Toca Race Driver 2

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Race Driver 2 Demo Readme.txt 24th Feb 2004

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Contact info

www.codemasters.com
custservice@ codemasters .com


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Minimum Requirements (Single player)
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- Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
- DirectX 9b
- Pentium III or Athlon at 800MHz
- 256Mb RAM
- Supported 32Mb Graphics Card
- DirectX 9 Compatible Sound Card
- 1.2 Gigabytes Hard Disk Space
- 2x DVD-ROM Drive


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Recommended Specification
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- Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
- DirectX 9b
- Pentium III/4 or Athlon at 1.4GHz
- 512Mb RAM
- Graphics Card: ATi Radeon 8xxx and above, nVidia GeForce 3 and above
- 3.75 Gigabytes Hard Disk Space


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Supported Graphics Cards
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- ATi Radeon 8xxx, 9000, 9100, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
- nVidia nForce 1 & 2, GeForce 2, GeForce 3, GeForce 4, GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950


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Installation
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Race Driver 2 Demo requires the presence of DirectX 9b on your system.

It is advisable to have no other programs running on your PC during installation.

It is also recommended that all other applications should be closed before running the game. Any problems experienced caused by losing focus, task management or competing applications which may be in use whilst running the game cannot be supported.


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Creative's EAX Advanced HD™ in Race Driver 2 Demo
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Race Driver 2 Demo uses Creative Labs' EAX Advanced HD™ Environmental Audio technology to accurately simulate sonic effects such as early reflections and reverberation. The EAX acoustic models are dynamically modified as your car hurtles round the track, providing the most realistic audio experience of any racing game . EAX Advanced HD™ effects sound best on systems with Creative's SoundBlaster Audigy and Audigy2 soundcards.


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Configuration
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1) Controls

Controls for the Race Driver 2 Demo can be set by selecting 'Driving Setup' on the 'Series Options' screen in the front end. The default controls are

Steer Left Left arrow
Steer Right Right arrow
Accelerate Up arrow
Brake Down arrow
Gear Up A
Gear Down Z
Handbrake Space
Look behind End
Change camera C


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Known Issues
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i) 'Save and Play' button in Windows 2000/XP causes game to minimise?

On Windows 2000 and XP, the game may lose focus when started from the "Save and Play" button in the hardware setup. If this happens the game will minimise, and you can continue to play by clicking on it in the task bar.

ii) Unsuitable default graphics settings?

The hardware setup program may choose unsuitable default settings on systems that have more than one display adapter (graphics card). If this happens, the setting can be changed manually in the 'advanced settings' section.

iii) Poor controller responsiveness?

Very low frame rates will reduce the controller responsiveness. You can reduce graphics detail settings to remedy this. You may find that reducing the sound quality slider bar results in a higher frame rate on machines with low-end sound cards.

iv) Stuttering frame rate?

Stuttering frame rate when a controller is unplugged - If you normally have a controller plugged in to your pc, but have recently unplugged it then you may experience bad stuttering of the frame rate in the game. This may be caused by Windows trying to find the unplugged controller. If you experience this problem, please ensure that you also remove the drivers of any unplugged controllers prior to running the game.

Some low end PC's may struggle to play the cut scenes and videos smoothly, resulting in choppy sound and bad frame rate. This is usually only a problem on Windows 98 machines at 1.0GHz or less. If this is the case, best performance can be obtained by performing a full installation of the game and deselecting the "High Quality Videos" checkbox from the advanced graphics page in the hardware setup program.

v) Some of the controls are stuck on or inverted?

This can happen when your controller is set-up incorrectly in the front end driving options screen. When reassigning controls be careful not to assign the axis as an inverted function (indicated by an upward arrow on the right hand side). This occurs when the button or axis is released (instead of pressed) at the point when you assign the controls. The problem is avoided by waiting for the assignment to turn green before pressing the button or moving the axis, and making sure the axis is moved in the direction that you wish to use.

vi) nVidia nForce 1 and 2 onboard graphics cards

Users with the Unified chipset driver are advised to update to the latest ForceWare drivers. Failure to do so will result in the in-game graphics not appearing correctly.

vii) Desktop gamma ramps

On some graphics cards the in-game graphics may appear corrupt if you have adjusted your desktop gamma settings. To solve this problem, please ensure your desktop gamma is set to default.

viii) Visible shearing or tearing

You may experience tearing across the picture. This can be avoided if the "Lock Frame Rate" option is enabled in the hardware setup program.
However, please be aware that the lock frame rate option can reduce the performance of the game, so by default this option is disabled.


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Sound Performance / Compatibility Issues
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i) Detail level slider

The sound detail slider in the 'Race Driver 2 Hardware Setup' application allows compromise between sound quality and game performance. Low spec sound cards may be having a significant impact on game performance, even on otherwise high-spec PCs.

ii) Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX

This sound card requires a lot of CPU power and therefore the game may slow down. Consider switching off Environmental Audio on the sound options screen which will help slightly. You may also try lowering the sound quality slider bar in the hardware setup program to improve game frame rate.

iii) General performance issues with all soundcards

Disabling surround sound support (see section iv below) may yield a performance improvement on many soundcards.

iv) General compatibility issues

In pchardwareconfig.ini there is a line stating 'HWCompatFlags=0' which can be modified for sound fixes. The choices are:

HWCompatFlags=0 Run game normally
HWCompatFlags=1 Disable surround sound support
HWCompatFlags=2 Fix for short audio clicks (section vii)
HWCompatFlags=3 Disable surround sound support and apply fix for short audio clicks

v) Aureal Vortex chipset (Odd sounds, beeps, clicks)

On default settings this chipset has been noted producing odd beeps and clicks on some PCs. Disabling surround sound support fixes the problem. You may need to restart the PC if the game has been run without this option selected.

vi) AC '97 Onboard sound cards (Occasional blue-screens)

We've noticed occasional blue-screening with RD2 on some of our PCs with onboard AC '97 soundcards. Disabling surround sound support fixes this problem.

vii) Short audio clicks during in-race sound playback

We've noticed this effect with some soundcards. Modify HWCompatFlags (see section iv) to fix this problem.

viii) Sound Blaster Live! and EAX HD

Note that Sound Blaster Live! does not support EAX HD and so the 'Environmental Audio' option cannot be turned on in game.

ix) Live! drivers pre-March 2003

Game frame rate may be erratic if EAX is enabled when using Creative's Live!, Audigy 1, or Audigy 2 drivers prior to March 2003. If you experience this problem, disable EAX in the game options menu, or obtain newer drivers when they become available.


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Driving Force Pro (900 degree wheel) support
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For this wheel (and other future wheels with extra wide lock), change the following line in PCHardwareSetup.ini

ExtraWideWheelLock=0

to

ExtraWideWheelLock=1

This will give better response for these wheels. We recommend using the extended lock of these wheels only in pro-simulation mode.