Before updating to 342, i thought i would do both a single lap fps benchmark of a recorded lap at Sebring and to also record a little footage for a before and after graphics comparison. Left-Side Build 300 / Right-Side Build 342 I notice the difference in overall brightness which i much preferred in build 300. I can't really notice any graphical difference (if there should be any noticeable change) and i was using the same graphical settings in both. fps benchmark between builds (ran 3 times to confirm consistency of the results) of the same recorded lap of Sebring (approximately 2.5 minutes) showed... Build 300: Min: 58 Max: 122 Average: 98.31 Build 342: Min: 55 Max: 123 Average: 94.099 Whilst it is a negligible difference to the experience, it is still an average 4% fps/performance drop. I hear some saying they are receiving a performance gain whilst some others vice versa. It got me thinking if perhaps the same graphical settings/options carried over from build 300 to 342 can yield difference performance changes (positive or negative) depending on which graphical settings were chosen to begin with. Here are my own settings for comparison
Lighting from Megane cockpit in build 300 looks better, but from Corvette or GTR cockpits it was overbright. Now, in 342 its kinda dimmed. I would prefer consistency of lighting of build 342, but with sunny weather looking more sunny, without overbrightness of build 300 from cockpits.
Did you do a complete wipe and fresh install into new folders, visual quality improvement is so noticable its like you see it straight or within the first few seconds of driving.
With my AMD graphics-card the image in Build 342 (fresh install) is much too dark. From the cockpit is almost nothing left to see. Annoying that no brightness-control in game.
No, i used the auto updater but should that make a difference? Also, can you specify what sort of visuals you noticed were improved and can you see them in the screenshot comparisons? Cheers
Here is the first comparison in full resolution. (i'll go back and update the ones in the first post to show up in 1080p aswell) Other than lighting, can you spot a difference? Build 300 Build 342
in the new build the geometry of cockpit is no longer calculated with HDR, as it was issue before, because of dark dashboard your windscreen view became overbright, so the issue was been solved by excluding cockpit from HDR, but i agree that it is pretty dark atm
This. The scenery now looks the same from cockpit view as from tv cam view, the brightness is consistent overall. This is much better than the old "fake" brightening we saw in cockpit. At least we don't have to fine tune HDR profiles for both cockpit and outside cam now.
In ideal world it shouldn't make a difference, but in PC gaming world it depends on many factors. So ideally do a clean install of game, and reset your graphics card driver profile for RF2. I did auto update, and my FPS has gone so bad that I couldn't get more than 35 fps even in low settings. After clean install and driver profile reset, I'm getting significantly better FPS and I can clearly see the difference in reflections on cars and smoke. So all I can say is, don't give up! You should be able to achieve graphics similar to what you can see in unedited screen shots thread while having better FPS.
What i'm wondering is why your settings are so low R1pper? or was that an old settings-screen? With your specs shouldn't everything be on max/full (by now)?
His settings are the same for both build, and the screenshot is from B300 as the new "Wait for all pluggin to load" choice don't appear bottom right. Interesting comparison screens, nice to see you were able to capture exactly same pictures with same cars at the same positions (the orange one cut between build), great work! We can see the differences on lightning and on cockpit. Hard to say for other scenery stuffs as the windshield of the car is not fully transparent so it change a lot what we see through...
I choose higher fps over best graphical quality and this was the compromise settings i came up with (though i did make them a few builds ago).
While working on the hdr profiles I figured out that ISI has added a default blackpoint setting (0.250) at daytime. This affects the overall brightness (and makes black even blacker, don't try this at night ) and needs additional auto exposure. So from my point of view most of my modified profiles are useless because I reduced auto exposure to get rid of the overbright cockpit view.
Well, you must admit that this solution is far better tho. And Tim keeps saying that a lot of community work will be discarded or damaged by rFactors progress.
Yep, it's better now and I have no problem to redo the hdr profiles. For that reason I have started to add the the build number into the profile name some time ago. Just need some time to get used to it.
The image quality has improved in fine detail it just looks alot more clear and sharp kind of the effect that Level of Detail has. Texture and colour have both change to a more natural environmental feel, also antialising has improve all round other than the distant horizan and where mainly white appears on a darker colour. I always wipe my old install and create a new install to a new folder that way I can be sure no old data is being reused such as old shaders etc