General Assetto Corsa Immersive Career Project

[Arkangel749]

Hi all,

It's the first time i post here, and I'm posting now for quite a good reason.
Last year I had an idea about making a proper career mode for Assetto Corsa. I always loved the immersiveness of the pCars career, as much as I hated how good that game was at breaking the same immersion by annoying you every five minutes with a variety of issues.

Here's part of the table I made to set it properly on CM. I don't wanna show the whole road map since last year I encountered serious problems, most of which related to my project just being too ambitious. There was just too much I wanted to do, and this roadmap exposes it.
Besides, I lost all my work due to the fact I recently had to reset my computer. But that loss sparked something.

In the last week I started to seriously design something that could be bearable to realize, but without compromising the main goal: immersion.

On my first try I was too focused being realistic, which differs from immersion. For example, I wanted to make all events based on true championships, with real drivers, real date and time. While this is possible for some events, it's just impossible to recreate all driver skins, all tracks, all cars all alone.

So my first preoccupation was to put to diet the roadmap. The first table included 60+ events, not all of them really significant, but added just to give freedom to the player to choose his path. That's no more.

The reduced amount of events will be filled with GT6-like coffee break events, and in general with single shot events to break the pace of the championship you're in. License tests are also a big thing, I love the idea.

Now the elephant in the room: system limitations.
On my first try, and still today, i'm encountering this problems i cannot fix:
- weekend structure: you just can't qualify, go to sleep, and race the next day. Assetto Corsa won't permit this.
- boolean results: a career event is either passed or not. You progress if you win the championship. But what if you end up second? It would be plausible that a minor team or competition could offer you a contract. Besides I wouldn't want to be stuck in the same championship once again just because I ended up second. There are bronze/silver/gold results as well, but you stille have to get x medals to unlock other events, there's no modularity.

What could be a solution? An all round third party service to keep track on your progress. I have some programming experience, but this generates more problems:
- How do I send data from my hypothetic program to AC? Through CM? How? Directly? How do I gather the result data? These questions require some time to solve, and the answer could also be "That's just not possible".

What if I just leave unlocked all the career events and describe what you need to access it, and rely on the honesty of the player? That could be something too.

Meanwhile I think of this, I could start working on single shot events, that are enjoyable regardless of other content. This could give me feedback in order to improve for the final version.

So this is basically it. Sorry for the long post, but I'd be really grateful if you could share some opinions, even just "nah bro this idea is trash lol"

 

[jusk]

Hey, this sounds cool. Coincidentally, I posting something about a sort of career mode app over here the other day. I think we have slightly different goals in mind, but it's interesting to see someone else's take on similar ideas.

My proposed solution is to use my app to generate race weekend 'preset' files to import into Content Manager, then to import the resulting session/results file back into the app to process the results. From my early testing this seems plausible to me, and allows the scoring, progression, opportunities, etc, to all be handled outside the game.

We might compare notes further if you're interested!

 

[Arkangel749]

Hey, this sounds cool. Coincidentally, I posting something about a sort of career mode app over here the other day. I think we have slightly different goals in mind, but it's interesting to see someone else's take on similar ideas.

My proposed solution is to use my app to generate race weekend 'preset' files to then import those into Content Manager, then to import the resulting session/results file back into the app to process the results. From my early testing this seems plausible to me, and allows the scoring, progression, opportunites, etc, to all be handled outside the game.

We might compare notes further if you're interested!

I just saw your thread, you have extremely cool ideas in mind! I love the attention to details you are planning to put on your project. I'm all out for comparing notes further, we could even find a way to compensate one-another ideas!

 

[jusk]

I just saw your thread, you have extremely cool ideas in mind! I love the attention to details you are planning to put on your project. I'm all out for comparing notes further, we could even find a way to compensate one-another ideas!

Your point on race weekends is an interesting one I hadn't considered. It would be nice to do qualifying today and then come back to do the race tomorrow, or whenever. Not sure there's a neat solution, but depending on how the session logs worked, you could potentially complete a quali session, then quit the game and use the log to then setup a standalone race grid based on the quali results. I might check if that works if I get that far. Separating the sessions in that way could also let you use more unusual formats like having two races on race day, reverse grids, etc.

I think taking it all into a standalone programme as you suggest is the only way to deal with your 2nd point (or at least that was my conclusion to the same question), with all results and outcomes managed outside the game. I know that's not ideal for many people, but I like the flexibility it (in theory) gives.

Anyway - there are a awful lot of 'ifs' with regard to my ideas. I may run into a brick wall and find something just isn't possible (or is beyond my capabilities). We'll see!

I'd suggest you take a look at the Content Manager preset and sessions files - they may give you some clues as to how you might work with them along the lines I'm thinking.

 

[Arkangel749]

Your point on race weekends is an interesting one I hadn't considered. It would be nice to do qualifying today and then come back to do the race tomorrow, or whenever. Not sure there's a neat solution, but depending on how the session logs worked, you could potentially complete a quali session, then quit the game and use the log to then setup a standalone race grid based on the quali results. I might check if that works if I get that far. Separating the sessions in that way could also let you use more unusual formats like having two races on race day, reverse grids, etc.

I think taking it all into a standalone programme as you suggest is the only way to deal with your 2nd point (or at least that was my conclusion to the same question), with all results and outcomes managed outside the game. I know that's not ideal for many people, but I like the flexibility it (in theory) gives.

Anyway - there are a awful lot of 'ifs' with regard to my ideas. I may run into a brick wall and find something just isn't possible (or is beyond my capabilities). We'll see!

I'd suggest you take a look at the Content Manager preset and sessions files - they may give you some clues as to how you might work with them along the lines I'm thinking.

It would just be neat if all of this was inside CM, but of course x4fab has different objectives in mind at the moment. The thing with an external program is that would be redundant: programming bits of code to generate a race.ini file when CM already does it in the best way possible, just not "when i'd like to". Maybe asking x4fab a way to load race files "on the fly" is more possible.

 

[Arkangel749]

Also, reading career.ini file could do some good.

Example of use case:
You want to start with series1, series 2 is the next event, and series3 is the lower tier event you wanna unlock if you dont complete series1 but drive very well.
- series1 folder is set to objective: 1st place. series2 and series 3 are unlocked if series1 is completed.
- standalone program reads career.ini, gaining how many points you scored/which position you ended up
- if certain condition is met (let's say, third place), the program removes the "requires" tag from series3's event.ini

May be a less invasive solution. User could just run the program everytime he completes a series to see if something more is unlocked. Better yet, the program could start automatically.

Though this won't solve the "weekend race" problem, I think it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Arkangel749]

Hi,
I wanted to post an update on my project. A few good things happened.
- The event diet is now better than ever: counting the official events (non-coffee break style races) I got up to 28 events, which is the same amount of the vanilla career;
- I found a bearable workaround for the progression system limitations. First of all, not all events will be championships that require a first place, which is a shame but useful in order to keep the career fun. Second, event requirements have been balanced to not be frustrating, i.e. if you do not pass a tier 1 championship you are not allowed to participate in tier 2 championships, but you can try a to win a different tier 1 championship in order to progress (much like pcars2). This is supposed to give some variety;
- I found a fast way to translate quick drive events to career events. I already tried doing some of them, and I think i will be able to publish something shortly.

Tu further illustrate the improvements, here is a roadmap of the career. Names are redacted in order to avoid spoilers. Also, remember the "too ambitious" problem? Better safe than sorry.

Yellow arrows mean just one of the events on the left is required to unlock the event on the right.
For example, to participate in any of the second tier events(4-5-6-7) you need to complete just one event of the previous tier (1-2-3).
Red arrows require the completion of all events on the left side of the arrow. Notice how participating in some events grants access to future seasons exclusive events: for you to unlock event 8(Tier 3) you need to pass any Tier 2 event plus event 1 (Tier 1). And get the right license of course. Another example is event 14, which requires a certain combination of events, not just any Tier 3 event plus a specific Tier 2 event. I like this choice because it affects every player differently, and rewards a certain consistency, so to speak.

This is my work so far.

 

[isamu]

This looks very impressive my friend! I'll be keeping close tabs on this project!

Do you suppose it's possible to create a career similar to Gran Turismo, where you start off in a crappy car and work your way up earning better cars through a monetary system? That would be incredible and the ultimate career mode in assetto Corsa in my opinion.

 

[Arkangel749]

This looks very impressive my friend! I'll be keeping close tabs on this project!

Do you suppose it's possible to create a career similar to Gran Turismo, where you start off in a crappy car and work your way up earning better cars through a monetary system? That would be incredible and the ultimate career mode in assetto Corsa in my opinion.

I'm not gonna lie, I recently booted up GT4 and got a lot inspired by it. The immersion and atmosfere that game provides is just something else. Unfortunately, implementing Gran Turismo-esque mechanics implies building a separate program altogether. It is possible for sure, but I realized it is not my goal for now. I don't wanna get too ambitious and end up not concluding anything.
The progressiveness of Gran Turismo can be emulated in some way though: License Tests grant access to certain events, and for the first two tiers I'm planning to stick with cheap club racing instead of big championships.

 

[isamu]

I'm not gonna lie, I recently booted up GT4 and got a lot inspired by it. The immersion and atmosfere that game provides is just something else. Unfortunately, implementing Gran Turismo-esque mechanics implies building a separate program altogether. It is possible for sure, but I realized it is not my goal for now. I don't wanna get too ambitious and end up not concluding anything.
The progressiveness of Gran Turismo can be emulated in some way though: License Tests grant access to certain events, and for the first two tiers I'm planning to stick with cheap club racing instead of big championships.

That's awesome bro, can't wait to check it out. Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

 

[Arkangel749]

I'm proud to present a first scratch of what an event structure could look like. This in particular is a test for the first license you will be able to obtain. PLEASE NOTE: this is not the final state. I release this just to be able to get some feedback if possible. In particular, all 7 events work, but only the first three are complete with a description of the test you have to pass. Furthermore, imagery is still to be produced.

seriesx101.rar

drive.google.com

Simply extract the folder to the assettocorsa\content\career folder

EDIT: you need to downlaod this track:

Aosta Grand Sport - Assetto Corsa Club

Track Aosta Grand Sport for Assetto Corsa. Lenght 2.493-3.994 km

assettocorsa.club

Updated the file, it's almost complete.

 

[Arkangel749]

Version 1 is up!

GT-Like Racing Driver License

This event is a benchmark for a bigger project of mine. More of that here:https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/assetto-corsa-immersive-career-project.205231/ Necessary mods: AOSTA: https://assettocorsa.club/mods/tracks/aosta-grand-sport.html...

www.racedepartment.com

 

[mecaNICK]

Looking forward to the next events. I share the thought of PC2 career which has better immersion then AC. Hope you can replicate it with some of the best mods.

 

[Arkangel749]

Hi all,

It's been a busy time. But I slowly came back to the project as my commitments in real life started to give me a break.

I came up with a neat name for the project. Never liked "Immersive Career for AC", or ICA, or whatever. I saw things from a different perspective and came up with something interesting, but I'd really like some feedback.

Evoluzione is italian for "evolution", and the reasons for this name are substantially three:
- I like the idea of continuity between titles: competizione, evoluzione... You could think that's just OCD kicking in but i really feel this fits because it "speaks the same language of the original developers", not only figuratively speaking.
- I wanted to evoke the fact that you grow as a driver going through events, winning races
- It's an evolution from the vanilla career, which is... bad.

Now that this is out of the way, I inform you that I'm close to finishing up the first season of the career.

License R is done, while Kart and Clio Cup need testing. Club is ready from a planning point of view, but i still need to set it up.

Hope you like what you see. Suggestions are warmly accepted. See you next time!

 

[jeanvendors]

Been following this one closely, I'm excited to see what you come up with!

This is more of an offer than a request, but in my spare time I've been drawing these small cartoon Driver portraits for use with Bcast. I don't know if you plan on tracking other drivers with your career program (or if Jusk does with his), but I've done about a hundred of these so I wouldn't mind donating them for the cause rather than just sitting around on my computer.

 

[Arkangel749]

Been following this one closely, I'm excited to see what you come up with!

This is more of an offer than a request, but in my spare time I've been drawing these small cartoon Driver portraits for use with Bcast. I don't know if you plan on tracking other drivers with your career program (or if Jusk does with his), but I've done about a hundred of these so I wouldn't mind donating them for the cause rather than just sitting around on my computer.

View attachment 507971View attachment 507972

I think Jusk does. I'm not using a standalone software so I can't implement them. Thanks though!

 

[Arkangel749]

Hi everybody, small update in order to keep myself out there and boost me up with anxiety in order not to procrastinate.


Current situation:

License R is already out in the wild.
The karting trophy has been a tricky one, since there's not a lot of choice for good karting tracks. I also had performance issues with @Esotic 's kart which i think is best fitted for the job. Issues solved, so I can go on.

Club Racing is basically empty: I said it was ready from a planning perspective but then I realized I can't just demand downloading a track or a car for a single event and then forget about it. For example, I have a club event with the bmw e30 wagon at a modded track. I then realized that I would never use said mods ever again. I'm replanning the series using more kunos content and/or implementing re-use for modded content, maybe in the following seasons.

The Clio Cup is substantially finished: I ran into some changes underway (basically finding better quality tracks) but I'm almost finished testing it.

One more thing that needs addressing is the imagery: it's quite time consuming. This is what I've done in a day in my spare time. I think the reason behind that is that it's very hard to depict an entire location/race with such a small image. I think I've done a decent work so far though.

That's basically it. I don't know how much time I will have in the next week, but I hope to wrap it up shortly.

Cheers

 

[Esotic]

For the Shifter Kart I rarely drive "kart" tracks, which probably work better for single gear lower power (50cc?) karts, but instead drive tracks like Mills Short, Kicevo, Okayama Piper, Maze, etc. Usually club or drift tracks shorter than 4km. Check my resources and you'll see all the tracks for which I've made kart friendly AI lines.

Resources by Esotic

www.racedepartment.com

 

[jusk]

Been following this one closely, I'm excited to see what you come up with!

This is more of an offer than a request, but in my spare time I've been drawing these small cartoon Driver portraits for use with Bcast. I don't know if you plan on tracking other drivers with your career program (or if Jusk does with his), but I've done about a hundred of these so I wouldn't mind donating them for the cause rather than just sitting around on my computer.

View attachment 507971View attachment 507972

I think Jusk does. I'm not using a standalone software so I can't implement them. Thanks though!

Hey jean - those are really nice! What is Bcast by the way (excuse my ignorance)? I am indeed tracking other drivers with my career tool thing, but as you may have noticed my app does not really have any graphics at all! I like your illustration style, but I had not envisioned incorporating nice clean graphics like these (or indeed any graphics). If I get to a point where I think these might fit I'll drop you a line - but I'd imagine someone can surely make better use of them than me.

Hi everybody, small update in order to keep myself out there and boost me up with anxiety in order not to procrastinate.


Current situation:
View attachment 509690
License R is already out in the wild.
The karting trophy has been a tricky one, since there's not a lot of choice for good karting tracks. I also had performance issues with @Esotic 's kart which i think is best fitted for the job. Issues solved, so I can go on.

Club Racing is basically empty: I said it was ready from a planning perspective but then I realized I can't just demand downloading a track or a car for a single event and then forget about it. For example, I have a club event with the bmw e30 wagon at a modded track. I then realized that I would never use said mods ever again. I'm replanning the series using more kunos content and/or implementing re-use for modded content, maybe in the following seasons.

The Clio Cup is substantially finished: I ran into some changes underway (basically finding better quality tracks) but I'm almost finished testing it.

One more thing that needs addressing is the imagery: it's quite time consuming. This is what I've done in a day in my spare time. I think the reason behind that is that it's very hard to depict an entire location/race with such a small image. I think I've done a decent work so far though.
View attachment 509692

That's basically it. I don't know how much time I will have in the next week, but I hope to wrap it up shortly.

Cheers

@Arkangel749 - I hope you keep going with this - it's a nice idea. I had a chance to briefly try out your License R around Aosta and it seems to work well

 

[jeanvendors]

Thanks for the kind words, BCast is part of a streaming suite (made by our pal Esotic no less) that lets you use Driver portraits like in real sports broadcasts. I use it to add some extra flavor when I set up races to watch/watch replays.

Excited to see what you guys come up with!