With multiplayer reliance on vmods and difficulty finding mods especially when they are hidden in other mods, it seems to make sense that it would help both ISI and the community if there were a central repository for mods that was well-designed. If ISI does not believe it has the core competency for this or doesn't want to be distracted by this or doesn't want to fund it then perhaps their should be a subscription option where you pay an additional amount for access to the repository and ISI can contract with a third party for the design, development and operation of the service. And this service should be developed like pCars where community has much input. P.S. rfactorcentral is NOT, I repeat NOT good enough.
Don't think so ISI would be able to host mods which are "illegal". Also I don't know why hosting provided by ISI would be enough while rfc is not.
Good point regarding liability, Maxym. How did rfcentral get around this? Hosting would not need to be by ISI. They could contract it out.
ISI cannot host mods which are unlicensed, or use content with a questionable source such as conversions, or even textures and objects that the user didn't make themselves.
I think Tim wrapped up nicely why it wouldn't. Just on this though. Although it might not be NOW.....a little respect for the guy who got it going....and I will make this call now.. At the time the community was SCREAMING for something like that...and someone stepped up and provided what was needed. I will say that without rFactor Central I do not think rF1 would have been as wide spread as it is know. Little pockets would have popped up without much sharing as what is happening now (ie groups releasing stuff and not until it got spread around the different forums/groups etc did people become aware of it). So, although currently it is not what it was, rfactorcentral served a purpose GREATER than any one user or group in the rF1 community.....respect where its due.
No disrespect for rfcentral for what it was trying to accomplish. Agree I could have stated it more clearly, but what I mean is that rfcentral as currently designed will not be sufficient and that is not because rfcentral is bad rather because rf2 multiplayer is so confusing. In retrospect, this thread should be called "how to do damage control with painful rf2 multiplayer".
So from this point of view, I would suggest to wait for gold, when a lot of things will get clear and stabilized. It would be waste of recources to build the web and then realize it doesn't fit new rf2 requiremets. rF2 should simplyfy things related to mods. So we must wait and see what will happen.
We will be posting cars and tracks (and other components) as components fairly soon (before end of testing I would think). This will allow distribution of individual cars and tracks, and make things a little easier as far as distribution of ISI content, at least.
No problems Was just the final PS at the end Actually I think something like rfactor central will be perfect.....if everything is released as components not packaged up As Tim mentioned as components life becomes easier and the vMod/server mod/Mod Mod..whatever you want to call it than becomes quite relevant. The GETMOD function will also be very valuable, with some tweaking. Kind of hoping we see more improvements there in the coming updates. BUT...until it gets released and the final vmod situation is finalised and ready to go, I dont think too many with the skills needed will be working on it, and rightly so.
I dont think it's quite as bad as your making out? 4.5/5 times I click 'get mod' and 20-30 seconds later I'm in... if I am missing the track it will present me with the track details in a dialogue, I jump into google, 3 minutes later I have the track and am ready to race? -this rarely happens? In terms of content management, perhaps ISI could consider a similar method as done with the valve engine, allow a server owner to configure a web path/URL where the servers content can be located, this is then advertised to the client on connection so that the client side can download any missing content prior to connection? This would alleviate any liability from ISI and make keen racers lifes a little easier (since their so lazy) . It would also open up the potential for sites like rfc to potentially host content for server owners. <rambling> Sites like RFC could then simply offer a service where for instance, a server owner could log in to their RFC account portal, select all the RFC content that their server is using. RFC could then automatically bring up a virtual site with symbolic links to said content. This would be so easy to implement... though RFC don't host their own content and I doubt they would be able to foot the bill for the bandwidth required unless they charged for the service. Perhaps something for someone with more motivation than me to run with... providing you can convince ISI to implement some kind of 'contenturl' configuration/handshake in MP It would certainly solve any foreseeable future issues with content. </rambling> *Prods Tim*
I fully agree and want to underline what you said: even though it's better than in rF1, you are still constantly confronted to a situation where you are missing a track or car. For now it's still viable as there are not many real mods and you can just install EVERY car and track that is out. However this won't be possible in future and in 2012 it's not really a user-friendly approach: get into game, check which race to join, download vmod, search and update this and that track or car... install cars, redownload vmod, do the same thing as the race you wanted to start has already started... play CS:GO(which downloads automatically) as you don't have time anymore for a race. I believe that the possibility to have integrated mod download should be given(i mean content and the vm): ISI does not have to host the files, the vmods could however have links(or even an integrated torrent function) to automatically download tracks or cars. This could be "easily" integrated in the mod manager. Racing groups like bockbierbude.de have made their own auto-updater fior Rf1 and Rf2, which is a really nice feature. Regarding IP rights: If ISI provides automatic download of VMODS, which might contain illegal content, they could be made liable as well for promoting illegal content. (this has been the case for some peer-to-peer download progams or sites). At the end it will come down to have a good lawyer which finds the right disclaimer(with minor technial work-around) to get this sorted out. I don't want to raise a huge IP right discussion but in my eyes the argument is not valid, there are ways to handle this, if ISI wants to. For now, the auto-update of Rf2 does not even work and ISI does not host the files they distribute... so I think we're far away of a user-friendly approach. (jaja.... beta I know... could be tested as well during beta...) For now, I believe they have other problems to fix BUT AGAIN I strongly believe that function is mandatory for a game that wants to be close to the modding community.
Very good comments all and also glad to see that ISI is working on improvements as well. I agree that there must be a legal option that is also easier for everyone. Since multiplayer is one of rf2s strong points, I would hate to see it actually becomea weak point as the sim racing community refers to how cumbersome the process is. Even more importantly perhaps is how AC implements this and if they figure it out but ISI doesn't (especially if rf2 goes gold first and ISI can't react) then that will be another nail in the coffin commercially. Edit. I also would strongly encourage ISI to work closely with beta testers on this instead of going behind closed doors because UI is one of ISI's greatest weaknesses (and I am being nice, believe me).
Is there a way to automatically get updates to mods? If I have version 1.0 of a car or track and version 1.1 comes out, how would I know without following message boards? Is there any update feature like the app store from Apple?
I already said my 2 bobs worth back in F1C days and got shut down. hehehe Even if newbies can/could download everything from Get Mod it would take ages and just stretch the server ? I asked Abriel about expanding from one track torrent. For instance it would be handy to have a torrent that just included all official content. Then another for mods... maybe 2 one for completed one for beta. You could have another for room mods. You would have to submit upload for the torrents, they would have to be considered okay for upload to ISI or other respected sites and full permissions. Equally packages would not be included without authors permission. Updates to room mods could be done as soon as new package is submitted. There is no reason why in 4-5 torrents all "allowable" rF2 content could not be packaged. Off course this would increase over time but again there is no reason old packages can not be kept running. The reason you do not just have one big torrent is it will increase downtime with updates. Obviously someone has to be willing to store it and lots of seeders. edit: Something I never mentioned teams sites need not worry about losing hits. You would simply have all info, updates and patches for your mods on your site if you wanted.
People can still get MOD ID and run them anyway ? But say what if you had 2 servers you could recognize teams and individuals that made the "effort" ( ie: permissions, EULA, readme and credits ) by simply placing "other MOD IDs" to the "second" server" Obviously over time server #1 would have the best rep. In that way you are not supporting or denying anything.
A mod id is the providing of a mod id. A number. I'm not sure how else to explain the difference between that and everything else. The second portion of your post, I don't get how that helps distribution, etc.
