AMS 2 v1.0.4.0 released

[Günthar Rowe]

The new update adds several Classic cars, brings the popular Mini Challenge JCW as it is in the top class of the UK Mini series, two Kart circuits, along the usual package of new features, fixes & improvements.

One of these features is the initial revision of the HEAD MOVEMENT setting for cockpit cameras (renaming what was before "WORLD MOVEMENT"), although users will still have the option to use the original legacy head movement if they so prefer - please check the descriptions in-game for more details as to how best configure this option to your preference.

V1.0.4.0 CHANGELOG

CONTENT

• Added 1960s Touring Car Series (featuring Lotus 23 & Mini Cooper S 1965)
• Added BMW M1 Procar Series
• Added German Group A Series (featuring BMW M3 E30 & Mercedes 190 Evolution
• Added Mini JCW UK Series
• Added Buskerud Kart Track (2 layouts)
• Added Speedland Kart track (4 layouts)
• Added Hockenheim 1988 Short layout (part of Hockenheimring DLC)*

GENERAL

• Added borderless window mode option (Perfromance Options Screen)
• Altered behaviour of helmet/cockpit cameras to prevent locking to world horizon and improve smoothing/damping of camera view
• Fixed issue where event date was not correctly set if host changed track via multiplayer lobby
• Added 'Start New Championship' flow; Added Select championship type, select vehicle/livery, Pre-allocate opponents Added championship specific AI Skill / Aggression settings to championship overview (can be adjusted mid season as desired
• Fixed clamping of range when validating Multiplayer AI difficulty setting on client.
• Added support to look backwards when pressing loo left / look right simultaneously
• Fixed "dummy" objects unintentionally appearing in reflections at higher settings.
• Player now retains control of steering/shifting during pitstops when 'Manual pitstops' setting is enabled.
• Fixed issue where sometimes player control was not restored after an AI controlled pitstop.

UI & HUD

• Added Help text to advanced setup screen
• Fixed missing center suspension setting heading localisations
• Added help text for all setings (subject to further review/localisation adjustments)
• Changed 'WORLD MOVEMENT' to 'HEAD MOVEMENT' to reflect new functionality
• Adjusted showroom climate brightness
• Added French & Spanish localization options
• 'Waiting for host' message now also displayed after race sessions in multiplayer when appropriate.
• Changed 'EXIT' button to 'RETURN TO MAIN MENU' on post session leaderboard
• Added confirmation step when attempting to exit while waiting for host to return to lobby at the end of multiplayer events.
• Fixed incorrect activation states on Broadcast Control overlay toggles.
• Fixed menu mouse activations and highlight state throughout on Broadcast Control
• Added Start New Championship screen for championship and vehicle/livery selection (additional championships to follow)
• Replaced "Reset Championship" button with "Start New Championship"
• Entering championship mode now opens new championship page if no valid save is present.

DEDICATED SERVER TOOL

• Limit AI Difficulty slider to 70-120%
• Max Grid Size and Max Human Opponents now allowed to be equal in http UI
• Replaced AllowableTimePenalty with AllowedCutsBeforePenalty and limit to correct range (1-50)

PHYSICS & AI

• Replaced open Salisbury-based open differential physics with more effective alternative;
• Further reduced differential lock per clutch setting
• Fixed CTD with Caterham Academy / Supersport
• Fixed F-V12, MP4-12, kart shifter & other unreleased cars missing latest minimal AI strentgh adjustment (being too slow below 100% setting as a result)
• M1 Procar: Revised tyre construction; Revised Suspension Geometry; Lowered engine inertia; Increased brake torque; Revised tyre constructio
• Adjusted AI lateral movement in initial launch off the line
• Reduced differential locking increment per clutch setting (all cars)
• Slightly adjusted kart tyre treads & FFB max force
• Slightly reduced F-V10 Gen2 AI tyre rolling resistance to better match player´s

AUDIO

• Onboard cameras now all use onboard sounds
• All cars revised for any persisting inacurate engine sound position (forward-rear, left-right)
• Added helictoper & drone sound effect (track dependent, where animation is present as sound effects are tagged to the respective objects)
• Puma P052: engine sound offset to side fixed, corrected small click in low-ish rpm loop.
• Kart 125 2T: increased internal engine volume slightly, external decreased slightly
• Camaro SS: increased external sound volume (both trackside and external on car views); fixed bad on-power low RPM samples overlap and general transition from idling to on-power.
• Ultima GTR Race: Adjusted filtering on external audio (trackside).
• Super V8: Adjusted SUB-frequencies over RPM range
• Puma P052 small adjustment to interior sound.

TRACKS

• Reworked treeline and grass blade shader, added few new types of grass blades & reworked existing ones.
• Reworked fog/haze shader with different exponent steps depending on angle you look at, so you can see the sunlit air when facing the sun
• Adjusted fog levels in heavy cloud/overcast setting for european tracks
• Added custom track animated objects (still WIP) to Spielberg, Kyalami and Buskerud
• Small art passes to Spielberg, Bathurst, Kansai
• Ortona: Fixed pit speed warning on track over 60kph; Added correct trigger for pit exit on layout 4;
• optimized track cut mesh
• Fixed VIR South hole after pit exit
• Silverstone 2020: Extensive performance pass
• Outon Park: Marbles test : less boxes (78->24), bigger boxes, 0.5-1.5 range, no brake zones
• Snetterton: Fixed some AI pit lane issues (hitting pitwall, driving onto grass at pitlane to main path merge)
• Adjusted textures; fixed some object LOD popping; Adjusted 100 layout pitlane/pitexit/trackcut to prevent a DQ in some cases
• Curitiba: Minor optimization & art pass; improved pit lane path merge to main path; remapped garage/pitbox locations; calibrated dynamic brake marker spacing
• Spielberg Historic:Restored road patch bumps; minor optimization pass; calibrated brake marker spacing
• Londrina: Fixed black treelines
• Imola 2001: Added period-accurate ad boards
• Silverstone 2020 Intl: Improved AI line.
• Added VR Spectator cams to Interlagos, Silvestone 2001, Bathurst, Hockenheimring, Imola
• Fixed objects popping in Spielberg, Silverstone 1975, Silverstone 2020
• Brasilia: Fixed several object LOD popping; Various object & texture adjustments
• Brands Hatch: Upgraded road seam & roadline shaders; Improved brake marker texture and spacing; Minor optimization pass
• Interlagos: Fixed object LOD popping; Upgraded road seam & roadline shaders;
• Imola: Fixed hole at Acque Minerali; closed some open edges between double sawtooth curbs; fixed some grass glitches; calibrated brake marker spacing; upgraded sign placement to latest references;
• Upgrade distance marker shader to rz_basic, rework sign placement based on recent reference video; moved start trigger 5m to align with pitwall starting gantry; added garage door collisions; relaxed road noise slightly; minor optimization pass
• Ortona; Minor Art pass; Added new AI paths for paddock area; Fixed broken UV4 groove mapping. Upgraded road seam & roadline shaders; ;New HUD track maps. Optimized track cut mesh; Added starting lights; Fixed wrong way/DQ bug from new paddock pit lane; Updated fast lines for layout 1 and 3; Minor optimization pass
• Guapore: Fixed various object LOD issues; Minor Optimization & art pass; Fixed some open edges; added animated drones
• Adjusted road noise for Guapore and Ibarra

VEHICLES

• SuperKart: Updated liveries
• Added Stock Car 2020 dangling damaged parts
• Added Sprintrace dirt and damage effects + dangling parts
• Added Super_V8 dirt and damage effects + dangling parts
• Fixed Caterham Academy Driver & car animations

 

[dwightyone]

Not bad - looking forward to trying all the goodies later on!

 

[patrod78]

Great adds, thx Reiza

Well, BMW M3 E30 & Mercedes 190 Evolution are not Group A cars, but FIA class 1 1993 as there's ABS allowed. Too bad, less pleasure.

 

[UMC 22]

as there's ABS allowed. Too bad, less pleasure.

So disable ABS in the menus. What's the problem?

I thought someone said the Mini's weren't coming to AMS 2 so that's a nice surprise. Be interesting to see how they compare to the one I've been driving all week in prep for RD's Mini Challenge. Also interested to hear what people think of the new "head movement" and whether it solves the long-running issue of camera vibration.

Oh yeah, and the E30... I'll have some of that.

 

[patrod78]

So disable ABS in the menus. What's the problem?

Offline: Will AI disable it?
Online: who won't use ABS?

That's the problem, call them "1993 DTM Fia Class 1 regulation" and there's no more problem.
Itwould be better release two versions, Group A and FIA class 1.

 

[UMC 22]

Offline: Will AI disable it?

The AI don't follow the same rules/physics as the player, so this is irrelevant.

Online: who won't use ABS?

You, if that's what you find to be more fun for you. Personally, I don't really see where the extra fun is in locking your wheels, but that's just me.

Apologies, but my personal belief is that there are things worth complaining about and things that just aren't. For me personally, this is one of the "aren't". The classic DTMs in R3E have ABS too but it doesn't stop them being one of the most fun and most popular classes to drive.

 

[Mekonrider]

I can see both points but ABS is just a car trait you've got a take advantage of and unless you're godlike you'll probably be slower without it.

I'd just turn it off for hotlapping/practice if I wanted to test my self with no driver aids.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Be interesting to see how they compare to the one I've been driving all week in prep for RD's Mini Challenge.

It will probably be quit different as AC and AMS2 have different interpretation on how simulating cars, weight, engine power, etc... will be accurate in both, but the feeling behind the wheel is not the same, for any other car, present in both simulator that I have tried. which one you will like best is purely personal, but one thing is sure, you will not drive them on the same tracks if you have been training for the RD race event.

Changed 'WORLD MOVEMENT' to 'HEAD MOVEMENT' to reflect new functionality

my game, after the update, still says world movement and still act the same.

 

[UMC 22]

my game, after the update, still says world movement and still act the same.

Are you in VR? If so, it's still World Movement for me too, with no option to switch between legacy and the new mode. However, if I start the game in 2D mode the new options are there. No idea why VR users don't get the new system...

Other than that, I have to say that I'm not impressed with this update so far. Yes, it has a long and impressive changelog. However, I think it needed another week of testing and quality control. In just a few minutes I've come across the following issues:

- The Mini CS (the old one) has a 5th gear when it clearly shouldn't. Said gear has the same ratio as 1st, so blows the engine if you switch to it accidentally, as I did.

- Both of the classic DTMs and the Procar have weird stutter/pauses in the engine sound when you change gear. Sounds really bad.

- The DTM Merc I tried looked fine from external views, but all internal views resulted in a plain red livery with no details.

- AI performance with the Mini Challenge is way off. They are much faster in a straight line.

- Inside surface of the new Lotus's windscreen is not being drawn at all.

It will probably be quit different as AC and AMS2 have different interpretation on how simulating cars...

Yep, hence my interest. I haven't done much driving as yet, but right now I prefer the ones in AC to be honest. But I'll give it more time before passing final judgement.

Edit: Updated bug list.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Are you in VR?

Yes vr, and yes disappointing, but hopefully coming soon, the VR looks very good inside that JCW mini, except for one little detail, the hand of the driver does not reach the shifter, I find it disappointing, because the animations in PCars and PCars2 are all accurate, also looking at the shifter, it looks more sequential than a H-Gate, difficult to see how to shift because the animation is of. In Pcars, you can easily see how to shift, even dog leg is accurate. Must be something very hard to do in SMS engine because AMS2 is 90% off in that aspect. The UI in game says h-gate 5 speed, but there also ams2 has a lot of the ui info about many cars wrong for some odd reason.
Animations issues and bad driver placement is not going to prevent me from enjoying AMS2, but I would really like it to be fixed, since I know the engine can do it and in VR it helps with immersion.

AI performance with the Mini Challenge is way off

This might be track dependent, because I just raced them in Kyalami and did not notice any speed difference in straights with the AI. I actually had a good time, I like the way that mini drives

edit , definitely sequential

 

[UMC 22]

This might be track dependent, because I just raced them in Kyalami and did not notice any speed difference in straights with the AI.

Could be, though I've found it happening on all three tracks I've run so far. Also reported on the Reiza forums by someone else, though they didn't specify the track.

 

[Emery]

Lotus 23 is floating above the pavement a tiny bit. Only 1 skin.

Yeah, I can see why Reiza delayed and yet also sent out the update. I trust there will be an update soonish.

 

[David Peres]

Drove two 30 min races with the Group A and the M1 Procar respectively, and was very impressed. The Group A cars require some finesse with the throttle, you can't just floor it on corner exit, but it's very manageable and very fun once you learn it. They just feel so lively and natural. The AI was also very good during the 30 min race. The new head movement option also solved my issues with the very bumpy camera we had before (at least on the cars I tried).

Came away from the game with a huge smile on my face... and then I go to the internet and see people complaining about so many things I didn't even notice, tried to watch Gamermuscle's stream about the update and just couldn't, it was almost painful. And then people in his stream comments criticizing the physics without having even played it, but just going by the things that were being said in the stream together with the utterly terrible driving...

I won't pretend that AMS 2 is perfect, but at this point I think the way the sim racing community is judging this game is absolutely unfair when considering just how good the physics and FFB have become for most cars and just generally how vastly it has improved over the 1.0 release. Some people just have made up their minds that there must be something wrong with the physics, because of the engine being used, and that clouds their judgment and how they approach the driving in the game.

Again, not saying everything is perfect, but I just find it frustrating seeing so much unfair and sometimes senseless judgement (like in the previously mentioned stream) being thrown at AMS 2 considering where it is now and how much work Reiza is doing to correct stuff. It seems like Reiza is fighting a loosing battle against people's ignorance of what a "physics engine" even means.

Anyway, sorry for the rant

 

[UMC 22]

Again, not saying everything is perfect, but I just find it frustrating seeing so much unfair and sometimes senseless judgement (like in the previously mentioned stream) being thrown at AMS 2 considering where it is now and how much work Reiza is doing to correct stuff. It seems like Reiza is fighting a loosing battle against people's ignorance of what a "physics engine" even means.

To be fair, you're talking about the vocal minority so I don't think it's quite as bad as all that. I mean, people are always quicker to complain than they are to compliment. There are probably proportionately far more happy and content drivers than there are discontent ones, but they have no reason to jump online and rave about it.

I also think that YouTube videos and their comments sections are a universally poor places to find useful, measured, and well reasoned criticism on... well, pretty much anything at all really.

Thing is, there's a fine line between deserved criticism and groundless ranting. I have no issues with complaints as long as they're justified and maturely articulated. But yeah, I have little time for the groundless whining of people automatically disposed to hating the sim without having even tried it, simply because it uses the same engine as another sim with a particularly poor reputation.

 

[David Peres]

To be fair, you're talking about the vocal minority so I don't think it's quite as bad as all that.

Maybe. The problem for me is that some of this vocal minority are some of the biggest names in the simracing youtube community, so their senseless criticism spreads like a virus trough those who aren't even able to form their own opinion and that ends up affecting the overall perception of the game, making people stay away from it.

I just find the overall" tone" that some have when talking about AMS 2 to be very unfair and simply based on unfounded misconceptions about the engine. I do hope that AMS 2 eventually proves itself and achieves sucess becouse Reiza deserves it, not just for how hardworking they are, but also, and more importantly, for the high standards of quality they have shown to be capable of in the past and, IMO, are now starting to slowly get there as well with AMS 2.

 

[UMC 22]

The problem for me is that some of this vocal minority are some of the biggest names in the simracing youtube community, so their senseless criticism spreads like a virus trough those who aren't even able to form their own opinion and that ends up affecting the overall perception of the game, making people stay away from it.

Perhaps I'm painting too many people with the same brush, but if people need to rely on YouTube videos to form their opinions then I'm not sure their opinions really matter. AMS 2 is on Steam so anyone can try it for two hours and decide for themselves. If people don't like it after that, fair enough. If they're not willing to even do that much... who cares? The more discerning among us will always do proper research before forming a view.

 

[TShrimp]

So disable ABS in the menus. What's the problem?

I thought someone said the Mini's weren't coming to AMS 2 so that's a nice surprise. Be interesting to see how they compare to the one I've been driving all week in prep for RD's Mini Challenge. Also interested to hear what people think of the new "head movement" and whether it solves the long-running issue of camera vibration.

Oh yeah, and the E30... I'll have some of that.

This leads me to a dumb question. With the update it seems like I am locking up a little more on my braking. I assume it is just me. However, it leads to a question. Is "Steering Assists" and "Braking Assists" separate from the "Driving Assists". I have Steering and Braking assists set to "No", and Driving Assists Allowed set to "Authentic" as I want the car to be as intended. Will this setup use the default setup for a car with TC/ABS without any changes from me? I notice in the advance setup for each car I do have the option to adjust TC/ABS no matter what the settings. So basically a little confused on how I make the car 100% authentic. Ex. Real car has ABS I have it, and real car doesn't then I don't have it.

 

[UMC 22]

If you set the driving assists to "authentic" then it should mean any car with that system in real life has it activated.

I haven't used them myself, but I think the steering and braking assists actively assist you in actually doing those things. So the braking assist helps you brake and slow the car down rather than just preventing lock-ups, and steering assist helps you steer the car and presumably counter-steers automatically if necessary.