I'm not sure what your definition of "jump in racing" is. If simply joining a server and everything automatically downloading isn't considered jump in racing.... then what is? If you have data/storage problems then you're going to have problems regardless. The content has to get on your machine somehow doesn't it? What you are describing is already implemented in the proto dedi. But as of now it's lacking some options in the UI so I don't think anyone is really using it.
It's an impossible situation, actually You give people non-moddable product, everyone will complain that they're stuck with basic content. You give people moddable product and everyone will have different content, complaining they can't get together. Non-moddable games keep people together and no fancy download system will overcome that simple fact. Iracing seems to be walking a different path - they're an online racing service that provides it's own platform (commonly known as iRacing ). ISI provides the platform (called rF2) and leaves hosting races mostly to us. Having no "central place" for races causes community to scatter. So yeah, everyone needs to find his own bunch of colleagues to race with. There are various leagues it's best to join one or two of them.
That isn't jump in because you have to download it. That is jump in,wait however long and if successful then race. Jump in is just the feature we've described,hardly used,not fully implemented as yet and server dependant. Mod descriptions need to be mod related so you know what a server is running also. This 'topic' has been argued to death before,pro's con's lover's hater's but the truth is that jump in/pick up racing is just not as easy as in rF1. rF1 mismatches etc etc yada yada yada,irrelevant as we're not discussing that. Until rF2 get's the 'feature' mentioned implemented then it will never be jump in/pick up race friendly. rF2's direction in being server admin friendlier has left the casual racer lagging behind. I'm sure rF2 will be fixed in the end but it's around 4yrs old even now..............
I'm really confused. If you don't have the content then how do you expect to race without downloading it? How was this any easier in rF1? In rF1 it goes like this: Join random server. It lets you on but the says mismatch If someone is on the server you have a few seconds (admin configurable) to do a quick chat to ask what track they are using. They say Montreal but before you get any more details the server kicks you off. So you go on a hunt for Montreal and find 20 of them. So you join the server again and say... Which Montreal They say.. the one made by Joe Blo. So now you go on a hunt for Montreal by Joe Blo and get the latest version you can find. Now you join again and still get a track mismatch. So you say.. WTH.. I still get a mismatch. They respond. Oh we aren't using the latest version. You get kicked off. You rejoin and ask... so which version. He tells you. You download the correct version and rejoin This time you don't get a track mismatch but now have mismatches on the cars. The whole process starts over. Another problem with rF1 was you couldn't have multiple version of the same track installed at the same time. So if one server needs v1.01 and another is on v1.0 then you are SOL. On rF2 you can have several version of the same track installed so you would be able to join various servers without a problem. Either you have never done pickup racing on rF1 or you have totally forgotten how much of a mess it was. Here is the same task on rF2: Join a server It lists the components you need and which ones you are missing. You click the "Get Missing Content" button and wait for it to download. Done It isn't always that smooth but that is because not all admins care about the user experience. But it isn't because the game can't handle it. If you have some magic way that content is going to jump on your computer instantly without having to download it then I'm sure everyone here would love to hear all about it. You are right, this topic has been beaten to death and going back to rF1 would be a big step backwards. All that needs to happen is admins learn how to host a server and get some better tools for hosting server. But I have news for you. This will not fix the pick up racing problems. Most admins are technical and very well aware of how to properly host. They just chose not to, DD is a very good example of this.
Here is a thought for all the admins who host correctly. If your hosting content that you know will properly download then prefix your server name with a tag like this: [GME] for GetMod Enabled. or something similar to that. With time maybe it would catch on and people could avoid any servers that don't have that tag.
Your missing the point and dredging up old argument there. Irrelevant to rF2 and some had that problem and some didn't. The point is if you had the current track and the current mod you could join and race. Forget the problems you mentioned,pointless,if you didn't have those problems you raced,simple as. Not everybody has unlimited bandwidth or data allowance or even storage capacity - fact So asking them to download however many tracks etc just to have a quick race? That is not pick up racing,eventually you could gather more mods/tracks and have more servers open to you. What rF2 needs to do is:- 1. have the mod description relevant to the mod/s. (Admin can do this but it's not 'automatic') 2. Fix/Implement the "I have current track/mod" join feature. That's it,2 things and pick up racing can/should happen. I have 30 mins spare,I have that mod,I have that track so let's race. I don't want to spend 20 mins of that downloading Good idea
So really, what you're saying here is the admins that set there servers up with 10 circuits requiring you to have to download them all are at fault? I agree there. If a server has one track and a car or two, what's up with that if GetMod enabled? In ANY sim you will need to download content to race with people? rF1, rF2, AC, iR, GSC........
Ah.. I see now. Your simply focusing on the other stupid thing admins do which is include 20 tracks in one vmod. Again, we are back to the admins and not the game. ISI is working on this though and it's already possible in limited form. When I say limited though, I am only referring to the fact that some options can't be changed in the UI but they are still possible by editing the mp.json by hand. What threw me off was how you are coining it "jump in" racing and how you said you don't want to have to download stuff. FYI.. The new proto dedi is nothing more then a simplified vmod creation tool which forces you to not include 20 tracks in one vmod. It creates individual vmods for each track, stores them in the Packages folder and names them like this: mpVmod_38834_0.rfmod (vmod for track 1) mpVmod_38834_1.rfmod (vmod for track 2) Then it launches the real dedi server with a command line like this: +path=".." +oneclick +vmod=mpVmod_38834 So basically someone could make their own tool/UI for building the vmods with the correct naming convention, changing all the settings you want to change in the mp.json and then launch the real dedi with the correct command line instructing it to use the correct vmods.
Tell me one single moddable game that is easier to join servers than rfactor 2..... A moddable game implies downloading mods to join certain servers. It happens in rf2 as it happens in all games. You allways need that special map, that special mod, etc. Rf2 is one of the few that provide an auto-download option. Looking to all other sims, past and present, i dont see 1 that offers this solution. People start this non-sense threads filling this forum with unusefull information, getting the usefull one lost and misleading every newcomer that all is wrong. For those claiming that leagues should open their servers.....well, why dont you guys spend 1000€/$ a year and make your own server instead? Its easier to open a thread complaining about everything?
Proto server allows you to make a server with 500 tracks if you want to so that you have the freedom to switch to whatever track you and/or any other players feel like racing on, while not forcing players to have to download all those 500 tracks, as long as they have the 1 single track currently raced on then they can instantly join, and if they don't have the current track, then all they need to do is autodownload that one track rather than 500. There should still be an option to see all the tracks pre-selected by the server, and then we would be given the option to select any amount of tracks we want out of that server's list. Also, once in the room, if it then switches to a track you don't have, then you should get, again, prompted with the autodownload option, and once the download finishes, you go straight in and continue-on rather than getting kicked-out back to the RF2 server-list screen.
I just messed with the proto UI in 910 and it's all messed up right now. It was working in older builds. This should be completely removed for now. The way it worked in older builds is just how you explained it. You join a server and it only needs the track that is currently being used. GetMod downloads everything you need. Then when the race is over and it rolls to the next track it would kick you back into the prejoin phase where it downloads the next vmod and then shows the missing content for this next session. You then click get missing and it pulls the next track and you're back in. Right now it isn't switching tracks correctly for some odd reason. If you vote to change tracks it kicks you back to the car select screen but then when you get back it's still on the same track and you're also in this odd state where the race button is grayed. If you try changing races from the server side it does actually change tracks and you go through the getmod process and then back to the server but it still has the grayed out join button. Something was broken somewhere between builds. My guess is fixing the strange join/part bug broke the new rolling vmod feature.
That was to use the prototype dedi, which the dev had to step away from, and is only looking to come back to shortly. Proto dedi should probably be avoided at this pooint though.
Admins create large rfmods because they are lazy to create new ones, because of the tedious process and sometimes bugs when creating new rfmod. Many servers have large rfmod with, say, 10 tracks, of which only 5 are in rotation. This way they can change rotation without building new rfmod. Even still, client needs to have every track before joining, even tracks out of rotation. Stupid admins, I agree, but the situation is stuck until ISI decides to improve the dedi as they promised long ago in q&a.
And you can easily schedule a script that shuts down the server and starts back up with another vmod with the windows task scheduler.
No no no guys It does not matter what an admin does with their server,it's their server after all. For a pick up/jump in race if I have the mod and the currently playing track I should be able to join. This is what it's all about. Some people have literally 30 mins to spare. They just want to sit down,flick through the server list,find a mod and track that they have and go race. Ok the feature is kinda there and on the list of 'todo' which is great. yes getmod is fantastic but no time to download. Think of the player who has downloaded the content rF2 but that is all they have. isi mods and isi tracks but scanning the server list to see what mod a server is running.........impossible unless the admin has specifically named it so. let alone sifting through passworded servers This isn't about the merits of rF1 or rF2 or which is better or about having to eventually download this or that. or whether the server admin is lazy etc etc This is about any player who has limited content,limited bandwidth,limited storage or whatever being able to just have a race with what they have. Once they have fixed this feature then jump in racing will be great again. And fixed the mod name by content and the ability to hide passworded servers to make it a lot easier to find those jump on servers
I see what your getting at but with such a wide variety of content I doubt you will be lucky enough to find a server running with exactly what you want/have. You're bound to have to download something. I agree that the MM should give more info about what cars and tracks are being used. It would be cool if the dedi server could generate a list of sigs that are needed to join the server and include that in the registration with the MM. Then the MM could color code which ever servers that have a list of sigs that you already have available. That or have a column called "Components" and it would show 9/10 if you have 9 out of the 10 components that the server needs. Then you could sort on that column to find good candidates. I'm sure ISI is looking to minimize the amount of data that is contained in the MM list so they may not want to do something like this. BTW, I am not trying to be difficult or start an argument. I'm just trying to have some constructive criticism rather than just saying... This sucks and will suck until ISI fixes it without actually throwing out some ideas. It's still frustrating that the sim in it's current state can be used very effectively if admins would just get their crap together.
hahahaha of course it has what I want/have because that's why I wanted to 'jump in' I don't have to download anything. I have Mods and I have Tracks. If a server is running something I have at that specific time then I can join. If no servers with my mods/tracks then yes I have to download something or wait. This is how it is in rF1 but broken in rF2. No arguments here
The only solution i could see for the moment, ISI themeself offers some server, where original content only is running...
