simple question: how do I get tracks online? ISI, please teach me in plain English

We have a handful of tracks out now and they are not able to be raced online. I expected someone to figure this out a long time ago, so I'm sick of waiting.

How do I make a mod that gets Snetterton, Putnam Park, all the tracks that came with rf2, & Mid-Ohio that will be playable online with the Meganes? Will a tool be released with the final version of rFactor2? Is there no easy way to do it right now? Please explain in layman terms right here in this thread how it's done and why it hasn't been done and if I can do it. Thanks.

 

If you havent already...
Download http://isiforums.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=376&d=1326148910
Read it, it works. It's pretty simple once you do it a couple times. Just make sure you make it a virtual mod. The thing I dont like about the system is people have to put them on the servers and then even more people need to know where to find the file lol. Will end up with dozens of servers running the exact same content but a different modid on each server...

I could do it for you in minutes, but if noone puts it on the servers its kind of pointless.

 

I'll check that out and see if I can do it. I run a server that I can keep up 24/7 (no one ever uses it so I don't keep it up 24/7 yet) and I plan to add the new tracks so they can run online with the Meganes and run just that mod on my server.

 

That pdf is useless. It doesn't explain how to create a .mas or extract it from an existing mod. My rf2 directory doesn't look anything like the one used in the pdf and the directory structure is all wrong. I don't want to make a mod- I want to put together existing mods so they can be used online. THAT'S ALL.

This is not a simple process and it's not explained in a way so that any non-modder can put together existing content and put it online. This rfmod thing sucks. There needs to be a special tool- drop the cars here, drop the tracks here- POOF- it creates the correct rfmod and it all can be used online.

There's a reason many of the new tracks haven't been put online. It won't take "minutes" and there's no tutorial on how to do it.

ISI- EITHER GET RID OF RFMOD OR POST A DAMN TUTORIAL.

 

Hi. Its pretty simple really. I whipped one together for you, well actually two because I came here to upload it and realized I didnt have one of the tracks you mentioned

It's a virtual mod so its much smaller than the one I've been seeing spammed around here. Like 1 meg compared to hundreds of megs

Altho I havent been able to test it online because I dont have a server, it should work, the modid has been submitted. If you wanna test it out here it is.

It installs from your packages folder just like everything else. To install you will need to have the following already installed:

-rFactor2's stock content
-MidOhio 1.90
-Putnam Park 0.2
-SearspointRW 1.3
-Snetterton300 0.71

View attachment 1565

Of course you will have to direct anyone you want to use your server to this file.

Hope this helps

 

Wow- you did what no one else has been able to! Thank you thank you thank you. You should be very proud, because so far no one else has been able to do this. I'm going to test it today (I'll make up a server) and if it works OK, I'll post this over at NoGrip (let me know your NoGrip handle I'll credit you) and also here so others can get using this.

If this works and if I can find some drivers for a league, I'd love to use this in a season- 10 tracks is a good if short season.

 

No dice. I tried to install the rfmod and it said that I have NONE of the tracks or even the Meganes installed even though I have them all installed.

 

N/M- got it working. I'm going to get a server up and test this out. Thanks Foxtrot!

 

I'd be interested to know what was causing that.

Please let me know if the server is working.

 

the server is up and though no one has jumped on it, I managed to get on connected through LAN. That was Mid-O but now it's running Snett. What caused it is that I had SP v1.2 installed instead of v1.3 and also I had to reinstall rfactor2 so that the data directory was with the packages directory and not in the /documents/rfactor2 folder. Now it's all in the /games/rfactor2 folder. Before, the data defaulted to /program files (x86)/rfactor 2 and I suspected that caused problems.

Either way, looking at the advanced info in the mod manager gave me incorrect info. It said that none of th mods were installed. Looking at the advanced TAB in the mod manager told me exactly what was missing.

 

Glad you got it sorted.
I found the server and did a lap, works fine

 

Awesome. Finally we can use some of these great tracks online. Obviously it'll take a while for people to get this mod. How will rF2 updates effect this? I know an update to a mod or track will make it not work, but will update 68 mess it up?

Also, how much of a PITA would it be to add the new GT Endurance mod to this? Is adding cars a whole order of magnitude more difficult or could you add it quickly like you did the original mod you made, Foxtrot?

 

Hi.
It should be easy enough. I just got home from work, 14 hrs on the road bleh. I'll look into it a lil later on tonight

 

Yeah probably best to wait until the final build 68 comes out anyway. I don't know if v2 of certain mods will be posted or another build is coming, but I've been reading on here about updates to the update already!

 

What I'd really like to know is why ISI hasn't answered this thread? Why don't we have tools to make these rfmods ourselves? We have a couple great tracks to use (Putnam, Snetterton) and it takes over a month to get them online? Is the rfmod system really that good if it takes this long to make this mod?

Foxtrot, you have done what others can't and what ISI has the responsibility (which they are failing) to teach and share with us. The proof? January 25th Snetterton came out. I have seen 1 or 2 servers running it online in the past few months and I can never find the group that made the mod much less the mod itself. And it takes until March 13th for you to be able make this excellent mod. Don't get me wrong LOL I'm not saying "It took you 2 months to make this mod!!!111 WTH have you been doing!!!" I'm saying because the rfmod system sucks and ISI won't make it easy to use. I'm thankful you finally figured it out for the rest of us.

 

lol. I'm sure lots of people have figured out how to do this. They just didnt bother posting anything.
It literally took me minutes to do that.
In all honesty the longest part was adding "All Tracks" to the menu icon templates.
I learned how to do it beforehand using the the posted tutorial, except instead of using the rtrainers and joesville, I used the ZR cars from rF1 and virtual linked some tracks. Which worked right the first try, lol. By the 3rd version I didnt need to reference the guide anymore, it's really that easy.

About the new update. Theres no problem putting the nissans and meganes in a virtual mod, but something isnt working right with the updated tracks. Maybe have to unpackage them into a moddev folder structure first. Apparently theres trouble online with the other ISI mods so im guessing it's related. Going to wait and see what ISI says about it.

 

Like Foxtrot says, it is not that hard.
I have been reading some from the ISI tutorials, and managed to get it all working without any outside help, so the info produced by ISI is ok. It's just that you have to take some time to read the tutorial, and follow all steps. When you have done it a few times, it's indeed as simple as anything.

We, at Racedepartment.com, are running custom events in every possible combination for quite some time now, with almost no issues. So it IS being done already, and if you look on the online server listings, you can see a lot of custom mod's around.

In terms of the current issue with the new build, just wait and keep up with the info ISI supplies in the main thread. They know where the issue is originating, so they will probably fix it soon. Just have some patience in that part.

 

Not that hard? The old method:

gets mod, get tracks, play. Or for the server guy, do the same, run server.

new method:

get mod, get tracks, make a really complicated package and then people get this new file from where exactly? So when i join this server, does it tell me how to get this package file or wou,d i have to be told to come to this thread, or another?

And it tells a lot that the person who did help found it less complex to create the requested mod instead of explaining how to do it - it must be really easy...

Anyone want to give it a go and explain how to do it, and then tell me how racers are meant to get on my server really easy? Seriously, i want to understand, because right now i don't and it seems like the worst system i could have possibly imagined for anyone but an organised league.

 

Well, a few years back, the hardest thing you could do on a computer was make a calculation, as the calculator was the only computer around. When the first PC's came around, everyone said it was SO difficult. Now, a few years later, even grandpa can use the internet. It's a matter of getting used to something new.

If you want to continue in life, you have to leave the already walked paths. Progress takes adjustment. Just keeping with the past, because it's "more easy" stops any progress

As explained in several threads already, there are still some improvements to be made in the future. Things like peer-to-peer downloading of the hosted vmod, and more information in the server selection screen have already been discussed a lot. I am sure ISI will get that sorted, AFTER they have attended the importent stuff, the actual gameplay. So a short answer to your question is NO, I can't explain in 3 words how to make it, and how people can get it. Simply because that functionality is not implemented yet (as this is BETA version which we CAN use to start getting used to the game, and not a final release).

Just out of curiousity, did you take the time to read the information supplied in the first link in the first reply you got here? It's all explained there, in plain English. No fancy words, simple explanation. Then there is a tutorial video for those who can't read very well. Did you look at that already?

Instead of asking others to re-write what has already been published, it might be a good idea to read and see that first, and then go and ask direct questions, related to a problem you have, instead of expecting others to spell it out over and over again.

 

Ooh what a condescending post, nice... Guess you have me all figured out.

As a guy who just runs a server a few nights a week with friends, I am not going to read through a really complicated 14 page .pdf that doesn't get to the point, which should be a real world example like: "We are going to make the new GT mod work with Mid Ohio" - then just run through the process in plain English over aobut 2 damn pages. That .pdf is for real mod makers, not server guys who just want to get on racing.

I'll put effort in understanding a complex system when they are required to be complex, i won't when it's for end users and should be as simple as possible, though. A massive (438 posts and counting) thread petitioning this system suggests this system is flawed, or if the system isn't flawed the documentation certainly is.

However, if in the end these files will be downloadable via the server (like counterstrike), and has much more detailed information for getting the exact mods and tracks, I won't be so annoyed in the future.