The Shift 2 issues, bugs and solutions thread (PC version)

[redi]

Let's make this a single separate thread Post your findings here, both things that aren't right and ways to solve issues.

Issues:
1) low graphics quality
2) low FPS and stutters
3) input lag
4) poor FFB
5) cars feel like floating instead of driving on asphalt
6) AA not working
7) settings (car set-up, graphics) do not stick

Solutions:
1) Force AF to 16x through the gfx card driver

2) http://www.overclock.net/ati/979202-...l#post12952722

3) * Edit DampeningEnabled="1" string to "0" in vehicleset_pc_custom_pad.xml and reselect controller scheme in game (to custom pad of course). Should work with custom wheel file as well.
* Disbale 'Allow Game To Adjust Settings' in Logitech Profiler.

4) FFB is different for sure in Shift 2. The one thing really missing is tyre grip in the FFB.

5) This is mostly caused by the default set-ups being very loose. See this thread how to tweak set-ups for more responsive handling.

6) Apparently AA in S2U is software-based that makes the 'classic' AA not work. With ATI cards, you can enable Morphological Filtering in the driver, this gives good AA but comes with a huge performance drop. For nVidia cards, read this thread.

7) To save a set-up, use the Shift button. However, there seems to be a bug in the game that reverts changed values to their old values.

[NVIDIAGeek]

Hmm.... looks like they only added night effects and GT1 and 3 cars. So much so for "This is real racing" line. :\

[shaun2k]

Originally Posted by NVIDIAGeek

Hmm.... looks like they only added night effects and GT1 and 3 cars. So much so for "This is real racing" line. :\

my thoughts exactly, game looks like crap, a budget release in the mask of an epic title

my grudges are the ps2 lvl garage cars and in racing
lack of working AA
lack of anything pretty
spectral aliasing has gotten worse in this release
Dof is very poor, and is being used in some strange places
attention to Detail on most cars is only moderate
lack of dedication in the making of the game.
player justice for advertising a game with false sounds, graphics, and in part gameplay on the review vids and sites, plus the mainsite.

best we get to work fixing this half finished game

[Blackout]

this should have been an addon pack for shift 1..
fixed nothing .. still the same old crap..

[belleaire55]

Same old same old.
Blur effect. Lengthy game loads. Poor graphics. The controller setup has the same old flutter and now it's also present in the main choices menu.
When do you figure the first patch will be released. Not at all happy with the result after 45 minutes of play.

[redi]

Well I'll have to wait until I get my copy, but it looks like it's all console again and PC owners, the people who probably appreciate a good race sim/game the most, are shoved off with a mediocre conversion...

[tulib202]

Damn so much trolls on these forums. Get a life and stop complaining. The game is a lot better than shift 1.

[redi]

Originally Posted by tulib202

Damn so much trolls on these forums. Get a life and stop complaining. The game is a lot better than shift 1.

That's your personal opinion. Others are hugely disappointed right now, and it needs to be sorted why graphics, performance and FFB seem to be not as expected. Perhaps expectations were too high (though thanks to the hyping by EA), perhaps people only expect SimBin-like stuff and anything else is crap, perhaps the PC version is just a piece of crap, perhaps hardware support on PCs has not been done properly yet, who knows. Everyone is allowed to report and discuss their findings.

[maxen]

Originally Posted by tulib202

Damn so much trolls on these forums. Get a life and stop complaining. The game is a lot better than shift 1.

The reviews(at the moment) are everything positive: http://n4g.com/channel/shift-2-unleashed/reviews

[Uff]

People with low fps and bad graphics should post their PC specs too.

[Headsoup]

I have a feeling those posting the 'broken game' comments have the 'demo' and not a purchased copy... Seems to match up with what has been said elsewhere.

[redi]

Originally Posted by Headsoup

I have a feeling those posting the 'broken game' comments have the 'demo' and not a purchased copy... Seems to match up with what has been said elsewhere.

If that's true then that will be a permaban for them

[JonP01]

Well I sure hope it will be better than what I have been reading and seeing on the posted videos There sure seem to be some very bizarre reported symptoms, such as AA not being able to be applied, frame rate limiting, poor performance, poor graphics and (from what I could see) AI that might not be that much better than the original version.

Then again, as you say, thus far I have not seen any comments from people who have powerful machines with top range graphics cards and are skilled, expert, sim racers who habitually use "hard core" sims such as iRacing, etc. To further make judgements difficult, there has not yet been one single video (apart from the Milner one at Laguna on the NFS Shift 2 website) from someone who is an expert at driving in a racing sim. That video has been the only one ever released that I have seen where the person doing the driving can actually drive with the sorts of skills I would expect from someone who would really be qualified to comment on the quality of the game as an actual simulation per se.

Anyway, apparently my copy is due to arrive in a couple of days (was despatched today but it has to travel halfway across the country) so at the very least I will be interested to guage the performance, see if the AA works and see what the FFB is like.

I seemed to remember similar negativity when the original Shift was released and soon after the negativity gave way to optimism as people appreciated the good points (though the bad points such as the hopeless and unfixable AI still killed it for me).

I might have cancelled my pre-order were it not for the fact that it is too late and it has been sent. then again, I am really having trouble believing the game could really be as bad as has been painted thus far.

Game companies are sneaky these days and release useable demos so late compared to the game release that most people who were probably going to buy it would not have resisted long enough to actually wait for the said demo! I know I am one of those people!

[redi]

Originally Posted by maxen

The reviews(at the moment) are everything positive: http://n4g.com/channel/shift-2-unleashed/reviews

It looks like most of those are console reviews?

[Sphinx666]

Where is all the simulation they advertised as if it would be hardcore handling? I play with absolutely no assists on and push that Seat to the limit on Nordschleife and except for a bit of understeer nothing happenes. I know it's FWD but I find it hard to belive that car in reality would not be able to oversteer if pushed beyound it's limits. I sure hope the more powerfull cars have more realistic handling. I only have the seat at the moment and allmost stock. I expected very much rom shift 2 but so far I like my heavily moded Shift better.

[Brixxlnator]

Originally Posted by redi

It looks like most of those are console reviews?

Hm, like it posted in another thread, there are some rather positive reviews in pc only magazines. Like the one i bought - Gamestar, the best selling german pc games magazin. They rated it 84/100. Physics were given 9/10. The most negative thing they mentioned was that the game is too difficult and unbalanced and also the AI drives too perfectly according to them. So it got a 5/10 concerning balance. Also 1 point was deducted because of bug which ruin the atmosphere like flickering effects and some reproduceable crashes during replays.

I can´t say anything further because in Germany the game was not released yet.

[MaddmattH]

Originally Posted by Sphinx666

I play with absolutely no assists on and push that Seat to the limit on Nordschleife and except for a bit of understeer nothing happenes.

If you're an experienced sim racer then that car should be pretty damn easy though. Maybe it's just your skills
I remember how easy I found cars like that in GTR Evo after I got used to the powerful GT cars. They're worlds apart.
Give a powerful GT car a go, I'd like to hear how that compares.

I still have to wait until Friday for my copy so for now I live through your experiences

I've regretted pre-ordering games before, really hoping Shift 2 doesn't let me down as well. I don't like waiting for patches to fix the problems that ruin the game for me.

[Sphinx666]

Originally Posted by MaddmattH

If you're an experienced sim racer then that car should be pretty damn easy though. Maybe it's just your skills
I remember how easy I found cars like that in GTR Evo after I got used to the powerful GT cars. They're worlds apart.
Give a powerful GT car a go, I'd like to hear how that compares.

I still have to wait until Friday for my copy so for now I live through your experiences

I've regretted pre-ordering games before, really hoping Shift 2 doesn't let me down as well. I don't like waiting for patches to fix the problems that ruin the game for me.

You have a point actually. I'l see how other cars will handle.

[shaun2k]

Originally Posted by redi

Well I'll have to wait until I get my copy, but it looks like it's all console again and PC owners, the people who probably appreciate a good race sim/game the most, are shoved off with a mediocre conversion...

good quote, i like

[beingy]

-.-

I have played last night a few hours, i have a g25. About the game i put this way:

Complaints:
1) low graphics quality -> yes
2) low FPS and stutters-> good fps but sometimes give some freezes
3) input lag -> yeeees alot, ive tried alot of configs and none have worked, feels like im driving with broken wheels
4) poor FFB -> yes but its not the major problem for me
5) cars feel like floating instead of driving on asphalt -> yes

I think a mod for handling is neeeded, to enjoy the game a little bit more.

[Beaverz]

Better than I expected, actually. Since I absolutely hate the first one.
Easy for experienced sim racer. Utterly difficult for new comers. Quite encouraging for someone who got bored easily due to bling graphics and man! grid girls are fit!
Drift mode still hideous, all down to poor FFB and jiggling input.
Cars feel really floaty. Also when I fall in to gravel trap it looks like I hit an invisible object and do barrel roll like crazy.

I got very low FPS about 20-26 if I run at native resolution with default graphic settings.
Have to lower it down to 1440x900, high texture, AA off, all the rest are low. I still get unstable FPS, changing from 30-60 all the time.
My PC spec is
CPU: Intel C2D E7200 Overclocked @ 3.37Ghz
Ram: 4 GB 1066Mhz OCZ Platinum
VGA: Radeon HD4850 512 MB (I have 2 monitors configuration but play games only on primary screen - 22" 1680x1050 native resolution)
HDD: WD Black 640GB
Mainboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3L
And it plays Crysis 2 smoothly.

Despite all that this is a fun trackday game to play. There are a lot to do more than just pica a car and race.

[Sphinx666]

I have to admit I like the ai actually. Seams very clean and profesional so far. You can fight with them verry clean and realistically

Oh btw, I should mention that I only tested Spa and Nordschleife allot so far.

[Brixxlnator]

Originally Posted by MaddmattH

If you're an experienced sim racer then that car should be pretty damn easy though. Maybe it's just your skills
I remember how easy I found cars like that in GTR Evo after I got used to the powerful GT cars. They're worlds apart.
Give a powerful GT car a go, I'd like to hear how that compares.

Yeah, I can second that. At the very beginning of my sim racing "career" I thought it was horribly difficult and couldn´t keep my car on the track. But now, years later, I don´t feel that much of a challenge anymore. You learn how cars in sim racings handle and even on a track you haven´t driven before it doens´t take a huge amount of time to get compareable times.

On the other hand playing semi realistic games feels to ways too easy then...

[JonP01]

Please, as Uff said, anyone complaining about performance really must post all system specs and what settings (including resolution and graphics driver settings) they are attempting to run the game at.

Without this critical information, it isn't possible to draw any conclusions at all about the general performance of the game.

It would also be helpful (in the case where there are performance issues) to know how well Shift 1 runs on your machines - assuming you have the original game.

[mfxfgr]

How about put the dxinput.dll from Sharp Mod 6.01 to SHIFT 2 file?
Does it fix the input lag?

[shaun2k]

my specs are gtx 260 win 7 8gb p5 board 2 x raptors

cant get rid of aliasing at all period, tried the old supersampling, but it didnt really appreciate that much, messing up the experience here, but keeping hopefull, if anybody has solved the aliasing issue on a smallish screen give me a shout please i'd like to trade info with you guys tata

[headshot90]

http://img708.imageshack.us/i/shift2...919212271.png/
WTF!???

[patrod]

shaun2k, have you try to run the game in dx9 mode?
Put " -dx9" at the end of the shorcut's target.
I've tried the game on gtx260's pc and an gtx460's pc and there's a lot of difference.
The same as F1 2010 v1.1

)

[redi]

Originally Posted by headshot90

http://img708.imageshack.us/i/shift2...919212271.png/
WTF!???

Ludicrous speed!!!

[MaddmattH]

Originally Posted by headshot90

http://img708.imageshack.us/i/shift2...919212271.png/
WTF!???

The driver was getting a BJ in the car and shot himself in the face?

[RandomShift]

Originally Posted by headshot90

http://img708.imageshack.us/i/shift2...919212271.png/
WTF!???

Warp Drive enganged!

[0hiena0]

Crack issue!

[jeerin93]

There could be a solution for the input lag issue. At least it improves things a lot with me.

Get the Sharp mod from Juls, copy and paste controller default folder in your game directory. It's actually the same as Shift1 (as far as I know, to confirm). Copy and paste dinput8.dll too.

I got a Fanatec GT3 RS V2, but it should work with Logitech wheels as well. It reduces input lag a lot, and improves FFB too. I got far better feelings with this tweak.

Try it and tell if it worked for you.

Sorry for my poor english...

[carsonpoland]

I have solution for pads (input lag). You have to edit DampeningEnabled="1" string to "0" in vehicleset_pc_custom_pad.xml and reselect controller scheme in game (to custom pad of course). Now setup deadzones and sensitivity and you are good to go no more input lags, tested by me on ps2 dualshock pad

[doggod]

Got a call from a mate tonight who has picked this up and hes telling me the game is only using 2 cores fully of his q6600 (overclocked to 3ghz) and in doing so is limiting his
Geforce 470 to around 50 fps on average at 1900x1200 with everything on max
(aa off in game)

His 470 is averaging between 50% to 70% usage (cpu bottleneck)
His cpu is averaging 50% to 65% on average (lack of cpu usage causing the bottleneck above)
depending on track

This would suggest that this could be an issue anyone with a quad as it will require high clocks to make use of high end cards. From that era anyway, more modern quads should in theory be able to process more even only making use of 2 cores
Anyone on a dual core will also need high clocks or they are wasting their time with a modern card at least in this game

It also suggests that if the game was able to use a quad properly that most would be seeing a average of 60 fps on lower spec cards and well over a 100 on higher spec cards
if the cpu and card were being used to their fullest capabilities

For anyone that has a second screen that they can hook up to their system it would be nice if we could confirm this or not. Earliest i can do it is friday

@Beaverz no harm in you checking as you seem to be suffering low frame rates

Forgot
He is checking stats with apps below
Fraps for fps
MSI Afterburner for GPU usage
Task Manager for CPU usage
afterburner and task manager are running on second screen so hes seeing it all in real time

He also agrees that mid engine cars are all over the place at high speed.

[F1Racer]

Originally Posted by redi

Well I'll have to wait until I get my copy, but it looks like it's all console again and PC owners, the people who probably appreciate a good race sim/game the most, are shoved off with a mediocre conversion...

Shift 2 was not a console port or conversion. All 3 were worked on at the same time.

I also want to reiterate for people to post system specs if they are getting a bad performance. Apart from my main rig, I have Shift 2 running nicely on my Dual core Centrino Laptop. If that can do it, then a decent rig should easily cope if the setup is right.

[GregP]

Originally Posted by jeerin93

There could be a solution for the input lag issue. At least it improves things a lot with me.

Get the Sharp mod from Juls, copy and paste controller default folder in your game directory. It's actually the same as Shift1 (as far as I know, to confirm). Copy and paste dinput8.dll too.

Confirmed -- this works for me on my Fanatec Porsche Turbo S Wheel. It's not perfect, but a big improvement over the default.

[vansant]

Does anyone know if you can config the ms wheel on the 360 and if so, where are those options? Thanks

[81sc]

hey guys- where can i get jul's mod? is it in the shift 1 downloads section? thanks.

[MemoryKill]

So far so good for me! im enjoying it! issue:

Blurry font on some of the text??! very odd

Input lag, will try that command, thanks, also, LOWER THE DEADZONES helps too

[AeroMechanical]

I get very good performance on a E8400 3.6Ghz (2 cores), 4G RAM, and a 9800GTX 512M, Windows7 32-bit. It's playable at max settings (no AA) with 15 cars on the track, but maybe a little choppy (but no stuttering), so I lowered motion-blur, reflections and shadows to medium, and that's very smooth.

I see people with much more powerful systems complaining about the framerate, so it must be some sort of configuration issue.

[kbanford]

I am having trouble getting my sst lightning shifter to work. There doesn't seem to be any options for sequential shifting. Any one have a fix for this?

[mfxfgr]

Originally Posted by GregP

Confirmed -- this works for me on my Fanatec Porsche Turbo S Wheel. It's not perfect, but a big improvement over the default.

Does it works for custom wheel profile??

[ordsy]

Originally Posted by headshot90

http://img708.imageshack.us/i/shift2...919212271.png/
WTF!???

I also had this problem it seems to be something to do with cat. AI being enabled just disable it and it should be fine.

[YB0b]

Originally Posted by jeerin93

There could be a solution for the input lag issue. At least it improves things a lot with me.

Get the Sharp mod from Juls, copy and paste controller default folder in your game directory. It's actually the same as Shift1 (as far as I know, to confirm). Copy and paste dinput8.dll too.

I got a Fanatec GT3 RS V2, but it should work with Logitech wheels as well. It reduces input lag a lot, and improves FFB too. I got far better feelings with this tweak.

Try it and tell if it worked for you.

Sorry for my poor english...

there is no dinput8.dll in my shift2-folder?
Jul's dinput8.dll wouldn't replace anything.
why do you think, that the game would use it?

[mfxfgr]

There is no dinput8.dll in SHIFT 1 too, so it doesn't matter~

[ccsracer]

As far as the "floaty" handling goes, it almost feels as though the cars have a bunch of 'toe out' in the rear. That will make any turn you initiate seem to continue on its own. I haven't tried changing this in the tune settings to check for improvement.

The reminds me... anyone else find the tuning values really weird? Many cars come with stuff like springs/dampers set to full minimum, and camber values that I can't decipher.

[ccsracer]

Here is an example in drift mode. The rear grip starts out okay at best, then within about 1 min, is completely gone, feels like the rear tires are toed out 10* and the steering is laggy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMcoMrydtg

[headshot90]

Originally Posted by ordsy

I also had this problem it seems to be something to do with cat. AI being enabled just disable it and it should be fine.

nope.. not workin'. i've turned of AA and still.... the car looks like a
cloud

[Kazumi]

Originally Posted by ccsracer

As far as the "floaty" handling goes, it almost feels as though the cars have a bunch of 'toe out' in the rear. That will make any turn you initiate seem to continue on its own. I haven't tried changing this in the tune settings to check for improvement.

The reminds me... anyone else find the tuning values really weird? Many cars come with stuff like springs/dampers set to full minimum, and camber values that I can't decipher.

front -0.10

rear +0.10

is in most blimey titles default. should be around 19 / 21 in tuning "numbers"

anti-sway bars are also quite soft - and they tend to do what they are called.