RD Rally Club - Future???

Warren Dawes

Premium
I believe we need some serious feedback re the current and future plans of our RBR Rally Club here at Racedepartment. Do we have enough interest to maintain the Club, and if so, does the organisation need an overhaul??

First, to the level of interest.
Over the past few months we have seen a slow decline in driver numbers to about 4 or 5 drivers in each Rally, and this has included a few cancellations/reschedules due to even lower numbers. Despite the addition of a few new drivers, the biggest disappointment is that many of our previous regular drivers now seem to have drifted away (with little or no feedback to advise of this, or to indicate that they may return).
Given the workload required to organise these Rally's, it is demotivating. I have been more than happy to keep running these Rally events, mainly for those of us who enjoy them and have remained loyal participants, and I am prepared to continue. However, we need to be realistic and ask "does the Rally Club have a future here?".
Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I personally think RBR has a lot to offer to us. It is the only true Rally series available on-line at RD (and surely a major SimRacing site has Rally fans), the events are open to all Timezones (the only events where this happens), and it doesn't require high spec PC's or internet service.
You don't have concerns about interference from other drivers, your crashes are your own.
Sure, RBR requires some skill and patience to drive well, but surely we have plenty of highly skilled drivers here who want to challenge themselves.

Assuming we have a reasonable level of interest from a core group, is there a problem with the way our events are organised?
Should we run a different night (currently every second Wednesday), maybe weekends?
Should we run events more frequently or less frequently?
Are the Rally's too long or too short?
Are the car / track selections not popular?
Should we look at using an alternative to RSRBR?

I have tried to be as flexible as possible with schedules and tried to adopt suggestions for interesting events, but if there are preferred changes, just let me know.

Sorry to sound somewhat heavy or negative, but we really need to make some decisions about the future viability of RBR at RD.
 
RSRBR contains only a fraction of first pack of Czech stages (Stryckovy Okruch, Osli-Stryckovy, Stryckovy-Zadni Porici), there was another one released last year (Hradek & Liptakov, consisting of 4 stages, considered best-looking RBR stages existing; and they deserve this title, trust me :)),

Where do I find these tracks? I have spent a few hours reading through the Czech site Forums, and it is not obvious to me.
TBH, I am finding this plug-in more confusing than RSRBR2010 at the moment, everything seems very much involved in manual file manipulation, finding stuff is confusing, and it seems that some tracks require you to donate first (but again this doesn't seem obvious). Some downloads are only Torrent files too. Hopefully, I'll finally get used to it, but at the moment it is so much easier to download a self installer from RSRBR2010, and off you go, just select what you want from a menu.
 
Here's my 2 cents worth :) Hopefully this may provide some insight to those who haven't done it yet.

Actually it's enormous but I think worth it. Sorry for the size of the post.

I have played both rsrbr2010 and the czech plugin and each has its good and not so good points. I had no trouble installing either setup and I did use 2 separate installs of rbr.

RSRBR2010 : Had no issues at all with this, installed it all added the updates and track packs and car packs etc and it all worked fine and dandy. Got online okay and had a blast in Finland with all you guys.

Points to note:
Easy to install and get setup and get racing online.
Lots of cars and different classes
Lots of tracks and more coming.
Select the carpack, and all the cars.ini stuff and physics is done automatically for you
BIG PLUS, you can practise on all tracks.

CZECH PLUGIN : I got my account with the czech plugin site no problem and found everything I needed in the downloads tab at the top of the screen, thank goodness they have the option of english language site because my czech is worse than my driving rbr. Had a huge look around the forums etc to get the gist of what problems i may come across and then just copied my whole rbr folder to another location for use with the czech stuff. I left all the rsrbr2010 stuff in there because i didn't plan to use it again in that particular install. I then used a little utility I found on rallyesim, DblInstall, to change the registry settings so the czech install was seen by the registry as the installed path etc. Now, I may have not done it right but I am sure I did. After installing all the czech stuff and getting it all to work right I then used the registry files in the original folder (just the way DblInstall works) to make the registry see it as the proper rbr install but rsrbr2010 couldn't find any of it's car packs in the pulldown menu when I tried to run it. Upon reflection I didn't need to use this as just making a copy of the rbr folder was enough as all the tracks, cars, the actual plugin etc for the czech install asked which directory to install to.

Having then deleted both rbr installs as I'd played a bit too much with the czech install trying to get the cars I was using to all show up properly with the right names etc in the garage when I practice tracks and the czech plugin didn't recognize the version of the exe. Anyhow, I then reinstalled rbr from scratch and then the rsrbr2010 and a couple of other little things I use and then copied the whole thing over again, 16gb btw. I reinstalled all the czech stuff, put a couple of different cars in, S1600, S2000, N14, wrc 08 scoobie, the volvo and got all the physics and cars.ini sorted and went and played. You have to edit the cars.ini file and the physics.rbz files yourself and make sure you get things in the right place. Not that hard especially if you just use one slot all the time. I liked the idea of trying 2wd as well and having a few cars available for whatever tournaments were available. It can be bad if you get it wrong. Mind you, a S2000 Fiat that has the physics and stuff of the wrc 08 scoobie is a real treat to drive.
I digress though, I added an autologin and password line to the richardburnsrally.ini and made sure it had the proper server to goto in there and it was on for young and old. I went to the czech site and went through all the tournaments looking for a couple of gravel ones and then hit the tracks. Always at least 20+ rallys available to run in with varying levels of difficulty. Some of the tournaments have a license requirement but the majority are default license which means anyone. Cars you can use are listed as are what stages they actually are and a lot more details. One of the track installs you make is all standard stages in reverse which adds a large number available. Trouble is you can't practice a lot if not all of these tracks. You can also look at the times so far to see who's done what. You start up rbr normally after making sure your cars and physics are correctly installed, no using rsrbr2010, delete it from the install you use for the czech plugin is my advice so you don't muck up the cars.ini and physics file and have to do it all again.
You goto plugins and online tournaments, choose your tournament and if all is well it will load up, let you select the car, which is left and right arrow btw, and off you go. times get recorded etc and registered on the site and in your profile of rankings etc. On a couple of occasions i had errors about tracks and that was my fault for not actually installing them. duh !!!!!

Points to note :
Lots of rallys to enter at any time, most run for a couple of days at least.
A good variety of cars, not as many as rsrbr2010 but getting there.
Good number of tracks and some of them are visually great and the reverse ones are something else. Some tracks I know backwards going the normal way but boy, turn em around and there's a whole different world out there.
Little tricks to get it all working quite properly, can be a little offputting for those not liking to work out where to put cars in cars.ini and then change names of the physics files to get them right when you add them to the physics.rbz file. Eg the physics files you download may say s_i2003 or something similar and you want to use the accent slot so you have to change the name before it goes into the physics file and also in the cars.ini. Mind you, the easiest way is if you will always be using a 4wd car, just use the same slot everytime if you change cars, from s2000 ton14 or wrc etc.
Do NOT mess with the sse.exe file to try and get the names in the menus all right, if you make a mistake it's back to the copy of the sse.exe file you made before you started to edit it. You did make one, right ? DOH !!!!
BIG MINUS : Can't practice on all tracks, nothing worse than leading the times on a new stage to find the next corner in that little series is actually sharper than a 3 and I go hug trees 10 ft in the air.
PLUS : Plugin gives you overall place times at the splits, I love that.

My conclusion, my own personal opinion, is ............. both have their place in this wonderful game. I will continue to play both versions and can see where both have their good points. I do hate no practice on a lot of the tracks in the czech one tho.

Thanks for your time guys.

John
 
And then I had a brainwave. OUCH !!! headache now :)

I know people have said there are conflicts with the czech plugin and the rsrbr. I think, without actually knowing what it is, that is that the cars.ini file and the physics.rbz file and maybe even the carsinfo.ini file gets regularly overwritten by rsrbr when you swap packs. I know the sse.exe file also gets changed, the guys who do this stuff are very clever, wish I had half their talent.

My intention is now to setup my files for the czech plugin and make sure it's all working fine and dandy. I will then copy out the cars.ini, the physics.rbz, carsinfo.ini, splash.dat ( cos I love my pretty splash pictures for my czech cars ) into a folder somewhere safe. I should be able then to run rsrbr like normal with whatever cars i want and then when I want to play the czech one just copy those files back in and start sse.exe like normal and it should all be okay. All things being equal I should be able to just keep doing this each time I want to play the czech one.

I will let you know when I've got it all setup and tried it out and what happens. Hopefully tomorrow, day off and Underbelly is on tv right now.

The idea of this is to be just using the one install of rbr. Mind you, with 800 + gb free it's not like I'm short on room.

John
 
Where do I find these tracks? I have spent a few hours reading through the Czech site Forums, and it is not obvious to me.
Start here: http://rbr.onlineracing.cz/index.php?act=download&cat=19
Pretty much every mod required and available can be downloaded without even having a glimpse at the forums. I agree, it's just a wee bit more involving than RBR, but so is for instance rFactor, or almost every other popularly modded sim. Just takes a few moments to learn the basic know-how to be up and running, it just seems frustrating at the beginning. Only if you want to mod it further (sounds, splashes, textures etc.) you have to investigate a little bit deeper, but it's not extremely hard either (I personally found rFactor to be more frustrating initially ;)).

I then used a little utility I found on rallyesim, DblInstall, to change the registry settings so the czech install was seen by the registry as the installed path etc.
You didn't have to, every Czech installer asks for the RBR location, even if it finds the registry entry, so you can point it out manually each time (my RBR-goliath is not "properly" installed for months, it lasted a few system changes without the need for reinstalling :)).

BIG MINUS : Can't practice on all tracks, nothing worse than leading the times on a new stage to find the next corner in that little series is actually sharper than a 3 and I go hug trees 10 ft in the air.
I see it a bit differently - it's good that you can't practice offline (more rally-like, no lapping like in track racing), but since the notes are usually far from perfect you are stuck going way slower, but prepared for tighter and tricker turns (more like in real life) or right on the edge, more competitive, but flying off the road every now and then. (Did I mention that I hate the fact that to be fastest you have to have all the SSs memorized, completely non-rally like?)
PLUS : Plugin gives you overall place times at the splits, I love that.
I turned it off, it's distracting :p. Times between stages are enough for me.

Nice review, John. You got it spot on as I see it :)
 
Ryan, dont forget, if you would like a specific timeslot that suits better (Monday or Tuesday) let us know, we can arrange it, eg. an earlier USA slot, since we don't have any USA guys racing anyway lately. :wink:

If you don't have any USA guys involved then a server slot at 2200GMT would be good for me on a Monday night :)

But of course the US guys take priority. It would only be for one event too I guess as I can join the AU blokes soon.
 
Hi guys,

I did the combo thing. Installed a fresh rbr, updated it and then installed the czech plugin stuff so all my files for the czech plugin were clean files. I added 4 cars from 4 different classes (WRC 08 subaru, N14 N4 subaru, s2000 fiat, s1600 fiat ) to the cars.ini and inserted the physics files as needed. You have to make sure you get them in the right spots in the files if you want to have multiple cars ready to go all the time. I do because I like to run some rallys in the s2000 car and some in the wrc car. I made sure it all ran online ok and then copied the the cars.ini file and the physics.rbz file to a very safe folder.

I installed all the czech plugin tracks and plugin stuff to my rbr folder with rsrbr in it and then ran rsrbr to check it was cool. I copied the clean files into the folder and then ran the czech game online successfully. I then hopped out and ran rsrbr2010 with no problems at all.

rsrbr2010 does change menu names in the car selection menu in the sse.exe file. If you run pack n14-1 say the car names etc appear in the exe file and when you change packs to proto-1 it changes the names.

But then, if you're running online with the czech plugin the car names appear on one line dependant on what cars are eligble for that rally and what you've got installed in your cars.ini file not what it says in the exe file. You just need to remember what car is in what slot. If you only have one car it's dead easy.

Is it worth it doing the combo ?

I'm going back to just using the 2 clean installs for each setup. I feel happier knowing that nothing is going to interfere with anything else. Besides, all that clicking to copy 2 files over I might get a cramp in my finger and then how am I going to use my handbrake.

Which one is best ? I really like both and will use both.

John
 
Thanks for the info John. I have been struggling with how best to try this, and really wanted to have 2 separate installs (RSRBR2010, and Czech plug-in). However, I already have my RBR installed with RSRBR2010 (as most of us here at RD would have I suspect). Therefore if I try to install a fresh RBR, I have to move / rename my RSRBR install first (it wont let me install another RBR due to registry I guess). I have copied my RSRBR install to another drive/folder and both seem to work ok in RSCenter. So, I can now try installing the Czech plug-in to the copy, but I'll end up with two huge installs, whereas I'd prefer the Czech plug-in to go into a smaller clean RBR install.
To achieve what I want, I think I'll have to un-install everything, re-install two clean versions of RBR, then add the appropriate mod to each. I'm reluctant to do that though, since I have my RSRBR2010 running faultlessly at the moment.

I think I'll just add the Czech plug-in to my backup RSRBR folder first, so I can evaluate the Czech plug-in.
 
Warren,
the easiest way to install a second RBR after you have a RSRBR install is, if your RSRBR install is C:\Richard Burns Rally then this info is in the registry, rename this install to C:\Richard Burns Rally-RSRBR, then install RBR to C:\Richard Burns Rally. Add the Cz-plugin and cars. Some of the installers can only install to the path written in the registry so I have RSRBR as Richard Burn Rally and the Czech plugin as Richard Burn Rally-Cz but sometime you may have to rename the install.
 
To achieve what I want, I think I'll have to un-install everything, re-install two clean versions of RBR, then add the appropriate mod to each. I'm reluctant to do that though, since I have my RSRBR2010 running faultlessly at the moment.
You could try to move/rename the RSRBR install, "fake" the uninstallation (in add-remove programs, tell the system to remove the program from the list - unfortunatelly I'm not 100% sure if it will remove all the registry keys, worst case scenario is that you will have to remove them manually, it's better than reinstalling RSRBR though). Hopefully you will be able to install another, fresh copy of RBR in another folder.

I would also suggest doing as Tomas said - keep the RSRBR's folder as a default one, as Czech installers are fine with non-registered install and RSRBR's could pose some problems.
 

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