Assetto Corsa Competizione Won't "Support" Modding

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kunos Simulazioni reveal more on the moddability of the upcoming Assetto Corsa Competizione, and it probably won't make for happy reading for some...

With a brand new game engine in the form of Unreal 4 alongside what is a reasonable short development timeframe until Early Access release, Kunos Simulazioni have confirmed that the new title will not follow in the footsteps of the original Assetto Corsa and support modding right from the very beginning, no doubt leaving many content creators disappointed to miss out on the opportunities afforded by the greatly improved graphics engine in ACC.

Although not officially supported, the possibility does remain however for talented community members to work out how to bring content to the game, as has been proven by some hardy souls over in the original Project CARS - it just means that tools and ease of access to modders will not the as it was in the first AC title.

Understandable given what Kunos have to go through to get the game to market later this year, but no doubt a blow to those players who enjoy sampling what the community have to offer. You can check out the full Kunos statement below, taken from a recent FAQ article on the 505Games website...

Assetto Corsa’s structure was designed from the beginning to be moddable. Being developed with UE4, AC Competizione processes data and assets through a completely different structure and file format. Therefore, the game will not be compatible with mod contents created for Assetto Corsa. Also, our team does not have enough experience with UE4 to tackle both the development a brand-new game and the challenges of supporting an open platform in the time frame available for this project.

We are fully aware of the importance of modding and its contribution to the success of Assetto Corsa. It’s a great way for new talents to emerge, for the community to “suggest” new directions and/or simply to make a product richer. It is not a coincidence that some of the best community members are now contributing with us to the evolution of the software.

However, for ACC this element will have to be put in stand-by mode for a series of reasons. The most important one is that we have given ourselves an enormous task of rebuilding, once again our software from (almost) scratch. In a world where pretty much, every product you see on the market in simracing is an evolution of games that have been on the market 10-15 years ago, our approach is to get a big axe and reset things to (almost) zero before starting with a new project. ACC is no exception.

In this case the task is rendered more complex by the fact that we are using, for the first time a third party engine that we did not design ourselves and the truth is, given the amount of time we have available to deliver ACC to the public, we have more than enough on our hands trying to figure out how to use the engine effectively to also think about how to make the platform moddable.

As you can imagine, this has been source of endless discussions in the last year and half as every decision comes with pros and cons, there is going to be pain no matter what your final call will be. It goes without saying that we believe we made the right call even if that means losing the huge benefits of a moddable platform.

We know this might not cover everything, but over time we will continue to answer your most frequently asked questions! Once again, we want to thank our community for the outpour of support you’ve shown us since our announcement last week. We absolutely cannot wait to tell you more about Assetto Corsa Competizione in the near future!

Assetto Corsa Competizione should be available on Steam Early Access Summer 2018.

Check out the Assetto Corsa Competizione here at RaceDepartment for the latest news and discussions regarding this exciting upcoming sim. We intend to host some quality League and Club Racing events as well as hosting some great community created mods (we hope!). Join in the discussion today.

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Do you think modders will find a way to mod ACC? Will the lack of official modding support hurt the game in the long run, or do you think it a sensible approach by Kunos given the new technology in use? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Koen Verlinde]

ACC Early Access 23th Sept 2018..

Most likely they'll want to launch during the 24h of Spa weekend, it just comes as a natural date and decision from both angles to ensure maximum exposure.

 

[ALB123]

It's interesting. When I read posts from well established, AAA quality mod producers their response to the "No Modding in ACC" is usually something like, "Wha? Oh, ACC isn't gonna allow mods??..Oh, okay..Time to get back to this awesome project I'm working on for AC." Whereas people who've never created more than a skin are more like, "WTF?!! I'll burn their studio to the ground!! ACC FAIL!!! ACC FAIL!!! Long live iPCars Experience!!! I don't even care...I was sick of Kunos anyway..."

 

[MarkR]

I guess history completely missed GTR2. Lol

Lol indeed, I did say a mixed bag and you have chosen one of the more successful single series titles, there were far more games with variable results.

Also it's interesting you use a Simbin title as the good example, we all know how that went with Race 07. Kunos and Simbin certainly share an inability to produce fully working console games despite lots of repeated marketing messages to the contrary.

 

[David Wright]

Lol indeed, I did say a mixed bag and you have chosen one of the more successful single series titles, there were far more games with variable results.

All kinds of games have variable results. There are non-single series titles that have also had weak sales - some of them incredibly weak.

 

[motoliser]

It's interesting. When I read posts from well established, AAA quality mod producers their response to the "No Modding in ACC" is usually something like, "Wha? Oh, ACC isn't gonna allow mods??..Oh, okay..Time to get back to this awesome project I'm working on for AC." Whereas people who've never created more than a skin are more like, "WTF?!! I'll burn their studio to the ground!! ACC FAIL!!! ACC FAIL!!! Long live iPCars Experience!!! I don't even care...I was sick of Kunos anyway..."

 

[motoliser]

Ok but one thing you missed...you are not a producer!
There are way better AAA mods ready to come out but their texture quality simply have to be compressed for the current AC engine.
Just imagine AC2 locked with only a few more cars and tracks then ACC...what a disaster!!!

 

[Terry Rock]

steam workshop would so easily solve mismatch issues , ...just saying

Sure!.... if you could get guys to set content up.
I subscribe to Steam workshop for most mods.
It's still 'nuts' trying to join most races...with the now mostly displayed 'content unavailable' messages or failed download.
Workshop may solve a few issues, but mostly RF and RF2 multi-player... (unless you race regularly with the same group of individuals or in a league) are a non-starter.
Just saying

 

[motoliser]

Sure!.... if you could get guys to set content up.
I subscribe to Steam workshop for most mods.
It's still 'nuts' trying to join most races...with the now mostly displayed 'content unavailable' messages or failed download.
Workshop may solve a few issues, but mostly RF and RF2 multi-player... (unless you race regularly with the same group of individuals or in a league) are a non-starter.
Just saying

Ok but you should still be grateful for having people creating with the current level of support provided by the comunity. Large portion of AC users never raced online or against AI.
AC has been this sucsessfull mostly because of the constant content release.

 

[Terry Rock]

Ok but you should still be grateful for having people creating with the current level of support provided by the comunity. Large portion of AC users never raced online or against AI.
AC has been this sucsessfull mostly because of the constant content release.

Not to go too far off topic....but did we forget the basis of RF2's 'lifetime' component?
It was to pay for official servers, fully 'stocked' with official content for the life of the product.
Those servers are non-existent despite being paid for.
I don't think grateful is the right word....maybe thankful.
We shouldn't be relying on 'people' to do that...we paid for that feature.
In any event, the online aspect is sadly lacking due in part to a fractured, unorganized modding system.

 

[Emery]

Not to go too far off topic....but did we forget the basis of RF2's 'lifetime' component?
It was to pay for official servers, fully 'stocked' with official content for the life of the product.
Those servers are non-existent despite being paid for.

Bzzzt! rF2 Lifetime access had NOTHING to do with official servers fully stocked with official content. Amazing how people can misread what they were actually purchasing.

Lifetime access was for two things and ONLY two things:
1) Ability to join online races.
2) Version updates.

ISI quickly reversed their position on Version updates, so everybody got them regardless of lifetime access. Studio 397 then reversed the online access policy and now kindly provide online access for everybody. People who bought rF2 Lifetime access have not lost any capabilities. Incidentally, don't forget that Lifetime access was not required... you could also subscribe year-by-year to gain these two features.

*** Edit to include original pricing announcement below ***
original post at https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/pricing-and-related-open-beta-information.27924/
What is the pricing structure for rF2?
In the USA, rF2 will sell for $43.99. This will allow unlimited access to single player and mod development mode. It will also include one year access to an online account. Additional one year access to the online account can be purchased for $12.99. You may also pay a higher amount for a 'lifetime' one-time payment.

What exactly are online services?
Users will be given online accounts from which they can access multiplayer races. This should reduce the number of anonymous race entries and in turn hopefully reduce the number of passworded servers.

The service will identify when updates are available and allow for automatic downloads.

The service provides a way to generate and maintain unique Mod/Package ID’s. This should help reduce the mismatch problem found in the current version of rFactor and also help reduce/eradicate version confusion for the end user.

Additional features such as online statistics are also planned.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

My question is: Why would this SIM need MOD's?

It is a stand alone official series. At most we would need skin support because we all know liveries change a little here and there.

 

[Terry Rock]

Bzzzt! rF2 Lifetime access had NOTHING to do with official servers fully stocked with official content. Amazing how people can misread what they were actually purchasing.

Lifetime access was for two things and ONLY two things:
1) Ability to join online races.
2) Version updates.

ISI quickly reversed their position on Version updates, so everybody got them regardless of lifetime access. Studio 397 then reversed the online access policy and now kindly provide online access for everybody. People who bought rF2 Lifetime access have not lost any capabilities. Incidentally, don't forget that Lifetime access was not required... you could also subscribe year-by-year to gain these two features.

Excuses...excuses...
Server support was promised in the e-mail I received asking me to convert.
The fact remains that certain modifications can break a title's ability to properly support multi-player.
I fully support Kuno's decision.
He's at least he's not talking out of both sides of his mouth and changing his position like the other guys.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Not to go too far off topic....but did we forget the basis of RF2's 'lifetime' component?
It was to pay for official servers, fully 'stocked' with official content for the life of the product.
Those servers are non-existent despite being paid for.
I don't think grateful is the right word....maybe thankful.
We shouldn't be relying on 'people' to do that...we paid for that feature.
In any event, the online aspect is sadly lacking due in part to a fractured, unorganized modding system.

I dont remember the lifetime being related to paying official servers, any link to confirm that?

 

[Radu Oros]

My question is: Why would this SIM need MOD's?

It is a stand alone official series. At most we would need skin support because we all know liveries change a little here and there.

Agreed with you, modding in ACC would only make sense if also Kunos brings cars and tracks outside the blancpain gt series sphere.

But about car liveries, since it's a licensed series then Kunos can make the changes and add new ones for the licensed season, 2018. Without having to rely on the community to bring the real liveries. Just like EA Sports can make changes to players and teams in fifa since they got the game license for that season.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

At the very least the dicussion about rF2's failure to attract interest should be worthy for ACC to show how it shouldn't be done and learn from it all.

I paid for rF2 as well, haven't played 30 minutes in it, cause it just ain't worth it.

 

[Stereo]

It's interesting. When I read posts from well established, AAA quality mod producers their response to the "No Modding in ACC" is usually something like, "Wha? Oh, ACC isn't gonna allow mods??..Oh, okay..Time to get back to this awesome project I'm working on for AC."

Yeah, it's a pretty weird to think if ACC isn't mod-friendly, people will jump ship to RF2 instead of just keep modding AC. It's still the easier to mod game, of the two.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

I'm enjoying some really excellent mod content in AC, but truth be told it will be nice to have a tightly packaged, strictly focused-on-one-series title for a change. It also means it will give AC an extension of life by remaining the broader-themed, moddable platform, so it kinda doesn't kill our investment in that sim.

 

[Andy_J]

I'm enjoying some really excellent mod content in AC, but truth be told it will be nice to have a tightly packaged, strictly focused-on-one-series title for a change. It also means it will give AC an extension of life by remaining the broader-themed, moddable platform, so it kinda doesn't kill our investment in that sim.

I agree.

 

[delpinsky]

I actually cannot wait for this SIM. It has been a long time since there was a specific targeted series for a SIM racer game. Yes, I know we have F1 but do we have a dedicated Official Indy SIM or a Le Mans one for that matter.

My hope and dream is that they have an IMSA Weathertech expansion pack as well. It's frustrating at times that RD wont race with custom skins due to lag or what not even if they are 2K. But hey I cannot complain it is not my server. I maybe pay like .01% of the bill with my meager yearly contribution.

Speaking of Le Mans, the last one I played was on the Sega Dreamcast 'Le Mans 24 Hours '. I think that was in 2001. I really miss my Panoz Esperante GT2 car.

But anyway my hopes for future ACC withinin 18-24mos content are:

• IMSA Weathertech series (all classes)
• Le Mans (all classes)
• Super GT (all classes) - not holding my breath though
• 488 Challenge
• Super Trofeo
• 911 Carrera Cup (Euro & USA)

I read somewhere that Marco Massarutto, the man behind the Official Licences, received several proposals they had to think about.
Eventually they decided to focus on Blancpain GT Series.

The thing is: Assetto Corsa Competizione doesn't have any official brand name, therefore it portraits the Blancpain Series but it's not titled like Blancpain 2018 or similar. This is why we could hope for future DLCs about other Series, possibly.

IMSA would be a perfect match!
On the other hand, I believe we will have to wait a lot before talking about DLCs. First Kunos need to focus in delivering a release version V1.0 of the sim, within december 2018 - early 2018. Also closing a deal as big as Blancpain or IMSA, I guess it takes a lot of time and efforts.

What is sure, Kunos Simulazione have now a BIG NAME in the motorsport, as software developer for racing simulations.
For example Marco said Blancpain guys already knew Assetto Corsa and people there use it, so they were enthusiasts of this opportunity to tie the Blancpain Series brand to Assetto Corsa.

Hope like you that IMSA can be a possible partner for a future DLC.

 

[Full_Ninja]

Got a feeling that some talented groups and modders will like the challenge to bring what they can to this awesome looking addition.

I still can't get over how bad this makes dated sim titles appear.
This title is going to help sell a heck of a lot of the shiny new Nvidia hardware thats coming.
I suspect it is also HDR for compatible monitors or TVs as this is supported in UE4 engine.


My concern at present is how or if VR is going to be supported more than it is for mods etc.

Me too. OpenVR support is the one feature it has to have.