Just to make sure... I hope everyone knows our moderators are not paid - they are just some kind people who give this community some of their free time because they want to help keep the forum going to support LFS.
I wanted to point that out because of the use of the word "job". They have real jobs too and this is the weekend.
I see from the news archives that skin downloading was only introduced with S2 Alpha. So that's not a bug!
This was just a quick job to get that existing version working again. I'm not going to start updating the old version with new features.
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1297526#post1297526
Nothing wrong with it, at least the keys are in the right place, unlike some of these modern keyboards where insert / delete / page up / page down are all in the wrong place so it becomes impossible to edit text at high speed which is what my job involves a lot of the time. So I can press any key and it works. Don't know how I can improve on that, really.
That's true, it's only custom views that ever saved a fov per car. You can set up a custom view that looks just like a cockpit view or use the /fov X command in the car scripts as JasonJ suggests.
It's not an easy job to support multiple display adapters at the same time. For example, every texture and every object must be separately sent to each graphics card. It's not an impossible task but would require a big rewrite of the 3d support system so that it opens two (or more) D3D objects and then duplicates all the calls to them. That would take a while but then there would be a lot of refinement to the system, for example how to handle when a call to one device works but the other fails, how to recover and still display LFS to the user... I don't even want to think about it.
So that is really not going to happen any time soon because the priority is the physics and the VWS patch, after fixing the last couple of bugs in this new multiple display support system (which only supports multiple renders to a single surface).
I think Lithuanian was not updated in time for the patch but it is now :
http://www.lfs.net/lfs_transla ... ion=1&lang=Lithuanian
Just to be clear - I was not making excuses or apologising, and I don't think I have a personal problem.
I could have kept it really short but I thought it would be a good idea to relay my ISP setup experience. Just some word of mouth "advertising" for BT and Virgin...
Thank you, yes. To add to what you say, I worked as an employee from approx age 19 (pizza delivery) to about 30 (at Lionhead). Then I took the risk of leaving a good job and setting up my own business (with Eric and then Victor) and lived very frugally for a couple of years until we could sell S1 licenses!
The reward now is that we can take our time to get things sorted out in our life, and work as we wish, when the inspiration takes us. The result... LFS, whether you think that is good or bad. Employed people do most probably have to go to work even when their house is still full of boxes, or at other times when they should really have a few days at home. There are some advantages in being self employed!
By the way, I did not feel pressured directly to make a post. Victor said to me that he had been receiving a lot of technical support emails and there was unrest in some threads in the forum. I have not seen any of them, just wanted to make life easier for Victor, and saw no harm in letting people know I had moved. I decided the ISP story might be of some interest to British residents...
Thank you for demonstrating the reason why we try not to state our plans and intentions. If I ever say "I expect X" or "The plan is Y" then if something changes in the future, someone will allways hold it against us.
Plans and priorities... change!
This is pure fiction. I did notice this thread before the patch... the DAY before!
This patch's content has been planned for quite some time now. I'm far too busy working to really be lounging around reading complaint threads and trying to appease the community.
We're getting things done and there is also what I believe to be a silent majority who are quite happy to wait and see what they get.
It would be GREAT if things could be done really fast but this is the way we choose to work, as said many times before, following the inspiration and what we feel like doing. We are very pleased to make the community members happy, when things are ready. In fact that is our job, creating a product that people enjoy.
Moving away from your post...
One thing is a little upsetting - when people who already have LFS in their own language, use the development of others like East Asian languages, as some point against us. Because I chose to develop the multi byte character support in January when I was having a month off. I am very pleased with this, it was an interesting thing to develop and looks nice!
I think there are a lot of Chinese, Japanese and Korean people who will be happy about version Z and that can only be a good thing.Oh by the way, no matter how we prioritised our work, there would always be those who criticise the choices. The most imortant thing for one person is the least important for another. The solution is simple : follow the path that looks interesting to us at the time. This is not a PLC with shareholders to appease. And I'm pleased we don't have to prioritise things purely for financial gain. LFS would be a lot different if we did.
Thanks for that bug reproduction method. I can now reproduce this and I see that it is related to the drawing of the network status bars, for some reason the mip bias for that (0.0) carries on to the in-game text which should be -1.0.
OK, try again in the next text patch because that blurry text should be fixed. However, the text mip bias in LFS is -1.0 (no option) and that gives clean text (when there is no bug). I'm a bit confused though, I don't think it's going to help if you use the clamp option. I'm not sure why you want to use the clamp option in your card driver settings though - doesn't the mip bias slider in LFS graphics options do the job?
Well, I didn't really sell it off, the Matrox Parhelia died so I installed a Radeon 9800 Pro that ATI had sent me some time before. To give me a good view I then bought a very nice Dell 27" 1920x1200 widescreen LCD which works well with the card. Then after failing to sell for a fiver or even give away my 3 matching 21" CRT monitors and 2 old 17" monitors all in perfect condition, I had to load them in the car and drive down to the dump! It was a bit sad I must say, unloading good clean stuff at the dump, but that's how it is, no-one wants heavy old monitors that take up space - and I didn't have the space either.
Still using the Radeon on my 2GHz Intel PC. It chugs a bit when there are too many cars on screen but runs smoothly most of the time. Just gradually I'm starting to want a better computer. I like the way Moore's law has stopped being true, it used to be silly that your computer was obsolete almost immediately after you bought it. Eventually I'll upgrade of course but it seems sensible to wait while what I've got does the job and the best time to upgrade would be when I start on a new 3D engine... if I can wait that long. Decisions to be made about whether to get Vista as well so I'm sort of waiting to see what happens with that. Anyway regarding LFS there's one more important optimisation that needs doing and will make things faster for everyone, namely that the subobjects like steering wheels need to be drawn as hardware meshes. Right now the subobjects are slowing things down because they are being sent vertex by vertex, triangle by triangle every frame. This method should only really needed for flexible objects like humans and tyres.
True. Eric does read the forums and appreciates the feedback. He just doesn't want to get drawn into conversations which could contain a lot of "when will this be done" and "what are the plans for this and that". His situation is not the same as mine where I really need very thorough and interactive testing done for any of my updates.
Last edited by Scawen, .
Hamerfowl is "Bruno" at http://www.lfsfrance.org/ so maybe it would be good to discuss the French translation / one or two new translators over there.
I don't mind adding 1 or 2 new French translators but there must be some kind of agreement between several people that the new translators are the best for the job. I say this because I'm not in a position to decide or judge, I can only go by a majority view.
I don't mind adding 1 or 2 new French translators but there must be some kind of agreement between several people that the new translators are the best for the job. I say this because I'm not in a position to decide or judge, I can only go by a majority view.
I can only think that either Blackwood's new high resolution textures or the high polygon Formula BMW is giving you a frame rate loss. You should try, in Graphics options, switching full resolution textures to OFF.
This will use half resolution textures and you should find they are quite acceptable in my opinion for normal driving. On onlder graphics cards this will give you a higher frame rate. Please let us know if it does the job.
This will use half resolution textures and you should find they are quite acceptable in my opinion for normal driving. On onlder graphics cards this will give you a higher frame rate. Please let us know if it does the job.
Curriculum Vitae, as posted by mcgas001.
It's a document (one or two sides of A4) describing yourself, including your educational / work / work experience in chronological order.
Also your address, current position, all relevant info and some personal info as well such as your interests.
It's a document which you can send to an employer so they know all about you before they meet you. It's the first step to any job.
Andy may take on some people as employees and there may be less formal work as well. In either case I'm sure he wants to know something about you so that's why he's asking for a C.V. He can read it and store it so he can look you up any time.
It's a document (one or two sides of A4) describing yourself, including your educational / work / work experience in chronological order.
Also your address, current position, all relevant info and some personal info as well such as your interests.
It's a document which you can send to an employer so they know all about you before they meet you. It's the first step to any job.
Andy may take on some people as employees and there may be less formal work as well. In either case I'm sure he wants to know something about you so that's why he's asking for a C.V. He can read it and store it so he can look you up any time.
Adding support and fonts for East Asian languages
Multibyte characters are not supported in LFS for Windows 98 / ME. Windows XP and Vista should work well but you may need to install fonts.
If you have Windows XP and currently cannot see the East Asian translations, here's how to set up your computer so it works. See the attachment, in Control Panel click on "Regional and Language Options" then under the "Languages" tab select "Install files for East Asian Languages". Windows will probably ask you to get your XP CD and the fonts will be installed from it.
I'd like to add this information to the first post in the thread but first I'd like to hear if this does the job for you so I know if these instructions are enough. This is important so you can see East Asian text and player names correctly when you are online.
If you have Windows XP and currently cannot see the East Asian translations, here's how to set up your computer so it works. See the attachment, in Control Panel click on "Regional and Language Options" then under the "Languages" tab select "Install files for East Asian Languages". Windows will probably ask you to get your XP CD and the fonts will be installed from it.
I'd like to add this information to the first post in the thread but first I'd like to hear if this does the job for you so I know if these instructions are enough. This is important so you can see East Asian text and player names correctly when you are online.
Oh yes the other reason why it's not yet released to the public is to give the translators a bit more time to test and complete their translations.
11 new translators have been on the case for a couple of weeks doing a great job and we now have Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean translations.
Anyway we have a few more things to do, then it can go into public testing stage, I guess later this week.
11 new translators have been on the case for a couple of weeks doing a great job and we now have Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean translations.
Anyway we have a few more things to do, then it can go into public testing stage, I guess later this week.
I've saved the icon you linked to and will compile it into the next patch.
I don't have any plans to make any changes to physics before Patch Y. Patch Y must be out this week so I've just got a couple of days to fix a few more bugs, so there are then another couple of days in final testing with no more changes other than crashes and showstopper fixes.
The clutch seems to work fine as most people agree, it's easy to drive with if you release the throttle when you change up gears. Real clutches don't have grip that massively exceeds the engine torque by great multiples, there is clutch slip if you release the clutch when road and engine speeds are greatly mismatched. And real clutches do overheat quickly as well. So no real problems. As I've said before the engine simulation needs a big improvement but at the moment the clutch modelling doesn't seem any worse than the engine modelling and does its job quite well.
It's time to stop talking about the kicking and banning. I don't need it hammered into my brain as if it's a tent peg being bashed into a piece of wood. My head is not made of wood.
It's my job to note that there is an issue (only one vote at a time, the vote expiring when the target leaves) and deal with it. I'm dealing with it. Others, please, stop spamming the test patch threads with arguments about the kicking and banning. Just let me do my job.
It's my job to note that there is an issue (only one vote at a time, the vote expiring when the target leaves) and deal with it. I'm dealing with it. Others, please, stop spamming the test patch threads with arguments about the kicking and banning. Just let me do my job.
Soro, I answered your question EXACTLY. I think maybe you missed my post.
You think it should be done quicker, but I can't work quicker.
It wouldn't make my like happy to work with other programmers on this job and I don't believe it would help LFS in the long run.
I've already explained so many times why that is, I won't explain again, just search my old posts.
I'll now close this thread, it's tiresome, and you the thread starter already said it's finished.
I don't want to see this same old crap every week.
The reason why LFS is as it is, is BECAUSE OF THE WAY WE WORK!
I see... you were being sarcastic, suggesting that it was a waste of time doing this small requested feature while I was working on that area :
But I took your comment at face value - my mistake. But it's silly to suggest (even as a joke) that I shouldn't do something that takes 5 minutes, because you're still waiting for something "more important" that would only take a month or two to do. And it's also a mistake to underestimate the value of InSim, the number of host programs that use it and run now and give so many people a better time online.
It's not a big deal what you've said but it's one of those continual irritations, people criticising me for making some small improvement here or there that I happened to be able to just squeeze in to a test patch, while there are some other things they are waiting for that will take hundreds of hours of work to do. It's so irritating, like a dripping tap. The problem is that I want to take the forum seriously - and I do - which is why the stupid repetitive comments have some effect on me, it's a hard thing to do, to take the sensible comments seriously but be totally unaffected by the misinformed stupid comments.
Actually I think one reason Eric doesn't write anything on the forums is because of the crazy conversations you can get drawn into. It's a mad thing that sometimes you can write 5 lines of text and people start analysing what you say, as if there's "something between the lines" and it's like some kind of cryptic crossword. Then you're back to the forum trying to correct all the mad rumours that have come out of all the misreadings of your original few sentences! That can be HARD!
And what I say always, I have to say again, if our time prioritising is SO BAD, how come LFS exists at all? And those who know so much more than us about how to manage our time, really, try doing it yourself. Don't tell us how to do it. It's just irritating. And let us do the little things as well as the big things, there's only one reason I do this job, because I like to program, including the big things and the small things. Eric does it because he likes to make nice graphics. We don't do it to be analysed and criticised by people who don't know what they are talking about. We don't do it as some kind of speed competition. We take our time and get it right, thanks to the help of the community as well. And I know there are a lot of people out there who like the way we do it. Though probably most of them didn't read this crazy thread!
No, it would be a full time job - what was it, 12 pages in 48 hours? And I'm not asking any moderator to do that, specially as I should be the judge of whether something is relevant or not to "my" test patch. Mods do sometimes clean out what is blatantly off topic in there. Our mods are not paid you know, they are volunteers and I don't intend to make their life a misery - they are constantly trying to stay sane while wading through spam around here - some people are maybe a bit too young and excitable to think before they write.
It can get a bit annoying when it just gets repetitive in there but for a while, the thread was useful. Eventually when there is 10 times more spam than useful content, it's not worth my while reading the thread, i.e. it doesn't help, and the test patch forum's sole purpose is to help me get rid of bugs. So it was time to close it, and I guess the same thing will happen again and again - the more spam, the quicker the forum will close.
Anyway for interest you may like to see my list of bug reports from the forum, I look forward to getting stuck into this lot!
weight flashing?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392023#post392023
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392041#post392041
incorrect false start, not in replay? (some pen, some spec)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392031#post392031
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392035#post392035
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392172#post392172
falsely spectated for false start
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392866#post392866
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392883#post392883 (mpr)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394433#post394433
Qualification : False Start (sent to Spec can't reproduce)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392815#post392815
Similar - joining in a standing grid produces false start?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392946#post392946
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393874#post393874
can quickly pit and return to grid to remove a false start
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392348#post392348
shouldn't be given drive-through on tracks with no pit lane
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394592#post394592
crash in setup list?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392038#post392038
mrt flying about
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392051#post392051
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392069#post392069
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392347#post392347
lfsw takes false start drag as an acceptable pb
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392176#post392176
reproducable : empty server can say "a race is starting"
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392353#post392353
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392316#post392316
that could be when changing track and not starting...?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393177#post393177
admin request : show kick/ban buttons even if /vote=no
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392428#post392428
leagues request : include handicaps to hotlaps header
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392563#post392563
"Rubber dark" resets itself every time?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392793#post392793
Left rear tyre temps covered by lagometer :
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392978#post392978
Spectators need to say "ok" to start a race?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393190#post393190
No need for handicaps in demo cars
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393939#post393939
Admin can't kick/ban in demo (could not find connection 1's client info)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394016#post394016
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394241#post394241
It can get a bit annoying when it just gets repetitive in there but for a while, the thread was useful. Eventually when there is 10 times more spam than useful content, it's not worth my while reading the thread, i.e. it doesn't help, and the test patch forum's sole purpose is to help me get rid of bugs. So it was time to close it, and I guess the same thing will happen again and again - the more spam, the quicker the forum will close.
Anyway for interest you may like to see my list of bug reports from the forum, I look forward to getting stuck into this lot!
weight flashing?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392023#post392023
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392041#post392041
incorrect false start, not in replay? (some pen, some spec)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392031#post392031
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392035#post392035
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392172#post392172
falsely spectated for false start
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392866#post392866
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392883#post392883 (mpr)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394433#post394433
Qualification : False Start (sent to Spec can't reproduce)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392815#post392815
Similar - joining in a standing grid produces false start?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392946#post392946
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393874#post393874
can quickly pit and return to grid to remove a false start
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392348#post392348
shouldn't be given drive-through on tracks with no pit lane
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394592#post394592
crash in setup list?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392038#post392038
mrt flying about
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392051#post392051
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392069#post392069
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392347#post392347
lfsw takes false start drag as an acceptable pb
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392176#post392176
reproducable : empty server can say "a race is starting"
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392353#post392353
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392316#post392316
that could be when changing track and not starting...?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393177#post393177
admin request : show kick/ban buttons even if /vote=no
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392428#post392428
leagues request : include handicaps to hotlaps header
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392563#post392563
"Rubber dark" resets itself every time?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392793#post392793
Left rear tyre temps covered by lagometer :
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=392978#post392978
Spectators need to say "ok" to start a race?
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393190#post393190
No need for handicaps in demo cars
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=393939#post393939
Admin can't kick/ban in demo (could not find connection 1's client info)
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394016#post394016
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=394241#post394241
Hi. It seems this is the one key that can't be assigned to a controller button. I'm not sure exactly why but the way I've coded it, it seems to be half way to being a proper assignable control, like the pit speed limiter. And it's not just a "one press" key like the signal / indicator keys so you can't use the /press command. Maybe I didn't finish the job because I've run out of space in the controls screen, maybe because it's a bit laborious adding them, due to the way some of the controls code is written - it needs a small rewrite to make it easier to add.
I have made a note to look at this, and probably update the controls screen a bit, maybe with a scroll bar for the buttons - I'm not sure yet.
I have made a note to look at this, and probably update the controls screen a bit, maybe with a scroll bar for the buttons - I'm not sure yet.
[reply written on Test Patch thread before moving]
I'll move the OT posts away in a while, perhaps to the progress thread. But for now I'll just reply.
Simply, the criticisms of LFS development stated a few posts back are just wrong and displaying a lack of understanding, and failure to see the big picture. Or if you wish, you may interpret that as my failure to explain to you what I'm doing every step of the way. But seriously, my job is not to explain to you every step of LFS development and every plan I have for it, while they run through my head. My job is to get LFS done.
It was actually the two Vista compatibility issues (unlocking and sound) and the arrival of the G25 wheel that got me onto this series of test patches. It's very important, with more and more people getting Vista, and us receiving several technical support emails "I can't unlock on Vista" and so on, for LFS to work on Vista. Also we need that improved controller support to be readily available to new users. Also I've had enough of "How do I install a patch, I've downloaded it and LFS doesn't work any more" so I've been working on and nearly finished the auto updater. And that means, Patch V needs to go on the main site. And guess what - it should not go up there completely bug ridden and full of hundreds of small issues that have been waiting a long time to be fixed. But it should be compatible, I need to do some months of incompatible work, which I have outlined elsewhere and won't go into here. And there's no point delaying the compatible fixes, leaving the much poorer version U up there when we are so close to V.
The compatible fixes and improvements are totally necessary. The irritated commentators on this thread have no idea how much reworking and improving goes on inside the program while I'm on a roll. Also they don't understand how much simply MUST be done, outside the core physics, to keep the program on track. It does actually take more time than the core itself. If a great majority of the time was spent on the core alone, we would have a physically accurate, but totally unusable simulator that attracted no more than the absolute hardcore simmer. And we'd be poor and have to give up LFS and go and get a job!
This work NEEDS to be done. It's nothing different from any time in the past. A lot of compatible fixes, tested thoroughly by the community, followed by an apparently quiet period while we work on incompatible things which cannot be tested by the community because every day's test patch is incompatible, which would causing hotlap and online madness. And in that apparently quiet periiod there will be a new post each week "Where are the devs gone" and "They've taken our money and run" and "The devs owe it to us to write a detailed progress report each week" etc, etc... you know how it goes by now.
Anyway, I'm very happy with these improvements, I'm sort of embarassed now by version U and it's flaws and imcompatibilities, the visible things and the internal messes it contains that I have sorted out. I'm itching to get that version V up there but it needs the auto-updater finished (a couple more days work) and the new (minor) sound updates (a few more days work - still awaiting some longer work in the future). Nearly every one of these test patches has had some VITAL fixes, along with a few irritations fixed and some minor or major features. It really is not a bad thing for LFS, these compatible things that have been done, bringing us so much closer to a final S2 that can be released, when the other craved updates are completed.
It's a little sad the lack of trust displayed in those preceding posts.
The belief that something has gone wrong inside our heads, that the developers who once knew how to develop, have changed mentally in some way, are hiding away in a hole, scared to develop anything but just scratching at the surface. It's quite a pathetic belief in fact, when the truth is Eric's there working on things that will improve LFS a lot amd I am working 10 hour days getting so much done, as fast as possible to get a stable version up there ready for the approaching silent period of core development.
It's going so well, and as described elsewhere our lives have been sorted out a lot this year helped by the S2 success, after neglecting ourselves for years, due to LFS development. It would be nice if the off topic commentators could just be happy about it and have some faith in the simple understanding that we developers who got it this far, and have devoted so much of our lives to this, probably want to take it to the next stage as well!
I'll move the OT posts away in a while, perhaps to the progress thread. But for now I'll just reply.
Simply, the criticisms of LFS development stated a few posts back are just wrong and displaying a lack of understanding, and failure to see the big picture. Or if you wish, you may interpret that as my failure to explain to you what I'm doing every step of the way. But seriously, my job is not to explain to you every step of LFS development and every plan I have for it, while they run through my head. My job is to get LFS done.
It was actually the two Vista compatibility issues (unlocking and sound) and the arrival of the G25 wheel that got me onto this series of test patches. It's very important, with more and more people getting Vista, and us receiving several technical support emails "I can't unlock on Vista" and so on, for LFS to work on Vista. Also we need that improved controller support to be readily available to new users. Also I've had enough of "How do I install a patch, I've downloaded it and LFS doesn't work any more" so I've been working on and nearly finished the auto updater. And that means, Patch V needs to go on the main site. And guess what - it should not go up there completely bug ridden and full of hundreds of small issues that have been waiting a long time to be fixed. But it should be compatible, I need to do some months of incompatible work, which I have outlined elsewhere and won't go into here. And there's no point delaying the compatible fixes, leaving the much poorer version U up there when we are so close to V.
The compatible fixes and improvements are totally necessary. The irritated commentators on this thread have no idea how much reworking and improving goes on inside the program while I'm on a roll. Also they don't understand how much simply MUST be done, outside the core physics, to keep the program on track. It does actually take more time than the core itself. If a great majority of the time was spent on the core alone, we would have a physically accurate, but totally unusable simulator that attracted no more than the absolute hardcore simmer. And we'd be poor and have to give up LFS and go and get a job!
This work NEEDS to be done. It's nothing different from any time in the past. A lot of compatible fixes, tested thoroughly by the community, followed by an apparently quiet period while we work on incompatible things which cannot be tested by the community because every day's test patch is incompatible, which would causing hotlap and online madness. And in that apparently quiet periiod there will be a new post each week "Where are the devs gone" and "They've taken our money and run" and "The devs owe it to us to write a detailed progress report each week" etc, etc... you know how it goes by now.
Anyway, I'm very happy with these improvements, I'm sort of embarassed now by version U and it's flaws and imcompatibilities, the visible things and the internal messes it contains that I have sorted out. I'm itching to get that version V up there but it needs the auto-updater finished (a couple more days work) and the new (minor) sound updates (a few more days work - still awaiting some longer work in the future). Nearly every one of these test patches has had some VITAL fixes, along with a few irritations fixed and some minor or major features. It really is not a bad thing for LFS, these compatible things that have been done, bringing us so much closer to a final S2 that can be released, when the other craved updates are completed.
It's a little sad the lack of trust displayed in those preceding posts.
The belief that something has gone wrong inside our heads, that the developers who once knew how to develop, have changed mentally in some way, are hiding away in a hole, scared to develop anything but just scratching at the surface. It's quite a pathetic belief in fact, when the truth is Eric's there working on things that will improve LFS a lot amd I am working 10 hour days getting so much done, as fast as possible to get a stable version up there ready for the approaching silent period of core development.It's going so well, and as described elsewhere our lives have been sorted out a lot this year helped by the S2 success, after neglecting ourselves for years, due to LFS development. It would be nice if the off topic commentators could just be happy about it and have some faith in the simple understanding that we developers who got it this far, and have devoted so much of our lives to this, probably want to take it to the next stage as well!
If there's one thing you can do to your computer, it's get a new graphics card.
I know you don't want to spend much money on your ageing system, but you really don't need to. GeForce 2 was a good card BUT it is about the last in the generation of cards that could not do hardware vertex shading.
There are so many old cards, nowadays low spec and cheap, that do have hardware vertex shading! Almost any card later than GeForce 2 will do the job! You only need a card from a few years ago to improve your LFS!
GeForce 2 runs ok with 1 car on screen but any more, it is struggling. Every vertex and polygon is sent to the card, every frame. With hardware vertex shading, the objects are already on the card, LFS just says "draw the object at this position" instead of sending thousands of polygons! So they do not suffer this slowdown. You will have a GREAT increase in frame rate with any card that can do HVS.
I am just going to step in and close the thread.
The reason why is : all the points have been made, from both sides of the discussion. The moderators and the moderated have made their points. Neither side will ever back down 100% so the argument will never be won if it continues. And no more will be said than has already been said.
I will just close the thread and the people involved in the argument can just consider to themselves how to avoid the conflict in future. And whether they will act differently or not will be up to them.
The moderators do a very good job on this forum, but they cannot be perfect and keep all people happy all the time, and there are just occasionally times when some post have been unrecoverably deleted by mistake. They cannot spend so long considering all possible consequences of every action, with a whole forum to keep tidy, But they always learn from their mistakes, as do forum users. I am very grateful for the work the moderaters do keeping the forum tidy and basically in order.
The reason why is : all the points have been made, from both sides of the discussion. The moderators and the moderated have made their points. Neither side will ever back down 100% so the argument will never be won if it continues. And no more will be said than has already been said.
I will just close the thread and the people involved in the argument can just consider to themselves how to avoid the conflict in future. And whether they will act differently or not will be up to them.
The moderators do a very good job on this forum, but they cannot be perfect and keep all people happy all the time, and there are just occasionally times when some post have been unrecoverably deleted by mistake. They cannot spend so long considering all possible consequences of every action, with a whole forum to keep tidy, But they always learn from their mistakes, as do forum users. I am very grateful for the work the moderaters do keeping the forum tidy and basically in order.
Yes, Geraldine is doing most of the technical support (help desk) now. She isn't going back to an office job since leaving her old job to have our baby. She wants to be able to look after him full time, and we are lucky enough with my job, that she can do that.
And of course Leo sleeps a few times in the day, so Geraldine gets some chances to do the technical support - which takes less than an hour most days. I only have to help her with one or two mails at the moment (she's already been doing it for a week). It's quite a reasonable job for her to add to her LFS duties - as she always did our accounts anyway ever since we became a business.
So LFS development won't suffer in any way. There is just a lot more for me and Eric to do, to finish S2, and not enough to fill Victor's time. So it's natural that he wants to be able to do something else with his time.
I just want to say thanks to Victor for all that he has set up here. LFS couldn't run as an actual business if it wasn't for what he has done with the websites. And it's great that he is still around and ready to do server administration and maintenance whenever necessary. We aren't losing all that knowledge he has that we can't do without. He is really not leaving us, he's just stopping the help desk and active website development.
And of course Leo sleeps a few times in the day, so Geraldine gets some chances to do the technical support - which takes less than an hour most days. I only have to help her with one or two mails at the moment (she's already been doing it for a week). It's quite a reasonable job for her to add to her LFS duties - as she always did our accounts anyway ever since we became a business.
So LFS development won't suffer in any way. There is just a lot more for me and Eric to do, to finish S2, and not enough to fill Victor's time. So it's natural that he wants to be able to do something else with his time.
I just want to say thanks to Victor for all that he has set up here. LFS couldn't run as an actual business if it wasn't for what he has done with the websites. And it's great that he is still around and ready to do server administration and maintenance whenever necessary. We aren't losing all that knowledge he has that we can't do without. He is really not leaving us, he's just stopping the help desk and active website development.
I think it's not possible for any program (e.g. LFS) to tell Windows not to let other programs appear. This is an eternal problem with using a desktop computer as a games machine. And remember Windows is a bit of a bodge job, with new things always built on top of the old, by thousands of programmers who only communicate loosely with each other, sometimes, and that's why every new version of Windows consumes more of your system resources and is more and more difficult to set up the way you want it.
If you want to run software that pops up at you randomly, I guess you should run LFS a maximised window, not full screen.
But really, you need to shut down all those programs before running any game in full screen.
If you want to run software that pops up at you randomly, I guess you should run LFS a maximised window, not full screen.
But really, you need to shut down all those programs before running any game in full screen.
I've never heard of anyone in the habit of pulling away in second gear, unless they are aiming down a hill.
Anyone who likes to pull away in second, must not mind changing their clutch - which is surprising because that's a big job.
I doubt it's good for economy because slipping the clutch is not economical, a lot of the energy goes to heating the clutch due to friction, rather than motion of the car. Economical is to minimise clutch slip, pull away gently in first gear then an early change to second before the revs are high, at a point where the engine will pull reasonably in second gear with no clutch slipping.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG