Where to get good graphics mods?

[Matthew Hardwick]

I have just got into this game. Installed the RSRBR2012 mod, the car and track packs, and the three updates.

Game is awesome. But I don't like the PS2-era graphics.

So where are all the texture/graphics mods? Can I install them safely on top of the RSRBR mod?
I know there's that ENB series mod but I've never seen that enhance graphics very well, just looks like an ugly bolt-on bloom effect that doesn't fit right. Maybe there's some good settings for it.
More interested in texture mods for the tracks though.

My word this game makes Dirt 3 feel like those arcade racers I tried on my phone

 

[Thomas Grzmil]

I am glad that you can appreciate the RBR realism but I ask myself:

"Is he so slow that he has time to look around while driving?" + if you set 1920x1080 car looks amazing if you drive with a "behind car cam"

I drive from cockpit only but I used to play a lot in past with "behind car cam". Cars looks gorgeous and the sourandings well... why would you need that in better gfx lol I just don't understand it.... maybe because I am an oldshool gamer and for me the gameplay is everything.

Anyways you can try looking here, there are few HDR mods but I never tried any of them

http://forum.rallyesim.fr/viewforum.php?f=506

 

[Matthew Hardwick]

Because after playing newer games with awesome graphics, you feel like you are in a world made of painted cardboard when you come to something like RBR
Looking at the screenshots for those mods I don't see much of an improvement to be honest, still looks low-res. Guess I'll just have to deal with it.

The worst is when the windscreen gets cracked, the texture is so thick and blurred that it makes it hard to see and focus on the track.
I guess I'll just install a mod that removes it although that feels a bit cheap.

The car cockpits especially look... well... horrible. Would rather use hood view but the VW Polo concept and Porsche 911 are the only cars I found that seems to have it, the others have this weird centred inside camera that is sometimes all the way at the back seat.
I don't like using behind-car cameras in sims any more. I used to but now I prefer cockpit, or hood view when the cockpit is too obstructive.

 

[Senad Subasic]

No clue about texture mods. All I use is the HDR thing you mentioned. I like it. Most of the time.

Cockpits are horrible indeed. I use bumper cam, and am trying to get used to dashboard/hood view.

As far as driving views are concerned, you should use CamHack (included with RSRBR). You can move the camera wherever you want (e.g. in front of the broken windscreen), and save that driving view.
Check this thread (included in the FAQ here): http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/using-camhack-for-better-driving-views.11671/

 

[Matthew Hardwick]

But with Camhack wont I have to fiddle with it every time I switch to a new car?
I'll give it a try. Bonnet view seems to make sense for this game.

It's annoying how all the cars have different cameras, clearly they were all done by different people who didn't care about sticking to some kind of standard. The centred dash cams especially tend to be awful, don't get why they didn't make hood view instead.

Also do RWD car physics not make sense in this game? Tried the Porsche 911, holy crap that was bad even on a tarmac stage, had to make massive changes to brake bias and rollbar to get it remotely stable, it's like the guy who made it never drove it.

The WRC 2012 cars are great fun to drive though, love the Polo concept - it causes the game to crash on the Canyon (World) stage though.

 

[Senad Subasic]

But with Camhack wont I have to fiddle with it every time I switch to a new car?

Yes.

I have one preset for my Mini in the Rally Championship here, and use other buttons for random cars, when I feel like changing the view.

Also do RWD car physics not make sense in this game? Tried the Porsche 911, holy crap that was bad even on a tarmac stage, had to make massive changes to brake bias and rollbar to get it remotely stable, it's like the guy who made it never drove it.

RBR doesn't do RWD. RWD cars are actually FWD cars turned backwards, with 5-6 reverse gears.
Escort Mk 2 and Volvo 242LE are nonetheless one of my favourite cars in RBR.

Keep in mind that any setup you do to the front of a RWD car, is actually the back of the car, and vice-versa.

 

[Matthew Hardwick]

RBR doesn't do RWD. RWD cars are actually FWD cars turned backwards, with 5-6 reverse gears.

Keep in mind that any setup you do to the front of a RWD car, is actually the back of the car, and vice-versa.

Ah that explains why my roll-bar settings couldn't get it stable. So I should make the rear stiffer and the front softer then?
The brake bias setting worked the right way around though. Decreased rear pressure and it became stable under braking.
And how come my shifter paddles aren't backwards if they are reverse gears? Must be some clever workarounds there.

I suppose they will have funny handling regardless so it's best to avoid the RWD cars then?

 

[Senad Subasic]

I suppose they will have funny handling regardless so it's best to avoid the RWD cars then?

Edited my post above a few minutes ago, and added a sentence that covers this

Escort Mk 2 and Volvo 242LE are nonetheless one of my favourite cars in RBR.

 

[Kazumi]

RBR doesn't do RWD. RWD cars are actually FWD cars turned backwards, with 5-6 reverse gears.
Escort Mk 2 and Volvo 242LE are nonetheless one of my favourite cars in RBR.

Keep in mind that any setup you do to the front of a RWD car, is actually the back of the car, and vice-versa.

Not entirely, just anything related to wheel alignment. Including the e-brake which is just deactivated because of that in most RWD mods (can't remember if the swaybars are included as well). Other then that I don't see any reasons not to drive them either

 

[Warren Dawes]

I suppose they will have funny handling regardless so it's best to avoid the RWD cars then?

Once you get used to the RWD cars and how to set them up, they are great fun in RBR. Sure, RBR wasn't originally designed for RWD, but the modders have done a pretty good job "upgrading" the Sim.

Since you have only just started with RBR and RSRBR, I'd recommend that you spend some quality time with it before trying to rebuild it or criticise it too much. The physics of RBR is soooooo much better than the "arcade" alternatives (including the newer ones), if you value driving physics and better realism, you'll quickly appreciate how good RBR is compared to it's "modern" rivals. RBR will grow on you if you value good driving physics.

 

[Matthew Hardwick]

Oh don't get me wrong I do certainly 'get' the physics. I'm not new to race sims but am to rally sims (mainly due to the lack of them).
I just found the handling of the Porsche seemed so bad it made me wonder if it's worthwhile to drive it, the real one can't be this bad or it would never sell. I could get it drivable with the setup but it still lost complete control too suddenly.

The other cars have been a joy, bloody hard but damn fun and the handling made perfect sense. I have mostly stuck with 4WD though.
I've known about the game for a long time but only decided to get it now because I was craving a rally game and Dirt 3 doesn't cut it.
First difference that stands out is braking. I can't just slam the break right before the corner any more
The physics in this game really opened my eyes to how wrong Dirt 3 is actually, I knew it was easier but I thought it was somewhat close, but it turns out it's completely wrong.

I'll give the Escort Mk 2 and Volvo 242LE a try some time. I'm loving this game, might join some of the online events if I have the time (already put in an application on this site).

 

[Warren Dawes]

I just found the handling of the Porsche seemed so bad it made me wonder if it's worthwhile to drive it, the real one can't be this bad or it would never sell. I could get it drivable with the setup but it still lost complete control too suddenly.

I'll give the Escort Mk 2 and Volvo 242LE a try some time.

Yep, best to try a few others. Try the BMW E36 (and the Escorts and Volvo), it's quite good.
I do agree, the Porsche isn't very good, I dislike that one intensely and avoid it.

There are few cars in RSRBR that aren't up to scratch, but most are excellent. The in-car views and dashboards vary a lot too.
Try the Subaru Impreza 95 in the A8_2 Car Pack, that one should get you "interested".

EDIT: Tarmac doesn't quite feel as realistic in RBR as it could either, the original game excels on Gravel, Snow, and even Monte Carlo. I have never quite fallen in love with the tarmac physics, compared to other track racing sims such as GTL, rF, Race 07.

 

[Harry Platt]

EDIT: Tarmac doesn't quite feel as realistic in RBR as it could either, the original game excels on Gravel, Snow, and even Monte Carlo. I have never quite fallen in love with the tarmac physics, compared to other track racing sims such as GTL, rF, Race 07.

It would be interesting to see, if someone could convert a racetrack from rFactor or such into RBR (is it possible?), how the tarmac physics compare with the track racing sims.

 

[Matthew Hardwick]

The tarmac physics feel ok in the AWD cars to me. Just lacks the subtle scrubbing/progressive grip loss I think.
You can hear the skid sounds just flicking on and off. Sounds pretty odd.
Couldn't see anything really wrong with it though. Could get a bit of a slide around the hairpins by using the throttle much like I've seen real rally cars do.

 

[Kazumi]

The sound is a bit odd IMHO, if you change traction and other things you get the skidding-like sound while driving normally. In that case many modern sims use use a normal rolling "road noise" sound, so you actually got 3, 4 or even more different sounds. Probably a matter of tweaking.

From my experience some AWDs (even modern ones) can be a bit noisy when they adjust differentials and other systems, so they basically allow a few percent wheel slippage (makes sense on road cars w/o traction control) and then things adjust independently from that (speed, pedal position or g-force in real cars and/or other sims) . Of course is should still sound a bit smoother then on/off most times.

It would be interesting to see, if someone could convert a racetrack from rFactor or such into RBR (is it possible?), how the tarmac physics compare with the track racing sims.

- There are few tracks/stages available for both (mostly BTB tracks as that programs outputs RBR and rF ready files)

Honestly if you got both games, then focus on what you like most of them

- Of course that would also include some narrow tarmac stages to test in rFactor. On a track you can learn and adapt... on a stage you need to be confident and one with the car (well,... you can still learn the layout of of course)

 

[Sk3ptik0n]

Sorry to barge in. I am also fairly new to RBR and indeed the graphics are a bit of a let down. However, I'll drive RBR any day compared to the Dirt series where every car seems to drive the same regardless of make, model, weather and surface.
Snow? Dirt? gravel? Seems to me they figured that since you would have terrain appropriate tires they should all drive the same.

However, one of the problems I ahve in RBR is that the graphics are so washed out that they make it difficult for me to recognize the layout of the track as I am driving. Of course it would be great if RBR had graphics at the level of Dirt3 but that's just not going to happen. But having a bit more contrast shouldn't be too much to ask.

Aside from the graphics, my biggest complaint is that the RSRBR2012 mod is a bit confusing to navigate. For someone new to it I seem to lack good references as to what car and track I am loading. Is there some sort of lookup table I can refer to?

 

[Senad Subasic]

Apart from the HDR mod mentioned above, which is fully customizable, I am clueless.


What's bothering you with RSCenter? Select car pack and car, country and stage, maybe surface and weather, and drive away.

I think you'd like to know what cars are in what packs? No lookup table, as far as I'm aware. But good idea, maybe it would be good to create it for the FAQ here.
Anyway, you can check the rallyesim website pack by pack. They're mostly real life car classes anyway, so you can get the idea what's in them.

http://forum.rallyesim.fr/viewforum.php?f=361

 

[Sk3ptik0n]

I think the thing that bothers me most with RSCenter, as a newbie, is that I have absolutely no clu where I should start.

A lookup table for the cars would be wonderful. I know a lot of the cars, but not 30 years worth of makes and models.

As far as the rest, it will be a while before I can compete online. This is very different from circuit racing where while not being an alien I can at least not make a fool of myself. Here I would rather keep the embarrassing moments away from public servers until I become more proficient.

I guess what I am looking for is some sort of guidance such as an overall offline championship I can follow. There is that in RBR properbut I cannot find an equivalent pathway in RSCenter.

Next, I am unclear as to what the best way to run RSCenter is. There are several plugins and buttons that are a bit obscure.. Should I use the cam mod? What about the other? How do I launch RBR properly from RSCenter?

Obviously for those that evolved with RSCenter, the answers are silly simple, but for someone new not so much.

Nevertheless, it's still a lot of fun to drive and it's amazing how good the driving feels.

 

[Manuel De Samaniego]

A lookup table for the cars would be wonderful. I know a lot of the cars, but not 30 years worth of makes and models.

All the cars are here, you can download sepparate packs on that site too

http://forum.rallyesim.fr/viewtopic.php?f=371&t=2967

 

[Senad Subasic]

As far as the rest, it will be a while before I can compete online. This is very different from circuit racing where while not being an alien I can at least not make a fool of myself. Here I would rather keep the embarrassing moments away from public servers until I become more proficient.

I don't quite understand this bit. It's exactly the opposite? Nobody can see your driving, just what times you do.

I guess what I am looking for is some sort of guidance such as an overall offline championship I can follow. There is that in RBR properbut I cannot find an equivalent pathway in RSCenter.

Because there is none. RSRBR is basically just a bunch of cars and tracks and a way to play RBR online. It's not a game on its own.

Next, I am unclear as to what the best way to run RSCenter is. There are several plugins and buttons that are a bit obscure.. Should I use the cam mod? What about the other? How do I launch RBR properly from RSCenter?

Maybe this will help a bit, scroll down for basic usage: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/rsrbr2012-installing-and-using-guidelines.12743/

Start RSCenter. Select either Play alone (single player, offline), or Public Sessions (multiplayer, online).
I assume you want Play alone.
Select any details you want (carpack, surface mod, car, country, stage, ...).
Clicking the GO or Launch RSRBR button will start RBR with your selected combination, and when you finish the stage, it will exit RBR and bring you back to RSCenter.
Clicking on Launch RBR SSE or Launch RBRdll launches the whole game, just with your selected cars and whatever.

When practicing for rallies, I launch the game with the GO button, and drive stage by stage.
When playing offline (never), I launch the game with Launch RBRdll.