rFactor online fun runs weekly starting tomorrow!

[Keith Carter]

Ok, it's time to change things up a bit... We've run the F2000 mod in Nascar Heat for quite a few years now. Things have changed, graphics cards have changed, and PC processor power has changed, and racing sims have changed. I've been going back and forth with either to go to rFactor or Live for Speed for the next league, but the thing that keeps me from running LFS is that all the tracks are fictitious so that brings us to running rFactor. rFactor is another top racing sim which has REAL tracks to race on. With the latest release of 1150, the force feedback and feel of the cars have drastically been improved (more like LFS). For any of you who are interested, please reply to this post or send me an email. We're in the testing phase now of how we're going to be running the league so all we're doing now is just meeting up online and racing. We will be racing the rF3 formula cars included in the latest release of rFactor for our events and we'll be racing primarily North American tracks (Watkins, Road Atlanta, Road America, Laguna, Limerock, Autobahn, etc...). Since there are a couple of tracks with more than one release, I will be posting links to the tracks we will be using.

Our fun runs will be held Tuesday evenings CST at 8pm. I have a dedicated server running and can be reached though the rFactor Multiplayer option. The server is called ApexSpeed and you don't need a password to join. Please respond to give me an idea of who may be interested. A modern PC and graphics card are needed (see rFactor banner above to get to their site for recommended specs) along with a licensed copy of rFactor. You have to purchase your license directly from their web page since rFactor is not sold in any stores. See you online!

[anthonywill3]

Hey Keith...
I will play. I need to buy the game though... I will do that in the next couple of days.
So is NHeat officially dead now, with this being the replacement for this years sim league?

[Keith Carter]

I wouldn't say that Nascar is dead because I'm always up for a race if someone has a PC that can't run the newer sims out there, but as far as this year's league is concerned we will be running rFactor if all of our testing proves it to be a viable sim to run a league with. It has much better graphics and a better feel for the cars (with force feedback wheels). The Heat F2000 cars were very loose and slippery and could be difficult to drive and setup without lots of testing and practice. I would hope that going to something like rFactor would bring in more real drivers than just the sim racing crowd because it is closer to driving the real thing than Heat is. We'll see though... It's just a way of getting to something more modern.

[Keith Carter]

Here's some in-game pictures of the new ApexSpeed skin...

Anthony, let me know when you're all set and I'll send you links to get the track versions we'll be using.

[anthonywill3]

Hey Keith..
I am up and running.....

[Keith Carter]

Cool! Here are the tracks we have a good version of graphics-wise, but could use some more testing. I'll get some links together and also PM you with download info to get the tracks off of my FTP server.

Laguna Seca
Mid Ohio
Road America
Gateway
Birmingham Motorplex (Barber Park)
Mosport
Road Atlanta
Lime Rock Park
Montreal (part of the 1150 release of rFactor)
Autobahn Country Club
Trois-Rivieres
Watkins Glen

The following are tracks that exist for rFactor (I think), but we still need to test them and find the best version.

Sears Point
VIR

In the meantime you may want to download the following mods which I like:

Pit Workers (replaces robot looking grid guy)
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=PitWorkers

Startup Garage
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail...ive%20Showroom

Data Acquisition Plugin to use with Motec software
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail...ition%20Plugin

[anthonywill3]

you running tonite Keith??

[Keith Carter]

Sure can! So far it's only you who is interested so it's kind of up to you if we run or not.

Do you use AOL instant messenger? It may be easier to get started that way. Have you tried getting into the server yet? My AIM name is f2000keith.

[Maddox Motorsports]

Hello everyone,

I am signed up on rFactor. What do I need to download? Thanks

[Keith Carter]

Great! One of the first things you need to do is make sure you're on version 1150 (latest). Then you will need to be able to drive the F3 cars which at first you don't have enough credits to get in one. This is what you can do, if you already have started earning credits and don't want to screw that up, create a new driver for the ApexSpeed league and do the following to earn 2 million credits:

Start game
Start weekend course
After track has loaded, type "ISI_BABYFACTORY" in chat box and hit enter
Leave weekend course

You should end up with LOTS O CREDITS and then be able to race the F3 along with anything else.

Once that is done, see if you can join an online race. ApexSpeed is the server you will want to join and it should be listed under the Internet server listing within the game. Once you have all that done, then you'll need to download the same tracks we're using. I've got an FTP server set up so you can download all the tracks I've got. Let me know once you've made it that far. As I told Tony, it would be beneficial to sign onto AOL Instant messanger so when we're trying to run online, we can troubleshoot any issues in realtime.

[Keith Carter]

OK guys,
the FTP server is up and running. If you've never used FTP before, you'll need to follow a little instruction but it's not too bad. If you're familiar with FTP, skip down to the info below. The easiest way to do this is to download a FTP client program. One I personally use is called Filezilla which can be downloaded here.

Once installed, at the top you will see spaces to type in ADDRESS, USER, PASSWORD, and PORT. With the information given below, enter it in making sure to use lowercase. Then click on the "quickconnect" button. You will then see the contents of the FTP server folder in the right window pane. From there you can navigate the folders and download the files you need by either right clicking on them and selecting download or dragging and dropping them to a location in the left window.

There is a skins folder which you will all need in order to see the other cars on track and then there is a tracks folder which will contain the hard to get tracks that already include graphical updates and patches. Please be sure to use these and not other tracks you download unless specified. Most other tracks we run if they are not in the FTP folder will be available on rfactorcentral.com


Address: keithcarter.homeip.net
Port: 2112
Username: rfactor
Password: apexspeed

[Keith Carter]

One other thing guys, I will not be available this evening for the fun run, but I should be around tomorrow evening if anyone wants to run. We're going to be running Watkins Glen.

So far the guys running rFactor with us are:

Keith Carter
Jeff Maddox
Anthony Williams
Ray Rhines
Dave Hopple
Ambrose Buldo
Doug Kniffin
Monty Mathisen
Dave Marklein
Jeff Knox

[Keith Carter]

Anyone up for running this evening? Probably around 8 or 8:30 CST.

[Maddox Motorsports]

I will try to be there. I am actually having a problem with the game. Anytime I load a team or car it gives me this error message: "gMotor 2 Error Error loading mesh file PURCHASED.GMT to memory." Any thoughts?

[Keith Carter]

I'm not sure. Have you modified anything recently? Try to think back to the last thing you changed before it stopped working. Does it only happen when trying to get on the server, or anytime you run the game? Does it happen with all cars or tracks?



I found this on the RSC forum: http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=229490


This too:

http://www.theuspits.com/board/viewt...67b499404c578f

[Maddox Motorsports]

The game still works, but it does it when I just try to play (not connected to server). I downloaded F1 2005, Nippon, and Kartracer from rcentral. Since then I have had this problem, I think. To get past it I just click ok and the game goes on and loads.

[racer27]

I'm tied up for the next week or so, but I'm intrested... If me and Anthony & can't get to the same track at the same time (Even-though ee run in the same series), I'll have an oppurtunity to race him on-line.

My AIM Screen Name if needed is ABULDO

[Keith Carter]

Great! You and Dave Hopple have other things going on this week, but it will be good to get several guys online to run some races when everyone is available. Can't wait!

[Douglas Kniffin]

OK...I'll leave my X-Box world and go back to the PC. What is the best kind of controller for me to get?

[Keith Carter]

Hi Doug,
So does this mean you're in for running with us online? What are your PC specs? For controllers, I would definitely suggest a racing wheel. I currently own a Logitech Driving Force Pro which can be purchased currently at Best Buys and Circuit Citys around the US I would imagine. Since it's primarily considered a Playstation2 wheel (but also works on PC), I would look in that area of the store. Or........ If you can find them, the talk of all the sim racing forums is the new Logitech G25 racing wheel. A little pricey (retails for $299), but appears to be the best grade sim racing wheel you can (or will be able to) buy at a brick and mortar store.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...ONTENTID=11867



Minimum System Requirements for rFactor are the following:

1.4 GHz processor
Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000, XP, XP 64-bit (will NOT run in Windows 95 or Windows 98 first edition)
12 MB RAM
Geforce4 4200 or Radeon 9200
128 MB video RAM
DirectX 9.0c
2.0 GB of hard drive space for installation
Internet connection required for one-time activation

[HitanApex]

Count me in as well for this evening. Tuesday nights I may not be able to join until 8:10-8:15 CST or so, though.

- Monty Mathisen

[racer27]

My parts for the racer did not show up tonight, so, I'm not bound to the garage. I'll make every attempt to get this setup and join you all tonite... What time? 8:30 Central, so 7:30 Eastern?

[Keith Carter]

8:30pm CST sounds good to me... My AIM username is F2000keith so send me an IM if you're having troubles and I help as much as I can. Try to get everything sorted offline first before attempting to run for the first time on the server. That way it will minimize any problem solving we'll have to do online.

[anthonywill3]

Hey Guys:
If I get home early enough, I will run. I will check in on the game when I get home either way...
We will run one of these times together Ambrose! Whether it be online or on track. Pocono South didnt count.....

[racer27]

Damn right Pocono South did not count... When we looked at the data, max RPM was 4900, when we drained the oil we got twice as much "Stuff" we then we put in. Our car should be ready this time next week, we'll be at the rest of the FPR & RCCA events (Summitt is questioniable, depends if anyone twists my arm).

I'm setting up the game now, gonna be about an hr before I am ready.... Keith is running about an hr behind...

[HitanApex]

Maybe this is a "noob" question, but how do I paint my car? (pretty good in photoshop, just can't figure out how to get a template in there?)

[Maddox Motorsports]

I had fun last night. Sorry for the rookie mistakes. I hope I was not too bad of a moving chicane.

[Keith Carter]

I think everything went relatively well. It was a lof of fun! We had a few growing pains in order to get people up and running, but all in all I think it was ok. A few things happened last night that probably should've been explained before people joined in, but I think this is going to work out great for a league. I'm sorry whomever I booted out of the FTP server last night, but my FTP server is the same server we race on so the network traffic created by someone downloading all the tracks while we were racing caused a bit of a problem with the online play. The FTP server is back online now and functional again so you can resume downloading again. As one of the guys found out last night that it takes a little bit of time to download everything needed and to get up and running, so please get everything set up (and downloaded) well ahead of time if you plan to race online that same evening. We will be running weekly (if not more) so you won't miss out if you can't make a particular night. It was a lot of fun!

A couple of points to make.

- The downloaded skin files that you get off of the FTP folder are other people's skins that they have created. Please don't use one of those if you enter online unless it's yours, otherwise people end up looking like their driving big grey boxes with "TEMP" on the side.

- Be sure to download the skins, unzip them and place each skin folder in the \rFactor\Game Data\Vehicles\rF3 folder so that you can view other's custom paint schemes. Otherwise they will show up as big grey boxes with "TEMP" on the side and you will get a vehicle collision error when you join the server and the server will automatically kick you off if you don't have the skins everyone else does.

- Download the tracks off of the FTP server and unzip them. Place the decompressed folders for each track in the \rFactor\Game Data\Locations\ folder. You will see folders for other tracks in there so you will be able to figure it out.

Maybe this is a "noob" question, but how do I paint my car? (pretty good in photoshop, just can't figure out how to get a template in there?)

The template is located here if you don't already have it: http://www.rfactorcentral.net/cartem...plate_1024.rar

In the root of the FTP folder, there is an internet shortcut called "placing a painted car in rFactor". Download it and launch it and it will take you to a forum where it is explained on what you need to do. Also in the FTP folder is a Photoshop DDS plugin which you need to install in order to save your PSD file as a DDS file in order to get it in the game. Let me know if you need further help. Once you create a custom skin, you need to send it to me and I'll put it on the FTP server so that others can download it. They will need to install it in order to be able to see your car when racing online so once you send it, I'll announce that people need to go check the downloads for more skins. Right now there are only two in there (Team Brewsky and Tean ApexSpeed).

I had fun last night. Sorry for the rookie mistakes. I hope I was not too bad of a moving chicane.

No problem at all! It's just for fun! I actually jumped the start too and had to come in for a 'stop and go'. It'll take a bit for everyone to get comfortable racing with eachother, but with some practice it will become easy.

Next race is at Mid-Ohio so practice up!!

[anthonywill3]

did you end up getting on last night Ambrose?? I got on about 10pm or so (sorry for the punts Keith, you were braking a bit earlier than me)... Had a couple S/G penalties too. Is it me, or do these cars have no grip in the rear???

[Keith Carter]

No problem Tony... I didn't even know there was any contact. There may be some setup work needed as Goresh was also talking about how v2 of Watkins lost traction. I didn't have any problems once I changed my setup a bit. Before I changed anything, I would have to slow way down on the bowl in order to stay on the track. I increased the aero and softened up the springs and it helped quite a bit. Watkins has always been tricky in most of the sims I've tried because the car may actually bottoming out (too soft) or picking up a tire (too stiff) in the bowl and some of the other bowl type corners causing an abrupt loss of traction. If the tires aren't warmed up enough either, the car is really loose, but what car isn't? As with all sims, the cars are harder to keep on track compared to the arcade style racers so that may be something some are not used to either. Just jumping in and using the default setup will only get you so far. A half hour or so of setup tweaking will go a long way. Test out a different track and see if your traction situation changes any.

[racer27]

Keith - Thx for the help last night... When I eventually try to connect on-line will I need and ID or adress of any sort?

Anthony: I got it all downloaded and installed by 9PM EST last night. Ran fine in first run.. but when i went in again all the text in the game failed to display. I re-installed several times and it would only play once OK and then I'd lose text. Makes it a bit tough to navigate when you menus are invisible.

I ended up doing an Uninstall followed by an Reinstall and updating the Driver of my ATI Radeon 9700 Video card. After that it worked OK in non-connected mode. Did not try any on-line play. I need to go back tonight and Download the Tools, Track & Skins. I guess I also need to get $$$ to get the F3 car. I was only able to gt up to about $2M or so.

For anyone sitting on the fence, this looks to be a great game. You really get the feeling of speed. I was running Montreal, and the vibration increased as speed increased. Cool. Same under heavy breaking. Defiantly worth the download.

Anthony: Any interest in a test day at Pocono, with B. Roos, Oct 12th, $300? I need to get some time seat time before the double (Triple???) race weekend 10/14

Regards,
Ambrose, A future rFactor Sim rolling Chiciane

[Keith Carter]

No problem Ambrose. The only thing you'll need to do is select select online racing and then you should see a list of available servers to race on. By default it should look to the Internet for servers. Look for the ApexSpeed server and join it. Easy as that. Glad you got it sorted out last night. If you want to test it out sometime this week, let me know and I'll jump in for a few races. As for money, did you do the ISI_BABYFACTORY trick I mentioned in previous posts? If you did, you should have access to the F3.

[racer27]

I tried the ISI_BABYFACTORY trick, did not work... is it entered in lobby chat or regular chat?

[Keith Carter]

It's entered in the lobby chat in the lower left corner when you enter a test weekend.

[racer27]

OK - that is what I was doing wrong... I entered it in race weekend chat...

[anthonywill3]

thanks for the setup tips Keith..

No more Pocono for me this year, I am kind of Pocono'ed out. I am headed to Summit Point tonite for MARRS event, and doing the practice day tomorrow for some much needed seat time. If your car is ready, you should do the FPR Summit Pt race. It looks like I will be doing the last two FPR events.

[Tifosi]

I'm sorry whomever I booted out of the FTP server last night, but my FTP server is the same server we race on so the network traffic created by someone downloading all the tracks while we were racing caused a bit of a problem with the online play.


That would have been me and I apologize to all involved. When I realized that it was going to take longer than I had anticipated I moved on to other tasks and the next thing I knew it was 4 AM, I had fallen asleep and had totally forgotten what I was doing. Maybe that's why I'm just a "wrench" instead of a "driver". Again my apologies.

[Keith Carter]

I'm sorry whomever I booted out of the FTP server last night, but my FTP server is the same server we race on so the network traffic created by someone downloading all the tracks while we were racing caused a bit of a problem with the online play.


That would have been me and I apologize to all involved. When I realized that it was going to take longer than I had anticipated I moved on to other tasks and the next thing I knew it was 4 AM, I had fallen asleep and had totally forgotten what I was doing. Maybe that's why I'm just a "wrench" instead of a "driver". Again my apologies.

No problem Dave. Were you planning on doing some runs with us?

[Tifosi]

I would like to try it but maybe I'd better find a drivers school first. They have any Skippy schools for this yet?!

[Keith Carter]

As a matter of fact, they kind of do. There are smaller formula cars which they call "Trainers" which have less power and treaded tires. If playing offline without the money cheat that we've been using to get the F3, you would have to actually work your way up the ranks by putting time in with offline racing and scoring points (money). If you had an infinite amount of time, this would be possible to do, but I would think that you would be able to race with us if you just put a little practice time in to get used to everything. That is part of the reason I'm hosting these "fun runs" for everyone who wants to race to come out and try it. We'll probably do this for a couple of months before even putting a league together so that should allow for plenty of people to get used to racing online. Most of the time I've got AI (computer driven) cars running on the server so you could even run some practice races when nobody else is available to race with you. Don't worry about being slower or in the way when we're racing online. Nothing is at stake and the more cars we have on the server, the more fun it is. I urge everyone to is interested to try it out.