Frequently Asked Question rev 1



Thank you, first, for playing F1 Racing Championship. We apologise if you have encountered any technical problems. In this document, you will find tests, known problems with solutions. If you don't find the solution to your problem in this list, please contact us. Then, we will try to help you individually. Each time you submit a problem, you should give us a description of your hardware and software configuration :

For crash problems please read topic : Error messages when the game crashes

You can reach us at :

COUNTRY
TELEPHONE NUMBER
E-MAIL
INTERNET HTTP
Germany +49-211 / 338 0015 or 338 004423 Fax +49-211 / 338 0020
software@ubisoft.de
http://www.ubisoft.de
UK +44-181 / 944 9000
techsupport@ubisoft.co.uk
http://www.ubisoft.co.uk
Canada and USA 1-800-824-7638 or 1-800-UBISOFT
tech-support@ubisoft.qc.ca or techsupport@ubisoft.com
http://www.ubisoft.qc.ca or http://www.ubisoft.com
Spain +34-90 / 211 7803
ubisoft@mail.intercom.es
http://www.ubisoft.es
France Hardware hotline :
+33-2 / 99 08 90 77 from mon to fri from 10h30 to 12h30 and from 14h30 to 19h30.
Software hotline :
+33-1 / 08.36.68.46.32, 2.23 F/min from mon to fri from 10h to 13h and from 15h to 19h.
Minitel :
3615 UBISOFT, 1.29 F/min;
hotline@ubisoft.fr
http://www.ubisoft.fr
Italy Tel: 02/83.312.220 from Monday to Friday 14h30 to 18h30 Fax: 02/83.312.300
hotline@ubisoft.it
http://www.ubisoft.it
Japan +81-354 / 68 2751  
http://www.ubisoft.co.jp


1. Check your configuration

1.1. Checked graphic cards list

D3D-compatible card (D3D 7.0) with 8MB graphic RAM (or more). We have tested graphic boards with the following chipsets :


Graphic cards manufacturers links :

3dfx http://www.3dfx.com/
ATI http: //www.ati.com/
Matrox http: //www.matrox.com/
nVidia http: //www.nvidia.com/

1.2. Checked sound cards list

1.3. Check your processor type

You need at least :

1.4. Check DirectX and Direct3D

1.5. Check RAM

You need at least 64 MBytes of RAM to run F1RC. Look at Windows > Control Panel > System and Properties (by clicking on the right mouse button) to see how much RAM Windows recognizes.

1.6. Check Hard Drive space

After installing F1RC, you'll need enough space left on your hard drive for :

1.7. Close all other tasks

To avoid memory or compatibility errors, you should close ALL other programs other than EXPLORER and S YSTRAY before launching the game.

1.8. Check the CD-ROM

  1. If problems occur during installation (e.g. some files cannot be copied), check if your CD-ROM runs in compatibility-modes (System > Device Manager), which only allows file names with 8+3 characters.
  2. Check that your CD-ROM driver is designed for Windows and not for DOS
  3. If UbiSetup is not launched automatically : select the option in the Windows operating system, which will allow automatic launching from your CD-ROM. To activate it, go to Start Menu > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager > CD-ROM Properties > Settings. Then check the "Auto Insert Notification" box.

2. Error messages

2.1. List of typical error messages

     
    ERROR MESSAGE
    WHAT SHOULD I DO...
    Game CDROM not found You must insert F1RC CD ROM before launching the game
    Unable to intialize display. You probably do not have DirectX7 run-time installed. You should have Direct X version 7 (at least) installed on your machine to run the game.
    Can not copy ... (while installing) Look at topic : Check the CD-ROM

    2.2. Error messages when the game crashes

    When the game crash, look into the game exe folder : you may find a file called crash.log. Please copy and send it to us. You should copy it before running again the game, as it is erased at launch time.


    If the crash.log file does not exist, but you have a Windows 95 or 98 crash message box :
         


    1 - Press Details button = > the dialog box now appears like this :
     


    2 - Select all the information text describing the crash with your mouse.
    3 - Copy the selection and then paste it in a text editor (notepad for example).
    4 - Save the text as a file
    5 - Send us the file

3. Troubleshooting

3.1. During installation

During installation, if a copy error happens, it might be a problem with the CD-ROM's default. Look at  Check the CD-ROM

3.2. Graphic cards

3.2.1. 3Dfx - Voodoo2 SLI

    With Voodoo2 SLI (two Voodoo2 in parallel), never disable "Triple buffering" option in the menus (it's enabled by default). If you do it, you will need to erase Save\Configs\Video.cfg file to restart the game.

3.2.2. ATI - Rage 128

3.2.3. Matrox - G400

3.2.4. nVidia - TNT & TNT2

3.2.5. Disabled options in the menus

    Some menu options are selectable only with appropriate graphic hardware. Without it, they will be non-selectable and then are grey in the menu options.

    MENU OPTION
    WHICH CARDS ?
    Moving shadows All the graphic cards can be it except Voodoo2 (need to render in a texture)
    Environment mapping At this time only 2 card groups are able to do it : ATI Radeon and all the nVidia GeForce (need to have cube maps)
    Number of bits per pixels All the cards have the choice between 16 and 32 except 3Dfx Voodoo2 and 3Dfx Banshee (only 16 bits)
    Texture compression Hardware have to manage the DirectX DXT* texture formats (compressed texture formats). 3Dfx Voodoo5, ATI Radeon and all the nVidia GeForce work well !

3.2.6. Is the game benefits from hardware-accelered T&L ?

    YES, all graphic rendering is designed for hardware-accelerated transformation and lighting operations (including all the special effects).

    You select it if "TNL-" appears before the card name in the graphic hardware options (default value if available). At this time only ATI Radeon and all the nVidia GeForce have this hardware feature.

    In some very special cases, for example a high frequency CPU (1GHz or more) and few opponents ("Time Attack" mode), you can increase frame rate by disabling T&L (select the corresponding card name, without "TNL-" prefix). But generally, the best choice is to use T&L. If you're not sure, don't do anything.

3.2.7. The game runs jerkily

    If your graphic card supports "Triple buffering", try to activate it and disable "V-Sync" (this is the default options).

3.3. Sound troubleshooting

PROBLEM
SOUND CARD
WHAT SHOULD I DO...
I can not hear the sound of my own car Maxi Sound fortissimo with headphones, and other 3D sound boards In Windows, you should configure sound card output for 2 voices instead of 4 voices (by default). Check your headphone is pluged on the appropriate board output. On 3D sound cards, there are several outputs (usually 2) in order to connect several speakers.
The sound seems to be smothered after a camera change SB Live Do not use the default drivers provided with Windows 98. You should install a new Creative Labs SB Live driver (26-8-1999 or more recent release)
The game stops a fraction of second when the car throught a tunnel SB Live Do not use the default drivers provided with Windows 98. You should install a new Creative Labs SB Live driver (26-8-1999 or more recent release)
With quadriphonic speakers system, you only hear sound into the two front speakers. SB Live You should check the sound card parameters into Windows Control Panel.

3.4. Motherboard chipset

If menu display is very slow : if you have an AGP graphic board, check you have a recent version of your AGP chipset windows driver. For example, in one case we have noticed that upgrading ALi AGP chipset driver from v1.60 to 1.69 on a ASUS P5AB motherboard had increased menu frame rate by a 2.5 ratio.

3.5. Keyboard commands when playing do not work properly

Many keyboards do not manage correctly many simultaneous keypresses : some of them do not manage more than 2 keys pressed simultaneously and / or emits a "bip". This is a hardware limitation of the keyboard. There is nothing do about this, except using an other controller instead. This problem is really annoying when playing in split mode with the two players on the keyboard.

3.6. Force feedback effects do not work

If you use Immersion Corporation drivers, you should try to install the last version. You can download it from the Web site :  http://www.immersion.com/

3.7. Network mode troubleshooting

3.7.1. Cars position are not strictly identical

This is normal. This is due to the method we use to keep a playable game even when network latency is very bad. The final results are based upon exact racing time and will not be influenced by these position approximations.

3.7.2. I can't see all the cars in a race with more than 8 players

This is normal. Due to the limitations of the network bandwidth, only the closest cars are displayed. The number of visible cars depends on the number of connected computers.

You can set manually the network bandwidth used by the game in LAN mode in the ubi.ini file (see DownloadRate and UploadRate in bit/s). Warning : high values may heavily slow down the game framerate.

3.7.3. Sometimes, the game is freezed about 1 minute when I try to quit the session

This is a known problem with DirectX7. You have to install DirectX8 to fix this.

3.8. The game runs slowly

Try to play in "Time attack" mode, if it goes on running slowly, try to change graphic menu options. In other case, graphic rendering is probably not be the main bottleneck (probably a lack of CPU power).

  • To optimize graphic performances :

    Be careful with "Environment mapping", this option really decreases the game speed !

    On not powerfull video card (less than 32Mo) :
    • Try lowest resolutions : 640x480 or 800x600 (800x600 is the default value).
    • Enable "Texture compression" if it is available else try to enable "16 bits textures".
    • Set "Number of bits per pixel" to 16.
    • Disable "Trilinear filtering".
    • Disable "Glints".

    With not powerful CPU (less than 500MHz) :
    • Set "Display distance" to 750 meters or less.
    • Set "Circuit detail" to 75% or less.
    • Set "Car detail" to 75% or less.
    • Set "Rear-view mirrors" to "Low detailed" or "No".
  • To optimize processor load :

    • You should decrease the number of computer opponents in Options > menus page. This is really important in particular if you have an AMD K6-2 or K6-3.
    • You can disable replay options in Options > menus page.
  • To optimize data access performance (loading, videos, streamed sound) :

    The type of installation you chose (minimum, average and maximum) will also affect the speed of the game. Make sure and choose the best installation for your system :

    • In minimum installation videos and loading bitmaps remain on CD. If your CD-ROM driver speed is too slow, videos playing and track loading speed will be affected.
    • Average installation is the same as minimum install plus the loading bitmaps : it increases tracks loading phase.
    • Maximum installation is the same as average installation plus all videos.Maximum installation will produce the most fluid gameplay.

3.9. Problems with Alt-Tab

Despite we have carrefully implemented Alt-Tab Windows tasks switching feature, some have reported problems with it. On most of the computers it works fine. Unfortunately we did not managed to localize precisely what is wrong with some configurations.

4. Tips

  • To increase the frame rate in menus, you can disable the 3D car rendering by adding Menu3D=0 into the ubi.ini F1RC section.


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