Automobilista Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Reiza Studios have released an update for PC racing simulator Automobilista, completing the games Steam Early Access programme as Automobilista moves to a full version 1 retail release.

Beta backers of the sim have benefited from early access to new content throughout the development of AMS, and will no doubt testify to the outstanding experience provided by the new Formula Vintage series cars made publically available in V1. Based on 1967 and 1969 spec Grand Prix cars, the Formula Vintage series is the main new content to be found in version 1. As is standard practice now for Reiza, the new update brings an extensive list of fixes and updates to the current Early Access version.

Renato Simioni of Reiza Studios has also confirmed that despite leaving Early Access, the team in Brazil have by no means abandoned development of AMS. With a range of DLC packages due to be released in the weeks ahead, work continues to optimize and improve the title. Simioni stated on the Reiza forum "development doesn´t stop with v1.0 release... You could say it´s just the end of the beginning".

Some further important info regarding this release:

• A new player profile is strongly recommended.
• Replays from v0.9.8 and earlier may not be compatible with v1.0
• Mods might need to be updated - specially mods that are in the REIZA28 - REIZA35 range as those slots have been reserved for official content as well (modsin that range won´t show up in menu).

Full changelog from v0.9.8:

Content

Cars:

• Added Formula Vintage series (1967 & 1969 seasons)

Tracks:

• Added Flugplatz Bergschleife & Mendig Supertruck layouts to Mendig
• Added circuits no 7 & 9 to Buenos Aires
• Added West & Classic layouts to Kansai
• Added South & Patriot layouts to VIR

Features & Fixes

• Track conditions now cumulative over race weekend (no longer resets to initial state every session)
• Added track progression & quali length options to AMS Dedicated tool
• Added DynHUD spinner for alternative designs & two extra default options (CleanHUD & Telemetry)
• DynHUD: Various stability & functionality fixes
• Disabled 16bit option altogether from AMS Config
• Added AMS Config option for alternative SweetFX presets & included some new presets
• Re-ordered and replaced main menu series graphics to feature a preview of each vehicle in the series
• Upped "reserved" slots in main menu for official content from previous 28 to 35 (so mods which were previously in that 29-35 range will need to be renamed to show up in main menu)
• Folder "\SCREENSHOTS" is now created in root configurations folder rather than as subfolder of Userdata (needs to create a new config.inito take effect)
• Fixed opponent class filter so it no longer displays different cars in a same class as the same
• Added extra track and vehicle information to showroom & loading screens
• Added music fade out during loading screen
• Added spectator mode option to the multiplayer lobby screen (was previously in create session screen which caused some confusion)
• Fixed bug with multiplayer opponents appearing floating when loading replays from the replay fridge
• Fixed bug with some sound effects looping during replays
• Fixed bug with Multiplayer menu settings not working
• Fixed issue with cars not featuring an onboard engine starter being unable to start in a formation lap by having pit crew fire up the engine
• Fixed vehicle selection menu in multiplayer to display only allowed cars when running All Cars & Tracks
• Speeding in the pits & not respecting blue flag now award drive-through penalties rather than Stop/Go
• Tweaked position of Main Menu series spinner & added page number
  
• Mod tracks are no longer listed for Time Trial mode
• Added missing championship configuration options
• Updated input binding options when a command is already mapped to another function
• Added UI option for setting qualifying length
• Added UI option for multiple race heats with reverse grids
• Several adjustments to Garage UI
• Renamed some track layouts to a more consistent standard & moved Historical venues to the same menu branch of their modern counterparts
• Updated portuguese, french, spanish localization
• Added messages for manual ignition
• Revised Realfeel settings for several cars
• Fractionally reduced overall AI aggression
• Fixed FFB remaining loaded while hitting pause, ESC or instant replay
• Removed redundant DRS & Push-to-pass messages when car in use is not equipped with such
• Various shader improvements
• Vehicle shadow optimization (all cars)
• Updated feeler settings to minimise wheel interlock glitches
• Added throttle mapping (built into the physics)
• Fine tuned road dust properties
• Fine tuned various sound effects
• Sound updates to F-Vintage, Marcas, Boxer
• Several car skin updates to F-V10, F-Reiza, F-Extreme F-V12, Superkart, Opala, Opala 86 & Added new Renault Fluence car
• DynHUD: Fixed Delta Widget resetting in Time Trial mode after a restart
• Speedland: Improved night lighting & fixed several collision issues
• Improved AI paths for Londrina, Johannesburg Historic, Interlagos Historic, Montreal, Cordoba, Spielberg layouts
• Johannesburg: Reduced bump in tarmac seams
• Mendig: Several trackside detail updates
• Kansai: Relaxed corridors on exit of corners with astroturf
• F-Vee: Adjusted alpha channels in driver helmets
• SuperV8: Added new cockpit model
• F3: Added new cockpit-mounted LCD display alternative to both models; Adjusted team & driver names; Added remaining talent files; optimized LODs; Revised tire physics & default setup
• SuperV8: Adjusted default setup fixed tires and rims blur settings
• Boxer Cup: Texture optimization, new cockpit materials; fixed display temperature readings clipping above 100º, adjusted default roll bar stiffness
• MR18: Revised tire physics
• Lancer Cup: Revised tire physics; Fixed small hole in Lancer R cockpit
• Opalas: Revised tires & AI
• F-Reiza: Totally revised physics: New front geometry; Revised Tires; Changed setup, dampers, bumprubbers; added throttle map per gear
• F-Extreme: New front geometry; Revised Tires;
• F-V10:Texture optimization, new cockpit materials; fixed tires and rims blur settings, optimized LODs
• Marcas: Updated LCD displays
• F-Retro: Adjusted tires

OBS: Steam Achievements will be added shortly.

VX portal is also now also officially launched at www.virtualxperience.net ! You can access the multiplayer lobby and launch the sim straight from your browser. Our official public servers will also be deployed shortly.




Check out the latest physics development video for AMS by Niels Heusinkveld here. The video is an interesting 22 minute look back at the changes made to the game engine in Automobilista, presented by the man behind the magic.

Missed the Version 1 release trailer? Never fear, catch it here.

Automobilista is currently discounted until Sunday 29th for the full Reiza Membership Package (base game + all DLCs + beta access) at US $54.99. Membership upgrade (all DLCs + beta access for those that already own the game) will be available for US $24.99. Post Sunday 29th the game will return to the full retail price of US $39.99.

The best place to find the latest mods for Automobilista is right here at RaceDepartment. We have a wide variety of cars, tracks and mods for AMS ready to download today. Have a look through our modding archive or join in the discussion with your fellow community members. Better still, come and see for yourself what all the fuss is about - join in at one of our regular racing club events. We run races 7 days a week in a variety of car and track combinations.

AMS is finally out of Early Access. Do you have the game already? Would you recommend it to a friend? Automobilista not in your games library yet? Will you be picking it up now it has reached version 1? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[alexSchmurtz]

It's not ideal but still better than nothing. Hopefully reiza can improve on it so that we can do everything via in-game ui.

Reiza is planing a championship editor but it will appear later, we don't have a date yet. But when they promise something, they deliver it at one point! It will be a stand-alone tool tho, not integrated in the UI.

 

[Paulo Gomes]

Did you a get new values in the realfeelplugin.ini when you drive those skins ? or they use realfeel values from f-extreme original ones?

 

[schlitty]

Did you a get new values in the realfeelplugin.ini when you drive those skins ? or they use realfeel values from f-extreme original ones?

I don't mess with any settings in Automobilsta for the wheel. Its all default. So they should be using the same files. Everything in the .veh's having to do with what files to use is identical to the standard vanilla skins. And I also did a 100% fresh install for 1.0. Deleted my user folder in documents and the mods and everything. Everything is nice and clean. Are you saying I should alt+tab with a regular skin and check that file and compare it to when I do a custom? Is there a reason outside of a .veh file they would do that?

***
Edit: Ran both and alt+tab'd with each on the track with their different feels and the realfealplugin.ini file settings were identical for both. No changes.
***

Its only the F-Extreme custom skins for some reason. I have a custom Boxer series and others that work just fine. But absolutely any F-Extreme skin out there is funky on the track. I dunno. Its not a game breaker by any means and I can live without them. Just confusing as all heck! Haha. Thanks for checking yours.

 

[Paulo Gomes]

I also did a fresh install for the 1.0 release, and the skins pack I install is from extremefactor, that one is only paste the files and drive. But for example, I did install another f1 mod that uses f-extreme phycis too, and that one creates is own realfeel values, I had to copy paste the original values of the f-extreme. Is this image, it shows new values for two cars of that mod, they come with -2500 and I had to change to -6750 in the realfeelplugin.ini

 

[schlitty]

I also did a fresh install for the 1.0 release, and the skins pack I install is from extremefactor, that one is only paste the files and drive. But for example, I did install another f1 mod that uses f-extreme phycis too, and that one creates is own realfeel values, I had to copy paste the original values of the f-extreme. Is this image, it shows new values for two cars of that mod, they come with -2500 and I had to change to -6750 in the realfeelplugin.ini
View attachment 149932

Thank you! Alright, I see it now. Definitely different settings in my file from [F_Ext] to the custom skins. Copy and pasted the settings over and the customs are working right now. Awesome! But. Am I going to have to do this each time for each skin? And more importantly , what would cause this to happen in the first place?? Never happened to me before 1.0.

 

[Paulo Gomes]

Usually when that happens, you have to change the values for each car, is because of that I use the extremefactor pack skins, its only drag and past. I don't know the specifics, but for example before 1.0 version, the FrontGripEffect had some value, but now is set to 0.000, with the changes that reiza made to engine of the game like the self-aligning torque feature the front grip comes directly from the tyres.

 

[TheGrunt]

I had yesterday strange problems with few F-Extreme skinpacks. First 2016 season skin pack pretty much crashed the game. It worked just fine at first, but after a return to garage and coming back, the FFB was suddenly reversed. After returning to garage again, game simply hung up.

Second pack, season 2015 and from another modder worked otherwise well, except DRS wasn't functional. This was especially strange, because srs file had all the correct DRS rules and couldn't find anything else which could have an effect to the DRS behaviour. This was of course on the track which had proper DRS (Spielberg).

 

[Niesley]

A few basic suggestions to troubleshoot in case you run into trouble:

a) Restart Steam to ensure the latest version;
a) Run a local install integrity check via Steam to make sure your install is 100%;
c) Try running the game in Windows admin mode;
d) Try disabling SweetFX (assuming its enabled)

If all fails, please try creating a trace log - create a shortcut for the game in your desktop, right click it ->Properties, and edit the target to add at the end +trace=3 ; this will create a trace.txt in your Userdata\LOG folder. Please post it here so we can give it a look.

Hello, since I updated may game to version 1.0, I can not use. I've done everything, all the tips here left and I tired not open

He was wearing perfectluy, until you can not anymore afer updated.

I created the extension + trace=3 and see the information they generate

TRACE LEVEL = 3
NetComm.cpp 11296: NetComm checking command line: "+trace=3"
game.cpp 1378: Entered Game::Enter()
osman.cpp 617: Entered OSMan::Enter()
plrfile.cpp 2858: Entered PlayerFile::Enter()
plrfile.cpp 1797: Trying to load latest plr
plrfile.cpp 1851: PLR: USERDATA\Teste\Teste.PLR
plrfile.cpp 1933: PLR Loading...
plrfile.cpp 1938: Recover old game/session
plrfile.cpp 1984: PLR set profile name
plrfile.cpp 1994: PLR opening success
plrfile.cpp 2003: PLR Reading
plrfile.cpp 2007: PLR switching game database

I also started to create a new profile, which was also unsuccessfull.

What to do?

Using Windows 7 x64
Awainting
Thank you!

 

[schlitty]

Usually when that happens, you have to change the values for each car, is because of that I use the extremefactor pack skins, its only drag and past. I don't know the specifics, but for example before 1.0 version, the FrontGripEffect had some value, but now is set to 0.000, with the changes that reiza made to engine of the game like the self-aligning torque feature the front grip comes directly from the tyres.

Final verdict (I hope);

I was actually using a pack BUT it was that I had edited the "description" in all my .veh files of the drivers to get rid of "F_Ext:" and just be their team/name/number. But, the realfeelplugin.ini is set to pay attention to the first 5 characters (VehicleDelimiterSize=5) to assign the customized F-Extreme built in Reiza handling. So without the "F_Ext:" before every driver name it went to the default settings instead of F-Extreme settings. I was only messing with the .veh's to get some people on the right teams and there were a couple numbers mixed up in the pack. I guess i went too far! That's what I get for poking my nose around where it didn't belong.

Now to run a championship and see how bad I messed up the talent files! Haha.

Thanks again Paulo, I was completely lost and you led me back home.

 

[Jim Liak]

At last , V1.0.
Or maybe not.
I did a 3 hour test last night. Tested most cars.
TBH, I doesn't seem too different than V0.98.
I am afraid that I still can't find the same feeling that I get from rF2 or even more from AC.
I know that many people will disagree , but although FFB is really nice ( got it to effects 2 to have some feeling), I still can't understand if I play a mathematical box or a real car.
The only sim that give this pseudo feeling is AC, especially with V10 tyres. In AC, if I close my eyes, I bet that I have rubber connected to my G27.
Maybe with better wheels, things are different.

Car models are better than ever. Sounds are superb as always.
Maybe that last thing will keep this game in my hard drive.

I am sorry but this game feels old and simple. And I am not talking about graphics.
I am looking forward for their new game and of course for future updates.

Kisses.

 

[Dann Murillo]

@Kevin Pheiffer wrote in the Reiza forum that you have to have the Windows SP1 installed for the game to work. Passing the info along if it can help anyone else out there. (I hope this is OK Kevin)

He wrote this:
FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK!........... on Windows 7 64bit

First, make sure you have Service pack1 installed (This is a must)
No compatibility mode.
Run as admin
Do an integrity on Steam BEFORE you start the game. (Will replace 4 small files)

GOOD TO GO..

 

[Kevin Knorpp]

Well now that I have it working again and getting some seat time I can say this title is the only reason I have returned to sim racing after being off for many months. For me personally, it meets all of my needs and then some. I have to admit that I am lamenting the loss of much of my future real life because of this sim. My favorite things are...

1. Reiza Studios - I just love them and feel good about supporting such a great bunch of guys, especially Neils who is such a lovable guy and his physics video is a must see and I was just smiling the whole time watching that video
2. Out-of-the-box, optimized, balanced, polished solution and Reiza never stops tweaking it and I just love that and it only makes sense to continually improve what you invest so much passion into and also Reiza Studios are as much artists as scientists which you just can't teach just like you can't teach passion and just being good guys
3. The tracks, jeezus the tracks! And they never stop tweaking the tracks and AI just amazing.
4. Physics, feel and immersion like no other sim IMO (these guys definitely made a deal with the devil). Also, little details like off-track grip levels are awesome and off-track grip should also be below under number 2 above with respect to tweaking and balance, etc.
5. The cars - All of them are convincing, immersive and exciting with my favorites being the Formula Retro and Formula Vintage but mostly because those are just my favorite types of vehicles
6. Game features like MP, AI, time trial, delta app, leaderboards, features I haven't even tested yet and coming features are surely going to be awesome too because Reiza understands what people want

There's certainly more I can say but damn I have to get back to driving!

 

[Paulo Gomes]

There are many opinions of what a ffb in games must be like, what are we supposed to feel by the steering wheel, so we tweak everything in every way and then say ok, now I feel this or don't feel that, but I liked. The bottom line, is that in real live the steering wheel is mainly for steer, and our butt is what feels almost everthing. In AMS I play only with pure ffb, and don't use any effects, and funny story, is that when I invite people to take a spin in my rig, they all don't have experience in simulators, and usually the ones that are "car guys", perfer only pure ffb, and the ones that dont even have driving license, they say that are not feeling almost anything, so they prefer using more effects. In the other hand I have been to a sim center recently to show them ams, and they only use rf2 there, we were five, and everyone one loved the ams ffb but with effects 1, I was the only one using pure ffb. So in the end is all about personal taste plus what steering wheel we are using.

 

[Dann Murillo]

@Kevin Knorpp
SOOO glad your game works again! I know you have had trouble for a long time now.
Was it the Windows SP1 issue?

 

[Kevin Knorpp]

Thanks! Yeah I was the one that reported that I thought SP1 might be the issue. It was so serendipitous how I solved it because Renato was recommending trying to run the game in a compatibility mode that I didn't have in my list of compatibility options so I decided to just double check that I indeed had all updates even though I had selected in via Windows Update it never installed (didn't say "Service Pack 1" in control panel or winver.exe) so I manually grabbed and installed the service pack and viola!

 

[roby13]

At last , V1.0.
Or maybe not.
I did a 3 hour test last night. Tested most cars.
TBH, I doesn't seem too different than V0.98.
I am afraid that I still can't find the same feeling that I get from rF2 or even more from AC.
I know that many people will disagree , but although FFB is really nice ( got it to effects 2 to have some feeling), I still can't understand if I play a mathematical box or a real car.
The only sim that give this pseudo feeling is AC, especially with V10 tyres. In AC, if I close my eyes, I bet that I have rubber connected to my G27.
Maybe with better wheels, things are different.

Car models are better than ever. Sounds are superb as always.
Maybe that last thing will keep this game in my hard drive.

I am sorry but this game feels old and simple. And I am not talking about graphics.
I am looking forward for their new game and of course for future updates.

Kisses.

Posted on July 26th, 2012, long before ams was even conceived as an idea. mini telemetry data. real life vs game:

 

[P*Funk]

You can't use data to trump another person's feels. The feels rule all. People will invariably equate their subjective and arbitrary feeling with what better represents the otherwise objective assertion of realism.

Its impossible to defeat it. You can only hope therefore to capture an audience by channeling your philosophy of what constitutes realism or the best way to capture it through our limited interfaces on a computer into your development of your simulation platform, which means you'll end up with rF2, AC, and AMS all feeling different and each having people who swear that each of them is better and ranking them according to their feels.

What I find particularly frustrating though is how people will say stuff like AC feels better but then malign AMS by saying its old. I think that's a cheap shot. That's where people are using subjective views, biases exuded by popular values, to justify or sum up their conclusion. So therefore everyone's attitude and view is valid, because as Empty Box once dedicated a whole video to the topic, everyone feels and experiences it differently and you can't know what they feel ever but, and its a big but, what they say in expressing these views and how they justify them is often prejudiced by their need to suggest their feels are based on some objective merit, like AC is better cause its new and AMS doesn't feel right because its just too old or something. The newer is better attitude or prejudice colours things too much.

Meanwhile people still play GTR2 because it offers them something nothing else does.

 

[Tony]

What I don't like is when people say they like the way AC FFB feels and its better than AMS and then say they are using a G27. Bah gimme a break, get a real wheel then tell me which one feels better, For me its like guys whining about getting 40FPS then telling me they have a 5 year old PC.

 

[Quas]

What I don't like is when people say they like the way AC FFB feels and its better than AMS and then say they are using a G27. Bah gimme a break, get a real wheel then tell me which one feels better, For me its like guys whining about getting 40FPS then telling me they have a 5 year old PC.

I'm on an OSW now, but even in my G27 days AC felt like a children's game. It's the single most overrated piece of software i've come across in more than 20 years of simracing but then again, 30 year old men are chasing Pokemons these days so what do we expect?

Didn't have time to try AMS 1.0 yet but it's good to know it's sitting on my harddrive, waiting for a spin. Thanks a lot Reiza!

 

[boxer]

Two things that frustrate me about these updates...
1. I lost CART Extreme after the update...
2. I'm back to the default button mapping!!!

How can I avoid this?