game is installed on a NVMe. This information is necessary to understand what you experiences are.
     
  17. Disintegration7

    Disintegration7 Well-Known Member

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    Performance seems better for me (with all UK and EU layers installed, and the east coast US stuff).

    Initial load is markedly improved for me. PC/Steam
     
  18. vodka#2734

    vodka#2734 Active Member

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    On the contrary, it seemed to me that the GPU load was consistently higher. There are fewer situations where both the video card and processor are not working at even half their capabilities, and the FPS is treacherously low.
     
  19. dbrunner#4864

    dbrunner#4864 Well-Known Member

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    If anyone has TSW5 and 6 boot up Frankfurt Fulda and record the minimum Fps while departing Frankfurt with rain. That was one of the most Fps heavy areas from all routes.
     
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  20. Scorpion71

    Scorpion71 Well-Known Member

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    Well I can tell you I have all DLC and Mods in TSW6 as exactly in TSW5 with layers switched on and the loading time IS noticeably quicker.

    I'm on Steam PC just for reference.
     
  21. March Hare

    March Hare Well-Known Member

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    Where performance seems better, is this only on new routes? Has anyone tried older ones like London Commuter and seen a difference?

    I got the free version and tried a couple of older routes. One seemed to behave very well, and it was a route I don't think I'd tried before – it didn't have much going on in terms of scenery and traffic – while the other one which I'd only recently played seemed about the same as it was before, and that route is more complex with scenery and traffic.

    So, I'm wondering, is performance improvement really a core thing or route-specific?
     
  22. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    The one that will show (for me) is WCML Over Shap, as that was one of the biggest offenders for jittering and sound squelching in TSW5. However not yet at the point I want to set aside the new content and go back to the older stuff, at least for a few days.
     
  23. March Hare

    March Hare Well-Known Member

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    And maybe London Commuter. I recall that was intensive.
     
  24. JAY28

    JAY28 Active Member

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    Playing on PS5, I must say the performance has been very good - and certainly better than TS5, I have only driven the Riviera though I may add. It does run much smoother than what I have previously experienced, and if we’re comparing it to WCML south for instance, it’s a massive upgrade.
     
  25. Train Sim Society

    Train Sim Society Well-Known Member

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    Same amount of mods, same # of DLCs selected, boots up in half of the time! Plus framerates seem a bit more consistent!
     
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  26. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Well, I guess there's no objective measure of loading time or performance. Everyone sees to be having a different experience. As I said above, I can't honestly say loading is quicker or gameplay is smoother etc.. And I have a pretty capable machine. I do have close to 400 GB of content though so that's a factor.
     
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  27. star#5823

    star#5823 Well-Known Member

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    Haven’t noticed too much, the music still glitches out when having 102 addons
     
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  28. March Hare

    March Hare Well-Known Member

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    Speaking of music glitches, I noticed this in the patch notes:

    "Fixed an issue on PS5 causing audio to pop and crackle incorrectly."

    Excellent news for PS5 players! Now it pops and crackles correctly!
     
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  29. FifeFlyer75

    FifeFlyer75 Active Member

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    Loading times on Series X definitely seem to be a few seconds quicker. As for performance I see no improvement at all, and if anything using the external camera on the Riviera Line is worse than on any route in TSW5. It's incredibly shuddery.
     
  30. jivebunny

    jivebunny Member

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    Hi everyone,

    I too immediately felt there was a vast improvement in loading times but I was worried it might, indeed, be a placebo effect. So I timed it.

    - Tested on my work laptop, which whilst well over the average "work laptop" spec is definitely not a gaming machine
    - All DLC and layers active, including non-steam DLC from the likes of Train Sim Community.
    - I checked the DLC folders of both games to ensure neither had an unfair advantage : 178 items in TSW5 and 181 in TSW6
    - Between the two tests I allowed Steam to close the game cleanly and let my resource usage drop down to normal operating system levels
    - Timings are from clicking the "Play" button in Steam to the DTG splash screen video appearing.

    TSW5 : 4:12 (told you it wasn't a gaming machine)
    TSW6 : 1:54

    Whilst some may have seen no improvement in load time, perhaps because they already have super quick machines or maybe very little DLC enabled, there have definitely been some optimisations in the way the game loads, at least on slower systems like mine.

    Routes are also loading just as quickly, if not more quickly than in TSW5 (haven't timed that), and at least in my personal experience the frame rate is vastly more consistent. The only time I've seen a severe drop was when it hit 2 FPS (yes) for about 30 seconds just after I added a Class 390 to WCML-S in Free Roam... But that was also the first time I loaded a 390 in TSW6 so it may have been related.

    In any case the promised performance improvements seem to be making an appearance, and I hope we see more (although in my case the big performance boost is going to be when I upgrade to a proper gaming PC...)

    JB

    Edit : just tried loading a 390 in Free Roam again and I didn't get a framerate drop, so must have been related to the first time I loaded it in TSW6
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2025 at 11:14 PM
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  31. astafic#8452

    astafic#8452 Well-Known Member

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    I haven't noticed any change in performance in game, but the loading times have gotten worse on my end. I was loading long enough that the menu music was finished and almost started replaying again when i hit the main menu :|
     
  32. coentrainfan#7502

    coentrainfan#7502 Active Member

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    If the peformanc eis better, I am gonna be realy happy.. I have a gtx 1050 and a fx 4300 (yes) and I can run all routes all rijght with around 25 fps (yes thats good for me) so if the peformance is better I can mabe run semmeringbahn again above 11 fps .. ( yes now the route runs with 11 fps)
     

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