faster,

Another fairly easy way to get more fps is to change the view.

Try changing the view from in-car to external - you know, the one where you only see the front wheels of your car?

It may not look as nice but try it anyway to see if it smooths things out at all.

It should help because your graphics card no longer has to draw the insides of your car and can put more effort into smoothing out the track and the scenery.

Let us know how you get on .

faster,

when you say it's lagging, can you describe in a bit more detail what it looks like?

For example, is it just the other cars on the track which seem to dance around and don't move smoothly, or does the whole picture seem jerky, including the trees, buildings etc. as you drive past them?

If its just the other cars but everything else is smooth then it could be the connection, but if the whole scene is jerky then it could be that frame rates are dropping when there are lots of other cars in the track.

Quote from DjeMz :

arghhhh its killing me! i have waited HOURS for my paypal to go though!

HURRY UP DAMMIT

:mischievo Yeees. Goood. Another angry young apprentice joins the Dark Side. Mwaaahahaha ... :jedi:

Quote from DjeMz :

dungbeetle for admin :woohoo:

:scared: ... erm, let's not get too carried away now eh?

Quote from Micha :

You already drive the LX8??
I hope you ment the LX4 and LX6...otherwise I missed something.

Doh! :doh:

Well spotted Micha.

Glad to see you're paying close attention

Hey DjeMz,

How you doin'.

By the way, don't forget to keep your head down while the Big Boyz here are busy throwin' chairs across the room at each other! :hide:

Anyway, I thought I could give you an idea of how the game is for someone like me who's just recently bought an S2 license after trying the demo.

Well, what can I say. If you liked the demo you really will enjoy S2.

To be perfectly honest, I know its called S2 and it's revision 'whatever' - soon to become S3 etc. etc., but honestly, don't let that bother you. The simple fact is, whatever they call it, it's already a good game; no, actually its already a VERY good game, and as someone who's just started I've found that exactly where the dev's are at the moment on the progress chart doesn't really affect me. There's more than enough to keep me busy just the way it is and it all seems to work just fine .

In the short time I've had S2:

I've driven a number of the S1/S2 cars already and they really do all handle differently (I'm really into the LX4 & 6 and the FOX at the moment) and you feel its worth your time and effort getting to know them.

I've noticed that, to me at least, the tracks look and feel right. It's hard to describe but as 'detailed' as other sims I've tried have been, I still felt like I was in video game. Some people have said other games feel a bit 'cartoony' compared to LFS and I know what they mean. Anyway, if you've been 'round Blackwood you probably know what I mean and the other tracks are just as good, if not better.

Racing on line with other S2 players is a blast. You race, you talk, you swap setups, you spectate (even sit yourself in other player's cars to try and figure how they go so damn fast! ) and there's a good community feel to it. Oh, and you crash of course, but as long as you don't behave like a complete numpty and say sorry when you mess up taking a few others out with you, you'll find the other racers don't get toooo upset .

I've hosted one or two sessions on-line myself and visited a number of others. As host you can set up the tracks and cars to participate the way you want and its nice when others 'come to play in your back yard' so to speak. You've probably visited others on the demo or maybe even hosted yourself ([THINKS] can you on the demo? - can't remember) - anyway if you have you probably know what I mean.

I've looked with admiration at other peoples car skins and although I haven't done so yet, it's nice to know that you can personalise the look of your cars if you want to, so there's a whole new 'scene' there as well if you want it.

And last but not least, the game has never crashed on me. No, really. No freezes, no blue screens of death, no dumps to desktop (which I have to say, I have experienced with other sims recently ).

So, overall, lots of feel-good factor and bang for your buck.

Anyway, I hope this has eased any anxieties you may have had. (Is it safe to come out from under the table yet? Yes, I think so!)

So, license up, relax and enjoy .

Hope to see you on the S2 servers soon .

Last edited by dungbeetle, Mon 13 Nov 2006, 15:29. Reason : Micha spotted my deliberate mistake :)

196 is a little high but should still be useable.

Next - are there lots of other cars on the server?

Two reasons for this question:

1. Some of THEM could be lagging, and...
2. Lots of cars in front of you could be putting extra strain on your graphics card lowering frame rates.

Quote from faster111 :

i can get on STCC server but i get big lag

OK, but we need to know the ping rate you're getting, to see if that's the problem .

EDIT: OK, seen the rate now.

Quote from faster111 :

where can i find that

When you go to Multiplayer and it lists all the servers you can join to race, it also shows a ping rate for each server as it draws up the list. What's the ping rate for the server you tried to connect to?

EDIT: ^^ Wot franky said! ^^

Last edited by dungbeetle, Sun 12 Nov 2006, 20:59. Reason : franky beat me to it :)

Quote from faster111 :

the speed is 100.0mps

... and the ping rate?

Quote from faster111 :

highest framerate i got is 56 fps and it still laged then it drop down and i get lags still.

56 fps? OK, sounds more likely to be connection problems rather than lack of graphics muscle, so ...

... what sort of ping rates are you getting for the server you're connecting to?

What frame rate are you getting?

(Options/Display/Framerate=On)

OK.

First, how fast is your internet connection? and ...

Second, did you dial up the eye-candy too much?

Have you tried a re-boot?

Looking at your pic the sky looks OK to me, but you may want to change to a different resolution ratio 'cos the picture looks squashed (see the steering wheel? - it's not round ).

So go to a similar resolution to the one you're using but with more horizontal pixels - that should stretch the image out wider.

About the settings: I've got a fairly fast machine so most of my settings are on max, but you really need to try things out yourself on your own machine to see how far you can push it. The best combination can vary a great deal from one machine to another.

Quote from faster111 :

so if i chanage them lfs will look better.

Yeah.

Generally with these settings more is better, but like I said, do it in stages to see what the frame rate hit is like. If you overdo it you could end up with a beautifully pristine picture flick-book .

Yeah, like higher bit-depth settings, anti-ailaising, more track detail, longer look ahead drawing distance - all that jazz.

Basically the settings that make the game look better but can often reduce frame rates .

Cheers

Quote from faster111 :

yes and i seemed to fix it i changed the screen res in lfs to what my desktop is set at and no green smoke but how do i get the max out of the lfs graphics

Well, I just kept dialling up the resolution and the eye-candy settings and trying it out until frame rates dropped to unacceptable levels. I think down to around 25 fps is OK for racing sims (to my eyes anyway) but you can try and see what works best for you.

Quote from Victor :

it's like a a lower FPS vs a higher FPS. More packets per second means smoother visuals because cars get updated more frequently. And in the case of racing, smoother movements could also mean allow for closer racing.

I see. Thanks.

So other cars (assuming you or they don't suffer from low/inconsistant ping of course) are less likely to 'skip' around the track with more packets per second?

Do all the other colours in the game seem correct?

Quote from Bob Smith :

Well the default packet rate is 4 packets per second, so in theory anything under 250ms should be perfect.

Now lyd is sorted, can I just ask a follow on question.

Bob/Victor. If the speed/bandwidth is available, what, in practical terms, is the advantage of 6 packets per second over 4?

Cool!

Thanks guys.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Session type: Practice, Quali or Race.

Aaah, thanks.

So, are they kinda 'real time' indicators then?

I mean, do they change over time as, for example, the session changes from qualifying to racing?

Over at LFS World, I've read the key at the bottom of the 'Racers & Hosts Online' page detailing what the letters mean in the 'Host Settings' column.

But ...

...what do p, q and r mean in the 'Track' column?

Anyone know?

Thanks.