Progress report: distant shadows, various optimizations and a lot of fixes (new preview build with RainFX inside)
🕑 Added 2021-02-07 17:24:10 +0000 UTCAfter questionable previous release, I decided to spend some time focusing on fixes and optimizing a few things. Hopefully those new optimizations can somewhat offset damage done by RainFX. And if not — there is a new render stats app (hoping to replace original render stats by it later, once it’s finished), which can help to see where AC spends most of the time:

For each measurement, there is a graph to see if there are any spikes, and you can pin those graphs to keep track of certain things during the race. Or, reduce this app in size and it would turn into a simple FPS counter with informative tooltip.
Another hopefully big improvement now is a way to set occluding walls on tracks, so AC wouldn’t have to waste time drawing things which would be hidden anyway. Comes with a handy app to make setting those walls and boxes easy, and I’ll prepare some docs for it soon.

A few configs are already live (or should be soon), for Spa, Brands Hatch, Vallelunga and Highlands, more coming soon.
Also, now there is fourth shadow cascade! Great for distant shadows, as you can see from the main image, as well as shadows in mirrors and reflections (very blurry, since it’s the same distant fourth cascade, but fast). Optional, but it doesn’t seem to affect performance much, with all those new optimizations (for example, now during loading tigher bounding spheres are calculated, as well as AABB for more efficient culling of static meshes).
Here’s the full changelog. Not a lot of changes to rain, but there should be quite a few fixes there too comparing to previous build. Now it’s time to move on and finally work on generating rain tyres on fly and sorting out drying process.
Thank you very much for all the support! And sorry for another detour, but I think it should be worth it, CSP really needs a new stable version.
Comments
I'm happy to report that this release has fixed my "unexpected error" crashes and runs pretty well performance wise in VR, however with rain and storm you go from solid 90fps to 60/70 tops. But overall amazing work as always!
I cannot get puddles. I have tried every track but nothing works. What am i doing wrong?
jelly
if you want to make them your self ,,, it takes 5 mins ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJhCIDh8Jt4
jelly
not all tracks have them,, try spa
I get weird texture issues in 0.1.73, where certain textures are replaced by other textures. This only happens when the RainFX controller is turned on and off.
I can`t display puddles, what setting am i missing?
Thank you for reply. But can I ask again? I don`t fully understand use SFX from old one. I just tried install old version (SOL 1.6.1+CSP 1.5.5) and again overwrite (SOL 2.0.2 +CSP 1.7.3). However still I can`t hear rain drop sound. But I can see sol.bank file inside that folder"E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\extension\weather\sol\audio" Anyway still I couldn get any solution. Can you give me once again some helpful comment?
jelly
are you installing,,, content manager or lights patch v0.1.73 ?as only csp can be installed in content manager on the Drive page.
just subscribed to your patreon and was super hyped to get rain physics, and whe nI watched a video to install the verison of content manager I viewed iin game and it stated that it was "not available to install" under the about and updates tab, how do I fix this?
i have exactly the same issue, let me know if u find a solution to fix it ;)
AFAIK, that's not present in the current build. You can get an old one and use sfx with the new build
I download this one and install it. Visual elements work normally, but I couldn`t hear rainfall sound. How can I do in that case?
Hey guys, how can I get visible rain effects on my visor when driving open wheelers or in 3rd person camera like shown in the video posted at Aug 22? Help much appreciated - thx!
John Hoang
7.3 works well for me
Paul Maguire
Should i get his or keep 72? 72 works rather good for me
John Hoang
when turn on head light the car reflects the surounding light. It's no longer reflects on car when choose "Enable Lighting in Reflections" after 1.50. Is there a way to make it work again? Thanks
John Hoang
Hi, Enable Lighting in Reflections is no longer working after after 1.5. Is there away to make it work?
RS Racer
i have massive freezes, when rain starting in a dynamic plan.
Macau too, i'm waiting for the fix... :c
Mark DENNY
There are a few tracks that now have graphics issues with this this version of CSP Mexico67, Barbagallo and Zolder
my game keeps crashing when i have the patch enabled, also my fps are down to half from the fps without patch I have an 5600 xt
Patcheco
The bushes around the track at Monza 66 no longer appear. I had to revert to 1.72preview1
Hi I don't have rain sound in car,why?
Dinca Andrei
Hi,i dont know if its related but i receive an error from after some time spent on a server freezing image and this messsage: Error might have something to do with: AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update AC\game.cpp (112): Game::onIdle AC\game.cpp (210): Game::run AC\acs.cpp (477): wWinMain f:\dd\vctools\crt\crtw32\dllstuff\crtexe.c (618): __tmainCRTStartup
Yep Ilja is aware of that and it should be fixed over time. I have e.g. 'flying marshalls' around Nordschleife.
Probably depends on the car you're selected. Not all cars support the wiper feature and/or clean the windscreen. Use e.g. the Porsche 911 GT3RS (original Kunos, that works)
There seems to be a problem in some maps where it's completely broken, you spawn underground and hit invisible walls. I experienced this in cadwell and nordschleife. When I roll back to version <1.72, everything is fine.
spooky
I dont always get wipers working, sometimes I dont see the water moved by the wipers, just clean glass ther, I mean I had it like once working fine (then the drops were bigger and looking nice), with the same car sometimes it works sometimes not, do you know what is the reason?
There is no sound that comes with the latest preview releases. It seems not to meet the high quality standards. But if you want sound you can add it from e.g. the CSP1.52 version. Copy the SFX files into the new CSP1.73p. Keep in mind it is experimental/testing phase. Hope it helps
Now have no sound on rain, downgrading and upgrading again does not work
Rainfx getting superb. But if you don't mind my opinion, I feel like the grassfx should be darkened too via any configuration or automatically by some amount. Hope you keep up your inspiring work.
create realistic damage mod
show
create damage mod
install an earlier version of CSP first, such as 0.1.60, and then 0.1. 73p1 again, and the sound of rain and wipers should return
Sun Kin
Legend!.....'ere have another pound
I have no rain sound yet
jelly
yes , you can make them yourself . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJhCIDh8Jt4
Loving the new CSP render stats tool! Just wondering if I am the only one seeing some tire models not visually loading at times as can vaguely see here https://bagels.moe/imgs/Sw9IwGrNvk.png Some vehicles such as the WDTS cars either show no wheels or just rims.
Diegonapoli
hey when will you fix the track errors?
Hi, Imola not have wet. It’s possible insert?
The new render stats are as amazing as rain!!
I'm getting a navigation failed
Even better than drive club rain!!, now waiting for the snow!! I hope on int in a near future!
It's awasome, very good improvements, and now I can play with rain with the ferrari 458 GT3 and the Mercedes GT3! the wippers are working fine, and now are clining my car windows!
On hail weather (i think) there are strange tire markings left on track. I dont know if those are meant to be there but look really strange. With everything turned on max, before this version i had ~60fps on tripple monitor (1080 x 3) now i have ~30 fps improvments while everything turned on. Great job! Realy nice update.
Night has no rain reflection on the preferred line at Nord the tree color in the water reflection is summertime even in the fall-winter and spring months and the rain sound is too loud but other than that this was AWESOME!
Callum McGurk
Really nice update, thanks for the hard work. I've been able to crank up a few more settings and keep the same FPS which is great :)
Probably depends on the car. Have you e.g. tried a Kunos Porsche 911 GT3RS? Not all (modded) cars support rain on windscreen by default. But thanks to the modding community a lot of them have added rainFX on the windscreen. Hope it helps?
Sup guys! Macau Grand Prix track now have some objects like stairs in the middle of the road, xD any fix?! Thanks
Hi, I do see rain but not on the windscreen - any ideas why? Also instead of snow I see fog.
Jone Klemo Øverland
would also love to try out a preset for VR that you use Ilja :)
Try to install the visual basic 2010 redistributable, both x86 and x64. I had a similar problem in Windows 10 and solved it that way. And install Sol 2.1 alpha 11, which is the latest.
Jone Klemo Øverland
on 1.73 and 1.72 i start under the ground for some reason on Cadwell Park https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/cadwell-park.11507/ roll back to 1.71 and everything is okay. it's like everything is shifted upwards and to the right for some reason. You can hear the surface is not the same place as where you see the "track"
Hello. I install sol 2.02 and your update 1,73. With thé 1,72 and 1,73 i ve this crash message when i exit. [URL=https://www.casimages.com/i/210209104300883801.jpg.html][IMG]https://nsa40.casimages.com/img/2021/02/09/210209104300883801.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
With the v1.73 build there is a problem on the Baku 2019 track. The asphalt after the pits is transparent, like a mirror. Is there a solution to this?
Mark DENNY
IIja further testing i've noticed some really strange lights coming from the tyres whilst driving in the rain when on F3 camera mode I'm driving the VRC RENAULT R25 SILVERSTONE (KUNOS). The lights are in various colours and flash, very strange.
May be the seasonal adjustment in Weather FX? It was off by default in V1.72 and now in V1.73 is on by default again.
Mark DENNY
IIja whilst testing I've found a small problem I appear to have lost the splashes when the tyre goes through a puddle. I was using a GRAND PRIX LEGENDS HONDA R301 at SPA 66 in Heavy rain for your info. Regards Mark
john cobb
john cobb 5:02 PM Hi IIja I'd just like to say on behalf of the sim racing community & Assetto Corsa fans, I think what you and the other Modder's do is fantastic work. I did update to the latest version of content manager & custom shader patch V1.73 today after receiving a email over the weekend from yourself notifying me of a new release of CSP. I am also running the latest version of SOL 2.01 Unfortunately now when playing in through career mode within content manager regardless of series being played the weather season is always winter / white without snow. When I revert back to CSP V1.72 it works perfectly. I hope this information helps. Thanks again kind regards John Cobb.
Thank you Ilja. I just try it out and everything works perfect for now. I notice FPS gain! Which is so important for my GPU GTX1660. I made some changes for Camtool 2 (thanks André) just in case.
Did you try Sol 2.1 alpha 11?
Custom Shaders Patch>General Patch Settings>CPU optimizations, experimental (can reduce CPU load in certain situation). Unchecked -> Pause hidden apps
Now volumetric headlights (extra from CSP with 90 FPS) working perfectly with Fog from the interior cam. Thanks IIja
antudusun projectkaido
thanks for the update. love that tiny fps counter. but camtool2 camera stop working when i try to hide it window tool
I'm getting some freezing and stuttering in VR in the latest version, I'll try some troubleshooting to find the exact cause and feed back
Thanks for the new update, Ilja! When I set rain I get stuck at 30fps, 60fps on previous patch. Any tips?! Thanks man
G. Yam
Yay! It's Christmas again ... and Bayram .... and Yom kippur ... and Vesakh ...... aaand birthday .... also called Ilja day! Because of you, I'll have to buy an encyclopedia soon ... I'm running out of compliments.
In this version, after a certain distance it does not rain on the ground and the color and headlights of the vehicle deteriorate at nightfall. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/636616561553047552/808290426033405952/unknown.png
ATR Camtool
There are tracks now really messed up. With lots of props scattered on the floor.
ATR Camtool
Check my comment from yesterday. It might help.
hey love your work! do you think you could add a feature where the wetness of the track and the "rain trail"/smoke trail behind the car is separated? Some custom mod tracks such as Akina have a wet version, but only looks decent if wetness is turned to 0% .
CSP v0.1.73-preview1-full is amazing! But it presented bug with Camtool 2!
Jachaussloef
Will Content Manager's Custom Showroom also support CSP's features... like if you make a new skin using BC7 to compress, you'd expect to generate its preview using CM...Also some people mentioned cars with encrypted model, isn't it a good idea to disable the export for those models and let Custom Showroom display those models just like in game🤔
FPS вернулся! Вот это хорошая оптимизация !
So I'm absolutely loving the rain fx, awesome stuff. Just having an issue trying to get it working on a server? All people joining have 1.73 but its only overcast not raining no matter what level of rain I set it to in server cfg (light, rain, heavy SOL). Any chance someone can help out?
Oof, hope that one is fixed soon.
Martin Powell
Hi Ilja - Great work as usual but several tracks have an issue with textures missing - I believe you're aware already?
ATR Camtool
Camtool now stops working if you "minimize" it. Edit.: I've found the fix for this: General Patch Settings > CPU optimizations > Pause hidden apps (turn it off)
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
Simply extract archive to AC root folder overwriting existing files
Hamza El Rhandouri
Sorry i'm new to assetto corsa, i'm running lights-patch-v0.72-preview1 (and Sol-v2.0.1) how do i upgrade to v0.73
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
Yes, I changed its default state to disabled, now changed it back
thanks my boy you're gave life on assetto corsa. Without you Assetto is a big shit
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
Would disabling this option help? https://files.acstuff.ru/shared/B80o/20210207-230107.png
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
Oh wow, could you please tell me what are the car and the track there?
Thanks Ilja for the update. Have a quick question about the drift track from Kunos tho. It's kinda look washed up or winterish? Could you please look at it?
Mark DENNY
IIja Brilliant update thank you all my mirror problems have been solved. It all looks fantastic.
Artworks Mesa
Thanks, but.. All red lights going to be green. Trees dropped random locations. Water animations has stopped. IDK what's going on? BTW I selected a clean install... Green is the new red https://i.imgur.com/ETqW0iY.png Random growing trees https://i.imgur.com/HgSGfID.png Has anybody else noticed these problems?
Beam
Can confirm, the TyreFX bug still is around: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1751307139248551798/3D2412C329A2A1639545B9E737CBF228E481846D/ Both in Oculus and OpenVR mode, if that is any help
Yes you have to type: “For testing, rain is active with intensity N%.”
When will Rain will be fully integrated so if server changes weather from sunny to rain, it starts to rain and viceversa, instead of having to type the rain command in welcome message? Thanks!
Great!
Thanks for this update and the tremendous work. Have to install and test it myself soon(ish) Edit: first impulsive repsonse: WOW!!! That CSP Render stat app gives very good insight about the FPS/FT 'slurpers'. Also overall FPS improvement with this 1.73p update.
The TireFX bug on VR is still there. But I can confirm weatherfx optimizations are done, I got some more FPS and a less few hickups.
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
Thank you! Hopefully it would help. If not, try new multithreaded garbage collection option in WeatherFX section :)
the one of the rendering app is very well accepted, lately I have some blocking problems with my rtx 3060 you who knows that with this new tool I will finally be able to understand what brings in block my card that works at 98% and then suddenly for a second goes to 2% and then works again. thank you very much for your work I will continue as in all these months to support you because you are unique.
Thanks Ilja, wil start testing soon. I hope he seasonal change is back for the track graphics. Was broken the with last SOL en CSP combinations
Ilja Jusupov aka x4fab
Shadows flickering on trees or in general? Maybe in VR? Might help to reset Smart Shadows settings to default.
Love the work on shadows. Thank you! Documentation on the shadow cascades would be appreciated as I have lots of shadow flickering issues. ❤️
Thank You!