A modern take on this to get you started. Suitable for dummies, numpties and herberts. Covers the TrackPack and RBRCIT + NGP6.
For your information: If you're a beginner in the world of RBR, you'd be better off installing Rallysimfans plugin (RSF) instead. While RBRTM hasn't been developed since 2010, RSF is still in constant development and going from strength to strength. RSF is also easier to install and use, but more importantly, it has much wider selection of stages (even a seamless integration of BTB format stages for online rallying!). Mind you, for completists RBRTM is still solid as a secondary installation to fill certain RBR gaps (a few exclusive Czechoslovakian stages).
In reality, this guide is much more about RBR than RBRTM per se, which makes it suitable for any first-timers. And because in RBR you can just duplicate the installation folder to as many as you like to accommodate different online plugins, we're going to install Tournament Plugin (aka RBRTM) to, for want of a better term, an installation copy. When you keep the main installation relatively clean as a backup, you can easily resort to it in case of any accidents, without having to reinstall the whole game over and over. Not that you're likely to have many accidents with RBR. Of that nature, anyway.
Caution! At some point of this process, largely depending on your OS settings, Windows may stop you from running the game just to piss you off. This will help.
Installing RBR
- Install Richard Burns Rally.
Care! Do not install the game to the following locations:
- C: \ Program Files \
- C: \ Program Files (x86) \
- C: \ Users \ Your Account Name \
- C: \ Program
Also, for the FMOD Sound System to work you need to avoid using any special characters in the installation path, so keep the folder names simple. Other than that, you can install the game to pretty much anywhere, like another partition entirely.
DirectX: The RBR setup will also ask you to install some of the more ancient DirectX files and while they're better than nothing, it's highly recommended to download and install the newer, up-to-date collection of DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010). (Note that directx_Jun2010_redist.exe as such doesn't install the DirectX files, it only extracts the installer files to the location of your choice. The actual installation then begins by running DXSETUP.exe.) - Install the official patches 1.01 and 1.02.
RBRTestPlugin: The official patch 1.02 also adds RBRTestPlugin (dll + folder) to \Plugins. Let's be clear: You won't need it, and in fact, you should remove it straight away because it is known to have caused all kinds of random issues, being somewhat incompatible with relevant RBR plugins. - After installing 1.02, there will be three different exe files for RBR but you should always run RichardBurnsRally_SSE.exe – also for the desktop shortcut. To unlock all stages and cars, create a profile called MULLIGATAWNY (not case-sensitive).
For your information: Unlike the original game modes, RBRTM itself doesn't require you to use this cheat so you can access any stage or car slots with it by default, regardless of your profile name. However, we still recommend you to begin with the MULLIGATAWNY cheat, and then install mika-n's magical and must-have NGPCarMenu plugin that – amongst dozens of other neat features – allows you to rename that profile. This way you'll have the desired profile name without any in-game restrictions. - Before duplicating the RBR install, it'd be sensible to put as many settings right as possible to avoid doing the same things again and again, but for the sake of simplicity, let's leave the original installation as it is. So, just duplicate the installation folder (copy + paste), and rename the copy to whatever you want (e.g. RBRTM).
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RBRCIT + Settings
From this point onwards, there are potentially as many ways and orders to install different components as there are players, but the recommended way is to start with the utility called RBRCIT (RBR Car Installation Tool, by zissakos), mainly because it is so simple and easy to use that it doesn't require any sort of knowledge nor understanding from The Generation Steam. And because it is the official NGP (Next Generation Physics, by WorkerBee) car manager maintained by The Bee himself, you get to test any new NGP6 physics cars (+ FMOD engine sounds) as soon as they're released.
For your information: When it comes to online rallying, currently RBRTM does support both NGP6 and the older NGP5 content, but this blog will blatantly disregard the previous version and guide you expertly to the NGP6 era. At the end of the day, the online scene for NGP5 is not only dead but far more importantly, the FMOD engine sounds work only with NGP6 content!
- Download the latest version of RBRCIT and extract the pack to the install copy. Read about how to use this great utility in here, steps 1–3 of the basic studies would be quite enough at this stage (you can always return to model installation later).
- You can use this nifty guide to go through some of the settings (ones in RichardBurnsRally.ini and FixUp.ini).
- When it comes to in-game options, you should prioritise setting up your controller, because if you can't get your wheel to work properly (for one reason or another), you might as well just give up and go home. Begin by reading this guide.
Once you get your wheel properly set up, the rest of the game settings are child's play.
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Installing RBRTM
- For online competitions, you must sign up to the CZ forum. Nicks are obviously allowed, but some championships may require you to use your own name instead, in which case the recommended format would be SURNAME Firstname, or alternatively Firstname SURNAME (less common). Use only US-ASCII characters!
Caution! Do not use Microsoft email accounts (like Outlook/Hotmail/Live/Msn), they will not work. You can expect the automatic confirmation email to be in your inbox immediately, or it'll never come. - Download and install the plugin. An alternative mirror for those using Chrome (and those not using Chrome): Here. Before downloading and installing, you should temporarily turn off your antivirus if you have one.
Care! By default, the official CZ installers always suggest the original RBR installation as the destination folder, so remember to change it if needed. - You can find the plugin in-game by going to Options → Plugins → RBR Tournament. First you should check the settings (Options): At least you should make sure that both Secure Login and Override records are turned on. Once you save the settings, you can find them also in RichardBurnsRally.ini under [RBRTMSettings]. If you want, you can also add your login details under the said [RBRTMSettings], so that you don't have to type them in-game every time when accessing online rallies. Like this:
AutoLoginName = SAPIENS Homo
AutoLoginPassword = password123456789
It was that easy. RBRTM's Shakedown mode is like RBR's own Quick Rally. From now on, it's just about adding more content.
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Special Stages
You have two choices: you can either download all (or almost all) of the online stages in one unofficial but trustworthy RBR Czech TrackPack, or, only the ones you want by downloading single installers (the classic but painstaking method, but obviously preferable if RBRTM is a secondary installation). If you have enough space, by all means choose TrackPack and you'll save yourself from a lot of bother because it's got all the known stages fixes already included, unlike the single stage installers. Those fixes will improve the stability in online rallies especially.
For offline sessions, you can also install BTB stages to the same installation with RBRTM. Here's a short guide for that.
Option 1: RBR Czech TrackPack
- RBR Czech TrackPack (MEGA/Uloz.to): Link. Maintained by J. Rojek, the pack gets updated 3–4 times a year. The download speed is restricted in Uloz.to, so downloading from MEGA is recommended (never Download as ZIP though!). Be aware that you're likely to hit the paywall at some point so don't expect to get all parts in one go (you can try circumventing these restrictions by simply restarting your modem, although this trick will work only if your modem uses a different IP address each time.)
Note! The TrackPack doesn't include Portugal SS18 2007, Aragona and Muxarello, because they're not in online use but you can download them separately from here. - When you have downloaded all parts and they're in the same folder, simply open the .001 file (never any of the others) with 7-zip and extract it to your RBRTM installation → replace all files when asked.
Caution! TrackPack admin makes a point that you can use WinRAR as well to extract the pack (that's been put together with 7-zip), but let's make it very clear that unless you have the latest version of WinRAR installed, you may run into all kinds of problems – with or without any absurd and unwarranted error messages. So 7-zip is more foolproof (although it's not like you can neglect updating it either, but at least there shouldn't be any surprises afterwards). - Go to Shakedown mode to check that the new stages not only are on the list but also that the stage names are displayed correctly (not like "Track ###" or anything). Problems or not, check out Addons → Tracks Check too (I can tell you that a satisfactory result would be closer to zero than 150 errors). In case of any major issues, read the previous caution, and extract the TrackPack again.
Care! When you use TrackPack, remember that there may be new stages or stage updates that have been released since it's been put out. Perhaps the easiest way to check this is to go to Addons → News, after which you can download any lacking stages from the official source.
Option 2: Stages one by one
- The official RBRTM stage installers can be found here. The TrackPack admin has uploaded the installers to MEGA too, in case that floats your boat more.
- Run the installer. (It can be anywhere on your computer, so no need to move it to anywhere specific. Just saying.)
Care! Always remember to change the destination folder if you've got RBRTM in an install copy.
For your information: You can get rid of the Error launching installer -message simply by renaming the installer file so that it won't have any "foreign" characters like in the case of RBR-Přibram-2-v1.1.exe (may be the only case in fairness). - Done. The new entries have been added to the end of Tracks.ini and TrackSettings.ini. If you're arsed by any stretch, you can check whether there are any useful fixes available for the stage.
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Random news and notes:
(Last updated Feb 2020: the first two chapters)- For years, changing your username (Request for change logname) was a pointless endeavour, and so was Requesting for a new team too. But apparently, both of these functions are working again.
- Incredibly, the Records page on CZ website has now been updated so that URL editing is no longer necessary to see the NGP stage records. Thought I'd never see the day, nicely done. However, as you still can't sort the records by different NGP version, stats must be taken with a pinch of salt at all times, because obviously some versions have been more "competitive" than others. If you are interested in older, pre-NGP6 records sorted by physics version, take a look at suXin's RBRCZ analysis (all the data up to November 2018).
- Creating rallies is possible only to those who have donated 8€ or more to the admins (server running costs). For wannabe promoters I've written one epic blog about rally creation in RBRTM, so at least you'd know what you'd pay for. Care! Right now (12/2018) the donation system is seemingly OK again, but before donating you should always check the donator list first to see how it's been working for others lately. However, if you can't donate directly via PayPal link on the CZ site (while logged in) and you'd be forced to make a payment manually (maybe for geographical reasons), you really shouldn't even try, just forget it, as there are terrible statistics about getting the creation rights retroactively.
- When it comes to native format stages, there's no reason to limit yourself only to the ones integrated by the admins for online purposes. Yes, it's true that you can't bring certain Super Special stages from RBR-World to RBRTM (encrypted), but from RSRBR you can import stages like Canyon (id 1000) and The W (id 1401). Stages like Alsace, Paddys, Jourdain and Waste Management that don't have an own ID, are possible to install as well but not without compromises (the crowd textures are severely lacking when not installed in RSRBR style).
- RBRTM can't support the proper night mods (light.dll and lightproj-folder) in online events, but for offline driving they will work just fine. In fact, you can "borrow" night mods from other online plugins if this free mod isn't to your liking. Just a hint.
