Tsw3 Xbox Series X Performance

Hi all,

New to the forum and taking a great interest in this game. Picked up several dlcs and have been enjoying what's on offer. However, im finding the performance quite poor in certain dlcs. The amount of pop in is extraordinary for a next gen console. I'm getting major pop in on slow and fast routes.

Will this be looked at? It really does need some refinement, its not the expected quality of a 2022 next gen title. Also a question about routes...do they cache? Do i need to run through a whole route to stop the excessive pop in?

Thanks all.

 

I have been playing on my S Series xbox more than PC lately and I have very few issues really. It may be a case of the more times you play it the better the performance gets.

 

I play on Series X and feel like i get good performance for the most part- there's usually some camera lag for the first 30 seconds or so while everything loads in, but after that it's good.

I mean the game as a whole has draw-distance issues, especially with foliage and shadows, but nothing platform specific that i've noticed.

 

Could you provide some more information? What route? What service? What scenario?
I play on series x and I’ve had no problem except some momentary lag on BReman Oldenburg

 

There are (generally) two forms of lag that TSW has across all platforms. The microstutter that is produced when a new map tile is loaded in as you traverse the route (this affects all platforms to varying degrees, and the more detailed maps are more prone to it). The second is due to heavily detailed areas taxing the PC/console such that it struggles to render everything visible in the game world - see diesel smoke/steam, large and/or populated stations as examples. On SX specifically, the strike eagle fella has more issues than other people have and has posted videos of his experience with choppy frame rates. Others on SX have experienced fewer problems. On PS5 I don't experience anything substantial other than the micro stutter, but this has improved with recent patches. Heavily detailed areas still tank the frame rate but "tank" is relative - I've never experienced single digit, but low-mid 20s fps I've seen in eg. Paddington and Dresden

 

So on the new routes, faversham and Cajon pass I've had excessive pop in. On Cajon pass just now, I had the splash screen appear whilst switching exterior cameras, then along the route by the highways, the cars where floating and popping in and out. Faversham at hi speed is the track shadows, tree shadows and other various bits. Even when driving at 10kmh on a route to Dartford i had shadows popping in.

Without being too critical the graphics are not exactly cutting edge in the environment so they shouldn't be performing this poorly.

 

Without getting in to whether it should or shouldn't be like this, track shadows are a fixed distance on consoles. I believe this distance is increased on PC but I don't own the PC version so can't confirm. I can't say I've ever had excessive pop-in as such, certainly LOD models have some odd distances at which they trigger at times but the model itself is drawn at a reasonable distance. Note that the first few times you run a route performance and pop-in may be affected by a lack of shader pre-cache, potentially producing some stutter. Subsequent runs may improve if this is the case

 

Hi Fred, is that true then that it caches routes?

 

A misunderstanding here - the route itself is not cached. (This assumes that consoles use shader caching, can't find information whether they do or don't) Shaders are files that among other things contain information about lighting, fog and other similar types of effects. Without a cache this information is generated on-demand and can be computationally intensive (causing lag or stutter). A shader cache stores this information in one of two ways: 1. After the first time it is generated it is saved to the cache, and whenever the game needs that info again it simply pulls it out of the cache instead of running the calculations again; 2. The shaders are precompiled by the developer and included with the game package, meaning the game never has to run the calculations itself and it simply pulls the info it needs from them. I couldn't say if the consoles use them, but it would certainly make sense for them to do so

 

Thanks Fred

 

My experience is that the overall performance on Xbox SX is not so different than on a medium spec PC. It is quite smooth with significantly better frame rates than rival consoles. In terms of the dreaded pop in, all TSW hardware platforms suffer badly from this. It can only be improved by customising the game’s Ini file to modify draw distances, which is unfortunately only possible on a PC. I had both gen 9 consoles until quite recently and the only thing that really bugged me on the Series X was the audio degradation when TSW3 arrived (DTG are aware and are hopefully looking at a fix).

 

Don't hold your breath been waiting for ever for the consoles to get optimized. I play the Ps4 version on my ps5 and is a lot smoother and a joy to play but that's probably because there's not so much going on in the Ps4 version.

 

Is that tsw2 or 3 rudders?

I just find it hard to believe that in this day and age with the most powerful console we cant get better performance and whilst the graphics are nice they are not exactly cutting edge.

Ive been running ts3 on pc and whilst tweaking the ini gets some better draw distance, its at the cost of fps. Again, I have a strong PC that can run lots of games on ultra. Assetto Corsa with the new mods, new lighting, new wet weather runs at a solid 60+. So does ACC.

 

It's tsw2 and tsw3. I play the Ps4 versions on my ps5. I know there's not so much traffic and layers but I will take a smoother game play anyday.

 

When I first had tsw2 on PlayStation 5 many months ago when it got ported over to the next gen console the performance was butter smooth I even stopped playing it on my pc because the performance was that good. But as the months have gone on its got worse and now there's stuttering on most routes as I said I think it needs optimisation but Its bottom of the list in dtg world.

 

On PC I have a lightly modified ini file, use 150% rendering scale but limit the frame rate to 80 (240 hz monitor).
The only pop in I get is the shadows on the rails themselves (no cure) but performance is usually very smooth.
My PC cost several times the price of a gen 9 console though, so on a value for money scale there is no comparison!

 

I might try this ini file you are talking about on my pc not sure how to go about it that's the only thing is it a simple procedure

 

There are a few guides around, but PM me if you get stuck.

 

Thank you. You guys are so helpful on here

 

On most titles Series X and PS5 performance is usually comparable despite the former’s superiority on paper (teraflops). With TSW however, for some unknown reason the PS5 is heavily under optimised, leading to massive differences in frame rate in busy areas compared to the Series X. This, along with the PS5 DLC limit, along with the dreadful Xbox TSW3 audio quality, were all reasons why I gave up consoles and went back to PC. A shame as consoles are so much better value.

 

Hopefully one day dtg will look at optimization on the consoles I see it at the bottom of the road map but how long will the wait be

 

Be patient, just give them a few years.

 

Tsw4 then

 

When you´ve just purchased your new PS7 ...

"...I play the Ps4 version on my ps5 and is a lot smoother and a joy to play but that's probably because there's not so much going on in the Ps4 version."

Very interesting, I have considered the same since I value game flow more than some secondary gimmicks (dynamic weather, snow trails. electric arcs ... et al)
Do you have to cope with that dreadful 64Gb DLC cap or is it the usual PS4 limit?

 

I've had no problem with Ps4 dlc it's just a nicer experience all together.

 

Performance-wise on Series X, I've had no major problems in general; although I notice that older TSW 2 routes seem to feel much better for performance compared with TSW 3 routes.

However, the only route that my Series X seems to struggle with is the recent Bremen route. For some reason this route has very frequent stuttering and micropauses when I play which is very frustraiting considering it's actually a brilliant route with a fantastic timetable.

 

I've always been playing on PS5, but recently got an XSX and since TSW3 is on game pass I figured it was worth getting it to compare.

I tested the same run on SEHS, same weather etc on both consoles. I didn't do full run but enough to compare them in similar setting.

Overall, they are very similar. Visually identical, even switching back and forth I couldn't really notice a difference.

Performance is generally smooth on both, with the occasional "micro stutter" that is noticeable as you are going along. Happens on both consoles.

Where I did notice a difference in FPS was at one of the stops where I opened the doors and let out a large number of passengers. On PS5 there was a noticeably lower framerate. Not choppy but you could definitely feel it when spinning the camera around. Same exact station/situation on XSX and it was buttery smooth, no noticeable drop.

I would love to compare more DLCs like London Commuter with all the layers but considering how much money I've already dumped into TSW DLC that are in varying states of disrepair, the idea of buying the same stuff (with the same bugs) over again on a new platform isn't a priority...

I compared Kassel Wurzburg between the two and it was waaaay better on XSX, but not because of the console, just because on PS5 I have all the layers and the stations are just packed with trains, vs XSX I was checking it with no other German DLC so the station was a ghost town. Apples to oranges. Thats why I used SEHS for my main comparison since it has much fewer layers.

Also I DID notice that the XSX had wonky sound quality too. Almost sounded like the audio was compressed more than the PS5. I thought maybe it had to do with my sound settings on the console but I guess its a known thing?

 

There's a current limit of (I believe) 50 items of DLC on PS4, which the add-on manager is projected to resolve, as well as resolving the PS5 64GB limit

 

I have, and my testing (London Vic 7 am, heavy rain) showed that while the PS5 hovered around the 20-30 fps mark, the Series X was able to hold 40-50 fps easily. Incredible, but true, and I did have a wee rant on the forums about it at the time.

 

Ive been getting some extreme pop in with the shadows on early mornings on the Munchen route, especially driving the ICE. I think this needs looking at, as although we know there is a shadow loading issue present, to me this feels far more extreme on this line.

I have a video here, check out the last 20 seconds. Xbox Series X should be able to handle this but it looks like the shadows cant load in time as the train speeds up.

 

I have the game on PS5 and series X. Essentially, the game plays markedly better on the Series X for me. In a way it's frustrating as most gaming is on the PS5, however this is the case across nearly all routes so my train fix comes from the Green side!

 

Try playing the Ps4 version of tsw2 or tsw3 on ps5 it's butter smooth

 

FYI I cleared the cache recently (practically unplugedd xbxsx from ac power and pushed power botton for few seconds) suddenly all routes (old and newest ones) gained significant boost of performance. Hard drive - 250gb of free space. BTW this situation shows how rubishly made is i.e. NYPenn station (NYT) - Bernina runs oll over twice better than this poorly made and transfered station...

 

Can I ask why you don’t play the PS5 version?