Automobilista 2 V1.5 Officially RELEASED - Now updated to V1.5.0.5

The issue is that @Dady Cairo believes that a full reinstall does something different/more/better than a Steam file integrity check and deletion of the game Documents folder. I do not because as an (ex-) IT professional I refuse to believe that bits and bytes are magical.

Of course, people who have reinstalled experience the same forced reset of a bunch of potentially game-changing settings and files so conclude it is a great thing. But the less invasive procedure I outlined accomplishes the same thing. And unless there is some factual evidence to contrary, which I am open to discovering, let's not rehash the whole debate again. For me, IT cannot be a religion (faith-based) even though computers often seem possessed!!

 

Okay, so it's not just me then, it seems. I don't know why that would be the case, I mostly did the fresh install to really make sure nothing was wrong. All I know is how the game felt before, it was awful. Deleting the Automobilista folder in documents and starting fresh resulted in a game that feels entirely different. Can't say I have a theory as to why, but I bring it up to make to make it known that this is happening.

 

Just to offer an experience.

I once had the issue of losing all FFB after deleting and recreating the Documents folder because it was necessary after an update. Whatever I did, I could not get it to work again, Steam did not find any broken or missing files upon verifying. Restoring the old Documents folder brought the FFB back. So I completeley uninstalled and reinstalled the game, let it create a new Documents folder, and everything was OK again.

Another example is in AC. If you modded your SFX folder after the FMOD changes in v1.9 so sound would still work with older mods, Steam verification would not recognize the file as different and would not replace it. If you wanted Steam to replace it with the new original file, you'd have to delete the folder first, so Steam recognized it as missing.

What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, Steam just doesn't recognize a file as broken and will not replace it on verification, and that happened more than once to me. So going the route of 1. Delete Documents folder, 2. Verify Steam files, 3. Reinstall completely is the safe bet if nothing changes after steps 1 & 2. It'll take a few hours, but then at least you tried everything you can.

As a (current) IT professional I know that computers sometimes do weird things, and just because a function or an algorithm is in place doesn't mean it always works as intended. So going the extra step if the usual steps don't seem to have an effect is always an option.

 

Hey guys I AM actually listening to you
But I havent decided if I just want to delete the doku folder or make a whole reinstall.
At least I know I can just copy the graphics settings and my rather special wheel settings back into the "refurbished" system.
Because its just 2 files to copy back from the backup.
Conserning the Steam file check then its pretty superficial (IMO)
- because the 7 files Steam found(pic) was exactly the 7 sound files I had changed myself.
Because I got soo fed up hearing the RPM limiter screaming BUG sound in my ears.

ByTheWay: A funny story is that Im about to migrate to one of Denmarks smallest islands where there are only sporadish/unstable net connection (mobile broadband).
So I havent decided if messing with AMS2 is worth it.
Hehe as a last solution to get my daily racing fix on this isolated island I have still good old GTP mod for NR2003 installed. And this sim legend doesnt need an online connection to start up.
EDIT: Just some bragging with my home painted Hippie car from the GTP mod

 

You are assuming Reiza has absolute full knowledge of how every single bit of the code works and every single repercussion of changing a single line.

Indeed there is no magic behind it, but your assumption is not reliable aswell.

 

Here we go again - I can see.
But now Im the one to say back to topic - eventhough I was close to derailing it myself

 

When you do a full reinstall you MUST also delete your folder under steam and the folder under document and restart your PC before you install again.This is IMPORTANT!
Then start from scratch.Goods luck.

 

As a software developer myself I've encountered the same command resulting in a different outcomes way too many times. There's just no logical explanation to it.

 

Anyone finding the porsche cup 3.8 very oversteery and unpredictable at times? Im finding it not driving as nice as other classes

 

It definitely stands out a bit in that regard, I think a few tweaks would help to make it feel a bit more planted. Haven't worked too much with the setup, though.

 

Because of a certain mod I haven’t tried the vanilla porsche cup properly

 

Computers are discrete electronic devices. There's no magic.
What you're really saying is "I couldn't figure out what was happening and I moved onto something else" - which is very common in software development when a bug is difficult to track down.

The thing I'd suggest is that AM2 is huge. I just have the base game and it's 100gb. There's no way I'd delete 100gb and redownload believing that would fix ffb or some perception about the handling.

Not the least because I installed the game and tried it - and I've never owned or installed the game before 1.5 and I was convinced that assists must be on even though the menu said they weren't (and I think I'd use authentic as well that might have grey out options but they still had values suggesting assists. I tried off as well as full with everything set to off)

I tried later and it seemed much better. But I hadn't deleted or installed anything. If I said I took a shower though how many are going to say "I'll try taking a shower and see if that fixes my assists - what shampoo did you use in case it matters?" - hopefully none (but it's a generic supermarket brand if not)

Friend had one and went to go on holiday. Tried to put his luggage in the back and they'd put the engine there. I suspect that explains a lot about their handling.

 

The mod has certainly pulled my attention away from the standard Porsche Cup.

 

One of the things I've heard a lot from some folk after the 1.5 update (myself included when I first fully updated) was that you can abuse the handling of any car, throw it around and the car will just stick, just as if the aids were on, despite the game saying they were off. I had even complained in a previous thread about not being able to spin out. But since I've refreshed everything, I can't say the same. That's not to say I don't think it's still too forgiving in some respects, but I have to be mindful of how I drive not only to be fast, but also not wipe out. The whole slidey characteristic is completely gone, which is genuinely fantastic.

If this happened to me, what's the chances of others experiencing this issue and don't know it, or simply write it off as 'this is just how AMS2 is'.

 

You're describing an indeed interesting phenomenon. Me, assuming my installation works fine, wondered a lot about posts describing not being able to "spin" wheels, neither by accelerating with TC off nor by just throwing the car around (eg. "Scandinavian Flick"), thus provoking slides (that can be nicely controlled.) I.e. just the opposite of "driving on rails". Considering that the "correct" physics (thus not being compromised by an update hiccup) grant a plausible driving behaviour, where you CAN push the grip limits, it's indeed worth to explore how such contradicting experiences are possible. (And yes, I agree, while 1.5 provides very rewarding over all driving physics, I'd prefer it to be dialled back a tad towards a little less forgiving over all slip characteristic.)

 

Has nothing to do with code or knowledge of code. It has to do with the files being identical after a Steam verification as when a full delete/reinstall is done. If the files are the same, they produce the same result on your computer. It is clearing the Documents folder or certain files inside there that "resets" things that are broken in the game installation.

Again, so many people responding that they deleted the Documents folder and reinstalled and it fixed their issues. Yes, just deleting the Documents folder would do the same thing. Instead of encouraging people to reinstall at the slightest issue, tell people not to reinstall unless the other procedures tried first do not work. Then, we would have a scientific basis to judge the outcome. There would only be a handful of those people and I bet something unusual will exist in their system or configuration.

Of course, if people have mucked around with mods that Steam isn't designed to detect or verify, or are not in the Documents folder, then obviously there could be trouble. Do we have to spell that out in this forum? Hopefully anyone using mods (for any game) knows that complete reinstalls are sometimes necessary if things go awry and that unintended consequences sometimes occur.

 

Yeah, I think, my brain makes the game real eventually anyway. Especially in VR. So, I've played 600 hours in assetto corsa and that becomes real. The way vehicles behave in AC just becomes normal to me.

And then I get in another game and stick the VR on and my brain quickly accepts I'm sitting in reasonably realistic looking car and outside the windscreen the world is lower resolution than reality but it's Oulton park.

Then I start driving and at first it behaves differently. I'm not used to it but I'm comparing with something that's not real but in my mind it is real and normal. If you could change the physics IRL I'd be "woah that's a bit strange this is wrong" but if it was consistent and I drove for long enough I'd soon accept it as the new normal. Maybe some people don't get so absorbed into it - although some neuroscientist could probably explain that it is a thing.

So far I've done ~550 miles at Donington park and over 300 at Oulton park, which IRL over the same amount of time I've driven about 30 miles. So I'm driving more in VR than real life and I'm now more or less accustomed to it. AM2 is getting to the stage where my brain has an expectation of what is about to happen.

I think there's definitely a high skill ceiling there for hooking up fast laps - and although, e.g in the caterham academy you can overdrive it, it kind of feels fast driving in that lary manner, and it seems forgiving, but the lap time is actually slow. At least for me to get a faster lap time I'm having to drive in a much more controlled way.

 

Yes, the opposing reports are always intriguing. This car is on rails. No, the same car spins too easily!

You can't get this car loose with throttle coming out of a corner! @CrimsonEminence posts a video flinging the car into doughnuts out of a corner.

In addition to people not being sure what aids they have activated (a bit confusing when there are game-wide playability aids plus some modern cars with intentional aids built into them), could it be possible that some aids are somehow switching themselves on or off without the user knowing about it? To discover if this is true, you first have to be 100% sure what is supposed to be activated before reporting an issue. Then, there should be some ability to compare A to B ensuring that no other settings have changed, such as weather (track and ambient temps) or track grip state or car set-up, since any of these can affect the feel and handling of the vehicle. How many follow this sort of rigorous approach...even among the beta testers? I would suspect close to zero because that would be a job rather than having fun with a game/sim.

 

VR can be forgiving in how you perceive the physics, but I still feel I'm in touch with what overall feels natural to me, and I think AMS2 has improved a lot in that regard, and I reckon things are improving from here. The cars that demonstrate the dynamics best are the cars with little to no aero, I feel they had to be overdriven in prior updates but now controlled driving seems to be the best for consistent, fast driving, which is what I would expect personally.