I really want to love this game... (new user experience)

[Big Linda]

Hi all,

First of all, apologies if this is a common thread with Rf2 but I am hoping that some of the quirks I experience with this game have solutions.

I got the game in the Christmas Steam sale and I feel the game has a troll mode that is just screwing with me. In the eight or so hours I've put into it, I've experienced:

Having to exit every other race because I have no ffb on my Thrustmaster T300. I've since found out about the ffb reset button but it's annoying to having to keep using it.

I bound keys to position my seat but many times the mirrors seem to move instead of the seat. I've checked the mirror button binds but they are empty.

Sometimes I can't press escape to leave a race. Nothing will work so I have to leave the game through task manager.

Night time is unusable because the track light have this dazzle effect that is off putting.

I tried to update an json file with new AI options (from a YouTuber) and it somehow deleted Rf2 and I had to reinstall the game.

Plus, it seems every other race something happens with bugs that make me think WTF.

Sorry if this seems a really negative post. I really want to like this because I do enjoy the feeling of racing. However, it is leaving me frustrated - probably why my post has this tone.

Have you had any of my problems above and found a solution? I tried looking myself which is how I found the FFB reset function.

Thanks.

 

[davehenrie]

Hi all,

First of all, apologies if this is a common thread with Rf2 but I am hoping that some of the quirks I experience with this game have solutions.

I got the game in the Christmas Steam sale and I feel the game has a troll mode that is just screwing with me. In the eight or so hours I've put into it, I've experienced:

Having to exit every other race because I have no ffb on my Thrustmaster T300. I've since found out about the ffb reset button but it's annoying to having to keep using it.

I bound keys to position my seat but many times the mirrors seem to move instead of the seat. I've checked the mirror button binds but they are empty.

Sometimes I can't press escape to leave a race. Nothing will work so I have to leave the game through task manager.

Night time is unusable because the track light have this dazzle effect that is off putting.

I tried to update an json file with new AI options (from a YouTuber) and it somehow deleted Rf2 and I had to reinstall the game.

Plus, it seems every other race something happens with bugs that make me think WTF.

Sorry if this seems a really negative post. I really want to like this because I do enjoy the feeling of racing. However, it is leaving me frustrated - probably why my post has this tone.

Have you had any of my problems above and found a solution? I tried looking myself which is how I found the FFB reset function.

Thanks.

First, Mirrors and seat share keys with the shift/alt/ctrl giving different commands to the seats and mirrors etc. Here is a guide that explains things:

https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/mirror-adjustment-guide-and-tips.60593/

Next: the inability to leave the track, do you have any logitech gear installed? wheel, mouse, keyboard? Several versions of the Logitech profiler have been conflicting with rF2 exiting a race. Search the S397 forums, there are several threads covering possible causes & fixes.
Night time is sparkly/dazzling? Dunno. Are you using a monitor or VR? Try running the graphic config tool and altering the Post Processing level. Have you driven at night, in the rain? It's s little shiny while driving, but replays and screenshots look amazing.
Altering the .json files 'shouldn't delete rF2, But then, THIS IS RF2! You will find that even when everything is to your liking, it will get funky from time to time. It always a good idea to backup .json files, just in case. Indeed, one common cure for rF2 not loading, is to backup and then delete your player.json file and then rebooting rF2 so it can build a new file.
Little things, yes. Can't do much there, they happen, and most are known issues. Another thing to consider is your hardware, the laser scanned DLC tracks consume large amounts of Vram. 6 to 8 gb with medium to high settings at the larger venues like Le Mans and Nurburgring.

rF2 has been going through a slow but extensive rewrite of much of it's code. Progress has been slow, especially as some areas like AI behavior have been set aside so the team can work on the UI and the online competition system. You will never have the completely clean experience many of the other sims provide, but if you get your force feeback adjusted and graphics set for decent fps, you will find the experience quite enjoyable. Feel free to pester us any time for other questions you may have.

 

[Durge Driven]

jJ

 

[Big Linda]

First, Mirrors and seat share keys with the shift/alt/ctrl giving different commands to the seats and mirrors etc. Here is a guide that explains things:

https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/mirror-adjustment-guide-and-tips.60593/

Next: the inability to leave the track, do you have any logitech gear installed? wheel, mouse, keyboard? Several versions of the Logitech profiler have been conflicting with rF2 exiting a race. Search the S397 forums, there are several threads covering possible causes & fixes.
Night time is sparkly/dazzling? Dunno. Are you using a monitor or VR? Try running the graphic config tool and altering the Post Processing level. Have you driven at night, in the rain? It's s little shiny while driving, but replays and screenshots look amazing.
Altering the .json files 'shouldn't delete rF2, But then, THIS IS RF2! You will find that even when everything is to your liking, it will get funky from time to time. It always a good idea to backup .json files, just in case. Indeed, one common cure for rF2 not loading, is to backup and then delete your player.json file and then rebooting rF2 so it can build a new file.
Little things, yes. Can't do much there, they happen, and most are known issues. Another thing to consider is your hardware, the laser scanned DLC tracks consume large amounts of Vram. 6 to 8 gb with medium to high settings at the larger venues like Le Mans and Nurburgring.

rF2 has been going through a slow but extensive rewrite of much of it's code. Progress has been slow, especially as some areas like AI behavior have been set aside so the team can work on the UI and the online competition system. You will never have the completely clean experience many of the other sims provide, but if you get your force feeback adjusted and graphics set for decent fps, you will find the experience quite enjoyable. Feel free to pester us any time for other questions you may have.

Thank you for the well thought out reply. There are a few things for me to try out there.

I have a i5 8400, 1080ti and 16gb ram running triple 1440p screens. I have been very impressed with how all the sims run on this setup.

I'll keep looking into Rf2 and see if I can iron out some of the kinks.

Cheers!

 

[jgf]

.....

rF2 has been going through a slow but extensive rewrite of much of it's code. Progress has been slow...

rf2 was released in 2012. It will be ten years old this year; most games by that age already have replacements. I am not impressed.

You will never have the completely clean experience many of the other sims provide, but if you get your force feeback adjusted and graphics set for decent fps, you will find the experience quite enjoyable. ...

A big "if" there. I've dumped many games over the years which never reached their potential due to constant tweaking and stroking just to get them working and keep them working. Eventually it's diminishing returns, you want to play not tweak.

 

[davehenrie]

rf2 was released in 2012. It will be ten years old this year; most games by that age already have replacements. I am not impressed.



A big "if" there. I've dumped many games over the years which never reached their potential due to constant tweaking and stroking just to get them working and keep them working. Eventually it's diminishing returns, you want to play not tweak.

rF2 was coded by a group known as ISI(Image Space Inc.) & it was based upon the bones of rF1/F1 2k-Championship/SCGT. About 5 years ago the sim was sold to S397, essentially a group of employees of ISI and some modders.
Their first steps were fairly straightforward and relatively quick. Changing the game over to DX11, adding further graphic updates to include shaders & then PBR & IBL & lately SSM shaders. All these 'enhancements' increased the drain upon the graphics subsytems, especially the fully updated cars(which there are only a few in reality)
The other big drain on performance is the physics core, which runs at some insane cpu clock speed, generally quite a-lot faster than most sims.
S397 has been on a multi-year project to improve the user interface, improve the multi-player experience while branching out into Esports, an area never contemplated by the original coders, and hopefully survive long enough to get back to other older issues like single player AI problems.
The update they are releasing is based on feedback(or perhaps that could be read as complaints) from the users. It is an admittance that their first attempt at the UI, which dealt with more than just the onscreen looks but how ISI tied so many parts of the sim together behind the interface was a failure.
Next week when the new interface is released, you will read dozens of complaints as users with specific grievances find many of those issues still exist. I am hopeful this restart of the ground floor of the sim allows them to march forward at a much quicker pace.
As far as the age of rF2, I'm still racing a product that, if it were an EA or Codemasters title, I would have had to buy almost a dozen yearly repackaging titles of essentially the same product year after year. There is always more that we want from rF2. But there are plenty of other titles for those whose patience has expired. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Denis Betty]

rf2 was released in 2012. It will be ten years old this year; most games by that age already have replacements. I am not impressed.



A big "if" there. I've dumped many games over the years which never reached their potential due to constant tweaking and stroking just to get them working and keep them working. Eventually it's diminishing returns, you want to play not tweak.

So.... you don't like rF2 then?

 

[jgf]

So.... you don't like rF2 then?

I never buy a game on initial release, not paying to be a beta tester. I wait and see what everyone else says about the game, what issues and solutions, what, if any, patches; then make a decision. On the release of rf2 consensus, at least on forums I frequented, was that it had great physics but otherwise was little improvement over the first, in fact many stated instead of "rf2" it should have been released as a physics patch for rf1. So I waited. Ten years later I'm still not moved to buy it. I neither like nor dislike it, I'm not impressed by a team of programmers who, in a decade, cannot finalize a project.

I'm reminded of "Euro Truck Sim 2", another game in perpetual beta; I tried it for a year, during which there were 9 (!) "latest release" versions, roughly every third release rendered half the existing mods incompatible, yet not one of them addressed a single issue of which players had been complaining in the forums for years. I came to the conclusion such products are job security for the developers - if they ever actually release a final product they must look for new work.

And consider the case of "Battlecruiser 3000", a game with much promise and much hype; the developer kept it in beta so long that by the time it was finally released every aspect of it was obsolete.

Ultimately, my opinion of rf2 development ... stop wasting time trying to bring a ten year old game to modern standards, take what you have learned and start fresh, on rf3 (though I'm not optimistic this wouldn't end up in perpetual beta).

 

[Denis Betty]

I never buy a game on initial release, not paying to be a beta tester. I wait and see what everyone else says about the game, what issues and solutions, what, if any, patches; then make a decision. On the release of rf2 consensus, at least on forums I frequented, was that it had great physics but otherwise was little improvement over the first, in fact many stated instead of "rf2" it should have been released as a physics patch for rf1. So I waited. Ten years later I'm still not moved to buy it. I neither like nor dislike it, I'm not impressed by a team of programmers who, in a decade, cannot finalize a project.

I'm reminded of "Euro Truck Sim 2", another game in perpetual beta; I tried it for a year, during which there were 9 (!) "latest release" versions, roughly every third release rendered half the existing mods incompatible, yet not one of them addressed a single issue of which players had been complaining in the forums for years. I came to the conclusion such products are job security for the developers - if they ever actually release a final product they must look for new work.

And consider the case of "Battlecruiser 3000", a game with much promise and much hype; the developer kept it in beta so long that by the time it was finally released every aspect of it was obsolete.

Ultimately, my opinion of rf2 development ... stop wasting time trying to bring a ten year old game to modern standards, take what you have learned and start fresh, on rf3 (though I'm not optimistic this wouldn't end up in perpetual beta).

Uhuh.

 

[Durge Driven]

Don't try to figure it out, it's the greatest anomaly in sim history

I just hope they all proud they contributed to ISI and possibly gmotor3.0 demise

Ordinary people with families to feed and mortgages to pay

 

[rand777]

I suspect it's because of the new UI as many have experienced issues with it. I reverted back to the old UI as mine kept crashing as well and my RF2 install has been rock solid ever since.

What looks to be a very promising update to the new UI is coming out later this month that will hopefully address the issues with the new UI, but in the meantime, me and my group are all using the old UI and dedicated servers with no issues.