Are the front pillars (left & right from frontwindow) are a bit too wide?
On the cockpit screenshot they block much of the view. Compare with the readl car, there they are thinner.

attached two short races with mod cars.
and a longer replay with bikes in autocross mode. (lots of spectate / rejoin with different vehicle)

I upload crack so that this discussion stops going around in circles.

Hi,
I found an account named Ignition_62 on LFSworld. (spelled with a _ )
That account has some recorded races on S2 tracks.

One thing is strange:
When I copy the link, it links to a demo-account spelled without the _ underscore.
https://www.lfsworld.net/?win=stats&racer=Igntion62#

Quote from Scawen :

I hope everyone knows, you can create a free server incredible simply. It's easier than ever before. You don't have to forward ports in firewalls or anything complicated like that.
(...)

I bet not everybody knows that. Previously, creating a server ingame was likely not used often because people used dedicated servers. Now one can basically start a dedicated server from ingame, that is impossible to know without reading about it. The only hint is the new "select Country" option.

For example https://www.lfs.net/hosting only mentions rental hosting.

Also on https://www.lfs.net/hosting/admin maybe it could be added:

Quote :

You are currently not renting any hosts.

Click here to create one
...or start a free host ingame.

Beside that, I tried hosting and it worked well.
Just the list of mods is getting a bit long, that might eventually need a better solution.
Nice that the web interface automatically finds all your layouts that were ever uploaded to forum.

The different configs are just visuals at the moment.
(In original LFS cars, this function was only used for closed roof/cabrio option.) It has been suggested that different configs can have different physics but it is not possible yet.

---
You likely know already, but the default skin is just a white square..

I think caster needs to be positive. But better check with people who know better

Some people noted their FFB was very light and suspected "negative caster" in suspension.
It raced nice against the GORB 65.

Maybe needs some tweaking?

The original contest already ended:
Silverracer won: https://www.lfs.net/forum/post/1938533#post1938533

I think nobody expected in Feb 2018 that the next update would be graphics patch because at that time there had not even been official news about it.

There are some fun mods already
It is nice that the mods system works so easy, in other games it is often a hassle especially in multiplayer.

I think as next step it might be very worthwhile to think about limited/fixed setups again.
Especially old roadcars have very unique handling, soft suspension, open differential and so on.
In LFS, drivers are very free to change all that. It makes the cars faster but they also lose character and some realism.
So personally, I would like to see mod-creators limiting setup settings a bit so that not every budgetboxcar can be tuned to have a rockhard suspension and perfectly spaced gearing.
And also it would be nice if LFS gets some per-server setup restriction system.

I like that you choose a version with 4 speed gearbox.

Small bugs:
1) On the license plate, it does not fit fully eight letters.
"1234567" is okay but "12345678" gets cut off a bit.
2) When looking back, there is a one pixel wide gap through the roof. It flickers a bit depending on viewing angle and sometimes completly disappears. (For me it is more visible with AA turned off.)

tiny bug: If you look backwards then the small pieces holding the brakelights are invisible. (lights float in air)

AI-drivers need a .knw file for each car/track combination.
Without the files, they refuse to drive mod cars.

These files are in foler: LFS\data\knw
We can copy and rename an existing file.

Example:
We want to drive the mod car FORM07 at Blackwood.
1) We get the ID of this mod, for example from webpage list: https://www.lfs.net/files/vehmods/9A9019
It is 9A9019

2) We make a copy of an existing Blackwood-file, for example BL1_RAC.knw (Raceabout at Blackwood)

3) Rename the copy to BL1_9A9019.knw


I guess some people already knew this trick but maybe not everybody.
Of course it is an unofficial way and the AI performance may vary.

For this update, how about having the announcement in different languages? (I could do german)
When S3 was released, I saw some german communities confused why S3 content was only one track. Despite that it was explained in the text.

Quote from Gunn :

No, the LFS Viewer uses the old CMX file format which is not compatible with the editor. The CMX exporter was very complicated code mixed in with the car drawing code and the tyre drawing system. It was not easy to maintain the exporter. Scawen has always been a big supporter of LFS skinning and a new solution is required going forward.

Ok.
The workaround with copying the files into LFS-edtior has another problem:
It can not reload/refresh skin files.

In the viewer, you can click "reload" to reload the skin if you have made changes. Or even use the auto-reload function.
In the editor, if you load a skin then you can not update it anymore:
If you make changes to the .jpg it is not possible to open it again. The editor always loads the old version. (Even if you load a different skin and then load your wip-skin again)
The only way is to restart the editor.

Maybe the editor could have a skinning mode?
It would be selected as third option on the launch screen.
Function-wise it would be the editor but:
-allows reloading skins
-hide all unnessecary buttons
-somehow able to load cars from LFS without the user having to copy files

Quote from fangio86 :

We are going to allow other differentials in next update wich is in work already.

Personally I would prefer to keep the open differential.
First, because the mod is based on real series so it would be cool to keep it as real as possible.
With other (better) option nobody will use the open differntial and experience the car as it is "meant to be." (If I may say so, afterall it is your mod, I hope it is clear what I try to say.)

Second, the character of a car is also built by its limits and flaws.
If a a car allows every option and everything can be adjusted, then it becomes faster and "better" but it also loses character.
Actually I think LFS in general allows a bit too much freedome here, seeing how detailed the setups can be adjusted even for low-budget cars. On one hand it is interessting to squeeze out every last miliseconde by finetuning the gearbox, suspension etc but on the other hand it is not something a real-life XFG driver would have the money to do. Instead it might be a choice between a handful of final drive ratios and if does not 100.000% fit the track: Well, bad luck.
It is also a nice challenge having to deal with such limitations.

Quote from xolan1993 :

I am looking at in-game minimap style images.

Is there any way to get those witouth trying to render the pth files as lines.

I think mpRes (the statistics by avatere) tool renders images from the pth files.

So if you have/find an mpRes installation then you can rightclick on the track-image in the results and save a svg vector graphic.
You can even adjust the filename and it will give you a suitable picture.
For example if the URL is mpres/images/tracks/FE2_0.6K_km_all_1000.svg
then you can change it to
mpres/images/tracks/BL1_0.6K_km_all_300.png
to get a 300x300 png image of Blackwood

If you take out the "all" in filename then it will only include the race-path from that config. (for example Blackwood-1 without the rallye sections)

The view from cockpit looks nice, with the rollcage and the bars at the windscreen.
Gives good feel of being in the car without blocking the view too much.

Also, you can not stop now: Over the years there have been more posts about a Raceabout GTR than LX8 and the VW combined. Although in the end maybe few will drive it and fewer will drive it well, as is tradition with the RAC.

Thanks gu3st and Flame.
For 3h_enf_cars I did not find a suitable verbatim translation that fits the character limit.
So I went with "Autos aussortieren" ("sort cars out")

Quote from Degats :

Nearly all the default LFS skins are are wrong aspect; most of them are different on the front/back vs the sides (though the top and sides are usually the same).

When making skins, I always used wireframes together with the info from this thread: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/64975-The-Stretching-of-Skins

Would it be possible to auto-generate those numbers and include them in the template?
Unique paintshops are a big part of LFS, it is nice to recognize players just from their cars, team colors etc.

How does skinning mod cars even work? Can LFS-Viewer open them?
So far I only managed it by copying all the files from LFS into the editor's folder. But that is not userfriendly and the editor has all those confusing extra buttons.

I am unsure about these two translations:

1) "no power unit" - That refers to cars without engine? Or to controllers without FFB?

2) 3h_enf_cars "enforce cars" - Does that mean the server only allows cars? (no bikes)
Or does it mean only certain cars are allowed?

The wheels disappear when the viewpoint is too near to the body. When the camera gets moved further away, the wheels become visible. (see attached screenshots)

Steering angle is too large, the wheels clip into the chasis at max angle.

Does anyone how good the brakes really were on these cars?
I imagine not too great, so maybe maximum possible force should be lower?

The engine cover might need some details, currently it looks like one massive piece. Maybe hinges and seams where the hood opens. And of course leather-belts to keep it closed.

Quote from PeterN :

Looks good when not moving. Can the hubs and axles be detached from the body and attached to the suspension/wheels instead?

I think you have to define those parts as "mud guards" and then they move with the wheel. (like on LX4 etc)

The front wing has similiar lift&drag as the FBM frontwing.
That can not be right?

Good mod and I like the choice of car.
But the 3d model has some problems: Between some parts there are tiny gaps where you can see through the car. Sometimes it is also just along certain edges.
It does not look so bad in a still picture but in motion, there is this annoying flickering and shimmering.
Also some strange things are going on around the windows/pillars, as seen in your screenshot:
https://www.lfs.net/attachment/242469
(more noticeable when the view changes, for example rotate car in garage)

I do not have Photoshop and opened the file with Irfanview.
Are the roof and sideview meant to overlap like this? Or maybe it is my software?