Does Dtg Even Know What Stuttering Is?

I guess a consideration here also is as we all request more to be in the routes, more assets, more traffic, there's only so much headroom before things may change in terms of FPS

 

Just to be clear, the stutters are not fps related. The following is from DTG...

"Micro-stutters
Train Sim World 4 runs on Unreal Engine 4, and issues related to stuttering are fairly common on games which use this technology, due to the way the way it loads shaders. Essentially, when a game loads a shader for the first time, GPU drivers begin compilation, causing ‘hitches’, which you might see as ‘micro-stutters’ on your game when you play it.

We’ve been experimenting internally, and have identified a 70-80% reduction in micro-stutters once a route has been run for the first time (i.e. after the shaders have finished compiling). For those who have watched our preview streams, Vorarlberg was being played for the first time, whereas all content since has been played beforehand so you can see the difference in the experience in the VODs."

I'd take issue with the statement that stutters are common on UE games. Regardless, it explains the problem well for the layman.

 

I don't know what the right jargon is. We all mean the same thing. A route should feel very smooth and that is not the case. DTG is transparent about it. They acknowledge that there should not be any expectations about improved performance.

 

But it is something THEY need to fix. If every UE4 project had this problem, Epic would have an... epic problem. So why is it TSW only? Maybe fixing this shouldn't be on the user launching every route after every GPU driver update.

"Updates and new GPU drivers can sometimes require the recompiling of shaders, so this is something to potentially expect on more than one occasion."

Given for example how much Nvidia loves throwing out updates, half of your playtime would be relaunching routes.

 

That's fair enough and I appreciate you being forthright about it. I hope you can feed back quite how annoying this is for some users though. In my case it's a lost sale for dtg, and I'm probably not the only one.

 

Please take that option.

DTG has always tried to do the opposite to what over devs do (technically speaking), and there have been some right messes because of it.

No need to reinvent wheels here.

 

Other games have a "building shader cache" routine when launched for the first time, like TLOU and Hogwarts, both also running on UE4. So why not for TSW?

Just saw this, yes please!

 

Ask DTG. It was them I was quoting..

 

I would happily have some slightly longer loading times for shader compilation. I grew up with tape loading, though

 

Loading times is an issue for me. I already think the loading times for the entire game are nerve wrecking. Add long loading times every time you fire up a route and my tolerance levels drop significantly. Loading times can only suffer if this means NO stutters at all

 

It is normally just on first start up or if you have installed a new driver or game update is coming. At least this is how it works for TLOU and Hogwarts. After a new driver installation the cache has also be rebuild. But I would like that also. As said both titles are also UE4.

Starfield for example also builds a shader cache on first startup, but it is obviously not UE4.

As said, normally only on first game start / after driver update or game update.

 

Oh I understood that every time you would start a service you would have to wait a long time before you are actually in the route. Like appearing in the cockpit after waiting a minute or two

 

Watching the ECML stream now and the stuttering is already quite visibly bad and the train hasn’t even reached its first station yet.

 

As said, at least that's the way it works in other UE4 titles. Maybe for TSW it could be done like when a route is loaded for the first time. But normally it shouldn't be neccessary to do it every time you are loading into the game.

 

TSW 2 on xbox series x for me is very smooth. I love playing it no micro stuttering. Load up tsw3 and there's micro stutters on all new routes and less so on older routes but there's definitely a difference.

 

Loading times in TSW are relatively quick compared to TSC so I’d take another 30 seconds to get going if it eliminates the stutter.

 

Definitely. I regard TSW loading times as fast compared to a lot of games I play. I think theres space to move into on that front.

 

But most of you have retired. You have all the time of the world

 

TSC is even worse when it first starts - running that scenario database check every time can take several minutes and often locks the PC up while doing so. By comparison, the TSW menu is up within no more than 20 or 30 seconds of clicking its icon.

 

I wish 12 hour work days I'm 57

 

Agreed. But it is disingenuous to say that it's an Unreal Engine issue and it's all out of their control. If that truly were the case no games would use a game engine that produced a (mostly) consistent unsmooth experience. But agree that they admit their game will continue as is. I'm clearly in the minority here and one customer lost will not make/break the bank.

 

Wow! Finally a kindred spirit that sees what I see on the same platform! I feel your pain brother!

 

That's lag, and it's a function of (lack of) CPU or GPU power