CSX Heavy Haul has become unplayable

[Tomcat]

Is it just me?

Within 4 or 5 minutes of starting any scenario or service, fps drops from an average of 40 to 1 or much less and stays that way till I kill the game in task manager. I use task manager because hitting esc does nothing. I also noticed that there is now a 4 or 5 second pause when you switch views - except when going from an outside view to back in the cab, that seems snappy.

I tried several services and a couple scenarios with the above issues in all. In addition, the service Q015 Intermodal - Chambersburg to Grafton, which runs at 1:33am if I remember correctly, is now exceptionally dark - so dark, in fact, that I had to pull up about 150 feet next to a floodlight at the start of the service before I could even see any of the controls. The headlights project much less intensely than before and the ambient environment lighting is almost non-existent, the only upside is that now that intermodal cars no longer look like they are lit up and are appropriately dark on the non-moonlit side while being suitably lit on the moonlit side.

Oddly enough, Great Western Express runs fine so far except for the graphic glitches with the wheels and the black bar on some AI traffic. Switching views is lag free, as it was with Heavy Haul before the update.

[RSMattP]

Interesting - any one else suffering this?

What settings are you using?

Matt.

[BNSFdude]

Interesting - any one else suffering this?

Worked fine here.

[dejoh]

Had some stuttering on changing views once and a while. Looks very sharp on my pute. They added the air compressor popping sound which I requested. Of course, I got the sounds rocking so its a super loud.

[Tomcat]

Interesting - any one else suffering this?

What settings are you using?

Matt.

Screenshots of the settings I've used since launch;

20170914225114_1.jpg

20170914225105_1.jpg

Further testing reveals that it is just the AC4400CW that is the problem.

SD40-2 and GP38-2 seem to work fine. Two videos follow; first is the AC4400CW and you can see as soon as I switch to an outside view it hangs for several seconds. Switching from one outside view to another outside view is hit or miss, sometimes it hangs and sometimes it doesn't. Never seems to hang when going back to the cab. Skipping to 4:45 mark in the video is where the fps goes in the toilet and stays there - I lose the cursor and hitting esc does nothing so task manager is the only way to kill it.

Second short video shows changing views with a GP38-2 and it's all acting as I would expect, pretty responsive. Did the same test with the SD40-2 and got the same results. Ran both the GP38-2 and SD40-2 for 20 minutes each and fps was a constant 40 or so with no problems.

And as I mentioned before, all the locos in GWE work fine.

Tim

AC4400CW


GP38-2

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I confirm my TSW:CSX has the same problem with the AC4400.
Have tried both EB and WB services.

Does it happen after a fixed time, then I think it is a problem with some script. Audio suddenly came full on.
Pausing, saving - resuming won't help and I didn't notice any sudden 100% CPU use, memory leak or whatever. The game stayed at 33% and 4.6 GB on my 4 GHz I5 16 GB 980TI rig.

Will try another computer just to be certain.
That's a boo-boo, did a new install on my VR rig which also has a UHD display attached, but TSW won't even launch, build 70 still does, so?
Some message box pops up with a link, and clicking that link says 'currently your game purchase cannot be re-validated successfully, please wait 24 hours and try again'.
Probably some automatic bug reporting mechanism that hasn't been set up properly yet at DTG's end?
I solved this problem by deleting the TS2Prototype and UnrealEngine folders from My Games and setting up a new profile.

[RSMattP]

Great feedback folks - can you raise this via the kayako support system at http://dovetailgames.kayako.com - this is the best path to get issues in front of the dev team the quickest as that's the first place data is being collected from.

Matt.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I've sent in a support ticket.

While driving a service, I've let the game sit in the stuck position for a while. Lo and behold, it became unstuck after a couple of minutes.
Changing into outside views takes a couple of seconds, hopping back in the cab is instantaneous.
Now waiting if the bug is cyclic ...

[BNSFdude]

I found an easy fix.

lol.jpg

[MontanaRails]

I hardly ever have time to do anything with train sims anymore (mostly due to work), but I saw this was updated and thought I'd give it a try.

It's now uninstalled.

Not only is the throttle behavior still messed up as it was before (The Dev's don't seem to realize only extending the speed you can reach in each notch was NOT even close to the problem). It's impossible to drive these trains at speed, when notch 4 is 0 amps, and notch 5 is suddenly hundreds of amps. The way this is modeled is completely wrong and it's absolutely pathetic they cant figure out how to fix it after months and months of feedback. Even the old KUJU Rail Simulator did a much better job of simulating the throttle physics. Light units also accelerate way too fast.

The graphics are all screwed up too - my computer's specs are well above the minimum (and on "High" preset the frame rate is in the 30-40 range). And prior to the update, all of the below problems did not exist.

- Rain no longer adheres to windows as viewed from the inside of cabs
- Snow build up resets every time you change the camera view
- I also am having the AC4400 slow down problem. It goes from 30+ fps to 20 fps or so, and starts having LONG stutters (2-5 seconds, especially when changing views), and followed by 5fps - 10fps total frame rate. Totally broken.
- The overall brightness of the environment is way, way too high. The inside of cabs on even overcast days are super bright and washed out. Before the update, it all looked great. Also, when panning around in external views, the environment flashes through different levels of brightness and reflectiveness (it seems like it cant figure out what season it is).

Also, the sound levels are way too low. I have to turn my speakers up almost all the way just to hear anything. In-game sound volume is all the way up.

I've tried verifying and uninstalling/ reinstalling. Same result. And yes, I did in tickets to Dovetail about this.

This update was a major step backward, in several areas. Who is beta testing this software? How does a company of their size beat their chest and wave their hands about how great their product is, only to constantly release something and have it fall flat on its face? I have no doubt that there are creative, hard working, intelligent people working at Dovetail. I suspect it's their release/testing schedule/deadlines, their management, and the leadership that should be critically looked at.

I might try it again in a few years...

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

This update was a major step backward, in several areas. Who is beta testing this software? How does a company of their size beat their chest and wave their hands about how great their product is, only to constantly release something and have it fall flat on its face? I have no doubt that there are creative, hard working, intelligent people working at Dovetail. I suspect it's their release/testing schedule/deadlines, their management, and the leadership that should be critically looked at.

I might try it again in a few years...

I have the impression we are the beta testers, just like we were alpha testers a couple of months back. From my bug reporting tickets, none were answered as to being resolved and I have seen little improvement. Most bugs are still there and lots of new ones have been introduced now the game has gotten more complicated with passenger servies. It's not the 3D modelling, which is mostly excellent as these skills can be hired in the open market. Its the scripting by DTG (which no doubt is very complicated and intricate) that makes it a railroad simulation, and these scripts probably can only be tested under real life circumstances by us, ignorant players.

[MontanaRails]

Kanawha, very well said, I agree 100%. It is clear to me that the leadership at DTG need to have a production stand down in order to reflect on feedback, fix the major physics and engine problems, and right their ship. I understand the need to create new content in order to make money, pay bills, justify job positions, etc. But, with the new DLC, they are building on a poor foundation and EVERY new dlc will have inherent, unnecessary problems. Now, many customers in England, who may not be fully aware of how North American locomotives operate, are experiencing first hand the same ported-over problems with their locomotives in the new GWE DLC. DTG could maybe focus on routes, or rolling stock for new DLC content. Things that are presumably not part of the broken elements. I would be very concerned about the future if I were a manager at DTG right about now. Their customers are not dumb, many, if not most, are perturbed by what's going on based on feedback I've seen on their facebook page, forums like this, and the steam network.

[Bananarama]

UK users are experiencing a similar bug-riddled mess with the GWE release.

[AmericanSteam]

For me, so far so good. The stuttering with passing trains has diminished drastically. I too have issues with the AC400 and switching camera views. The AC4400 has always had issues unique to this locomotive since day one.I have the lock up issue when changing camera views but all other locomotives appear to work okay. Issues with wheels becoming blurry above 12-15 mph both in HH and GWE for all wheels, locomotive or rail car. I thought the color was horrible when I first started playing but it was a preset on my monitor, made adjustments and looks good now (OP you might check this out). Frame rates have been a constant 50-60 all settings to maximum with some slight dips below depending on the preset weather I am using, typically rain and snow are the worst for this.There was a post on how to remove the blurriness and to change the view distance loading by editing files and this was a change for the better although some do like the speed/blurry effect. All trains still bright in the tunnel. Some good improvement. Waiting for more fixes.
Some are reporting issues such as the OP of this thread but is does seem to affect but a minority of players. As in such cases this may be due to certain system configurations.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I've sent in a support ticket.

While driving a service, I've let the game sit in the stuck position for a while. Lo and behold, it became unstuck after a couple of minutes.
Changing into outside views takes a couple of seconds, hopping back in the cab is instantaneous.
Now waiting if the bug is cyclic ...

It appears to be cyclic, as it re-occurred after a while. Suddenly the sound of running water became very loud, so perhaps it is triggered by some stream or brook suddenly appearing in the scene?