Thanks for the write-up Scot. I enjoyed the series.

Thanks to Appie, Banshee and all the admins for sponsoring this series. It takes a lot of work to do what you folks do and I appreciate it.

Now, I'm learning the ropes but when I get out of this rookie/teenager life (in my dog years), watch out!! I'll be coming like a Union Pacific locomotive!! (I'll try anyway).

Thanks for the fun.

Jim

Quote from Dajmin :

Yes, if you pit in it's interrupts the recording. Basically the only way round it is to restart your single player game each time you make a setup change. That's why you'll find Hotlap mode restarts when you do the same.

There's probably a reason for it, but I don't know what it is

That's a bummer. What if I am recording a long race where I need to pit? Will it throw me off the network?

Quote from evilgeek :

ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!

first of all, computers do not measure time in miliseconds. the clock on a computer running at 2 GHz ticks 2 million times for every milisecond of time that goes by.

second, if computer clocks were out by 5%, that would mean your clock would drift by 72 minutes a day, and this guy's online/offline speed difference would be 5-10 seconds per lap, which is clearly not happening. i would say the average computer clock is at worst 100 times more accurate than that, meaning the biggest difference you would ever see would be less than a tenth of a second per lap, but that's assuming that the clock adjustments in multiplayer are actually big enough to cause entire frames to be missed, and that's a HUGE assumption. with 2 million clock cycles per milisecond, and 10 miliseconds per physics update, there are 20 million clock cycles to tick by per physics update, and most computers will be sitting for a long time between physics updates anyway, waiting for the next tick. there is a ton of room for computers with different clocks to add or subtrack ticks and still keep in sync with each other, and never miss a frame.

i've noticed that sometimes it's a bit easier to go fast offline than on, but i'm happy with the simple explanation, which is to do with framerate and lag. online the game can be a bit jerky, while offline it is usually a little smoother, and the jerkiness in the display translates into jerkiness at the wheel, and a slower lap time.

I agree with much of what you said, but computers have two separate clocks. The date/time clock module is separate from the CPU clock. MB's have different architectures, but for the most part, when you replace the clock battery it affects the date/time clock only.

So, a slow counting CPU doesn't cause the date/time clock to lose time (afaik). I know because I've had many 286 based MBs that never lost time.

Becky's reference to the 5% has to do with the hardware tolerance and that is normal in the industry. Every electronic component has a tolerance (+/- deviation from standard). They can be from a low of +/- 1 1/2 % and as high as +/- 10%. More reason to choose your hardware carefully. Many of the cheaper main boards run in the +/- 10% tolerance while the more expensive use better components running at +/- 1 1/2%.

But if I put together the good of Becky's explanation and yours, then I find reason to believe that my CPU could be causing a difference in my lap times. That was my initial thought.

Thanks for the reply

Last edited by Indiana Jim, Wed 10 Oct 2007, 18:00.

Quote from yoyoML :

To elaborate if anyone doesn't know yet: Those guys shouted everywhere "we have real life drivers this and this drive thousands of laps to test this mod, and they say it's very accurate" when in fact, in the Porsche Carrera mod they put engines in the front of 911's.

What a joke. It proves that real life driver inputs are utterly useless, if said driver had insufficient simming experience.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

(Can't laugh any louder)

You're right on. Everyone in this game is a real race driver, just as in Flight Simulator everyone is a 747 pilot!!

Quote from chanoman315 :

Hi... i noticed that yesterday while practicing to a race..
I was doing the test drive, in hotlap mode i did about 25 laps FOX@Ky2r, all of that with the same tyres making high 39's and low 40's alll the way.... and while playing my tyres last around 5 laps using the same set, making the same times, and in some servers I'm fast, in others no, the same combo though... for example, in one server i can go like .2 off WR, and in another i cant even get into .5 off WR no wind of course. My question is are the speed or physics different in single player or multiplayer through different servers?

i hope i explained myself....
Thanks for reading
Cheers!

I've noted the same thing and I've posted this in a few forums and people treat me like either I'm crazy or a computer newbie.

I don't think it's a physics issue but perhaps either a server or CPU issue. I drive GP4 a lot and when I upgraded my CPU the cars became so fast, I can't handle them.

But it is a fact that I can do real well off line and my car turns into a dog online with other racers. I thought my slow CPU could be the cause but that was dismissed by the infinite knowledgeable minds in LFS.

Even tho I participate in the LOTA series I would be open to the idea. The current LOTA GTR series ends in three weeks and AFAIK they don't have anything in the horizon using the GT/GTRs.

I'd be interested in knowing the actual starting times proposed since I'm on CDT.

Quote from Zachary Zoomy :

while were at it, what program is a good one to convert .avi to mpeg or other formats. .avis don't work on macs

You may want to try http://winsite.com

They have many video converters, some free, some shareware.

Quote from Krammeh :

unsure as I have never used the auto save feature.

Are you sure that you have it enabled? Try unticking it, saving the settings, and then reticking it. Dunno, long shot there but not sure.

Are you sure that you're completling the race? afaik auto save replays only save once the final race position's are in! (not 100% sure of this one either)

Yeah, I tried all this after you mentioned it. But it only saves sometimes. I tried the manual save option but it doesn't give me a choice to save the race when finished.

I don't recall having any problems before this patch, tho. However, I disable auto save for feature races. Never had problems enabling that feature either.

Quote from J@tko :

I hope this isnt true, but r all the racers on S2 all keenos who spend all day practicing and put in nearly perfect laps in every time, or are there drivers there of every ability? i consider myself to be a decent driver (PB XFG/BL1 1.34.24 with k/brd) and i would not want to consider buying S2 if i would be at the back all the time.

Hey J, here in the LFS community we have all kinds of drivers, fast, slow, not so slow and not so fast. We also have all kinds of leagues and a wide spectrum of teams.

We have from the young and reckless whippersnappers to the old and conservative grandpas. The best thing is that you can choose what group you want to fit in.

My advice would be: buy it. Buy the license that way you can form your own opinion instead of relying on others to tell you their views. Then when you get to be old and gray like some of us, you can truly say: "I did it".

I wish you well.

Regards,

Jim

The autosave feature used to work fine until I upgraded to the latest patch. Now sometimes it shows a blue screen during replay and an empty file.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jim

All the right answers for that issue are found in this thread. But, if you try all these and still have a problem check the keyboard. A sticky key can cause strange things to happen. It happened to me.

I thought it had to do with the new patch for S2 but I had a sticky key that locked the keyboard and I couldn't release the pit limiter by pressing "L".

Hope this helps.

Quote from Cargo :

No, more turns the better, but there are some chicanes that are really not turns.
But whatever.

-1's ouch.

"Please allow me to die a gracefull uneventfull and unnoticed death" - This Topic

Hahahahahah !!! Good sense of humor. See what you got into?

Anyway, for the other guys here, I think I saw software somewhere for designing tracks for LFS. Perhaps someone here could design a whole set of tracks without chicanes and start a "chicane-less" league. Then get everyone's opinion all over again and see.

Just a thought.

Quote from Lightsaver :

Hello,

i have no clue what to do to build nice sets. I allways got some good ones from different sites and drivers on the servers.

I wanted to train some westhill these days but i couldnt manage to get a set for this combo at all.

It would be great if u could help me with a decent setup!

greetings!

You know Lightsaver, just about any set you get will have to be modified to suit your driving style. There isn't a generic set other than the default set in LFS.

I recently raced the FZR on Westhill on an endurance race. We had two cars and four drivers, so that meant I had to drive with my teammate's set. I had a hard time with that car because he drives with a wheel and I use a joystick. The differences in settings can be oceans apart.

So, you may need to learn to adjust the settings anyway especially in view that the new LFS patches add ballast weight to the FZR. Many leagues and teams are forcing the use of ballast even tho the ballast is there as a handicap when a race has mixed cars.

The ballast slows the FZR down. If there are no mixed events, the ballast should not be used, but that's too hard for some league admins to figure out. Once the ballast is set on the server it can't be changed by the driver.

The end result is that if you get a set older than June 07 most likely is no good for the FZR since it doesn't take into account the ballast setting. In reality we need two sets for the FZR, one with ballast and one without because the ballast affects all other settings.

That is my greatest objection to the new patches because if you add weight you need to change the whole set.

Regards,

Jim

Hey folks, a league for new drivers is a good idea. I don't want to styme your enthusiasm but what happens when people aren't newbies anymore? Would you send them away or would you keep them so they show their experience over the newbies?

Many leagues in LFS started as newbie leagues but after they all got experience the leagues continued their endeavor and forgot about the noobs. So, the result is that some of you folks can't find a league to drive in, right?

I'd presume that you may want to set some limits on participation to retain the newbie atmosphere. Don't let it evolve. Otherwise just join a regular league.

Just a thought.

Jim

Does this happen with other games too, or is this exclusively with LFS? Try other graphic intensive games and see if you get the same results. If it happens with other software, then I'd say it's more likely a hardware issue.

If the CPU is good and is running cool, you may want to check that Direct X is running alright, in particular Direct Draw. You'll find a DXdiag utility in the Direct X folder which is part of the Windows system. I don't know if DX is needed for LFS but the thing is that DX loads automatically when Windows starts.

If that proves ok, then run the diagnostics on your video card. If you are running on Windows XP then try to download the latest XP drivers for your video card. Microsoft has launched a series of new patches for XP and it's possible that if your video drivers are kinda old (like mine were) they may not be all compatible with these patches.

If all that is alright, then you may have to check all your hardware, one by one. It's a long and tedious process but it's better than buying a new puter. My puter was crashing at random and it was a bad keyboard. But it took me a week to figr that out.

Good luck

From Gunn:

Quote :

Originally Posted by Indiana Jim
Realistic and accurate settings should always be the same regardless of what controller you use.

Quote from Gunn :

How can you justify that statement? How can a 240 degree rotation controller have the same input effect as a 900 degree controller? How can a controller with strong FFB ever feel the same as one with weak FFB or no FFB? How can a gamepad control the steering as smoothly and accurately as a wheel?

Please don't misquote You left half of my statement out to state a point. This is what I said:

Quote :

Realistic and accurate settings should always be the same regardless of what controller you use. But I think that can't be achieved given the variety of controllers in the market.

You see, when I drive my real car which has power steering, it needs 7 ounces of force to turn the steering wheel below 40 mph. If you drove it, it would still take the same 7 ounces to turn. The steering wheel force remains the same regardless who drives it. That is reality.

Hehehe.... why should simple statements cause such havoc? It looks like someone could lose his daily bread on account of a word. Okay, I'll troll, you folks argue. LOL

Bye

Why don't you cover it with plastic tape?

Sorry, a joke...

Try the manual

http://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Main_Page

Jim

Quote from Bodhidharmazen :

I know this forum belongs to LFS

Still, I have a question.

What makes members think that LFS physics are more accurate than the ones on, say, rFactor?

Thanks.

I don't know the answer to that because I don't have rFactor, but I think that LFS has far too many sensitive adjustments.

I also learned the hard way that the controller you use has a great effect on the way you adjust the settings. For example, I drive with a joystick but I rarely can use a set designed for a wheel. That invalidates any notion of accuracy or realism, which many racers look for. Realistic and accurate settings should always be the same regardless of what controller you use. But I think that can't be achieved given the variety of controllers in the market.

So I have to design my own sets because I can't use anyone else's. I presume that if the adjustments in LFS weren't so sensitive it would make it easier for me to share sets.

So, "realism" and "accuracy" are words that can be left out of our lingo and still enjoy the game. But I find LFS to be a very interesting and captivating game for all ages.

Jim

I can understand wanting to tweak the cars. I'm one of those guys who likes to tweak everything too. But in reality, I think what sets LFS back a little is that there are far too many adjustments. Some of the adjustments are unreal to the point of spinning your car if you change them a little.

Adding adjustments or tweaks to the engine/tranny, etc could only make the situation worse. Now, the question here is what do we want to spend our time doing, racing or engineering a car? So far what I have seen is that I spend far too much time with adjustments for the time I spend racing.

Let's be real. My racing team spends about one month tweaking the adjustments for one monthly race (and more than one guy testing the cars). How do you like that? I don't For that reason, we have a team "engineer" who scopes out the sets and the rest of us test the cars and report our findings to him. This is important on long endurance races where more than one driver gets a chance behind the same wheel.

But there should be a starting base that should not be modified to preserve equality among the racers. So far the developers have done well in restricting some features and that makes all of us equal when it comes to the track.

Don't get me wrong, there are many things I'd like to see changed in LFS, but it is by far the most exciting and realistic simulator when it comes to online multiplayer racing.

Buying and S2 license would be a good investment if you asked me.

Best regards,

Jim

Hey, this looks good! I'll check into this when I get home tonight. What are the race times?

Thanks,

Jim

I'd buy an S2 license if I were you. You'll have more cars and tracks to enjoy and it's a different community.

Initially, when you look for online races, you'd probably wonder why not many more races online. Well, most S2 racers belong to teams and race in sponsored league races. Many teams have their own servers and practice in private. Some teams have "team nights" where they race against each other.

All that said, at first sight it may look like there is little or no support for online racing, but if you visit the leagues' websites you can find their racing schedules and may be surprised to see 30 or more drivers in one race.

Some leagues offer multiple races on week ends and all these races are scheduled in their calendars.

As far as this community growing, yes, it is growing. You won't login one day and find everyone gone.

Regards,

Hey Nitrox, have you read this post?

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=18589

See if that helps.

Quote from nitrox1935 :

i'd like a sound for my XFG sounding like a ford fucus WRC

if u don't know what i mean, check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOE2-cIULp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBFBnO_-3jE


thankies

I don't know if this can be done. The engine sound files are compiled and are part of the game program. The video shown in youtube is from a real car, not LFS so, the sound must be recorded and compiled for LFS as far as I know.

You may want to post in the technical forum to see if you get better answers.

Regards

Quote from The General Lee :

Most go green then stay green. But my right front gets hot spots from locking up. I got this is W anyways.

We are testing the tire issue in our team. It appears that in the FZR at least, the tires do well up until about laps 10-12. Depending on the track , the fronts begin to cool off in an unnatural way but gradually. The skin stays warm but the inside goes blue and cold. This leads to blow outs. If they stay cold, they usually blow out around laps 27-30 as we tested on West Hill. Of course, tire wear has an impact on blow outs too.

Yesterday I did some testing on the Kyoto Oval (with FZR) to see if they cooled off evenly. I was surprised to see that the left front cooled off to black while the right rear was nice and green. The right front had a red skin running about 125 degrees on R3s. The same thing happened driving the BF1.

This is new stuff to me. It never happened before. Who knows what they did to patch X, LOL!