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EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Yes, I was afraid the fast people will be unhappy. But I'd like to try what Mugen suggest, that means use the dynacaps, but on a substantially reduced scale. I'd suggest using +3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3 settings for 1st to 7th (and worse) place, with max mass at 25 kgs not to limit the fast people too much. I would delete current handicaps, so that both FBM and GTI start with zeroes...
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Hmmm, ok, I see. Please bear in mind that this was (and still is) a test. One conclusion I see is that the weight restrictions were probably too high. So, step one, I turned off the dynacaps (dynamic handicaps) for the following events (starting Saturday, December 11th). But what now?

Option 1: Forget about dynacaps completely. The positive side is no special changes are required from people, the negative side is that the winner will mostly be known before the race start (except in some of the multi-race evenings with partially reversed starting grid).

Option 2: Use the weight restrictions, but much lower, say only +3 kgs for victory with max at 30 kgs. Negative side is again required small setup changes, positive side is we could actually have races with fights and not just waiting if a certain alien makes a mistake.

What say you?
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from michele0676 :One question: can Airio toggle the pass from a server ? We have a strange situation, we use a server with a password but after some hours ... pass is deleted .... very strange !

Hi, see the Airio.set.1.txt file in the SET folder and remove the /pass and !ch commands from there. This file is by default called automatically 10 minutes of so after last disconnect. The intention is to have the option to return server to default state, but obviously in your case it is doing something unwelcome.

Quote from aleex! :first of all i want to thank EQ Worry for this great piece of software second i wanna ask how i can get my Airio 2.4. stats and pbs and so on into my fresh 2.5.1 install !? EDIT: managed it by taking the whole v2.4 with valid sta in it and just replace Airio.exe, Airio.pdb and also copy the SQLite dll and Airio.wrs.txt from v2.5!

Hi and thanks for your nice words! What you actually need to do is to stop Airio, overwrite the STA files, and then start Airio again. That is because they are read only on Airio start. Then you could type !dbi to import all data from new STA files (now in memory) into the SQLite database.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from peterules :Hey guys, we've just set up a f08 server but everytime we start a race we i get the error "the airio tracker saw you make impossible speed" then i get spectated for security...

This shows wrong setup for FO8 (or generally any type of cars) in the TCD (track/car data) file, see AllowedSpeed there. Quick fix would be to disable speed check altogether using CheckSpeed=false in the SRV file.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from franky500 :Could you e-mail me the 2.51 Update(s) please, Got a couple of requests for updates.

Hi, sorry for delay, I was waiting for bug reports for a few days. I'll send the files today, as well as an answer to the question you asked some time ago already. Again, sorry for delay.

Quote from Lisnu :Hey guys. im trying to use this on a cruise server. but i found the "AllowCruise=[1,2,3,4]"

Well, adding THIS (Airio, I think) to a cruise server seems pretty weird to me, because Airio is purely racing system. There's no AllowCruise in Airio, I think the only thing you need to do is too make sure there is CheckDriving=false in Airio.srv.txt file. Also you'll need /cruise=yes in server config, but that is another matter.

Quote from cargame.nl :beta30 (latest TS server version) seem to be running stable now. Seems to be a Teamspeak issue after all. Sorry for this interruption !conn 1 gets me connected to Airio server thread 1. Which is great. Chat messages coming in nicely. But.. How to disconnect?

Glad to hear that TS3 update solved the crash (connection lost) problem. To disconnect from current server in TS3 (or IRC) chat send !conn (or just !cn) without parameter/number.
Additional ideas
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
So, we had a full week of the events. I believe there were no significant troubles concerning the Airio automated actions – just about everything was running smoothly, the announcement, information, server configuration changes, called actions. Minor things will be improved, but overall I think the test week was a success. Even the attendance was quite nice, if we can keep the events clean and enjoyable, I believe we can have regulars in a short time there, the GTI people knowing their time is WE, FR, and SU, while FBM people coming on TU, TH, and SA, and rallyx on MO.

Currently I see two issues that could turn into serious problems in time: 1) XRG and XFG are not really equal cars, 2) the same aliens could win all the races they take part in.

Ad 1) There are two possible solutions: a) do not allow XRG (it is faster and even more fun to drive, but XFG is much more used and friendly), b) allow XRG but with applied restriction, I'd say 1-2% of intake air (this would slow it down somehow). Currently we're using solution a), only XFGs are allowed, so that all cars are perfectly equal.

Ad 2) Personally, I'd love to see Airio dynamic handicap (dynacap) system in action here, to equalize the racing field. The basic principle would be relatively simple: When you achieve a good result (say a podium), you must add some weight to your car for the next race. If you finish somewhere in the back, you can get rid of some previously accumulated additional weight. Your current weight handicap transfers to the next race and to the next event, equalizing the field to a certain extent over time. This is a principle known from real races (I think WTCC uses it). The downside is the aliens may not like the slightly heavier/slower/different cars. The upside is somehow equalized chances for everyone and more dramatic championship.

As always, comments are most welcome!
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from DmanPL :What time would these events be if I live Central time in the US? I guessing it would be morning?

I think you're right. All the event times/days are server times/days and the server is located in the UK. The best way to be sure you have the time right is to type !now, which shows the current server time. From that you can see difference to your local time and recalculate event start time. For example if I see after typing !now that the server (UK) time is 22:10 and my local time is 14:10 (which could be central US case?), the difference is 8 hours. Events start at 19:30 server time, which corresponds to 11:30 local time (i.e. minus 8 hours).
Airio 2.5.1
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
On an other note, new Airio is released. The biggest addition in this version is TeamSpeak3 support, but only for FULL and PROS versions. Airio may connect as a server query to a (team) TS3 server, announcing its presence. Using private chat people may display current server(s) state, and TS3 admins may connect to any server through TS3 and do everything a host can do, that is to send messages and use all LFS and Airio commands remotely. Very handy for quick checks and changes. If you have FULL or PROS licence and did not receive my mail announcement with download link, please contact me.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from SJB :Yeah but how they know if they should take FZ2 with x % or FZ3 with x % ?? try and error?

If you limit cars to GT2s or GT3s, it is up to you to communicate the fact to the connecting people. You have many options how to do that – connect messages and buttons, customizable info screens, LFS connect screen, customizable bad car type messages. Everywhere you may instruct people to type !cars and see the restrictions, you may also create (at least in the FULL version) e.g. !info screen with detailed info not only about required restrictions but also how to set them.

However, it is a common fact that many many people simply do not read even the biggest info on screen, they just try once to join with GTR and then leave. This is happening on all servers with restricted cars and no messages, custom defined of default from Airio, will change it. If you're running a GT2 server, half the coming people will disconnect without ever bothering to find out why they can't join race, and Airio messages cannot help.

In R2R we have a GT2 server and this is happening all the time though we have perfectly clear instructions prepared, using custom server commands, and we're sending them whenever someone new is spectated for bad car type (full GTR). Still, the above applies – some people (well, quite many) are too dumb to read or follow simple instructions.

Another example is the hybrid tyres, which any serious rallyx server should require. Despite BIG messages with extremely simple instructions three quarters or even more demo people are kicked from AA rallycross server for bad tyres after 3rd attempt to join using normal tyres. And the instructions are in bright colors, just Shift+P > [rallycross] setup > Join. Same with renaming, because we do not allow unnamed people to race. Rarely someone is able to follow the 2-3 simple steps to rename.

All the above means one thing: There are many people that can't read, or at least behave so. Put in any unexpected limitations and you are in troubles. Airio cannot make such people read and understand. Pity there are no options to FORCE on joining cars the limits automatically, informing the driver of the adjustment. I would think such a feature would be great addition to LFS.

(Unfortunately it would require LFS developers to update LFS. Unfortunately, because they do not respond to anything, and if they do, they only close some threads, saying the discussion there leads nowhere and that everything was decided long time ago. And that, actually, is the problem... )
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from cargame.nl :I passed EQ Worry with points on TBO?

OMG I miss one TBO race while taking care of the AirAttack Demo Dailycious races and this is what I get... Well, I guess I cannot afford to skip any of the following races.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
I think the main idea about restricted GTR cars is pretty much the same everywhere. GT2s have restriction slightly above 20%, GT3 have slightly above 30%. (From this perspective a GT1 category seems to be one with something over 10%.) Another problem is making the restricted GTR cars approximately equal. I believe there is a way, and that is comparing online WRs of GT2 and GT3 cars. If for example FX2 WRs are consistently (and significantly) worse on all tracks, then we could reduce 1%. If on the other hand XR2 WRs are substantially better comparing to FZ2 and FX2, maybe adding 1% would be good...
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Hahaha, good to know...
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from DuleXY :As i so on GT3 Touring car cup they changed FXR GT3 spec from 32% to 31% so all results from wr's and tables are invalid or not show... is there any way we can add some percent on time so we can use 32% handicap records?

The AIRW database is capturing/storing all personal best lap times done with restricted cars. So, if someone is using FXR with 31 percent restriction under Airio PROS, the time is saved. (Well, at least I believe so, it is some time since I was checking this.) The problem is that for now FX3 is defined on AIRW as FXR plus 32% or higher intake air restriction. So FXR+31% is in fact seen as the immediate faster FXR category, FX2 in this case.

Overall, the custom cars matters are getting somehow confusing, because people are using GT2 to mean various restrictions. And because AIRW has its own "official" definitions ignoring local definitions, there can be unclear situations. The good news is that I could do a change at AIRW at any time and redefine FX3 as FXR+31%. No data will be lost, people will still have their FX3 best times, but they'll be able to improve those by using slightly lower restriction.

Problem is it will add to the overall confusion. Another question is whether it is a good change, because there are various GT2 and GT3 specifications and those are changing as well... Eh...
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from SJB :Yeah but where should they read they cant use FXR / FZR / XRR when its clickable at the car choose screen?

There should be an easy message "To drive this car please use x % intake restriction" depending on what is set at eg FZ2. Then I dont have to explain to 30ppl "hey u have to use 20% intake restriction with car A, 23% with car B, 25% with car C" they dont even read my messages cause the text scrolls fast because all try to join without intake restriction - so i changed back to "normal" cars.

Just create the message yourself, it is the best and simplest option you have now:

BadCarType=^7Restriction is required: ^3FZR+^120%^3, XRR+^125% ...
BadCarType=+^3For more info about required car restrictions type ^1!cars

Quote from SJB :I want to try the RotateTracks feature (people are getting bored when no admins are online who change track/layout), but I have one question: is it possible to temporarily deactivate RotateTracks?

I guess the best way to turn off track rotation is to use:

!cfg RotateRaces=0

or

!cfg RotateMinutes=0

depending on what you use. To start the rotation again a simple !rld may be used, because it will read and apply what is in the CFG/TCD/SRV files.

Quote from vicbel :Also, the !cars command is not displaying the custom car definitions.

CustomCars= FZ2|FZR,10,15 FZ1|FZR,0,55 XR2|XRR,3,15 FX2|FXR,55,0
CarCategories=GT1|FXR+FZ1+XRR GT2|FX2+XR2+FZ2 PRT|FO8 LMC|FO8+FXR+FZ1+XRR+FX2+FZ2+XR2


It seems to me the car definitions are almost correct. Always, only !rld is required to update the definition, never Airio restart. I think the space after = in the 1st item may be a problem, try to remove it and use this form:

CustomCars=FZ2|FZR,10,15 FZ1|FZR,0,55 XR2|XRR,3,15 FX2|FXR,0,55
CarCategories=GT1|FXR+FZ1+XRR GT2|FX2+XR2+FZ2 PRT|FO8 LMC|FO8+FXR+FZ1+XRR+FX2+FZ2+XR2

Also, you have FO8 in two categories, I'm not sure how this will work. FX2 has probably switched 0 and 55. And final note, you should use other car names than FZ2, XR2 and FX2 (and GT2), because they are used "officially" as a GT2 class car with very different restrictions (about +10% comparing to what you have).
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from boothy :EQ, any chance you could get this to work with AU1/BL3? Tried this on other tracks and it's a great program, if you could create a positions list for layouts, that would be epic!

The layout tracks have one major disadvantage, there are no nodes (very small sectors) and no positions reported. I see only one way the positions may be reported, and that is using custom splits. That would mean the positions will be updated only on split lines. I'll try to take a look and see if there's possibly an easy way to add this functionality, sort of supplementing custom positions instead of LFS race positions...

Quote from boothy :Also, if you could list the x/y sizes of each button in the config file so that people don't have to do trial and error, and also have an option to limit the size of the positions list that'd be great.

Yes, true, I know. The problem is I'd have to go through every panel and not only changing some of the parameters in code (because some are aligned by top left corner, some by center, some by bottom corner... eh), but also updating all three supplied default configs. Well...

Quote from cargame.nl :Well.. I'm not used to in-car driving anyway so that doesn't matter. In-car driving doesn't make me feel well, the camera shakes too much. I was wondering what this smoothing thing exactly fixes. The radar I use a few months now and that's really great.

I'm afraid this smooth camera will not affect the shaking. Am I correct? However, I think there are other LFS settings to fight the problem. Try View -> Custom -> Vertical Shift, I think it has some effect.

The radar is not much realistic feature, but it certainly makes me (and I guess anyone else using it) much safer driver to race with, because I always know where there are cars around me.

Quote from beastie74 :Question: Does AONIO works with exe running in different PC on the same network? (I've tried already but only few items where updating in the screen)

Well, as long as Aonio connects using both TCP and UDP, it doesn't matter where it runs, if locally or remotely. At least I think so. There was even a special Aonio version that allowed to connect (and then receive all data) remotely, from another PC, but display all info (buttons) locally. Sort of a remote data gathering, maybe by a team-mate who was then reporting back possible troubles and suggestions. Quite cool feature, I think, I'm not sure now what problem there was that I abandoned the idea...

Quote from beastie74 :Suggestion/Request: Since I use Matrox triplehead2go and there are a lot of users that have more than 1 monitors (softTH - Eyefinity etc), Is there a way to move panels to other monitors instead on the main (center) one???

Hmmmmmmm, that's an interesting question, but I'm really not sure if that's possible. As far as I'm aware, there is no possibility to send LFS buttons to the side monitors, though it could be cool. I'm also afraid asking developers for such a feature is, uhm, kind of, uhm... pointless.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Yes, due to provider troubles the ASP.NET pages where Autio (Airio World stats plus other tools) is running sometimes stop responding, but usually it takes just a few minutes and then everything works again. I'm regularly checking the site, but in case of some major provider troubles I'm usually not able to do anything anyway. But overall I think this service is pretty reliable...
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Thanks for the responses, the races are still in the preparations phase, the scripts still need to be created and tested. That's why this discussion, I'd like to have a clear race format and requirements in mind before starting work on the scripts. I believe next week we can have a sort of test races, all seven of them, and the week after the events should be regular.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
I think the remark about having to change tyres in the 1 hour race is a very valid one, though appreciated only by really advanced drivers. On the other hand I sort of do not like pitstops taking 1.20 or 1.21 seconds, because this is far more unrealistic than changing tyres after 30 minutes of racing. Also pitstop gives some strategic thinking options, deciding if you make it early or late in the pit window (probably between 20th and 40th minute of the race). Now, what options we have, if tyre change is not required?

1) We may allow the extremely fast pitstops. (You know, the tyre change was intended to make the pitstop realistic, that was its sole purpose, to make the pitstop at least 6 seconds or whatever time is always needed to change all tyres.)

2) We may (after small Airio updates) require some minimum pitstop time, say 8 or 10 seconds. If you change tyres do some repairs or refuel in that time, good, if not, no problem, your decision.

I sort of like the 2nd option, but I can already see the problems connected with communicating this principle to the people. Basically you'd have to stop, watch the pitstop time, and leave only after you see that 10 seconds or so elapsed, not earlier.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from cargame.nl :Hhmmm I don't get it to work.

To be sure, please download and use the latest Aonio 1.4.3, I did recently some smaller changes without raising version number. Looking left and right should work, I have reports from wheel users that they created in the profiler binds to standard LFS look keys, 7 and 8. It also works for me, driving using mouse. Note that the looking will work only in your own car, not in other cars.

PS: Ouch, I forgot to mention one unpleasant thing: Generally, this patch to allow looking left and right while using smooth in-car camera, will work only for cars that have signal lights! That means it will not work for example in FBM...

Quote from Flame CZE :When I try to run the EXE, it shows up this errror. Insim port set, LFS running in an online server.

You do not have .NET Framework installed. Aonio, just like Airio, requires .NET Framework 2.0 or newer on Windows (Mono library on Linux).
Last edited by EQ Worry, .
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from SJB :... But when you type !track Airio says "Finished races since track load: 0" - but the track was loaded more than 1 hour ago and has only 2 laps race length - so finished races schould be atleast "10".

You're right, I've been recently correcting this, but I'm not sure if it is already included in 2.5.0 or only in the upcoming 2.5.1. But good point, thx for the report!

Quote from SJB :BTW could you implement an easier method to change the track? sometimes I'm not fast enough with the track command (e.g. typo) after the end command - sometimes they join and start the race again before i can hit enter

Hmmm... Track can be changed only from the lobby (race end) screen. But maybe I could create a command such as !changetrack, !chtrack, or simply !chtr, that would end the current race and right after the race end screen appears it would call /track. This is how it works with rotations, so it should be possible to have such additional command. Or I could use simply !tr with track parameter, only maybe require a 3rd parameter as "yes" or "true" to make sure you really want to end the current race and "rotate". That would be a safety measure...

Quote from pjuniorbra :Why not have AIRI TRACKER LFS ADVANCING with an option for the Portuguese language (BRAZIL) in servers.

Though someone promised to create a PT translation of Airio user messages, the work was never finished. But essentially the work is simple, though time-consuming. You take Airio.msg.en.txt file, make a copy, rename the copy to Airio.msg.pt.txt. Open the new file and start translating the messages. When done, at least with the important parts, just save the file (or upload to Airio folder), type !rld and PT will be available in !opt screen.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Thx for some ideas/comments! I think the shorter the race(s), the shorter qualification is needed, because it is just for the first race anyway. On the other hand longer qualifications, such as 25 minutes, can attract more people. It will be also less confusing to have the same qualification length/race 1 start every day, so I guess 25 minutes is OK for all purposes. The pit/spec only from pitlane works well, but we have BIG problems explaining this even to experienced licensed people, I can't imagine what difficulties the demo people will have. So I'd propose to make it as simple as possible. In time we could try and maybe also allow just one qualification stint, which is a new Airio feature.

Concerning pitstops in the shorter races, maybe one could be required, but only in one of the 15 min and 25 min races. I mean the races could be "15m, 15m with pit, 15m" on Tuesday and Wednesday, then "25m, 25m with pit" on Thursday and Friday, and "55m with pit + tyre changed in a pit window" on Saturday and Sunday. The downside is it will surely bring confusion, people always asking if they must pit or not. Of course there'll be messages and everyone can look using F12, but even experienced people are never sure.

I proposed 15, 25 and 55 minutes, because the races are for the set minutes plus one lap, which will make them all 2 to 4 minutes longer, with the longest race taking 57 to 59 minutes, just under one hour. Pit window from minute 20 to 40 seems sufficient, with all cars under the same pitting status for 2/3 of the whole race. Concerning tyre changes, I think we can check only complete changes, all 4 tyres. This is easy to set by specifying Always as tyre wear level (in F12 menu when on track and under Info tab when in pits).
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Look angle configuration is now part of Aonio 1.4.3.
Aonio 1.4.3
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
This slightly updated version represents an attempt to solve possible issue with smooth (leveling) in-car camera: The inability to look left and right, which is a LFS limitation. New config item is available allowing short look left/right while smooth camera is applied, using signal light keys. By default pressing '7' will look left for a while, pressing '8' will look right. (I believe wheel users can create binds sending these keys using wheel buttons.) The view will quickly return to default front and signal lights will be automatically turned off.
AirAttack Daylicious Races - General Discussion
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Hello everyone, the time has come to try something new at AirAttack, something for more advanced demo people looking for good LFS racing. Maybe you know there are regular endurance FBM events already taking place every Saturday evening at the [AA] Demo Racing server. These races are getting some serious attention already, but we can always try to improve the standards, e.g. improve the announcements to limit the ever present confusion about race start times etc.

The idea, brought forward by Mugen (thx!), is to have a kind of more serious race (or races) at the [AA] Demo Racing server every day in the (European) evening, when there are most people online. We think there could be regular and fully automatic events every evening, 3 times a week a FBM race, 3 times a GTI (BL1) race and once a week a rallycross (BL2) endurance race(s). The events should take from 1 to 1.5 hours and should be limited only to drivers with reasonably good lap time and above average safety rating on AirAttack. The events will also be open, no registration - anyone complying with the set limits can join at any time.

Monday : GTI + BL2, short qualification (10-15 mins) followed by two 25 minute races
Tuesday : FBM + BL1, three 15 minute sprint races (with pit required?)
Wednesday : GTI + BL1, same as above
Thursday : FBM + BL1, two 25 minute mid-length races, no pitstop
Friday : GTI + BL1, same as above
Saturday : FBM + BL1, one 55 minute endurance race, one pitstop required with all tyres changed (for realism)
Sunday : GTI + BL1, same as above

This is the original idea, your comments are most welcome. I think 3x15, 2x25 and 1x55 minute races all represent nicely separated almost 1 hour of racing. These races are for set minutes + 1 lap for the leader, so 15 minutes + 1 lap may actually turn out to be 17 or 18 total minutes of race. Every event starts by qualification, first 12 have preferential race joining, which is fair. For 2nd and 3rd race the grid can be completely or partially reversed based on previous race results, to make the racing more enjoyable.

Everything is open to discussion. Particularly I'd like to know your opinions concerning pit stops in the sprint races. They are not necessary, of course, but they always add some tactical options and often make the race more interesting. The proposed 1st race start time is 20:00 WET (London, server) time, which is 21:00 CET (Berlin, Paris, Prague). The qualification would start 15-30 minutes earlier. Thus the whole event should alway finish at about 21:00 WET (22:00 CET), which seems to be reasonable even for weekdays.

Well, I think that's enough as the opening info. Please say what you like and what you don't. There are other options available, such as doing realistic qualification (you may not pit/spec from track, only from the pitlane), allowing one serious mistake (one car reset can be available, for a certain penalty), defining pit window (to prevent making a pitstop in lap 1), etc. Not everything is possible, but many ideas can be implemented. The point is to make these events interesting to advanced drivers.
EQ Worry
S2 licensed
Quote from GobLox :... wasn't it possible to type !top while spectating and get the times for the cars that are actually in use on the track currently? On 2.5, without specifying a car or class, I just get the WR for XFG (because no one has run XFG on the track I imagine.)

Anthoop (thanks!) answers quite right, but maybe more explanation will help.

By default all the commands working with a car type, such as !sb (!top), !pb (!stats) and other supply YOUR car if not specified otherwise. Once you join race with a car, your car type is known and used in these commands. But what if you only just connected to server and did not join race yet, what car type you have? It would be the type set by DefaultCar item, which exists in TCD file and also in SRV file. Using TCD setting you can make default car types depend on specific tracks, using SRV setting you may have one default car on each server (which is usually the better option).

In SRV file you'll find one more closely related item, StandardCars. If defined, the car type(s) set here will always be used in !sb (!top) and !tb (!ttop) commands, unless specified otherwise. This is good in case you have several equal car types available, say TBO or GTR. Once you set StandardCars=GTR on a specific server, anyone typing !sb will see a list of all the GTR cars lap times summarized. But anyone can also type !sb fxr and see only FXR. Using StandardCars item may be very advantageous. But even without it people can still type simply !sb gtr and get the same listing.

I hope this makes sense. On another note, many of you know the Airio documentation is not quite up-to-date. I think that instead of trying to explain every command and option one by one, which really is not possible, I will (when time allows) completely change the documentation, going for question/answer format...
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG