Vanilla Balance Mod Beta - Testers Wanted

[TheFlamingRed]

http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/motorsport-manager-balance-mod-part-1.12965/

Make sure you down load all the parts!​

This mod has now been released. All the changes are listed in the above link. If a Forum Admin is reading this, if you could remove the "Testers Wanted" and change it to "Development Discussion" thread, it would be appreciated.

UPDATED TO WORK WITH 1.3​

Note: In attempts to fix the interviews and dilemmas, I have temporarily removed all non English languages from those two files. I hope to reinsert them into a later version (but when I do, they'll still be the vanilla text as I am unable to translate in any other language).

 

[Coops]

The problem I'm seeing with Moral is that coupled with the slow Loyalty increase you get stuck in a loop you can't get out of. if loyalty is below 2, staff won't renew contracts, if moral is low, drivers won't renew contracts. Then when they leave you still take a loyalty hit as if you fired them. So starting out a new game you can't let anybody go for 2 seasons or you get stuck in the loop. Personally I just altered the loyalty increase a bit, but maybe somebody else might have a better solution

 

[Zero260]

Thanks for the quick update and the fixes. I haven't tested the driver moral changes extensively but I did encounter a bug during an interview after my driver won the race. I was asked about "What was the key to success?" question, selected no.2 answer in the middle and the game crashed to desktop.

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Thanks for the quick update and the fixes. I haven't tested the driver moral changes extensively but I did encounter a bug during an interview after my driver won the race. I was asked about "What was the key to success?" question, selected no.2 answer in the middle and the game crashed to desktop.

I'm going to address you first, I'm not ignoring you all talking about morale but this is far more pressing.

Whats happened here is that your second driver was in a situation where none of the interview questions available made sense.

What I need to know is what is the expected position for your team, and the other driver (check in the Fit Parts Face Tooltip before accepting the interview). What was your second drivers race position.

The moment I know that, I can track down the question that should have been asked and worked out why it wasn't. I can update the assets and it should fix your interview from the auto save.

 

[Zero260]

Thanks for the quick reply! If I remember correctly, I used the tooltip trick to check the expected positions pre-race and my main driver was expected to finish 3rd and eventually won the race and my second driver was expected to finish 16th but ended up at18th place after the race. Does that info help? I can reload the save before the race if you need more info.

 

[TheFlamingRed]

That should be enough info for me to track down the issue.

Okay. I'm not home at the moment but will be within the hour. Hang tight and I'll look at it when I'm back.

Would you mind uploading your save file somewhere for me to test the fix with?

 

[Zero260]

Not a problem, please take your time with it, you've done enough for the game already. Here's my save file after the race and before the post-race interview. Let me know if you require anything else. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...p (Random Drivers) Season 7 - pre race (1).7z

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Not a problem, please take your time with it, you've done enough for the game already. Here's my save file after the race and before the post-race interview. Let me know if you require anything else. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6752274/SaveNikko Adrias - Predator Racing Group (Random Drivers) Season 7 - pre race (1).7z

Thanks. All fixed. Uploading 1.2H Fixed now. both parts should be up within an hour.

It was a simple case of saying RacePosition <= 11 instead of RacePOsition >=11, oops.

Let me know if you find any others.

I'll have a shower and some tea then come back and talk about Morale.

 

[Zero260]

It was a simple case of saying RacePosition <= 11 instead of RacePOsition >=11, oops.

LOL. Thanks for looking it up, I understand the mistake was easy to miss since it was just a single modifier. I had subsequent interviews after another race that failed as well (almost similar situations) so I hope this fixes the rest. I'll patch the update later this weekend as I will be out of town for a day or two. Thanks for your efforts!

 

[TheFlamingRed]

If your second driver were 2-5 places below expectations, and below 11th, it would have crashed. Otherwise, it's a new situation.

Unfortunately there's something like 50 combinations of questions, based on where each driver finishes in comparison to expectations, so it's entirely possible there's another situation unaccounted for it's a problem introducing a mechanic which hasn't been touched upon in over two months - in that it was easier to leave it broken then fix it.

Oh, 1.2h fixed is now up. all download please. It's completely compatible with saves- please keep me informed about the interviews.

 

[Margherita81]

Hi Flaming, do i only have to insert the interview.file from your asset into enzo's mod via ABE to get the interviews fixed or is there anything else i have to do? THX for your hard work, feels like a new game. still have not touched the higher difficulties. will wait until the "final" patch is out.

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Hi Flaming, do i only have to insert the interview.file from your asset into enzo's mod via ABE to get the interviews fixed or is there anything else i have to do? THX for your hard work, feels like a new game. still have not touched the higher difficulties. will wait until the "final" patch is out.

The Interview.yxt will not do anything without the modified Assembles.dll. As discussed for about three full pages, the Expected Position code isn't being set/read correctly. I had to fix it in the dll. So unless you want to use the changes in the dll too (there is an easier difficulty in there) I'm afraid you're still going to have the same interviews.

 

[Margherita81]

so i need to download both, the txt.file + the new uploaded dll.file? thx for your help! you updated the asset.file, wil the dll.file will also be updated or am i fine with already using the latest version of the dll?

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Assembly 1.2h isn't broken so it doesn't need to be fixed,

The crash reported earlier was purely a asset issue

 

[Margherita81]

OK. THX!

 

[threehp]

Hello, TheFlamingRed. I think something is broken in your last version. I just downloaded last (1.2H) version and started new carrer with Rossini. And now making new component makes redzone goes down. It should gives a penalty (+10 redzone) but instead it gives -10 redzone. Screenshot for example. You can see that i choosed simple part with just "+max performance". Strange

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Hello, TheFlamingRed. I think something is broken in your last version. I just downloaded last (1.2H) version and started new carrer with Rossini. And now making new component makes redzone goes down. It should gives a penalty (+10 redzone) but instead it gives -10 redzone. Screenshot for example. You can see that i choosed simple part with just "+max performance". Strange

Hahaha! Ooops, my bad. I have put -10% redzone instead of +10% redzone :S

Okay consider yourself to have a nice trouble free season. I'll update the Assets Again. and next season it will have corrected itself

 

[threehp]

No problem =) You make a great work, keep it up and thank you very much!

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Morale

​

I am going to ask those of you who have questioned the morale change to stick with it a little longer.
I'll explain the gameplay mechanic I'm going for, and how I will alter the balance if it does need adjusting. I will refer to Morale as a Percentage, with 0% being rock bottom and 100% being at the top.

1. We must get rid of our normal behaviour

From the game's release, keeping a Driver's Morale up at 100% has been both easy and formulaic. To the point that where we're used to seeing it at 100%. We think of 100% as optimal and where it should be. We need to stop making such an assumptio - morale has to be something we are constantly fighting against. In vanilla, Driver Morale is basically an empty mechanic, and I intend to make it important.

2. Driver Morale doesn't impact driving performance

I cannot find anywhere that the morale of a driver impacts their performance what-so-ever. Their Driver Form does, but morale doesn't appear to be used at all.

Therefore a 0% morale doesn't have any difference to a 100% morale driver. - One may make the argument that it should. One maybe correct, but it's not programmed that way, as far as I can see.

3. Driver Morale only effects willingness to go to another team / resign with you

All that morale effects is:

• Their openness to consider offers from other teams
• Desiring to go to another team
• Willingness to resign with your team.

For willing to sign with other teams - they must

1. Have that level of morale after the season has ended, and before pre-season testing. This is the only time other teams sign drivers.
2. Have a team WILLING to sign them.

4. Car Happiness. Zero isn't the desired average.

You may think, that if a driver is "Yellow Face Content" with a car, that this should result in an approximate 0% change to their morale. But this isn't my desired effect.

I want a fully content driver to have a total of -10% Morale Change based on car happiness/teammate comparison total (-8% + -2%, -5% + -5%, however your stats look) This -10% morale change is the average.

This is because
A content driver will have -10% morale on race start.
If they have a good drive, they will gain +5% morale per race.
If you handle an interview, they will gain a +5% morale change (if you desire that).
This +5% and +5% cancel out the -10%.
Therefore, so long as your giving your drivers good races and an average car, they're morale will not be decreasing.

5. Strategies for the Best Teams

The best team will have better then average morale change based on the car. As such, the +5% and +5% you get from the races and interviews will outway the -x% you get from their feelings on the car. In general, so long as the results are there, the morale of your drivers should be slowly rising.

The exception to this is if One car is better then their teamates. This is where you need to handle your drivers carefully. This is where one driver may begin losing morale. This is the "Alonso - Hamilton" effect at McLaren.

Although you may favor over the other, you may have to give your least favourite driver the better car for a few races to keep his morale up. Remember, they both only need to have good morale at the END of the season. I don't believe they'll get sniped before then.

6. Strategies for the Mid Teams

Car happyness is going to be "Meh" - so it's going to be a case of keeping your drivers at a decent morale level by 1) Putting on good performances most all the time. 2) Giving a better car to keep one driver happy in expense of the other - or swapping who gets a better car to even out morale.

This is the perils of a midfield team. You MUST perform to keep drivers happy to stay. And you must decide if you're going to give the best car to just one driver, in a bid to keep him with you. Or try to balance the morale to keep both drivers from being unhappy. It's going to be difficult to do the latter. It's meant to be.

7. Strategies for the Backmarker Teams

Car Happiness is going to be negative - no matter what you do really. You have a terrible car. You can try to keep one driver by purely giving them such a great car over their teammate, but even that will be tough tp keep up the morale of that one driver.

What this means, is it's likely that EVERY season, until your car improves, you're going to have unhappy drivers. And this makes sense. Noone likes driving for a backmarker team. If the opportunity to take any other drive comes, then a driver is always going to take it. This is why Turnover at backmarker teams is extremely high.
The only reason a person stays with a back marker team is:

• The driver isn't good enough to get a drive elsewhere

And this mechanic is true for the game. If you level Predator's Evans' Morale be 0%, noone is going to steal him off you. So your tactic for these teams are:

• Try your best to keep one driver as happy as possible in hopes he will resign.
• Hire Drivers which aren't quite as good, so they won't be poached yearly,
• Be prepared to try and find new drivers each year

8. Strategies for all

Personality Traits can really help you now (or hinder you).
Traits such as "Team Player" which increase driver and teammates morale, can be a great strategy for a low morale team to keep their drivers happy. A Reserve Driver with this is probably a good investment.

On the other side, Rodrigues Pessimism will now make it hard for any lower team to keep him tied to a long deal - which makes sense as he's really good.

But now, if you want to get rid of a driver, and don't want to fire or release him, then there's now the option of making him so unhappy that will look at offers. This gives you some money if they break the contract and gets rid of a driver instead of you firing him.

9. Closing

Morale isn't just a simple mechanic which can now always be kept at 100%. It's now a core feature, and you have to fight to keep it even at average levels.

0% morale is not nearly as bad as it sounds. But it will make you think, and adjust strategies. It may even give you some nail biting pre-seasons as you hope noone pinches your better driver.

View attachment 168498

With this morale changes in worst car in the field it will never be possible to make a new contracts with youre drivers. Is it intended?

It's possible but difficulr. It is intended. It represents the massive driver turnover backmarkers have. You cannot expect to sign the best driver, and have him drive for you indefinitely.

Hey FlamingRed was looking between old and new personal traits and found this;

173,Fight With Stewards,PSG_10005527,They need to learn how to back off.,PSG_10005528,Temp,Yes,8-16,PostRace,CarStatus = Crashed || Retired,15,,,Source = FightWithStewards,PlayerDriverOnly,,,,,,,,,,,NeckInjury,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Looks like it has no effect.

There are lots of things all over the assets which don't work. There's interview sections which doesn't look like are ever callable. There's tweets which don't have a condition activatable. It doesn't surprise me that Peronality Traits has a few too.

You're right in that I've never seen that one too. This mod is getting big now Maybe I should begin recruiting a team.

Hi guys,

first of all - nice work with this mod. It puts much more (needed) depth to the game. But the morale change is really harch and should be adjusted. I just started a new game with Predator and i get it, why no driver with some brains would drive such a bad car, but after the first two races my drivers moral is rock bottom. My newly signed rookie with 2 1/4 stars is already considering offers to leave, because of a moral drop of 49 % per race. In reality a person would know what they have gotten into - so i guess it would be best to tweek the drivers opinion and what it does for the moral.

I can see your point, and see you see mind. But don't worry. I don't believe that they can leave until the end of the season. If you can boost it back up by then, my improving the car, getting one driver a better car then the other and focus all your attention on boosting him (and by throwing a birthday party maybe) you might be able to protect your investment.

Yep, but it's still in the early stage. Could be some bugs or need some adjustment.

Not about the Interviews but the "Happiness with Car" and "Comparison with Teammates Car". As in schweini's picture above and the one below, shouldn't green faces have + effects.
View attachment 168526

The best "Delighted" green face hasa tiny + effect. All the others are slightly (to extremely) negative. Remember that you can get back 10% each race. So as long as the total is not lower then -10% loss, you have the potential to improve morale.

A thought that crossed my mind right now, to tweek the moral - is it possible to adjust the increase of moral to the raceresult your driver gets? For example, i started new just right now again and got an other driverpair (one in the lasts save had the "mean" perk, and with the new moralsystem it wrecked my team, because neither drivers moral did increase even bit) and i get decent results in the first four races with Predator, which are expected to end last. So if my drivers manages to end up in places between 10 and 16 (yeah, i really had some luck), that should give them more then just +5 moral.

So what im saying is, if you finish higher then your expected to be, then you should get more moral then it is just now. Im not sure, how far you can adjust this. Something like with the interviews would be nice. Better then 2 places + 10 Moral, 4 places + 15 and so on.

Mean is really going to wreck your team. There is now the option to remove the person with the mean perk.

You bring a point. if I find that that the average I want ISNT -10%, then I will increase the Maximum +X% of the race to compensate.
However I don't see me raising it much, if indeed tests show I must at all. Even though your Predator team is doing excellently, a driver will snap at the chance to drive for a better team, if its available.

The problem I'm seeing with Moral is that coupled with the slow Loyalty increase you get stuck in a loop you can't get out of. if loyalty is below 2, staff won't renew contracts, if moral is low, drivers won't renew contracts. Then when they leave you still take a loyalty hit as if you fired them. So starting out a new game you can't let anybody go for 2 seasons or you get stuck in the loop. Personally I just altered the loyalty increase a bit, but maybe somebody else might have a better solution

I don't believe if a person is "pinched" by the AI that it will lower loyalty.
If you let the driver leave, and get the replacement (on a rolling contract) I don't believe hiring someone over them counts as a loyalty penalty.
If it does, I'll have to reevaluate that stat.

 

[TheFlamingRed]

1.2h Fixed 2 is up - fix the -10% redzone mistake.

 

[calvg]

Just registered to Say This is something fantastic work and im sure i speak for a lot of people we appreciate your dedication to this project.

And regarding your Morale changes its very clear you've thought about it a lot and its adding new game play mechanics we've not even considered.

Great Job TFR