rFactor 2 | New Build Update Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 have deployed a new build update for rFactor 2, adding a number of fixes and improvements to the simulation.

• New build adds VR flat desktop mode.
• Various art fixes and tweaks.
• 32-bit installers ceased.

The new build has been deployed in anticipation of the upcoming Spa-Francorchamps release this Friday 20th November, and comes complete with a number of fixes and tweaks to the simulation. It is worth noting as part of this build, as detailed in the October Development Roadmap, going forward Studio 397 will no longer be supporting 32-bits version of the simulation, and the Dutch team also recommend migrating to the 'new UI' to maximise current and future developments within the title.

Of interest in the new build are various performance improvements for the UI and the addition of VR flat desktop mirror, plus new controller profiles and some further tweaks to the graphic aspects of the title.


Update Notes:

• Removed the 32 bits builds, we are now officially 64 bit only. To ease the transition, we have left some 32 bit utilities in their usual locations for this build only. Please migrate and report any issues you might have.
  • Note: there is a known issue that the ModMgr.exe inside Bin64 folder on SteamCMD dedicated server distributions may crash when toggling certain settings. Please use ModMgr.exe inside Bin32 folder for now.
• Changed the way the new UI gets rendered, making it smooth even when the back-end is busy.
• Fixed several memory leaks and a possible crash on changing graphics settings in-game.
• Ensured that when a user is entering text in a text field, keys he/she presses don’t accidentally trigger other controls.
• Fixed the mouse cursor from going missing when pressing ESC in VR after driving the car.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes when restarting or forwarding sessions, the UI would not (re)appear after that transition.
• Fixed several aspect-ratio related rendering issues with the new UI.
• Fixed the new UI being one pixel too wide and too high on triples.
• Added new VR flat desktop mirror. Please note this is only available in the new UI on the public_beta branch.
• Controller profiles
  • Simagic M10 new profile added.
  • VRS Direct Force Pro corrected typo in controller profile.
• Re-enabled & Improved Sun God Rays / Light Flare settings (requires PostFX enabled, mostly only visible when the sun is occluded slightly)
• Tweaks to Air Pollution colour blending and params
• Corrected Moon Brightness
• Reviewed various lighting parameters
• Moved “Atmospherics” section for Track Weather file (.WET) to Track Game Database file (.GDB)
• Added option for static mappers to disable omni lights
• Fixed auto static mapper assignment, so Static01 mapper is auto assigned only. (prevent mappers for specific situations being auto assigned to assets)
• Fixes for issues with No Rain Zones including when falling back to bounding box, and sorting issues with the currently rendered no rain zones.
• Fixed an issue where reflections would stop updating after rejoining track
• Fix for track side cameras not always showing the correct number of objects
• Updated PBR track shaders to make use of new sampler methods to allow for more textures to be used.
• Fixed an issue where DXT1 and DXT5 textures would not sample sRGB when they should when using new sampler method (This was an issue on the Road Shader only previously)
• Fixed a rare issue causing texture animations to stop working
• IBL Road and IBL Curb:
  • Added ability to use a second normal map (overlay on road, switch on curbs)
  • Tweaked Groove Blending logic (This may result in more noticeable dust, you may wish to tone this down in your Road Details Map)
  • Updated default settings for Groove & Dust IBL Standard
  • Fixed some issues with the Detail Map
• IBL Standard & Blend
  • Added option to use detail map as an alpha masked decal IBL Standard Blend
  • Added the option to use a detail map with the same logic as IBL Standard
  • Removed Multiply Square albedo blending mode, since this can be achieved by saving the texture in the correct format.
• IBL Terrain:
  • Added the ability to set per Albedo strengths for Pattern map
  • Added an optional splatter overlay map, which applies alpha to specular mask
  • Added Albedo Tinting to Specular on Terrain Shaders
• IBL Vegetation
  • Added a new Vegetation Specific shader, which contains only appropriate logic from IBL Standard
  • Added Specular Tinting with a static colour in the Vegetation Shader.

Steam Build IDs
Old UI (opt-out)

• Client build ID: 5842885
• Dedicated server build ID: 5842895

New UI (public_beta)

• Client build ID: 5842938

The new build is available now, and should download automatically the next time you restart your Steam client.



Original Source: Studio 397

rFactor 2 is available now, exclusively on PC.

Check out the rF2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for a great place to hang out with your fellow fans of the title, discuss the latest news and get advice on how to make the most from your simulation. Join in and start a new thread today!

 

[GuitarTech]

Hey guys just checking to see if this bug is still here------>So when in the pitbox getting service are you guys still getting hit by other cars coming out to the track? It's always happened to me in past builds at Sebring, Portland and I've shelved it until it's fixed, very frustrating. Or maybe I'm not setting up the race event properly?

Me too, at Le Mans this evening. Hit me direct in the side as I was waiting for new tyres.

 

[bgil66]

Me too, at Le Mans this evening. Hit me direct in the side as I was waiting for new tyres.

Ugh it's unreal, this is the stuff they should be fixing. LeMans is a beauty in this Sim though

 

[dreamer al]

have taken the plunge to use the new UI. However i can not locate all my tracks and cars. The current "Race" setting is Imola with the last car i raced. The menu indicates to click and locate tracks/cars, However all I get is this page and as much as i click and try "search" engine" - NOTHING!!??

I wish to play as "Single Player"

What am I do wrong? How can I locate all cars and tracks (for Single Player)?

Edit: What ans where is the "New UI"? I have assumed its "Public Beta".

Edit, edit: Many thanks to group members for assistance. I have finally got it!! lol.

 

[Case_]

you may tune for the worst, does not mean you tweak with the worst.
so you play with your settings on a track that doesn’t take a century to rebuilt shaders, once you think the performance is good, test that setup on the worst track

I have to say the logic of this escapes me. So if I want to make sure my config is able to deal with worst case scenarios, I should make it based on a less demanding combo, then go to the actual demanding combo, likely find it's not optimized (either it performs badly or it has too much unnecessary headroom), and tweak it on the worst case combo anyway, essentially doing the same thing all over again...?

Yeah, let's just leave it at that, I think

 

[Case_]

have taken the plunge to use the new UI. However i can not locate all my tracks and cars. The current "Race" setting is Imola with the last car i raced. The menu indicates to click and locate tracks/cars, However all I get is this page and as much as i click and try "search" engine" - NOTHING!!??

What am I do wrong? How can I locate all cars and tracks?

View attachment 420991

This is the series selection screen. Select all cars and tracks here. Then go to the car (track) selection screen and select your car and track.

 

[dreamer al]

This is the series selection screen. Select all cars and tracks here. Then go to the car (track) selection screen and select your car and track.

Thank you for caring. Yes, I would love to be able to do what you suggest, however as much as i click/select, nothing shows or appears. Very frustrating. I will just go back to the old UI.

Edit: I am wanting to use Single Race, not Multiplayer.

 

[boxer]

at the very top right you need to hover "series" text and then select all cars and tracks I think. If that doesn't work you may need to restart rF2. Usually I had issues when coming from MP... and only restarting rF2 will fix this type of issue.

 

[dreamer al]

at the very top right you need to hover "series" text and then select all cars and tracks I think. If that doesn't work you may need to restart rF2. Usually I had issues when coming from MP... and only restarting rF2 will fix this type of issue.

Thanks. I have tried all of the above. When i click "select" it throws me back to Race screen with my current "race" - Imola Track and current car. Very frustrating. I have tried but failed!! Back to the old UI for me, I do hope this gets "fixed"

 

[Case_]

@dreamer al So you can't then click on the car or track in either of these two screens (the second one is the "Customize" screen) and pick your car and track?

(BTW, the main screen in particular is one perfect example of why I think the UI has some serious usability issues - the series, car and track buttons are not presented as buttons, just as bold text, and you have to hover over them to realize they're clickable, and the "Customize" button seems greyed out, so it discourages you from clicking and makes you think it's inactive.)

 

[dreamer al]

@dreamer al So you can't then click on the car or track in either of these two screens (the second one is the "Customize" screen) and pick your car and track?View attachment 421011View attachment 421012

(BTW, the main screen in particular is one perfect example of why I think the UI has some serious usability issues - the series, car and track buttons are not presented as buttons, just as bold text, and you have to hover over them to realize they're clickable, and the "Customize" button seems greyed out, so it discourages you from clicking and makes you think it's inactive.)

Many thanks. I finally got the "light bulb" moment and clicked the current Track, which showed other tracks, same scenario for Cars. So I am finally finding my way through the maze. I must say that rF2 is a wonderful driving experience, as much as I get frustrated at times.

 

[ReisF1]

Save one track as a favorite and then it will only load that one when you press "RACE", much faster.

But why is Multiplayer even on the same page as Single player ?
The UI logic should be:
You choose between Single player or Multiplayer.
Only then should you see to the "RACE" button.

Four years ?

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Cheesenium]

They are surely competent but probably waaaay understaffed in term of developers (though not so much for the track/car artist department). The number of actual developers working on the code largely determines how fast things can be done. If you have 2 coders, they are not going to do the work of 10 coders. In comparison, behemoths like Turn 10, Polyphony digital and other AAA game shops have an army of coders.
Add to that that the code of rF2 is old, huge and complicated, making it difficult to improve things fast.
And also, they must not break old stuff introducing new stuff... And there's compat with mods to preserve as best as possible.
Development is really complicated: what can be seen from outside as a 'simple' fix can prove to take weeks to fix. Nothing is ever really simple. How do I know that ? I'm a developer.

It still does not excuse them for such poor performance and support in the game at this stage. Things like AI issues, I really won't say if that sort of fixes took weeks or a year to fix. I am not expecting them to fix the issues right now but leaving bugs in the game for months or even years is absurd.

And they had broke stuff each time they updated something which seemed like an unfortunate characteristics of this engine.

S397 is having the same issues as Reiza, unfortunately. They do need sometime to polish up the game, not keep adding new content or graphical upgrades. Except Reiza is focusing more in the polishing part recently.

 

[Michael Havlena]

The whole process of updating package files seems to take significantly more time to perform now with the new UI. This is quite unfortunate as updating files now requires an inordinate amount of time to accomplish.

 

[Case_]

(That's actually one part of the new UI experience they improved significantly over the past months in my experience. It used to be insufferable, requiring multiple restarts of the game when updating more packages at once.)

 

[opmike]

New UI is an absolute mess. Those defending it by saying things like, "You have to spend some time getting used to it" are completely missing the point in what is and isn't a good user interface. How much effort did you have to give navigating the menu of literally every other game in your library? After some quick familiarization, you can usually immediately accomplish whatever it is you're trying to do. Content Manger is an order of magnitude more complex, yet still manages to have a sensible "workflow."

 

[Eng.]

When I try to make a race, it is trying to find my favourite servers even I don't have. It takes sth like 20 seconds. The game doesn't have mp base, but I have to wait for unexistent server information to get past single race in the end.

 

[hiyrock]

I can't do anything when i press esc…

 

[sentry87]

I have only two issues with the new UI. Well three, but two realistic issues.

1) Loading favorite servers.. It's not even the waiting, and waste of time, it's mainly the annoyance of it not pertaining to me. It's not like a loading screen where the end result is you entering the track, ready to drive, and enjoying the game. It feels more like an advertisement while you're watching an interesting video on YT.

2) For some reason the amount of cars I load on Nordschliefe is limited to a random number between 30-40 on the new UI only, old UI lets me load as many AI as I please. I don't understand if this is by design or this is a bug that will likely never be discovered by the Developers.

As for the UI design overall. Yes it's not very good, but it's useable. What do we expect to be done about it now? What's done is done; The table is set; The ship has sailed etc etc

 

[Zsolt Osztós]

I feel I should explain where I'm coming from: I have been using rF2 since it came out. I know its strengths and weaknesses, but it is still my go-to sim. I've tried them all, and I have the VR capable sims still installed ( PC2, AMS2, R3E, ACC etc ), but rF2 still can't be beat in areas where it really counts: Physics, FF, atmosphere and the feeling of being there. Immersion, in other words.
And then this week I finally manage to complete my new computer build from September 2019: back thenI bought a new case, and replaced MB, CPU, RAM, PSU, everything but the GPU, a 1080 that I carried over from my old box, due to running out of money for a better card.
But this week I could finally rectify that: I splurged €986 on an RTX 3080, thinking all my problems with rF2 would be over. I could finally drive it like it looks in the promo trailers, due to now having a very powerful card. Wrong. My favorite track (Nürburgring), still runs badly despite having a state-of-the-art GPU, an i7 9700 and 32Gb RAM, due to it being so badly optimized for VR, and having a huge memory löeak.
Most of my hopes for rF2, despite having a modern computer now, have been dashed. It is pure and simple, disappointment, after waiting all this time for the rF2 I'd always dreamed about.
I always thought that it was because I needed a quicker computer, and a better GPU.
And this week has shown me that that is not the case, I could have saved the money as far as rF2 is concerned.
And then, to add insult to injury, last night they broke the new UI: I've been using it since it became available as a beta, until last night that is, where the update broke it, for me. Now my mouse doesn't work anymore, I've had to roll back to the old UI. It's not the first time where Studio397 releases stuff that hasn't been adequately tested.
And all these things this week have magnified what is wrong with rF2: the bugs that have been there forever, and will probably never be fixed, Studio397s habit of releasing half-finished stuff, the never-ending story with the new UI, etc. ,etc.,etc.
It all boiled over this week, and I've been having a rant, I'll admit. I'm still going to buy Spa though, in the hopes that it will run as well as Le Mans does, and doesn't have a bad memory leak like Nords (which will probably never, or not for a very long time, be fixed )
Their working speed is glacial, it took them a year just to fix some AI problems, for example.
But I still support them, despite everything. I have every DLC, except for Formula milk float: Formula E might me the future, but without me. Racing cars should be loud and dangerous. End of.
I'm off to try the new UI again: maybe overnight they have loaded up a hotfix for the hotfix for the hotfix, good old rF2, you never let me down. Hopefully the Spa launch tomorrow will be smoother.....

I feel I should explain where I'm coming from: I have been using rF2 since it came out. I know its strengths and weaknesses, but it is still my go-to sim. I've tried them all, and I have the VR capable sims still installed ( PC2, AMS2, R3E, ACC etc ), but rF2 still can't be beat in areas where it really counts: Physics, FF, atmosphere and the feeling of being there. Immersion, in other words.
And then this week I finally manage to complete my new computer build from September 2019: back thenI bought a new case, and replaced MB, CPU, RAM, PSU, everything but the GPU, a 1080 that I carried over from my old box, due to running out of money for a better card.
But this week I could finally rectify that: I splurged €986 on an RTX 3080, thinking all my problems with rF2 would be over. I could finally drive it like it looks in the promo trailers, due to now having a very powerful card. Wrong. My favorite track (Nürburgring), still runs badly despite having a state-of-the-art GPU, an i7 9700 and 32Gb RAM, due to it being so badly optimized for VR, and having a huge memory löeak.
Most of my hopes for rF2, despite having a modern computer now, have been dashed. It is pure and simple, disappointment, after waiting all this time for the rF2 I'd always dreamed about.
I always thought that it was because I needed a quicker computer, and a better GPU.
And this week has shown me that that is not the case, I could have saved the money as far as rF2 is concerned.
And then, to add insult to injury, last night they broke the new UI: I've been using it since it became available as a beta, until last night that is, where the update broke it, for me. Now my mouse doesn't work anymore, I've had to roll back to the old UI. It's not the first time where Studio397 releases stuff that hasn't been adequately tested.
And all these things this week have magnified what is wrong with rF2: the bugs that have been there forever, and will probably never be fixed, Studio397s habit of releasing half-finished stuff, the never-ending story with the new UI, etc. ,etc.,etc.
It all boiled over this week, and I've been having a rant, I'll admit. I'm still going to buy Spa though, in the hopes that it will run as well as Le Mans does, and doesn't have a bad memory leak like Nords (which will probably never, or not for a very long time, be fixed )
Their working speed is glacial, it took them a year just to fix some AI problems, for example.
But I still support them, despite everything. I have every DLC, except for Formula milk float: Formula E might me the future, but without me. Racing cars should be loud and dangerous. End of.
I'm off to try the new UI again: maybe overnight they have loaded up a hotfix for the hotfix for the hotfix, good old rF2, you never let me down. Hopefully the Spa launch tomorrow will be smoother.....

For the mouse: I think the problem is the detection of the mouse coordinates. There is an error in calculating the screen coords of the mouse click (and pointer) in some cases. If you're using widescreen, try turn on the "Widescreen UI" setting in graphics options, and check if it helps.

 

[pcraenme]

I have only two issues with the new UI. Well three, but two realistic issues.

1) Loading favorite servers.. It's not even the waiting, and waste of time, it's mainly the annoyance of it not pertaining to me. It's not like a loading screen where the end result is you entering the track, ready to drive, and enjoying the game. It feels more like an advertisement while you're watching an interesting video on YT.

2) For some reason the amount of cars I load on Nordschliefe is limited to a random number between 30-40 on the new UI only, old UI lets me load as many AI as I please. I don't understand if this is by design or this is a bug that will likely never be discovered by the Developers.

As for the UI design overall. Yes it's not very good, but it's useable. What do we expect to be done about it now? What's done is done; The table is set; The ship has sailed etc etc

I agree, it is strange that you have to load favorite servers when you are not planning to join a multi-player race. But it helps to add at least one favorite server, so the load time is minimal (which is kind of strange since loading no favorite server takes longer than one server).

I see the new UI as a good starting point for future enhancements (which Marcel already told us in several interviews) and in its current state it is only very basic. I for example would like a possibility to save all the settings you make for a race, so when you want to do a similar race later, you can just load these settings (e.g. similar to Content Manager for AC). And I am also curious to see how the new Competion System will work out in the new UI.