Hi. Just wondering if we will still be able to play RF2 over LAN? Or are we going to have to use the matchmaker service for all MP racing? I've been looking forward to playing my friday night LAN championship on the new game, but the recent news concerns me that this may not be possible.
That is rather disappointing as that is the only mechanism by which my friends and I race, at my house, in my basement on 2 different machines. Guess we'll just have to keep using rf1.
Hello Pitkin, Let me try and answer this and some other questions if I can. Yes you will be able to play LAN games. The initial connection will go through the matchmaker and people must log into their online accounts first. There was also a concern about direct IP connections. To make it convenient we should be able to add this ability but again, it would still need to go through the matchmaker initially. Some people may not care about the mod mismatch issues, no easy way to get rid of wreckers, or the proliferation of cracked versions, but I do. The addition of online services helps us address some of these issues. This will develop over time, giving us the opportunity to do what makes the most sense for the longevity of rFactor. I know our decisions won’t be perfect for everyone in every situation, but we do try to consider the wide range of needs that the community has. On the other hand, maybe I’ll just do whatever I want for no apparent reason… it works for me.
hmm, maybe maybe ... who knows... EDIT: Ahem .... scratch that .... you've got what I might call a direct answer fom Gjon above this!
So, leagues will still have to pay the multiplayer fee? I was under the impression that leagues would still be able to hold their races online separate from this multiplayer service. I guess I was wrong. I hope this produces more good things than bad.
There was a point when I had LAN taken out for a while, but one of the engineers connected to the matchmaker and put it back in.
Well, that is certainly reassuring. I won't mind paying $26 a year (2x machines), hell, we drink twice that in beer every monday when we race
two simple questions when we be able to get beta rf2(because I have no patience and wants to play already ) and what we be able to test, i mean cars and tracks?
Likely just a couple of car/track packages, maybe three. One will certainly be the historics seen in the promo video as it's very intention was to whet some appetites for the open beta.
please no! PROTEST! Please think more open and don´t make the LAN-game addictet to an online-connection! Not everywhere does an internet connection exist! The good old LAN-Party MUST BE possible! Please! For free LAN!
Hello Gjon. Nice to see some words from you (and finally, some honest non-confusing words from ISI staff since a longer time). Please, reconsider having LAN connectivity as we all know it - without a need to having access to the internet. That's the whole point with LAN network, isn't it? If a bunch of guys want to race through LAN network (doesn't matter where it is, how many drivers etc., that's not the point), then if they also must have access to the internet, they are loosing the whole point of having a LAN racing (apart the fact that they just in one place). Remember that when organizing lan parties, it's not that obvious to have access to the internet at the place. With rFactor 1 it is not an issue as we can have LAN racing without the need of logging into online accounts. From how it looks at the moment in rFactor 2, organizing lan parties might not be possible because of the reason I've mentioned above. Thanks in advance.
Gjon took LAN out until the matchmaker connection was in. There's one option and this is it. No matchmaker hook meant no LAN.
So because some person found a way to bypass the license system in rf, I, a legitimate purchaser, now have to pay a subscription? Punishing those that support you seems like a good way to lose business. I don't know of a single person that lacks the ability to learn how to maintain what version of a mod is installed into their rf. I do know of a few lazy, uneducated people that would rather throw money around then actually learn or do work. The biggest problem I have with subscription gaming is that it puts you on someone else's clock. What I've yet to see from anyone is a way to pick and choose when the clock is running. It will likely be some time before I have a system that can properly run rf2. I suspect I will be able to hotlap, but running more than 1 car is going to be rough (much like what I could do when rf appeared). There is no use in wasting the bundled year of connection when it cannot be used. Why not uncouple the year from the base purchase and drop the price?
Because the initial purchase price is still pretty good for a completely offline title. If you want to buy it as one, and never use anything online, that's fine. You'll never pay us another dime and you can run it whenever you like.
One of the reason's I strayed away from rFactor for a long time was the continual 'work' of making sure I had the latest version of the track and car I wanted to race and then find an unlocked server to go race on. It shouldn't be 'work'. I work hard enough in my day to day job, rFactor and other games are my recreation. I want to race I don't want to be a file manager pushing files around my hard drive and hoping I have a match. If this new system helps aleviate that then great and for $12.99 that's a good deal.
I think it is the right decision to offer a subscription based service for multiplayer. The only concern I have is that I cannot race with my friend when the matchmaker server is down. Considering my sometimes constrained time schedules, I hope ISI can give us a matchmaker server up and running for 24/7, otherwise it's could be annoying for me. On the other hand it is only $12.99 a year and after all it's only game . Can't wait for the open beta!