[LAST UPDATE : NOVEMBER 1ST)
Following is the procedure to get id's Rage to work in 5 easy steps (step 6 is optional not necessary).
Used is an out of the box Rage game with Steam and Rage patch 1 automatically installed through Steam. The procedure is for ATI rigs but also usefull for nvidia based systems.

Since there is no second patch yet i finished the game and holding up to play it a second time with new patches and/or drivers. In the meanwhile i moved on to BF3 to enjoy the Frostbite 2 engine.
(username trooper321)

Important note: there is a huge difference between playing Rage with 4K textures and 8K textures. I got the 8K textures to work with a 1GB ATI 5870 rig. I wouldnt recommend 8K textures with <1GB graphic cards.

following Rob UK's post i got RAGE to work (bizarre fix) and it truly looks amazing with 8K textures.
I've followed http://forums.bethso...63-bizarre-fix/ advices with a little change here and there:

step 1 : installing ati drivers
install CCC and ati drivers 11.9

step 2 : the copying of atioglxx.dll (estimated time 1 minute)

go to c:\Windows\System 32

copy the atioglxx.dll to the C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\rage\base folder



step 3 estimated time 1 minute
go to program files
steam
steamApps
common
rage
right click on rage.exe
set compatibility mode "Win98/ME"

step 4 : estimated time 2 minutes
go to steam
rage
right click on rage
properties
set launch option
and add following line:

+cvaradd jobs_numThreads 4 +com_skipIntroVideo 1 +seta com_allowconsole 1 +vt_maxPPF 8

remarks
1) Use _numThreads 4 if you have a quad core rig, use _numThreads 0 if you have a single core or dual core rig
(for me this fixed the random crashes inbetween loading levels, for example when going from the ghost hideout to the wasteland)

2) here i use parameter +vt_maxPPF 8 that is for dual core processor, for quad core this should be +vt_maxPPF 16
the parameter gives better streaming textures for multi-core systems)



step 5 : creating the RageConfig file - estimated time : 5 minutes (**)

** props to user "ildamos" for the perfect tutorial and explanation:
check out http://imbacore.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-solve-rage-texture-streaming-pop.html for more info. (also for nvidia users)

here i give 2 options:
A ) option A : 4K textures: depending on your system! (for every user it will be a different : i first tried 4K which was ok but then i tried 8K and was blown away)
B ) option B : 8K textures : top of the notch, high end textures. It works for me on a 1 GB VRAM card. These textures blew me away and give a different feel to the game, kinda cartoonisch but very slick and sharp.
(1,5 gb vram is recommended but it works for me on a 1gb vram card so i guess it works in general? waiting for updates on that one)

1. Option A explained:

go to program files
steam
steamApps
common
rage
base
now right click in the folder
click on NEW
create text document with the name RageConfig.cfg
edit with text editor and add following lines:

vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 4096
vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly 4096
vt_pageimagesizeunique 4096
vt_pageimagesizevmtr 4096
vt_restart
vt_maxPPF 8

EXPLANATION:
the 4096 stands for the type of textures you wanna use, in this case 4K textures
the 8 in the last line is for dual core systems, make it 16 if you have a quad core system

save the file

2. Option B explained:

go to program files
steam
steamApps
common
rage
base
now right click in the folder
click on NEW
create text document with the name RageConfig.cfg
edit with text editor and add following lines:

vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 8192
vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly 8192
vt_pageimagesizeunique 8192
vt_pageimagesizevmtr 8192
vt_restart
vt_maxPPF 8

EXPLANATION:
the 8192 stands for the type of textures you wanna use, in this case 8K textures
the 8 in the last line is for dual core systems, make it 16 if you have a quad core system

save the file

(OPTIONAL STEP 6: verifying the steam game cache)

for some users this might help, however, in my opinion, it's not totally necessary but worth a try if steps 1 to 5 won't help) - estimated time 5 minutes

go to steam
right click on RAGE
properties
click on 'local files' tab
click on 'verify integrity of game cache"
(let it run, it takes about 4 minutes)

start the game through steam
go to settings
video settings
turn Vsync ON (you can leave it off, but i turned it on to get rid of image tearing (horizontal lines while looking around in the game world within rage)
play the game

F5 and escape key work again ingame and everything seems to work fine.
Textures load in good, although a tiny little bit slower than perfect, but maybe its just a small parameter i need to change? someone knows?

good luck! I'm testing rage at the moment, updates on new issues follow later, if there are.

PS: steam says 5 hours gameplay, but i have none. I was fixing issues.

SPECS AGB VRAM XFX ATI 5870 XXX ON QUAD CORE INTEL 3,00Ghz
4gig ram
amd 11.9 drivers for ati

DOING ALL THESE STEPS HELPED ME FIXING RAGE FROM A CRAPPY no-texture startup with multiple crashes to a solid awesome game with 8K textures and no more crashes at 60FPS

Good god, you're a hero.
One thing to note, my game now occasionally lags or freezes for a second or two when something changes, like pressing mouse 2 to "zoom", or when using boost in a vehicle. This is most likely a different issue though, knowing the game.
Other than that the game's near perfect, and after 103 minutes of playtime on steam, which was in fact watching the intro video and testing out fixes, I'm glad to be able to finally play it, thanks.

to roark: no problem! i wonder what the 1 second lag is, i dont have that problem here, i'm think it's only the parameters that need a little bit more finetuning. Framerates are great, 60 fps no exceptions.
occassionaly it crashes inbetween loading levels, but i can live with that if you look back at where we come from after starting the game for the first time.

finetuning by means of adding a cfg file but i check into that tomorrow. For now no cfg file needed

One week searching for a fix and finally hero comes with pretty simple trick I almost love You my HERO!!!

WORKS like a charm!

RESPECT

BUMP!!! Worked like a Charm now I could finally play MP.

For me, the loading freezes only happen if I have previously alt-tabbed out of the game.

What works is the "+vt_maxPPF 8" line you added --- that tells RAGE that your CPU has two cores. Once I added that line in my http://imbacore.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-solve-rage-texture-streaming-pop.html, my game elevated into a whole level of smoothness. I think the Steam update page that says the game now automatically (after the patch) detects the number of cores is something that's not to be believed.

DUDE I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!!! When I added the line in all of a sudden the game started playing so much smoother OMG THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!!!! =)

thnks ildamos!!!
does it mean witj quad core config i have to add +vt_maxPFF 16 instead of 8 to maximimize the use of all cores?

It worked for me, too
Single player runs smoothly and looks good
Thanks

It is a little work for me

because I got low fps in any effects like explosion

still thanks

there is a tiny little glitch i found while playing: maybe someone knows how to get rid of it, it's not really disturbing but its there: for example when i look from left to right or turn or whatever i see a little horizontal line in the screen, a line that starts down the screen first and moves up when i continue turning left right. it's not a black line or something, it looks like a refresh rate that isnt continuous in the screen, a little off.
I used to have that in intro videos in games when the video pans horizontally. Does someone know how to get rid of this? Some parameter to adjust?

Very glad I could be of help to you guys. You are welcome. Just in case you've problems with other games, I've also put several "how to" guides on my site:

http://imbacore.blogspot.com/search/label/Tutorials%2FWalkthroughs%20-%20Retail%20Games



Everything is in the guide Trooper321: http://imbacore.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-solve-rage-texture-streaming-pop.html The answer to your question lies in the link to the Nvidia GeForce article I included there. It's better if you read that; who knows you might stumble upon variables that would further optimize your system. Good luck and happy gaming!

thanks ildamos, checking this out right now. thanks man.

I hope it helps you further.

I will be uploading a new gameplay video on my YouTube channel showcasing the new level of graphics I got after the tweak. (Untweaked, I could only run the game at 640 resolution; any higher and the game results in an amalgam of streaming textures and stuttering sequences. Now I can run it at 1024 resolution, 2x AA, and with Texture Cache activated. I'm currently being conservative as the game is still buggy. Once Bethesda releases a proper patch, I'll crank up the quality again.)

hey ildamos i got rid of the image tearing horizontal lines, i simply had to turn ON the vsync option.
The game works like a charm now, i have to admit, once you get it to run it truly is amazing.
Do you know how to figure out if the game is using 4K or 8K textures? It looks great already now but i wanna make sure which ones i'm using.

Without the tweaks I've detailed I've no idea how to do that. However, the tweak guide I've provided a link to? the first four lines with the 4-digit numbers is essentially telling the game to run which texture count. If you've put in there 8192, that's 8K texture. If 4096, 4K. 8K textures are for video cards with 1.5GB of video RAM according to the Nvidia article so careful with that.

I've detailed why I used 4096 in my tweak guide by the way.

so far havent found any more issues,sometimes a freeze inbetween loading areas but i can live with that. smooth like a charm

roark the lag will disappear, i updated my thread, you will need a smll config file to add to the base folder. check out the updated thread. good luck

set compatibility mode "Win98/ME"

WHY ? Explanation

no clue, but it works now and before it didnt

Thanks for giving me credit Trooper; very much appreciated.

An update though: I will be changing the picture that shows the settings I use. I just found out several things after the tweaks I made:

1. I can run the game at 1024 resolution without the game degenerating into a stuttering mess
2. I can now apply 2x anti-aliasing without the game degenerating into a stuttering mess
3. I can now activate Texture Cache --- this is highly dependent on your system though (it's dependent on video RAM according to the Nvidia article)
4. The Texture Cache setting is bugged for me (I don't know about other users): every time I load the game up, it reverts to "Small." Setting it back to "High" produces no problem (for me) so that' what I do every time I load the game up.

I can run the game at 1152 resolution but I notice my eyes get tired fast. There's a discernible amount of stutter whenever I set it to that level.

cool i'll check your update as soon as its on there.
After playing rage for a couple of hours now, i can say it runs pretty stable. The textures are 8K and ok, smooth gameplay with 4X AA on. Crisp and sharp.
There's 2 issues left at the moment:
* continuous freezes inbetween loading levels. I guess that's fixed in the 11.10 ati driver but i'm using the 11.9 drivers here so i have to live with that.

(i dont want to install 11.10 because i heard rumors that its bad in other games (crysis 2, etc...) so i hold on untill an updated driver is available, by then i probably have finished the campaign anyway.

* way too fast mouse movement through the ingame menus. (you need surgical skills to click on an item)

From what i see rage has almost 90% of its inspiration from the game borderlands, which i loved a lot, although i didnt finish that one.
It pretty much has the same borderlands environments.
Borderlands mixed with some fallout 3 i guess.
and they watched the movie Pandorum (with dennis quaid) too. (i did read that in some threads on the forum here)

I miss the "right in your face" action in the game. The bunker level had it, but most of the time i'm driving back and forth and the action gets cut off by dialogues and bringing items to someone.
I dont know i prefer the fast paced action but i guess they wanted more RPG influence in it.They didnt succeed IMO.

Thanks man! The 8K textures work. I guess it was the core detection command line that was bugging us. Once that got into the config file, everything has worked like a charm. Anyway, I'll still be mentioning the 4K texture in my guide, it might help some people whose machines stubbornly reject the 8K texture setting.

About: "
* way too fast mouse movement through the ingame menus. (you need surgical skills to click on an item)" --- I never had this bug.

Pandorum haha! Where'd you read about that being their inspiration? Give us the link; it would be a good read! I watched that movie and I didn't like it but the similarities in some aspects are staggering haha!

About the RPG elements, I'm thankful they added them; it's a twist to the usual RPG fare we get nowadays. I didn't think they failed IMO --- some players (including me) have played a lot of RPGs lately and are thankful that the RPG bits didn't get too intrusive on the gameplay (for example my friend who's a Bethesda fan was thankful it didn't turn out to be another Fallout 3 --- he's satisfied that it's more of a first-person shooter). The community will forever be divided between this RPG divide --- some would have liked the RPG aspects to have been more developed while some are cool with the FPS action solely taking the center stage. I'm cool with both factions.

Wow man it works and runs at about 95% and that's good enough for me, so thank you for your awesome work, but i have 1 issue and that is when i go to the ghost hide out it freezes and even if i try to save it also freezes and lock up, could you help me with this please?


My System:

Win 7 - 32 bit
Intel? Core? Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 - 6-Quad M/board
4GB duel kit
ATI HD5970 2GB GDDR5 Memory, PCI E - 16