Quote from Huru-aito :

... and as such, should be controlled with the same kind of methods as the simulated thing, a car.

It CAN BE, and You CAN.

On a general note: this is not an Improvement Suggestions thread for Nilex. I urge you all to have that in mind before posting.

Thank You

Before anything is said: this only affects players that use manual clutch and drive with keyboard only. In some cases manual clutch + mouse + keyboard.

What is Pre-Select shifting method?
It's how I call the shifting method that was used in X patch. You pressed the "Shift Up" or "Shift Down" buttons how many times you wanted - game "remembered" it, but didn't change gear until you clutched. So, if you were in 5th, pressed "Shift Down" two times (still in 5th gear), then clutched, you ended up in 3rd gear. Skipping one gear - I'll come back to that later. Same with up shifting.

Why add it?
Technical reasons (and I liked it better). Some, if not many, keyboards have a keypress limitation. Limiting the number of keys that can be pressed at the same time (but to work properly) to three. Meaning, if you pressed fourth key it wouldn't register.
In Y patch, you must shift differently - press AND hold "Shift Up" or "Shift Down" then clutch to change gear. For a keyboarder, a car approaching a turn this means: brake + turn + shift down + clutch (+ blip in some cases). That's 4-5 buttons at the same time.
With pre-select, need to hold "Shift Up"/"Shift Down" while clutching is eliminated because key press was "remembered". So it would look like this: shift down, brake + turn + clutch (+ blip in some cases). That's 3-4 buttons at the same time. Manageable.

- About skipping one gear: if it's a problem (might be considered as an advantage or a cheat) then limit the shifting so it must go 5-4-3 without skipping.

How to implement:
(just an idea)
In Options -> Driver, add a "Gear shift method" (or whatever) toggle button bellow "Auto clutch:" (it appears only if Auto clutch: [no]). Button toggles between normal/pre-select (or whatever).

Here's a link to some post I found with info about keypress limitation - http://www.retroremakes.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=8282. 1st post has a PDF attached with technical explanation why it happens. Post bellow explains a good way to "solve" keypress limitation problem - redefine your keys :P

Thanks for reading

What is it?
(from LFS Manual)
"This is for when you assign a button to an analogue control (e.g. handbrake or clutch) how fast the control moves when the button is pressed. Higher is faster."

Why separate?
In order to greatly improve cars maneuverability. Note this will only significantly benefit those who assign those four controls to buttons (keyboard/mouse/wheels with Accelerate and/or Brake and/or Clutch and/or Handbrake assigned to button).
For example: max button control rate (bcr) is good for clutch because shifting gears is fastest as it can be, but it's very bad for accelerate as it reaches 100% almost instantly making it difficult to control speed in corners. If you set bcr to favor accelerate then clutch suffers - shifting is slower (making you lose unnecessary time). Things get more difficult as engine power increases. Similar thing is with brake/handbrake.

Ways to implement:
(just an idea)
1) Add new sliders for those controls (same values: 2-10)
2) Keep one "Button control rate" slider, but add one button with control name between "Button control rate" and the slider (or after slider). When you click on that button it toggles its name (Accelerate/Brake/Clutch/Handbrake) and slider value is remembered for each control. Similar thing is already in options->game->AI names - man/woman button (Y patch and after).

Off-Topic suggestion:
In Options - Controls, put a |?| button next to all sliders/buttons (those above "Buttons 1", "Buttons 1", etc...) with detailed description (descriptions from LFS Manual are good enough). From my experience, majority of players don't know what certain functions mean. And for this case I believe it's more convenient for the explanations to be present in-game too.

- I know this has been posted before (Button control rate - post #2 idea is excellent) but not in so many words, and I also added a few things. This would be a significant improvement for players that use buttons.

Thanks for reading

Hmmm, sounds familiar... I had similar issue few months back.
When I turned my audio jack back and forth I could hear even more stutter. I found out my headphones wire or connector was damaged. No problems since I connected new headphones. Hope it helps as I don't think I can help you further.

Hi,
just dropped in to inform you that this issue has been mentioned couple pages back under "Master Server" Bug topic.
I explained there in more detail how this happens (it's not just wrong password).
I would just like to add that probably any kind of failed connection to a server causes "No reply".
Maybe you guys find it helpful knowing you're not alone
Later...

Quote from Scawen :

I've tried to reproduce this but don't seem to be able to.

Can you reproduce this every time? I need a reliable way to reproduce it or I won't be able to track it down.

ALso I'm a bit confused because normally when you run a SPR, the replay loops and does not return to the replay selection screen. But that is not the case if InSim is running - so maybe you have InSim running and that is why you expect to see the replay screen?

Anyway, with or without InSim, I'm pressing escape when the screen goes black for a second but I don't seem to get any issues.

Hi,
It's easily reproducible (every time) - with InSim. Without InSim I can't do it.
Before I start - game is patch Y18 (no mods of any kind).

As soon game loads, open insim port - /insim xxxxx (I think any will do). I didn't connect anything to it, just opened a port. Then, load hotlap replay (don't know if mpr will crash it). Now, at any point during the replay press ESC once (just so that the menu appears) and wait for it to finish. That should make game freeze just like alxf1 explained.

Thats it. If you need more info like mine specific in-game options (e.g. - I set "Load track when starting: [no]"), ask it
Cya around :P

Hi

Quote from flinty72 :

...Any ideas on the cause of this error?

I had a similar problem, only mine line in question was #84.
I haven't got a clue as to what causes it, but I "solved" it by deleting last two empty lines in "english.txt"
Now my last line is "lg_relay = Take Over Car".
Could be same solution to other language files as well (if the problem appears there too) - all end with empty lines.
Hope it helped

Gai-Luron:
Great program by the way - I enjoy using it

Cya

Hi!

Happens to me too. U can relax - your "exe" is just fine
...or, on the other hand, everybody has a defective executable.

It's actually pretty easy to recreate and circumvent. But the problem will stay forever, until fixed.


Recreate part:

- go to "Multiplayer" -> "Display list of hosts" (select DEMO - requires a full host) -> press "OK"
- wait until "List of Hosts" screen fills with nice juicy full servers
- pick one full server and connect
- if you did it right "Host is full" message awaits you -> press "OK"
- you should be in "Join Specific Host" -> press "Back"
- in "List of Hosts" -> press "refresh" button
- VOILA ! We did it. It works every single time.

btw, ^^ reminded me of an old ZX Specy text adventure (only thing missing - a rope )

- oh yes, if u didn't already, press "ECS" (or "SPACE") button on your keyboard to stop the "invisible" host listing.

Me personally have never waited beyond 12 failed connects (they fail in quartet - 4 by 4) but i assumed it goes to the end. Seeing from your screeny indeed that’s the case. Let's continue, we're almost there

NOTE: Could be that "Host is full" message is not the only thing that triggers "invisible" host (almost typed ghost) listing. It's possible that any kind of failed connection to a server, full or not, triggers it (e.g. - When during connection period someone disconnects from a server - also fails the connection). But i did not test it!


Circumvent part:
(this will actually only really help you exited the game and ran it again, because this way is much faster and works also 100%)

- okay so u pressed "ESC", u have 0 hosts on the screen -> press "Back"! (now if u pressed "refresh" again, like I'm sure 99% of you instinctively have (I did), just press "ESC" to stop the agony)
- now in "Multiplayer" screen, select "Display list of hosts" -> press "OK"
- VOILA ! Like nothing happened (unless you stumble into a seemingly stacked (13/14 - but not full), that got full while u waited for "ESC" to stop the listing)


That's all! Hope it relived some of your worries at least

Ciao!

Hi!

While checking out my "Racer details" tab in LFSW i noticed that all of my hotlaps were done using "w" controller. Now that would be nice if i actually had a wheel. All my hotlaps were done using a mouse as it is shown correctly in "Hotlap charts" tab.

In fact, "Racer detail" tab always show that "w" was used, no matter if true or not. Even more, it does it to all players.

All other columns (BH; AG; SH; CL; AC) appear to be correctly displayed as in "Hotlap charts".

Happy fix'n

Ciao!

Hi !

Okay, im S2 licenced since 3 hours ago. I didn't buy my S2... I WON IT

Yesterday a race was held on DEMO server RacingX wich was organised by marek100, the leader of RacingX team http://www.racingx.co.uk/index.html. The winner gets S2 !
And boy, was i lucky... the BL1 - XFG combo just sat in my lap (as i drive it all the time).
If somebody wants to know, the 30 laps ".mpr", as im told, will be avaliable for download on RacingX site (2.5MB)


As for I...
I've been a demo racer for 4.5 months. Good times..., and times . And will continue to be so hehe.
I'm a member of the FU team (full version name not appropriate hehe) http://tering.te.funpic.org/ for ~ 2 months. A nice team of some fast individuals that know how to race. Hi guys . You all made me faster . Infact, wtf am I doing here? I go to u now LOL

Bye you all... See you somewhere, someday... Be it S2 or DEMO, all rox

Last edited by Nilex, Mon 30 Jul 2007, 21:44.