rFactor 2 Publishes October Release Candidate

TheRealCeeBee said:

I think the obvious thing being overlooked here is the cars DID have the icons.. albeit packed in a different place in the mod.. how hard is it to simply write some code

if (oldgronkymod == true)
Fetch IMAGE from HERE instead of HERE.

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rF2 did have dx9 in the past as well, the company has made various changes that have not always been compatible with past versions. The menu icons are just one of those items I assume because S397 wanted to create a larger, more detailed image. It was a design choice by by the company.

@roadyroad The release candidate is a preview of the next set of program improvements that will be released to everyone when the Quarter 4 content release occurs. You only need to choose to use the Release Candidate if you want to see and test what is coming. If you race in a league, it is probably best not to choose the release candidate until the league server also is updated. You can also choose NOT to opt for the Release Candidate and that will automatically roll over to become the next stable build when the Q4 content drop occurs.

And I didn't think I flip flopped. I said the tarp icon won't be exchanged with the car icons by S397 & gave what I thought were clear reasons. Emery restated and enhanced what I said and neither of our messages seemed to be accepted. So my last post was as plain as possible. Unless somebody else provides the icons for any of the cars currently under wraps, we will be left with those tarp images because S397 won't.

Really are we back to worrying about icons,. lol
Oh man you people need to drive it and forget everything else.

397= 62 ISI=30 as in content + plus the ones that have been removed like the Nissan GTR and Nissan 370Z that long ago I mean who cares ?
So I guessing those are official cars as well ? lol + the invisible cars lol
If saying those and other ISI content are official helps you sleep by all means.

And rather then worrying about nothing I would be very busy making my content archive before other pieces of history are removed. Like say Woo's Suzuka or the lovely Vettes and oh yes got to have Boxmaster .............. oh Belgium ( yes the league one is great but I prefer the original offline so if you don't back it up and it or something else gets removed you lose it.

Been warned ...again lol

ISI was the most honest they said like 10 year ago rF2 would be in constant beta and would never ever be gold.

Oh there are the Nissans


Pity it's Google ! lol

davehenrie said:

So you have heard the same story from two different people, both of whom agree. We are NOT saying your line of thinking is incorrect, we ARE saying nothing is going to happen with any of that content. We explained why, you can choose to believe us or not, the result will still be the same and you will let a fricken tarp graphic on a menu decide your sim choices.

You can keep responding, you can keep telling us those cars are official but we have told you there is a difference between ISI and S397, if you choose not to accept that, I can't help you but you won't get any relief from S397. There is a website where you can use an online app to create the icons, you could always learn the process and produce your own icons. S397 decided years ago not to touch those cars, Marcel Offermans in multiple interviews, forum posts etc clearly stated S397 will not even update the skins, let alone any other improvement they have developed. They just will not. Can't explain it any plainer than that.

The Kart & Reiza products clearly show what we mean. Kartsim has been updated multiple times with many of the latest rF2 features and shaders. the Reiza packs after a few fixes early on have not because Reiza has been too busy with AMS2. I think Reiza viewed those packs as test beds to decide if they wanted to use rF2 for the base of AMS2, at some point they decided to use another sim engine. S397 provided an avenue for those two products to be sold, but they do not own any part of those products so they cannot or WILL NOT change them. A grocery store can't take frozen Pizzas they sell and open every box to remove the pineapple chunks just like S397 cannot or WILL NOT touch other people's products, even if those products are part of the original rF2 package.

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I think you're all making the same statement, old rfactor2's official content haven't been and won't be updated.

The only difference is that you accept that and others don't. I don't and this is one of the issues that put me away from rfactor2 (just reinstalled it for this interesting update annoucement) and, most important, that don't give me any wish to buy more dlcs.

The point is when, as a company, you buy the ownership of a product, you take the responsability of everything. "It wasn't me" isn't a good reason to not do something. If ot can be updated or fixed, do it.

With this attitude, how can we be sure that S397 dlcs we buy will be updated in the future? Previous content have been already abandonned, why not the new parts in the future?

I had the same issue with Raceroom few years ago when the physics were updated. I had lost patience, as the updated content (GT3) wasn't the czrs I wanted to race on this game. But, after some time, the old content has been updated (the wait for the Group 5 had been really long but it has been worth the wait!).

That's where S397 fails for me. Annoucing you abandon some of your content doesn't mean it is right. You just cut some of your customers' expectations. This are just bad bus8ness practices.

About Kartsim and Reiza content, it is a quiet strange and unique situation. You give a plateform to developpers to create paying content. They do the job, a really good job. They're done with it and it's normal. And it gives your plateform more attractiveness (I had personnally relaunched rfactor2 for these 2 DLCs).

You make more updates for the plateform and you expect these developpers to update their content. Something isn't right there. It is paid content which may have and still may attract customers. By chance, these DLCs are not obsolete or broken kartsim having updated their content and the Reiza pack not being too old. But that's risky business there.

I lost my expectations about the modding management, which will never happen, being imo a strategical mistake, but this is paid content, as is the original rfactor2 content (yes, in the price of rfactor2 is included the legacy content, especially for those who have been owning, renting because it is steam, the game since the beginning). I still think in the prixe of rfactor2 are included all the modded content but it is anorher discussion, and I decided to reinstall the game and try to enjoy it as it is, there are some.good energies with this update.

davehenrie said:

@roadyroad The release candidate is a preview of the next set of program improvements that will be released to everyone when the Quarter 4 content release occurs. You only need to choose to use the Release Candidate if you want to see and test what is coming. If you race in a league, it is probably best not to choose the release candidate until the league server also is updated. You can also choose NOT to opt for the Release Candidate and that will automatically roll over to become the next stable build when the Q4 content drop occurs.

Click to expand...

I know what it is, it's not my point. I repeat, the game just didn't work when I made a full install directly with the release candidate activated. I just gave a piece of advice for those who need to install the game ; just install the regular version, launch the game (probably not necessary but I did it just in case) and update it to the release candidate.

By the way, the release candidate is the only reason I decided to reinstall the game, so I really needed it

MarcG said:

Good to see the AI fixes have (finally) started, but the main one (slipstreaming) still needs to happen, I could easily live with the throttle on/off but for racing at Le Mans it needs slipstreaming to work correctly, it's always been pointless racing AI there since it was released.

The wait to reinstall continues...

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This was the post I was looking for. Hopefully this will be addressed shortly too.

Durge Driven said:

Really are we back to worrying about icons,. lol
Oh man you people need to drive it and forget everything else.

397= 62 ISI=30 as in content + plus the ones that have been removed like the Nissan GTR and Nissan 370Z that long ago I mean who cares ?
So I guessing those are official cars as well ? lol + the invisible cars lol
If saying those and other ISI content are official helps you sleep by all means.

And rather then worrying about nothing I would be very busy making my content archive before other pieces of history are removed. Like say Woo's Suzuka or the lovely Vettes and oh yes got to have Boxmaster .............. oh Belgium ( yes the league one is great but I prefer the original offline so if you don't back it up and it or something else gets removed you lose it.

Been warned ...again lol

ISI was the most honest they said like 10 year ago rF2 would be in constant beta and would never ever be gold.

Click to expand...

Like you, I am a big fan of the sim and for me the menu icons aren't a big deal, atleast compared to the questionmarks.

That said, I promised as soon as this menu system was introduced that it wouldn't be a good idea to use it in such an open product like rF2. The spinner view like in rF1 was the best option and there is a reason why other modern products like ACC do it in the same way. Those menu icons for rF2 require a sh*tton of work and I have no idea how this system was ever considered a good idea. Yep, it looks good, but as long as there isn't an easy 1-click solution that you can use within the game I don't see this as a userfriendly nor efficient way. I don't think that the system will be changed but it's again one thing that gives rF2 a bit of this Beta-feeling. The wierd thing is that they seem to have their own program for it but it doesn't seem to be release ready since I don't know how many years.

On the problem of legacy content: this once again is an issue that I pointed out when users started to demand stuff and new tech. The fast progress and new features also creates a big backlog of content that needs to be updated. And as a result you see genre leading tracks and tracks that were ok ten years ago in the same product. Tbh, there needs to be a clear signature in the menu that shows who created the content so that people know what is legacy content and what they have to expect. And besides that, I don't like the term legacy content. There are other products where tracks like old Spa are requested since months or years and for rF2 such a track is treated like an ugly child. There should atleast be the basic features added and that isn't the case. Sadly the historic content is completely abandoned.

rF2 is truly a bit of a mess with its abandoned or broken mods, outdated content, changes in ownership, etc. but, it still has much to offer, despite being far from the ideal, as frustrating as it may be.

Still, it could be much worse. Not all licensing deals are perpetual in nature.
Consider Forza Motorsport7 for example. It has been removed from [official] sellers' inventory as the short-term content licenses have now expired.

When a company (Dev Studio) changes ownership, the license agreements do not necessarily transfer to the new owner. Even if the licensing were not the reason S397 does not update all rF2 content, the fact is, they choose not to and it's their decision. A tiny minority of potential players boycotting the title is not likely to change that.

And then there is iRacing, where money continues to flow in via monthly subscription fees, and everything about the features and content is maintained & done to absolute perfection.

At least with rF2, you can still access the game and its content even when you stop spending on it.

RaceNut said:

When a company (Dev Studio) changes ownership, the license agreements do not necessarily transfer to the new owner. Even if the licensing were not the reason S397 does not update all rF2 content, the fact is, they choose not to and it's their decision. A tiny minority of potential players boycotting the title is not likely to change that.

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Yes, S397 is not the same as ISI. It's the same with, say, Chrysler vs. Daimler-Chrysler vs. FIAT-Chrysler.

tr1v1um said:

On the problem of legacy content: this once again is an issue that I pointed out when users started to demand stuff and new tech. The fast progress and new features also creates a big backlog of content that needs to be updated. And as a result you see genre leading tracks and tracks that were ok ten years ago in the same product. Tbh, there needs to be a clear signature in the menu that shows who created the content so that people know what is legacy content and what they have to expect.

Click to expand...

I agree, and think this is a serious issue for new user onboarding. It may lead many to dismiss rF2. New users must be frustrated when some of the content installed into rF2 by default from the Workshop is from the ISI era and therefore is old and outdated (e.g. old shaders, broken sound). And even some paid DLC like the Reiza pack. No wonder users are confused, get frustrated, or think the game is shoddy or broken.

I would argue that any content not up to current S397 standards should NOT be installed by default. Perhaps instead in one or more curated Steam Workshop lists from Studio 397 labelled "Content No Longer Being Updated" or something like that? And outdated DLC also relegated to a separate, labelled backpage of the store? I have no problem with content no longer being updated to keep up with the rapid improvements to rF2 (besides, much of it still looks tolerable and is fun to drive) but users should not need to sort through one-by-one and figure this all out for themselves. You already need to keep on top of which third party mods are staying up-to-date (which is fine... that's the nature of the beast) but why ALSO have to do it for content from the devs themselves? You're asking for trouble IMO

tr1v1um said:

Like you, I am a big fan of the sim and for me the menu icons aren't a big deal, atleast compared to the questionmarks.

That said, I promised as soon as this menu system was introduced that it wouldn't be a good idea to use it in such an open product like rF2. The spinner view like in rF1 was the best option and there is a reason why other modern products like ACC do it in the same way. Those menu icons for rF2 require a sh*tton of work and I have no idea how this system was ever considered a good idea. Yep, it looks good, but as long as there isn't an easy 1-click solution that you can use within the game I don't see this as a userfriendly nor efficient way. I don't think that the system will be changed but it's again one thing that gives rF2 a bit of this Beta-feeling. The wierd thing is that they seem to have their own program for it but it doesn't seem to be release ready since I don't know how many years.

On the problem of legacy content: this once again is an issue that I pointed out when users started to demand stuff and new tech. The fast progress and new features also creates a big backlog of content that needs to be updated. And as a result you see genre leading tracks and tracks that were ok ten years ago in the same product. Tbh, there needs to be a clear signature in the menu that shows who created the content so that people know what is legacy content and what they have to expect. And besides that, I don't like the term legacy content. There are other products where tracks like old Spa are requested since months or years and for rF2 such a track is treated like an ugly child. There should atleast be the basic features added and that isn't the case. Sadly the historic content is completely abandoned.

Click to expand...

Both rfactor1 and previous rf1ctor2 UI were loading the cars models. The issue was that it was a bit slow in rfactor1 (compared to other sims like F1C or CTR2) and atrociously slow in rfactor2. I fully understand why S397 went on the icons way.

The new UI is really nice, it takes a few time to understand how it works, I would rather see categories and creators filters, but this metada method works quiet fine, although not perfectly. The loading times have improved a lot, optimization in general too.

RaceNut said:

rF2 is truly a bit of a mess with its abandoned or broken mods, outdated content, changes in ownership, etc. but, it still has much to offer, despite being far from the ideal, as frustrating as it may be.

Still, it could be much worse. Not all licensing deals are perpetual in nature.
Consider Forza Motorsport7 for example. It has been removed from [official] sellers' inventory as the short-term content licenses have now expired.

When a company (Dev Studio) changes ownership, the license agreements do not necessarily transfer to the new owner. Even if the licensing were not the reason S397 does not update all rF2 content, the fact is, they choose not to and it's their decision. A tiny minority of potential players boycotting the title is not likely to change that.

And then there is iRacing, where money continues to flow in via monthly subscription fees, and everything about the features and content is maintained & done to absolute perfection.

At least with rF2, you can still access the game and its content even when you stop spending on it.

Click to expand...

If a license contract comes to its end, the content is just not officially available anymore. If you are still able to download it, it should be supported and updated. When a product is sold, it comes with all its contracts.

The "tuny minority" you state is just an assumption, ypu don't know anything about that at all. Seriously, rfactor2, with all its features, makkng it the most complete piece of software, has been the most promising sim for many years and it never has been the most played sim. It is not a minority, it is the majority...

MJQT said:

I agree, and think this is a serious issue for new user onboarding. It may lead many to dismiss rF2. New users must be frustrated when some of the content installed into rF2 by default from the Workshop is from the ISI era and therefore is old and outdated (e.g. old shaders, broken sound). And even some paid DLC like the Reiza pack. No wonder users are confused, get frustrated, or think the game is shoddy or broken.

I would argue that any content not up to current S397 standards should NOT be installed by default. Perhaps instead in one or more curated Steam Workshop lists from Studio 397 labelled "Content No Longer Being Updated" or something like that? And outdated DLC also relegated to a separate, labelled backpage of the store? I have no problem with content no longer being updated to keep up with the rapid improvements to rF2 (besides, much of it still looks tolerable and is fun to drive) but users should not need to sort through one-by-one and figure this all out for themselves. You already need to keep on top of which third party mods are staying up-to-date (which is fine... that's the nature of the beast) but why ALSO have to do it for content from the devs themselves? You're asking for trouble IMO

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That's what I've been asking for years, modding management.

Back to rfactor2, it has improved a lot in 2 or 3 years (the time I've stopped trying), much more optimized, in the menus and on track. It became a good piece of software. But many broken mods (wheel bugs, sound bugs...), 1nd kt doesn't depends of the age of the mod. I'm.much more positive a out the game than before, I'll keep it on my HDD. By the way, the stange behavipur I've noticed jnder rainy conditions with F1 1975 cars are indeed something from the mod. It did not happened with other mods.

The AI is too repetitive though, the AI cars all have the same mechanical race line. In this new version they don't have the break taping syndrome but they have the throttle.taping syndrome.

Off topic, but same sim --
The new rF2 Store kicks ass.

I rarely drove the official races because I never knew what content I was missing and wasn't about to try to figure it out.
Turns out, I was missing ONE GT car this whole time

They don't give discounts on "packs" like R3E does, but it's a massive improvement

• Updated DRS regulations to be restricted in all zones by default and not allowed if there are no DRS zones.

For a game released in 2013... it's not pretty!

Shannon Flynn said:

Off topic, but same sim --
The new rF2 Store kicks ass.

I rarely drove the official races because I never knew what content I was missing and wasn't about to try to figure it out.
Turns out, I was missing ONE GT car this whole time

They don't give discounts on "packs" like R3E does, but it's a massive improvement

Click to expand...

Technically not off-topic since that was released with this update.

Shannon Flynn said:

Off topic, but same sim --
The new rF2 Store kicks ass.

I rarely drove the official races because I never knew what content I was missing and wasn't about to try to figure it out.
Turns out, I was missing ONE GT car this whole time

They don't give discounts on "packs" like R3E does, but it's a massive improvement

Click to expand...

I will have a look, that has been an issue. In the past you buy a pack, then another, then they are gone and reworked with new packs that might have 3 cars you bought and 2 you dont. The steam page gives you no real indication you owned something in a pack but not others... Even single items never told you until you clicked on them.

That process is built into the competition system, the scheduling system will look at your content and point you to the cheapest method of getting all that you need via the store.
There is another simple method though that works for all series at all the different methods of online racing. Decide what you are going to race and purchase EVERYTHING. That's all. You can save tons during holiday sales, but just ensure whatever group of cars & tracks you are going to drive, you have them all. Do it one at a time or double purchase in a package. The package prices are generally near half what the retail for all the single cars would be,(for example the 14 car GT3 pack) I didn't say it was the BEST method, just the simplest.

They should remove the 1 Kart and 3 Kart tracks or put all karts and all tracks .

Also put Karts separate, I don't want it at the top just because it is only thing I don't have.

I brought rF2 not Kartsim.

davehenrie said:

That process is built into the competition system, the scheduling system will look at your content and point you to the cheapest method of getting all that you need via the store.
There is another simple method though that works for all series at all the different methods of online racing. Decide what you are going to race and purchase EVERYTHING. That's all. You can save tons during holiday sales, but just ensure whatever group of cars & tracks you are going to drive, you have them all. Do it one at a time or double purchase in a package. The package prices are generally near half what the retail for all the single cars would be,(for example the 14 car GT3 pack) I didn't say it was the BEST method, just the simplest.

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rF2 gives you full control what to buy, packs or single.

Reiza, Kunos and SlightlyMad give you no such option.

So how is rF2 Steam DLC not better ? when everyone here bags it.

P.S. If you don't know by now, what is available, how you can buy it and what you don't have I would give up.