Love rFactor? Then this is essential!

Tarmac Terrorist

Paul McCaffrey
Ok so if you're like me and love this game and many of the exceptionally high quality mods that are availible for it and probably have several install's amounting to well over 60gig, then its probably massively dissapointing to you that unless you are in an online club or league, you can't really use them for anything more than doing hotlaps because the final buld of rFactors A.I. pretty much act like they don't know you're there. If they're right beside you on a straight side by side they will just move across and push you of the track, or just constantly ram you from behind, andI mean ram, not tap.

Well I have discovered a plugin that has changed my whole rFactor experience and I've gotta share it with you if you don't already know about it, all those great mods like Endurance series, Blancpain, Historic GT, Renult Clio's, Trucks, the list go's on. You ca now enjoy them even if there's no-one online using them. Letting rfactor run by itself under A.I. control its amazing to watch a P1 car make its way through a full field of GT back markers without destroying itself is quite amazing.

Now just to put things in perspective this plugin is not perfect bbecause there are so many different tracks and mods, some are still going to have a not so good AIW file, and different mods and tracks vary a bit in how they work with this mod, but over all if you find a decent track and mod, let it run by itself for a while and watch, or just give it a quick try, then its a massive improvement, but always make sure you have the A.I. aggression at 0% (at least to sart off with) and let the A.I. run a full qualifying session on accelerated time (or at least press 'Finish Session') Before going to race and this will give you the best experience.

The A.I. will still fight you tooth and nail, don't worry about that, but if you're half a cars length beside them going into a corner they will no longer squeeze you out like you're not there, they will not try and drive stright through you on a straight either (really detrimental if you like to race with 100% damage like I do), but they will still give you a little tap if you're really holding them up. I've had full 30 min rac'es with mods where all the parts can come off and kill the car and ive not had to pit for anything more than Tire's usually finish with nothing more than some dented body work or a nice pristine car. Thats not to say I hav'nt had the odd damaging crash but thats mainly down to my driving.

One last thing, just like you do online KEEP A EYE ON YOUR MIRRORS! Just like racing online if they see a gap they will go for it and miss you by inch'es, so if you see an A.I. going for it, make sure to give a little room as they do come close, it is after all rFactor A.I.

Couple of very minor issues: It will make switching between sessions hang for just a second longer. For some reason all the buttons when you're in the pits you need to click nearer thetop of the button. IT DOES NOT WORK ONLINE! So if you're going online just remove the plugin, very easy! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO RUN IT IN WINDOWED MODE! The mod's readme tells you to run it in windowed mode, don't bother! This is only so you can see the alternative menu which shows you all the stuff you already have, like car stats. Lastly, for some reason it doe'st display names correctly over the cars or in the standings only initials, so not really a problem as you still know who's who from the initials

Anyway, I can't praise this plugin enough, well done to JR who made it. I'd love to post the file up into the plugins section for rFactor downloads here but im not sure about the rules of posting other peoples mods. Im off to set up a one hour race with the Virtua LM mod in a mixed field, a mod ive never had the chance to race online, and now I can race the A.I. Yay!

So here it is: https://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=rFactor AI improvement
 
Hi you have the rFJRPlugin.dll in Plugins folder not in main folder.
Yep, my plugins folder looks like this:
Screenshot 2022-04-03 140625.jpg


Hi you have the Java RE 1.8.0_181.dll in the plugins folder not in main directory.
All javas 64 bit and 32 bit on Filehippo .
I've installed Java RE onto my machine, but I've never placed a Java DLL file into my plugins directory (as you can see from the image) -- and I don't think you have a Java DLL in your plugins folder either (looking at your screenshot from before).

Thanks for the FileHippo tip. Trying that now!

EDIT: still crashes after installing Java RE 1.8.0_18 32 bit. So frustrating. I must be doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what.
 
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Okay, I think I figured it out! I uninstalled my Java RE 6 32-bit (that was allowing me to use GID or dynHUD, so I was reluctant to do it). And the game now launches! Using Java RE 1.8.0_18 32 bit from FileHippo.

Will now test with the newest Java 1.8, and see if that works as well (just out of curiosity). EDIT: the game also launches with the newest Java (8 update 321)

So the lesson is: if you want to use this AI plugin and have Java RE 6 32-bit installed to get dynHUD working, uninstall it!
 
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I cannot use this plugin with Borderless Gaming enabled, since now my game only runs windowed. Any help?
Not really, sadly. I believe the plugin continues to function, regardless of whether you can see the UI stuff it adds. So, for example, it should still work in fullscreen. So I think it will also work with Borderless Gaming. Because you shouldn't need to adjust anything in the AI Improvement plugin UI stuff at all.

But I can't be certain. In fact, I'm not even 100% certain the plugin is functioning properly when in windowed mode, because certain features it is supposed to enable don't seem to work as you'd expect :(
 
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Hey guys, interesting read and sounded promising. @MJQT I'm interested to hear what you mean by "not certain the plugin is functioning" and of your experience in general with the plugin?

I've experimented tonight and I'll leave my experience here for anyone interested... Installed Java etc and the game booted fine. Unfortunately kept crashing when loading a track - definitely plugin at fault - so doesn't seem to work for me. Sounds like a great idea that has unfortunately not been maintained well enough for the masses, which is a shame! Especially for those of us picking up the title and getting engrossed in mods 20 years later... I can't be the only one :)
 
@sta1ksey Check out this discussion thread for more details of my experience with the plugin. https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/ai-improvement-plugin-by-jr.225820/

The essence of my experience was: I could load into sessions no problem, I could see some of the plugin overlays when rFactor was in windowed mode (so I was certain the plugin was doing something), at first I thought I saw differences in AI behaviour, but then I reconsidered and thought I could not discern any appreciable differences with and without the plugin in key situations the plugin should (if functioning to its full extent) have an impact on AI behaviour. It's easy to get duped and perceive nothing but a placebo effect.

So although the plugin loads, I don't think it's having the intended effect on AI. :( My guess is that there were feature-breaking changes in 32 bit Java REs from the early-mid 2010s up to today. So the plugin is trying to use things that are no longer supported in 2023. I have no clue whether this is actually true :roflmao: - but it would make logical sense.
 
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If this plugin was designed back in the days of Vista or Win7 there is a good chance it will not function in newer windows with newer Java. Bad enough that many XP or Vista programs will not function properly, if at all, in Win7 or later, but throw Java or Python into the mix and it becomes quite onerous.

BTW, with time and patience you can get very good AI races just by tweaking the game. But this entails editing the player file, the track AIW files, the individual car physics and dmg files, and the talent files; and since all interact to some degree you will work back and forth with them. The Von Dutch AI Tutorial was written for GTR2 but the principles work equally well for rfactor, just some file names, parameter names, and ranges of values are different.
 
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Automobilista 1 has optimized rfactor1?; AI, FFB, graphics etc and has tonns beautiful mods ... I suggest to switch to it
Many people stick with earlier software, or earlier versions, for a variety of reasons. System requirements, stability, familiarity, available mods, etc. I still have rfactor because it has many mods not available for GTR2, and still have GTR2 because most newer sims do not include all the features it has.

I still use a near twenty year old version of PSP because subsequent versions dropped support for some formats and eliminated some editing functions.
 
I understand what you say (for the same reason I still use AMS1 even if I own rfactor2 and AMS2)
BUT I remember you that:
- AMS1 itself is a "megamod" of rfactor1
- AMS1 has an utility which automatically converts every rfactor1 mod (cars) in AMS1 format (in other words in 10 minutes you transform a rfactor1 mod of maybe 30 or more cars, in the same mod for AMS1) the utility is "rfactortools"
- many rfactor1 mods have already been converted in AMS1
- AMS1 has also many more mods created in AMS1 and above all really many many great track mods, usually better and more realistic that those in rfactor (look for the Giranthon mods)
- AMS1 already includes the best mods/plugins of rfactor1 like realfeel etc (IIRC also the one of this thread); with realfeel if you want you can still change the settings with your keyboard (as in rfactor)
- AMS1 has a great FFB, much more than rfactor

Hey I do not receive money from AMS1 :)

My two cents: try AMS1 and you will not come back :)
 
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My point being "switch to a different program" is not a good response to how to fix something in another program. (My Ford needs a tune-up, "buy a Toyota"... well, a Toyota will need tune-ups too.)

"AMS1 itself is a "megamod" of rfactor1"
And thus contains many of the issues of rfactor that have kept me with GTR2 - no weather, no 24 hr races, etc. It is still a good sim, and actually seems better for open wheel series (which is all I have installed) than GTR2.

But that has been my issue with most sims since GTR2 - they have excelled in a couple of areas but been deficient, if not completely lacking, in others. I do not deprecate any sim, everyone gravitates to the sim which has the features they prioritize.
 
I understand your point and will not go on.
My last sentence is: maybe I entered my posts here but they are not in the right place because your talking about rfactor (by the way if you never try new games/sim you will never discover something that may be better and making you change your mind).
That said, let everyone enjoy the sim he likes :)
 

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