Can someone assist me? I put in a new router (replaced old one with same model) and updated Windows XP with latest updates. Now, rFactor works but I cannot see or transmit chat.

Can someone shed some light on this? Thank you!

My gut is that it is display adapter related, but in the meantime, do you have System Restore enabled? You can revert to a restore point just before the update, then enable MS Updates one by one to determine which one caused the anomaly.

display adapter? I can see rFactor just fine, watch the races, drive my car. I am on rF right now. But, the main chat lobby and the in-race chat log are all empty. I can make entries, but I don't see anyone else's and I cant see theirs.

I am starting to suspect that its not the router, as I have the router disconnected from the PC.

Chip,

Apparently I can vote in chat, or at least it tells me that 2 more votes are required to change something.

I can see every aspect of the game just fine, but I can't see anyone else's chat. The game looks normal except that i am the only one in the chat room (as if I was the only one in the race sessionb). I can view other drivers driving, I can drive my car, etc. But noone else's chat appears in the chat window (neither lobby chat or in-game chat).

I am currently off my router, and direct-connected to the Modem. I have only 1 firewall turned on (windows). I will try just my PC Cillan firewall.

OK, well, I can't see anyone else's chat now, no matter what I do with the firewalls. It isn't a router problem because I am off the router. It must be a windows update problem. I am reluctant to do a restore point, because that could totally hose my system. What about uninstalling select updates until I find the solution?

MAN THIS SUCKS! One question: Could chat be somehow disabled on the smooth-is-fast server?

Update: Issue apparently solved. I went to the main chat lobby, and clicked on "connect". Then I got the full chat lobby and talked to a guy from speedracin' .net or .com.

It would seem that, since I never even looked at the chat lobby page before, that somehow my windows update somehow changed that setting??? Bizarre.

Weird. I would have suspected an rFactor setting, but I don't see how Windows Update could affect that...

The "cannot see" part, and the fact that Microsoft hardware updates occasionally result in adverse hardware behavior, was what made me think it might be graphics related. I most likely misinterpreted your comments, and you meant that you can see the chat window, but no text. Would that point to a network issue? I don't know. However, unless you are attempting to host a race, the port forwarding would not be an issue, and besides you mentioned that the firewall is no more in the loop. Can you press the Chat key (T) in game and send a message?

Regardless, my thoughts about using a restore point still stand if you don't have a resolution to an issue related to a Microsoft Update. That suggestion is made with the caveat that you are using System Restore and have a recent restore point.

Yeah Chip, sorry if I wasn't clear. Basically it was as if I was racing in off-line mode and trying to chat to the AI drivers. All my chat was there (Chunx has joined, 2 votes needed to pass, whatever I typed in, etc), and I could see Col Kurtz and Ktel driving, and I could drive, but they could not see my chat, nor I theirs.

Of course my trouble-shooting mindset was "look at what has changed since the last time it worked", and that was the Windows updates, and the new router (which works quite well, btw). None of those were the culprit.

Out of dispair, I started just poking around rFactor. In the main game lobby that lists games, I clicked on the "Lobby Chat" button. Never clicked on it before, because Lobby Chat is always at the bottom left of the display, anyway. That makes the entire rF page a chat room, and once there I saw a button called "Connect to Chat"... Hmmm. Never touched that before.... click - and there was all the chat in the Chat Lobby! I chatted briefly with a guy from speedracin.net, and that confirmed chat was again working.

Weird. Very weird. I don't know how a setting would change if you haven't touched it before. Unless Windows Update altered some .dll or something. Very strange.

And what provoked all this: I wanted to see if Ktel or Col Kurtz would share a setup! I was about 2 sec a lap slower than them, and knew where I was losing time. It had to be a setup thing.

Oh-my-gosh. This is soooo funny: Chip has two AI drivers on the server named: Col Kurtz and Ktel! So funny! I think I see the "other" problem I had with chat - Col Kurtz and Ktel are actually 'bots!! Too funny.

Thats why i couldn't shake off Col Kurtz in the PCC race he's like a terminator, it took a massive shunt to get rid of him.