Wondering if anyone can help me with an issue I've got with this game.
Got the game the other day after seeing it pretty cheap on ShopTo. Decided to install it today, downloaded and installed the patch, and installed the DLC pack(s) via Origin. All was well - even managed to get a decent number of races in before having a break. So I came back to it earlier this evening and managed another handful of races without any issues... that is, until I got onto one of the shorter Miami tracks with a setting sun (early on in career mode). My frame rate fell off a frickin cliff, as I was getting like 10fps instead of a lovely v-sync'd 60fps (when I went on the game after installing it and before turning v-sync on, I was recording 75fps+). I quit the race and went back onto it... same issue. I then decided to try a previous track because I knew I should get 60fps, but I was still getting abysmal fps.
Quitting the game solved the issue temporarily. In fact, I even went onto the offending track (that Miami one) and was getting good fps again (though not my constant 60fps, as at certain points around the track it would either go to a solid 50fps or a solid 40fps, which I thought was odd). However, the problem came back when I went onto the next event. The next track was pretty standard unlike the Miami one, so it was even more peculiar that I was getting this terrible fps (it also confirmed to me that it wasn't my graphics card that was under-performing but the game being a tit for whatever reason).
Anyway, once again I quit the game. I went back to the new track and all was fine again. Completed it and went to the next event. Once again, though, my fps fell off a cliff (I was getting 2fps now

). Even though this next race was a night time race, I still reckon I should be getting 60fps, as I had a couple of night races previously without any issues.
I quit after that because it's getting on a bit and I need a shower.

I had a quick Google and found some people who appeared to have experienced the same issues as I am, but they're all from months ago (made me thought that the patch might not have installed, but then surely I wouldn't be able to connect to the Autolog servers or apply the DLC

).
Spec in sig. Was playing at 1680x1050 initially, but when I went on it again this evening after that break I mentioned I was playing it on my TV at 1920x1080. I also had every in-game setting at its highest, including AA (and yes, I am aware the in-game AA for this game is supposedly borked [maybe that's the issue?]), as well as v-sync on.
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction, as I can foresee having to quit the game every time my fps drops off becoming somewhat tiresome.
SHift 2 is not the most stable of games, I suffer from the frame rate drop, CTD's & Dark cockpit frequently. Basically
Alt+Tab is your friend in shift. If you get stutters, drastic drops in FPS or a dark cockpit, pause the game, ALt+Tab, then back into the game & press 'Restart' (not continue), the game will briefly load up again & all should be ok. However, do this a number of times in a 1-2 hour session then you will surely experience a CTD.
I have the AA settings & V-Sync off in game, then I use Nvidia inspector to 1x2 [1x2 Supersampling (D3D only]) AA 2xSGSS @ -0.5 LOD & Forced V-Sync on. I have also found more stability by changing my Graphicscongig.xml (found in My Documents - SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED) to the following:
<prop name="Mode" adapter="0" width="1920" height="1200" antialias="0" refresh="60" />
<prop name="Vsync" vsync="0" />
<prop name="AntiAlias" antialias="0" />
<prop name="Windowed" windowed="0" />
<prop name="TextureFilter" texturefilter="5" />
<prop name="TextureResolution" textureresolution="5" />
<prop name="Brightness" brightness="10" />
<prop name="CarDetailLevel" cardetaillevel="5" />
<prop name="TrackDetailLevel" trackdetaillevel="5" />
<prop name="ShadowDetailLevel" shadowdetaillevel="5" />
<prop name="MotionblurLevel" motionblurLevel="5" />
<prop name="EffectsDetailLevel" effectsdetaillevel="5" />
<prop name="EnvmapDetailLevel" envmapdetaillevel="3" />
The games actual Level is 2 for high but on making the following changes (I believe) the frequency of the drops in fps & CTD'd has decreased significantly...however the game doesn't look as good.
EDIT:
I've been playing round with settings & v happy with end result (for looks, not tested stability, will give the settings a 1-2 hour session tomorrow): Graphicscongif file =
<prop name="Mode" adapter="0" width="1920" height="1200" antialias="0" refresh="59" />
<prop name="Vsync" vsync="0" />
<prop name="AntiAlias" antialias="0" />
<prop name="Windowed" windowed="0" />
<prop name="TextureFilter" texturefilter="5" />
<prop name="TextureResolution" textureresolution="2" />
<prop name="Brightness" brightness="10" />
<prop name="CarDetailLevel" cardetaillevel="2" />
<prop name="TrackDetailLevel" trackdetaillevel="2" />
<prop name="ShadowDetailLevel" shadowdetaillevel="3" />
<prop name="MotionblurLevel" motionblurLevel="3" />
<prop name="EffectsDetailLevel" effectsdetaillevel="2" />
<prop name="EnvmapDetailLevel" envmapdetaillevel="3" />
& Nvi shown below. Looking good & avg 58fps. When I turn up SGSS to 4 @ -1.0 & 8 @ -1.5, it looks good but fps drops down to 42. The game looks amazing with 8 SGSS & 12xS AA but then looking at around 24-32fps. I'm running Q9650 @ 4.05Ghx, GTX 580 OC, Win7x64 at resolution 1920 x 1200.