New Package Management System for rFactor 2

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In what's probably the least exciting sounding news possible for sim racing, another long awaited, much asked for feature will arrive to rFactor 2 together with the Q1 update later in February.

As all racers who have touched rFactor 2 know, the whole system with content can be a bit confusing, not to mention that it can take up quite a lot of hard drive space. Some of this will now, finally change. As Studio 397 wrote themselves:

"For these new code change, we’ve been able to break up the content types in rFactor 2 to three distinct categories – Local Content, Steam Content and Store Content. By breaking out these three categories, we now have the ability to open up a number of user actions previously impossible with our existing code structure. Just like you could before with locally installed items, now we can present the opportunity for our players to see, install, uninstall and monitor update status of items purchased as DLC, or downloaded for free from the Steam Workshop.

As an additional benefit, this new set of features gives us the opportunity to present more information on the status of content already installed within the title – so you can see what is pending updates, if things haven’t updated correctly, if items are in your library but uninstalled.

Fundamentally, these changes will also offer us quite a boost in terms of the overall speed of the rFactor 2 experience within the main UI. With this update, we have been able to prevent situations where the user is stuck behind a modal dialogue state within the rf2 UI, so for example, in the old system if for example a user purchases a large track like the Nordschleife, you’d be stuck in game with a locked UI waiting on a download bar for significant periods of time – this behaviour has been removed with these changes, as you can now elect to directly engage with the software while downloading, and on a similar topic, you can now launch rF2 without any game pause if you just want to jump in and do a quick race, as you no longer have to update your content when coming into the game by default.

Granted, this isn’t the most sexy of improvements we’ve brought to the sim over the last couple of years, but we think this is a very important piece of groundwork we’ve undertaken for our continued growth and expansion – adding benefits to the end user right away, and putting us on a much stronger footing to allow development to take the direction we’ve planned out for the immediate future."


Speed, fluidity and a game not seemingly being frozen is good enough. However, for the ones who have bought a lot of DLC over the years, but not using it all anymore, the opportunity to uninstall the DLC is something that's been wished for, for a long time for many users of rFactor 2.

The new system will arrive together with the "Drive online with cars you don't own" in the 2023 Q1 build being released the 21st of February!

Wanting to race rFactor 2 in a friendly, helpful, yet competetive environment? Take a visit to the rFactor 2 Club Racing forum at RaceDepartment for more information.
About author
Ole Marius Myrvold
I've been a motorsport-fan for as long as I can remember. Initially a rallycross-maniac, but got into F1 around the time I started school. Got my first sim when I was 7, but didn't start properly until I got a wheel when I was 12. Been a staff at RaceDepartment since 2012. Mainly the dirty-guy who does rally-stuff here. But also management-titles and rFactor 2.

Comments

There are some really special people around here...
The other day I was at a friends house and he complained about this 'shadow draw issue in rF2' and the looong loading, the video stuttering and other endless whining. Exactly as some chaps above have described.
So, I took a real quick look.
1. Jeez...nVidia driver not been updated for two years.
2. A million files in temp folders all over the place. Garbage cans all over...
3. Failed MS updates stuck.

I told him: good luck and walked out.

AC, ACC, AMS2 & RaceRoom also have their bugs and really odd things.

Some people just cannot enjoy things as they are and have not the balls to walk away from it either, instead they take the time to leave poop wherever they go...

Cheers.
The funny thing is, that some of the stuff mentioned is a problem in pretty much every modern sim, like the crawling shadows for example. I recently played AMS 2 again and they still have the funky bug with missing wheels. There is tons of stuff like that in all platforms. And stuttering is usually a sign of something being messed up with the game or people not setting up their graphic settings properly. I remember having rather big issues with stuttering in AC for example that I solved simply by adjusting the refresh rates proplery as that sim is a bit more sensetive in that regard. Not a problem of the sim but on my end, simple as that. I recently did a fresh install of rF2 due to swapping to a new OS install and I can't complain. Everything that is needed is in the UI, including graphic quality presets and even rebuilding the shaders isn't needed anymore, wich I remember being an issue in the past when I changed graphic settings.

People simply have to accept that we are playing racing games on PC and that you need to adjust settings accordingly. If you want to avoid that, then only console games are an option and even in that case you aren't 100 % save to have a smooth experience at all times.
 
Still waiting on the ability to create a custom offline championship within this sim. Favourite sim but let down by this as it was talked about years ago now.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news....but...:

Single player custom championships when? Or has it been given up on? As an offline racer there is no real incentive to play rF2 when all you can do is one off races.

A bit of insight into this one that might give a clearer picture.

Originally when Marcel made those comments a couple of years ago, the idea was to leverage some of the technology that was to be employed within the at the time, new, Competition System, that would have allowed us to develop a kind of offline single player custom championship mode.

Since then, the intended development of the Competition System has ended, in favour of the often talked about 'CS 2.0' - which uses different technology than what we currently have in place.

As such, the expected ability to build on the original CS and create that custom championship mode is no longer an option.

Sadly, this means a custom championship mode would require brand-new standalone code, and significant alterations to how things are setup within the software at present - something that we aren't actively looking to develop at this moment in time. That said, I'm sure it will be something to look at further down the road, it's something I very much would like myself, but it's just not on the agenda at this moment in time.

Cheers
 
I think this update is bigger than people are giving RF2 credit for. Having the game "just work" is extremely important; that requires many under-the-hood, core-coding changes. This is a good step.

Hopefully these sorts of updates continue and expand to other areas.
 
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I think this update is bigger than people are giving RF2 credit for. Having the game "just work" is extremely important; that requires many under-the-hood, core-coding changes. This is a good step.

Hopefully these sorts of updates continue and expand to other areas.
It's a huge update. Not this bit in particular, but the Q1 update as a whole. They are changing a fundamental system and fixing one of the main barriers to entry for the online bit. Plus they've re-done the GT3s, they are bringing in the hybrid system for BTCC cars, and there will be a new track and new car announced next week I think. For a small team they are punching above their weight.
 
Will the change let you know what items from DLC packs are already purchased or not to prevent buying same things multiple times, always hard to figure out what is own and what not especially as bunch of DLCs have overlapping content.
Some sort of direct integration of UI with Steam Workshop may be.
I dont see that a priority for them as they would like that we buy them multiple times :p.
Consider it a donation and you will feel better.
 
I'm pretty sure this was in one of my last requests from S397 lol...

Good news, if well overdue news... Hopefully they have it working properly before release...
 

Oh btw what other sims will let you do this ? :coffee:
Assetto Corsa which is rF2 biggest rival doesn't ?
Besides AC has no updated cars for eons, just sad.

Personally I don't think the people won't buy DLC deserve this feature. They are just whining little bitches and will still whine even now then just turn their attention to something else to whine about, pathetic :thumbsup:
 
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Thank you 397 for recognizing that some of us use game pads!!! I almost fell out mh chair when i read what was in the package. THANK YOU
 

Oh btw what other sims will let you do this ? :coffee:
Assetto Corsa which is rF2 biggest rival doesn't ?
Besides AC has no updated cars for eons, just sad.

Personally I don't think the people won't buy DLC deserve this feature. They are just whining little bitches and will still whine even now then just turn their attention to something else to whine about, pathetic :thumbsup:
RaceRoom, iRacing, AMS2 allow it for example from the top of my head. In the case of Assetto Corsa not many people complained because what they offered in their DLC packs were good deals for very reasonable prices. Also, Assetto Corsa's official development stopped, so I don't see how it's a pro argument for rFactor 2 that "AC has no updated cars". The modding community takes care for that now, so in that sense AC has a bunch of new quality content still.

This feature is precisely for those who don't buy DLC. I know that it actually tempted me to get some DLC, because I don't have to pay the price of two AAA games to get some new tracks running with full grids. And it might also tempt me to go online since I don't have to own all the "updated" yet visually still out of date content I have absolutely no interest in driving myself.
 

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Ole Marius Myrvold
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