Slight Frame Skipping?

[meeshu]

Running activities under Open Rails version 1.4, notice that there seems to be (very) slight (frame) skipping of the consists when viewed from outside (4 key).

Running Windows 7 64 bit with i5-3570K CPU @ 3.4 GHz, 8 GB system RAM @ 1866 MT/s, and nVidia GTX 1650 video card. No overclocking.

Open Rails video options are all set at default values. Open Rails runs in windowed mode at 1024 X 768 resolution.

From a bit of research, adjusting video card Anistropic settings may help with this skipping issue.

Default video card setting for Anistropic filtering was set at "Application controlled" initially.

I changed video card Anistropic setting to 16x, then 8x, then 4x, then 2x, and finally to off. But these settings made very little or no difference to the display with (slight) "skipping" still noticeable.

Open Rails, MSTS and content are all located on a hard drive separate from the system hard drive.

I'm thinking now that the slight skipping might be due to relatively slow data transfer from the hard drive to memory(?) So, the solution here might be to use a solid state drive instead of a hard drive for Open Rails, MSTS and content. SSD would transfer data much faster and should at least minimize any delays and so minimize or even eliminate this "skipping"(?)

Comments?

[rdayt]

An SSD will make all the difference in the world.
Total game changer, literally and figuratively.

Randy

[spoony1999]

An SSD will make all the difference in the world.
Total game changer, literally and figuratively.

Randy

I've been thinking of going with an external SSD, do you have any recommendations on size or brand? I'm currently looking at 1 TB Samsung T7

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Porta...87&sr=1-5&th=1

[rdayt]

Just about any SSD you can buy today is going to be lightyears ahead of the spinning rust we've been using.
A decent 240 GB SSD can be had for less than $30 on Amazon. This should be more than big enough to cover MSTS/OR.
The problem with external drives is the speed of the interface. Anything less than USB 3.2 will cause the same issues associated with older spinning HDs, low bandwidth, that will cause the same problems you're currently having.
If you have room for an internal SSD that's the best option.
If you don't have the room for another drive (laptop for instance) it will serve you well to replace your C drive with an SSD.
It's quite easy to clone your current drive onto a larger SSD and then use that drive as your C drive.
You'll be amazed at the improvement.

Randy

[spoony1999]

Just about any SSD you can buy today is going to be lightyears ahead of the spinning rust we've been using.
A decent 240 GB SSD can be had for less than $30 on Amazon. This should be more than big enough to cover MSTS/OR.
The problem with external drives is the speed of the interface. Anything less than USB 3.2 will cause the same issues associated with older spinning HDs, low bandwidth, that will cause the same problems you're currently having.
If you have room for an internal SSD that's the best option.
If you don't have the room for another drive (laptop for instance) it will serve you well to replace your C drive with an SSD.
It's quite easy to clone your current drive onto a larger SSD and then use that drive as your C drive.
You'll be amazed at the improvement.

Randy

Thanks and sorry to hijack the thread with my SSD question

[scottb613]

Thanks

Hi...

The Flight Simulator community has had to invest in pretty high end overclocked PC's from the beginning. We've been using SSD's on that side of the fence since they originally came to market. For whatever the reason - Samsung - seems to be the preferred vendor of choice for SSD's - like 10 to 1. You might want to look there while you start your search - your mileage may vary.

Regards,
Scott

[ftldave]

For whatever the reason - Samsung - seems to be the preferred vendor of choice for SSD's - like 10 to 1. You might want to look there while you start your search - your mileage may vary.

Not sure what your source for that statement might be, Scott. Samsung got lots of bad press for changing SSD memory in their drives without telling customers. Unfortunately, they seem to be following the lousy example of other drive companies who don't publish full specs, and are wont to change SSD (and HD) internals on the sly. In the past, too, more than one company got caught selling SMR (shingle magnetic recording) drives without informing customers then were not standard CMR (conventional) HDs. Things like that happen, I believe, when marketing departments have too much power at tech companies.

That said, the few Samsung SSDs I have run were A-OK, but I would be very careful before buying another one.

From ExtremeTech.com:

https://www.extremetech.com/computin...-its-customers

P.S. The only SSDs I have had fail completely, without warning, were Edge brand and, who would have thought, Intel SSDs.

[rdayt]

Kingston makes a good one.
I use them a lot.

Randy

[meeshu]

So, a SSD appears to be the best option at this time then.

Unfortunately my current computer is a bit old and has limited connection possibilities. Actually there are no spare SATA ports available, for a start, to connect a SSD to and no M2 slots either.

I'm looking at building a new computer where there will be more options for SSD connections. But unfortunately due to very limited income (and paying off debt), it will be quite awhile before I can build a new computer.

In the meantime, I'll just have to deal with the current skipping!

[jonpd]

If you decide to build your own machine, you might find this site useful: https://pcpartpicker.com/