i tried 20 times to write something that was coherant intelligent and thoughtful , taking in all the aspects of the ever expanding KW sim/esport empire looking at its relationships , how that each section can benefit from one another and how they can then mutualise there resources etc to cover all aspects of the racing/simworld looking at the esport side the raceroom cafes the raceroom mobile sim events raceroom the game consoles corporate promotions etc but then i realised its pointless because whatever happens ; someone is going to find an aspect and moan i think this is a sensible way forward , to share resources and create a few platforms that share costs to create many more options for everyone i hope the gtr3 game is locked down tight with no modding and all files encrypted especially if it is multiplayer Andi
Well yeah - it's all a bit exciting and still nothing real known about the future. All we know for now is, that Matthias Lauda and Klaus Wohlfahrt are involved in the things that are happening at the moment. And rest - we'll see... maybe there are already some plans in the background something like GTR3 against AC and PCars, R3E against iRacing and a combination of both as e-sports and event-Plattform
You gonna try for a 21st then Of course, human nature, thats the way it is and always will be, especially where software\gaming is concerned, i want it right, i want it now and i want it my way, and if it dosnt tick all them boxes and dosnt have flags im going to complain and whinge like a bitch. 99% agree here altho i would like access to the ai, same as i would RR but its not the end of the world and at least you can be 99% sure all things are equal when racing online, 1% of me still has a niggling doubt occasionaly.
I will never understand this. I understand why companies want to keep hints locked down, but not consumers. I mean, if you don't want your game modded, don't mod it. It's fairly easy not to mod something. Just allow those of us who do want to tweak the game to do so; it doesn't harm you in anyway. As @notliftingoff says, at least allow AI to be edited. That you can't change this makes any offline game frustrating, as it's either repetitive running multiple seasons or you can't make basic changes that don't affect others. Mighty frustrating that rf2 is the only game out their allowing proper AI tuning at the moment.
having a game open to modding opens the game to hacking and cheating , it also supports ripping which is a polite word for theft , if you dont like a game thats not moddable then dont play it ..... Andi
Heavily disagree with those arguments. The developers also "mod" the game so if they can encrypt their stuff, can let other's too. "supports ripping etc." is imo also borderline, the team could provide tools to allow modder's to encrypt their content as well (using a different scheme then their own content). That way only the author of the original content will have unencrypted files, and you could not "overwrite" original content if not intended. If you want to hack or cheat, it's only a matter of criminal energy. Imo the positive aspect of limited moddability is that you can ensure people have a consistent experience. Can make support etc. also a tad easier, knowing that only a subset of files can be messed with. It probably also makes license negotiations easier, just think of the "ingame" car skin tools in various console games. All the brand stickers you can chose from are "official" etc. There are obvious downsides as well, but imo it's not as simple "negative/positive" as you make it sound.
Or get the license for a basic physics &gfx engine - then you can modify everything you want with . Modders have done us a great favor cause I loved many well-made Mods for GTR 2 and appreciated the dedication and professionalism some (a few)teams spend on) On the other hand they have watered the actual deal between customer and producer cause now in this area everyone expects anything for free or as a must have (for free). What is often forgotten is that the actual hard work & investment is done by the developers to provide a platform at all.Also don't forget that by the current state of our market-addicted neoliberal economy it's surely harder to stay competitive, keeping your niche than 10-20 Years ago AND staying independent as far as possible. Last not least - there always was a lotta crap modwise that nobody actually needs, there were always compatibillity issues -don't know how it is today. For me in the end I often got that Mods, cause I simply could while eventually it often made things more complicated or even frustrating (if for the sheer amount off "add-on" stuff alone). Totally with Andi here..
Those pictures look awesome, im rly appreciated and excited about how this game is focused on and which content they want to publish and what will happen after the GTR3 release with r3e. The last part (raceroom) is one of my bad thoughts about the GTR3 release, i cant imagine what they want to do and who is leaving raceroom for this game. Maybe Georg as an old member of the SimBin Studios or JF, maybe they leave..but lets wait
that's not physically possible. if no one but the modder can read the encrypted file - then so can't the game.
The game obviously can. Just like the game can read the current protected content by developers. Am not arguing in favor or against mod support. Just didn't agree with Andi's reasoning on theft and hacks etc.
You're obviously not well versed in cryptography, so it's not surprising you're having a bit of a misconception here. If sonething is encrypted, the only way you're ever reading it is by having a decryption key. Cryptography can be symmetric (same key for encrypt/decrypt), or assymmetric (public key to encrypt, private jey to decrypt), but regardless, the game has to have a decryption key to read something. If encryption is symmetric (and it probably is, judging by how it's implemented in previous SimBin titles, and how there are two old raceroom keys in WTCCED), then the modder will have to either use game's own key, or provide his key aling with the mod, both of which defeat the purpose. If the encryption is assymmetric, then either modder will have to provide his decryption key (which again defeat the purpose), or SimBin will have to publish their encryption key, so that the mod can be read by game's (SimBin's) own decryption key, in which case it would work (as in, game can decrypt it, modders incl author himself can't), but if the decryption key leaks/cracked, then all mods can be decrypted along with the base game, like it is with Race 07. It is literally not possible for a modder to encrypt his mod and not give away the decryption key. The only way it would work is if crypto was assymetric (which again it isn't), and he used Sector3's encryption key, and Sector3's decryption key was *never* leaked.
I was not suggesting that perfect encryption can be achieved. My point was that modding alone doesn't open "theft", like you say whether the s3s' internal key or the s3s mod key are compromised is "bad" in either case. That's what I meant with the original game being also just a mod. So if people think its contents were "safe" the mods would be as "safe". Or I misunderstood you.
actually, with current implementation of encryption in R3E, it kinda does. as far as i'm aware, they're using symmetric encryption, which means the same key is used for encryption and decryption. meaning, either all mods use the same key (Sector3's, like in Race07), or each mod supplies his own key (otherwise the game itself won't be able to read the files), which gives everyone else access to unencrypted files. besides, there's a difference between taking physics engine and making your own stuff with it (your own tracks, cars, etc.), and taking someone else's car and converting it to another game. the former is not "theft", the latter is (i don't like that terminology myself though).
Very excited to see what comes of the new SimBin title. Race Pro on the Xbox 360 got me into PC sim racing despite being under developed by Atari (Jay Ekkel needs to write his book on game development one day). Having read Georg's comment on RD about the GTR 3 project and seeing Mr KW owns a 75% stake in the new SimBin, I doubt much negativity will befall either dev studio or simulation. I forsee RaceRoom remaining a PC exclusive sim, set up to share in what iRacing does best (and I dont mean emptying bank accounts). GTR 3 being a multiplatform release brings the console money and console gamers expectations of a fully fleshed out experience which should benefit all of us. No one wants another Race Pro debacle or Assetto Corsa work in progress console release. GTR 3 looks like it'll aid with R3E's shift to a newer Direct X package, a return of changable weather & TOD plus better visuals. It has been great to see sim racing go from a dying genre to full of life in the last few years GTR 3 adds another sim to an ever expanding list!
I dont see Andi being wrong at all here. The way RR is locked down, it makes it incredibly difficult to cheat/hack/rip/steal. Other games have encryption too... yet their content is stolen all the time. Look at AC, both tracks and cars (physics files mainly) are encrypted, yet that content is stolen constantly and either ends up appearing in rFactor, or the physics files are hacked apart. Im not saying RR is unhackable... but it is incredibly difficult, simply because you dont even have the cars physics files on your PC for instance. Due to being always online, this stuff is synced as you go along, to my understanding anyway. This also prevents leaderboards from being hacked/cheated/ Compare to a game like Pcars which also doesnt support modding, yet their leaderboards have endless cheated times. Modding of course has its benefits, but if there is a specific design choice that the developers want to follow, it is completely within their right to follow the direction they want to go. If they want to offer a full series without the end user making custom liveries, they can do so. Same with wanting to provide a list of content that is all of similar quality standards. And to this end, RR is quite successful at what it set out to do for the devs. Would it not have the always online connection or the way things are encrypted, it is a near guarantee MP would play a lot differently, and leaderboads would be worthless. As for GTR3, I wouldnt mind if there was a lot of encryption as it keeps things much more fair, but I too enjoy plenty of mods in other games. Tough to find the right balance really.
Who in the world would hack a small niche game that would not bring the least profit? Having to be online the whole time is at best ridiculous and causes very often issues for the customers. I bet you force your children to wear indoor helmets...
There are ways to open a platform for modding without making the official material available for edits / copy. It just better be designed that way very early in production.
GTR3 = R3E with UE4 but with less cars and tracks and more arcade driving experience ... as far as known until now.