Good point. Its our intention to provide a method of changing non critical parts of a Mod without having to update it with a new Submit ID. We don't have this yet.
Thanks for that info, my fears seem to be unfounded then. In any case I'm sure we'll beta-test the hell out of it when you get around to releasing it.
It may be a big problem. Not always tracks are ready before season beginning. Sometimes in middle of season new version of track is released by 3rd party creators or just fixed by admins after some tests. If I understand correctly, league admins should update whole track pack component when updating single track. Then dependency architecture will force them to update car packages. So updating single track in the middle of a season will cause need to repack both components and force users to download whole packages again. Am I right? If league track pack contains a lot of tracks, it may be even 10GB of data (assuming there are no virtual components)
No, you will have to download only updated track, and all the rest non-modified tracks as virtual components.
A ModID and corresponding SubmitID tells the system what people who want to join a race need to have installed so there are no mismatches. So yes it needs to be predefined. But this does not permanently prevent anything. At some point you need to decide, when you do, include it in your mod or new one. If its all virtual, meaning its made up of components everyone already has, this process is fast.
This Mods-linked-to-tracks business sounds rather worrying. I'd rather have separate Mod and Track IDs, plus a filter system in lobby with an option to 'hide' all the servers that have content with IDs that are missing on that given rF2 install.
This isnt a problem, you just need to make an update and include only the new content. All the members would have to upgrade either way. But now your possible mismatch problems should be greatly reduced.
If your mod is an update it keeps the same ModID, but has a new Version number and then you must send a new Submit ID.
If you separate the tracks from the mods then how will a client know which tracks you will race on your server? Does this mean I can't join unless I have all 100 that you have even if you are planning on only racing 2?
How about having separate IDs for main packages? It would be like: ModID, TrackID, SoundID, UiID etc.
I don't think using more than 1 track on a server for an evening is a good idea anyway. If you go say to Silverstone for a race or even a trackday you stay there, you shouldn't be faced with a necessity to go there with tickets to Portugal ready just in case the event may move to Estoril all of a sudden 'Identifying' currently used track and mod version would be enough, imo. PS: additional idea: ID numbers should be made available for any user as a tool to search mods. Say a server says I should have mod ID: ***blablabla***, the thing is automatically copied to clipboard, so could go and paste that to the search engine of choice. Unless of course matchmaker will help us update mods otherwise... Will it?
So, I just had a reread through all of your posts, Gjon. One thing that isn't clear to me is whether content itself is actually being distributed through ISI's matchmaking servers, by the race servers, or is it 'out of the loop' (i.e. servers not connected directly through rF2). So, if I want to release/distribute just content--tracks, cars, sounds, etc.--do I need to wrap it up in a Mod with a car and track? Or is the distribution being done outside of rF2, and rF2 is just making sure that versions are correct? Also, if it is through ISI or ISI themselves that's actually doing the distribution, at what point is that content loaded onto a client's computer? If someone wants to just try a track in single-player, do they need to first join an online race to initiate the download? Is there any way to preview the content (i.e. screen shots/turntable video/flythrough, etc.)?
Oh, yes! +10 000! Useful and valid question. I fully support. And then there are such tracks, the quality is below average.
Actually, Gjon have already stated that ISI will neither judge, test or distribute any content... think of all this ID-stuff as simple fingerprinting, to make sure everyone have the content needed before joining a server.
I think we need to think of mod ids more like series ids it's a collection of cars and tracks. Where cars and tracks are separate components all pretty simple.
Correct, that's pretty much my understanding as well. What I don't get, is why this list of required IDs isn't just put together automaticly, when hosting a server ? I mean, you select the available cars and the tracks in the loop already, why not just use this info - having to put together a new "MOD" - really beginning to hate the use of this word - seems a tad tedious and unnecessary. I might have missed something...
It makes sense and will help. However I still don't get the need of providing track package info with car mod. Maybe there are reasons which provide major pros I cannot see now. We will see. Thank you Gjon for detailed answers.
Hi Gjon. Someone asked this above but I didn't seen an answer. When a league mod creates their own league add on, will there be a league's add on section for each mod? or will it be considered a mod mod? The reason I re-ask this is because if we look at rFCentral, downloads on mod pages became too clustered with so many individual add ons that many people didn't know which was the best to grab. Is it possible to keep league add ons separate from official add ons/updates? This could virtually be done by having a separate tab depending on how the layout of the page is that your searching for the mods. Also, another question. People have been discussing about what happens if someone uses another groups work without permission. We've gotten responses for that, but do the same rules apply for racing leagues? What if a group denies a racing league from using their work and they continue to do so, can the group appeal to ISI to have that league's version removed/banned? OR Can there be a system that when a league or third party wants to submit an add on for a mod, a message goes to the original creator of the mod with details of the add on, who made it, their comments, and their contact info, and the creators of the mod can choose to allow or deny the add on? I think doing it in this method could take far more hassles away from ISI and place the decision making straight onto the creators. I'd say you could achieve this by creating a system similar to the rFC modder admin system.
