PC Tsw4 Enhancement | Lighting & Graphic Enhancement V4.7 (inc Lossless Scaling Guide)

it might be that the shader files needs to be deleted (cleaning)
that can happen if you regular update your drivers

also switching from dx11 to dx12 means deleting dxshaders first

 

I already tried removing shader cache via Disk Cleanup many times, and as already stated in my post, also let plenty of time for shader cache to generate by not doing that, not updating my drivers (for months), and running many trips from driver + passenger views. I highly doubt shader cache would cause such drastic consistent FPS drops, when I have little to no stutters

 

I thought I had fixed it all, but still had problems. Removing the r.GTAO.SpatialFilter=0 got rid of the grey shadows, but I noticed the signals were now a problem (depending on where you are looking in VR, some of the signals do not show, especially with the right eye). Also, driving the Linke Rheinstrecke, some of the shadows were too dark (a train driving towards me was almost black).

I had a brainwave, and copied across the last version (combined with the latest godmode) v3.9. I used the High presets, and everything worked perfectly. Performance was really good as well (unlike the Ultra 4.1.1).

Think I'll just keep my fingers crossed that Dovetail don't change anything and run Godmode 0.5.1 with the ini mod 3.9

 

I have been using these launch options.
-DX12 -HIGH -USEALLAVAILABLECORES
When I was running a 3070 I was having similar issues with FPS drops as well as stuttering. These launch options did help a little, have you looked into added cooling options, I suspect that maybe partly your issue.
Have you tried installing your GPU driver NvCleaninstall if you have not, here is a video that I followed and I do it like this when needed or I just want to.

 

I thought I'd share a screenshot I am now using as a desktop background - Bernialine - Low version of the mod (lighting only) - not particularly running high settings on my laptop either - but this was beautiful - I've found this mod takes the good and makes it great. Thanks those who have put hard work into the mod.

 

Thanks but as already stated clearly in my post temp & my system are fine, you only need to look at performance in other games to know this... CPU 75-80C, GPU 70C max at any time. I even posted the usage stats of my hardware during this FPS drop and they are barely being used - please read the post carefully!

Unfortunately the launch options you provided don't help, but I shall use those without DX12 too regardless

edit: doesn't help on dx11 either. lines like midland mainline and Blackpool which don't go too fast are now more playable, as almost every station on them dropped me to 12fps. but fast lines like ECML are now unplayable on dx11 as I get 5 second freezes like ever 2-3 seconds

I wonder if dx11 even has Shader cache with this mod btw? is it even generating it? because I did a few full runs and it didn't improve anything. I assumed Shader cache generation wasn't a thing on dx11 period, since I'd used dx12 all this time.

DTG have created nothing but a total pile of trash here, I'm pretty much ready to give up and play TSC instead... seems nothing works at all

 

i using MSI Afterburner to do "undervolting" of my gpu where also the cpu benifts from because the whole system runs quiet and easy
without it my gpu 3080 climbs up to 72°c and the memory gpu goes up to 90°c and thats not good for the system at all.
a shame that this game doesnt use DLSS which helps also a lot to get the temps down.

cheers

 

Sorry I haven’t been able to reply for the last day or so, I’m away working.

Can I ask what your system is?

 

his system info is a few posts earlier

it is Asus Zephyrus G15 2021 GA503QM, R7 5800HS, RTX 3060M Max-Q, 40GB RAM, game on internal NVMe SSD

 

Oh, I missed that. DX12, by design, puts load onto a GPU where it would otherwise have been on the CPU.

I’m only guessing, but I would be surprised if a mobile version of a 3060 would be robust enough (from a cooling point of view if nothing else) to run this game in 1440p at Ultra settings with this mod on top. I suspect your GPU is overloaded and that is why you’re seeing the freezes. It also correlates that dropping the resolution to 1080p improves matters. The stutters in DX11 are likely because your CPU is overloaded as that’s how that api works. Again, cooling is probably the major problem.

This game is ludicrously resource intensive for what it is, and exactly why at the very least it needs DLSS and FSR3. DTG not only don’t seem to understand that, but from what has been said on this forum simply don’t know how to implement it properly.

I’m afraid all I can suggest is run the game in DX12 and, without mods, find a resolution and in-game graphics preset that gives you acceptable frame rates. Once you have that use the ‘Low’ version of this mod as all that contains are the changes to the lighting. I know it’s probably not what you want to hear, but I suspect your system simply isn’t capable of any more.

HTH

 

That’s amazing!

 

As a desktop user with a full fat 3060ti running at 1440p, I can concur with all the above. Even If I lock at 60fps, the ultra mod pushes my system hard. You cannot always compare with other games, as TSW is, how can I politely put this......Unique.
If your GPU usage is low, something else is going on. With the the ultra mod, my GPU pushes 90-100% all the time.

 

As does my 3090, and at 90% screen percentage on a native 4K screen it can struggle at times, normally at the time of day our old friend the cascaded shadow is doing it’s thing.

One thing that is different in 4.1.1 over previous versions is that even in the Ultra preset I have lowered the shadow resolution’s significantly which should have boosted performance on all systems. I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face, given how hard this ‘game’ is on most systems (with what, by default, are pretty poor graphics by modern standards) it desperately needs DLSS and/or FSR3. It’s not a nicety, it’s a must have.

 

While your interpretation is completely reasonable, and makes sense, I'm afraid you've still missed most of the details from my original post... during those drops my GPU/CPU usage is like nothing, my max temps are well below the thermal limit for my laptop (I watch them closely) and dropping the resolution only worked on one route, once... (same area after a relaunch it just went back to awful fps even at 720p) and I even tried putting all settings to low and using the low preset, it didn't change a thing... this is all true experience of mine, I'm not making this up (I mean it doesn't even make sense - I genuinely want the low settings to help FPS at this point, so I can actually play this game)

you can see similar sort of lines in the steam reviews, dropping settings not changing fps for many people

by the way I started to see a small improvement after running routes many times in passenger mode, but I previously didn't have to do that in dx12 (not that it touched the FPS drops anyway)

 

if your other games are behaving fine no clue then or if you do not have other games?

besides an bios update i saw for your laptop i have no idea elsewise
you might already have it
updating bios can be tricky i would never do that through windows itself

BIOS Update for Windows

Version 416
9.3 MB 2023/10/06

Description :
It is recommended to download and update the BIOS and firmware for system performance optimization. The update takes a few minutes, please do not turn off your computer during the process to avoid critical problem that system cannot be turned on.
Caution! Active updates are possible during the Windows Update process!

(UEFI is a firmware package that controls keyboard, monitor, disk and other hardware devices and provides software interface to help OS control hardware devices.)

Important Information:
Optimize system performance
Optimize display performance

 

MY RTX4090 and at 150% screen percentage on a native 4
ALL ROUTE game in 4K at Ultra settings

r.ViewDistanceScale=1
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=-5
r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.1
foliage.LODDistanceScale=5
foliage.DitheredLOD=5
foliage.DensityScale=1.0
grass.densityScale=1.0
grass.CullDistanceScale=2
r.LandscapeLOD0DistributionScale=3
r.HLOD.DistanceOverrideScale=8
r.DFDistanceScale=6
r.DFFarTransitionScale=0.05
r.MaterialQualityLevel=0
r.MaxAnisotropy=16
r.HighQualityLightMaps=1
r.BlurGBuffer=-1
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=1
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
r.LensFlareQuality=2
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=1
r.BloomQuality=3
r.FastBlurThreshold=7
r.Upscale.Quality=4
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=1
r.MotionBlurQuality=0
r.PostProcessAAQuality=6
r.TemporalAACatmullRom=1
r.TemporalAASharpness=1.0
r.TemporalAASamples=4
r.TemporalAA.Upsampling=1
r.TemporalAAFilterSize=1.0
r.TemporalAAPauseCorrect=1
r.TemporalAACurrentFrameWeight=0.2
r.Tonemapper.Quality=0
r.ToneMapper.Sharpen=1
r.Streaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=0
r.Streaming.FramesForFullUpdate=2
r.Streaming.Boost=3
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2
r.Streaming.PoolSize=18432
r.Streaming.MaxTempMemoryAllowed=12288
D3D12.ZeroBufferSizeInMB=32
au.Concurrency.MinVolumeScale=0.00001
au.SoundDistanceOptimizationLength=0.5
au.VirtualLoops.PerfDistance=500
au.VirtualLoops.UpdateRate.Max=1
au.VirtualLoops.UpdateRate.Min=0.5
r.ShadowQuality=4
r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=3
r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=4096
r.Shadow.CSM.TransitionScale=2
r.Shadow.CSMShadowDistanceFadeoutMultiplier=0.1
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=4096
r.Shadow.DistanceScale=2
r.Shadow.TransitionScale=2
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.05
r.Shadow.SpotLightTransitionScale=4096
r.AllowLandscapeShadows=1
r.DistanceFieldShadowing=1
r.LightMaxDrawDistanceScale=10
r.MinScreenRadiusForLights=0.005
r.GTSyncType=1
r.OneFrameThreadLag=1
g.TimeToBlockOnRenderFence=0
r.RHICmdBalanceParallelLists=1
D3D12.MaximumFrameLatency=0
s.IoDispatcherCacheSizeMB=2048
s.IoDispatcherBufferMemoryMB=512
s.IoDispatcherBufferSizeKB=32
s.IoDispatcherDecompressionWorkerCount=5
au.MaxConcurrentStreams=5
au.DisableParallelSourceProcessing=0
AudioCommand.FenceWaitTimeMs=0
AudioThread.BatchAsyncBatchSize=10
r.CreateShadersOnLoad=1
fx.ForceCompileOnLoad=1
niagara.CreateShadersOnLoad=1
r.D3D.ForceDXC=1
r.Shaders.FastMath=0
D3D12.PSO.DiskCache=1
D3D12.PSO.DriverOptimizedDiskCache=1
r.ShaderPipelineCache.PreOptimizeEnabled=1
r.ShaderPipelineCache.BatchTime=2
r.ShaderPipelineCache.PrecompileBatchTime=2
r.ShaderPipelineCache.BackgroundBatchTime=0
r.ShaderPipelineCache.BatchSize=100
r.ShaderPipelineCache.PrecompileBatchSize=100
r.ShaderPipelineCache.BackgroundBatchSize=0
gc.TimeBetweenPurgingPendingKillObjects=300
gc.NumRetriesBeforeForcingGC=0
gc.MinDesiredObjectsPerSubTask=25
s.ForceGCAfterLevelStreamedOut=0
s.ContinuouslyIncrementalGCWhileLevelsPendingPurge=0
s.AsyncLoadingUseFullTimeLimit=1
s.AsyncLoadingTimeLimit=2
s.PriorityAsyncLoadingExtraTime=1
s.UnregisterComponentsTimeLimit=2
s.LevelStreamingActorsUpdateTimeLimit=2
s.PriorityLevelStreamingActorsUpdateExtraTime=1
s.LevelStreamingComponentsUnregistrationGranularity=100
s.LevelStreamingComponentsRegistrationGranularity=100
r.Streaming.NumStaticComponentsProcessedPerFrame=200
r.Color.Mid=0.6
r.Color.Min=-0.0001

 

Only thing I can think of that caused frame rate issues was when my laptop decided to use the internal graphics card rather than the GPU once after a windows update. Doubt that’s the problem, it would barely run TSW on low details, but might be worth checking.

 

With respect that is completely irrelevant to this thread and this mod.

 

is this one in god mode 0.5.1 or engine ini file?

 

that is just an engine.ini ultra setting nothing to do with Jetwash godmode.sav

 

engine ini file

 

ok thank you

 

So I have given up on DX12, moved to DX11 now, where I'm using the Medium preset, and High-Ultra settings, maintaining 30-40fps everywhere, period, with almost no stutters after 3-4 cache building runs. I can actually run the game at 4K DLDSR too, to offset the awful antialiasing! Proof in the pudding that DX12 is just borked somehow, and my system, although definitely a contributor, isnt the majority of the culprit.

I noticed that Sky Quality is the biggest drainer of FPS (atleast on TSW4 with new volumetric clouds), dropping 10fps from Medium to High. High -> Ultra textures also lengthens the stutter freezes when you turn around the camera - literally OMSI all over again! Otherwise, for the visual quality, getting great performance finally.

Might be worth adding a note that DX12 could introduce performance issues for some users as its not officially supported etc

 

dx 11 12 mixed shader files always delete em if you wanna switch dx version

 

…and a lot of it is nonsense I’m afraid, and what isn’t nonsense would also absolutely cripple pretty much every machine out there. It would make a significant number of routes entirely unplayable for anyone that didn’t have a 4090. Some of the commands in it are also countering each other, many won’t be doing anything at all and a lot are totally unnecessary.

 

I have done a bit more testing, and the previous High settings .sav (3.9) gives much better performance than the new Ultra .sav (4.1.1).

it also has the benefit of having visible signals in VR.

 

Regarding the discussion earlier about DX12 vs DX11, and integrated vs discrete GPUs, I figured I'd chime in with the curious fact that on my 7840U handheld (Integrated 780M graphics) which I've been sharing pics of TSW running on lately, pretty much the biggest contributor to getting the game to run smoothly was to force DX12 mode.

 

hey I have two quick questions

1. what line was it again to increase the render distance of shadows?


and 2nd what can I do to make shadows eat less framerate? wouldn't wanna drop the foliage "quality" (just the amount of trees, actually) cus I'd like that to stay the highest amount. any tricks?

 

Unfortunately they’re already set to the highest they can be and raising the numbers further isn’t going to change that sadly. Trust me, it does nothing. It’s absolutely infuriating, but DTG insist on the experience in that image being ‘Ultra’. Thankfully it only really looks like that on certain routes at certain times of day.

If you look in the manual it explains what you need to do to reduce the overhead of the shadows.

What I don’t understand is why TSW requires such massively high cascaded shadow resolutions to make the shadows look even half-way acceptable. From the significant amount of research I’ve done into this I don’t believe this is anything like the norm for other UE4 games. The issue then is that, to paste over the problem of 2D distant scenery not having shadows or ambient occlusion DTG have just taken to putting literally thousands of 3D speedtrees on every route, many of which the player will never even see. Go on ECML or Maintalbahn for example and using GodMode zoom, zoom in as far as you can on the distant horizon. Each one of those trees, in fact each branch and leaf on those trees, casts a shadow and it is that that murders the performance. I believe they’ve attempted to alleviate that somewhat by utilising a tree’s dithered LOD, and that is what is giving you the transparent trees by default. The reason I think that is such an issue on ECML is because of the sheer number of trees. Whether distance field shadows or cascaded shadows are the culprit I’m not 100% sure, I’m still trying to figure it out. I think the answer is probably ‘both’ whereas up until recently I thought it was only cascaded shadows. A further curveball is it varies from route to route.

It is my guess that rather than fix the actual issue we have a series of botches to make the game run smoothly. The problem is the graphics can then look LOVE, they are just not consistently ‘next-gen’. When we up the viewdistance and foliageLOD to get rid of the incessant pop-in in front of the player you also increase the demand from those thousands of distant, never to be seen trees. This is why sets of .ini settings like the ones posted above are just nonsense unless you have the latest and greatest. They will kill most 40series and all 30series and below graphics cards. DTG could, of course, make this somewhat better by supporting DLSS, FSR3 and frame generation to take computational load off the GPU, but for some reason they don’t seem to want to do that either. I’m just completely baffled by the attitude towards it.

The sad fact is that this game can look amazing at times, but it can also look awful, even with ini tweaks pushing things well beyond the standard settings. IMHO graphics and sound are as crucial to the sim experience as it gets. As it stands, in it’s default state, TSW fails too often on both accounts.

It’s not entirely DTG’s fault though. If you look at videos of Assetto Corsa (which also runs on UE4) the pop-in and grass drawing right in front of the player is damn awful. Clearly UE4 really struggles with this aspect of it’s visuals, and I think it needs someone who really knows what they’re doing (and I’m not for one minute suggesting I do) to get it set up properly. Other than the switch to UE4.26, the utilisation of ToDv4 and Volumetric Fog the visuals in TSW haven’t changed a great deal since it first released. By that I mean pop-in, shadow-draw, flickering OHLE, flickering fences, AA ghosting, assets visibly popping up right in front of you, ropey motion blur (like stationary trains blurring), poor quality shadows, poor lighting and so on. Considering the game must have been in development for at least 7-9 years by this point it is a real shame. Don’t get me wrong, it is definitely better than day 1, but is it 7-9 years worth of development better? I’m not sure it is.

 

I already played with the CSM resolution and I think 3072 is the perfect option. just good enough, not too low to look bad and not too high to destroy your experience due to FPS drops
the additional lines in the manual that are around the CSM res one make the performance of the shadows even better, even if its just a little bit, it's enjoyable

 

the uhhh... street bridges are not casting shadows either

 

Again, I believe this is the route builders simply not setting things up properly over the tracks. The bridge in that picture is casting a shadow, but not across the tracks and the overwhelming majority of road and foot bridges in this game are the same. Another performance / memory thing for the lowest common denominator I would guess, but which contributes to killing the immersion levels bit by bit for everyone else. The frustrating thing is the total lack of consistency. Some cast shadow, most don’t. Why the discrepancy?!

I mean seriously, how the heck can you have a train simulator where the experience of driving under bridges and tunnels is so relentlessly poor? It’s so fundamental to the experience that it should be right 100% of the time by now.

 

hehe luckily my own imagination can overcome the plenty flaws of TSW
could write a book about it

 

FWIW, in 1080 I can run medium on an RX 580 (GTX1060 equiv), as long as I can live with 30 fps.

 

That’s good to know, thanks. There’s definitely a resolution factor in the equation which that aptly demonstrates.

 

Please could you send me these settings in PM? If you have the Medium variant that would be great too. Thanks!

---

Following my previous posts regarding DX11 vs DX12 issues here, I did some more research and have some info to share.

Firstly, GPU usage when using DX12 in Task Manager is completely wrong - use HWiNFO64 and/or MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner Statistics Server overlay instead.

The issue causing my drops to 8-12fps in certain areas (on DX12 only) seems to happen when the GPU usage spikes and sits at 100%. This is not a temp issue, as the temperature barely reaches 74°C - perfectly fine for a laptop, and I verified that the thermal throttling flags were not being activated in HWiNFO. Additionally, I tried an aggresive fan curve and it didn't change matters.

I tried putting all my settings to Low in the graphics options, and even changed the resolution to 800x600 - this did not change anything! You'd think it would take a ton of load off the GPU, but clearly it did not as it remained at 100%. Strange.

What DID help was switching out the Medium GodMode sav for the Low version.

Therefore, I did some comparisons / diffs (of the GodMode ini's I got from the Preston-Blackpool lines route, so may differ slightly between routes)

• Low v4.1.1 | Medium v.4.1.1
  
• Medium v4.1.1 | Ultra v.4.1.1

and using the "Base" section of the GodMode ini interface in-game, I narrowed it down to the following commands ONLY:

Code:

r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.5
r.Streaming.FullyLoadUsedTextures=1
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2
r.TemporalAA.Upsampling=1
r.TemporalAASamples=4
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0
r.Upscale.Quality=4

100% consistently, the second I paste those in the FPS halves from 30 down to 8-12fps and just stays there forever. Even if I remove the commands or set them all to default values, the FPS drop stays.

I tried only pasting in some commands (two each), to try and narrow it down further. For example:

Code:

r.TemporalAA.Upsampling=1
r.TemporalAASamples=4

Sometimes, this didn't cause a drop at all, and sometimes it caused the drops after 30-60s, but never instantly

Therefore, it's some combination of the above commands, or one or two of them, that is causing it.

To further prove that it isn't just a general lack of resources in my GPU, I turned my in-game settings back to how they were (High-Ultra), then pasted in all the other commands from the Medium preset into the "Base" box of GodMode ini tweaker ingame (while I had the Low sav installed, btw).

The FPS drop didn't happen on any of these drop spots I had on any route, 100% consistently, between several game launches.

It is clear now that although my hardware specs may be a contributor, its certainly just a capability thing, and not related to thermals/drivers/basic system maintainence type things, which I am quite well versed in.

Now, that's not to say JetWash's work is careless - I don't have the indepth knowledge of what each command does that they do. All I know is, it was just these commands, and executing them didn't change visual quality for me one bit, despite causing the drop. Again, it might be that a game restart is needed to see the visual quality changes these commands bring - there could be many factors - but I don't know this and don't want to spend the time diagnosing it. I just want my game to work at the end of the day!!

To add, I don't think this was a VRAM starvation issue as it never went over 5.3/6 GB throughout my entire testing.

So here's the final stuff I put in the "Base" ini box ingame after installing the "Low" sav file as a base:

Code:

TimeOfDaySystem.VolumetricCloud.LayerHeightScale=2.0
foliage.DitheredLOD=2
foliage.LODDistanceScale=2
niagara.CreateShadersOnLoad=1
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=1
r.BloomQuality=4
r.BlurGBuffer=0
r.CreateShadersOnLoad=1
r.D3D.ForceDXC=1
r.DFDistanceScale=5
r.DFFullResolution=1
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=1
r.DistanceFieldShadowing=1
r.FastBlurThreshold=2
r.LandscapeLOD0DistributionScale=3
r.LightMaxDrawDistanceScale=5
r.MaxAnisotropy=8
r.MinScreenRadiusForLights=0.02
r.PostprocessAAQuality=4
r.RenderTargetPoolMin=350
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
r.Shaders.FastMath=0
r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=4
r.Shadow.CSM.TransitionScale=1.0
r.Shadow.DistanceScale=2
r.Shadow.FilterMethod=0
r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=1024
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=2048
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.03
r.Shadow.SpotLightTransitionScale=2048
r.Shadow.Virtual.ResolutionLodBiasLocal=1
r.ShadowQuality=4
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=-2
r.AllowLandscapeShadows=1

Finally, I can use DX12 (i.e, not bother with having to generate shader cache for each working) and have solid performance.

By the way, doing things the DX11 way was untenable - you have to generate shader cache to get rid of 5-10s long freezes every 3s - and this only works for each WORKING, not even each route. For example I let it run from Blackpool North to London while eating dinner, then played Norwich to Blackpool North - the sections that weren't traversed had insane freezes still. I certainly don't have the time to let my PC sit through each working every time I want to play it (and then lose it all when you need to update GPU drivers)... so that's why i bothered investigating my DX12 issue.

Additionally, some other tips that gave me a bit more FPS:

• Because I have 40GB RAM I thought it wouldn't be an issue leaving my many chrome tabs open, however this is not the case, the more windows you have open, the more GPU usage DWM takes, so I quit these and it gave me 4-5 extra FPS.
• Quit anything GPU accelerated for peace of mind (these are almost always web browser/electron type apps like Discord (which runs like trash without GPU accel anyway))
• Special note about Logitech G Hub, its actually an electron app, the only reason I use it over the C++ native Logitech Gaming Software is because its the only one that works. Even if you put --disable-gpu-acceleration, if you check "Command Line" in Task Manager you'll see its missing and uses GPU anyway. So be aware of that if you use it for e.g., Logitech wheel
• Screen scaling does help, try putting it at 50% and see the boost. Quality isnt even that that bad, but not sharp. I put it at 90% because it clearly affects FPS.
• I also run the game in 4K DLDSR on a 1440p monitor to offset the hideously poor antialiasing and shimmering and stuff this game has; makes it crisp clear. Infact, even running at 4K with 50% scaling looks way better than 2K at 100% scaling.
• Integrated/Dedicated GPU confusion does not apply in my case; i set TSW3 and TSW4 to use dedicated GPU in nvidia control panel, windows settings, and am using an external monitor connected via USB-C port, which goes directly to GPU.

Hope this helps.

Few last points:

Firstly, what was the fix for transparant looking trees until you get close to them again? I've had this issue since forever.

Secondly, this track renders in this weird triangle shape / short distance infront of me, maybe it's only this route, but I can't unsee it - happens on Low, Medium and Ultra sav files (unmodified) - any commands that influence this? If wetness is set high in weather it becomes 10x more visible and just looks ugly af.

Spoiler: Images

EDIT: Doing some more testing, I'm 99% sure these are the culprit commands. Might be worth looking into. Possible that my system is unable to handle the textures, given that this drop only happens in stations + where trains are going by. I'm pretty sure going from Low -> Medium/Ultra the textures became a tad clearer, so if this is what that command does, it does explain it.

Code:

r.Streaming.FullyLoadUsedTextures=1
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2

 

Question about priorities: when there are conflicting commands between the Godmode dynamic ini and the fixed engine.ini file, which setting overrides the other? (I would like to reset all my shadow parameters lower, and hope to use a universal rather than edit every route individually)

 

I should mention that I'm using hardware upscaling with the in-game percentage at 100%

 

mine engine.ini is empty beside what is normally in it
and the one command Jetwash mentioned

[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=%GAMEDIR%Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/AnimationSharing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/GeometryMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/SpeedTreeImporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/DatasmithContent/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosClothEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosNiagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosSolverPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/GeometryCollectionPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/GeometryProcessing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/MotoSynth/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/PythonScriptPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/FX/Niagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaCompositing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioSynesthesia/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Synthesis/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/BidstackSDK/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/GenericDiorama/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DTGEnviromentTools/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/US_Content_Pack/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/UK_Content_Pack/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TrainingCentre/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TrainingCentre_Route_Gameplay/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TTC_Class323/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TTC_Class66/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TTC_Class8F/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TTC_Mineral_Wagon/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TTC_20t_BrakeVan/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/TTC_MK1/Content
Paths=../../../TS2Prototype/Plugins/DLC/EuropeanContentPack/Content

[SystemSettings]
TimeOfDaySystem.VolumetricCloud.GroundContribution=1
[
Audio]
UnfocusedVolumeMultiplier=1.000000

 

Which is a long winded way of saying the settings you were using were too much for your GPU Whichever way you come at it, ultimately the combination of hardware, resolution, in-game settings and mod pre-set were just too much for the available processing power. To be fair, judging by what you’ve written in that post I’m not surprised you were struggling.

The graphic improvement stuff in this mod, particularly at Ultra, is unashamedly tough on systems. This is why I made a number of different pre-sets and gave instructions on how to alter it to suit your system if it was still too much. I promise you it’s not careless, everything is there for a reason and is pitched at a level that gets the most bang for buck in terms of visual acuity against performance. Every single line in those .ini’s has an effect on the visual quality of the game, over time I’ve stripped a lot of stuff out that was unnecessary and/or served no purpose. Many people are still using .ini’s full of that junk.

I had a lot of people test the mod on various systems of different capabilities to try and pitch each pre-set at an appropriate level. Obviously I can’t cover everything as the different variables in play must run into the many thousands, multiplied by God knows how many routes and pre-sets. The low preset is specifically there to contain the lighting changes for people who were up against performance issues to start with. The performance impact of Low should be virtually zero which was the whole point of it.

With all of that said, I’m happy you’ve found a solution that works for you and allows you to enjoy the game and the lighting changes together. Unfortunately the track rendering is default by the way. It’s LOVE, but it’s the way it is.

FWIW Task Manger is absolutely useless as a performance monitor, the only one that is consistently reliable IMHO is Afterburner and Riva Statistics server.

 

This mod just keeps getting better and better. DTG should take notes that updates are supposed to fix things and make them better, not break a bunch of other stuff. Quick question though. On the new version, there appears to be a slight like, white-wash affect now over everything. It's like a minor, white film if that makes sense. I posted comparison photo's below.

New Version 4.1.1 with the slight white-wash look:

Previous version I was using 3.9 without:


As you can see, it's not super noticeable but it is there. I prefer the look of version 3.9 without this white wash affect. What line in the .ini would I change to revert 4.1.1 to how it looks in 3.9? That's the only thing I want to change. I get even smoother performance with 4.1.1 so I definitely want to use it instead, just without that affect.

 

Hi Nick, hope you’re well.

That change was intentional as, if you look at the two images closely, things that are a little too dark in 3.9 are now visible in 4.1.1. It’s particularly noticeable around the screens. The change is very subtle but positive, and by utilising the tonemapper gamma I was able to do other things with the lighting that I otherwise couldn’t do. The effect of those when taken across all conditions, seasons and time of day is far more positive than not.

If you feel it too bright you can adjust the tonemapper gamma but be very careful with it as altering it to a large degree will make a proper mess of a lot of other things. Try reducing it by 0.1. If that’s not enough try altering the shadow gamma. Lower is darker and agin, 0.1 increments. Finally, try raising the r.color.max by 0.1 if you’re still not happy. That should be enough to make the difference. I don’t know if it’s my phone though but I can’t see that it looks ‘white-washed’.

solicitr I had a look and I’m 99.9% certain the mod overrides the main engine.ini (which makes sense as the mod loads with the route in the game). If you wish to alter the resolutions the best way is to alter one route then copy the three lines. Then, route by route (which you can do without going back to the menu) select the same 3 lines and hit Ctrl+V. Once it’s overridden you may need to hit enter as sometimes the line below jumps up on to the last line you’ve pasted. It shouldn’t take you long to do it, 5 minutes max depending on the number of routes you have.

 

Hey, thanks for the response. I’m doing alright! It appears that the screenshots came out a little different than they do when you’re actually in game, especially over a phone. I’m currently on my iPad and I can see it’s quite difficult to notice the difference. I will play with those settings just to see if I like the change but at this point, I may just leave it as I can see how it does help in the end. Thanks!

 

Couple of WSR shots...

 

Lovely shots!

 

The centre upright of the windscreen shows nicely the difference in the ambient occlusion. That’s a really good example of GTAO doing it’s thing.

 

after I changed the EmissiveMultNonLamp value from 1800 to 500 i think it was.

 

The conversation last night got me thinking and I found some more documentation on shadows and how they work. As always with TSW it doesn’t seem to be consistent across all routes, but I’m now fairly confident that it’s not just cascaded shadows that affect performance. I’m going to look more into it but I believe that max resolution is having an effect on the distance field shadows, and on the routes with many trees this can be the critical parameter rather than the cascades.