Low GPU usage/low FPS

I am running a train called the R46. It has fully animated wheels, doors along with 3D poles, etc. Whenever I run the train in exterior mode, it lags at around 15FPS. What is really driving me nuts is when I go through MSI Afterburner, the GPU runs idle the whole time. I've tried so many things to try and force the GPU up to 100 but it does not work. Any help?

Specs:
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.2 Ghz
AMD Radeon HD 7850
8GB Kingston HyperX @ 1600 Mhz
ASRock Z77 Pro3

Other games such as GTA IV, Battlefield 3, Dirt 3, Battlefield 4, etc run without any problems and these games rarely dip below 45. How is it that a game like openBVE which is much less demanding lag so much?

Logically it looks to me that the particular train you have chosen is the cause of the problem. Theres a direct relation to the number of faces rendered and the framerate and highly detailed / animated objects can drag the framerate down in no time at all, unless the builder is careful to optimise and exclude extraneous features.
That R46 has a specification which is impressive on paper but impractical for most purposes.

@Dexter: I have no clue why, but whenever I upgraded to Catalyst 13.12, openBVE flips sh*t on me, so  I have to stay at 13.9 for the time being. Yes it is at PCI E 3.0 with 2048MB GDDR5 @ 1300 Mhz.  I have a hard time believing it is just my system requirements. I can run things like Unigine Heaven with tessellation, AA, anistropy and shaders all maxed out. The problem arises because apparantly my video card does not deem openBVE as "demanding" enough, so it does not ramp itself up from idle. The video card remains idle the whole time. This is not a problem with many routes and some exteriors but even with this train the video card sits at idle and as a result the game lags.



I've been thinking about whether I want to sell this 7850 for a GTX 660ti. Not only because of openBVE, but also because of the fact that these AMD drivers have been driving me nuts. Does anyone have GTX 660ti here that can help me test this train out on a demanding route?
http://www.bvestation.com/downloadinfo.php?id=22

If you could run the train on your setup, that would be a great help.

openGL is now at 4.4. When michelle left, openGL was at 4.2. I don't know whether its a difference because I don't know enough about openGL but two years is a pretty short time to not have backwards compatibility. Up to maybe 5-6 years people were still making things compatible with Windows 2000.. up until recently many apps were still usable on XP. My guess is that AMD still supports some of the older version of openGL but I'm not sure

This is the snapshot of Process Explorer GPU usage of me playing a similar "machine-burning" train, M-Train 2.0 on Tsuen Wan Line with this specification (06 JAN 2014), esp. with an nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1G GDDR5, but with a pretty old CPU (an C2D, it's old enough).



Not sure how's the CPU usage reading whilst you playing oB with route and train you specified, on an AMD card. Wish if you can show a snapshot of it.

Dexter wrote:... they were just not able to produce proper drivers for me to connect my PC with the TV via HDMI. It just would not work, no error given... then I bought an AMD GPU and since then it works like a charm.

I was always hearing a theory: NVidia's for gaming, ATi(AMD)'s for watching (videos).
However is this theory breaks since arisen of HD7xxx?

YankeesPwnMets wrote:...but also because of the fact that these AMD drivers have been driving me nuts.

I was using AMD cards/chipset too, but when I was playing openBVE the CPU and the graphics card/chipset seems to have some conflict and resulting a Blue Screen of Death. It was always letting me and some other developers feel frustrating.

YankeesPwnMets wrote:Does anyone have GTX 660ti here that can help me test this train out on a demanding route?
http://www.bvestation.com/downloadinfo.php?id=22

If you don't mind my odd spec then I'll post it later.

I had a look at the R46.

The trains are at least four times at least bigger than my releases.

All the textures are not to the power of two, that makes Open Bve think a bit and none of them line up with each other.

The config files look quite impressive, that's until you try to run one of the trains and then Open Bve finds a critical error.

That means Open Bve will not run it!

Or put it another way once you have worked out what the critical error is, you should rush out and buy or make the highest spec computer you can and then find the frame rates are still awful!

I don't think anyone could run this train, it's not only the size of it but all the errors it has.

@hkmtrhah: If you could try it on your GTX 660, that would be great.
@steve: I modified a test track route a bit and added a few more detailed trains onto the inactive rails. With the two inactive trains and the R46 which I was operated, it would be pretty demanding to render everything. Once again in Proc Explorer, the GPU never goes above 15%. The CPU does not go above 35%. MSI Afterburner reads that the GPU does not ever go above its 300 Mhz idle speed either

I have a GTX780M (late 2013 iMac) and I get around 20FPS on the R46. I usually get around 50-60 on most other trains. It has been apparent for a while that there are some inefficiencies in the way the R46 exterior was coded that leads to this lag.

However, the exterior model itself is not 100% to blame. openBVE itself is not very efficient at rendering. I hope that odakyufan will release an update soon that improves the renderer's efficiency. Adding on to that point, I hope that he can find and collaborate with other developers to continue regular development.

Such a shame that michelle left. openBVE had great potential and then michelle abruptly leaves.

Michelle was definitely a very fluent programmer (even though parts of the menu looked like a Visual Basic job) and I have a feeling that michelle would have been able to sort out a lot the kinks if she was still around

No I don't have a GTX660 but a GTX650 Ti, and just a C2D CPU if you don't mind.

Test route: ATS-SN/P Test


R35, FPS Avg: 20fps


M-Train, FPS Avg: 30fps

...

My rig consists of :


HP p6-2065uk desktop PC
Windows 7 64-bit OS
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz
PSU Corsair CX600 (watt) ATX power supply.

I've recently replaced the ASUS Radeon HD6450 graphics card with a GeForce GTX650 which is running with driver version 331.82. At the same time I doubled the RAM to 8GB. As a result my frame rate doubled from 30fps to 60fps when running openBVE.

On reading this thread and out of curiosity, I downloaded the R46 and tried it on both Birmingham Cross City South and Network West Midlands. Both exterior and interior views were perfect and I averaged 59/60fps. I have the viewing distance set at 1000m.

I realise the above routes are not the R46's native routes so if you can let me know which route it belongs to, I'll download it and give it a whirl.

Jim

If you wish you can test it on this route.
http://www.bvestation.com/downloadinfo.php?id=87

And a 650 runs it at 60fps? What resolution are you running at? The only difference between your rig and mine is the i5 vs i7 and 7850 vs 650 but I can't imagine it making such a huge difference

Downloaded the route (my first visit to New York) and tested the R46 and the results were pretty similar i.e. cab view 59/60 fps but there was a drop to 45/46 fps when in external view, but no noticeable reduction in image quality. My resolution is 1920/1080.

I'm not technical enough to know why there should be a difference between the 7850 and 650 but I'll just mention that when I bought my PC, it came with a GeForce 210 graphics card installed but I kept suffering a 'blue screen of death' and the computer would keep crashing irrespective of what use I was putting it to. I had the card replaced with an ASUS Radeon HD 6450 under warranty but noticed during a performance check that the graphics subscore dropped from 5.1 to 4.5 and that the frame rates lessened when running openBVE. The technician told me that the specs were similar! I tolerated that for a while before upgrading to the 650 and doubling the RAM. Hope this is of some use.
Jim

Interior:
FPS: avg. ~30

Exterior:
FPS: avg. ~ 20

Overall:
CPU usage: (oB only) around 70%, (overall) 97%
GPU usage: (ob only) around 17%

@JimH: Interesting. In games and synthetic benchmarks, the Radeon HD 7850 blows away the GTX 650, yet in openBVE you get more than double the framerates.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=681

I really don't think it is my system. I just bought BF4 and had FRAPS benchmark my gameplay on Ultra settings for about 20 minutes through mission 1:

2014-01-11 19:23:35 - bf4
Frames: 52615 - Time: 1088123ms - Avg: 48.354 - Min: 0 - Max: 64

Almost every game plays fine except openBVE. I don't know whether it is a fault within the programming of openBVE or AMD drivers. Like I said before, the only difference between my system and yours is the fact that I have an i5 3570K and you have a i7 2600, but I highly highly doubt this would make any difference in openBVE.

I wish odakyufan or even michelle could come around and figure this out

Anyone with AMD... have you updated to the 13.12 drivers? For some whatever stupid reason openBVE exteriors don't work on 13.12

I have that driver at home on HD8760 (re-branded HD7770 with 2GB of memory) and everything is OK...