This topic is specifically about monitor refresh rate. This topic is NOT about frame-rate. This topic is also not about fancy monitors (I don't have one anyway).

I need to set 72hz or 75hz so that my monitor doesn't noticeably "flicker" (since it's a CRT). At 60hz, the flickering becomes noticeable and causes me to get eye strain within minutes.

Rage is the first game I have ever heard of that seemingly forces the game to run at a specific monitor refresh rate. I have v-sync disabled, although that's probably irrelevant since v-sync does not lock your refresh rate.

I've tried setting my desktop resolution to the same as my game resolution, with the refresh rate that I want to use... but as soon as I load Rage, it forces the monitor refresh rate to 60hz. And then when I exit the game, the refresh rate returns to what it was before launching the game.

I've also tried using third-party apps to force refresh rate (which work fine with all other games), but still Rage stubbornly forces the refresh rate to 60hz.

Any ideas?

The game is synchronized at 60 fps - animations, everything! So getting 120 fps would mean the actual game speed was twice as fast. That's why it's capped, and no, you can not uncap it.

My CRT operates at 85Hz (and 60fps vsync) in this game just fine.

edit: Maybe try +r_displayRefresh 75 in launch options if it isn't defaulting to the desired refresh.

If you are using a Geforce Driver you can right click the driver icon in the system tray and you should see a "Screen Refresh Rate" menu.

You didn't say how you managed to run it at 85hz. Are you sure it's not actually running at 60hz and you just thought it was 85hz? I have ways to tell with 100% certainty that my monitor refresh rate is always at 60hz in Rage.

It's amazing how stubborn Rage is with forcing this, it even fights for 15-20 seconds with third-party refresh rate apps (with my monitor making rapid switching noises) until the apps give up and reverts to 60hz. If I alt+tab out of the game to Windows desktop, my monitor stays at 60hz in the desktop. If I try to now set 75hz in the desktop (with Rage running in the background), it sets it for a quick moment, before immediately forcing back to 60hz. If I keep trying it repeatedly (20+ times quickly), Rage will crash. The only way my monitor runs at anything other than 60hz is if Rage is not running at all.

I have no refresh rate issue in any other game ever made (and I own every id Software game).

I have already tried r_displayRefresh in the console, but it is locked at "0" and cannot be changed. I have also tried the launch command line +set r_displayRefresh 75, and it does nothing (the variable is still locked at 0). If you know of a way to change the r_displayRefresh value in Rage, please let me know.

It says 75hz before I launch the game. If I launch Rage, it switches to 60hz, and if I alt+tab out of the game to check the driver icon, it says 60hz. If I try to now set it to 75hz, it flickers my screen for a split second, and reverts back to 60hz. I can't make it anything other than 60hz with Rage running in full-screen mode (including running in the background).

HOWEVER, that gave me the idea to try "windowed" mode, and it works fine at any refresh rate! Rage only seems to be forcing 60hz refresh in fullscreen mode, whereas I can set it to whatever I want in windowed mode (annoying to have the visible window around the game though).

So I guess I have a partial solution now, to just play in windowed mode. But I will keep searching to find a solution that works in fullscreen mode!

1920x1200@85Hz just works for me, which I can confirm in the monitor menu (and the lack of a headache). Sony GDM-C520K and AMD 6950.

The other place to try setting the cvar would be in rage/base/rageconfig.cfg, but I'm guessing that this is a driver problem. IIRC Geforce drivers load a Rage profile which overrides your global settings - check the application list and see.