Okay first the system specs.....

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+
4 GB DDR3
nVidia GTS 450 1 GB DDR5 (2 cards in SLI)
Win XP Pro SP3

Like many I had horrid first experiences running Rage. I only saw blue geometry with no textures at all. I then started to learn of the cache folder, config file, and launch command line fixes. In hopes that my 3 days of tweaking might help another gamer get Rage running I present my current set up.

- I installed the R285 driver from nVidia.
- In the driver settings for Rage I set VSync Forced On, and Triple Buffering On.

- In Steam I opened the Launcher options for Rage and added this to the command line.....

+fs_cachepath "C:\Documents and Settings\User_Account\Local Settings\Application Data\id software\rage" +com_skipIntroVideo "1" +image_usecompression "0"

- Here are the settings in the rageconfig.cfg I use.....
It is a hybrid of several versions that I modified setting in and commented out some parts.


seta com_videoRam "1024" //sets the Video Card memory Set this to the amount you have in MB
seta com_maxfps "60" //limits the frames to 60 can be changed to what you desire
seta image_anisotropy "2" //Using the highest setting here but you can set as 2, 4 or 8

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 "1" //Sets up for using HQ gfx
seta image_ignoreLowQuality "0" //ignores the low textures
seta image_useCache "1" //Enabled Cache to allow the textures to load properly without popping
seta image_cacheMegs "2048" //Cache size in Megabytes
seta image_cacheMinK "256" //Cache minimum size in kilobytes
//seta r_swapInterval 1 //VSYNC 1 enabled, 0 diabled
seta r_useHighQualityPostProcess "0" //Fore High Quality post proccessing
seta r_shadowsHighQuality "0" //Fore 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 "2" //Set this to 16 or 8 if you're having low-fps as 32 is the Max Multi-sampling
seta r_useHBAO "0" //Ambient occlusion
seta r_useRenderThread "0" // 0 Disable or 1 Enable threaded rendering useful for newer cards to increase performance.
seta r_visDistMult "1"
seta r_useMotionBlur "0" //use blur
seta r_skipBump "1"
seta r_skipSpecular "1"
seta r_skipNewAmbient "1"
seta r_shadows "0"
//seta r_cgFragmentProfile "best"
//seta r_cgVertexProfile "best"
seta vt_lodBias "-1" //LoD settings
//below is cache settings
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 "4096"
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly "4096"
seta vt_pageimagesizeunique "4096"
seta vt_pageimagesizevmtr "4096"
seta fc_maxcachememoryMB "1024"

seta vt_qualityhdplossless "0"
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 jobs_numthreads "4"

seta vt_usecudatranscode "2"
seta vt_maxPPF "8"
seta com_allowConsole "0"
seta com_skipIntroVideo "1"

- The last thing I did that has nearly ended the stuttering ingame was to use windowed mode. I only get rare stops when the game needs to load many textures.
(update) - The patch has fixed the stutter I was getting before. Game does freeze my system after game quit, so still not perfect.
So this is what has worked for my system. I hope it might someone else get a bit closer to 'playable'.

Okay so time to update my current experience.

I used the CFG Maker that was posted on this forum. Made a simular one by setting the values as close to my old config file as possible. I did change a few based on provided info.

So the game still ran simular and I was going to give up. The game crashes my system on game shut down, so I ALT+TAB to desktop. I have a FPS tracker (AfterBurner) running and the FPS shot up, and my CPU load dropped. It has never imroved like this before, so i switched back. The performance remained steady. I ALT+TAB again, and the FPS increased and CPU load dropped again. I did this once more, and ended up with 30 FPS, and 50% to 75% CPU usage. I have played for 3 hours now and the game is running rather smooth with no hitches, moderate texture switching (new areas tend to take a while to improve textures), and combat goes rather well in areas I have been in for a bit.

I see no reason that the ALT+TAB or ALT+ENTER would improve game performance. It used to crash my game, but today it makes the game run better.

So I share this info again hoping it might help someone else out.