You'll need z31 to watch this replay with me, fooling about in Aston-"AutoX" (open world with no barriers between stages) with the FZ50 (road car) using my fresh new WIP long-distance set-up (still with open diff)
That's what lfs is still great in, today. Simply to drive. Drive hard, drive slowly, drive poorly, drive well, drive the hell out of the ordinary!
--and have big-time fun doing so.
That said, I too had the pleasure of finally giving in to the need for "more stuff". Found that the Supra Mk-IV (one of those shiny red cars that I admired in the half-original nfs-1-SE) felt like a real car, as well. With plenty of grunt (Turbo'ed or not) and the engine in the front
Greets
Heiko
edit:
added download link for "tail-happy" replay
https://rapidshare.com/files/460914461/tail-happy_fz50_q.spr
Thank You so much for this!
Really happy that you're still making progress with your "baby".
LFS has done a lot more than giving me fun and entertainment at my desktop! It really turned me into a much more capable driver.
Went to a promotion-drive by Nissan this Saturday, got to take the 370Z for a spin -- and what good experience that was. I was amazed at the grip-level. What took me by surprise even more is that out of the 2 times we went on to do a double-lane-change at about 70kph the number of spins I did was ZERO. Not everyone was as up to that task as I was that day
Anyway: great to hear from you, again!
Cheers
LFS has done a lot more than giving me fun and entertainment at my desktop! It really turned me into a much more capable driver.
Went to a promotion-drive by Nissan this Saturday, got to take the 370Z for a spin -- and what good experience that was. I was amazed at the grip-level. What took me by surprise even more is that out of the 2 times we went on to do a double-lane-change at about 70kph the number of spins I did was ZERO. Not everyone was as up to that task as I was that day
Anyway: great to hear from you, again!
Cheers
Congratulations
You're getting a good wheel.
Almost-happy G25-user here. Keep in mind not to use too much "brutal" force when using the h-shifter. That one part clearly is the least-sturdy out of the three. Be sure not to apply too much force clamping that shifter down and using it. The wheel itself will need some good momentum to clamp down tightly - some thin layer of rubber placed between the wheel and your desk / can help securing the wheel better, even using a smaller momentum on the clamps.
Other than that: have fun and remember: the more you 'turn' on your wheel, the slower a driver you become (At least that's the saying by someone named Röhrl, Walter )
Have fun
You're getting a good wheel.
Almost-happy G25-user here. Keep in mind not to use too much "brutal" force when using the h-shifter. That one part clearly is the least-sturdy out of the three. Be sure not to apply too much force clamping that shifter down and using it. The wheel itself will need some good momentum to clamp down tightly - some thin layer of rubber placed between the wheel and your desk / can help securing the wheel better, even using a smaller momentum on the clamps.
Other than that: have fun and remember: the more you 'turn' on your wheel, the slower a driver you become (At least that's the saying by someone named Röhrl, Walter )
Have fun
Depends on what you expect
It's been mentioned before: it can still be a lot of fun and a quite successful experience mastering the controls with keyboard/mouse.
However, a wheel and pedal-set (a "half-decent" one at that) will always be superior - that's a no-brainer!
That out of the way:
I started mouse-driving in the pre-alpha and S1-demo days. Got quite addicted and made some reasonable progress, later joined a fun-racer team and finally bought into S2 and at that point: my first wheel-set.
My motivation for "getting serious" about simracing was to learn more about driving dynamics, vehicle control and become an all-round more-aware driver. Further down that road it proved to be also a lot of fun and a rewarding experience that can occasionally get quite competitive at times.
To cut a long story short: I cannot think of a better way to explore a first look into racing and sports-driving while only sticking to mouse&keyboard controls than LFS. This ability to use the mouse for steering&gas/brakes in an efficient way - right out of the box - is what makes LFS unique among all the serious racing sims right from when it first appeared.
You can go a long way in getting to know your cars and tracks with using a mouse. Sadly though, the practical skill that you might reach using a mouse&keyboard won't translate to doing the real thing in a straight-forward fashion. Remember: Mouse-driving will always miss out on the forces transmitted through a wheel (be it computer-generated force-feedback or turning a real steering wheel on a car) and, of course, the various physical limitations that involve your level of health, your driving position, your comfort in a particular car and so forth...
Simply put, the advantages and disadvantages of mouse-driving:
++ unrealistically quick steering work can be done using mouse-steer, even in ever-so-rapid succession
++ nearly every computer user in the world already has access to a reasonably precise mouse, suitable for this kind of use
-- -- Track-style braking will always lack precision, consistency and modulation when using a digital button; On the other hand left-foot braking is equally impossible e.g. when mapping the y-achsis of the mouse to gas&brake - That's why I don't recommend the latter.
These limitations will get in your way - eventually. Depending on your effort and progress this will happen soon enough - or maybe a little bit later. Still: a "clean" mouse-driver will usually know a trick or two how to keep a wheel-using beginner in check.
Hence my final advise:
When is the right time to make the transition to a decent wheel?
Basically it's the instant you realize when and by how much you're losing significant time spent unavoidably drifting around some tricky corners. But that's clearly AFTER you get confident about the proper racing line, controlling grip-levels, tire-wear and weight shifts. I'd even go as far as to say some people never seem to get that far, at all.
Happy racing!
However, a wheel and pedal-set (a "half-decent" one at that) will always be superior - that's a no-brainer!
That out of the way:
I started mouse-driving in the pre-alpha and S1-demo days. Got quite addicted and made some reasonable progress, later joined a fun-racer team and finally bought into S2 and at that point: my first wheel-set.
My motivation for "getting serious" about simracing was to learn more about driving dynamics, vehicle control and become an all-round more-aware driver. Further down that road it proved to be also a lot of fun and a rewarding experience that can occasionally get quite competitive at times.
To cut a long story short: I cannot think of a better way to explore a first look into racing and sports-driving while only sticking to mouse&keyboard controls than LFS. This ability to use the mouse for steering&gas/brakes in an efficient way - right out of the box - is what makes LFS unique among all the serious racing sims right from when it first appeared.
You can go a long way in getting to know your cars and tracks with using a mouse. Sadly though, the practical skill that you might reach using a mouse&keyboard won't translate to doing the real thing in a straight-forward fashion. Remember: Mouse-driving will always miss out on the forces transmitted through a wheel (be it computer-generated force-feedback or turning a real steering wheel on a car) and, of course, the various physical limitations that involve your level of health, your driving position, your comfort in a particular car and so forth...
Simply put, the advantages and disadvantages of mouse-driving:
++ unrealistically quick steering work can be done using mouse-steer, even in ever-so-rapid succession
++ nearly every computer user in the world already has access to a reasonably precise mouse, suitable for this kind of use
-- -- Track-style braking will always lack precision, consistency and modulation when using a digital button; On the other hand left-foot braking is equally impossible e.g. when mapping the y-achsis of the mouse to gas&brake - That's why I don't recommend the latter.
These limitations will get in your way - eventually. Depending on your effort and progress this will happen soon enough - or maybe a little bit later. Still: a "clean" mouse-driver will usually know a trick or two how to keep a wheel-using beginner in check.
Hence my final advise:
When is the right time to make the transition to a decent wheel?
Basically it's the instant you realize when and by how much you're losing significant time spent unavoidably drifting around some tricky corners. But that's clearly AFTER you get confident about the proper racing line, controlling grip-levels, tire-wear and weight shifts. I'd even go as far as to say some people never seem to get that far, at all.
Happy racing!
Also consider some recentinexpensive motherboard with integrated Graphics with either AMD or Intel platform.
I'm not aware of the current DDR2/DDR3 prices. Just think about it: an inexpensive current Phenom II X2 on a 785G/890G/880G - based mainboard would get you back on the track with LFS easily (without fancy AA/AF-settings, for sure).
You could then relax and start to build up on that base again. Old IDE drives can be used on by so little as an additional interface card like some older crappy highpoint-based pseudo-raid controllers (which were merely bare ide controllers with fancy software tricks).
Advise: don't rush things and check you case/power-supply assenmbly for any obvious damage before taking another step forward. Might find something went wrong there prior to your card biting the dust.
Cheers
I'm not aware of the current DDR2/DDR3 prices. Just think about it: an inexpensive current Phenom II X2 on a 785G/890G/880G - based mainboard would get you back on the track with LFS easily (without fancy AA/AF-settings, for sure).
You could then relax and start to build up on that base again. Old IDE drives can be used on by so little as an additional interface card like some older crappy highpoint-based pseudo-raid controllers (which were merely bare ide controllers with fancy software tricks).
Advise: don't rush things and check you case/power-supply assenmbly for any obvious damage before taking another step forward. Might find something went wrong there prior to your card biting the dust.
Cheers
The 5750 is a popular zero-noise chip since it is very energy-efficient. Multiple brands to chose from for what effectively is the same (semi-)passively cooled card, if you can provide reasonable air-flow in-case.
A bit more punch can be had with a HD5770, yet no cost-effective fan-less option.
Full-speed DX11 won't be available on a single HD57xx, though. If full *bling* is what you demand, pass on the current line up of DX11 cards, altogether!
I own a HD5770 (the excellently quiet "Hawk"-model from MSI; it still keeps a very low profile, unless a much more modern game than LFS is run). I paid a small premium for the stock-provided lack of noise and still would do it again!.
Came from a 7600GT; this thing is now up to 4 times the combined perception of per-pixel quality and frames/second.
My quote is: TDU (the first one) @ 1920x1200 @ max details @ 4xAA @ 16xAF on a Phenom II 955 @ 60+ (f/s) (V-sync on)
edit: for a passive HD5750, check out PowerColor (standard-layout or "go-green") or even folks like Gigabyte and MSI.
If you want maximum functionality on GNU/Linux AND/OR can live with more noise, I'd advise for the lower-spec nvidia route, though. Had some minor issues with ZR24W on DisplayPort connection.
On second thought: For a triple monitor setup I'd still go for the 57xx series / be aware that you will lose classic TV-out (analogue) connection compared to earlier models. I don't exactly know if the VGA-output can be adapted, though. Might still be an option.
Last edited by DrBen, .
system-wide installation of browser-handler?
Hi there,
I didn't find this discussed just yet so I'm going to ask:
I run an installation of WinXP SP3 right now. I'm going to upgrade to Win7 soon as one of those "late-followers" so maybe this is going to be rated low-priority.
However: on Win-XP, when installed under administator-privileges it seems not to install the "lfs://" handling tweak system-wide. At least on my machine, when I then run lfs from the installer-based directory and click on a server-link from within a parallel open session of firefox (3.5), then there is no reaction other than "don't know the protocol 'lfs'" -ish message box.
Also I found any system-wide start-links supposedly created by the installer not present in unprivileged user-accounts what-so-ever.
Please have a look at his and decide whether or not this is an issue you deem important to fix or not.
Would like to hear your feedback
One additional question on this: Is my installer-version the most-recent? I downloaded after your official progress report was posted on lfs.net and used the attached links to get my copy of the full installer.
Cheers
Heiko
I didn't find this discussed just yet so I'm going to ask:
I run an installation of WinXP SP3 right now. I'm going to upgrade to Win7 soon as one of those "late-followers" so maybe this is going to be rated low-priority.
However: on Win-XP, when installed under administator-privileges it seems not to install the "lfs://" handling tweak system-wide. At least on my machine, when I then run lfs from the installer-based directory and click on a server-link from within a parallel open session of firefox (3.5), then there is no reaction other than "don't know the protocol 'lfs'" -ish message box.
Also I found any system-wide start-links supposedly created by the installer not present in unprivileged user-accounts what-so-ever.
Please have a look at his and decide whether or not this is an issue you deem important to fix or not.
Would like to hear your feedback
One additional question on this: Is my installer-version the most-recent? I downloaded after your official progress report was posted on lfs.net and used the attached links to get my copy of the full installer.
Cheers
Heiko
for the most insightful thought and discussion of improvement in a very long time!
so very true this:
I recall having those probs in mrt and other small ones, AFAIR. Will kep an eye on it.
And I usually do not enjoy to switch to unrealistic "on-screen" dials, as well
so very true this:
I recall having those probs in mrt and other small ones, AFAIR. Will kep an eye on it.
And I usually do not enjoy to switch to unrealistic "on-screen" dials, as well
check your attitude, it is most likely "outdated"
Heck, I run lfs on a pentium-m (my laptop) with just 32bit/1,4GHz, single-core and mouse (or wheel) with integrated 64Meg ATI 9700m (M10/11) and you keep saying you cannot control your car?
Try setting the reasonable graphics options first, then make sure you do not have accedentially switched on any mouse-pointer acceleration in X11 / X.org and then come back complaining after a long session of some serious mouse-training!
Nice try, put some more effort into it, already!
PS.: buying a wheel would make your racing benefit more than the most over-priced and decent-of-recent ****-enlargement!
Think about it twice, men.
It's not so much about the gear in detail, more about the kind of gear you need. Use the right tool for the job. Or learn how to compensate for the specific shortcomings, for crying out loud!
I'm a hug fan of RBR, no hotlapper though...
either way, even if the devs will take some long time to get to it, I would be fine with this being the kind of stuff they are now targetting for "S3", whatever that will be like. They already hinted that development cycles as thought ought in the bginning of lfs would be unlikely to persist in future coding, meaning that there will not be such a sharp definitiv edge between S2 and S3 anymore (as there was with S1.-.S2)
Touge, huh?
Well being kind of sucked in to addiction in respect to the japanese Manga/Anime-Series Initial-D myself, I still wonder why actually...
...after all is said and complained, it's just a bunch of adolescent humor-driven, experience-deprived and utter-redundant uttering and thereby hyping of some japanese-based brands and products deliberately leaving out any sense of reason ore safety and delivering even the least fundamental movements in the story itself by stretching it to oblivion as in spreding it out over at least more than 3 consequutive chapters and/or episodes.
And better still, it is a laugh! Although of course the life-action movie was not even shot in japan, just looking at the setting tells me, by the kind of virgin-quality mountain-roads that are displayed there, that touge itself is much more a myth than a legend. I will stick to lfs for racing, whatever type that will be. And I will continue to drive like everybodies nicest grandad in real-life, since I have covered my first 100000 miles with exactly the car that my grandad originally bought and driven for its first 3,5 years. So what?
Yes, touge would be so much fun in lfs, as would be the one ore other traditional hill-climb. As of yet there were technical reasons explained, to why not to bother and start with the development of touge arenas, right away.
But let's be optimistic. Let's see what ingenious developments the devs will come up with
Greets
DrBen
...after all is said and complained, it's just a bunch of adolescent humor-driven, experience-deprived and utter-redundant uttering and thereby hyping of some japanese-based brands and products deliberately leaving out any sense of reason ore safety and delivering even the least fundamental movements in the story itself by stretching it to oblivion as in spreding it out over at least more than 3 consequutive chapters and/or episodes.
And better still, it is a laugh! Although of course the life-action movie was not even shot in japan, just looking at the setting tells me, by the kind of virgin-quality mountain-roads that are displayed there, that touge itself is much more a myth than a legend. I will stick to lfs for racing, whatever type that will be. And I will continue to drive like everybodies nicest grandad in real-life, since I have covered my first 100000 miles with exactly the car that my grandad originally bought and driven for its first 3,5 years. So what?
Yes, touge would be so much fun in lfs, as would be the one ore other traditional hill-climb. As of yet there were technical reasons explained, to why not to bother and start with the development of touge arenas, right away.
But let's be optimistic. Let's see what ingenious developments the devs will come up with
Greets
DrBen
it might not make that much of a difference
...other than that the list might indeed get shorter -- only after processing all the server pings.
More convenient for some, that would be -- as you&I&everybody was always only able to sort the list by _the one_ parameter that was most-interesting to the respective user.
On the other hand it would likely spoil the ease of use as well as the simple and direct approach of the lfs user interface by arranging the search-items in a certain hierarchy that must either be known in advance ( like with many counter-strike players ) or easily comprehensible in a self-explanationary way. A huge challenge each time one changes something (or indeed anything -- even small touches ) in that regard.
Keep in mind that not all lfs-players are die-hard all-s(p)orts-gamers and might not even have a clue about the e.g. not-so-comprehensible counter-strike interface. After all, we want to focus on racing, won't we?
(please note that I didn't yet try any of the recent (2 weeks and newer) patches as of yet. I'm still on vacation, kind-of)
Greets
More convenient for some, that would be -- as you&I&everybody was always only able to sort the list by _the one_ parameter that was most-interesting to the respective user.
On the other hand it would likely spoil the ease of use as well as the simple and direct approach of the lfs user interface by arranging the search-items in a certain hierarchy that must either be known in advance ( like with many counter-strike players ) or easily comprehensible in a self-explanationary way. A huge challenge each time one changes something (or indeed anything -- even small touches ) in that regard.
Keep in mind that not all lfs-players are die-hard all-s(p)orts-gamers and might not even have a clue about the e.g. not-so-comprehensible counter-strike interface. After all, we want to focus on racing, won't we?
(please note that I didn't yet try any of the recent (2 weeks and newer) patches as of yet. I'm still on vacation, kind-of)
Greets
It's about convenience, pal!
As stated above (still have to re-read all the relevant posts after my last visit, so please don't get bad feelings if this won't answer every question that was adressed to me -- short on time today)
it is about an option that will allow server-admins to single out a few online racing-sites exclusively for a full-fledged driving-rig set up on each of the race-participants' desks. It would not - in any way - disqualify people with lesser input-devices for online racing. It would be just an attempt at giving the casual reality-afficionados a convenient option to quickly go for a couple of rounds from within the lfs' user interface; i.e. without the need of organizing a "team-event" under password-protection, which could still be quite prone to "cheating" (if this even qualifies for being called upon in such a manner).
Each and every racer will still have the choice to get into races where no restrictions apply what-so-ever. One could even implement a 'room' for mouse-only or keboard-only racers that are striving for some inner competition.
But this would all be implemented under the strict rule of openness.
Simply YOUR CHOICE
...every time you click further than "multiplayer" in your copy of lfs.
Greets
&
race fair and square
DrBen
it is about an option that will allow server-admins to single out a few online racing-sites exclusively for a full-fledged driving-rig set up on each of the race-participants' desks. It would not - in any way - disqualify people with lesser input-devices for online racing. It would be just an attempt at giving the casual reality-afficionados a convenient option to quickly go for a couple of rounds from within the lfs' user interface; i.e. without the need of organizing a "team-event" under password-protection, which could still be quite prone to "cheating" (if this even qualifies for being called upon in such a manner).
Each and every racer will still have the choice to get into races where no restrictions apply what-so-ever. One could even implement a 'room' for mouse-only or keboard-only racers that are striving for some inner competition.
But this would all be implemented under the strict rule of openness.
Simply YOUR CHOICE
...every time you click further than "multiplayer" in your copy of lfs.
Greets
&
race fair and square
DrBen
just to fight the fight against plain-useless ignoracy
Straight-to-the-point example of how it is not done well. At that point - If I were in your shoes - I'd simply stop competing with "that guy" who obviously violates any given agreement on how to race cleanly. Maybe even stop going the that very server for good.
A server-side option to lock people out then would clearly improve your and my "in-game experience" to a much appreciated extend.
Needless to say - again - that a good racer knows his/her limits regardless of the input-device he/she is using at the moment of truth.
That's it what this "discussion" is all about. It's about the comprehensible quality of experience you can get when casually going online with LFS. Some want that quality of experience even when just "slacking around"(* the right word??) on public servers. Some don't care about that. We are all equal in that we all pursue different philosophies when actually diving in to our various (sometimes overlapingly similar) hobbies.
One - and only one of mine - happens to do "casual racing" on lfs. Sometimes I enjoy maximum "realism" (tell me what "fast" cars currently on sale are there that actually outperform others utilising traditional h-shift). Sometimes I ditch "realism" for the best possible practice of simply driving fast and competitively.
To each their own - exactly _how_ they want it precisely when _they_ want it
+1 for the CHOICE of realism
having read up to about #175 of all the posts, I'd just like to support the idea of implementing a server-side OPTION to chose from for
-> enforcing the use of the clutch on car-models that implement a traditional h-shift transmission
--> a second option as to limit auto-clutch efficiency would be very much welcomed on my side, as well. Let's give the POWER OF CHOICE back to the users/racers!
-> enforcing the use of the clutch on car-models that implement a transmission-type that requires its use for either "shift-down" or "get-rolling" {older sequential ; newer WRC-type sequential}
I am perfectly happy with server-side enforcing of cockpit-view
-> I use it all the time, anyway.
ALSO I would be happy to get an enhanced implementation of the multiplayer-server-list on the client-side. With hard-coded options to CHOSE from whether to strive for drift/max-realism/mouse-only/keyboard-only servers out there that makes it ultimately more comfortable to make one's own choice when "going online"
It's most annoying to find myself stranded on a drift-only server that obviously didn't include the syllable "drift" in its name what-so-ever.
actual LRF- and TBO racing (as in pick-up-racing) really suffers from this long overdue differentiation.
(just my 2 cent.)
btw.: I used to race mouse AND consistently beat a few wheel-users in the process before even going for a S2 license --and still do so today, occasionally. Please also note that I'd constantly have four of my left-hand fingers placed over keys for {clutch; shift-down; shift-up; handbrake} ... even when setting auto-clutch to "on".
LFS is great IMHO in this particular respect when it comes to accessability for the unexperienced and/or under-equipped. You'll learn a great deal about vehicle dynamics WHILE ACTUALLY RACING/DRIVING with your mouse/keyboard combination of input-device-choice even before reaching a limit that actually requires a genuine wheel-setup to overcome.
Have fun racing with each other as much as you please!
DrBen
PS.: I know how to heel'n'toe AND I've already used it online. Auto-clutch is more efficient for the most part in LFS _until_ the arrival of some additional and really nasty + fun, tightly designed and corner-packed race-tracks!
Anyway, using heel-and-toe technique and encountering one's own mistakes while practicing it teached me a great deal extra over what I already knew and mastered well. So any further discussion on that point is near-pointless to me. LFS is designed to allow for maximum where-possible-realism. On the other hand it clearly won't dictate you to utilise its many options. Even the devs know why they do what they are doing so well.
-> enforcing the use of the clutch on car-models that implement a traditional h-shift transmission
--> a second option as to limit auto-clutch efficiency would be very much welcomed on my side, as well. Let's give the POWER OF CHOICE back to the users/racers!
-> enforcing the use of the clutch on car-models that implement a transmission-type that requires its use for either "shift-down" or "get-rolling" {older sequential ; newer WRC-type sequential}
I am perfectly happy with server-side enforcing of cockpit-view
-> I use it all the time, anyway.
ALSO I would be happy to get an enhanced implementation of the multiplayer-server-list on the client-side. With hard-coded options to CHOSE from whether to strive for drift/max-realism/mouse-only/keyboard-only servers out there that makes it ultimately more comfortable to make one's own choice when "going online"
It's most annoying to find myself stranded on a drift-only server that obviously didn't include the syllable "drift" in its name what-so-ever.
actual LRF- and TBO racing (as in pick-up-racing) really suffers from this long overdue differentiation.
(just my 2 cent.)
btw.: I used to race mouse AND consistently beat a few wheel-users in the process before even going for a S2 license --and still do so today, occasionally. Please also note that I'd constantly have four of my left-hand fingers placed over keys for {clutch; shift-down; shift-up; handbrake} ... even when setting auto-clutch to "on".
LFS is great IMHO in this particular respect when it comes to accessability for the unexperienced and/or under-equipped. You'll learn a great deal about vehicle dynamics WHILE ACTUALLY RACING/DRIVING with your mouse/keyboard combination of input-device-choice even before reaching a limit that actually requires a genuine wheel-setup to overcome.
Have fun racing with each other as much as you please!
DrBen
PS.: I know how to heel'n'toe AND I've already used it online. Auto-clutch is more efficient for the most part in LFS _until_ the arrival of some additional and really nasty + fun, tightly designed and corner-packed race-tracks!
Anyway, using heel-and-toe technique and encountering one's own mistakes while practicing it teached me a great deal extra over what I already knew and mastered well. So any further discussion on that point is near-pointless to me. LFS is designed to allow for maximum where-possible-realism. On the other hand it clearly won't dictate you to utilise its many options. Even the devs know why they do what they are doing so well.
so... DOES time work in our (my) favour?
+ 1 ... and a million times!
AFAIR I already suggested this, buried deep within some discussion about the former-not-dead tbo/ctra discussion. Nice to spot some life-signs of actual lrf-drivers on the forum!
I for one loved the way STCC-public / ctra came about and into life. Especially the lrf-server they had for the non-beginners was a brilliant one - and the Jump&Bum later became my drug to fill that very loss, indeed.
Now with both gone, there rarely is some good pick-up racing going on with these beauties! Come on, spread the word. These cars are worthy contenders when it comes to using some actual skill!
Greets
DrBen
you got a point there!
Hello and welcome to the exciting reality of LFS.
What brought up your post is something widely known if not accepted throughout the online 'pick-up' racer community. Even CTRA declared defeat when trying to challenge this general trend of behaviour on their own servers. Their report-system was doomed to failure sicne the rules tended to be a little on the soft side and / or there was no sufficient capacity given in reviewing and judging them all, i.e. with the series' growing popularity and increasing complexity, rule-enforcement could not be kept up to the servers' high standards.
So even on a regulated basis, the driving-code in LFS genrally suffered on behalf of it's design: being a "computer-game" this simulation is/was not capable of liberating itself from the typical "player"-mind-set that is to go at it at full throttle, all the time -- regardless of how close such a course of action might reflect the player's attitude when driving a car for real.
Generally, i have to say, there is nothing wrong with you whishing for a decent "style" in online-competition and pick-up racing, alike. It's always the people involved that make a good or a bad race happen. Try to keep up with your high moral in every race you enter. Personal satisfaction when racing doesn't come from a record-pb (laptime), only.
But be prepared not to take unsatisfactory encounters to heart too easily. E.g. cutting outside-to-inside without a former and proper "nose-ahead" in the first place when entering the turning-point of a corner is a common mistake. Even in F1 it will happen every now-and-then. That's not always an outcome that the player-at-fault really wanted. Usually it is just a simple event of exceeding one's skill. That will happen in racing all-the-time! Try to look at it on the bright side. "That's racing". Anything can happen.
Real racers will always try at lengths to pre-consider such drivers' mistakes and prepare to evade the crash. A broken car might not be much of a deal for pro-F1 teams with lots of cash (where putting the spare parts together costs miles less than their development in the first place). But for the large bunch of racers and racing teams a grave accident probably means an "out-of-the-race" for good - if not a stop to the whole season or carreer.
Keep that in mind: Statistics lie big-time! Don't judge your skill by looking only at the race-end numbers. Be smart and have fun. Just race - cleanly.
Regards
DrBen
Hi,
having read through the already mentioned suggestions I would like to state a mild kind of a warning:
Don't throw away your hard-saved money on trying to improve an old Dell-PC!
If all that was mentioned about the "Optiplex"-range here is true, then it will only result in a loss of money and time rather than in any significant return of "speed" that you might expect.
Two reasons: "Pentium 4"-processors are out of production a long time ago, so everything related to them is:
1a: hard to get a hand on (such as accessories in cooling / higher-clocked copies of the same processor-range
1b: in no way a cost-effective upgrade is achievable in today's market
2a: you can find whole used machines with twice or more the processing-power in both general-cpu AND graphics functions for less than any on-gear improvement would cost you
2b: Old office-use - DELL-PCs often suffer from a non-standard design inside their computer-cases -- and sometimes even concerning the casing itself. So using standard-sized / -fitted aftermarket components to "update" your machine will physically prove impossible in a lot of cases. If your machine does look a bit "weird" when opened up, then please make sure you won't throw yourself into any greater expenses before you actually find out what's what!
Additionally I would like to say something a little more motivating:
2 years ago I built two identical low-cost computers from scratch (using new but most-affordable bits and pieces that had then-new "shared chipset-graphics" that could handle LFS at reasonable speed on 1024x786 resolution (17" CRT-screen), just fine. Such a system would set you back appr. 180$ at most if you were to buy one with identical performance-specs new, today. Thing is, world is moving on. Today you will easily find something three times as "fast" for anything like a few tenners more.
Maybe you get lucky and will eventually find some used rig from a friend or a relative that he/she doesn't want to use any more but will still run LFS -- that would be a much more desirable course of action I think -- and you could get the confirmation of how it puts up with LFS before you actually pay anything. Virtually anything newer than 2006 should be plenty, really!
Just look out for more than 512MB of RAM and if possible some "dedicated" graphics card (even the lowest-spec should make you much happier than what's inside of your current old-type DELL)
Dedicated graphics means a seperate graphics-processor that's not integrated into the mainboard and will make use of a seperate block of RAM that has no physical connection to the RAM the system-CPU makes use of. It usually also means that this type of graphics processor (and all that it needs) is located on a seperate add-in "card" that is interchangeable. Notebook-computers are another story, though.
Please make sure that when you start with LFS, you have at least 25 to 30 frames per second available when playing online against a full pack. You will have more fun when learning the racing techniques when your rig doesn't limit you to walking-pace reactions.
For your information: My lower-spec notebookd-pc that I still can use for LFS is built to the following spec:
Pentium-M ("Banias"-generation) 1.4GHz (much more punch/GHz than any P4)
1280MB of RAM (when it still had 512MB at stock-config it was easily the same performance for LFS, so don't worry!)
dedicated ATI-mobility M10/M11 chipset with 64MB of (seperate) Video-RAM [Nowadays 128MB+ would be preferable for LFS since even the LFS-engine can make use of more when set to high-detail, however it still "works" for me]
The hard-drive has been changed about a year ago -- still no performance-boost in any way for LFS in-race performance. Just a little faster throughout system usage in general.
To give you an idea: That older notebook-PC I still use originally was purchased when named a "better-than average in performance but low-cost brand product" in early 2004. So who says you need a lot of punch to run LFS competetively?? To all those with loaded bank accounts I say: Well, race me and think again! ((no offense!))
However when talking about a decent-performing (for LFS) computer you don't have to look that skillfully. Really any decent-built mid-range PC (as of app. 2006) will do perfectly when administred with a little care! You should be able to get ahold of one with little money. Better look for something that has a standard-ATX chassis and is thus more service-able than any office-spec DELL ever built.
Best of luck
DrBen
Last edited by DrBen, .
+1 here!
proper Suspension damage so that fern bay becomes a race-track, again - rather than a "bounce track". "Chicanes" really should retain some meaning
proper Suspension damage so that fern bay becomes a race-track, again - rather than a "bounce track". "Chicanes" really should retain some meaning
Hold your horses there, mate. Please let me hereby apologize for every single bad feeling I gave you with my previous reply. I honestly didn't intend to to so. I'll take back any even remote accusation or the like that did let you get the impression I was after you personally. I wasn't and never will be, honestly! Obviously my phrases didn't turn out the way I was planning them to do when typing. I certainly never meant the phrase "cheapo" to be used as an insult against anyone. Sorry for the inconvenience. I am able to learn from this, I hope, not to do this again.
I really have a hard time thinking back to ONE occasion where I did this. At least I never did in a complaining manner.
I'm completely with you on that. I was going on about the need to re-implement some aids purely in the sense of simulating a soft-switching automatic transmission the best it could get (soft = slow, meaning it (an auto without throttle blip/-cut) would otherwise completely upset the handling)
So there I guess I did get you very, very wrong before. Sorry. I thought you were referring to that normal settings-option to just assign a button to the clutch-function with some input-devices. If that isn't exactly right then I'll have to look into this further-on.
That man knows his stuff...
so it would be wise to take a peek there.
As for me, I am almost asleep.
Wish you success, mate!
Have fun and don't keep yourself busy with the first install for too long. It most-likely will serve you just fine for a long time since modern distros are really sorted-out quite nicely for the standard-install. Just click yourself through some of the community-supplied articles & guides for the fine-tune and make sure you join your favourite ubuntu-related community for further in-detail questions and such.
Welcome to the community of free software users (not necessarily always -experts )
DrBen
As for me, I am almost asleep.
Wish you success, mate!
Have fun and don't keep yourself busy with the first install for too long. It most-likely will serve you just fine for a long time since modern distros are really sorted-out quite nicely for the standard-install. Just click yourself through some of the community-supplied articles & guides for the fine-tune and make sure you join your favourite ubuntu-related community for further in-detail questions and such.
Welcome to the community of free software users (not necessarily always -experts
)DrBen
If you really NEVER want to use hibernation, then you can do without a swap-partition. However, if you ever use programs that will NEED more than 3 Gigs of RAM it is safer to use one about the size of the additional (virtual) RAM needed.
In other words: not very necessary in your case
In other words: not very necessary in your case
that's exactly the reason why I suggest you start by using the Wubi-install first. Knowledge will come through using it rather than ask every single question seperately.
as for the device-names:
sde stands for SCSI-DISK-x whereas the "e" defines the logical number of the disk or the logical connector that disc is attached to on the motherboard. The partition-naming scheme is 1..4 for primary partitions and 5..256 for anything within a logical partition. Even if you had only 1 primary and 1 extended partition (the extended one containing logical partitions) the first logial one following would get the number 5
edit: so "sde5" would be the first logical partition on the hard-driv connected to the 5th logical connector on your MB
Although you might not have a SCSI but rather a SATA-system, recent kernels have discontinued stand-alone ATA-support and now use libATA connected to the SCSI-subsystem of the kernel.
so sda would be the first connector of the first controller, sdb the second connector of the first controller and so forth.
scd0 scd1 scd.... on the other hand stand for optical drives.
See... ...these are things that can easily be recognised when reading one of thousands of beginners articles - and precisely the reason why WUBI seems to have been created for novices.
Last edited by DrBen, .
I suggest you stick to the "safe" route first.
in easy terms: yes. Exactly that. The fun is in the detail: it will use the Vista-built-in boot-manager (which you normally don't really "see" on start-up), in order to to achieve this.
Actually if it works well, I recommend you to stick to the Wubi for the first 1 or 2 weeks. Fell free to get to know the thing first. Then you can still opt for a native install. It's just the size of the Wubi-generated file and the lack of a swap-partition that will likely set the limit for your first hands-on experience. It will however most-likely still run a whole lot faster than putting it inside a "virtual machine".
I'd say, with a little experience comes the further application of your new Ubuntu.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG