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An attempt at a guide for sound settings to make the most of the new sound system, and alleviate issues caused by fewer volume sliders in the game (which may have been used previously to overcome issues caused by incorrect settings). I'll try to keep it updated with any changes and in accordance with responses/questions in the thread. Any feedback welcome if things aren't clear or I'm showing the hard way.
Credits and respect to Devin for useful links, info, clarifications (past and future, no doubt), and seemingly being a driving force behind the sound system upgrade.
There are 3 sections: Windows Settings, Game Settings, and Physical Settings. Note that the instructions in Windows Settings may not suit your system exactly, but hopefully by getting to the right areas you can find the equivalent settings.
Windows Settings
There are 3 main things to check in your windows settings:
Right-click the speaker icon in the system tray (near the clock):
and click on Sounds
That should get you to the Sound dialog as below
Those are all for the windows sounds, which we don't want to change here. Click on the Playback tab:
Your Default Device should be your standard output, select that and click the Configure button
This is where you select your speaker layout. It's important this matches your physical speakers, otherwise you might send stereo sound to your 5.1 layout and only get sounds from the front speakers; or, you might be sending 5.1 to your stereo speakers and simply lose the rear channels.
Note that often you can switch layouts in the first menu that appears when you right-click the speaker icon, and plugging in headphones will usually automatically switch to stereo/headphone mode - but if you need to check you can do it here.
From the Sound dialog, now click Properties (with your output device still selected) and go to the Advanced tab:
This is where you set the sample rate for the output device. As with many things it's easy to think bigger numbers are better (or to trick yourself into thinking things sound better with higher settings) but generally using the default option will give you best results and should be used unless you really know what you're doing. Very high sample rates will definitely cause performance issues in rF2. Click the Restore Defaults button if you're not sure what your default is.
A note on the other tabs available in the Properties window:
All or most of the options above are probably accessible via some software specific to your chipset or sound card, so you can check/change them there instead. My own onboard Realtek chip has its own speaker icon in the system tray, and that lets me bring up its Sound Manager that looks like this (but this is just an example; yours may vary):
Volume Mixer
Windows has a built-in Volume Mixer, accessible with that same right-click on the speaker icon. (Open volume mixer)
This lets you adjust the relative volume of all running apps. Note that rFactor 2 has to be running to be able to adjust its volume here. (you can run rF2 in windowed/borderless mode to help facilitate that, or while rF2 is running you can get to the Volume Mixer through Windows -> Settings -> Sound -> App volume and device preferences. (sorry, bit of a run-around, but it's there...)
The key goal here is that rFactor 2 is set to the full volume of your output device. You can see my device (Speakers) volume is at 50%, and my rFactor 2 is as well. That avoids Windows 'compressing' the rF2 sound (making quiet sounds louder) which will alter the levels in-game.
It may be easier/clearer if you set your windows volume to 100% while doing this (so windows 100%, rFactor 2 also 100%). Otherwise you can end up with all your apps at slightly different levels because of the way the sliders work.
With your speaker layout, sample rate, and volume mixer settings correct, you're ready to set rF2 up and have the sound function correctly.
A note on encoding/decoding: you may have a receiver or decoder you use when watching videos or listening to music that pulls channel information out of the source material and gives you surround sound. That won't work with games (unless they feature audio encoding - unlikely). Depending on your audio device you may have options to encode the audio so you can send through a cable (like optical) and get all the channels out at the other end, but that's going to be specific to your device and you should understand how to do that. If you don't know that you can encode channels correctly, expect your speakers to only play stereo unless you have discrete channel connections (like front and rear connectors) hooked up.
Also: many/most encoding solutions reduce audio quality in comparison to simple multi-channel line-out cables.
(my chipset has DTS support, but I'm using analog front/rear connectors, so I leave that off)
Game Settings
This part should be fairly straightforward. First tip: don't edit any .json files. There's no need. If you know better, or are advised to change a setting manually as part of troubleshooting, go ahead - but if you aren't sure, don't. Except in case of malfunction anything not in the UI doesn't do anything anyway.
Fire up rF2 and go straight to the Settings section, and select the SOUND page
We'll go left to right, and I'll ignore anything that was already in the game and hasn't changed function - or is just obvious.
Master Volume - this sets the overall rF2 volume. Remember how we went and set rF2 to full volume in the windows mixer, to avoid Windows' audio compression? This is where you can turn the sound down if you need other things (like voice chat, spotter) to come through a bit louder. It may be beneficial to keep this below 100% somewhat (let's guess <80%) to avoid clipping prevention.
Onboard Volume - how loud everything is when riding in the cockpit. This doesn't adjust only some sounds and not others, it's everything. Effectively it's really just a way to balance onboard sounds with offboard (trackside etc) effects. If you find sounds are too loud when trackside (or at the monitor/garage screens), turn this onboard up and then lower the overall volume (or your speakers). Do the reverse if trackside is too quiet compared to onboard for you. 20-45 is a normal working range here, as most content will be pretty unbalanced on lower or higher values.
Legacy Settings - these give you some control over specific types of sounds on cars that haven't been updated for the new audio engine. They do nothing for new/updated cars. No, you can't adjust opponent volume or engine volume for updated cars, here or in the .json files.
Number of effects - more is better, but keep an eye on performance. If your sound starts breaking up or game performance suffers, try reducing the number of effects and see if that helps. Setting the sample rate in the Windows Settings section will help reduce the load, but it's very hardware dependent (and bugs in this area could be, too).
Speaker configuration - important. Broadly, if you have speakers, set Speakers. If you have headphones, set Headphones. As a general rule, if your speakers move with your head (like VR sets) then treat them as headphones, otherwise they're speakers. Could always be exceptions of course. Auto might work well when switching devices, but consider setting one of the other options explicitly to make sure.
Note: Setting Speakers when using headphones will give reasonable results, too. This is a good alternative to Headphones if that gives poor performance or you can't find the right HRTF setting and it sounds 'wrong'.
Trackside mode - when looking from trackside cams, and especially when moving the camera around in freelook mode, Immersive will let you hear things correctly from your current position and orientation (facing a car? You'll hear it in front of you!). Broadcast will instead keep the default camera microphone location, which is often how things work when watching TV broadcasts. It gets pretty ugly if you move a camera a long way from its starting position though. Note that this setting does not affect onboard sound at all - turning your head/camera while in the car will always move the sounds to reflect the new orientation.
HRTF selection - this is only available when using headphones, and lets you choose which HRTF profile to use. Your brain learns to recognise the direction of sounds based on how they reach your ears, and that is impacted by the shape of your head. This means a 2-speaker (headphone) surround that lets you hear sounds perfectly in front and behind you, might not work at all for the next person. This option lets you select the profile that works best for you. The game only comes with a few, but you can put other HRTF profiles into the rFactor 2\UserData\HRTF\Custom folder (you'll need to make the Custom folder yourself), and then you can select from those too.
Devin linked to this video for trying heaps of profiles, with download links in the description (expect to take a few attempts to find the right one, and recheck a few times. Read the comments as well to help guide your own judgement):
(google HRTF for lots of fascinating information on what it is and how it works - and why making your own custom profile just for you isn't really an option, but also not one you'll need with all the ones out there available to try)
What's missing? - equalizer, treble, base, tone, warmth, ... . No, the settings above won't do any of those. Think Immersive gives better onboard audio than Trackside? You're imagining it. Want to make your own HRTF profile with more bass? That's not what it does, and you can't feasibly make your own profile anyway.
That's it. No more game options to tweak, and no more game options to break. Does a particular car sound wrong, or have unbalanced sounds? Share video, ask others how they find it, check your settings. The car may need fixing, or will benefit from being updated for the new sound engine (by S397, or by the modder when documentation is released). Definitely consider sharing/finding example videos of it, because you may have a different perception to others of how things should be.
If you've spent long periods of time playing rFactor 2 with unusually high/low tyre volume, engine volume, or opponent volume, you're going to have to get used to a more realistic mix.
Physical Settings
Yep, strange name.
If you go to all the trouble of setting up the above to have the game outputting glorious 7.1 channel sound and $2000 cables* connecting to your amplifier, don't break it now by accidentally selecting stereo or virtual surround on your amp and breaking those channels. Don't activate artificial 3D/Surround on your headphones if you're using HRTF and completely kill the effect.
The sound volume you hear from rF2 is a combination of:
Running the Windows overall volume high (at/near 100%) and rF2 Master Volume lower is a better option than vice versa.
*please don't buy $2000 cables.
Credits and respect to Devin for useful links, info, clarifications (past and future, no doubt), and seemingly being a driving force behind the sound system upgrade.
There are 3 sections: Windows Settings, Game Settings, and Physical Settings. Note that the instructions in Windows Settings may not suit your system exactly, but hopefully by getting to the right areas you can find the equivalent settings.
Windows Settings
There are 3 main things to check in your windows settings:
- Speaker Configuration (layout)
- Sample rate
- Volume Mixer
Right-click the speaker icon in the system tray (near the clock):
and click on Sounds
That should get you to the Sound dialog as below
Those are all for the windows sounds, which we don't want to change here. Click on the Playback tab:
Your Default Device should be your standard output, select that and click the Configure button
This is where you select your speaker layout. It's important this matches your physical speakers, otherwise you might send stereo sound to your 5.1 layout and only get sounds from the front speakers; or, you might be sending 5.1 to your stereo speakers and simply lose the rear channels.
Note that often you can switch layouts in the first menu that appears when you right-click the speaker icon, and plugging in headphones will usually automatically switch to stereo/headphone mode - but if you need to check you can do it here.
From the Sound dialog, now click Properties (with your output device still selected) and go to the Advanced tab:
This is where you set the sample rate for the output device. As with many things it's easy to think bigger numbers are better (or to trick yourself into thinking things sound better with higher settings) but generally using the default option will give you best results and should be used unless you really know what you're doing. Very high sample rates will definitely cause performance issues in rF2. Click the Restore Defaults button if you're not sure what your default is.
A note on the other tabs available in the Properties window:
- Enhancements: Try to leave all the enhancements off (unticked). Equalizer should be ok to use but don't select any others (such as Environment, Pitch Shift, Loudness Equalization). This can mess with your sound and games won't sound right.
- Spatial sound: Off always! We want the game to generate the correct number of audio channels to suit our speaker/headphone layout, and send that audio directly to the device. Any 3D/Spatial setting will completely mess that up.
All or most of the options above are probably accessible via some software specific to your chipset or sound card, so you can check/change them there instead. My own onboard Realtek chip has its own speaker icon in the system tray, and that lets me bring up its Sound Manager that looks like this (but this is just an example; yours may vary):
Volume Mixer
Windows has a built-in Volume Mixer, accessible with that same right-click on the speaker icon. (Open volume mixer)
This lets you adjust the relative volume of all running apps. Note that rFactor 2 has to be running to be able to adjust its volume here. (you can run rF2 in windowed/borderless mode to help facilitate that, or while rF2 is running you can get to the Volume Mixer through Windows -> Settings -> Sound -> App volume and device preferences. (sorry, bit of a run-around, but it's there...)
The key goal here is that rFactor 2 is set to the full volume of your output device. You can see my device (Speakers) volume is at 50%, and my rFactor 2 is as well. That avoids Windows 'compressing' the rF2 sound (making quiet sounds louder) which will alter the levels in-game.
It may be easier/clearer if you set your windows volume to 100% while doing this (so windows 100%, rFactor 2 also 100%). Otherwise you can end up with all your apps at slightly different levels because of the way the sliders work.
With your speaker layout, sample rate, and volume mixer settings correct, you're ready to set rF2 up and have the sound function correctly.
A note on encoding/decoding: you may have a receiver or decoder you use when watching videos or listening to music that pulls channel information out of the source material and gives you surround sound. That won't work with games (unless they feature audio encoding - unlikely). Depending on your audio device you may have options to encode the audio so you can send through a cable (like optical) and get all the channels out at the other end, but that's going to be specific to your device and you should understand how to do that. If you don't know that you can encode channels correctly, expect your speakers to only play stereo unless you have discrete channel connections (like front and rear connectors) hooked up.
Also: many/most encoding solutions reduce audio quality in comparison to simple multi-channel line-out cables.
(my chipset has DTS support, but I'm using analog front/rear connectors, so I leave that off)
Game Settings
This part should be fairly straightforward. First tip: don't edit any .json files. There's no need. If you know better, or are advised to change a setting manually as part of troubleshooting, go ahead - but if you aren't sure, don't. Except in case of malfunction anything not in the UI doesn't do anything anyway.
Fire up rF2 and go straight to the Settings section, and select the SOUND page
We'll go left to right, and I'll ignore anything that was already in the game and hasn't changed function - or is just obvious.
Master Volume - this sets the overall rF2 volume. Remember how we went and set rF2 to full volume in the windows mixer, to avoid Windows' audio compression? This is where you can turn the sound down if you need other things (like voice chat, spotter) to come through a bit louder. It may be beneficial to keep this below 100% somewhat (let's guess <80%) to avoid clipping prevention.
Onboard Volume - how loud everything is when riding in the cockpit. This doesn't adjust only some sounds and not others, it's everything. Effectively it's really just a way to balance onboard sounds with offboard (trackside etc) effects. If you find sounds are too loud when trackside (or at the monitor/garage screens), turn this onboard up and then lower the overall volume (or your speakers). Do the reverse if trackside is too quiet compared to onboard for you. 20-45 is a normal working range here, as most content will be pretty unbalanced on lower or higher values.
Legacy Settings - these give you some control over specific types of sounds on cars that haven't been updated for the new audio engine. They do nothing for new/updated cars. No, you can't adjust opponent volume or engine volume for updated cars, here or in the .json files.
Number of effects - more is better, but keep an eye on performance. If your sound starts breaking up or game performance suffers, try reducing the number of effects and see if that helps. Setting the sample rate in the Windows Settings section will help reduce the load, but it's very hardware dependent (and bugs in this area could be, too).
Speaker configuration - important. Broadly, if you have speakers, set Speakers. If you have headphones, set Headphones. As a general rule, if your speakers move with your head (like VR sets) then treat them as headphones, otherwise they're speakers. Could always be exceptions of course. Auto might work well when switching devices, but consider setting one of the other options explicitly to make sure.
Note: Setting Speakers when using headphones will give reasonable results, too. This is a good alternative to Headphones if that gives poor performance or you can't find the right HRTF setting and it sounds 'wrong'.
Trackside mode - when looking from trackside cams, and especially when moving the camera around in freelook mode, Immersive will let you hear things correctly from your current position and orientation (facing a car? You'll hear it in front of you!). Broadcast will instead keep the default camera microphone location, which is often how things work when watching TV broadcasts. It gets pretty ugly if you move a camera a long way from its starting position though. Note that this setting does not affect onboard sound at all - turning your head/camera while in the car will always move the sounds to reflect the new orientation.
HRTF selection - this is only available when using headphones, and lets you choose which HRTF profile to use. Your brain learns to recognise the direction of sounds based on how they reach your ears, and that is impacted by the shape of your head. This means a 2-speaker (headphone) surround that lets you hear sounds perfectly in front and behind you, might not work at all for the next person. This option lets you select the profile that works best for you. The game only comes with a few, but you can put other HRTF profiles into the rFactor 2\UserData\HRTF\Custom folder (you'll need to make the Custom folder yourself), and then you can select from those too.
Devin linked to this video for trying heaps of profiles, with download links in the description (expect to take a few attempts to find the right one, and recheck a few times. Read the comments as well to help guide your own judgement):
(google HRTF for lots of fascinating information on what it is and how it works - and why making your own custom profile just for you isn't really an option, but also not one you'll need with all the ones out there available to try)
What's missing? - equalizer, treble, base, tone, warmth, ... . No, the settings above won't do any of those. Think Immersive gives better onboard audio than Trackside? You're imagining it. Want to make your own HRTF profile with more bass? That's not what it does, and you can't feasibly make your own profile anyway.
That's it. No more game options to tweak, and no more game options to break. Does a particular car sound wrong, or have unbalanced sounds? Share video, ask others how they find it, check your settings. The car may need fixing, or will benefit from being updated for the new sound engine (by S397, or by the modder when documentation is released). Definitely consider sharing/finding example videos of it, because you may have a different perception to others of how things should be.
If you've spent long periods of time playing rFactor 2 with unusually high/low tyre volume, engine volume, or opponent volume, you're going to have to get used to a more realistic mix.
Physical Settings
Yep, strange name.
If you go to all the trouble of setting up the above to have the game outputting glorious 7.1 channel sound and $2000 cables* connecting to your amplifier, don't break it now by accidentally selecting stereo or virtual surround on your amp and breaking those channels. Don't activate artificial 3D/Surround on your headphones if you're using HRTF and completely kill the effect.
The sound volume you hear from rF2 is a combination of:
- rF2 Master (in-game) volume
- rF2 app volume (windows mixer)
- overall windows volume
- your physical device volume (headphone volume control, amplifier volume, etc)
Running the Windows overall volume high (at/near 100%) and rF2 Master Volume lower is a better option than vice versa.
*please don't buy $2000 cables.
