Minimum/Recommended System Specs for rFactor 2

[Vince Klortho]

The 64bit mention is because the software will use as much RAM as you can. 32bit can only use about 3.5GB or so.

I typically see 3.1GB available in XP-32 but a 32-bit process can only use 2GB.

You said that the RF2 executable with be 32-bit - will it ship with the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag set ? That allows it to access 4GB on a 64-bit OS.

Also - have you (ISI) done any testing with the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag set to verify that the game actually will access more than 2GB ? I ask because it is one thing for microsoft to say that you can and it is another to say that the game actually will and works correctly when doing so.

I am a big fan of large grids of cars and I occasionally run into the memory address space limit at some courses with lots of cars so I am very curious about this. One real-world example related to mods I am working on : the IMSA GT race at Daytona in 1984 had a starting grid of 82 cars.

[Noel Hibbard]

I wouldn't say that. If you do it right supporting two processors is no different than supporting dozens of them. It is really an issue of supporting mulitple threads in a general way. I have written apps that have dozens of them, sixty or more, and we have no issues with the number. In ISI's case they are probably setting the processor affinities of the threads to the physical processors and that's a little different. I never do that in my apps. I let the OS's scheduler do its thing and that works well - we see very good scaling.

I didn't say it was impossible. It just isn't a simple strait forward task. It really depends on how it was written. Also making it multi threaded doesnt really mean it is going to scale evenly. I have also written multithreaded apps but they were written from the ground up to be that way. Taking an engine that was originally designed to run in one thread and then making it multi threaded later is most likely a large task. All I am saying is it isn't as simple as setting a flag and recompiling as some people may think.

[Noel Hibbard]

Rereading your post I see what you were getting at. If it is threaded then allowing more cores is often easy. But my guess is they simply offloaded other stuff like say the tires to one thread and everything else in another. That is what I was getting at when I said it may not scale evenly. But who really knows without seeing the source.

[Tim Wheatley]

ok dx9 in the minimum requirements, but how about dx10 and dx11?

dx10 and dx11 aren't a big enough advance to use at this time when you properly develop towards dx9.

[Tim Wheatley]

Tim, thank you for the spec info.
My question is, what would be the system specs for running a server?
I currently run 4 very stable servers on 1 box that can't even actually run the game due to lack of gpu ram.

Also, thanks for the TomsHardware reminder.
For you other guys, it's interesting to note that if you look at their cpu and gpu hierarchy charts, they recommend going up at least 3 tiers to see any real difference. (read: or waste of money)
GPU Hierarchy Chart
CPU Hierarchy Chart

Thanks for seeking out the charts I was talking about. That's why I love that site, their charts can save you some REAL money.

I'm hoping to get some nice server info for you guys ASAP

[Tim Wheatley]

I typically see 3.1GB available in XP-32 but a 32-bit process can only use 2GB.

You said that the RF2 executable with be 32-bit - will it ship with the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag set ? That allows it to access 4GB on a 64-bit OS.

Also - have you (ISI) done any testing with the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag set to verify that the game actually will access more than 2GB ? I ask because it is one thing for microsoft to say that you can and it is another to say that the game actually will and works correctly when doing so.

I am a big fan of large grids of cars and I occasionally run into the memory address space limit at some courses with lots of cars so I am very curious about this. One real-world example related to mods I am working on : the IMSA GT race at Daytona in 1984 had a starting grid of 82 cars.

I can't answer specifically because I frankly don't know the technicalities, but in the meeting on Monday the minimum spec RAM was debated back and forth a bit as being more than 2GB, so I'm assuming that using more than 2GB is a locked in certainty.

[Rocksor]

Hi Tim,

thank you for that update.

But how important is the pure speed of the CPU? I've got the core2 quad q6600 4x2,4GHz.

It has done a great job so far in all games, but as ordinary games are more demanding on grafics cards, than on processors im asking this.

It seems I'll have to do a slight upgrade for rF2, but now I'm not sure if it should be an upgrade, or a new pc...

[theother5]

If you're going to upgrade and you have the money, overkill all you can. Even if it's not for rF2's direct benefit, your OS might run a little leaner on the CPU because of it and that might help rF2 in the foreground. Besides, rF2 isn't a short-term thing like rF1 was in many ways, so upgrading for the future is nice.

Now this little snippet is something that makes me smile and look forward to the future. I'm still running rF1 and 'short-term' is not a label that really sticks to it [depending on your subjective opinion of what short term means of course ]. Given that ISI consider rF2 to be much more long-term can only be great news ..... hmmm!

[lazaro1717]

If I have all the specifications, except a T4400 dual core 2.2Ghz, it would run in my computer, with all low?

[Kalle Lints]

I'm hoping to get some nice server info for you guys ASAP

I hope there will be linux dedicated server program this time

[Noel Hibbard]

I hope there will be linux dedicated server program this time

+1000

[niscalo]

I hope there will be linux dedicated server program this time

+1000

[Tim Wheatley]

Hi Tim,

thank you for that update.

But how important is the pure speed of the CPU? I've got the core2 quad q6600 4x2,4GHz.

It has done a great job so far in all games, but as ordinary games are more demanding on grafics cards, than on processors im asking this.

It seems I'll have to do a slight upgrade for rF2, but now I'm not sure if it should be an upgrade, or a new pc...

Really the trigger for a new PC has to be your motherboard and whether it'll fit the upgraded component. What I mean when I mention the CPU versus GPU is that you can turn down graphics, which are obviously running on the GPU, but you cannot turn down the physics, which run on the CPU. It's really, REALLY important that you meet or exceed the CPU specs if that's the only option you have.

[Tim Wheatley]

If I have all the specifications, except a T4400 dual core 2.2Ghz, it would run in my computer, with all low?

The physics require the CPU specs listed and they can't be turned down.

[MarcG]

By Physics Tim does that include the "Real Road"? Dry lines/Marbles build up etc with the obvious graphics of those on the GPU end.

[THUNDERbreaks]

What I am being told is that the plugins use part of the engine, and the engine is 32bit. It HAS been mentioned, however, as a project for the future (both the engine and plugins), but here's the bad news, I certainly would not expect it soon.

OK but just to clarify, we wont find any 64bit plugins for rFactor 2? I hope not, because it will affect modding badly. Most of the people will upgrade or buy new pc's for rF2 and modders will be forced to mod on their old machines (if they ever gonna keep them)... not a good way to encourage modding, so Tim feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Vince Klortho]

I can't answer specifically because I frankly don't know the technicalities, but in the meeting on Monday the minimum spec RAM was debated back and forth a bit as being more than 2GB, so I'm assuming that using more than 2GB is a locked in certainty.

I understand Tim. If you can possibly obtain an answer from the tech guys it would be appreciated.

Actually - about the RAM, it just means that the game will use a full 2GB and the system needs to have more so that everything else will run without page swapping. My system, with no apps running, uses around 600MB of RAM so around 3GB would be the minimum I think. As I said, I have about 3.1GB available out of 4GB in XP-32 and that seems to be typical of that OS.

[Vince Klortho]

I am glad that you didn't say this CPU was the recommended spec.

[Tim Wheatley]

By Physics Tim does that include the "Real Road"? Dry lines/Marbles build up etc with the obvious graphics of those on the GPU end.

The display of those is obviously GPU, but the calc of where and what to show is still CPU. You're still going to have to drive on the track surface even if you turn a lot of details down. So, yes, but still needs both to work best.

[Tim Wheatley]

I understand Tim. If you can possibly obtain an answer from the tech guys it would be appreciated.

Actually - about the RAM, it just means that the game will use a full 2GB and the system needs to have more so that everything else will run without page swapping. My system, with no apps running, uses around 600MB of RAM so around 3GB would be the minimum I think. As I said, I have about 3.1GB available out of 4GB in XP-32 and that seems to be typical of that OS.

Depends on the size of your graphic card memory, doesn't it? You would get more RAM if you had less vRAM. Anyway, will try to confirm everything.