Hi all. I own rF2 through steam. I've been trying to change my multiplayer nickname and been having no success. My current MP nickname is the same as an old steam nickname. I need to change it to match my new steam nickname but nothing is working. I've tried changing the player.JSON file to the new nickname and setting it read-only, but when I connect to a server its set to the old nickname, and when I close the game and open the player.JSON file, the nickname has changed back. I've tried checking the rFactor.name file, but its set to read-only and has the correct nickname. I don't know what it is that's changing the nickname back. Its not my steam username as I've changed that too.
That is strange. For me it still works when i edit the rFactor.name File. Did you edit the 3rd Line? That is the Line that is used for the multiplayer.
Make sure you edit the player.json while rf2 and launcher are closed or it won't work. Check here. https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/rf2-nickname-change.55486/page-2#post-891673
The thread that is linked by @JimmyT has my old instruction to get it working. I have tested it again today and i don't have to edit the player.json file anymore. I only edit the rFactor.name file and the player.json entries are overwritten with the the entries of the rFactor.name file. So it seems as if your rfactor can not overwrite the player.json. In such cases i always suggest to try it with running rfactor as administrator, because it's very often a windows user rights problem. Try it out, just to see if it works then. Open steam only and then go to the folder '..\Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\Launcher', rightclick on the 'Launch rFactor.exe' and select 'run as administrator'.
I have never had rFactor 2 or the launcher running while editing the player.JSON or the rfactor.name file. I have tried editing the player.JSON directly, saving, and setting as "read-only". The game still shows the old nickname and overwrites my changes in the player.JSON, and this is running in administrator mode. The rfactor.name file shows the correct nickname but for some reason won't overwrite the player.JSON. Something else is overwriting my changes to the player.JSON file. I've also never had rfactor 2 standalone on this installation of windows.
Sounds like you have a duplicate installation issue and that you aren't editing the 'true' file. Might be worth running a search on the PC to check that there isn't another instance of the file.
Sorry that i have to ask, but did you manually set the launcher to run in administrator mode? I ask, because if you only look at your windows user account, there is always to see that the account is an administrator account. But that is not the real truth. By default, the windows user accounts have restricted rights only. So the way to run programs with higher/extended rights is, to set it permanently in the shortcut of the program, to run it as an administrator, or, as said, rightclick on the shortcut and select 'run as administrator'. If that is not the case at your pc, please try it out. BTW Are there more than 1 windows user account?
c:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Roaming\.rFactor\rFactor.name Keep in mind that the AppData folder is hidden.
@Marcus Brooks the %appdata% mentioned above is a handy shortcut. You can click the start button and type it in, then press enter, and it'll open. Can also type it into the address bar in windows explorer and it'll do the same thing.
Installing the new UI should also give you the chance to edit that file. If you already are using the new UI, probably have to choose the opt out option, then after the download to get the old version, choose the public beta again to get back and then you should have the option to add your name again.
