Why is it so much work to get decent colors in RF2?

I just added two "new" tracks (new to me), Croft and Lienz.

Both suffer from the same over-greenish pastel color problem that for example ISI's Sepang hat from the start. Silverstone has pinkish curbs. The VLM Le Mans has over-green grass. It's very anti-immersive.

A handful of tracks, some way or another, don't have this problem. Brianza, Monte Carlo, Historic Spa... Longford and Poznan for 3rd party content. These are tracks that look properly real.

Frankly, it's getting tiresome. I understand RF2 isn't fully finished and will not be in a long time. But to require paying customers to fiddle around with an endless amount of third-party HDR profiles, which change after every build... just to get some natural looking colors and not a crayon-drawing landscape... it's insane.

Specs in my profile... maybe it's an ATI Problem, I have no idea. I know that it takes a lot of fun out of testing new stuff.

 

This is my biggest personal issue with rF2 graphics. It is just a complete mess because of the HDR profiles.

 

isi is not in the immersion business, although i am sure they are working on graphics because they can and new hardware can take advantage of better graphics and there is demand but they are not in the immersion business they are in the sim business

keep in mind that i am not saying they should NOT work hard on graphics nor am i saying that they SHOULD work hard on graphics. i am just saying that it is not the business they are in.

 

Simulation means realistic graphics. If ISI wasn't looking for immersion they could as well have built Silverstone trackside objects with a polycount of 6, after all the track surface simulation stays the same.

I don't get why some older tracks as Monaco look brilliant today (another way of making the point that they do care for graphics), but new stuff - official and third party - is a lottery.

 

Inconsistency is the name; rFactor 2 is the game.

 

You are correct. They could have spent less time time on graphics but they can afford to spend time on graphics because more people will buy product so graphics are self-funding and, in theory (although I disagree because every function point adds complexity), this makes it a wash. Make no mistake, though. Graphics are gravy and nothing more.

 

Haha, I find this a little funny (in a good way ) because to me, ISI's product is completely immersion-centric. But that all depends from which aspect of the product we're talking about. From a "simulation" of a vehicle handling point of view, it is sublime.

I would disagree with this for two reasons.

a) "Simulation" does not automatically imply nor is it limited to meaning realistic graphics....it is a blanket term which needs further definition in the context of what is being dubbed a "simulation".

Which brings about the second reason...

b) rFactor 2 is not a simulation game designed to be as graphically realistic as possible. It is a driving/racing simulation game.

Having said all that, i am a big advocate for realistic graphics but let's not delude ourselves of what rfactor 2 is designed to be....a simulation of driving/racing.

Bingo! And some people prefer gravy than food.

 

ISI has a third party mods tab, I think they should consider adding a section for HDR profiles and maybe a sticky on how to apply.

If Tim really wants to go above and beyond, find a forum volunteer to help better utilize that space. i.e. Give them enough forum access to keep that area updated with new releases so the rest of us lazy folks don't need to hunt through threads.

 

Good idea. I seen a post just the other day in a forum where they found some profiles and really enjoyed them.

 

You seen it where?

 

An online simracing forum.

 

Is where you seen it.

 

Since the only clues we get in this "driving/racing simulation" are visual (and some FFB), and the aim is to simulate reality, the visual cues should be as close to reality as possible. Simple as that.

Semantics aside, in the current competition of three multi-class driving sims, RF2 is already burdened with the oldest engine (DX9) doing things by brute force and poly count that others can do in fancy shaders for much increased performance. It's okay, I don't need the prettiest thing in town. But at least to get the color aspects not right is giving the competition a lot of legroom for no reason...

Love the idea about a well managed HDR download section. Ideally of course the modders would bundle the best profiles with their tracks (seems to be possible as per Nordschleife Tourist for example...)

 

lol. Are we doing a Abbott and Costello routine?

 

What? Was their English so poor? xD

 

Ah, forum spelling/grammer nazi. Gotcha.

 

Oh! OH! You! Argh!

 

I believe the graphics will never be at a high enough standard for all until the game has 90% of the features up and running in game. When this happens I would agree that you can go after and attack ISI on this issue until then I would say they are doing there best to keep it as good as possible. Also when this happens I think most ppl will have had to spend some $$$ on hardware to achieve this and should be expected if you want to play the latest SIM or GAME.

 

Oh, the eternal struggle...

 

One thing is that the overall tone of the lighting system changed from a bit yellowish to a bit bluey-greenish a few builds ago. I don't have any data to say one way or another, but to me the current lighting looks better than the yellowish, but is perhaps a little too green now. Nearly there, for me

So, older tracks would have been built under the yellowish tone and so now might have drifted a bit with the new tonality. As the author of Longford, I've made efforts to balance an re-balance when things change, and even when they don't. Initially for rF1 (with a much bluer light tone), I've have to do some wholesale re-toning, when everything was particularly yellowish direct from rF1 into rF2. I did some more tweaking, and then the rF2 light tone swung back a bit, and perhaps past the rF1 light tone. So, maybe somewhere between the current rF2 tone, and the rF1 tone will the next move, if there is one.

here is a handy comparison vid made while rF2 was still yellowish:
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.p...-92-2013-11-22?p=200976&viewfull=1#post200976