rFactor 2 | New RC Build And Circuit d'Azur AI Update Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 yesterday released a new version of their Circuit d'Azur track, plus a substantial 'Release Candidate' build update of the core rFactor 2 simulation.

• Circuit d'Azur track AI and tweak updates.
• Release Candidate build adds new auto exposure.
• Further track updates to follow.

In terms of content first, the Circuit d'Azur has been available in the simulation for the last 12 months, however many players have been left dissatisfied with the way the AI behaves in racing conditions on certain combinations of cars. With poor AI behaviour contributing to more than a fair share of AI related accidents, it has been a shame to see Studio 397 take such a long period of time between release and this new track update, however now that it is here, players should hopefully be able to enjoy a much more robust offline experience with the track.

In other rFactor 2 news today, the studio have also released a sizeable build update to the Release Candidate version of the simulation, updating the already available RC build with a sizeable collection of fixes, tweaks, improvements and changes. It is worth noting that the RC build can be selected manually by users in the Steam - rFactor 2 - Properties page, however this new build has not yet been filtered into the main public version of the simulation.

Latest Release CandidateSteam Build IDs
Client 6133456
Dedicated 6426499 Changelog

• General- Added SteamID of each client to race results logs generated by a Dedicated Server
• Fix issue with Attack Mode overlay information not correctly resetting.
• Stopped AI playing wipers when in Garage
• Added automatic headlight and wiper settings for player.
• These show as an extra step in the key toggles (Headlights: Off / Auto / On) or (Wipers: Off / Auto / Slow / Fast)
• Skip Auto option when the setting is disabled
• Added a message about windscreen wiper state to the message centre. Don't show a message if the vehicle does not have wipers.
• Auto Headlights and Windscreen Wipers are forced on if no key is assigned"
• Fixed issue where automatic gears would require a false top gear to correctly downshift for some vehicles
• Report steam branch and build number on startupHUD- Fixed spacing for weather info in HUDGraphics- Renamed Anti-Aliasing options to show the amount of MSAA applied.
• Adjust Sunflare strength so that they work with different field of views
• Added a blend out at screen edge to smooth transition of Sunflare going off screen.
• Fixed an issue where a texture sampler would not set correctly
• Fixed an issue that DigitalFlags would behave as Marshals online
• Reworked Auto Exposure to reduce the calculated exposure "bouncing" around in different conditions
• Enabled Auto Exposure in Cockpit Cameras
• Fixed Water not rendering on TV Screens
• Removed GPU V-Sync option from Graphics Configuration settings
• Updated Environment Reflection Settings
• Low/Medium/High/Ultra settings which increase refresh rate and resolution.
• Ambient light probes now allow for more advanced blending options
• Fixed stuttering on Replay Monitor screen.UI- Added sector and lap timing to full screen replay bar.
• Updated the styling and alignment of the full screen replay bar.
• Fixed UI stopping updating when clicking repeatedly on the track map in the event screen.
• Corrected the display of FXAA to On/Off
• Fixed the units to seconds for displaying Transparent Trainer Lead Timer
• Fixed the display units for Low Speed Information to show a percentage
• Fixed race countdown not always showing for a multiplayer race.
• Fixed showing the maximum time for a single player race before the race start.
• Improved formatting of time durations.
• Fixed issue where RealRoad setting was carried over from previous track selection in session setup screen
• Fixed an issue where some tracks would not show in game due to having packed SCN files which were not valid track layouts
• Added Auto Blip, Auto Lift, Hold Brakes, Hold Clutch, Repeat Shifts, Start Engine, Auto Wipers and Auto Headlight settings to difficulty screenModding- Fixed some minor issues with sample ModDev content
• Added pop up (mod dev & scene viewer only) / logging to paths where the RRBIN file fails to load
• Force an update after loading RRBIN in scene viewer or moddev so that it shows correctly straight away.
• Updated default RRBIN filename scene viewer / moddev tweakbar rollout
• Setup a stable and beta version of Max Plugins 2021. Stable is the last fully tested internally. Beta is built to the absolute latest code.

rFactor 2 Circuit d'Azur V1.15 Update Notes:

• Revised Cut Corridors
• Slightly safer AI lines between St Devote & Casino
• Improved Armco Barrier Collision Meshes
• Fixed lack of collisions on Media Centre in pit lane
• Fixed collisions in T1 run-off
• Regenerated real road profiles
• Fixed Starter Worker Safety Car Animation
• Fixed Some Illegal NoRainZones
• Fixed Wet Road in Tunnel
• Fixed some material errors
• Fixed issues with marshals/yellow flags online
• Updated Crowds
• Removed Driveable tag from unnecessary objects
• Slightly reduced rearview distance
• Improved AI Fast Path

Original Source: Studio 397.

rFactor 2 is available now, exclusive to PC.

For the latest news, or to find out answers to your most ponded questions, head over to the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment, start up a thread and get involved with the community today!

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Tried with many combinations of cars now, absoloutely brilliant!

 

[TheRealCeeBee]

Yup, a BIG improvement in a lot of areas for me now, breathed a bit of life into RF2 for me.

 

[Squared Circle]

Hopefully that's the missing function that has been in a 2003 game called Need For Speed Underground but not in rFactor 2 in 2021.
The unchangable 5Hz reflections rendering frequency/refresh rate of rF2 was the reason I kept that game lowest on the list
Also don't know how much longer we'll have to wait if I did not mention this to the developers...

Absolutely correct. Those reflections. The worst thing software could do is a low update rate for reflection maps. What do I care about all the other aspects of a sim like physics, FFB, day/night/random weather? I could not care less.
Thanks for mentioning it to the developers who didn't know about this biggest problem in the world. You made it an a bit better place to be.

 

[Jach]

• Updated Environment Reflection Settings
• Low/Medium/High/Ultra settings which increase refresh rate and resolution.

Hopefully that's the missing function that has been in a 2003 game called Need For Speed Underground but not in rFactor 2 in 2021.
The unchangable 5Hz reflections rendering frequency/refresh rate of rF2 was the reason I kept that game lowest on the list
Also don't know how much longer we'll have to wait if I did not mention this to the developers...

Well, it's not "Low Medium High Ultra" but still "Off Low High", while the High setting is still extremely terrible. The only "update" is that, I can now change the settings right in the menu, while in the past I looked for the config file called player.json in rFactor 2\UserData\player\ and change the setting in line 373:

 "Environment Reflections":2,
 "Environment Reflections#":"Off\/Low\/HIgh = live cubic mapping is used (if track and car are setup properly)",

Maybe I was wrong, I can't remember if you could change this setting in the menu before as I always looked for that in the config file, while in game menu everything was already maxed out. If I was wrong it just means nothing at all has been updated. So basically it's not updated at least in my game for now.

 

[thepharcyde]

View attachment 458618
Well, it's not "Low Medium High Ultra" but still "Off Low High", while the High setting is still extremely terrible. The only "update" is that, I can now change the settings right in the menu, while in the past I looked for the config file called player.json in rFactor 2\UserData\player\ and change the setting in line 373:

 "Environment Reflections":2,
"Environment Reflections#":"Off\/Low\/HIgh = live cubic mapping is used (if track and car are setup properly)",

Maybe I was wrong, I can't remember if you could change this setting in the menu before as I always looked for that in the config file, while in game menu everything was already maxed out. If I was wrong it just means nothing at all has been updated. So basically it's not updated at least in my game for now.

Environment reflections have been there for as long as I recall, defo featured on the old UI

 

[Wreckoning]

This seems odd, mine have gone from what looks like Lego bricks slowly updating to proper reflections on high. Just checking you are definitely eon the latest release candidate?

 

[tr1v1um]

View attachment 458618
Well, it's not "Low Medium High Ultra" but still "Off Low High", while the High setting is still extremely terrible. The only "update" is that, I can now change the settings right in the menu, while in the past I looked for the config file called player.json in rFactor 2\UserData\player\ and change the setting in line 373:

 "Environment Reflections":2,
"Environment Reflections#":"Off\/Low\/HIgh = live cubic mapping is used (if track and car are setup properly)",

Maybe I was wrong, I can't remember if you could change this setting in the menu before as I always looked for that in the config file, while in game menu everything was already maxed out. If I was wrong it just means nothing at all has been updated. So basically it's not updated at least in my game for now.

Make sure that you are on the latest RC. You should be able to set environmental reflections to ultra. Also check if you have the new options in the difficulty settings.

 

[sbabb]

View attachment 458618
Well, it's not "Low Medium High Ultra" but still "Off Low High", while the High setting is still extremely terrible. The only "update" is that, I can now change the settings right in the menu, while in the past I looked for the config file called player.json in rFactor 2\UserData\player\ and change the setting in line 373:

 "Environment Reflections":2,
"Environment Reflections#":"Off\/Low\/HIgh = live cubic mapping is used (if track and car are setup properly)",

Maybe I was wrong, I can't remember if you could change this setting in the menu before as I always looked for that in the config file, while in game menu everything was already maxed out. If I was wrong it just means nothing at all has been updated. So basically it's not updated at least in my game for now.

you have to use the latest RC build, see:

 

[tr1v1um]

Reminds me of how they mentioned some months back how they're "experimenting with a technology called screen space reflections"

Are these the results, BTW, or are the reflections still the old ones?

But I mean it's nice that rF2 is entering the 2010's with some of the settings apparently now being revamped. I'm looking forward to the day when rF2 will finally just follow whatever vsync and AA options you have set for your GPU instead of using its own implementations. I guess removing the GPU vsync is a step in that direction.

I don't think that there is new technology for reflections yet. That said, AA settings have allways been pretty good on my end so I don't know why people would feel the need to allways inject their custom settings wich caused issues in the past. And if you still want to do that nobody is stopping you to overwrite the application settings in the driver.

 

[thepharcyde]

I don't think that there is new technology for reflections yet. That said, AA settings have allways been pretty good on my end so I don't know why people would feel the need to allways inject their custom settings wich caused issues in the past. And if you still want to do that nobody is stopping you to overwrite the application settings in the driver.

Yeah, AA in this game is the best of all sim's IMO.

 

[wanderpoole]

Since this last update, RF2 will not load. I have run integrity check which has said its fine. Any clues to how I can get it running again?

roll back to the previous stable

 

[Case_]

Edit: Nevermind.

 

[Mark Lawton]

These fixes look good, I think I'll download RF2 again and have a go, it's been awhile. Good news though

 

[Wreckoning]

These fixes look good, I think I'll download RF2 again and have a go, it's been awhile. Good news though

Remember for some of this stuff you’’ll need to go for the latest Release Candidate build.

 

[johnnyZ.]

Even though nearly everything works rather good, or acceptable, I have one serious problem. My cockpit view doesn`t show anything like a windscreen in rf2. And that affects all cars. Is it only me, or do I need a special setting to make the windscreens visible ? And I don`t mean in the rain.

 

[Wreckoning]

Even though nearly everything works rather good, or acceptable, I have one serious problem. My cockpit view doesn`t show anything like a windscreen in rf2. And that affects all cars. Is it only me, or do I need a special setting to make the windscreens visible ? And I don`t mean in the rain.

I don’t think they have a windscreen setting, but even with everything graphically maxed out its not the most impressive glass effect. If you look carefully you can usually see a few smudges on the screen even at the start of the race.

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Been having a blast with this track since the update! Held off on buying it due to A.I. probs but bought it as soon as the update dropped and I have not been dissapointed, made my day infact! Seems to work very well with all the combo's I've tried and the Bentley GT3 as surprisingly a great drive there, absoloutely loving it!