Stefano on ACC modability

[RMR1]

Kunos at last commented on ACC modability, in short terms: No official mod support this time around.

We are totally 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 guys in this community 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 loosing the huge benefits of a moddable platform.

So to recap, there will be no action from our side regarding modding, both in the direction of promoting nor offering any kind of forum support for it as in the opposite direction, we have no intent to stop it from happening if some smart guy figure out how to do it.

Source: here

 

[Andreas Knöpke]

Wrong forum, bro!

 

[RMR1]

Wrong forum, bro!

Whoops, new subsection arrived. The world spins fast. Thx.

@RaceDepartment : could you please move this to the right subforum?

 

[Flibbberflops]

Seeing the responses on the assettocorsa.net totally reminds me why I never post on there. It just full of people with their noses deeply inserted in Stef's backside! So can I say I think, what ever the reason is, this is a bad idea. AC Out the box was not good for me, it has taken a boat load of tweaksand add ons to virtually every aspect of the game to get it to the great product that it is today. If AC was unmodable, undoubtedly I would have abandoned it long ago.

I fear an unmodable ACC will be just another yet another race sim that sits alongs several others simular titles.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Yes, I'd expect it might not have that long a shelf life.

 

[Dave_6]

He isn't technically saying that it's 'unmoddable' I believe. He is saying that they won't be promoting modding or offering support for it, as in technical support, on their forum. If someone mods ACC and has a technical question or issue, they will have to figure it out on their own or with help from the community.

 

[CC]

He isn't technically saying that it's 'unmoddable' I believe. He is saying that they won't be promoting modding or offering support for it, as in technical support, on their forum. If someone mods ACC and has a technical question or issue, they will have to figure it out on their own or with help from the community.

Yes basically hes saying if your clever and can import cars and tracks and make mods and apps whatever , then do it , but zero forum support and official tools will be given out ,
I understand what hes saying its a massive task rebuilding a brand new engine from scratch , at some point there will be support and tools but not as of yet ,
sounds perfectly reasonable what they are saying and understandable

 

[MarcG]

It makes perfect sense to me and Lord Kunos delivered the 'news' very well, of course there might be a backlash of sorts (there always is regardless of subject!) but quite clearly Kunos are better off concentrating on ACC as a standalone project without worrying about Joe Bloggs getting angry at adding a texture to a trackside wall and ranting about it on the forums.

Also AC won't suddenly die over night, plenty of modders will continue to mod that Sim and those that will try and hack their way into ACC will do so and maybe we'll reap the rewards for their efforts.

 

[CC]

It makes perfect sense to me and Lord Kunos delivered the 'news' very well, of course there might be a backlash of sorts (there always is regardless of subject!) but quite clearly Kunos are better off concentrating on ACC as a standalone project without worrying about Joe Bloggs getting angry at adding a texture to a trackside wall and ranting about it on the forums.

Also AC won't suddenly die over night, plenty of modders will continue to mod that Sim and those that will try and hack their way into ACC will do so and maybe we'll reap the rewards for their efforts.

Lets see how the engine is once its released ,
tracks will be easiest to add into the engine through various ways ,
cars themselves will be quite easy to also add , and there is all the apps and various items also ,
hardest part is FMOD , thats why they call it a .bank file , the name tells you everything you need to know , its impossible to rebuild the audio , it can be done but over several months not hrs .

 

[Fernando Deutsch]

ACC is an oportunity to redo things that the team knows could be done better and they are being paid for, which for me are great news. They already have very valuable experience in simracing coding so things will just be better.

I don't expect ACC to be what we dream AC2 will be, but it will be a step forward to be there on the future.

Can't wait to take my hands and feet on ACC, but on the meantime I keep enjoying AC just as I did long time ago.

 

[dud]

Clever or not can be used to sneak in new cars and tracks.

However, whether there is a mechanism for in-game apps with on-screen rendering is something that can only be a straight yes or no. Could be Python or maybe a language more traditionally used with the Unreal engine.

It could also be turned more into a network interface. The current AC style UDP sending of data, and instead of driving a language with user-supplied programs you have a network interface that accepts rendering data. Then the user program runs outside the engine.

 

[marcocale]

Yes basically hes saying if your clever and can import cars and tracks and make mods and apps whatever , then do it , but zero forum support and official tools will be given out ,
I understand what hes saying its a massive task rebuilding a brand new engine from scratch , at some point there will be support and tools but not as of yet ,
sounds perfectly reasonable what they are saying and understandable

SPOT ON

 

[DrRob]

I would of thought they ditched modding support because of license issues....You know, like SRO not wanting any non-official content in the game. But seems the reason was a different one alltogether.

On modding and ACs "only reason to be still alive": Personally I was quite satisfied with the official content and only tried mod tracks once (with mixed experiences)
I think AC will still live on mostly because of the ability to drive everyday cars for example, which ACC will not offer. And the modding scene is quite active, so why not also in the future? Why not give AC a chance to survive some longer and co-exist with ACC? Maybe not the worst call to not just do a AC2.

 

[Andy_J]

I'll be happy without mods for this new game if the AI is up to par. But I'm not bothered either way.

 

[Xiamoto]

It's probably already been posted somewhere on the interweb .....a prediction that the AcClub Content Manager APP guys will be all over this and we'll see a happy, healthy modding culture rather quickly.

 

[CC]

It's probably already been posted somewhere on the interweb .....a prediction that the AcClub Content Manager APP guys will be all over this and we'll see a happy, healthy modding culture rather quickly.

Do not count your eggs too soon man

 

[InsaneOzzie]

"we have no intent to stop it from happening if some smart guy figure out how to do it."
This last line in the OP says it all, there's plenty of talented modders out there who will no doubt work out the process to mod ACC, and before we know it mods will be available for our racing pleasure.

 

[Turk]

However, whether there is a mechanism for in-game apps with on-screen rendering is something that can only be a straight yes or no.

I think he also says there will be no apps as we know them in AC because they're trying to get away from having so much mouse dependence.

I don't see the lack of mod support as an issue. This isn't really AC2, it's a different thing. It's a tightly focused virtual version of blancpain. When they remove any worry about making the physics work for both GT cars and a 1960s fiat, it's bound to make for a better racing title.

If they come back in 2-3 years and say they're making AC2 and it has no modding support then it's time to get the pitchforks out, but for now ACC is what it is and I'm excited to see what they come up with. I don't expect AC2.

 

[dud]

I think he also says there will be no apps as we know them in AC because they're trying to get away from having so much mouse dependence.

I dunno. Positioning a bunch of windows can be easily done without a mouse. In fact grabbing and positioning things is a prime objective for early VR.

 

[Turk]

I dunno. Positioning a bunch of windows can be easily done without a mouse. In fact grabbing and positioning things is a prime objective for early VR.

I'm hoping apps won't be as necessary. Implementing something like crew chief and maybe having a more interactive cockpit may make some apps unnecessary. Ideally you'd want the experience to be as close to the real thing as possible. I don't know how I'll survive without the tyre app though.