What will the dedicated server client be like?

  • Thread starter guybo
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Another big decider whether our league goes AC or pCars will be the dedi server. I have a laptop dedicated to just serving up racing and nothing more. How configurable will the dedi server be? Will it be GUI based, .txt file based or like rF2- a little of both.

What will be configurable?

variable or random weather?
choice of race set to laps or time and what will be the maximum race length?
Will driver swaps be available?
choice of damage/assists?

There are a million and one things- will we have a good wide choice of settings?

Another bonus question: will driver assists (ABS, TC, SC etc) be set by the dedi server, the player or by the car? Certain cars in real life have assists, while others don't. In rF2 the server alows certain assists and players choose whether to use them. In AC, certain cars have certain assists built in and that's just how the car is. How will pCars handle this?
 
The dedicated server functionality will come post release. It'll likely use a Steam based dedicated server (I'm not familiar with the details of that). I would think it will be highly configurable, certainly no less than the current MP configuration. In the mean time the provided servers are quite configurable, including password protection for league racing.
 
OK, so star topology as opposed to mesh, by that definition. I tried to google a bit to find out what is usually used for consoles, but the answers were conflicting, with every other speaker claiming mesh and star for various systems and games.

Perhaps the most representative info is that the GT5 Prologue online help -page. It says the GT prologue switches between star and mesh depending on networking conditions/performance. Apparently GT5 and GT6 uses s start topology for "fixed room ownership" and a mesh otherwise. So by the star vs mesh definition, GT6 and GT6 allow you to select dedicated server mode.

Another going definition of "dedicated server" is "a star network with the central server only running some game logic and network packets exchanges". By this definition GT does not employ dedicated servers. As a (mostly) PC gamer, I'm used to this being the common definition of "dedicated server".

Of course, most networked games rely on a central server acting as a host/game directory and arbitration service, but that's a digression. Oh, and I still have no idea about how Project CARS does this for the PS4 and XB1 version... :embarrassed:

This may be slightly off topic (sorry guybo! (who is asking about the PC version)) - curiosity made me do it :P
 
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Sorry, I mean on the PC

Dedicated server means there's a client I can run locally on a machine dedicated to serving the game. If there's a SMS service that runs servers and no program I run, that is not a dedicated server. I have never played a game where the servers provided by the game itself is worth racing on. They are infamously bad.

A dedi server client is the difference between a game that will be primary offline or will be played online. For non-racing games it is different, but for racing games this is critical.
 
^ I know you're asking for the PC variety, as I mention in the previous posting, and that's why I apologized for taking the thread sideways :)

If I understand you correctly, you're asking for a server that you can download and run on a machine of your choice, which will just run the multiplayer game logic and network traffic, providing a star topology for game clients to connect to (the most common PC definition AFAIK)? If so, that's what we're waiting for to appear post release.

To get back to the bonus question in your first posting, pCARS has three driving assist modes: "Off" (no assists allowed), "On" (user can choose ABC, TC and ASC) and "Real" (forces the assists that the real car has). These modes can be set by the host/server.
 
DrJustice
To get back to the bonus question in your first posting, pCARS has three driving assist modes: "Off" (no assists allowed), "On" (user can choose ABC, TC and ASC) and "Real" (forces the assists that the real car has). These modes can be set by the host/server.

That's the best system yet- exactly the way it should be!
 
... and "Real" (forces the assists that the real car has). These modes can be set by the host/server.
Damn that's a nice feature! I was hopping to see this implemented in future games, I hope this is taken to GT7 or so
 
Damn that's a nice feature! I was hopping to see this implemented in future games, I hope this is taken to GT7 or so
It is a nice feature and I think it'll be popular even in the console crowd. It's much different in a sim though relative to GT7 because you have things like auto throttle blip, automatic clutch etc. that really affect the balance of the car during cornering and/or acceleration and if you practice with them on and enter the race and their off, it isn't an easy transition in a lot of cars, especially the older ones.:lol:
 
It is a nice feature and I think it'll be popular even in the console crowd. It's much different in a sim though relative to GT7 because you have things like auto throttle blip, automatic clutch etc. that really affect the balance of the car during cornering and/or acceleration and if you practice with them on and enter the race and their off, it isn't an easy transition in a lot of cars, especially the older ones.:lol:
So glad I'm getting this on Pc :P even though I don't play racing games online I hope there will be hot laps or time trials as the GT events of Rivals in Forza
 
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