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Talk:Race Driver: Grid

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Race Driver GRID using AMD CPU and GPU

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Summary by Tukykarmakar

Running this game with AMD GPU and CPU, you need to do the followig:- 1. Use DXVK as the game runs with DirectX 9, which runs horribly with AMD hardware 2. Apply the 4GB - NT Core patch https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371 3. Apply the latest version of Race Driver : Grid - 6 & 8 thread CPUs fix & Resolution Fix by xator. Instructions mentioned in the link of the patch https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2579-race-driver-grid-6-8-thread-cpus-fix-resolution-fix/ 4. Apply the post-processing changes/fixes as per your preferences. It doesn't affect your gameplay

Tukykarmakar (talkcontribs)

This post is made to describe my experience in running the game Race Driver Grid using on new hardware, the bugs and issues that I encountered while running the game and how I fixed them.

Important: Please make sure to KEEP A BACKUP COPY OF THE GAME FILES. You will be making multiple changes and there will be back and forth with the files. It’s just easier to have a backup to rollback to if things don’t work out.

Note: Most of the fixes and testing mentioned in this post are documented in the forum of CPU & Resolution Fix patch mentioned above. Please check the posts on that file’s forum to see the details and steps to apply the fixes.

Hardware Specifications:- · CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 · GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600 · RAM: 2 x 8 GB 3200 MHz · Storage: 1 TB NVMe + 1 TB SATA3 · Display: 1920 x 1080 144 Hz with FreeSync · OS: Windows 10 Home Game Settings:- · Graphics Settings: All set to highest value except for Particles and Motion Blur, which are turned off. · Sound Settings: All volumes set to 70% and using OpenAL. · Control Settings: Using a keyboard to play with mostly default controls. Handbrake is set to right-Ctrl. Files used:- · Game: Race Driver: GRID (https://archive.org/details/race-driver-grid_202112) from Internet Archive (archive.org) · Patches: - Race Driver: Grid - 6 & 8 thread CPUs fix & Resolution Fix (https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2579-race-driver-grid-6-8-thread-cpus-fix-resolution-fix/) - 4GB Patch – NT Core (https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371) · DLCs: Link mentioned in the PCGamingWiki article

My Experiences:- I got the game from the Internet Archive link mentioned above, it seems to be the version that was available from GOG. I installed and ran the game for the first time without any issues, so I pushed the graphics settings to the max as it’s and old game. I started the Grid World play-through and did a few initial races without any problems. But when I tried to do the GT race with the Lamborghini Mucielago in Washington DC, the game started lagging and freezing. I tweaked around the graphics settings and eventually set it to the lowest, but it didn’t fix anything. I asked around in several Discord servers and other forums and used DXVK to fix the issue as per the suggestion I got from there. The game uses DirectX 9, which doesn’t play well with AMD hardware, so DXVK is needed to make it stable.

Everything was running smooth after installing DXVK, until I started the 24 Hours of Le Mans race that happens at the end of every season. The track is a very long one and the cars are very fast, meaning that the game had to load large amounts of the world really fast. This caused the game stutter at start and later crash at random parts of the race, sometimes few seconds in, sometimes almost at the end of 2nd lap. This was caused as the game wasn’t designed to handle modern display aspect ratio and higher count of CPU cores. I applied the 6 & 8 thread CPU Fix & Resolution Fix version 1.0 by username xator. The 24 Hours of Le Mans race was now running smoothly with no stutters, until I came to the long straight section with red dust on the sides in the second lap. The game ran smooth without any issues for the first lap, but kept crashing in the second lap of the race every time. I had similar issues with Need for Speed Underground 2, which was fixed by setting the core affinity for the game to less than the available cores. I did the same thing for this game and found that setting it to 7 cores made the game more stable but not enough to complete the race. So I posted on the thread of xator’s upload and he created a new version which fixed the issue. It also fixed another issue where the game would crash 2 or 3 times out of 5 if I applied a new sponsor decal.

Now the game ran really smooth without any crashes or issues and I completed many races. But as I unlocked the Euro R license and was about to do the Touring Cars: Goodridge Trophy race, the game started freezing when I made the final button press to start the race. After a lot of troubleshooting, I found that the game froze when it tried to load in the Chevrolet Lacetti in the second garage with the Crowds enabled in the Graphics Settings. No other combination of factors caused this issue, you can have the highest graphics settings with other cars, or have the Lacetti in the first garage with highest settings, the game had no issues. It’s specifically the Lacetti in the second garage with Crowds enabled. I reported my findings to xator, and xator being absolute chad, came up with a fix the very next day. The CPU core worker files were modified to utilize the CPU more efficiently and not freeze when there’s crowds and the Lacetti in the same scene.

I applied xator’s new fix and the game was finally in a stable state with no crashes for a non-stop 3-hour session. I logged the game performance on an crowded track with fast cars and multiple laps to test the stability and it was running without any issues. But it didn’t stop there, xator saw my logs and noticed that the CPU could be utilized better, so that chad modified the files again uploaded them the next day. Testing the new files, I found that the frame-rate doubled. xator also suggested an optional DXVK modification that reduces the frame-rate but also makes it fluctuate less. I wasn’t having any issues and didn’t visually notice the fluctuation without the modification, so I didn’t apply the change and ran the game with only the latest version of xator’s files and no DXVK modifications.

With the game FINALLY being stable and having no issues, it was time to deal with the post-processing shenanigans. This part is totally subjective and a matter of personal preference, so you can skip this paragraph. I personally have no issues with the yellow-filter but I dislike the bloom. I tried all the methods mentioned in the PCGW article and didn’t find any perfect solution that fit my preferences across all the tracks. Disabling post-processing altogether will make the night-time events appear dark, applying Broski's Upgraded GRID mod made the game look blue instead of yellow, modifying the effects.xml file makes the UI look dull compared to the surrounding. I have settled on keeping the post-processing turned off using the first method mentioned in the "Disable Bloom, Vignette & Blur effects" section of the PCGW article, and turning them back on when I know the event is set at night.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. I deliberately kept the issues detailed and wordy so that this post comes up in search results, so please share and boost this post so anyone having the issues mentioned can easily find them. I hope this post was able to provide some help if you’re having issues with the game. Finally, a HUGE THANKS to user xator for coming up with fixes literally the next day every time I reported the issues, making the whole ordeal of running an old game on new hardware last only 2 weeks.

Vetle (talkcontribs)

This game has only partial controller support as stated on the Steam store page. I personally don't see an alternative to the keyboard in regards of editing the player and team name.


Mirh (talkcontribs)
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