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

 

[dud]

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.

I disagree. Limitations in the hardware we use to control our cars means that we need more information. Let's say about slip.

Having an app provide a graphical replacement for some effect that we should feel physically (but can't because of hardware limitations) would be more realistic overall, not less.

 

[Turk]

I disagree. Limitations in the hardware we use to control our cars means that we need more information. Let's say about slip.

Having an app provide a graphical replacement for some effect that we should feel physically (but can't because of hardware limitations) would be more realistic overall, not less.

I don't know how common it is but didn't the porche GT car recently released have slip lights on the dash of the real car. If those were common in all the 2018 cars then that's one less app we need.

I agree that the lack of physical feedback means we need other ways of getting that information. I would use the tyre app in practice but can generally turn it off once I have the tyre pressures where I want them. When it comes to actual racing I have setup done and I'm stuck with whatever I've chosen so I tend to turn off a lot of apps, I'm using a VR setup.

We don't know how ACC will present this information to us, I'm not jumping to any conclusions just yet, for all we know they have a better way of doing it that meets all our demands with a lower overhead. A crew chief knock off being my preferred option, with the likes of IBMs Watson (used in star trek bridge crew) and Amazon Alexa being open to third party use the possibilities a crew chief type thing could be awesome.

 

[dud]

I don't know how common it is but didn't the porche GT car recently released have slip lights on the dash of the real car. If those were common in all the 2018 cars then that's one less app we need.

I agree that the lack of physical feedback means we need other ways of getting that information. I would use the tyre app in practice but can generally turn it off once I have the tyre pressures where I want them. When it comes to actual racing I have setup done and I'm stuck with whatever I've chosen so I tend to turn off a lot of apps, I'm using a VR setup.

We don't know how ACC will present this information to us, I'm not jumping to any conclusions just yet, for all we know they have a better way of doing it that meets all our demands with a lower overhead. A crew chief knock off being my preferred option, with the likes of IBMs Watson (used in star trek bridge crew) and Amazon Alexa being open to third party use the possibilities a crew chief type thing could be awesome.

Exactly.

I don't say it has to be a built-in programming language. We already know that sending telemetry on the network is in ACC.

So if ACC would have a network server that accepts items to render in a predefined area on the screen (or better, in the car's dash), that would work, too. It is a bit more complicated because OpenGL is one huge state machine, which is easier to maintain when you run in the same process. However, that is by no means a showstopper. Modders will quickly put such a facility to good use.

 

[dud]

They should just run an X11 server as an optional overlay...

 

[Dan Costa]

For a feature that brings so many people on board to actually buy the game, as proven by their current bread and butter, it seems false economy not to hire one person to build support.

They are a bunch of very smart people, so something else is at play here. Most likely their publisher trying to curb licensing issues.

 

[Gergo Panker]

For a feature that brings so many people on board to actually buy the game, as proven by their current bread and butter, it seems false economy not to hire one person to build support.

They are a bunch of very smart people, so something else is at play here. Most likely their publisher trying to curb licensing issues.

Sigh...

 

[Ralf Brinkmann]

For a feature that brings so many people on board to actually buy the game, as proven by their current bread and butter, it seems false economy not to hire one person to build support.

They are a bunch of very smart people, so something else is at play here. Most likely their publisher trying to curb licensing issues.

I doubt it's about "being smart" or not. It's about the time it will cost.

 

[Paul McCluskey]

community blog https://www.facebook.com/notes/asse...etizione-community-faq-blog/2346432888716349/

 

[Tbear]

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

It's not a sim, it's a game, with set game pieces. You can't make as much money selling sims with mod-able content as you can by selling games. I'm only surprised they didn't call this thing Super Assetto Corsa II.

 

[CC]

It's not a sim, it's a game, with set game pieces. You can't make as much money selling sims with mod-able content as you can by selling games. I'm only surprised they didn't call this thing Super Assetto Corsa II.

Enabling mods will sell more games AC wouldnt have sold half of what it did on steam without mods, and that is fact, there is a massive massive drift community built around AC alone, without mods that would have not even been generated.

 

[Jempy]

If it's time limited .... they will sell more and make more quick money....
Viewed for a longer period .... the moddable one will last longer and be sold surely more but surely not so quick.

I cannot check this .... but nearly sure GTR2 or Rfactor are still sold even though they are really old .... but they are moddable.

 

[CC]

If it's time limited .... they will sell more and make more quick money....
Viewed for a longer period .... the moddable one will last longer and be sold surely more but surely not so quick.

I cannot check this .... but nearly sure GTR2 or Rfactor are still sold even though they are really old .... but they are moddable.

That is the only reason why they sell still, because there is mods available, without the mods do you know anyone who would buy RF1 ?

 

[LilSki]

Not calling it a sim just because they aren't officially supporting mods is beyond ridiculous. It takes time to build the tools to properly support modding. Time they do not have.

Automobilista doesn't officially support mods so has that stopped people from modding it? Is it less of a sim because they don't officially support mods? Kunos has stated more than once that they will not try to stop people from modding ACC

And nobody would buy rF1 without mods because it had almost no content to start with. ACC is a set series. Something the sim "community" has been asking for since GTR2. Oh which BTW also didn't officially support mods...

 

[Jempy]

Just a very short answer to your post, Chargingcar ............NO

I have a few of those "games" .... and they are just old furnitures in the dormitory of my PC
NB: worst .... some have been played less than 10 times

EDIT: most not supported modding sims .... have a regular very limited number of mods except .... skins.
Maybe it'll be different with ACC .... but I really doubt about it.

 

[Tbear]

The GAME Mario has spun off over 200 variants. You can make a fortune selling video games ... and even more when the new up-dated games require more and more computer and video card capacity.

At least these guys are being honest this time. It's a game with NO mod-able content. The last time out they they promised mod-able content ... but then plugged the hole with end-user license agreement.

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.

 

[CC]

Just a very short answer to your post, Chargingcar ............NO

I have a few of those "games" .... and they are just old furnitures in the dormitory of my PC
NB: worst .... some have been played less than 10 times

EDIT: most not supported modding sims .... have a regular very limited number of mods except .... skins.
Maybe it'll be different with ACC .... but I really doubt about it.

I feel excited about ACC, I like to collect mods, but most importantly I like to collect tools, and my tools are advanced, but with this amazing modding community anything is possible, lets see what the future holds,
I only replied because of the ridiculous comment that without mods you would sell more games, in which is simply not true, either way roll out ACC! let the modding begin!

 

[CC]

The GAME Mario has spun off over 200 variants. You can make a fortune selling video games ... and even more when the new up-dated games require more and more computer and video card capacity.

At least these guys are being honest this time. It's a game with NO mod-able content. The last time out they they promised mod-able content ... but then plugged the hole with end-user license agreement.

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.

They simply stated, they are concentrating on building the engine correctly,
maybe internally they had a discussion where AC went wrong and maybe found out they wasted too time at the start making the engine modable in which is most likely the case,

I agree with Stefano, build the engine from the ground up from 0, then slowly in the future add the mods back, but build the engine correctly from day one with all the features and content they know everyone wants, with mods and a small team a lot would be missed again, so make it correctly the foundations and hopefully in the future with ACC2 or AC2 we will get the modding tools and support, in which personally is the correct way to go looking at the mind blowing screens from ACC.

 

[Tbear]

Not calling it a sim just because they aren't officially supporting mods is beyond ridiculous. It takes time to build the tools to properly support modding. Time they do not have.

It's a game because it has set game pieces. Sorry buddy, there will be no place for modders EVER in ACC ... and I don't think game makers will ever open that door again.

2 or 3 years after (the game) ACC, there will be a new release ... AC-F1, or something similar. Just keep your money warmed up.

 

[LilSki]

The GAME Mario has spun off over 200 variants. You can make a fortune selling video games ... and even more when the new up-dated games require more and more computer and video card capacity.

At least these guys are being honest this time. It's a game with NO mod-able content. The last time out they they promised mod-able content ... but then plugged the hole with end-user license agreement.

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.

They never promised mod-able content in AC. They promised modding tools that allows you to make your own content. They left the game mod-able likely because I bet they never once in a million years thought AC would be able to get the licenses it ended up getting. I think they were originally thinking in the terms of rF1 where there would be minimal official content and the community would fill in the rest. In the end they got some amazing licenses and were able to fill the game with a fairly large amount of official content.

As for the next game requiring more machine to run well this is the computer business. The computer world always moves forward. This is why games from 2005 look very different from games today.

And yes they are all GAMES there is no denying that. But it is also a sim that will realistically replicate driving. Mods don't determine if it is a sim or not.

And there will always be mods. Pcars 1 and 2 even have some mods and they locked that one down pretty hard.

 

[Tbear]

... either way roll out ACC! let the modding begin!

You might be able to make mods for ACC ... but there won't be a place on the internet that will allow you to race them.