I will be posting frequently asked questions in this thread with the answers.

Q) The cockpit vibration seems excessive.  How do I turn it down?
A) Go into the game, the Settings Menu > Controller > Rates.  Adjust Head Movement down.
Alternatively, you can go into your rFactor/UserData/<username>/<username>.plr file and manipulate this value under "Graphics Options":Cockpit Vibration Mult1="1.00000"  (make it a lower value).

Q) How do I get my own car/team into rFactor?
A) Download this, READ THE README, and you should be well on your way.

Q) I keep seeing metric and I want English measurments!
A) Go into your rFactor/UserData/<username>/<username>.plr file and manipulate this value under Game Options: Measurement Units="0"  Set it to "1"

Q) The laps seem all screwed up for counting down...what lap am I on?
A) Go into your rFactor/UserData/<username>/<username>.plr file and manipulate this value under Game Options: Show Extra Lap="0"  Set it to "1"

Q) Why won't my server show up in the in-game race list? Why does my server show up sometimes, but not others in the in-game race list?
A) In multiplayer.ini (for your profile), edit the following line:
Concurrent Server Updates="40"
Make it "150" or higher.

Q) How do I switch cars in the replay?
A) use the numeric keypad + or - keys

Q) How do I get rid of the steering wheel?
Under the Graphics section in your .PLR file...
Steering Wheel="0" // 0=moving steering wheel, 1=non-moving steering
wheel, 2=no steering wheel

Q) I heard there are cheat codes...what are they, and what do they do?
A) You have to enter a racetrack (testing or race mode, offline or online doesn't matter) and below the box that says 'chat', there is a small dark line which is where you actually chat from.  In that box, you can type these codes...
ISI_BABYFACTORY - you own all cars from that series and have 2 mil to boot in hard cash
ISI_SKIDMORE - gives you back a percentage of the money you currently own, must be typed multiple times if you are low on cash
ISI_SKENDERBEU - gives you a percentage of experience points that you currently have, again, must type multiple times if you don't have much experience

Q) My car keeps dying if I crash or come to a stop!
A) You need to go to your options and turn on "Automatic Clutch"

Q) How do I have a night race!
A) In your race setup options, make the time later in the day.

Q) How do I get different menu music in rFactor!
A) Just add mp3s to your \music directory, you can also erase the original one.  rFactor plays any mp3s found there (but over 192 kbps may not play).

Q) Why do I keep seeing these little ugly grey box-cars when I'm racing in multiplayer?
A) The grey cars are designed to load when you are on the track and a new player connects.  To avoid a 'stutter' caused by loading a multi-poly new car as well as a 1-2 megapixel graphic, you get the temp car until you go back to the garage and the new texture gets loaded.  If you continue seeing the 'temp' car, it's probably because they have a car that you do not have in your directory.

Q) How do I back up my Trymedia keys so I don't have to ask for them again?
A) Back up this folder in a zip file:
\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Trymedia\
When you install a new game on a new HD, unzip the zip file back to that location.  You can do it before or after you've done your install.

Q) What if I want rFactor but I don't have a credit card?
A) Check out this thread by Tim McArthur.

Q) I'm getting horrible FPS on my system...help!  How do I check my FPS (frames per second)?
A) To check the FPS, us CTRL-F  For the rest of the answer, thanks to Dave Henrie.

"Here is something you can do to help your fps.  This involves editing your .plr file.  So make sure you backup the file before you begin to edit.

open your .plr file with a text editor and look for this line in the [graphic options] section

Load Opponent Cockpits="0" // Whether to load gauges and LCD for opponents, don't turn off if you're planning on hot-swapping vehicles in multiplayer

  Make this = to zero.    Since we don't swap cars or drivers,  you don't need those cockpits loaded.  

next further down in the same section:

Max Visible Vehicles="10"
Extra Visible Vehicles="10" // Extra vehicles shown in non-driving situations

  These default to a pretty high number,  especially the 2nd one.   something like 104 vehicles.   That is just WAY to much stuff to worry about.

Finally near the bottom of the [graphic options] section is another few lines you can change;

Display Icons="2" // Icons displayed if HUD is off: 0 = none, 1 = flags only, 2 = all

 I changed this to =2 so that all the icons show up all the time.  This one is very valuable in the pits or when  you get a black flag.  

Max Headlights="4" // Max headlights visible relative to your car.

     again,  making this change reduces realism slightly but reduces the load on your system.

   Next go into the main menu and choose the options section of the multiplayer screen.   There you can choose the speed of your connection.   Reduce it as much as possible.   I have a 5mbs cable line but I choose either DSL or ISDN.  The server will attempt to send you as much information as you can accept.  But doing so will bog down other cars.  So go online with the servers during the practice weeks and see how low you can adjust the connection speed without the track getting jerky when you corner.  If you see that,  you've set it too low.  

  Also from the main menu,   you can choose to change your display options.   Go to display\options and reduce the number of visible cars.   This isn't like Nascar at Daytona where you can see all the cars going around a corner.  You only need to be aware of the cars closest to you on-track.  

  Your 3d config probably can match your desktop screen size and refresh rate,  but you might want to try reducing the screen size slightly and lowering the refresh rate.   Previous ISI sims would run the 3d config utility and then display a polygon rate.  This was a good way to judge how well your card performed.   rF has a texture bar on the upper left when you activate the fps counter.  THis should be GREEN.  If you have a yellow texture bar,  then you are stressing your system.  Reduce screen resolution until you have at least a partial bar that is all green."

Q) Someone sent me a setup...how do I find it?
A) If someone send you a setup, you will get a message saying "<so and
so> has sent a garage setup". The setup will be under the driver's
name who sent it in your <Received> folder with the track names under
Setups in the garage. Select the setup, load it, then save it to the
folder you'd like to keep it in.  If you don't load the setup you received and save it somewhere other than the "Received" folder, you will lose it when the track reloads.

Q) I'd like to see the amount of fuel I want to add, not the total amount...how do I do that?
A) Find the following line in your "...rFactor\UserData\<player
name>\<player name>.plr" file:

Relative Fuel Strategy="0" // Show how much fuel to ADD, rather than how much TOTAL fuel to fill the tank up to

Change the "0" to a "1", and you will see in the garage that  a "+" sign appears next to the amount of fuel for each stop.  That amount of fuel will be added when you pit.

Q) I went into my car, and my camera was going crazy...all over the screen, up, down, right, left...it seemed like the mouse was controlling it!  What the heck happened?
A) You accidentally went into 'Free Look' mode.  The default key to toggle “Free Look” (mouse) is "U"

Q) Is there a way to turn down the compression on screen shots in rFactor?
A) go to your player file (plr) and set the "Screenshot File Type" to either 1 (for bitmap) or 3 (for PNG)

Q) How do you set the opponent interval display in rFactor to be similar to the F2 display in N2003--in other words, a display where can see how far in front and behind other cars are in realtime?
A) Left arrow-key while in cockpit

_________________
»» jan kohl ««
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racing realism for the pc