Opinion - Mod or Not to Mod?

[Rory Wetherington]

I probably have 100 cd's with mods from rF1,GTR2,Race07,nr2k3,gpl,f1c and SCGT. At one point I spent more time downloading mods than actually driving the dang sim's I was downloading them for. Today not so much, one thing I learned is that not all modders are created equally, some in fact I wouldn't even call modders more like hackers just ripping others peoples work then claiming it with little to no concern at all if it was actually playable or fully converted and finished.

Heck I even found my old USA Lupo Cup carset that I made for rFactor1 year's ago packaged with the Lupo Cup mod converted to AMS right here at Race Department but that really doesn't bother me. What does bother me is how others do a quick convert and then just bail on projects and are never heard of again, just look at how many unfinished tracks exist, guess what they probably will never be completed...that's just the roll of the dice you take. So for me I choose the trusted modder, even donate when I can.

 

[Emery]

I just find it amazing that someone can buy AC today (A title made for circuit racing with mostly racing spec cars)

Wow, you really think AC came with mostly racing spec cars? I must have purchased a different game as I'm pretty sure my copy annoyingly came with about 50% street cars, too many of them SUVs.

[Yeah, I'm grinding my old axe again. That's all for now.]

 

[Jason Mullin]

I’ve dabbled with mods here and there.

With limited sim time there’s plenty of official content out there to satisfy me, plenty of sims as well.

 

[Shovas]

Can't we have both?

The problem with "Can't we have both?" is that money is finite and if a user buys a closed sim it is much less likely they will have money to also buy the closed sim - some will, but many will not. It's a basic economics problem. We get what we voted for with our wallets.

It depends on users to change the game and commit to supporting devs who support mods because mods are a net benefit to all involved.

Failure of the community to think long-term and vote with their wallets will cause the demise of our moddable sims scene that has brought us so much benefit.

Consider: rF2 is now the last standing, current generation, openly moddable, proper simulation.

We used to have rF1/rF2, AC1, GSCE/AMS, Race 07/GTR2/GTL, etc.

The trend is clear, and the future is presently dim, but if we pause and consider for a moment our long-term best interest then maybe we can change our future.

Ask yourself, are we witnessing right this moment the end of the golden era of sim racing?

 

[Nevini]

Modders keep a game alive for far longer.

 

[Angus94]

of course you would try the mods, its an absolute must..........otherwise you're stuck boring porsche, ferrari, bmw, pagoni and all the other 'run of the mill' euro cars that appear in every other game known to man, oh and lets not forget that 'other' sport.........drifting, someone once said "those that cant race go to drifting"............a total waste of motoring expertise

 

[Cristian Luis]

Can't we have both?

The problem with "Can't we have both?" is that money is finite and if a user buys a closed sim it is much less likely they will have money to also buy the closed sim - some will, but many will not. It's a basic economics problem. We get what we voted for with our wallets.

It depends on users to change the game and commit to supporting devs who support mods because mods are a net benefit to all involved.

Failure of the community to think long-term and vote with their wallets will cause the demise of our moddable sims scene that has brought us so much benefit.

Consider: rF2 is now the last standing, current generation, openly moddable, proper simulation.

We used to have rF1/rF2, AC1, GSCE/AMS, Race 07/GTR2/GTL, etc.

The trend is clear, and the future is presently dim, but if we pause and consider for a moment our long-term best interest then maybe we can change our future.

Ask yourself, are we witnessing right this moment the end of the golden era of sim racing?

As well as F1 Challenge 99-02, GPL, GP4... ah, the good old days.

Yes, to me. It passed a long time ago. As consumers, I think we have better products as racing simulators, but as videogames, these become worse to the point I believe the genre has devolved (critical compatibility problems, poor accessibility, mediocre user experience, lack of very basic elements such as rain or championship mode, clunky UI, lack of unpredictable dynamic weather, inefficient tools for modding in some cases [because they consume too much of your time], bugs, unexpected CTDs while racing online and offline, lack of music, commentary and/or team radio in the menus, etc.); some rely too much on modding to become just... good, others on third-party applications, scripts and/or plugins, and others have become some sort of eternal-science projects (and some of them still suffering from serious flaws in core physics). The games I enlisted on their original release were, and are still superb. That includes GTR2 too: only a single patch through its history.

All the sim-racing titles are above all... videogames. Making a hardcore sim-racing title with user-friendly qualities (in terms of game settings, user experience, accessibility, and completeness) is not something unreachable.

 

[Deleted member 247523]

....

 

[Metla]

Meh, I'm living in the middle of my 3rd golden era of sim racing. It continues to blow me away.

 

[johnny_91]

From wich game is the title pricture of this article from ? Looks very interesting, also great graphics.

 

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

The other-side of the coin is that releasing a modifiable platform to compete with your previous modifiable platform is likely to fail as all the mods (and the user base) are already on the old platform.

As a prime example I believe RF1 continued to outsell RF2 for a long period, and I doubt RF2 even now has reached the success of Rf1.

An AC2 wouldn't have done much at this time unless it bought something revolutionary to the platform rather then just being a base for mods.

Just my opinion, But devs need to allow a modifiable platform to live out its lifespan before attempting to replace it.

The reason from what I've heard is 1) ISI's mess up 2) it's complexicity - which caused it to alienate it's fanbase
Will Marsh (Sim Racing Paddock) summed it all up

 

[Metla]

The reason from what I've heard is 1) ISI's mess up 2) it's complexicity - which caused it to alienate it's fanbase
Will Marsh (Sim Racing Paddock) summed it all up

For me, at launch, It was ugly, played poorly, had crap content, a fully mental system for purchase and all the mods were on RF1.

Then AC come along and crushed it. Now AC has all the mods.

 

[frankonia]

Modding for me is very important. I think it keeps the longterm motivation for a racesim and you don't always look for a new sim to buy. Besides different fields or race series can be covered by good moods. Whereas if you buy a sim and just stay with the stock content you might get bored more easily.
This is one of the reasons I will stay away from the new Automobilista 2 version. The same is ACC, there are brilliant graphics but you are really bound what they deliver you. I really prefer a sim which is graphically wise not at the latest standard, but you have the freedom to get good mods and install them.

 

[Ricardo Rey]

IMHO it's starts with a good physic guy (or girl?). I tend to follow those who are good at it (physics). Sure, I download cars that I like, but often disappointed because the car is not drivable.
I hope folks keep modding, but it seems to me the best are team modders who specialize in the various aspects of the cars(s).
When it comes to tracks (real life tracks), I prefer only laser scanned or Lidar.
But who cares as long as it's fun in the end though.
Cheers!

 

[Doug62]

For me, at launch, It was ugly, played poorly, had crap content, a fully mental system for purchase and all the mods were on RF1.

Then AC come along and crushed it. Now AC has all the mods.

Pretty much it in a nut shell !

 

[Doug62]

IMHO it's starts with a good physic guy (or girl?). I tend to follow those who are good at it (physics). Sure, I download cars that I like, but often disappointed because the car is not drivable.
I hope folks keep modding, but it seems to me the best are team modders who specialize in the various aspects of the cars(s).

Lost count on how many times I've said this. There is no way 1 person can be excellent in all fields required to build a car from scratch.
Though have had people argue that they can, their yet to prove it.

When it comes to tracks (real life tracks), I prefer only laser scanned or Lidar.
But who cares as long as it's fun in the end though.

In a computer game/sim if you prefer a scanned or lidar track is only true to form till the real track is reworked. This can happen on a yearly bases for the more common well known and used tracks. This makes the scanning out dated and in a lot off cases even before you see it in a game/sim.

I look at this way, being a computer game/sim you really don't get the "i'm driving on the real track" anyway.
What you do get is everyone your racing online, at a LAN group, offline racing AI are running on exactly the same track. Same corners, same racing line, so whether it's scanned, Lidar, the best someone came do from photos, Google Earth or just plain fantasy layout the racing can be just as enjoyable.

Gran Trismo PS2 had all fantasy tracks and I loved a good amount off them. Well thought out, high speed corners with low speed ones. Great elevations, half hidden corners and so on. Some off which I wish we had in the sims we use today. Modern tracks have gotten boring flat generic for the most part. Not saying they all are off cause.

But that's me I guess. Don't really see that great a value in scanned tracks when I'll never race on the real thing and probably never even see it IRL. Then the scanning is out off date in a year if not less.

 

[Timo One]

There are some real gems for AC like Fonteny, High Force (still beta and is great), Caterhams, Gineta, RS500 and lets not forget SOL etc. SOL has brought a lot of attention to AC and the mods have just exploded lately. Why would you not want mods? The only problem with mods is finding them and making sure you have the correct version.

 

[Stalker22]

Mods are good but they need to be free that's why they are mods and not DLC

 

[ilema]

Some games would be better without modding and some better with. I think modding works well with most of the sims expect RF2. Rf2 should not be moddable to force the devs to work harder... RF2 devs should not let the community to rely on outdated mods, lots of 4 stars workshop contents , we need more 5 stars contents ( factory content ).

 

[Ryan Soucy]

I have so little time to race on my PC that I need to be able to hit the ground running. Keeping up with mods eats away at that time. I have purchased the EGT mod for both AC and rF2 and I never play those sims, so I am a supporter, and both those sims offer an incomplete offline experience, so live by the mod/ die by the mod. I need more of a single player experience.

I support having some of these guys as modding platforms though because I will be forever grateful to SimBin and GTR2003 (on F1C). What an experience. And without that, I wouldn't have Pcars, which I adore and which has pushed others to up their game.