Is it possible to have the sessions running without drivers? (dedicated server)

[AlexNordic]

I've looked in the documentation, but I can't find a way to start a dedicated server and automatically have the practice session running, without drivers.
What I'm trying to do is organise a race for my league, and let's say that if I want to race at 9pm, have the server start at 5pm, have a practice for 4:45 hours, then 15 min qualy and the race start at 9pm. But if nobody starts the practice, the counter won't start, so race won't happen at 9pm!

Is that possible?

[Asturbo]

I think that it's not possible. As you said, the sessions starts when somebody logs.

The only think you can do is use the option "advance to next sesion" using the DS web interface at 8:45.

[AlexNordic]

Ok then, I'll try with a ridiculously long practice session, and then advance to next session.
I'm still getting used to the DS' interface, wasn't even clear that was an option!

[Racing4Life]

There is another option. Just configure TWO races.

Race 1 includes Qualifying and the actual race, Race 2 the practice session only.

If you start up the server completely fresh, the first used session will always be the last session of your configuration. At e.g. 8:40pm everybody needs to leave the server and has to rejoin after a couple of minutes. TS or Discord are very helpful to get this done properly.

And for your initial question, its not possible to progress a session if noone is online.

[AlexNordic]

Hey @racing4life, thanks for your answer! Not 100% sure to follow you as I'm new to PC2 servers. Would the code below for the sms_rotate do what you say? Cheers!

"rotation" : [

		// Race
		{
			"TrackId" : "Donington Park National",
			"VehicleClassId" : "Touring Car",

			"QualifyLength" : 10,
			"QualifyDateHour" : 8,
			"QualifyWeatherSlots" : 1,
			"QualifyWeatherSlot3" : "LightCloud",

			"RaceFormationLap" : 1,
			"RaceLength" : 10,

			"RaceDateYear" : 2017,
			"RaceDateMonth" : 3,
			"RaceDateDay" : 27,
			"RaceDateHour" : 14,

			"RaceWeatherSlots" : 1,
			"RaceWeatherSlot2" : "MediumCloud",
		},
		// Practice
		{
			"TrackId" : "Donington Park National",
			"VehicleClassId" : "Touring Car",

			"PracticeLength" : 1200,
			"PracticeDateHour" : 6,
			"PracticeWeatherSlots" : 1,
			"PracticeWeatherSlot2" : "Overcast",
			
		}
	]

[Racing4Life]

Nearly correct.

"rotation" : [

		// Race
		{
			"TrackId" : "Donington Park National",
			"VehicleClassId" : "Touring Car",

			"PracticeLength" : 0,

			"QualifyLength" : 10,
			"QualifyDateHour" : 8,
			"QualifyWeatherSlots" : 1,
			"QualifyWeatherSlot1" : "LightCloud",

			"RaceFormationLap" : 1,
			"RaceLength" : 10,

			"RaceDateYear" : 2017,
			"RaceDateMonth" : 3,
			"RaceDateDay" : 27,
			"RaceDateHour" : 14,

			"RaceWeatherSlots" : 1,
			"RaceWeatherSlot1" : "MediumCloud",
		},
		// Practice
		{
			"TrackId" : "Donington Park National",
			"VehicleClassId" : "Touring Car",

			"PracticeLength" : 1200,
			"PracticeDateHour" : 6,
			"PracticeWeatherSlots" : 1,
			"PracticeWeatherSlot1" : "Overcast",

			"QualifyLength" : 0,
			"RaceLength" : 0,

			"RaceDateYear" : 2017,
			"RaceDateMonth" : 3,
			"RaceDateDay" : 27,
			"RaceDateHour" : 14,
			
		}
	]

This should do the trick, though its very basic.

[AlexNordic]

Awesome, didn't know you had to set time to 0 to skip it ����

In what sense it's very basic? I just don't know what I'm missing

[AlexNordic]

@Racing4Life, the only problem is that I can't manage to advance between sessions. I tested the config above yesterday, and granted it was just me on the server, but clicking advance session did nothing. Not when I tried it with a rotation setup that had all sessions (practice, quali, race), not between rotation setups.

Any tips on how to make the "advance session" button work?

[Racing4Life]

This wont work. You cant advance the session in "// Practice", because there is no other session left. Within "// Race" a new server gets created with two sessions, and there the button should work. But I cant tell for sure, because my servers run on a rented linux server with no graphical interface, and I dont use the webinterface to make chances or something else.

Thats the reason I wrote everyone need to leave the server to end "// Practice".

This method with two rotations has an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage, it creates more stable session if more than 16 players are on the server. Disadvantage, you cant advance the session to continue within the rotation anymore.

[AlexNordic]

Get it now, thanks. Still I don't know why I've only manage to make the Advance Session work once. Yesterday I was trying a new configuration, and while in the middle of the practice I clicked it and went to Quali (it was a simple rotation with practice, quali and race). But then it won't go from quali to race.

So I closed it (restart button didn't work either, closed it but didn't start again), started afresh and tried again. This time Advance session button won't work. Restart button did a better job this time, seemed to restart it but was still unjoinable.

Seem to me like the software and buggy and doesn't work as expected. Is there any other way to advance a session? chat commands maybe? I can't see anything on the game's UI.

This wont work. You cant advance the session in "// Practice", because there is no other session left. Within "// Race" a new server gets created with two sessions, and there the button should work. But I cant tell for sure, because my servers run on a rented linux server with no graphical interface, and I dont use the webinterface to make chances or something else.

Thats the reason I wrote everyone need to leave the server to end "// Practice".

This method with two rotations has an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage, it creates more stable session if more than 16 players are on the server. Disadvantage, you cant advance the session to continue within the rotation anymore.