Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin Setup Instructions, Known Issues and Changelog

The Manual is here
Plugin itself is included with the Crew Chief application.

If you'd like to help testing pre-release plugin Beta versions, or have questions about updating your content, please PM me on CC Discord or join this dedicated server: https://discord.gg/BqPh6ubBR7.

This plugin is for offline use only.
Plugin only works with Steam version of GTR2.exe. Steam GTR2 does not need 1.1 patch or NOCD, Steam version is already the latest GTR2 version available.


FAQ:

Q: Will Plugin work with CD/NOCD/Warez GTR2?
A: No. Steam GTR2 is the newest GTR2 available and there will be no work done to enable it on other .exe's

Q: Feature X does not work or crashes online
A: This Plugin is intended for offline use only, please do not report online issues.

Q: Will you port to related games?
A: No, this Plugin is GTR2 only. There will be no ports.

Q: Will XD work with this Plugin?
A: No, but there's SimHub alternative: https://www.racedepartment.com/downl...verlays.47212/

Q: I get message box "Failed to load d3d9 proxy", what to do?
A:
1) Make sure you installed all Plugin files.
2) Make sure your AV software does not block Plugin files.

Q: I'd like...
A: I do not take feature requests, Plugin is provided AS IS - I simply share what I use myself. I am however interested in adding features that will make Your mod more true to life, so if you are a modder, and you wish GTR2 did something but it does not, feel free to reach out.

Q: I do not get any response on Forum/Discord.
A: That's likely because your question is answered in the Plugin Manual.

Just to add my thanks and appreciation for this, working with you guys makes me feel like a total fraud as I sit back and watch you create stuff that, to me at least, is entirely indistinguishable from magic :)


Can I also add that I get a much better VR experience in GTR2 if I set "world movement" to 0 in-game (this is with a Valve Index)

Update: CC 4.15.0.3/Plugin 1.0.2.0

Plugin now generates CrewChief.ini if one doesn't exist. Also, plugin will add new options/remove deprecated ones automatically.

Update: CC 4.15.0.5/Plugin 1.1.1.0

Important: for VR use, make sure to update both CrewChief.dll and d3d9.dll.

* Fixed rain reflections. Note: rain reflections rendering is not perfect, mostly due to the fact that they were not meant for VR resolutions and aspect ratios. If you find imperfections distracting, use "disableVRRainReflections" to turn rain reflections off.
* Fix textures missing under some external camera situations.
* Fix sky rendering corruption on some tracks around ~7pm.
* Improve tracking and stereo projection rendering.
* Fix driving school UI messages. This also allows using HUD in VR. See "VR Configuration" for UI configuration parameters.
* Improve Oculus HMD rendering.

Special thanks go to:
* Sparten for contributing his tracking/stereo math improvements and HUD rendering method from AMS.
* mr_belowski - finding and fixing bug that caused wrong rendering on Oculus HMDs.
* GTR233 for his hard work fixing driver hands disappearing in HQ content. Thanks to his support we can all enjoy Driving School in VR.
* Seven Smiles - a lot of testing.

Update: CC 4.15.1.0/Plugin 1.1.11.0

Important: for VR use or if you want to utilize MyDocuments disabling feature, make sure to update both CrewChief.dll and d3d9.dll.

CC:
* Improve rolling start position messages.
* Improve Championship lap vs time race detection.

VR:
* Improve VR rendering loop. Improved performance and fixed shutdown crashes.
* Add feature to allow lens flare position adjustments (lensHOffsetPercentage setting).

Game fixes:
* Add feature to allow steering wheel animation scaling (scaleDriverAnimationToPhysicalDegrees setting).
* Implement random weather patch (applyChangeableWeatherPatch setting).
* Add feature to disable writing to Documents (disableMyDocumentsProfile setting).

See "Additional Features" section in the main post for a more detailed explanations of the new features.

Update: CC 4.15.1.2/Plugin 1.1.16.0

Both d3d9.dll (if you'd like to use VR video mode enumeration) and CrewChief.dll need updating.

VR:
* Improve mouse scaling and use GTR2 mouse icons in VR
* Fix a bug where changeable weather patch won't get applied unless VR is enabled.


Speed limiter behavior tweaks:

; Disable automatic speed limiter engagement on pit lane entry/exit.
rulesDisableAutomaticSpeedLimiter = 1

; Enable pit lane speed limit detection in all sessions (not only the Race session).
; To serve penalty in non-race session, return to the pits.
rulesEnablePitLaneSpeedLimitInAllSessions = 1

; Activate speed limiter in the garage stall. Only applies to vehicles with limiter available
; and tracks with speed limit below 200km/h.
rulesActivateSpeedLimiterOnGarageExit = 1

Note: currently, speed limit penalty is not enforced in non-race session (ie you won't get disqualified BUT Chief will keep nagging you). But I'll revisit that some day to make sure event gets ruined if autosport rules are ignored.


Enhancements:
* Add "enableDetailsPageIcons" setting which enables Championship and Driving School details page logos.
* Add "useVRVideoModeEnumerationFor2DRendering" setting which eliminates the need to re-run GTR2Config.exe on enabling/disabling of VR. This setting may also be useful in fixing GTR2 startup crashes in Desktop mode. Requires CC d3d9.dll present.

Update: CC 4.15.1.4/Plugin 1.1.19.0

Crew Chief:
* Implement the Safety Car phase.
* Improve Rolling start column detection (Thanks to Bjarne Hansen for the idea and testing here).

VR:
* Further improve lens flare rendering.
* Mouse rendering tweak.

Rules:
* New penalty for exiting pits on Red.
* Penalties in non-race sessions are now enforced, player will be DQ for ignoring them.
* New option "rulesOverridePitLaneSpeedLimit" to override the pit lane speed limit. Useful for simulating pre-1994 events from when there was no speed limit in pits.
* Relax the speed limiter detection logic to include more cars.

For the best lens flare experience, you may want to use custom sun flare texture. See "VR Lens flare effect adjustment" section in the main post for customized textures for Pimax and Index headsets.

Update: CC 4.15.2.1/Plugin 1.1.22.0

Crew Chief/Additional Features:
* Add setting "enableMissingTelemetryFix" to expose more telemetry. When enabled, CC will become aware of the tire wear.

FFB:
* Implement stationary friction FFB effect.
* Implement a switch to prevent game from resetting FFB on session transition.

Rules:
* Add "rulesDisableAutomaticEngineStartInGarage" setting to prevent game from autostarting the engine in the garage.

Main post updated with details.

Update: CC 4.15.2.3/Plugin 1.2.0.0

Plugin:
* Simple flat spot emulation. See "Tire Changes" section in the main post.

Crew Chief:
* Integrate flat spot messages.
* Improve tire wear logic.
* Improve wheel lockup detection.

Additional features:
* Add motion system mode.

Rules:
* Fix bug where sometimes "exit on red" penalty cannot be served.

VR:
Minor perf improvement.

Special thanks to:
* mr_belowski - Crew Chief flat spot messages.
* Yuca - key idea behind flat spots that greatly simplified the code, encouraging me to go through physics, not fake FFB/telemetry, testing and a lot of interesting and productive discussions.
* Sparten - hinted an idea to exaggerate secondary lockups.
* Yoss - tire behavior info
* Wotever - info on ShakeIt and general discussions about flat spot emulation

Update: CC 4.15.1.2/Plugin 1.2.1.0

Both d3d9.dll and CrewChief.dll need updating.

Crew Chief:
* Fix rolling start timed session time remaining calculation.
* Suppress messages on return to garage from the pause menu.

Graphics:
* Implement rain wipers. Requires content authored in a special way, see the main post for details. Next HQ Anniversary patch v15.3+ will contain compatible wipers.

Fixes:
* Introduce enableKnownCrashesFix setting which enables fixes for known game crashes.
* Multiple bug fixes.

Special Thanks to:
* GTR233 for coming up with an idea of animating wipers by using textures and creating such textures.
* Yuca for testing and performance testing of the wiper stuff.