Could some people please stop thinking that the only reason they don't get physics updates is because of hotlaps. SPRs and hotlaps being made invalid are only one reason. But i'm seeing the same thing mentioned all over the place, some myth that hotlaps are stopping people getting new physics updates.
If there is any change in physics, there is an ONLINE COMPATIBILITY issue. Old physics and new physics cannot join together. Some people will download the test patch, and some people will upgrade their hosts. So then the people with the new version, would be all alone in their sub-community of people who like to get incompatible test patches. So then they'll say "we like the new physics" and some other people will start to get the new patch. Meanwhile, the people who never heard about the new patch, will wonder where everyone's gone. Then we'll discover a bug in the new physics so hundreds of people will be annoyed that they got the test version and didn't wait for the final version. Then a new patch will come out with some more improvements. People will wonder whether they should get the new one or not.
Then what you can't imagine is the anger that starts to be stirred up. Posts all over the web on different forums and shout boxes "why are there so many stupid patches" and "what is wrong with these developers". For some people it's a big effort to download a patch, and it makes them angry and uneasy.
Compatible test patches are very easy, get them if you want to, no disruption to the community. So it makes sense to do as many compatible things as possible (which need to be done anyway - it's bad when people can't type in their own language) before starting on and releasing physics changes, changes to car models and tracks, and other online compatibility changes. Anyway, how could i code physics changes, at the same time as updating the language support? I can only do one thing at a time.
So, as we always say, and as we have learned from experience, incompatible patches are kept to the minimum, due to the community distruption they cause. Compatible test patches can be released freely and that's the time when many game updates are done. When i'm working on the incompatible things, you probably won't hear from me for a few months, as i'll just be focussed on those very difficult things, and there won't be anything to test until several things are done.
If there is any change in physics, there is an ONLINE COMPATIBILITY issue. Old physics and new physics cannot join together. Some people will download the test patch, and some people will upgrade their hosts. So then the people with the new version, would be all alone in their sub-community of people who like to get incompatible test patches. So then they'll say "we like the new physics" and some other people will start to get the new patch. Meanwhile, the people who never heard about the new patch, will wonder where everyone's gone. Then we'll discover a bug in the new physics so hundreds of people will be annoyed that they got the test version and didn't wait for the final version. Then a new patch will come out with some more improvements. People will wonder whether they should get the new one or not.
Then what you can't imagine is the anger that starts to be stirred up. Posts all over the web on different forums and shout boxes "why are there so many stupid patches" and "what is wrong with these developers". For some people it's a big effort to download a patch, and it makes them angry and uneasy.
Compatible test patches are very easy, get them if you want to, no disruption to the community. So it makes sense to do as many compatible things as possible (which need to be done anyway - it's bad when people can't type in their own language) before starting on and releasing physics changes, changes to car models and tracks, and other online compatibility changes. Anyway, how could i code physics changes, at the same time as updating the language support? I can only do one thing at a time.
So, as we always say, and as we have learned from experience, incompatible patches are kept to the minimum, due to the community distruption they cause. Compatible test patches can be released freely and that's the time when many game updates are done. When i'm working on the incompatible things, you probably won't hear from me for a few months, as i'll just be focussed on those very difficult things, and there won't be anything to test until several things are done.
It's a good point and already on my list, in fact.
The main reason why it can't be implemented yet isn't really because of replays, because with a logic change like this, LFS could in theory be made to work "the old way" for an old replay. The problem is online compatibility. It's too small a change to be worth splitting the community. An online incompatible patch means that all hosts and all players must upgrade and causes quite a lot of confusion.
What that means is that multiplayer incompatibility gets squeezed into the same patches as physics incompatibility, because physics incompatibility also implies multiplayer incompatibility.
The main reason why it can't be implemented yet isn't really because of replays, because with a logic change like this, LFS could in theory be made to work "the old way" for an old replay. The problem is online compatibility. It's too small a change to be worth splitting the community. An online incompatible patch means that all hosts and all players must upgrade and causes quite a lot of confusion.
What that means is that multiplayer incompatibility gets squeezed into the same patches as physics incompatibility, because physics incompatibility also implies multiplayer incompatibility.
Well, i'll just take a look into my crystal ball and look into the future... oh wait! I don't have a crystal ball!
Just kidding...
there should be an official patch when it works very well for the people who want to change codepages quite often while they are typing, and when there are no real problems remaining in the test patch. Hopefully sooner rather than later, as i do have physics work to be getting on with, but i want this very nice official patch already out there while i'm at it (best and least buggy LFS ever). It's impossible to predict exactly when all the bugs will be ironed out. Because if i knew the answers already then there wouldn't be any bugs in the first place. No!
The slightest change in physics would throw all the hotlap replays out of sync, so i hope there aren't any!
No. There is only one thread for the test patch.
There are no physics changes - this is a 100% compatible patch, which means that everyone can connect together online, and all the hotlaps remain valid.
Physics changes will be saved for a later patch. We try to keep as many physics and multiplayer changes as possible, in the same test patch, because each time there are any *incompatible* changes, people with the new patch can't connect to hosts using the old patch, all the hotlap tables must be deleted, etc...
This post would be more useful if you stated which fixes you can't wait for, ideally with a link to their thread. I don't have very many exciting bug fixes listed at high priority. My main priority is to get this batch of compatible patches finished so i can get onto physics updates.
It's a thing used in games, the world is divided into squares. Then all interactable objects (physics objects etc) are registered on these squares.
It's an optimisation so that for each collision test (or whatever interaction) you only check the objects that are registered on the nearby squares, instead of all the objects in the world.
It's mainly a new characters patch yes - it was complicated and so many lines have changed, i can't have covered all situations. So needs a lot of testing - and the new translations will need testing in the new system - so i guess there will be two test patches only week apart.
There are some other bugs that can be fixed in a compatible patch, so i'll see what i can do between now and Friday evening - which is when i hope to release it, unless things take a bit longer then it would be Saturday. No physics changes, so the FO8 leaning back / any physics improvements will be left for a later incompatible patch. As a guess, i guess this coming batch of test patches will be the final ones in this stage of physics.
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