RAGE Improvment Guide

A Guide on How to Greatly Improve Your RAGE Gaming Experiance Including Graphics Improvments, Pre-Order Content, Screenshot Mode and More... (Intended for use with a New Game)

Introduction

http://store.steampowered.com/app/9200/
RAGE is a enjoyable game but it suffers from bad graphical issues and a crazy amount of "pop-in" when you do somthing as simple as turning your camera 180 degrees. luckily some of the Master Race's best and brightest have figured out a few key workarounds as well as a few other tricks to better enjoy this worthwhile game (without disabling achiements).

Skip Intro Video

First off lets kill those unskippable startup vids.
Set Launch Options:

+com_skipIntroVideo 1

***Launch Options are in the steam properties for each game installed on steam.***

Source:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=166586246

FOV

FOV is set to 80 base so we can add fov to that (+12 = 92 fov).
Ajust to your liking.

Set Launch Options:

+cvaradd g_fov 12

SweetFX

The only SweetFX preset i could find for RAGE was Proudi´s - Awesome FX on the SweetFX database, it requires ReShade/SweetFX 2.0, ive already made the file you just need to extract on to decktop and run the .exe setup in the folder, then choose RAGE.exe (32bit). it should run on startup of the game and show some text (indicating ReShade is on) in the center and top left of the screen. use scroll lock (to the right of print screen) to toggle the effect off and on.

Premade RAGE SweetFX File Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w002f5s19ygyanc/RAGE%20SweetFX%20%283%29.zip?dl=0
Run ReShade Setup.exe and Choose RAGE 32bit. Done.

Source:
Proudi´s - Awesome FX for RAGE: https://sfx.thelazy.net/games/preset/3028/
SweetFX Database: https://sfx.thelazy.net/games/

Graphics/Texture Fix

Messaggio originale di Andrew Burnes at http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/how-to-unlock-rages-high-resolution-textures-with-a-few-simple-tweaks:

"the NeoGAF forum discovered that creating a .cfg configuration file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rage\base was the solution to the bad textures. Be aware, however, that you will almost certainly require a video card with 1.5GB of Video RAM to enable 8K textures, other graphical niceties and GPU Transcoding, though it may also work on systems with just 1GB of VRAM if said options are toned down."

• to summerize it up, just make a rageconfig.cfg in the steam common\rage\base and copy the text below or just download my premade config at the bottem of the section and place in the steam common/rage/base folder.

and a few things are explained more here if you want to get indepth:
http://rage.wikia.com/wiki/Tweaks

Also Speacial Thanks to Dark Side of Gaming for thier epic Rageconfig. you guys are awesome.
http://www.dsogaming.com/editorial/rage-pc-how-to-adjust-some-graphical-settings/
i used DSoG's rageconfig as a base and personalized it a bit to fit my rig specificly so make sure to set the video card memory and such accordingly.

seta com_videoRam 4095 //Set to the amount of video card memory you have in MB (1gb = 1024MB) 
seta com_maxfps 60 //limits the frames to 60 can be changed to what you desire
seta image_anisotropy 4 //Don’t use higher than 4, otherwise you’ll get artifacts
seta image_usecompression 0 //uncompress the bad 4k-ish textures to 8k+
seta image_filter GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR //filtering for light maps
seta image_preload 1 //Use preload images when ever possible
seta image_lodbias -1 //LoD settings
seta image_ignoreHighQuality 0 //Set to "0" for HQ gfx
seta image_ignoreLowQuality 1 //ignores the low textures
seta image_useCache 1 //Enabled Cache to allow the textures to load properly without popping
seta image_cacheMegs 1024 //Cache size in Megabytes
seta image_cacheMinK 50 //Cache minimum size in kilobytes
seta r_swapInterval 1 //VSYNC 1 enabled, 0 diabled
seta r_useHighQualityPostProcess 1 //Force High Quality post proccessing
seta r_shadowsHighQuality 1 //Force High Quality shadows
seta r_displayRefresh 0 //keep it so the engine doesn’t double render a frame
seta r_renderer best //highest rendering options
seta r_multiSamples 8 //Set this to 8 if you’re having low-fps (8, 16 or 32 max)
seta r_useHBAO 1 //Ambient occlusion
seta r_useRenderThread 1 // 1 Enable threaded rendering useful to increase performance.
seta r_visDistMult 1
seta r_useMotionBlur 1 //use blur
seta r_skipBump 0
seta r_skipSpecular 0
seta r_skipNewAmbient 0
seta r_shadows 1
seta r_cgFragmentProfile best
seta r_cgVertexProfile best
seta vt_lodBias -1 //LoD settings
//below is cache settings
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 8192 // Texture Size
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly 8192  // Texture Size
seta vt_pageimagesizeunique 8192  // Texture Size
seta vt_pageimagesizevmtr 8192  // Texture Size
seta g_showplayershadow 1
seta vt_usecudatranscode 2
seta vt_maxppf 16
seta vt_uncompressedvmtr 1
seta vt_qualityhdplossless "1"
seta vt_qualityhdppower "0"
seta vt_qualityhdpspecular "0"
seta vt_qualityhdpnormal "0"
seta vt_qualityhdpdiffuse "0"
seta vt_qualitydctpower "100"
seta vt_qualitydctspecular "100"
seta vt_qualitydctnormal "100"
seta vt_qualitydctchroma "100"
seta vt_qualitydctluma "100"
seta vt_restart

Rageconfig.cfg Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cubrtrdoow62mht/rageconfig.cfg.txt?dl=0
Just place in Steam\steamapps\common\rage\base. Done.

Then
Set Launch Options:

+image_anisotropy 16 +image_use

Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122440311
OPTIONAL: restarting the engine cashe after a few hours of playing can prevent your game from slowing down in some areas. just press to restart. Put this line your default.cfg and set your keybindings back to default and it will work, when you press j it will do a blue texture over everything for 1sec then reload everything (shown on right).

bind j "vt_restart"

Shuttering Fix / FPS Fix

Have bad FPS/lag? My issues with the framerate were mostly solved with a simple launch option. it goes 0-12 but the lower the better so test it out and see. for me and a few others it seems 4 is the best and should reduce the fps problems the game has.

Set Launch Options:

+jobs_numThreads 4

Source:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=331314826

Fast Mouse in Menu Fix

The mouse sensitivity is a bit to fast in the menus, so tamp it down with a launch option. the default is 0.35. again you are adding to the sensitivity so to reduce it add a negative number such as -.05 to the sensitivity which would reduce it by .05 naturally. i like mine 40% reduced so -0.15 is about right. just set to your liking,

Set Launch Options:

+cvaradd m_menu_sensitivity -0.15

Source:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2166471

Pre-Order Content

To get the pre order content simply download this file and place it in the DLC folder in the steam common/rage folder, this tricks the game into loading data that is already in the game and just needs to be unlocked, its just a workaround to get singleplayer content thats "day-one-dlc-on-disc" in the first place. i used Method 2 from the Guide below as to not disable achievement (by useing the dev console in-game to get the items).

dlc1 folder Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpj0iywwegg8r4n/dlc1.zip?dl=0
Put in steam common/rage/dlc, next to the dlc2 and dlc3 folders. done.

you will start the game with the fists of RAGE and the double barrel shotgun so no worries there but you will have to wait to get the others.
**Notice**
you WILL recieve the Crimson Elite and Rat Rod as the story progresses, just follow the quests.
Spoilers if you have to know exactly: the Crimson Elite is a choice out of 4 outfits from the merchant in Wellspring (NOT HAGAR) after you blow up the wall and go to Wellspring for the first time in your dune buggy and the Rat Rod is given when you unlock the Wellspring Garage, shortly after getting the choice of clothes from the merchant. just follow the quests.
Source:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=198229043

Screenshot Mode

Add a keybinding that removes the UI and the fps hands for perfect screenshots.

copy and paste the line below in to your default.cfg in the steam common/rage/base folder
reset you ingame key bindings to default (a pain i know) and then it will work.

bind h "toggle g_showhud;toggle hands_show"

***Notice*** the game will autosave everytime you switch on/off, nothing to worry about just extra saves AND you leave a "phantom" pair of hands everytime your fps hands do a animation, nothing game breaking just a heads up.

Thanks to Mad Max RW and Maxwell_Adams for the screenshot binding command
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2166471&page=1

Bonus

The Ladies of RAGE:


All Collectables including Hidden Rooms Guide:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=386802419

A Complete Walkthrough of RAGE with all collectibles:
http://www.xboxachievements.com/forum/showthread.php?t=333692

Sewer and Jump Locations:
Northern Wasteland
Eastern Wasteland

Credits

MarurabaATX - Author/Orgainzer
ReBoot - for his guide on skiping Intro Videos
Nvidia Geforce - for thier article on the rageconfig.ctf file
RAGEwiki - for info on Tweaks and Sewer Locations
Dark Side of Gaming - for thier article on RAGE's graphical fixes
Laetteralus - for his guide on graphical fixes and tweaks
Proudi - for his badass SweetFX preset
Creeper and Retro - for thier guide on fixing shuttering
Mad Max RW - for his posts on console commands
Maxwell_Adams - for the screenshot binding command
MikeOxbig and MWisBest - for thier guide on unlocking pre-order dlc

[RipperG]

did the graphics fix but sadly the game still looks like shit

[Biggerest Boss]

Everything works perfectly now, thanks.

[MarurabaATX]

thanks for the heads up, i fixed the SweetFX file so i should work now, for whatever it was missing a folder :( also even though you probly did this, make sure to extract the entire folder on desktop i dont think the setup will work properly if you only extract it alone

[Biggerest Boss]

There seems to be a problem on the coding for SweetFX, but other than that, great guide.