Go online!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Timpie Claessens, Jun 15, 2013.

  1. Favio

    Favio Registered

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    It has been two months for me since I can not run online. From the 218 build I could not enter the servers, always some file I am missing to complete the mod.
    I do not quite understand why so complicated entry into the multiplayer, if I have the car and the circuit, why I can not run??. I wish it were easier, at least for me that sometimes I have no time to look for the circuit or update that I am missing to complete the required mod.
     
  2. Noel Hibbard

    Noel Hibbard Registered

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    I never understood why all leagues don't run open servers during practice. You get wreckers from time to time but you just kick them if they don't get it together. But you also get a lot of guys that are clean who you can direct to your forum and end up joining the league. I always ran my league this way. What I would really like to see is the MOTD improved. Right now no one really sees it. Personally it should work like every other game out there. When you join the server it should show the MOTD in the chat box where you actually see it. It would also be nice if URLs were clickable. Worst case you could open your XML results after the session is over and retrieve the links there. I don't see why you couldn't do the same thing with rF2 though. Even with tweaked tracks. Just host your track somewhere and make sure you configure your rfcmp to support GetMod properly and the rfcmp will auto download when people join. Tracks really aren't that big and these days people have so much bandwidth, worst case they wait 2 mins for it to download.

    I feel like a lot of admins are rejecting the new system thinking that if they complain enough ISI is going to change it. They need to be doing tons of trial and error and learn all the ins and outs of the new system and learn the best way to use it. Otherwise rF2 is going to start to take off and admins will be stuck playing catch up.

    The feature admins really need to focus on is GetMod for rfcmps. No one but ISI has taken advantage of it yet. If I was a modder I would rerelease all my content with GetMod support.
     
  3. BlaringFiddle5

    BlaringFiddle5 Registered

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    I would think that if the mod is in your installed folder or your packages folder - why not serve it up if it is part of the vmod? ahh well...
     
  4. Noel Hibbard

    Noel Hibbard Registered

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    That is an option but many leagues make small changes to tracks for their league and only members of the league would even have access to them. Leagues change stuff like pit lane speed limit changes, bug fixes (really dumb stuff like garage locations placed on the Start/Finish line), texture changes, fixes for night driving, add additional pit boxes, grid locations ect, add curbs to discourage people from cutting, ect ect. In the past you would have to sign up to a forum or whatever to get access to the track download. Today though, we could automatically distribute the content to anyone wanting to do a pickup race. But then we are going to get into this mess where the original track devs get all bent out of shape because you modified their track... oh my! Can you believe the nerve those leagues have to fix bugs in my track without my permission!?!? Hahaha.

    I guess the problem with the GetMod stuff downloading rfcmps is that if you do have a private league mod and someone joins, they will then have your rfcmp file to then turn around and host on their own servers or distribute to all their friends. So passworded servers will probably still be the only option. Errrr.
     
  5. Denstjiro

    Denstjiro Registered

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    Hm, I've actually not thought about that until now. it is food for thought I reckon. Through the years we have always tweaked tracks and mods to suit our personal needs but made sure that the original credits and readme where still there, and added our own readme's explaining what we did and referring to the creator.
    With auto downloads that's no longer possible(?)
    I think there is some room for additional info but not much right? Personally I am not too comfortable tweaking work from others and simply make it available without any info. credit where its due I reckon.

    Btw its not just bug fixes, some tracks the sand is too deep, not enough garages etc. and for mods we tweak tires, add pre-heated tires, suspension repairs, or even add entire classes/teams.
    There's many reasons to change stuff, but just throwing it online without any info about it is perhaps something to consider doing different. for me anyways.

    All the more reason to go vanilla then :)
     
  6. Denstjiro

    Denstjiro Registered

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    Btw I think the majority of the rf1 locked servers where due to mismatches. not so much wreckers.
    Any league tweaking files would be faced with a constant flow of mismatches, and then you can either take the time to help them or kick them. but it gets tedious after a while. especially in those days where rf1 was going strong in the numbers department.
     
  7. Antaeus

    Antaeus Registered

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    ok, you speak and speak about empty servers, today we organise race at 22:00

    rFF1 Formula Masters v1.52
    Poznan

    you are welcome
     
  8. BlaringFiddle5

    BlaringFiddle5 Registered

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    2200 GMT us americans will be at work still :)
     
  9. Noel Hibbard

    Noel Hibbard Registered

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    It would be nice if you could package a Readme into the rFcmp file. Then if it auto downloads, at least the readme would be copied into the Installed folder. Not that anyone would ever see it. The other option is the Description in the rFcmp. Maybe you could include a URL there that would point to a more detailed Readme.

    And yeah, tweaking tracks isn't just about fixing bugs, as I stated in my post.
     
  10. Satangoss

    Satangoss Registered

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    Personally, I got a small (and expensive) 256 Gb SSD disk only for rFactor 1 & 2 and I'm not intending to overload my disk with tracks and cars that I'll never run, so I'm avoiding online racing.
     
  11. 1959nikos

    1959nikos Registered

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    Each on his preferences I guess, I am at the servers almost every night last 16 months and I wouldn't dream of trading my friends with AIs.
     
  12. B1K3R

    B1K3R Registered

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    Like I said before, the biggest problem is that there is little visibility of who is organizing events, when, which mods/tracks etc.....

    and for those who want to jump for a quick race, they cannot see/know other people who want to drive at the same time and same mod etc.

    There is a need of a unified portal, which Brings Events and People Together! Things are too scattered now, and people cannot read others people's mind (unless you're psychic) and plans.

    Unless there is one unified portal which brings people together, this problem will persist forever.

    Obviously no-one will be arsed about what I said. So have fun watching TV (or whatever you'll do in your free time) when you'll see the empty servers.
     
  13. TIG_green

    TIG_green Registered

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    Isn't Leagues/Private racing threads serving this purpose for some extent?

    I have engouraged people to wish and suggest what they want to drive but they really rarely do.

    I'm one of the few atm who offers something other to race than the same tracks and cars all over again :p

    For some reason it's more attractive to join ISR Megane server with 20/30 players (which you have drove the last month every day :p) than join something new with 3 only players at that moment.

    I also know that I prefer clean racing with 10 players rather than 30 players crashfest :p
     
  14. Denstjiro

    Denstjiro Registered

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    Maybe different icons in the server list can be of help, 1 icon for using default isi-stuff, 1 icon which indicates mod+track are default as released and 1 icon that indicates the server is running with tweaked files.

    Would probably be helpful to quickly go through the server list.

    Of course that would require discipline from server admins using 1 of 3 icons so the whole idea becomes redundant already :p
     
  15. Noel Hibbard

    Noel Hibbard Registered

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    Same happened in rF1. People seem to hate learning new tracks. In rF1 there are tons and tons of tracks with really fun layouts that no one ever runs or talks about. You have a handful of tracks that everyone ran in rF1 and that was about it. When I ran a league I made it a mission to introduce a new track every week. People would complain at the beginning of the week about having to learn a new track but by the end of the week everyone was excited and loved the track and considered it a keeper.

    B1K3R, I think you are right. For pickup racing to work well we need some web service for organizing the races. Similar to what iRacing does. Anyone with an open server could go to the site an register their server and list the content needed to join the server, maybe some download links, and then some basic schedule. Then people could join the event in advance and others will see that you committed to a race and they can also commit to the race. Next thing you know you have a large field. I suspect there are a lot more people out there that want to do pickups but look at the matchmaker and then give up and run offline. Just think if all these people that gave up actually joined a server and stuck around.

    This concept really shouldn't be that hard. Hell you could make a Facebook page to organize races and use the event feature to schedule an event and list all the details and invite your friends. The only problem then would be server limits. You may have 50 people join an event but the server only accepts 30. At that point it would just be a first come first serve I guess. How cool would it be to have to worry about full severs vs empty servers? Hahaha

    People already use FB a lot for organizing races. I guess you would just need a common FB page for sharing your event with so that it gets more visibility.

    Here is an example of a race being organized on FB:
    https://www.facebook.com/events/608303225849717/
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 21, 2013
  16. BlaringFiddle5

    BlaringFiddle5 Registered

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    What would really help as an initial step would be a better filtering system:

    1) hide passworded servers that actually works
    2) hide servers running non-isi content
    3) hide empty servers
    4) hide full servers
    5) text search for cars / tracks of your choice
    6) sort by ping time

    oh and for giggles - hide servers that you won't be able to connect to because they don't have the proper ports forwarded on their routers... In fact, they shouldn't get into the server list if they don't have the game ports + 443 forwarded.

    EDIT: give a connect to server (enter ip) box ... that would be mighty useful to leagues me thinks.

    This shouldn't be that hard - it is just data processing and list sorting. Quake 1 had these abilities back in 1997.
     
  17. Satangoss

    Satangoss Registered

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    Yeah, it's sad to race against AI but it's more sad the current online system.
     
  18. myself9

    myself9 Registered

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    Hi all. Happy Friday!

    I wanted to chime in on the subject of league recruitment.

    It's a little known fact that rFactor Central will now post league announcements in their news. Which puts your league on the front page until it gets bumped down by cars/tracks/etc.
    Colin worked with me BIG time to make sure everything was in order before they posted it.

    The league I'm currently running jumped from 4 participants to over 30 in less than 2 weeks.

    Shameless plug: If anyone's into hill climbs, check out VirtuaProRacing.com :)
     
  19. BlaringFiddle5

    BlaringFiddle5 Registered

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    I see that rfactor central has an rfactor2 section - why is there barely any mod-content there?

    Why do people hate rfactor central?
     
  20. Noel Hibbard

    Noel Hibbard Registered

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    RFC started losing support when they got bought out.
     

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