RD Le Mans Series Season 7 (rFactor 2)

[Daiman Patel]

I agree completely one week is not sufficient for all teams and organization to adapt.
For round 3 I would propose that all teams have to supply (if they haven't met the requirements already) skins that doesn't glow when put in game. If it glows the skin can be simply rejected and to race the team must provide something respecting albedo rules.

Thank you for you proposal. However we shall assess the situation with the DX11 upgrade before mandating all teams to submit updated skin files. The problem that we have is what if a team does not submit new files, or apply the albedo map correctly? Given that each team has already submitted a skin for the championship I do not believe it would be fair to issue a suspension simply because an updated skin is not provided. And some teams may still decide to continue using DX9, therefore it would be difficult for them to verify that their skin files have been suitably updated for DX11 without submitting them. Checking each of the new and updated skins, processing all of the recently submitted files, and updating all of the relevant team information, before creating a custom car / skin pack is already a labour intensive task. Rejecting a skin because it has an incorrect albedo map could subsequently result in a significant amount of wasted time as I will need to attempt to contact teams, ask them to make appropriate amendments, and retest the skin once it has been resubmitted.

I have two possible solutions. The first is to update all of the files in the template pack to include the layers that will form the albedo map, based on the instructions provided by Studio 397 in their Guidelines for artists help article. These layers can simply be copied by teams into their own skin files, and positioned appropriate in the layers list, before the skin is exported to a .dds file. Alternatively (I'm not sure if this is possible, so it would be helpful if @Gijs van Elderen could maybe shed some light on this) I can ask teams to hide or not include the albedo map when they export their skin to a .dds file, and I could do it instead (apply the required layers as a batch process) once the files have been submitted. The former will require a day or two of work, to update all of the template files, but does not guarantee that a team will update their skin. Meanwhile the latter will require quite a bit of experimentation, but if it works my guess is that it will be the preferred solution. Once Round 2 is over I shall start looking into both solutions, starting with the latter, and if this does not work then I shall switch to the former.

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

it would be helpful if @Gijs van Elderen could maybe shed some light on this) I can ask teams to hide or not include the albedo map when they export their skin to a .dds file

Most skins will be OK once EnduRacers have updated their custom shaders.
And EnduRacers mod has a performance bug. They are working on it.

 

[Daiman Patel]

Just some info. With the latest hotfixes for rF2 DX11 the performance of the Endumod went from 8 FPS to 40+ for me and I am using way higher settings atm. Basically everything maxed out, PP on low and shadows on low and shadow smooting off. It is coming along

Sure Max but definitely not usable for this round. Even after the last changes racing in a pack with this mod doesn't work. For me at the start 14 fps in a 42 AI Field. I will use DX9 for the race, everything else is to dangerous with this amount of Frames.

dx9 still looks just as good for now. I did some laps on the server last night and I swear I saw some effects like in dx11. Heat haze for one I noticed which looked good. Never paid attention to it before.

DX9 is still utterly excellent in rF2, I see no issues with continuing to run it until the DX11 build is completely solid and the Enduracers mod is up to scratch with DX11

To reiterate what Stefan, Daryl and Dan have said, in spite of improvements that have been made during the course of the week the DX11 upgrade is still not really in a usable state for (Round 2 of) the RDLMS. We shall of course continue to the monitor progress, and once we believe that DX11 is in a suitable and stable state, with compatible resources to go alongside it, then we shall begin to support both DX9 and DX11. But for the time being the recommendation is to use DX9, and this shall be more than adequate for the league as we wait for DX11 to develop and stabilise. Hopefully the EnduRacers team will also release their updates before Round 3 so that we can begin to assess how suitable DX11 will be for participants of the RDLMS; if the performance issues are still not resolved then this will be a mark in favour of the continued used of DX9, but we shall have to see.

 

[Daiman Patel]

Most skins will be OK once EnduRacers have updated their custom shaders.
And EnduRacers mod has a performance bug. They are working on it.

Aha, that's good to hear! Thank you very much for the "inside scoop" Gijs! This sounds incredibly promising, and we should probably hold off on making a recommendation for Round 3 until the update has been made available (assuming it is released before the 24 Hours of Le Mans of course, else DX9 would once again be the likely option).

 

[Matheus Machado]

Do you see any change in the size or intensity of the bloom effect if you adjust the post effects level, or do the cars still appear excessively / unnaturally bright?

It does change, although only oversaturated skins give issues in the high preset and above. I don't have an issue with excessive bright personally, as it can be easily fixed by removing PP effects, it just feels sad to not use the now available graphic powerhouse that is DX11.

I keep mentioning performance because as I have said 23675 times by now, Enduracers content gives much worse results when compared to anything else, and considering the increased game stability with DX11 I tried everything I could to use it, with no success thus far. I've given up by now and made a secondary install for DX11 to use with other content.

 

[Matheus Machado]

edit. Haven't seen the most in Gijs post.

 

[Chris]

I'm just going to stick with DX9 until the issues are resolved. At the moment it looks better and runs better in directX 9 than DX11.

 

[Stefan Kanitz]

I don't think DX11 is the problem. The main problem is, imo, the Enduracer Mod. If I use an updated mod like the Nissan and Suzuka, I do have 50 Frames at the start, 42 AI and start position 21, with everything on Max. Even with clouds. With the Enduracer just 14 Frames. If they can tweak it I don't see any arguments to not use DX11. DX11 was running smooth all the way in my testsessions apart from the frames.

Any plans to use DX11 for the broadcast itself? The outside camera have improved.

 

[Mark Greenall]

Good luck to everyone for this race. We are hoping for better results as a team this time
#TXL

 

[Daiman Patel]

I don't think DX11 is the problem. The main problem is, imo, the Enduracer Mod. If I use an updated mod like the Nissan and Suzuka, I do have 50 Frames at the start, 42 AI and start position 21, with everything on Max. Even with clouds. With the Enduracer just 14 Frames. If they can tweak it I don't see any arguments to not use DX11. DX11 was running smooth all the way in my testsessions apart from the frames.

I believe that DX11 is not entirely blameless, but there are definitely more significant problems with the Endurance Series mod. Therefore we shall have to see what performance is like, and determine if there are any further issues when the updated version of the resource is released. If there are no apparent performance related problems with the mod and / or game, or if there is an issue that can be relatively easily resolved, then I would have no reservations in recommending and supporting DX11 as well as DX9. However for those of us who still have older GPUs there might be an argument to continue running the game using DX9; the post effects (and other changes introduced as part of the DX11 upgrade) could cause performance issues unless they are disabled, and there would be no real benefit in upgrading to DX11 if post effects are off as far as I'm aware (I might be wrong though).

Any plans to use DX11 for the broadcast itself? The outside camera have improved.

Unfortunately DX11 cannot / will not be used for the broadcast because the TV Overlay plugin, which is pretty crucial for the stream, will not work since the widgets are displayed as graphical overlays directly within the game itself. Attempting to load rFactor 2 with DX11 and this plugin enabled will cause the game to crash.

 

[Nikodem Wisniewski]

Right, OK - this sounds like a rather strange issue. Just to confirm, this problem occurs at all circuits and not just Silverstone - is that correct? What are your graphics settings? If you have not done so already, I would recommend clearing out the CBash and Shaders folders (you can just delete both directories, and the game will recreate them). You could also press 'Ctrl + C' whilst driving to bring up the in-game GPU and CPU monitor; keep an eye on this, especially when a freeze occurs, to determine if a CPU spike is potentially causing the issue. Does the problem occur on every lap, or just the first? And does the display freeze at certain points on the track or is this completely random? Also have you noticed any general drops in FPS, as this could potentially be indicative of a failing HDD? I know several people who experienced low FPS and freezes, and upon running 'chkdsk' they found that their drive had a large number of bad sectors. Finally (for now), for how long does each freeze last?

No, it's only on Silverstone. Freeze is like 1-2 seconds, my pc spec is really enough to put rF2 on low level with huge amount of drivers.

 

[Daiman Patel]

No, it's only on Silverstone. Freeze is like 1-2 seconds, my pc spec is really enough to put rF2 on low level with huge amount of drivers.

Is the problem still occurring, and have you tried any of the suggestions that I made? Also, is the problem persistent or does it go away after a while? I would suggest monitoring both CPU and hard drive usage while the track is loaded.

 

[klo-che]

Hello, we are indeed in process of updating the mod to DX11. Once done, most of you will not have to update your skins (some very clear ones maybe, but it's not even sure) since our cars are delivered with advanced quality templates including shading layers. About performances, we had no reports of performances issues with DX9 before the DX11 release, so for thoose of you who have troubles since the DX11 release, you may wait until we release the new build to see if it's solved. Note that in addition S397 is releasing frequent updates to the game, because DX11 is not optimised yet, and for exemple yesterday's new update had a significant boost in terms of performances.

We do our best to provide you the update as soon as it is updated and tested. I remind some of you that our MODs are free, we do this on our spare time, on weekend's, you are not forced to use it, so please be a bit more polite and respectfull in the way you can report things. Thanks.

 

[Joseph Wright]

Hello, we are indeed in process of updating the mod to DX11. Once done, most of you will not have to update your skins (some very clear ones maybe, but it's not even sure) since our cars are delivered with advanced quality templates including shading layers. About performances, we had no reports of performances issues with DX9 before the DX11 release, so for thoose of you who have troubles since the DX11 release, you may wait until we release the new build to see if it's solved. Note that in addition S397 is releasing frequent updates to the game, because DX11 is not optimised yet, and for exemple yesterday's new update had a significant boost in terms of performances.

We do our best to provide you the update as soon as it is updated and tested. I remind some of you that our MODs are free, we do this on our spare time, on weekend's, you are not forced to use it, so please be a bit more polite and respectfull in the way you can report things. Thanks.

Well said. Its great to see that you are updating the mod, however its not vital. If people hate the frame rate drop so much, go back to DX9. That's what is being said. Politely say "when you are able to it would be nice if you could update the EnduRacers mod to increase performance when racing. Thank you for your time and effort with the mod, and I can't wait to see what it will look like once it is optomized for DX11. I love the mod and appreciate all of the effort that has been put into it." I have read some mean comments, and saying "get it done". You attempt it! It's not easy! If you want the best quality, give them time. If they realise a shocking mod, you are just going to continue to complain. Well done on the mods though guys. Really well done and a wonderful thing to drive

 

[Dan Long]

Just as a quick preview, I made a short YouTube video in prep for Saturdays race!

 

[Daiman Patel]

Hello, we are indeed in process of updating the mod to DX11. Once done, most of you will not have to update your skins (some very clear ones maybe, but it's not even sure) since our cars are delivered with advanced quality templates including shading layers. About performances, we had no reports of performances issues with DX9 before the DX11 release, so for thoose of you who have troubles since the DX11 release, you may wait until we release the new build to see if it's solved. Note that in addition S397 is releasing frequent updates to the game, because DX11 is not optimised yet, and for exemple yesterday's new update had a significant boost in terms of performances.

I remind some of you that our MODs are free, we do this on our spare time, on weekend's, you are not forced to use it, so please be a bit more polite and respectfull in the way you can report things. Thanks.

I would like to thank you very much for getting in touch, and also for the information about the new version of the Endurance Series mod. All of your work is much appreciated, and we at the RDLMS look forward to the release of the update. Also you make a very good point - the DX11 implementation is not yet optimised (not to mention that it is still in the beta-phase of the release), and Studio 397 are continuing to work on resolving the issues, so improvements will certainly come over time.

From now on I will ask RDLMS drivers to forward on any concerns on to you directly so that you are aware of apparent problems. However, I would also like to reiterate to our participants what you have said - the EnduRacers team works incredibly hard on the mod in their spare time, and it would be much appreciated by both sides (RDLMS staff and the mod developers) if some respect is shown when issues are raised. I have found that, especially over the past week or so, a small handful of people in general have been incredibly demanding and harsh with their criticisms against developers, in spite of knowing that there will likely be problems at first and instead of reporting issues in a pertinent manner. We understand and appreciate that you (rFactor 2 players) may be frustrated, but so are developers who is trying their best to rectify problems as quickly as possible.

Thanks again @klo-che, for all of your effort, work and the resulting Endurance Series mod!

 

[amancin]

Steam Id (display name): amancin
RD Forum name: @amancin
RDLMS Team number & name: #104 RACING CLUB

I'm trying on this team, thank you

 

[RustyDriver00]

Back to direct x9 personally, dx11 great, but I felt blind without track map and deltabar, so the choice was an easy one

 

[Haitham86]

Team name* Dubai Sim Racing Team
Team owner*: Haitham Abdelkader
Team owner forum name*: @Haitham86

Drivers in: Peter Kwalitter, @rocafella1978

 

[Fredyoh]

Team name: Drillers Motorsport
Team owner: Eneric Andre
Team owner forum name: @Era
Drivers out: /
Drivers in: Alexis Paradot/@DeatHey