Unlike other games TS' AA settings are quite complex and I don't really know which option is best... Currently the setting I use is quite blurry with overhead wires having the weird fading in and out issue. I can't remember the setting I picked but it's relatively low down - which would you recommend?
I use multisampling. Not the best, tends to create patterns everywhere (fences, radiator covers), but performs. Supersampling (rendering in 4K or ideally 8K for a 2K output) would be the best, but train rendering seems ultra expensive and my fps would drop noticeably even in very mild situations. Curiously, on my new laptop I tried SS (great abbreviation, isn't it) in a game and it raised GPU use from 70% to 73%. In TS / this older PC, though, it was cutting fps massively. At least by half. That said, it was looking much better (4K). So if you run solo scenarios for screenshotting or not even leaving the cab, it might be a better option. (Now that you make me think about it!)
It will depend on the graphics card and the resolution and refresh rate of the monitor and whether the latter is Free or G Sync. Are you using the Nvidia Control Panel or the AMD equivalent? Windows 10/11 settings?
I just have the fxaa and anitroscopic (or whatever it’s called) settings set to max. But really it depends on your systems capabilities versus what you want out of it.
The most perfomance friendly is the first one which is just fxaa as you move down the options in the drop down menu you get more sophisticated aa options added such as MSAA then SSAA but at a perfomance cost. So try them all out until you find one where you happy with visuals and perfomance. A more detailed explanation form one of the devs FXAA is Fast approXimate AA (sometimes referred to as Fast Sample AA or FSAA), which is a form of screen-space AA where the entire screen image data alongside luminance data is compared and edge-adjacent pixels are then smoothed and output based on that data. MSAA is Mutlisampling AA, and is a form of Spatial AA where multiple frame edge-adjacent pixels are rendered and compared, then smoothed to provide a smoother edge, often at the same resolution being rendered. SSAA is Supersampling AA, which is also a form of Spatial AA. Unlike MSAA, an image is rendered at a higher resolution and edge-adjacent pixels are then compared and smoothed, and then downsampled to the resolution you're rendering at. The number shown represents how many times larger the image is rendered in both Vertical and Horizontal. For example SSAA 2 x 1 means the image is being rendered at two times greater in vertical than that in horizontal, which can be useful for ultrawide or multimonitor outputs. SSAA 3 x 3 means the image is being rendered at 3 times actual render size in both vertical and horizontal.
I find SSAA a bit arcane, but it really depends on the uses. I don't think ultrawide is a concern, since it's 1x1 density anyway. But! With extra vertical supersampling, it means that stuff like horizontal overhead lines, stairs, and rails will be rendered better, while vertical objects (fences) will not. In some games (with big blob objects) it's a lesser concern, but TS tends to have both, and those are the most annoying to me. This picture has a fence on the left: The second picture has a radiator cover (and the sleepers around the switch on the right-mid): The reason I find SSAA better is that in all these scnearios it takes a 4x4 and shrinks it to a pixel, so it has a tendency to smooth out artifacts. In case of the 2D map and anything big, MSAA performs just as well (once I reset settings and I got completely lost in a yard), but in case of grids and grilles it is just horrible. Not always an issue but some (American) rolling stock gets brutally distorted: What I would find amazing? When pausing, the game would automatically switch to render at massive SSAA (3x3), just once. A bit difficult in that you can still move with the camera while paused. But still. It would allow fantastic screenshotting / marveling and nice driving.
