Going online - finding a race / really that hard?

[F_B]

Hi guys,

I hope someone can help me.
Lately I've started doing some laps in rfactor 2 again (having it since 2 years) and I'm really enjoying it. It's good to see new content coming out more frequently and I hope it will bring more simracer (back) to this sim. Now I decided to give the online part another go and resubbed for MP. But what a mess...nearly all servers are closed for public or I somehow don't have all the right mods (and I think I do have many...). The list is marked red and yellow...whatever that means? I'd expect at least one marked green, but no. Am I doing something wrong? Is it really that hard to design the online part of a game more user-friendly (I know...it's rfactor and it has been more ore less complicated from the start, but yes...we're now in the 21st century ) [stop rant].

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

Red is OK.
Yellow is a different build.

Ontop of the list are the open ISI servers.

But to enjoy rF2 online it's best to look for a community. For example : Racedepartment.com

About content: If the server is setup correctly all content needed will download and install for you. You don't need anything pre-installed to join a server. Just try the Racedepartment servers.

 

[PATR10T]

but when urd mods are installed then everyone will have it and dont have to pay for it? thats why i have set our with password

 

[Emery]

Pay content (URD) would have to be repackaged for GetMod to autodownload. I've seen one server that did that <ahem> and wondered if URD knew. Most open servers with URD material do not repackage and thus maintain URD's rights.

In my experience, when GetMod doesn't work, 80% of the time its URD material and the other 20% of the time it's a server admin who doesn't know how to configure GetMod.

I'll take rF2's package system with GetMod over the rF1 system of "where do I download the mod?" any day of the week.

Now if you want a rant, one can be started over the lack of filters for the server list (c'mon, who usually needs to see all the locked servers?) and the lack of transparency as to what real mod the server is using instead of relying on the server admin to use a descriptive name in their package...

 

[F_B]

Red is OK.
Yellow is a different build.

Ontop of the list are the open ISI servers.

But to enjoy rF2 online it's best to look for a community. For example : Racedepartment.com

About content: If the server is setup correctly all content needed will download and install for you. You don't need anything pre-installed to join a server. Just try the Racedepartment servers.

Thanks Gijs.
Finally I was able to join one server with the Group C prototypes@Mid-Ohio, which was quite a joy. However, I still can’t spot why some public server won’t give me the possibility to participate? Sometimes, when I wait longer, the Race-Button is highlighted and then I can download the missing parts in order to participate. That’s how it worked with the group C server. But then there are server where this doesn’t work and I don’t know why.

Sadly, I don’t have the time to join a league or take part in community races. I’m more the guy who looks for quick and spontanous races, which works fine for me in AC, PCars (but there’s 99% mayhem) and sometimes GSCE. If I want more serious races I hop in Iracing.

 

[Simon Christmann]

Thanks Gijs.
Finally I was able to join one server with the Group C prototypes@Mid-Ohio, which was quite a joy. However, I still can’t spot why some public server won’t give me the possibility to participate? Sometimes, when I wait longer, the Race-Button is highlighted and then I can download the missing parts in order to participate. That’s how it worked with the group C server. But then there are server where this doesn’t work and I don’t know why.

Sadly, I don’t have the time to join a league or take part in community races. I’m more the guy who looks for quick and spontanous races, which works fine for me in AC, PCars (but there’s 99% mayhem) and sometimes GSCE. If I want more serious races I hop in Iracing.

If you cant donwload the content from the server the server is not set up properly. It has nothing you make wrong.

 

[Anatoliy Tkachenko]

Fabian,
When you try to join any open server you could see the components you miss. So even if the server is not set up properly you still know what components you miss and could try to find relevant components somwhere els (ISI, RaceDepartments etc.) install them and after that try to join the server.

However as you prefer quick races like you do in AC, then this news could be interesting for you:
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/26744-rFactor-2-on-Steam-Q-A
ISI plan to release RF2 on STEAM. I assume soon after the release there would be more open servers with possibility to download the required content and with higher number of people.

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

I still can’t spot why some public server won’t give me the possibility to participate?

Well everybody can setup a server. Some don't have the knowledge to make the get missing component feature to work or don't want it to work (URD mod).

Some community's have open, public servers for practice. But the race are on a certain day.
For example: The S4RL server (@Steven Andrew ), the REVS servers (@Kevin Cox ). Their races are announced on the ISI forums.

But i think the ~IsR~ Servers are the ones you are looking for. Each evening there are some occupied servers you can join.

 

[Peevee88]

I agree 100% with Fabian and the crux of the matter is that rF2 multiplayer is far too user-unfriendly - they need to simplify the interface and method to host and/or join races
I have a server and find the whole process totally tedious and far too complicated to attract casual simmers to the game.

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

To host, yeah!
I think things could be made more easy... But setting up a dedicated server with other games isn't more easy. Once you know the process, it's done in a minute.
The Quick-host is still in development, but not a high prio at the moment.

To join a server.
- Select a server
- Click "Race"
- Type in the password (if needed)
- Click on "get missing components" (if needed)
- Select a car
- Go Racing.

IMO: Not that complicated.
So no manual downloading, installing, rfm file mismatches, missing cars, version mismatches or other things you need to have before you can join a server.

A little improvement what i think could be done:
The Vmod on the users end is confusing for newcomers to rF2.
I think it could be treated like a temporarily file: automaticly uninstalled and deleted after you've left the server. No more worrying about that.

 

[Ace King]

I found it necessary to delete any Vmods i previously made for hosting before using single player mode so i can see all my installed cars and tracks for selection otherwise i can only race the Vmod contents that i last used while hosting!

Is this really necessary or did i overlook something here? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Simon Christmann]

I found it necessary to delete any Vmods i previously made for hosting before using single player mode so i can see all my installed cars and tracks for selection otherwise i can only race the Vmod contents that i last used while hosting!

Is this really necessary or did i overlook something here? Thanks in advance for any help!

You need to selet in mods All cars all tracks and then confirm this with accept. Then you are able to race any combination in singleplayer again.

 

[Ace King]

I already tried your suggestion with no success so there might be some type of corruption in my game. I'll do a new light install with a new UserData directory and hope that solves it. Thanks

 

[PATR10T]

IMO: Not that complicated.
So no manual downloading, installing, rfm file mismatches, missing cars, version mismatches or other things you need to have before you can join a server.

yeah and everybody joins to get the urd paymods

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

I think most servers are simply not setup for public racing these days.
At the begining we had several servers with 10min prac./10min qualy, 15min racing. One ISI car, three or four tracks. That is easy and quick to join and you always have some fun. If you join during a race, you could relax a bit before coming back and if you joined just before the race you could take it easy and follow the others.

The issues are mostly down to admins not setting up the server and I have to say it is not that hard unless you go into the fine details. I have never setup a server in rF2, but with one video tutorial on youtube and the respective tool I managed to learn how to create a vMod with getMod avaialable in less than 30min. If you have a dedicated server running, which costs money, you should at least invest 30 to 60min of your time as an admin to learn it. It is now really easy with the tools available.

If you go into the fine details of race settings (SC, blue flags, formation laps etc.) it is a lot more complicated and I have no clue about it.