Modernizing GTR2 with the Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin

[The Iron Wolf]

first great video dbx71,
i would like to ask anyone who may know, how do i set crewchief to run set Crew Chief option which enables automatic fullscreen borderless windowed mode for gtr2, atm i use another program to make it do that, and it would be nice to run one less program.
many thanks.

Search CrewChief.ini for "borderless" or pass -ccvm-bless command line switch.

I really encourage everyone to check out "Command line Video Mode settings" section of the manual. Using command line switches avoids many GTR2 age related issues. You will find sample .cmd files to get you started there and can forget about GTR2Config for good.

 

[sandersk]

Thank you for your reply, i found it, i was looking on the crewchief ui program first time round.

 

[IMC '67]

Can I just take the .exe and .dll files from a Steam copy and add them to my heavily modified DVD version of GTR2, and then get CrewChief to work?

 

[The Iron Wolf]

Can I just take the .exe and .dll files from a Steam copy and add them to my heavily modified DVD version of GTR2, and then get CrewChief to work?

Yes. I would suggest first trying to get plugin to work on some test copy of GTR2, to see if you can get it to run. It should work, as long as .exe/.dll files are from Steam, although there are no guarantees of any kind - it does not work for at least one person. 4gb patch is still highly recommended, see the plugin manual for the rest.

 

[Speednut357]

After a long time away, I recently reinstalled GTR2 but encountered an issue where the HQ cars were causing CTD. Upon realizing my mistake, I realized that I should have read the instructions more carefully. Now, I am in the process of installing the Hotfix that was clearly outlined in the instructions.

Thanks again for all your work on this GTR233

 

[The Iron Wolf]

After a long time away, I recently reinstalled GTR2 but encountered an issue where the HQ cars were causing CTD. Upon realizing my mistake, I realized that I should have read the instructions more carefully. Now, I am in the process of installing the Hotfix that was clearly outlined in the instructions.

Thanks again for all your work on this GTR233

Are you sure you are in the right thread? This is not HQ patch thread. This thread is dedicated to Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin.

CCGEP is 95% my work with some initial help from Sparten, and is not part of HQ patch and does not require HQ patch. HQ patch, however, utilizes several features powered by the CCGEP such as button controllable wipers, additional data pages and soon (maybe), body rain drops and I am grateful to GTR233 for his ideas and lighting up several plugin features in his patch.

 

[Speednut357]

Are you sure you are in the right thread? This is not HQ patch thread. This thread is dedicated to Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin.

CCGEP is 95% my work with some initial help from Sparten, and is not part of HQ patch and does not require HQ patch. HQ patch, however, utilizes several features powered by the CCGEP such as button controllable wipers, additional data pages and soon (maybe), body rain drops and I am grateful to GTR233 for his ideas and lighting up several plugin features in his patch.

Sorry wrong thread. Big thanks to you too though. I just tried the window wipers for the first time. The whole Crew chief and GTR233's patch are fantastic together.

 

[The Iron Wolf]

You can find additional wiper patches made by me at Trackaholics for various mods I drive, they utilize Paul's textures and new textures (higher framerate) are welcome! In fact if anyone wants to help on the content side, I am looking for:

* help with modeling/textures for open wheeler flat spot/dirt pickup and possibly tire wear ("physics" already implemented).
* if anyone has clear physical/mechanical understanding of engine turbos and wants them in GTR2, feel free to ping me (I am a programmer, not a mechanic nor artist )

BTW, CCGEP is capable of way, way more things than HQ Patch utilizes. Most features are disabled by default (because they are series/car specific), here's a list that kind of highlights the most important features: https://thecrewchief.org/showthread...Setup-Instructions-Known-Issues-and-Changelog

And the work is still ongoing. I am in process of adding 8th and 9th gears into the game so that we can enjoy better F1 experience.

 

[Speednut357]

That's a great manual. Very well-written and easy to understand.

 

[The Iron Wolf]

That's a great manual. Very well-written and easy to understand.

what features did you find useful so far? Do you use Steering wheel? H-Shifter?

 

[Speednut357]

I have an old G25 wheel I'm using. The explanation of how to firstly get CC running and copy the files over, then the detailed explanation on reelfeel and the ways it differs from Rfactor is what I found useful so far. I will read some more.

 

[Speednut357]

I am running a TrackIR head tracker and find your VR implementation works great. I'm reading the manual about clip planes before I start messing with things. Having a rain animation on the face for open-wheelers would be nice. Any tips on how I might achieve this?

 

[The Iron Wolf]

I am running a TrackIR head tracker and find your VR implementation works great. I'm reading the manual about clip planes before I start messing with things. Having a rain animation on the face for open-wheelers would be nice. Any tips on how I might achieve this?

I don't think there's a way to see animated rain without the RAINSCREEN, but you got me thinking actually Open wheelers is the main weak area in GTR2 and most of the work planned is to improve that, so we will see.

I had an idea to render helmet overlay in VR one day, including fancy rain drops pixel shader, but not sure when I will get to it.

I am not sure I understand your configuration but If you are running VR, you do not need TrackIR, OpenVR/OpenXR tracking is implemented natively.

 

[Speednut357]

I don't think there's a way to see animated rain without the RAINSCREEN, but you got me thinking actually Open wheelers is the main weak area in GTR2 and most of the work planned is to improve that.

I had an idea to render helmet overlay in VR one day, including fancy rain drops pixel shader, but not sure when I will get to it.

I am not sure I understand your configuration but If you are running VR, you do not need TrackIR, OpenVR/OpenXR tracking is implemented natively.

Strangely, after installing GTR233's anniversary patch, TrackIR didn't work. So I did it again and selected the openvr_api.dll option, which worked.

I just presumed he left the TrackIr Functionality out of his exe.

 

[The Iron Wolf]

Are you running VR? VR renderer does not use TrackIR. HQ Patch defaults to DVD GTR2, so you need to restore Stram .exe/.dll files after installing HQ Patch.

 

[Jempy]

I personally use the same general settings on all sims for TrackIR 5 and it perfectly works in all of them including GTR2 Steam + HQ Anniv Patch + Crewchief.
I don't know what happened with yours @Speednut357 ???

 

[IMC '67]

Yes. I would suggest first trying to get plugin to work on some test copy of GTR2, to see if you can get it to run. It should work, as long as .exe/.dll files are from Steam, although there are no guarantees of any kind - it does not work for at least one person. 4gb patch is still highly recommended, see the plugin manual for the rest.

The copy of the Steam install runs fine but when copying all the .exe and .dll files from the main GTR2 folder to my heavily modified DVD version of the game, I get the following error message when launching the game: "Failed to load d3d9 proxy. Features that depend on d3d9 proxy will be disabled". After clicking OK the game will launch but in a squeezed 4:3 aspect ratio and with lots of weird things going on with cars and tracks. This was all tested without any CrewChief files as I first wanted to make sure my game would run correctly with the Steam files. Any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[The Iron Wolf]

The copy of the Steam install runs fine but when copying all the .exe and .dll files from the main GTR2 folder to my heavily modified DVD version of the game, I get the following error message when launching the game: "Failed to load d3d9 proxy. Features that depend on d3d9 proxy will be disabled". After clicking OK the game will launch but in a squeezed 4:3 aspect ratio and with lots of weird things going on with cars and tracks. This was all tested without any CrewChief files as I first wanted to make sure my game would run correctly with the Steam files. Any ideas what could be wrong?

View attachment 679180

CCGEP consists of 2 main files, CrewChief.dll that one goes under Plugins. Second file is d3d9.dll it goes into the root. The message you are getting is likely because d3d9.dll is the wrong one. All that is explained in the manual I am guessing you had XD installed? XD won't work with Steam GTR2, but there's a modern alternative.

Without plugin, GTR2 does not work well unless you start it as admin/and with compat flags. With plugin none of that is needed, even GTR2Config is not needed anymore, unless of course the thing refuses to run on your PC completely (manual contains some troubleshooting for that, see "Starting GTR2" section).

 

[IMC '67]

Got everything to work now! Here are my favourite features so far:

• Automatically getting all processors enabled
• Manual start of the engine when exiting the garage
• Stationary friction of the front tyres
• Backfires on all cars
• Reduced wall and tree flickering
• Manual H-shift gearbox simulation

If I could wish for a feature, that would be to have a simple rectangular shadow under the AI cars visible in the player's rear view mirrors. Also, a metallic grinding noise for gearbox misshifts would have been really nice. This would also help in avoiding to blow the engine when a gear isn't getting engaged.

Anyway, I just donated some money as a thank you for sharing your great work!

 

[The Iron Wolf]

Got everything to work now! Here are my favourite features so far:

• Automatically getting all processors enabled
• Manual start of the engine when exiting the garage
• Stationary friction of the front tyres
• Backfires on all cars
• Reduced wall and tree flickering
• Manual H-shift gearbox simulation

If I could wish for a feature, that would be to have a simple rectangular shadow under the AI cars visible in the player's rear view mirrors. Also, a metallic grinding noise for gearbox misshifts would have been really nice. This would also help in avoiding to blow the engine when a gear isn't getting engaged.

Anyway, I just donated some money as a thank you for sharing your great work!

I am glad you like those things. Lack of H-Shifting and basic modern racing features such as rich motec, downshift protection as well as completely abandoned AI and bare minimum VR etc etc etc is what made me give up on rFactor 2 and start this effort. I am glad you discovered those features yourself, because it is against my values to promote my work, but it really hurts seeing how much the comnmunity is missing out. There are features that are good for _everyone_ (default enabled), and even more features for folks who crave deep(er), more accurate simulation.

Grinding is possible using SimHub using ShakeIt missing shift. I use transducer to simulate grinding, but you probably can make it emit an audible sound. I do not add sounds to my effort because mostly racing is done with earplugs, so audio cues... questionable in terms of realism.

So I saw your shadow blob suggestion a while ago and it stuck with me. Last year I figured out how to control what is visible on the screen while adding rain reflection features. I tried forcing shadows in the rearview but it did not work. At that time my motivation was very low, because real shadows will kill the performance in VR, and that's how I race. However, you are right - static shadow blob should be ok. I think I might try enabling it next year but do not hold your breath - nothing is guaranteed in this effort.

And enjoy! I am looking forward to IMC67 - best of luck with that. Attention to details is what sets mediocre stuff aside from brilliant work that will stay, and it looks like you are after those exact details I love - true replication of our beloved motorsport. Don't know if any of your cars had turbo IRL, but at some point I might get to adding turbo to further improve replication of older cars.

PS: don't miss out on gearbox damage - finishing without 3rd gear is memorable.
PS2: if you care about stationary friction I really encourage you to invest couple of days into learning the RealFeel integration. Kf force is _amazing_ and I made it depend on tire softness, so each compound will feel different.