Performance issues? Read more here

[Brian Clancy]

Okay, its pretty general knowledge that rF2 is heavy on resources, with even killer PC's having some pretty low FPS. I wanted to add a few details and put together a little info on the whys and what if's

Firstly, rF2 does NOT need or use the +Fullproc command anymore as rF1 did, it currently makes use of 2 cores. However, this is an issue for many people who run multicore (3-4-6 or more cores). Many people think that really good frame rates are almost totally down to the GPU (gfx card) but in reality, the CPU does handle a massive amount of the data/work for the GPU so the current limitation of 2 cores will and does effect some PC's performance The good news is that ISI may well increase this number later

Next up is GPU Drivers, this is something else that can have a dramatic impact on the performance of your PC. ATI/Radeon cards have proven to show big increases in FPS in rF2 by using the newest Preview Drivers (you can find the article Here http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/rf2-fixes-and-adjustments-list.45695/) and you can be sure that newer drivers later will further improve performance on most cards.

The next thing to consider is that this is very much a BETA, the code has yet to be optimised for performance and little tweeks that can add to FPS rates have not been made yet. I did some testing today on my rig:

Intel Q8200 quad core 2.33Mhz O/Clocked to 3.5+ Mhz
Asus P5QB Deluxe MoBo
XFX HD6970 (Overclocked) running 3 screens in Eyefinity ( 3840 x 1024)
8Gig Corsair Dominator Ram

Now, this rig, running rF2 with all setting at Max/Full with 16xAA (No HDR) at Mills with the Megane averaged around 120 FPS. Very playable and really quite nice looking, but well below par compared to other games. Once I had finished my tests, it was apparent the GPU peaked at a VERY LOW 62% occupancy, leaving almost 40% of the cards capability unused. This will improve as the software is improved, but added to the 50% of cores unused, its not too hard to see that we can expect some very good increases in performance in the future before the gold edition.

I hope this helps to make users a bit more aware of the reasons for the current FPS issues..... At the end of the day, this is a BETA test and its really too easy to forget that with all the excitement

We will continue to add new fixes/updates and improved settings etc as we get them in the 'Fixes and adjustments list' sticky thread here: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/rf2-fixes-and-adjustments-list.45695/

 

[David O Gorman]

Right now I have the following issue with my Laptop before testing on my game pc (...yeah...just making a test just in case if in the future my game pc says bye bye )

current specs:
Asus K53SV-B1 (Windows 7 HP 64bit)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2630QM @ 2.00GHz
RAM: 6GB DDR3
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 3000 (igp) (64mb) & Nvidia Geforce GT540M (1GB)

Now this is my issue with the laptop. While I have made changes in the sim configuration setup and in the nividia control panel to run with the nvidia graphics, the game still picks the Intel graphics as the main graphics driver. This creates the issue that i get really low fps (4fps minimum on Portugal) on track. I am pretty sure running it with the nvidia graphics card instead of the Intel's igp, I will get at least 10 to 20 fps extra.
The question is, how do I get rfactor 2 to see and use gt540m.

Chances are that rfactor wont see it but as log as you select rfactor in the nvidia control panel it shouldn't matter

Go to the nvidia control panel -> program settings -> add button -> browse to exe of rfactor and select it
In section 2 just below that you have the option to use nvidia or intel -> select nvidia and then click apply at the bottom of the window.
you will know that rfactor is using the nvida card just be listening to the fan output as it will ramp up far higher than the one used to keep the intel one cool.
Possibly future drivers will enable rfactor to see the nvidia card

 

[Christopher Aponte]

yep I finally got it to work

I just had to reinstall Intel drivers and the latest NVidia drivers.
Then in control panel first set the Preferred graphics processor in Global setting to High-performance Nvidia processor. Then set for launch rfactor.exe in Program setting the preferred graphics processor also to High-performance Nvidia processor (and the rest of the graphics setup)
If i only do the changes in the Program setting tab as you described David, then the game still won't see the Nvidia graphics.

Now finally on pit straight a steady 50fps on my laptop instead of 5fps......lazy racing here I come
thanks to all who helped out

 

[Ramon van Rijn]

Ramon problem will be fixed soon Also, I wonder if anyone even tried to run it on Win8? It is a nice OS.

You found something about a fix Eric? With Brian's reply (and PM: thanks!) I will try to disable crossfire tonight. Hopefully it will give better results.

I tested some things last night. With my config tool for rFactor2 I have the option to set 0 to 8 anti-alias. Initially I tried 2 and 4 which gave me only about 40-50 fps on 1650x1050 res. Last night I tried level 8 and guess what, it ran above 60 on most parts of Belgium with 50 on a few parts.

It is getting very strange here. I will feedback when I disabled and tested with a single card only.

 

[James Skinner]

You found something about a fix Eric? With Brian's reply (and PM: thanks!) I will try to disable crossfire tonight. Hopefully it will give better results.

I tested some things last night. With my config tool for rFactor2 I have the option to set 0 to 8 anti-alias. Initially I tried 2 and 4 which gave me only about 40-50 fps on 1650x1050 res. Last night I tried level 8 and guess what, it ran above 60 on most parts of Belgium with 50 on a few parts..

That's strange - I only get the option of levels 0 - 3 in the Configure Sim box, is this right, or am I looking in the wrong place? I'm on a single Radeon HD5870.... Heard other people getting better fps with higher AA settings....

 

[stefano.schivari]

i have an ati 6850 i dont had many fps problems 60 fps alone with everything on full,but i still have stuttering

the 12.1 drivers help a little i guess a 10-5%,but i have to change some settings into ccc?

 

[Ramon van Rijn]

Just tried with crossfire disabled. About the same performance. I hope ISI will add crossfire support/profile later. And finetune on the newer graphic cards.

 

[Ivo Simons]

For the moment i am not doing anything. FPS is decent only need to avoid Mills.
Tried some suggestions but none worked yet. Just gonna wait for new releases of the beta as that will probably fix the most.

 

[Rob Every]

I tried Mills earlier. I have most of the detail on medium, I get no stuttering. Started off at 100, then dropped to about 60 in a few places where there are tress and stands and cones etc, but elsewhere was around 80.

but this was on my own with medium detail and effects off etc

 

[Philip Antonia]

I'm getting reasonable framerates for my lowly 4870 512mb and I've not had any stuttering as such, but once or twice a lap I get a brief pause. I used to get this type of thing when doing a first lap in rF1 when I had only a couple of gigs of ram whilst it loaded up the track. But it does it every lap with rF2 and I have 8 gigs, so I'm not sure whether it's down to only having 512mb video ram!!

 

[Ivo Simons]

One thing that gave me a huge FPS boost it when you shutdown the mirrors. My FPS went from 100 to 130.
But its not really handy for in a race..
I also set my shadows on low wich gave me extra 20 also.

 

[Terry Rock]

One thing that gave me a huge FPS boost it when you shutdown the mirrors. My FPS went from 100 to 130.
But its not really handy for in a race..
I also set my shadows on low wich gave me extra 20 also.

The mirrors seem useless anyway at this point in the 60s racer. I sat in the pits trying to adjust mine a few days back and they would not adjust down to the point where I could see behind the car. They were pointing too high...even at the lowest adjustment.

 

[Apex1972]

I don't know what the problem is on your system, but it should be running better than that. I have a Core2Duo, 2GB or RAM and a 4870, and I can run rF2 smoothly with everything set to 'high'. Perhaps check your card settings in CCC, try with Catalyst AI enabled/disabled, turn off AA and AF if they're on, and make sure you're using the latest preview drivers detailed in Brian's OP.

what cpu do you have, and is it overclocked?