Figured out why it's not too good for casual racers.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by MystaMagoo, Mar 16, 2014.

  1. MystaMagoo

    MystaMagoo Registered

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    Essentially ISI have put 'Leagues' to the fore and all but forgotten about the casual racer.

    The way it is now is not easy to just jump in and have a quick race.
    It all seems geared to Leagues and their admins,which is a vast improvement over rF1 in this respect.

    Let's take the Server browser to start with.
    The 'Race Series' is never to helpfull of describing it's contents and it can be named anything.
    The fact a 'series' is a 'Mod' is also useless to the casual racer but fantastic to a League.
    From a League point of view the new 'Mod' system is brilliant and gets everybody on the same page.
    But for the casual racers point of view,why do they need all those mods/tracks just to have a quick single race?
    If they have the current mod and track then they should be able to join and go race.
    Sure,a single mod/track combo can be made but that's not a practical solution.

    Also mod management has gotten far to convoluted.
    You cannot just uninstall or delete a single mod/track now or even update them to the latest version.
    You are forced to uninstall whatever the 'mod/series' is made up of.
    A mod is not a mod anymore,it's a series,great for Leagues,pointless for casual or non league racers.

    The ease and purity of rF1 has not been carried over for the casual racer of even the casual server maker.
    To them with some knowledge of being admin of servers and leagues it's relatively easy to make a server but to the casual server maker it is now a kerfuffle to some degree.
    In rF1 it was quite easy to make a server,just a few clicks and job done.

    rF2 is looking down it's nose on casual racers at this moment in time and thinks we're all modders/admins or in a league,they've also not carried over the 'season' racing for single players.

    post is getting a bit long now so I'll stop..............
     
  2. rer8

    rer8 Registered

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    I could not agree more! Well said!
     
  3. Woodee

    Woodee Registered

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    With all due respect... it is not ISI that has turned their back on casual racers...

    If you look in the server list it is the server admins that have pretty much made it too difficult to join. Lots of servers with mods containing too many cars and tracks that no one will have, and those that have getmod enabled, the mods won't download because the mod creators have no configured it correctly.

    You can also see that the most populated servers are passworded. If server admins wanted the casual user to join then they are able to make it easy, but they do not. How these admins run their servers it is completely up to them and not the responsibility of ISI. ISI also have servers up with default content, why are those not being used I wonder?
     
  4. MystaMagoo

    MystaMagoo Registered

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    You missed the point but emphasized the point at the same time.
    Your 1st point was never a problem in rF1 if you didn't have all the tracks you just got kicked but if you had the current one you could join.
    Passworded server filter is needed and I believe is coming.
    ISI official servers are basically single mods at single tracks with ISI content.
    And no it is not easy to join a casual server for a casual race because of the way rF2 is now.

    Leagues and server admins have basically got what they were asking for in changes to rF1 to make things easier for them.
    The casual racer side has been neglected.

    If admins were to make casual servers the list would be endless of single mod/track combo's.
     
  5. Guy Moulton

    Guy Moulton Registered

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    When ISI has the public servers up, it makes things very easy for casual racers. Get the ISI installer, linked at the ISI site. Get the ISI cars & tracks you want, linked at the ISI site. Install it all, jump on the ISI servers and race. That is very easy.

    It all get complicated when you want to use modded content, but that was the same in rF1 and there's no way around it. At least rF2 has the stick-to-ISI-content-only route and it is a LOT EASIER to be a casual racer.
     
  6. Woodee

    Woodee Registered

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    But as I said... it is up the the server admins to use the tools provided to make their servers more open to the public, I guess many just don't want to.

    The tools are there... they just need to be used in the correct way to be open for casual racers.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 16, 2014
  7. Denstjiro

    Denstjiro Registered

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    I recently showed a fellow league admins the rf2 ins and outs for server management and we concluded its pretty much the same as in rf1, just vmod and rubber that's different. So no, not much change in that respect.

    This is a general complaint, leagues want this to change as well. its always better to have a accurate description then not.
    And fwiw, the description is put in manually. you don't have to be a league admin to write something useful as a title for the server browser.

    Fully agree and discussed to death already. the ability to force tracks is just not efficient. Its not optimal for leagues either tbh. Leagues still want members to join in even if they are lazy, leagues still want visitors to join their open events/sessions, its how they recruit.

    tbh, if a league selects multiple tracks its either a deliberate decision or a silly one. ISI should indeed change it so that the 'current' track can be joined. But its not ISI's fault if admins make it harder to join their servers.

    What makes you think this is good for leagues?
    I just spend quite a bit of time doing maintenance on all things rf2 on our server that 'should not be that way'
    Trust me, its exactly the same for leagues as for single users, equally annoying.

    Perhaps you have forgotten exactly why all the servers in rf1 where locked? because of the complete mess it was.
    Like I said before, in rf2 its just the vmod and rubber that is additional to the routine.

    But, I agree that rf2 has become overly complicated in terms of how things are working. the end results (after experience) is the same, just the whole route trying to figure out is not very user friendly. neither as a user or admin.

    I think what you just did is a general complaint vs rf2. I don't see how it favours leagues at all.

    Moreover; leagues need casual drivers to be able to easily participate. after all casual drivers ultimately become league members. its how everyone started out at some point.
    so as a league admin I very much favour any kind of routine that makes it easies across the board for everyone.

    And might I add, why aren't people joining public events? I see so many people complain about lack of online activity but when there are events organised hardly anyone joins in. even if the servers are non-passworded to make for easy access.
    Only recently with the join issues in 494 we see an increase as our server has no join issues. but one would reckon we would get about 50+ per night. hell no.
    so where is everyone? we are craving for new blood and do everything we can think of to attract new drivers, even for just the single events. But no matter how 'accessible' we get, we don't see an increase at all.


    I have to add though with regards to passworded servers that one of the main reasons is to block drivers whom mess it up for everyone else. drivers whom don't know how to race, don't know how to formation lap, don't know how to give space. crashers, people just installed rf2 and testing it on servers, trying to 'fix' their issues on servers.....the craplist can be quite lengthy if unlucky and it gets in the way of normal racing.
     
  8. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    rF1 leagues were in general using SimSync, which made everything basically a one click download. The new packaging system is a step backwards from that, as you now cannot update a component without breaking the vmod. The component update process is a complete unknown for our league. I'm not confident we will be able to use it at all. Probably we have to distribute a whole new car component each time a new team wants to join us with a new carpaint. Which means we end up with 5 or more 3 GB car components over the season, each of which the user needs to keep in order to watch old replays.
     
  9. TIG_green

    TIG_green Registered

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    I think there should be a option to choose one of these when you make a server: choose which type of event there is on your server 1) League race 2) Fun race event 3) Casual races

    and then there should be a filter to choose from these server types in the lobby list.
     
  10. costamesa

    costamesa Registered

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    lack of online gaming, lack of online gaming, lack of online gaming, lack of online gaming, lack of online gaming!!! I dont know if it is ISI's or someone other's fault, or even there is a "fault" somewhere, but lack of online gaming, lack of online gaming, lack of online gaming!!!

    Spent nearly all Sunday looking for a server with some players, there are some that I cant join, there are some that running some content that I am not really into (though I joined for some laps) and there are some password protected but all in all it is really frustrating!! I bought this game back in December 2011 I guess and nothing much changed in terms of online racing for a casual player. All I want is some servers (even one is enough) running an open wheeler that I cant jump and have some fun, just like the good old (for me!) rf1 days.

    But dont miss my point please, I am not blaming anyone for this, I just hope someone will take care of "the problem" (everybody agrees on this right?) soon.
     
  11. williang83

    williang83 Registered

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    rather than lack of online game i would say lack of online game and acceptable/usable offline game...........the new lfs :)
     
  12. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    This is mainly down to the join button issues with build 494. Once the ISI servers went down I think most of the random online racing died, only a few league servers have managed to keep going despite these issues. As a new unstable build is currently in testing, I really hope it comes out in the next couple of days...
     
  13. MystaMagoo

    MystaMagoo Registered

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    I downloaded 573 the other day and installed over the top of my 494.
    Everything works ok,joined a test server and everything downloaded ok,get mod worked.
    That was about 3 tracks and Meganes.
    I even alt tabbed out while it was downloading and all went well.
     
  14. Ari Antero

    Ari Antero Registered

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    Good post.

    Where is everyone? We are also as you said "craving for new blood and do everything we can think of to attract new drivers, even for just the single events. But no matter how 'accessible' we get, we don't see an increase at all."

    :confused:
     
  15. Golanv

    Golanv Registered

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    What I find absolutely ridiculous is, that the information about cars, tracks, server content, 'how to' this and doodad that would be so easy to add within the game, where instead most of it today is located on ISI website, where ISI staff/community has to guide people in regular basis. "Go and read the discription, ON THE WEBSITE." Just use the copy/paste function and add this info so that it is accessible ingame.
     
  16. crz

    crz Registered

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    Same with our league. Maybe it needs some cooperation between leagues for starters.
     
  17. Valter Cardoso

    Valter Cardoso Registered

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    RF2 its as hard as other titles when modding things come to the equation. From GTA series to Minecraft (my kid plays and it was a pita to sort that crazy square game mods), each one has its dificulties when you pick some mods and want to add them.
    I think RF2 is not focused on average John doe wich want to click and play, its focused in RF1 long time users and leagues.
    Thats my opinion.

    RF2 is not a click´n´play game for sure.
     
  18. sFactor

    sFactor Registered

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    Just to add fuel to the fire. I miss plain old school LAN racing. No internet required. Reliable internet is not always available (location wise) when at LAN parties.

    For this rF1 is still the goto for me. More and more GSC lately.

    Reliable, easy and no lag or connection issues. I am aware of the option to click LAN in rF2, but it still requires a log in to fire rF2 up last time I checked.

    The days of pure LAN gaming are sadly becoming a thing of the past.
     
  19. Denstjiro

    Denstjiro Registered

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    You can still Lan??

    And when was the last time you went to a lan party where there was no internet?
     
  20. smithaz

    smithaz Registered

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    I'm a lazy arse casual racer who just likes to pick up and do a few races and I do not find it such a hassle at all.
    All I do is visit the InternationalSimRacing forum and visit the page for the server I want to join, there they have all the tracks required for a server hosted on google drive or similar fast host so it is easy to DL all the new tracks and away you go. A lot of other servers have GetMod disabled or passwords or other obstacles so are not joinable anyway. Put simply, if you want a pickup race, use ISR or ISI servers.

    Also, the reason it has been less populated this last couple of weeks is down to the dodgy latest build. Usually, on an evening, I see a few servers worth joining with 10+ players inside. There was a time when it was hit and miss what days you could get a decent race online but now it is populated every night.
     

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