Best way to prepare a Session?

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dave55007
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Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by dave55007 »

Hi,

I've recently completed a rather large map (for me), the complete railway network of the Isle of Wight (about 20 miles x 10 miles real life) and am attempting to write up a session. The session will have 13 AI Passenger workings and all Freight will be manual drive. There are a few wagons and items of rolling stock scattered about the place (some 300 locos and wagons). As I go, I frequently save and load to Driver to monitor the time taken to load. (Typically it takes about 5-10 seconds to load a basic session). What I am finding is that I can go so far, about halfway to fully finished, but eventually the time it takes to load the session to Driver becomes greater and greater until it just never loads.

The situation reminds me of the Apollo 13 movie dilemma where they had to devise a way of starting up the command module without passing 2 amps!

Does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to prepare a session without overloading it please?

Regards,

Dave
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Jacks trainz
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by Jacks trainz »

One possible thing is that your hardware isn't capable of running sessions with high amounts of assets.

Perhaps reduce the amount of AI trains and rolling stock. Large routes can sometimes be a pain to load if you don't have very good GPU. In my experience the east coast mainline route takes a long time to load.

Possibly check you have the latest graphics driver installed and that your display settings are as they should be.


Hope this may help.


Regards Jack
dave55007
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by dave55007 »

Thanks Jack. Sadly I think that may be the case - the route is probably too big for my computer. It's what I didn't want to hear! :cry: I'll try a few tweeks and see if I can reduce the work load.

Regards,

Dave
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Jacks trainz
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by Jacks trainz »

Hopefully by reducing the amount of locomotives and wagons etc you might be able to load up the session. Unfortunately big routes are very demanding on a systems graphics card.

These days I tend to stick with creating smaller routes that are normally 7 miles long at max, just so I can grantee that they will remain to work at a decent level.

Hope you fix your issue soon,

Regards Jack
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by Mightyena »

Just out of curiosity, Which version of Trainz are you using, and how long are you leaving it before deciding it "never loads"?

My experience with TS12 (although it seems to be similar for all pre-TANE versions) is that if the route/session is complex enough, it just sits there telling me it's 'not responding' for several minutes. clicking anywhere on the loading screen brings up the Windows close or wait message, but just leaving it alone for about 5-10 minutes makes it then start loading again.
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dave55007
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by dave55007 »

Mightyena wrote:Just out of curiosity, Which version of Trainz are you using, and how long are you leaving it before deciding it "never loads"?

My experience with TS12 (although it seems to be similar for all pre-TANE versions) is that if the route/session is complex enough, it just sits there telling me it's 'not responding' for several minutes. clicking anywhere on the loading screen brings up the Windows close or wait message, but just leaving it alone for about 5-10 minutes makes it then start loading again.
I'm running 2009 which is the highest I can go on my PC (about 5-6 years old). I left the loading for 20 minutes and then gave up.

What I have done is to sack 6 drivers - which was a very hard decision, I might add, as most of them had been with the company for many years, and reduce the train frequency from every 30 minutes to every hour for the main lines from Newport to Ryde and Ryde to Ventnor. Newport to Freshwater will also get an hourly service and the freight side has been drastically reduced with no more Speedlink services and coal deliveries halved. Sounds a bit like BR in the 80's, which, coincidentally, is when the map is set!

I've managed to prepare all but 3 of the AI passenger working so far and the session is still loading within a minute, so I have hope I can do it this time. Here goes...

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I was just being greedy!!

Dave
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by dave55007 »

So, after the very painful experience of cutting back on the services and rolling stock, I programmed up the core services on my map one at a time, running each one before moving on. With 7 AI passenger services now running and a reduced rolling stock inventory, the session runs! It takes 75 secs to load to Surveyor and 45 secs to Driver, which I think is pretty good.

Then I saved the session to CDP and backed it up on my memory stick and now I will gradually increase the workload of the session to see how far I can go, saving it as I go, before I reach the practical limit. If it fails, I can always go back to the previous saved version.

Thanks for all the help and support.

Regards,

Dave

PS. Once I have it going, I'll do some vids and upload them.
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by Jacks trainz »

Excellent stuff !

Glad you are able to run the session despite a reduced amount of AI trains

Regards jack
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by dave55007 »

Jacks trainz wrote:Excellent stuff !

Glad you are able to run the session despite a reduced amount of AI trains

Regards jack
I'm glad as well! Its taken me about 3 years to build this map after a visit to the Isle of Wight chasing long-dead ancestors, so when I completed it I was only too eager to actually be able to run it (OK, I was running it before, but with various branch lines incomplete!) To find it would not run was almost a disaster, but now I can merrily drive the routes my ancestors may have also taken and wave at the cottages some of them lived in! I've even modelled my Great-great-grandfather's grave in the graveyard at Christ Church, Sandown. (Can't see that from the line though!)

Regards,

Dave
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by Jacks trainz »

Sounds like an excellent project with some real prototype research !

Regards Jack
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by dave55007 »

It certainly has been, Jack. All the island's lines are modelled and fitted into fully contoured landscape using Ornance Survey maps. Modeller's License kicks in as it's set in the early 1980's with BR Blue diesel locos and Blue/Grey coaches, all lines running and plenty of freight (although not as much as I wanted after the recent purge!!). When I upload some video, I'll start a thread and give the full "history" and details.

Dave
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Re: Best way to prepare a Session?

Post by Jacks trainz »

Sounds excellent !

I'm currently doing exactly the same thing by creating a relastic route. I'm currently modeling the riviera line down here in Devon. Being very local to the line I am able to pop out and do some prototype research. I quite often take photos of silly things like platform materials and signs just to make the content creation a lot more easier.

Taking photos also come in useful for me when I want to apply photo textures. My version is very far off being complete unlike your route but as they say good things come to those who are patient, so I will just crack on working on the route.

Look forward to seeing some video and screenshot footage of your route


Best wishes

Jack
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