rFactor 2 Build 1109 Released - Includes New Rain Features

[Paul Jeffrey]

A new update for rFactor 2 has been deployed today, now featuring enhanced rain visuals amongst a sizeable number of improvements and fixes.

As detailed in the final development roadmap post of 2017 (HERE), Studio 397 have today deployed a fairly sizeable new build release for rFactor 2 that amongst other things offers players the opportunity to sample the first pass of the enhanced rain effects introduced to this venerable racing simulation. Benefitting from significantly improved visual representation over the previous rain simulation, the new build is a major step forward in one of the few remaining areas where rFactor 2 fails to live up to expectations in comparison to other similar simulators available on the marketplace today.

As well as the very visually obvious changes to weather effects, Studio 397 have committed to continue developing the wet stuff in rF2 as they look to improve the overall experience and introduce physics interaction with dynamic puddle formations and other interesting and exciting elements found in wet weather racing.

Due to the nature of the new build and visual improvements brought to the simulation, vanilla and mod content will need to be updated to make best use of the new technology employed by Studio 397. As such the Dutch developers are actively working to update all the base content of the simulation, with the following items already having been given the update treatment, with more to follow in the coming weeks and months;

Cars

• Bentley GT3 - v1.97
• Radical GT3 - v1.993
• Mercedes GT3 - v1.99
• McLaren GT3 - v1.993
• Callaway GT3 - v1.97
• Formula E - v1.993
• Dallara - v1.96
• USF 2000 - v1.94
• Camaro GT3 - v1.94
• Corvette C6R - v1.93
• Nissan 370Z GT4 - v1.93
• Brabham BT44B - v1.95 >>>You need to manually subscribe HERE
• Brabham BT20 - v1.95
• Stock Car - v1.96
• EVE -v1.98
• Spark - v1.98
• Formula Two - v1.95
• Honda Civic BTCC - v1.99 (Physics Update: New tires)
• Kart Cup - v1.92
• Nissan GTR GT1 - v1.93
• Howston G4 - v1.96
• Howston G6 - v1.96
• Megane 2013 - v1.95
• Clio 2010 - v1.93
• Howston Dissenter - v1.94

Tracks

• LimeRock - 2.02
• Mores - v1.82
• Nola - v1.30
• Indianapolis - v2.04
• Silverstone - v1.84
• Brianza - v2.04
• Malaysia - v1.82

Before playing the new update it is also worth noting the following information;

• Important: Make sure to update any SteamCMD servers to get the latest!
• Delete contents of the folders CBash and shaders located in \Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\UserData\Log

Full build 1109 change log (December 21st 2017)

Improved Lighting

• We developed an Image-Based Lighting for Ambient (IBLA) solution that substantially improves lighting in our graphics engine.
• IBLA acts on the colors of the scene, taking into account information from the surrounding environment when drawing each object.
• The resulting lighting system gives the final image a more realistic look and it improves the perception of depth for the driver.
• This new system uses new ambient probes that have been added to most of the tracks. It is recomputed dynamically as weather or time conditions change.
• IBLA does not introduce any noticeable performance penalties and its features have been exposed to Mod Dev. Furthermore, tracks that do not have set IBLA yet will automatically have a default set of probes assigned to them.

Rain Effects

Cars

• Added dynamic drops on the windshield and the body of the car.
• These drops respect gravity, so they will run down the sides, and each single drop will have its own lifespan.
• The drops also respect airflow around the car when driving, making them move in appropriate directions.
• The effect is not scripted but generated in real time, and it varies depending on factors like the amount of rain drops falling from the sky, the speed of the vehicle, or the particles generated from another car in front of you.
• Wipers on cars are now functional and will clear the windscreen in two different user configurable speeds.

Tracks

• Vastly improved reflections of the surroundings that become visible as the track gets wet.
• Added blurred reflections for the “Ultra” Road Reflection setting.
• Improved shaders for the real-road surfaces and added new shaders to match closely the properties of elements like curbs in dry/wet conditions.
• Added highly detailed puddle maps that allow puddles to form in the appropriate places on tracks.

New HUD Options

• Added options to show tire wear and ride height as text parameters.
• Added tire wear percentage to the vehicle status MFD.
• Increased the accuracy of fuel consumption with an extra digit.
• Fixed a bug with TireAverageTemp text parameters, which would not show up in the HUD because of a space in their names.
• Added a “delta best” parameter that you can add to a HUD, showing time lost or gained compared to your fastest lap in milliseconds. Works for all cars (not just player). Included optional text coloring of the text output so positive and negative values can result in different colors.
• Added a more accurate fuel indication as well as one that shows the fuel you used in your last (full) lap, or zero otherwise.
• Added a gauge for showing the “delta best” with a range of -1.0 to +1.0 seconds.
• Added predicted number of laps remaining based on fuel used for last lap.
• Added current rain percentage.
• Added minimum and maximum track water depth.
• Added an option to disable font scaling for the chat and message box (apart from using comic sans, non-linear font scaling is about the biggest sin a designer can commit).
• Added weather info (rain intensity and min/max water depth) into the MFD for HUD and in-car use.
• Designed a new default HUD that takes advantage of the new features. (Coming soon)

Other/Fixes etc.

• The plugin API will no longer invoke callbacks that provide ScreenInfoV01 data that used to allow plugins to render to the screen. Doing this directly has been deprecated with the release of DX11, and alternatives are to either use information that is available in the updated HUD or wait for a new plugable HUD system to be released in 2018.
• We have removed the “cache” folder from our install, so all content will now be downloaded from the workshop. This means the base install is much smaller. Upon first launch you will be automatically subscribed to all Studio 397 content and while that is downloading the Launcher will show a progress dialog window with screenshots of all content items it is downloading for you.
• Generating Mip Maps from reflections, this gives smoother reflections as a result.
• Formula E liveries for TeCheetah, Mahindra and Venturi updated to 2018.
• Formula E driver helmets updated.
• Formula E driver suits updated.

Known Issues/troubleshooting

• Rain effects are visual currently. However, we are working on physics impacts.
• Some content is still to be updated to include the rain effects such as cars and tracks.
• Performance is constantly being reviewed
• Rain drops on external cameras under review
• If you are experiencing strange graphical issues, delete the contents of your cbash and shader folders located in \Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\UserData\Log
• Important: Make sure to update any SteamCMD servers to get the latest!

To help you get the most performance out of the new update Studio 397 have released basic graphics setting guidance that can be found HERE.

rFactor 2 is available from Steam as a PC exclusive title now.

Check out the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussion with regards to the simulation. You can take part in lively debates with fellow rFactor 2 fans and take part in some great Club and League racing events..! Head over to the forum now and share the love this simulation so very much deserves...

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Tried the new build yet? What are your impressions of the new rain effects? Like the new direction of the sim? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Marc Collins]

Another AMS fan here, and I agree with most you've said. My solution with rF2 is just to use content that feels right. Even if the only car you like is USF2000 (which is great) then rF2 is worth playing.
I wish it was possible to download only the content I want with rF2, instead of installing everything from workshop and then unsubscribing.

You can't know what the level of the content is until you try it/see/hear it, first. That's part of the frustration. Wait 5 or 6 years to get a Radical and then be delivered something with programming flaws and that sounds like a 1980's video game. USF2000 is outstanding and came as a surprise (at least to me).

 

[Ami_M3]

You can't know what the level of the content is until you try it/see/hear it, first. That's part of the frustration. Wait 5 or 6 years to get a Radical and then be delivered something with programming flaws and that sounds like a 1980's video game. USF2000 is outstanding and came as a surprise (at least to me).

I know, it's a pain. So many people are frustrated by this, I have no idea why Studio397 insists on doing it.
Nevertheless, I still enjoy rF2 very much. IMO, the sim is worth having for USF2000 and Renault Megane Trophy alone. Then there is Honda NSX. Lots of cool stuff actually, but frustrating to weed out the good from the bad. I don't have much time for playing, and no time/patience for trying out all the stuff available, so I just keep it very simple: Renault Trophy, USF2000, NSX from time to time for fun. Now, I need to try out their GT3 pack, which supposedly is very good.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

Honda NSX is basically a port from Niels H. rF1 mod, maybe that's why it feels familiar to AMS physics. USF also begun as mod, which ISI later took over. I'm not sure how much of the physics are from the mod maker, but it may simply be that you prefer the modded physics over "stock" ISI/S397 physics and that would explain why the quality feels different.

 

[Terry Rock]

RF2 multiplayer is a royal PITA, unless you are in some type of league.
That aspect needed attention from the very beginning.
I remember doing a handful of evening runs with Durge and his boys in vintage stuff at the old Spa circuit, when it was first released.
It was actually enjoyable then.
I'm hard-pressed to get onto any server...even official ones now.
I haven't for a very, very long time...years in fact.
That lunacy drove me to sit it out more than just about any other flaw.
To this day, if I remotely attempt to join one in the list, I get either a 'bad file descripter' message or content unavailable after waiting for multiple downloads.
That happens more often than not.

 

[Andy_J]

So RF2 is pretty crap then? Got to admit, I like it for the odd AI race because it really does have the best AI by a long margin. But I understand that sim is not the sim it should have been by now. I have some hope for it, but not much.

 

[Denis Betty]

So RF2 is pretty crap then? Got to admit, I like it for the odd AI race because it really does have the best AI by a long margin. But I understand that sim is not the sim it should have been by now. I have some hope for it, but not much.

No it's not crap. I don't think that's very helpful Andy... even if it's done out of devilment.

As I understand it, the problem with joining servers is often the fault of the people who host them. It's important to get things right when you put a Package together... apparently. Having said that, I've experienced problems joining RD servers, which were definitely put together correctly. The latest incident, turned out to be caused by an older version of the car, somehow lying around in my game (residual), so I had 2 versions of the car. Instead of the game (server) just recognising the correct version, it threw up an error. The time before that, I had to research for 30 minutes or so, to find out about something called "content manager or "Mod Manager" maybe? I then had to figure out how to use it to delete more residual content (or something like that).
I have to admit, I can't see that all this is gonna help sales. It's a shame, because (IMO) if you know your way around computers (or have a friend who does) and you're prepared to invest the time to find your way around the nuances of rF2, it's really a very enjoyable and rewarding sim. Something in the back of my mind though, is telling me that some of the techie advocates of rF2, actually enjoy the fact that you need to be pretty computer literate to get along well with the game.
In the end though, I think that S397 are doing their best, on a finite budget, to bring polish and mass appeal, to what I think (and for many people) is a great game. They can't reasonably be expected to do it all, yesterday, for nothing. Good luck to them and fingers crossed.

 

[Andy_J]

No it's not crap. I don't think that's very helpful Andy... even if it's done out of devilment.

Me devilment? Me? Now now Denis. .........................ok...........maybe.........

Like I said I like the sim but it's not my go to sim for various reasons referred to here and elsewhere. I do enjoy racing the AI though and funny enough I really like the Indycars and the Honda Civics even with their quirky front wheel drive simulation FFB.

In fact been doing some Rfactor 2 tonight and really enjoy the GT World mod at Lime Rock. Very good.

 

[Msportdan]

new update

15/01/2018
Steam Build ID 2438696
-Dedicated server SteamCMD Build ID 2438698
-Fixed join lag in multiplayer.
-Updated language files (to avoid crashing when the LSI screen was active).
-Fixed wipers on/off in replay.
-Fixed rain in cockpit in MP sessions.
-Fixed V-sync software with 'custom resolution' (Config_DX11.ini).
-Fixed TCP Matchmaker error message in the dedicated server UI.
-Added an all new ambient undercar shadow: more stable, reliable, and clearly visible even at night. The shadows can no longer clip through the ground, nor are they visible on the ground below a bridge when a car drives over that bridge. This new tech requires no intervention from content creators. We automatically remove the current undercar art and replace it with the new system. On subsequent updates, content creators can remove the old artwork.

Important Note: Please make sure and update your SteamCMD Dedicated server by running the command again in terminal

 

[Msportdan]

Latest Content Updates (top post updated)

• Dallara - v1.96 *
• Radical GT3 - v1.995 *
• Radical SR3-RSX v1.96 *
• Nissan GTR GT1 - v1.93
• Silverstone - v1.84 *
• Portugal - v2.28

Additional Changelogs:*

Cars

Radical GT3 - v1.995
- Corrected slick tires referring to wrong compound
Radical SR3-RSX v1.96
- Added newest CPM.
- Corrected lateral CG (center of gravity).
Dallara - v1.96
- Corrected texture mapping issue.

Tracks

Silverstone
- Fixed rain not hitting the ground (Main straight to T2)