Race Driver : Grid - 6 & 8 thread CPUs fix & Resolution Fix

I followed the steps you mentioned and added those files. I have an AMD GPU, so I also had to use DXVK. The game runs completely fine, except for when I try to race in Le Mans.

I tried both removing the memory limit and setting it as per my hardware in the file hardware_settings_restrictions.xml. It keeps crashing at different places in the track. Currently, it seems like removing it has better results, so the section is now like this--

<data>
	<!-- res mem="270" /-->
	<!-- res mem="7000" /-->
</data>

I tried setting the affinity for the game from Task Manager to 4, 6 and 8 cores. So far, 8 cores allows me to go furthest into the race and crashing in the second lap at about 15-16 hours left in the race. What's interesting is that it keeps crashing at the exact same place in the track for each condition, in the section with the long straight that has red gravel on the sides of the track.

Even though my PC can run the game at ultra settings, I have kept all settings at medium and Anti-Aliasing at 8xMSAA, except for particles and motion blur, which are off. I got the game from https://archive.org/details/race-driver-grid_202112 and have no DLCs installed. Below are my specifications--

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX6600
• Memory: 2x8 GB @ 3200 MHz
• Storage: 1 TB NVME and 1 TB SATA3 m.2 drives
• OS: Windows 10 Home 22H2 19045.2728
• Display: 1920x1080 @ 144 Hz with FreeSync

I have tried turning off FreeSync any GPU level AA, it didn't have any effect. No other races are having this issue and are also running smoothly at ultra settings. It's just this Le Mans race that's having issues. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Try to update the game to the latest patch, since you are using an abandonware version based on a retail product. Look in the wiki for the patch download.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna get that same version you have to reproduce your problem.

UPDATE: I've seen that the version you are using, is a GOG release. So the update patches should not be needed. I'm going to give it a try. 

UPDATE 2: I've been trying the game with and without DXVK. The multicore fix is working as intended on the game without DXVK, so it seems it is a problem of the DXVK itself. Moreover, If I change from version 2.1 to 1.10.3-Async of DXVK i get different crashes. So it seems this game does not really like it. I've tried using the modified restrictions you posted, getting more or less the same results. The last thing I'm going to try, is to check again with the Steam release, just in case it has something different? I'll post results.
 

UPDATE 3: Steam version seems to be less problematic, but it also crashes. And, the dxvk log always shows the same error: Memory Allocation error. So I guess this is a DXVK issue with the game. I've opened an Issue for this matter HERE. Maybe this is fixeable using some DXVK config from the conf file they have. Other than that, it seems it is not a problem derived from this mod. 

UPDATE 4: The game has resolution and memory allocation problems. I'll try to improve the restriction file and update the mod.

UPDATE 5: Ok, i've reworked the fix. I've extracted some info from the Colin McRae Dirt 2, which uses EGO 1.0 too, and reworked the files. I've also removed some restrictions from the restriction file, so It should work better on newer hardware.

I'll add the new files tomorrow, with a proper DXVK tip that i've been trying.

Thanks for looking into this. You seem to have been hard at work since I saw the first email notification, and I really appreciate it.

Seems like the worst part of this issue is that you won't know if it's fixed unless you finish the Le Mans race, which is a very long race, almost 24 minutes. I thought setting the core affinity fixed the problem, but it crashed about 20% into the second lap. No other races have any issues for me, so I'm not sure if you can at all verify with a shorter race or event.

The game also seems to be crashing sometimes when I unlock new sponsors and put their decals on the car. I unlock new sponsors, I go to the menu to put on the decals, then I go back out when I'm done and the game would crash 2 or 3 times out of 5.

I'm okay with the crash after applying the decals, as no progress is lost. Le Mans progress is not saved at all. I decided to skip the first Le Mans because every crash would make the game start from the unskippable intro video before the first Le Mans.

6 hours ago, tukykarmakar said:

Thanks for looking into this. You seem to have been hard at work since I saw the first email notification, and I really appreciate it.

Seems like the worst part of this issue is that you won't know if it's fixed unless you finish the Le Mans race, which is a very long race, almost 24 minutes. I thought setting the core affinity fixed the problem, but it crashed about 20% into the second lap. No other races have any issues for me, so I'm not sure if you can at all verify with a shorter race or event.

The game also seems to be crashing sometimes when I unlock new sponsors and put their decals on the car. I unlock new sponsors, I go to the menu to put on the decals, then I go back out when I'm done and the game would crash 2 or 3 times out of 5.

I'm okay with the crash after applying the decals, as no progress is lost. Le Mans progress is not saved at all. I decided to skip the first Le Mans because every crash would make the game start from the unskippable intro video before the first Le Mans.

I've updated the mod. Please read carefully the changelog, and:

1. Apply the new mod files
2. Delete the hardware settings folder for the game to recognize the hardware again. (not your savegame, careful)
3. Apply the 4GB patch to your exe file.
4. Run the game an config your settings again.
5. Use the last version of DXVK, and (optional) if you want to try if it improves, create a dxvk.conf file near the exe file, and add the line :

6. d3d9.allowDirectBufferMapping = false

   Good luck!😅

 

 

 

I tested multiple runs of Le Mans using cars from different classes to see if the game can handle the stress of loading the environment at their speed. So far, no issues or crashes, even with the fastest car in the Le Mans races. I had my AMD Software overlay on while testing and I saw some frame rate swinging in the first few laps, but they were not noticeable if the overlay wasn't telling me, and were gone soon. Thanks a lot for the fix!!

On 3/21/2023 at 3:23 PM, xator said:

• Use the last version of DXVK, and (optional) if you want to try if it improves, create a dxvk.conf file near the exe file, and add the line :

• d3d9.allowDirectBufferMapping = false

What exactly does this .conf file do? When I tested without it in a dense San Fransisco track, I was getting 140-160 FPS without the file and 130-140 with the file in the directory of the game's .exe. I did the other steps you mentioned and launched the game without the .conf file initially, then to test it, I just created the file in the directory and simply launched the game again. Do I need to delete the hardware_settings files and then launch the game again to have the full effect of the .conf file?

20 hours ago, tukykarmakar said:

I tested multiple runs of Le Mans using cars from different classes to see if the game can handle the stress of loading the environment at their speed. So far, no issues or crashes, even with the fastest car in the Le Mans races. I had my AMD Software overlay on while testing and I saw some frame rate swinging in the first few laps, but they were not noticeable if the overlay wasn't telling me, and were gone soon. Thanks a lot for the fix!!

What exactly does this .conf file do? When I tested without it in a dense San Fransisco track, I was getting 140-160 FPS without the file and 130-140 with the file in the directory of the game's .exe. I did the other steps you mentioned and launched the game without the .conf file initially, then to test it, I just created the file in the directory and simply launched the game again. Do I need to delete the hardware_settings files and then launch the game again to have the full effect of the .conf file?

Great to hear, it works properly now! About the "d3d9.allowDirectBufferMapping" setting, I was recommended to apply it in the official DXVK github. Don't really know what it does. If you're not having problems without it, then comment the line on the dxvk.conf with a # and you're good to go!

Also, remember to update to v1.1.1 of the mod, and each time you update it, please erase hardware_settings files. The latest v1.1.1 is important, as v1.1.0 had a little error that disabled multicore altogether. 

Happy gaming 🙂

I updated to the version 1.1.1 and tested the game again in the San Fransisco track with and without the .conf file. I have logged both cases and found that the .conf file case has lower FPS values. I have attached the logs and the screenshot of the race configuration I used to log this, hope this is useful for people troubleshooting their issues.

The screenshot is edited with colour boost as it was always looking washed and desaturated when you try to take screenshot or record using OBS. It looks normal in-game.

Performance_Comparison_.xlsx

8 hours ago, tukykarmakar said:

I updated to the version 1.1.1 and tested the game again in the San Fransisco track with and without the .conf file. I have logged both cases and found that the .conf file case has lower FPS values. I have attached the logs and the screenshot of the race configuration I used to log this, hope this is useful for people troubleshooting their issues.

The screenshot is edited with colour boost as it was always looking washed and desaturated when you try to take screenshot or record using OBS. It looks normal in-game.

Performance_Comparison_.xlsx 45.66 kB · 1 download

Yep, I can clearly see that without the config file it works much better on your end: (Blue is without the conf file)

So yeah, if you don't get any crashes, just play the game without the config file and you're good to go 🙂

So happy to be able to help. Happy gaming!!

Okay, I have found another issue. The Chevrolet Lacetti in the Touring discipline doesn't like crowd in the garage at all. The game freezes when trying to load the car in the background of the main menu scene.

I unlocked the ARL second tier and unlocked team mate and a new garage. I'm trying to select Grid World > Race Events > Euro R Licence > Touring Cars: Goodridge Trophy. Everytime you're in the car selection menu, the game is supposed to show the displayed car in the background, but it freezes trying the load the Lacetti. I have done some touring car races before getting promoted, but there was no issue when I did those. It's happening in the second garage I got, it'd show in the older garage just fine.

With everthing in the Graphics Setting set to the lowest possible values, if the Crowd is On, then the game would freeze trying to load the Lacetti. Conversely, if everything is set to the highest values but the Crowd is set to Off, there's no issues. In my case, everything was set to the highest possible values, except for Motion Blur and Particles.

This issue is not happening with the BMW 320SI touring car that I had to get later, everything loads at the highest setting normally. It's only the Chevrolet Lacetti that's freezing the game. Also, it's only happening when the game attempts to load the car, so you can avoid it by using a different car or not let the game initiate loading the Lacetti. There's a small period of time when your other cars are visible in the background in the car selection menu. If you see the Lacetti in the options, either change the car to something else or go back to the previous menu, this should prevent the game from trying to load it.

I tried testing with the dxvk.conf both present and absent, it's happening in both cases. i have no clue why this is happening. I ran the game without the crowd, but I think it's lowering the immersion and appeal, so I left it on and just trying to avoid the Lacetti. Hope this information is useful for people who are troubleshooting.

3 hours ago, tukykarmakar said:

Okay, I have found another issue. The Chevrolet Lacetti in the Touring discipline doesn't like crowd in the garage at all. The game freezes when trying to load the car in the background of the main menu scene.

I unlocked the ARL second tier and unlocked team mate and a new garage. I'm trying to select Grid World > Race Events > Euro R Licence > Touring Cars: Goodridge Trophy. Everytime you're in the car selection menu, the game is supposed to show the displayed car in the background, but it freezes trying the load the Lacetti. I have done some touring car races before getting promoted, but there was no issue when I did those. It's happening in the second garage I got, it'd show in the older garage just fine.

With everthing in the Graphics Setting set to the lowest possible values, if the Crowd is On, then the game would freeze trying to load the Lacetti. Conversely, if everything is set to the highest values but the Crowd is set to Off, there's no issues. In my case, everything was set to the highest possible values, except for Motion Blur and Particles.

This issue is not happening with the BMW 320SI touring car that I had to get later, everything loads at the highest setting normally. It's only the Chevrolet Lacetti that's freezing the game. Also, it's only happening when the game attempts to load the car, so you can avoid it by using a different car or not let the game initiate loading the Lacetti. There's a small period of time when your other cars are visible in the background in the car selection menu. If you see the Lacetti in the options, either change the car to something else or go back to the previous menu, this should prevent the game from trying to load it.

I tried testing with the dxvk.conf both present and absent, it's happening in both cases. i have no clue why this is happening. I ran the game without the crowd, but I think it's lowering the immersion and appeal, so I left it on and just trying to avoid the Lacetti. Hope this information is useful for people who are troubleshooting.

Hi, I've updated the mod again. I've revisited the core placement inside the workermap file. I've removed some cores on several plugins, they seem to make the game unstable on some areas. Give it a go and post results 🙂

WOW! That was really fast of you! I tested the new files, the issue seems to be fixed. I ran the game in highest graphics settings and changed to the Lacetti from other cars and back again multiple times, it's not freezing anymore.

I tested the frame-rate again using the same San Francisco track that I provided the screenshot of. It seems like there's no effect on the frame-rate. However, I noticed that without the .conf file, the frame-rate fluctuates a lot. I think I should also mention that the differences in frame-rates for the .conf file is not noticeable for me as I'm running FreeSync.

Thanks a lot for your quick fixes, I really appreciate your efforts. I'll bother you again if the game has more issues. Otherwise, if I'm able to finish the campaign mode without any other issues, I'll try to make a detailed post about my experience on the PCGW page for the game.

22 hours ago, tukykarmakar said:

WOW! That was really fast of you! I tested the new files, the issue seems to be fixed. I ran the game in highest graphics settings and changed to the Lacetti from other cars and back again multiple times, it's not freezing anymore.

I tested the frame-rate again using the same San Francisco track that I provided the screenshot of. It seems like there's no effect on the frame-rate. However, I noticed that without the .conf file, the frame-rate fluctuates a lot. I think I should also mention that the differences in frame-rates for the .conf file is not noticeable for me as I'm running FreeSync.

Thanks a lot for your quick fixes, I really appreciate your efforts. I'll bother you again if the game has more issues. Otherwise, if I'm able to finish the campaign mode without any other issues, I'll try to make a detailed post about my experience on the PCGW page for the game.

Happy to help. I've updated the mod again. This time it's only an addon to improve general settings. It has nothing to do with the cpu fix, so it's optional. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

 

Happy gaming!!

Yeah, version 1.2.1 is running great. No changes in performance and loving the tweaks you made in the menus. Thanks!

Hi @xator, hope you're doing well. I have finished the game and it ran really smooth without a single crash or stutter. You did an amazing job with the files.

I have one last question about this game... Is the 4GB patch necessary for all modern hardware, or was it just for my case wit AMD CPU and GPU? I noticed that you haven't mentioned it in the About this File section where all the instruction are present, so I was wondering if the patch is optional.

10 hours ago, tukykarmakar said:

Hi @xator, hope you're doing well. I have finished the game and it ran really smooth without a single crash or stutter. You did an amazing job with the files.

I have one last question about this game... Is the 4GB patch necessary for all modern hardware, or was it just for my case wit AMD CPU and GPU? I noticed that you haven't mentioned it in the About this File section where all the instruction are present, so I was wondering if the patch is optional.

Hi there @tukykarmakar,

I'm happy to hear that you finished the game properly with the fix applied. 

Regarding to the 4GB patch file, I'm absolutely sure that you'll need it, at least, using DXVK, in most of the systems. And to be fair, I kinda expect it to improve some memory management on every system nowadays, so i'd say yes, it's kinda mandatory. If you're using the GOG release, that has no DRM, then just backup your exe file and apply the 4GB memory patch. 

If you are using the steam release as i do, on the other hand, the thing gets more complicated: you should remove the DRM from the exe, using atom0s' Steamless, and then, apply the 4GB patch. If you don't remove the DRM first, the EXE file won't work.

I've tried this method on both Windows and Linux/SteamOS, and it works fine.

I hope i've solved your questions. Happy gaming!!

@xatorSo happy to see you breathe new life into this game. Unfortunately, so far, nothing has working to me in terms of getting the game up and running.

It doesn't matter if I delete XMLs(as you don't recommend), edit them, or use yours.

I've also tried installing OpenAL, tried all compatibility options and making it run as administrator. Tried -novirtual as launch parameter as well.

This is one of my favourite racing games, especially in places where I don't have a wheel since it doesn't require it. Would really appreciate if you could spot what's holding me back.

Windows 10 Pro | Intel i9-9900k | DDR4-3600 64GB | RTX 2080 Super (video shows more details, sorry about the short 1st image.)

Thanks.

Have you tried removing the DRM and applying the 4GB patch to the exe file? I encourage you to try. 

1-Remove the DRM from the exe using Atom0s SteamLess (use google, it's on github)

2-Once the DRM is removed, apply the 4GB patch on that drmless exe with NTCore Patch tool. (same, use google to find it)

3-Apply then my fix files. 

4-(Optional) use DXVK 2.1 if it still does not work, or if you want Vulkan instead of DX9.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!!

Edited May 5, 2023 by xator

On 5/5/2023 at 10:58 AM, xator said:

Have you tried removing the DRM and applying the 4GB patch to the exe file? I encourage you to try. 

1-Remove the DRM from the exe using Atom0s SteamLess (use google, it's on github)

2-Once the DRM is removed, apply the 4GB patch on that drmless exe with NTCore Patch tool. (same, use google to find it)

3-Apply then my fix files. 

4-(Optional) use DXVK 2.1 if it still does not work, or if you want Vulkan instead of DX9.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!!

Thanks a lot. My GF is over this weekend, but I'll try it out tomorrow evening.

Excited to see if it works. 

@xator I had some time.(insomnia)

I've downloaded all the files, but I don't know how to apply Atom0s SteamLess or DXVK 2.1.

There aren't any executable files as far as I can see. I know this is probably me being dumb and tired, but I'm not used to modding files this way. Is there a program you use to execute them?

I don't know if I'll have time till tomorrow evening again.

Steamless is easy:

• Download a release from github. Decompress and execute the program. Do not touch any setting.
• Select inside the Steamless your exe file from Grid. Press unpack file. It will create another exe. This is your new drmless exe. 
• Backup your old exe and rename the new one to grid.exe
• Then apply the NTCore 4GB patch on that exe file.

Then you are good to go. Try that.

All steps have been completed successfully now. Unfortunately none of it worked.

I haven't tried DXVK 2.1 yet. It looks like you can only use the "d3d9.dll" file from that since it's DX9 and I can't find one to replace it with in the GRID folder.

I did try deleting "Codemasters" folder in documents and it changed how the error happens, specifically resolutions and such, but it still crashes before even entering the game.

I also tried updating DirectX just in case a version had a crappy DX9 component, but it said my version was newer or equivalent.

Well, that is very weird. I suspect maybe there's something wrong in your system? I've tried the game on several PCs, even one with a 8700K and a 9900K, both of them working. So the only thing that I can think of is.. disable any overlay like MSI Afterburner, Nvidia's GFE overlay... and try again?

4 hours ago, xator said:

Well, that is very weird. I suspect maybe there's something wrong in your system? I've tried the game on several PCs, even one with a 8700K and a 9900K, both of them working. So the only thing that I can think of is.. disable any overlay like MSI Afterburner, Nvidia's GFE overlay... and try again?

I'll try a few things, but it'll take time.

1) I have a server. It should be fast enough to launch GRID(no confidence in a decent FPS). It is currently running a fresh install of Win10 so I can test it there. About to try out Windows Server 2022 or Linux on it though.

2) If that returns inconclusive/positive results I'll wipe my drive and try a fresh install.

Honestly don't know when I'll do it, but that's the next step.

At this point the only game I've spent as much time troubleshooting to play is Baldur's Gate 2. And that was back around 2000 when WinME was a steaming pile of crap and had to be reinstalled every other day to avoid kernel errors.

I don't know if this would be helpful or not for your case @AtotehZ, but the version that I have was configured to always launch with admin privileges. While the game does launch without admin privileges just fine, I don't know why it was configured that way after installation.

There's also issues with recording and taking screenshots of the game when it's fullscreen. No program was able to take a proper screenshot or record it correctly. All the screenshot tools either captured a black screen, or a washed out picture. OBS can't capture the game in Game Capture mode and records with messed up colours when recording the whole screen. I ran the game in windowed mode and that fixed all the issues with recording and screenshots.

So maybe try running the game in windowed mode. To do that, open the the hardware_settings_config.xml file and change

fullscreen="true"

to

fullscreen="false"

Hope this does something positive.

1 hour ago, tukykarmakar said:

I don't know if this would be helpful or not for your case @AtotehZ, but the version that I have was configured to always launch with admin privileges. While the game does launch without admin privileges just fine, I don't know why it was configured that way after installation.

There's also issues with recording and taking screenshots of the game when it's fullscreen. No program was able to take a proper screenshot or record it correctly. All the screenshot tools either captured a black screen, or a washed out picture. OBS can't capture the game in Game Capture mode and records with messed up colours when recording the whole screen. I ran the game in windowed mode and that fixed all the issues with recording and screenshots.

So maybe try running the game in windowed mode. To do that, open the the hardware_settings_config.xml file and change

fullscreen="true"

to

fullscreen="false"

Hope this does something positive.

Thanks. It actually is already being run as admin. And I think the files I got from xator is set to fullscreen="false". At least that's what it currently is. I appreciate the help though 🙂

I'm normally running 2 monitors, but I've tried disabling one since I've heard that could be a problem, however that also didn't work.