PC Tsw 5 Enhancement | Lighting & Graphic Ep V2.3.0

Yeah, I just want to be clear—I really don’t think the crash has anything to do with your mod or the Beast preset. From everything I’ve tested, it seems to be a DX12 issue through and through. I know you’ve mentioned this before too, and after digging around and doing a bunch of tests, it looks like those Access Violation crashes are actually pretty common with Unreal Engine 4/5 games when running in DX12. So yeah, definitely feels more like an engine-level problem than anything mod-related.

What’s funny is DX12 actually gives me the best experience overall—super smooth, amazing visuals, less hitching—it just isn’t stable for me over long sessions. I’m guessing that’s probably part of the reason Dovetail hasn’t gone all-in on DX12 yet.

As for the crash itself, it mostly happens on Frankfurt–Fulda, usually when I start in Fulda and get close to the Hanau or Frankfurt area. It’s not every time—more like once every 8 to 10 runs—but just enough to be frustrating. I’ve also had it happen on WCMLS, though way less often. And oddly enough, I’ve never had this issue on any other route, which makes me wonder if some of it comes down to how certain routes are optimized—especially the ones with a ton of layers and AI services.

I’ve ruled out everything else: Windows and drivers are all up to date, memory tests came back clean, and I’ve even run the game with literally nothing else in the background—no antivirus, no RGB software, no overlays. Still crashes in DX12. It’s not the easiest thing to reproduce either, which makes it even more annoying to troubleshoot. But yeah, based on everything I’ve seen, it really feels like it’s just DX12 being flaky on certain setups.

That said, I’m still using the Beast preset—just with the DX12-specific lines taken out—and I’m still getting the same visuals and better performance. The crashes completely stopped after switching to DX11, which pretty much confirms for me that it’s 100% a DX12 thing. Just seems to affect some system configurations more than others.

On a side note—this isn’t crash-related, just something I noticed performance-wise—I got a huge FPS boost by dropping cloud settings from Very High to Medium. Even going from Ultra (which I see from the manual isn't recommended) to Very High did not make much of a difference. I’d be running at around 70 FPS, but the second I looked up at the sky on any TOD4 route with light or moderate cloud coverage, I’d drop all the way down to 25–30 FPS. It feels like the cloud rendering might be heavier than it needs to be. That said, everything still looks amazing, and honestly, the clouds didn’t even look that different on Medium—just way better performance.

My dream setup would be a DX11-optimized version of the EP, just to avoid the DX12 headaches entirely. I’ve made my own tweaks by stripping out specific lines, and while it seems to work well, I’m not 100% sure I’ve done it the “right” way. That said, I totally get that it's probably not worth the time to build out a separate version if most folks aren’t running into the same issues I am lol.

Do you remember which service it was? I haven’t had any crashes at all on the new route, but I’d like to test that specific one and see.

 

I have found the cause of it. Do you have that mod I mentioned? The crash on WCMLS is almost certainly down to a mod, probably the auto-announcer mod or something similar

This crash you’re experiencing isn’t related to DX12 or we’d all be having it.

 

Ah yep... I do have that mod installed, but interestingly, I was already getting these crashes before I added it. I don’t think it made the issue any better or worse in my case—it’s kind of felt the same frequency-wise before and after installing it.

It's also possible it could very well be another mod. My mod list is honestly pretty long at this point , but it’s all stuff from TSC, and I always make sure everything is kept up to date with the latest versions. :/

 

That mod is causing CTDs with the exceptional address access violation. Without that installed I haven’t had any crashes for months fwiw, obviously running DX12

It is almost certain that crashes of that type are down to mods I’m afraid.

 

Hi all.

With all the chat about Frankfurt - Fulda I had a crack at it yesterday and enjoyed it so much, and it looked so good, that I decided to make a vid of it to demonstrate exactly what it looks like to me.

This is everything turned up to 11 and it is smooth as silk

 

Off-topic, JW, but do you have a way to get hold of Bescot?

 

I do indeed. You can DM him here or he’ll be on discord. If it’s something you’d like me to pass on just send me a DM

 

Thanks, but I reached him over on Train Sim Community

 

I don't understand why DTG doesn't want to integrate these settings and files into the game, it's so easy to make it better and more stable

 

The likely reason could be summed in one word…

Consoles.

They’re struggling enough with the game on its default settings, even Gen9 with blurry textures and memory crashes on certain routes. Whether that be due to consoles specs or DTG’s lack of optimisation is up in the air, but they would need to sort their game out before thinking about upgrading anything.

 

Frustratingly the lighting alone is entirely performance neutral so could work on consoles without issue

 

maybe, but xbox X also has memory crashs and other problems on some DLCs

 

Hello, I would like to report that this mod causes a CTD on the Brighton mainline at East Croydon when the night lighting is on. I have 32 GB ram and 4090 laptop and i've tried removing all mods but the issue persists. To reproduce, you can load on foot at east croydon and look north.

 

That’s very highly unlikely I’m afraid. I’ll have a look when I’m next home and update the mod for the new Frankfurt route, but it’s almost certain that whatever is causing it isn’t this mod. There is nothing in this mod than can cause crashes really as it doesn’t mod the game per se, it just adjusts and adds values of pre-existing parameters.

 

I've just gone into timetable mode and spawned on foot at East Croydon at 23:00 turned around to face north and walked up to the end of the platforms with no issues or crashes and that's with all my mods installed. (32gb RAM i9 processor and RTX4070 laptop).

 

The latest iteration of the mod also has TOD4 parameters for the older routes for use with trainsimcz’s TOD4 mod (as described in the manual). If you’re not using that then logically that could be the issue.

If you wish to stick with the older TOD3 lighting then copy the GodMode ini for Bakerloo and overwrite your chosen TOD3 route.

 

Just tried that and it still crashes. Do you know how to delete the shader cache for this route? maybe something is corrupt and one of the entries in the engine ini is causing it to give up. ( I have no idea what i'm talking about)

 

Found the problem on my end..
r.Shadow.PreShadowResolutionFactor=2.0

That command seems to cause the crash... As for why, I am clueless.

 

Which graphics hit your fps the most? Clouds? What else? Trying to get a good balance with your mod JW.

 

For me it seems to be shadows. With some of the beastly new routes, I'll use god mode to bring the clouds up to a point where the hard shadows start to disappear.

 

Shadows are the major issue, and the shadow quality and draw distance are the major difference between presets. I should add (as I believe I said in the manual) that I configured these presets using SpaceyKats better shadows mod. That alters the distance field and allows shadows to be drawn to the vanishing point, the flipside being that it breaks the close-in cascaded shadows and makes them very low-res. That in turn is less performance intensive but it looks pants. That’s why they are set as high as they are in the mod, because a) there’s the headroom and b) so they look acceptable. If you wish to not use that other mod and play around with those values I’d go back to 3072-3072-3072 for Ultra and work down from there (2048-2048-2048 for high, 1024-2048-1024 for medium and leave low as it is). The numbers are;

1024, 2048 (4K supposedly), 3072, 4096 (8K), 6144, 8192 (16K)

Without SpaceyKat’s mod you shouldn’t be going to anything above 3072 unless you have a RTX4090 or better. Why you need 8K and above cascaded shadows to look sharp and not flicker only DTG can answer. Most other UE4 games would be sharp at 3072 so it has to be a core setup issue.

Finally, I’m working on updating the mod for the S-Bahn route but in the meantime you can copy the Frankfurt-Fulda preset which seems pretty faultless as far as I can see.

Thanks.

 

On an overcast June Morning, 60103 'Flying Scotsman' climbs Camden Bank working 1Z38 London Euston - Chester

Just shows how excellent JetWash INI presets can look...

 

Wasn't going to post another, but I had to...

 

Love it!!!

 

Hello, I have had a few issues with blurriness of smaller textures within the cab since the last update (The game looked beautiful before). Is this to do with the engine.ini being incorrectly configured or just that the update has broken the mod?

 

I also have blurriness on the PC for the first few seconds when starting a scenario. It lasts no more than a few seconds but wasn’t there prior to the update.

 

I have freezing and blurry image on starting runs, especially if I "turn my head right away" and have for a long time. I am running a year old high end gaming machine.

 

Tried the better shadow mod, but had to remove it again. The cab shadows, and literally any shadows close to you look way to bad that this would be a acceptable trade off. Not to mention the additional performance loss on a RTX 2070 Super.
It looks already good enough with the modification from jet wash without that additional mod.

 

Mine seems to be all the time throughout gameplay. I am running a 3080ti and i9 so I do not think it is hardware related too

 

I don’t think it’s hardware either 4090 top spec machine this end

 

If you do that remember to reduce the shadow resolutions

 

Yeah need to check on that, but I think I did that already.

 

Apologies for the delay (real life and all that!)

Mod now updated to include Frankfurt S-Bahn. Enjoy!

TSW 5 | Lighting & Visual Quality Enhancement v2.2.1 - Train Sim Community



I should add that I’ve noticed recently that this mod now works without edit with DX11. To re-iterate the logic to using either DX11 and DX12;

- DX11 is native for the game BUT is exceptionally CPU intensive, particularly around areas with many tracks (think Frankfurt) and/or trains
- Conversely, it is easier on the GPU and uses about 40% less VRAM
- DX12 is native to UE4 although TSW does not boot into this API as standard. It is much easier on the CPU and generally increases FPS, but….
- This only works if your GPU is reasonable. If it is DX12 takes more load making the CPU intensive areas workable. Will use more VRAM.

So the choice is yours. I tried DX11 for a bit and I saw no real benefit but saw my CPU (9800x3D) absolutely maxed out at 100% usage on Frankfurt S-Bahn. If I load the same scenario in DX12 everything is much better balanced.

In a nutshell, GPU stronger than CPU and relatively modern then DX12 is a slam dunk. CPU stronger than GPU or your GPU is lacking VRAM then DX11 may be a better option.

 

Many Many thanks JetWash!!! I was sitting on hot coal already hahaha

 

Thanks for the update, will put this to good use right away

Question about the LS app though.

I followed the instructions in the included manual, but the app has updated since you've made it.
Under Frame Generation, what setting do you use, or recommend with "mode" and "Flow scale"?

 

Mode 2 doubles your FPS, that’s what I use (30x2=60). I have the flow scale fully right but have a play with it and see what works best for you. It is only talking about the generated frames, not the originals.

 

JW, thank you again for this work.

 

Thanks Jetwash. I have a day off tomorrow and it looks like bad weather. So I might pick up the new route and give it a try.

 

JW, the Frankfurt S-Bahn looks good.

 

Thanks

 

I actually tried LS now and reinstalled the additional better shadows mod.

I'm on a RTX 2070 Super and running a 2048 - 4096 - 2048 setup for shadows.
The 4096 is necessary to get rid of the ugly cab shadow flicker that comes with the better shadow mod. Im able to maintain solid and capped 60 FPS everywhere but Frankfurt HBF area on the S-Bahn.
LS really makes a difference here.

I wish we would have native DLSS support in the game at any point.
It's a bit ridiculous that TSW does not have native upscaling / frame generation implemented yet. We live on 2025.. just remember.

 

Cracking job once again JW

 

It’s a genuine frustration to me to be honest & it’s really clear the game would really benefit from it. It would certainly benefit hugely from DLAA and the latest deep learning output.

The GPU manufacturers are making it very clear that raw graphic processing horsepower is a thing of the past (or at least a second thought going forward) and Deep Learning and Frame Generation are the future, yet TSW has none of it, not even FSR3.

It’s such a shame.

 

I had a try at their recommended setting for 4K and have to say, it’s good. I’m going to leave it at that, certainly on my laptop as I see zero difference to the image (if anything it might be a bit better) but it’s less demanding on the GPU. Winner.

 

Notably for me, while performance shot through the roof when I began using DX12, I've never once had a crash while playing TSW under it. It's been nothing but an improvement for me. I've never looked back.

 

DX12 worked flawlessly for me in TSW 2-3-4. Unfortunately, TSW 5 overloads my meager 4GB of VRAM under DX12, so I've had to revert to 11.

 

Yeah, unfortunately it's not quite the same experience for everyone. It really does come down to hardware. There are seemingly infinite combinations of CPU, GPU, drivers, background software, and storage setups. So the way Unreal Engine responds, especially in DX12, where TSW wasn't built for, can vary significantly from one system to another.

Dovetail has even mentioned at one point in the past DX12 can cause stability issues, which is probably why they haven’t officially supported it yet. You're one of the lucky ones, and I’m a bit jealous!

That said, I haven’t had a single crash in the past two weeks using DX12, but that only started after I upgraded to a larger NVMe SSD (From 2 to 4TB). I doubt that had much to do with it, but I’ll take the stability for however long it lasts! lol

 

One question...
For the specific case of Frankfurt, is it ideal to have a 12GB video card, at least so that the FPS doesn't drop so much? Because I have an 8GB RTX 4060 and when I get to that region I constantly suffer, with my FPS dropping to 10. I have a Ryzen 5 5600x and 32GB of RAM, as well as a 1TB NVMe SSD.

 

I had a 4070 card at one time, and it did not fare well in much of TSW, and when routes like Frankfurt came along, it did not help, I upgraded to a 3090, which made TSW much better, but I had to RMA it and upgraded to a 4080 with 16Gb vram, (and I'm setting the overclock a bit higher with the auto settings) the game as a whole, does run better, but every so often I get out of video memory error, having the mods does add to load. With 8Gb of VRAM, you would need to lower the settings, in-game, and use a lower ini mod that Jetwash has made, and do a lot of testing, or if you can get a GPU with at least 12 to 16 Gb of VRAM, it would make things run better.

 

Thank you very much JetWash for your continued hard work! The only problem I'm having with this mod is sometimes getting these odd stripey shadows, usually on the outside of trains (look closely at the circled area in the attached screenshot). Any idea what might be causing them? I'm using the high preset with ultra in-game settings.