Poor performance and bad graphics

[muz_j]

...Previously I could force AA in Inspector and get similar performance but far better AA. Now it looks the same with no visible gain.

I personally find r Factor 2 is one of the games in my collection that forcing AA using the nvidia control panel (or inspector - it's using the same methods) results in a performance loss.
Hardware based (using a GPU driver) or software based using the in-game AA settings perform differently and often look differently.
If one of these things have changed (eg: updates to r Factor 2 since you last used it - you mention in your first post that you were "hoping to come back after months to find a new game"), then perhaps you need to re-evaluate your setup - eg: how you are setting anti-aliasing.

Your comment "Previously I could force AA in Inspector and get similar performance but far better AA. Now it looks the same with no visible gain" - is literally making that point for me.

The "shadow cascade" issue is a known problem with the game engine and effects every single racing simulator on the market, each with its own version of the same thing.

Your post sounds pretty familiar. It seems you were saying the same sorts of things in March 2019.
https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/what-happened-to-graphics.62718/

Given your screen shot is from 3rd party content, I have doubts about how much S397 can improve this (on this specific track).

....so my advice is look at your current configuration. See where you can make improvements, if any (you may need to go through a sequence of trial and error testing). Focus on testing graphics settings with official content and understand that there are limitations to every game engine. Given your hardware, most people would be pretty happy to have to deal with the graphics you are having to "put up with".

There are obviously other games you could be spending your time on, if the shadows in rF 2 annoy you enough.

 

[DrivingFast]

Previously I could force AA in Inspector and get similar performance but far better AA. Now it looks the same with no visible gain.

Try with inspector X2 multisampling associated with X2 super sparse grid.
***enhance aliasing mode

But the loss of performance will be huge (with huge image quality)

 

[2ndLastJedi]

I personally find r Factor 2 is one of the games in my collection that forcing AA using the nvidia control panel (or inspector - it's using the same methods) results in a performance loss.
Hardware based (using a GPU driver) or software based using the in-game AA settings perform differently and often look differently.
If one of these things have changed (eg: updates to r Factor 2 since you last used it - you mention in your first post that you were "hoping to come back after months to find a new game"), then perhaps you need to re-evaluate your setup - eg: how you are setting anti-aliasing.

Your comment "Previously I could force AA in Inspector and get similar performance but far better AA. Now it looks the same with no visible gain" - is literally making that point for me.

The "shadow cascade" issue is a known problem with the game engine and effects every single racing simulator on the market, each with its own version of the same thing.

Your post sounds pretty familiar. It seems you were saying the same sorts of things in March 2019.
https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/what-happened-to-graphics.62718/

Given your screen shot is from 3rd party content, I have doubts about how much S397 can improve this (on this specific track).

....so my advice is look at your current configuration. See where you can make improvements, if any (you may need to go through a sequence of trial and error testing). Focus on testing graphics settings with official content and understand that there are limitations to every game engine. Given your hardware, most people would be pretty happy to have to deal with the graphics you are having to "put up with".

There are obviously other games you could be spending your time on, if the shadows in rF 2 annoy you enough.

Yes i previously was able to achieve better AA results using GPU AA but now that doesn't work and i'm forced to use in game AA with poor results . I would happily trade other graphics to be able to get better AA but my current performance is with in game AA solutions .

I thought the track i pictured was S397 content seeing as they have recently done a overhaul on it with their updated shaders and such so assumed it was as good as any track to test on .

 

[DrivingFast]

Try with inspector X2 multisampling associated with X2 super sparse grid.
***enhance aliasing mode

But the loss of performance will be huge (with huge image quality)

For this to work, you MUST do "enhance aliasing mode" in nvidia inspector.

All the scene will be NOT or almost not aliased, shadows too.

 

[Lazza]

@2ndLastJedi I somehow missed the screenshot when I was reading on my phone, I see that now. It's not what I expected because your description was "2 metres" then "10 metres" in front, but it's obviously a bit further than that and the shadow is still drawn - just the way it's done makes it harder to see. As has already been mentioned this seems to be a technical difficulty especially in terms of performance, I guess there'll always be some compromises. I think they've mentioned already that shadows are on their radar to improve so hopefully they can do something there - even if it's higher settings that push the hardware more but can give quite good visuals when required.

Your very low FPS is surprising, but I guess if you're trying that hard to antialias it will do that. I don't tend to run very high settings but get good enough frames in most conditions on my triples with a 1070ti - I think you might need to just take a hit on the visuals in order to actually play the game.

 

[2ndLastJedi]

@2ndLastJedi I somehow missed the screenshot when I was reading on my phone, I see that now. It's not what I expected because your description was "2 metres" then "10 metres" in front, but it's obviously a bit further than that and the shadow is still drawn - just the way it's done makes it harder to see. As has already been mentioned this seems to be a technical difficulty especially in terms of performance, I guess there'll always be some compromises. I think they've mentioned already that shadows are on their radar to improve so hopefully they can do something there - even if it's higher settings that push the hardware more but can give quite good visuals when required.

Your very low FPS is surprising, but I guess if you're trying that hard to antialias it will do that. I don't tend to run very high settings but get good enough frames in most conditions on my triples with a 1070ti - I think you might need to just take a hit on the visuals in order to actually play the game.

I guess i just do the typical thing as see rF2 looking rather poor and not running how i would imagine it to run considering the looks and compare to even ACC where i get better FPS while having a far better looking experience . I may just have to settle with my expectations and look past the aliasing and shadows and get back to enjoying the FFB again . As i said i played the crap out of rF2 back in the DX 9 days and loved the looks and performance and maybe just expected to much after reading all the upgrades that have come .

 

[Woodee]

Yeah, it looks rubbish.

Show us some screenshots of how bad your game looks?

 

[Shadak]

I guess i just do the typical thing as see rF2 looking rather poor and not running how i would imagine it to run considering the looks and compare to even ACC where i get better FPS while having a far better looking experience . I may just have to settle with my expectations and look past the aliasing and shadows and get back to enjoying the FFB again . As i said i played the crap out of rF2 back in the DX 9 days and loved the looks and performance and maybe just expected to much after reading all the upgrades that have come .

Sorry but I still think there is something wrong with your system, rF2 runs the best out of all the "current" sims, next to iRacing.

 

[DrivingFast]

@2ndLastJedi

In VR, the only 2 tracks where I don't have 80 FPS 99.9% of the time on dry ground are Nurburgring and official Monaco.

I just realized that it was worse on Portland, so it's 3 tracks.

I solved my performance problem almost completely by doing this in player.json, it concerns mirrors :

rearview cull (true)
rearview particles (false)
rearview clip (70 [meters]).

Honestly while driving I hardly see any difference, and it's smooth.

 

[mantasisg]

Show us some screenshots of how bad your game looks?

It is not good suggestion, it is easy to make a screenshot that would look bad and dull in rF2. Just like taking photos in real life

These official promotion screenshots are very nice, nothing is wrong in them, except the background treewalls at drummond.

I disagree with the opinion that rF2 looks got worse, but I agree that there are some appearances of jagged lines, and shadows LODing and draw distances aren't always far enough.

 

[Woodee]

It is not good suggestion, it is easy to make a screenshot that would look bad and dull in rF2. Just like taking photos in real life

These official promotion screenshots are very nice, nothing is wrong in them, except the background treewalls at drummond.

I disagree with the opinion that rF2 looks got worse, but I agree that there are some appearances of jagged lines, and shadows LODing and draw distances aren't always far enough.

What i mean is... if we see visually what's wrong and if people have seen the problems before they might be able to solve it.

 

[stonec]

Yes i previously was able to achieve better AA results using GPU AA but now that doesn't work and i'm forced to use in game AA with poor results . I would happily trade other graphics to be able to get better AA but my current performance is with in game AA solutions .

I thought the track i pictured was S397 content seeing as they have recently done a overhaul on it with their updated shaders and such so assumed it was as good as any track to test on .

rF2 used to be a nightmare with AA back in the DX9 days. As you said, the in-game AA back then was completely useless and you had to stick to GPU set AA, which also didn't bring consistent results always. The in-game AA they use since the DX11 update is miles better and it also provides additional benefits like transparency AA of trees, which you cannot do via GPU settings. You may want to test on a couple of different tracks as some tracks have set the LOD bias wrongly, which causes white lines to have sharper edges, I have even noticed this at Zandvoort, but at most official tracks it should be ok, never had a big issue with AA with level three or above.

The shadows are the same as in DX9 days, so that part hasn't changed either, but obviously they are not fully up-to-date with today's tech standards. The only solution here is to max out the shadow detail setting or turn them down to low or off to avoid drawing the barrier fence shadows, which are the main problem.

Regarding performance, this was also improved quite a lot during 2018 and 2019. I think you might find that some combination of settings is the cause of your issues here as generally speaking rF2 performs better than other modern sims like ACC on my rig and what I have heard from others.

 

[2ndLastJedi]

Yeah, it looks rubbish.

Show us some screenshots of how bad your game looks?

Check the FPS in the first screenshot just after race start .

Second screenshot if S397 Porsche cup at S397 Nürburgring at night with glowing cars, also check the FPS here

Grass during day is rather bright at S397 Silverstone

Nola looks quite nice really as did Nürburgring during the day

The shadows that i mentioned in OP is evident at all tracks and the aliasing seems worse at some tracks like Portland especially but that cant be seen in screenshots so i didnt bother but i will if you dont know what i mean.

 

[Max Dralle]

Dunno, but those screenshots look pretty good to me and I cannot spot any anti aliasing issues.

Even the fences in Silverstone look pretty smooth to me.

The shadow AA issue you marked in your first screenshot might be a side effect of your in-game shadow quality settings.

Maybe you could try and force transparency AA in nV's control panel ?

Cheers!
Max

 

[DrivingFast]

Maybe you could try and force transparency AA in nV's control panel ?

The AA parameters that I indicated above eliminate almost all the classic aliasing, almost all the aliasing linked to the transparency of certain objects (trees, etc.), almost all the aliasing relating to the shadows. The cost on performance is very high, but visually it's almost perfect.

@2ndLastJedi have you tested these parameters ?

(inspector : X2 multisampling +X2 sparse grid + enhance aliasing mode)

 

[2ndLastJedi]

your in-game shadow quality settings.

My in game shadows are maxed for both options .

 

[2ndLastJedi]

inspector : X2 multisampling +X2 sparse grid + enhance aliasing mode

I dont have enough GPU for those settings

 

[2ndLastJedi]

Dunno, but those screenshots look pretty good to me and I cannot spot any anti aliasing issues.

Even the fences in Silverstone look pretty smooth to me.

The shadow AA issue you marked in your first screenshot might be a side effect of your in-game shadow quality settings.

Maybe you could try and force transparency AA in nV's control panel ?

Cheers!
Max

As i said , aliasing doesnt show in screenshots but try Portland and look at the fences in the pits for a prime example .

 

[Max Dralle]

As i said , aliasing doesnt show in screenshots but try Portland and look at the fences in the pits for a prime example .

Will do, but it might take a few days to find some spare time...

 

[2ndLastJedi]

The grandstand is pretty bad for aliasing .

Also something weird is happening with the cars in front of me , the LOD or something , you can see the glass changes to close . Starting with the car i circled .

and i just cant get performance near 60fps at race start with AA x 2 and a few settings on high and low and PP off even .