Race servers

[sonicviz]

What's the deal with the race servers?

I turned off mods to be able to see them, but nothing from then on seems to work. 

It either sits on the lobby screen with the plane almost black, or it goes into the map but to a fixed position with just a minimap and nothing more happens.

 

Not a very user firendly race system.

 

What is supposed to happen? 

Why can't you just enter the server and race?

[LukeFF]

Do you happen to have BoS? That's needed for this competition. 

[LLv24_SukkaVR]

I can join the server, but all i see is a minimap at the bottom of the screen, and can't join the game via ESC button. Playing in VR if that matters.

 

EDIT: tried some other coop server. same thing.

Edited June 2, 2023 by LLv24_SukkaVR

[BBAS_Tiki_Joe]

I'm having issues with signing up on the Virpil site, I keep getting 404 errors. I was able to sign up and get the email, but it won't let me sign in after registering or joining anything else. Wonder if the site is having issues? I can get in the server just fine and fly though.

Edited June 2, 2023 by BBAS_Tiki_Joe

[sonicviz]

5 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Do you happen to have BoS? That's needed for this competition. 

 

Of course. Same issue as LLv24_SukkaVR, or one of them.

No instructions or anything either. Strange way to run a race!

 

The dark screen issue seems to be if you are the only one in the server, seems to need more than one person to let you in, which is a silly restriction for race practicing which is a solo activity.

 

The other one LLv24_SukkaVR confirmed occurs with more than one person, but in my case there was only one other person so it wasn't overloaded. 

 

Just let people in even if it's empty. 

Edited June 2, 2023 by sonicviz

[LukeFF]

Alright, guys, I've let some of the guys on the development side know about this, so hopefully there's a resolution soon.

[sonicviz]

Thanks!

[-DED-Rapidus]

2 hours ago, sonicviz said:

The dark screen issue seems to be if you are the only one in the server, seems to need more than one person to let you in, which is a silly restriction for race practicing which is a solo activity.

You need to take one of the slots and press the ready button, the race will start in 7 seconds.

Who has a black screen, do you have a BoS module on your account?

If you are playing the Steam version of IL-2, then the IL-2 and Steam accounts must be linked so that the server could identify you (your nickname must be visible in the main menu of the game)!

[sonicviz]

You're not listening. 

 

It's working now, but there were issues before where it wasn't even showing the selection screen, it was just black - as mentioned.

I read the instructions, please read what people write and don't dismiss them as idiots when reporting issues. 

Of course I'd have the BOS module, you literally can't play the game without it anyway afaik. Not sure why it's not on my sidebar to the right, but my Steam/IL2 accounts are also linked. 

 

So, anyway, the servers appear to be working better now and the selection screen shows up.

 

So I tried a couple. It has...issues.

 

Having done a good amount of air & sim racing I have to say this isn't a good design for a race track and the practice method is clunky and time wasting.

For practice you don't need the race setup. Racers need to iterate quickly in order to learn the track. Waiting on this whole timing structure when you just want to practice, then you crash because you're still trying to learn the track, and have to wait again to restart, is a pita and not a good practice idea.

 

I understand you're just trying to use the coop feature for racing without doing much extra work,  but it's not a good way to practice a complex track before qualifying. 

 

Just release a mission with the track in it so people can fly around and learn it on their own time, then do an official qualifying run when ready. 

 

Additionally, the design is ridiculously confusing, with arrows everywhere at some points, with multiple pathways for multiple racers. Easy to lose track, and the mini map is next to useless because you're going at speed (even if slowed down to learn) and trying to match the minimap to what you're seeing it a recipe for an easy crash as there isn't enough distance between gates to process and figure out where you are.

 

I think this is a fantastic idea, but you need to seriously reconsider the implementation of practice vs qualifying vs racing because at the moment it's just a frustrating waste of time for the practice phase.

 

If you want good racing, you need a good simple quick practice session ability so racers can really learn and nail the track/machine flows, then people feed into qualifying, then race. Please, if you're going to keep this design, at least release a test map with the track so you can learn how the track is supposed to work. I'd also reconsider the design, at least differentiate the parallel tracks by a different colour - which you did for the forward and reverse gate direction. 

 

There's also no instructions that it seems limited to two racers only, so you'll get dropped into spectator mode otherwise, which was confusing when it happened without the actual racer selection screen (the missing/black screen issue reported previously). Why do I want to spectate when I'm trying to just learn the track? Also, the spectate view is fixed anyway, you can't see anything. Maybe the keys work to switch, I don't know, but It's not a good UX anyway when you're just trying to practice. 

 

I'm tossing up at the moment whether to bother wasting my time persevering, or just reenable mods and forget about it. 

 

my 2 yen. 

Edited June 3, 2023 by sonicviz

[FeuerFliegen]

When qualifying, is there anywhere to find out what your finish time was?

[BBAS_Tiki_Joe]

Mines working just fine now. Thanks!

[ROCKET_KNUT]

Sort of hard to pick a slot when all what´s visible is this when entering the server...

As for the modules, pretty sure I have bos...

[Leftenant_Soap]

Cool idea for an event. I ran the circuit 3 times and my times haven't appeared on the website. Dunno if I missed a checkpoint or what.

 

edit: It sure helps to turn on the instrument panel widget for your HUD, there's a helpful yellow marker that shows you which rings to fly through!

?

Edited June 4, 2023 by DD_Soapy

[sonicviz]

That's it huh?

[-DED-Rapidus]

Who have problems with the black screen, please contact me in PM.

[ST_Catchov]

To those who have problems .... via PM.

[-DED-Rapidus]

We tried to log in under the "problematic" accounts of players in the new installed client of the game - everything worked. Therefore, who has such problems, reinstall the game client

[Gr3y]

Maybe not directly related to OP's problems but when do the time register? I've finished the race (which was quite some effort with almost 39 Celsius fever) and it said 'FINISH' but then leaving the mission says failure.