S2 Alpha Patch Q
Hello Racers!
First... THANK YOU to all those who contributed (content and testing) to the recent series of Test Patches, as we worked through the new language support system and all the complications it involved. It's now easy to type correctly into LFS, in many more languages, including Russian, Greek and Japanese Katakana!
There are five new translations as well, and several improvements and fixes. All the changes since Patch P2 are all listed below.
New language support :
Several updates allowing new translations and new character sets...
6 new codepages in addition to Latin-1 :
- Cyrillic, Greek, Central Europe, Turkish, Baltic, Japanese (Katakana)
5 new translations :
Russian, Estonian, Serbian, Greek, Polish
Automatic codepage selection, when changing keyboard in Windows
New text entry system, handles multiple codepages and colours
User can select code page manually, if required (press CTRL)
Text colours - CTRL + 0 to 7 : change colour / CTRL + 8 : default
Can use a comma instead of a full stop when entering a number
New ^9 code - restore original colour without changing codepage
Autocross editor distance measure display is now translatable
CTRL in text input box : click down arrow to show characters
Other updates :
Pit stop required (yes or OK=done) is now shown in the F12 menu
Avoiding invalid key beep on Scroll Lock, Num Lock and Pause
Faster text draw by using fewer, bigger textures (less swapping)
SHIFT+O now enters options from setup screen (same as in game)
Join screen shows selected player and gives access to options
"Corrupted NameReply" error message removed from List of Games
New /out command - ignored by LFS but seen by InSim programs
Controller buttons can be assigned to text keys CTRL+F9-F12
Fixes :
FIX : Wrong fuel amount transferred to new player when taking over car
FIX : Faulty online host sometimes causing LFS to hang in List of Games
FIX : Some missing characters added to Latin 1 code page
FIX : "Race Ends : 1" message shown wrongly in garage
FIX : KNW filenames depended on selected language
FIX : Some changes to the text in braking lessons
FIX : Numeric keypad 0,1,2,7,8,9,-,/ keys now work correctly in game
FIX : Loss of racing line rubber : "Path info changed" message
FIX : Text about upload of 56k modem - in fact 33.6 kbits/sec
FIX : Holding SHIFT+X from in-game put LFS into a strange state
FIX : Repeated message "Could not load colours - using default"
FIX : Crash if track changed when user was in select car screen
FIX : No mid-race join option now only active if 2 cars in race
FIX : Last key pressed in text box could activate its function
FIX : TAB and SHIFT+TAB should now show all cars and not crash
FIX : Page Up and Page Down keys generated " and ! characters
FIX : Small numerical error in foot-pounds and bar units
FIX : Third decimal place of message text size was not saved
FIX : Max length player name with a full stop would be corrupted
FIX : Various bugs and crashes when using nogfx / invisible host
FIX : Some problems with kick/ban and sharing of ambiguous names
Download : (Download to LFS folder, right click, "extract to here")
http://www.liveforspeed.net/fi ... =LFS_S2_ALPHA_PATCH_Q.zip
Dedicated host : (For hosts only)
http://www.liveforspeed.net/fi ... hp?name=LFS_S2_DEDI_Q.zip
NOTE :
This is a compatible patch, that means it can connect to all versions of LFS back as far as 0.5P. There are no physics updates. We know that a lot of people are waiting for them, but we always keep physics updates, track and car changes, multiplayer changes, to a single patch, because each time we do that, the online community is divided and the hotlaps must all be deleted. That's why we don't release single physics updates here and there. The important physics updates are the next thing on the list!
Hope you enjoy the Patch Q updates!
Have fun!
First... THANK YOU to all those who contributed (content and testing) to the recent series of Test Patches, as we worked through the new language support system and all the complications it involved. It's now easy to type correctly into LFS, in many more languages, including Russian, Greek and Japanese Katakana!
There are five new translations as well, and several improvements and fixes. All the changes since Patch P2 are all listed below.
New language support :
Several updates allowing new translations and new character sets...
6 new codepages in addition to Latin-1 :
- Cyrillic, Greek, Central Europe, Turkish, Baltic, Japanese (Katakana)
5 new translations :
Russian, Estonian, Serbian, Greek, Polish
Automatic codepage selection, when changing keyboard in Windows
New text entry system, handles multiple codepages and colours
User can select code page manually, if required (press CTRL)
Text colours - CTRL + 0 to 7 : change colour / CTRL + 8 : default
Can use a comma instead of a full stop when entering a number
New ^9 code - restore original colour without changing codepage
Autocross editor distance measure display is now translatable
CTRL in text input box : click down arrow to show characters
Other updates :
Pit stop required (yes or OK=done) is now shown in the F12 menu
Avoiding invalid key beep on Scroll Lock, Num Lock and Pause
Faster text draw by using fewer, bigger textures (less swapping)
SHIFT+O now enters options from setup screen (same as in game)
Join screen shows selected player and gives access to options
"Corrupted NameReply" error message removed from List of Games
New /out command - ignored by LFS but seen by InSim programs
Controller buttons can be assigned to text keys CTRL+F9-F12
Fixes :
FIX : Wrong fuel amount transferred to new player when taking over car
FIX : Faulty online host sometimes causing LFS to hang in List of Games
FIX : Some missing characters added to Latin 1 code page
FIX : "Race Ends : 1" message shown wrongly in garage
FIX : KNW filenames depended on selected language
FIX : Some changes to the text in braking lessons
FIX : Numeric keypad 0,1,2,7,8,9,-,/ keys now work correctly in game
FIX : Loss of racing line rubber : "Path info changed" message
FIX : Text about upload of 56k modem - in fact 33.6 kbits/sec
FIX : Holding SHIFT+X from in-game put LFS into a strange state
FIX : Repeated message "Could not load colours - using default"
FIX : Crash if track changed when user was in select car screen
FIX : No mid-race join option now only active if 2 cars in race
FIX : Last key pressed in text box could activate its function
FIX : TAB and SHIFT+TAB should now show all cars and not crash
FIX : Page Up and Page Down keys generated " and ! characters
FIX : Small numerical error in foot-pounds and bar units
FIX : Third decimal place of message text size was not saved
FIX : Max length player name with a full stop would be corrupted
FIX : Various bugs and crashes when using nogfx / invisible host
FIX : Some problems with kick/ban and sharing of ambiguous names
Download : (Download to LFS folder, right click, "extract to here")
http://www.liveforspeed.net/fi ... =LFS_S2_ALPHA_PATCH_Q.zip
Dedicated host : (For hosts only)
http://www.liveforspeed.net/fi ... hp?name=LFS_S2_DEDI_Q.zip
NOTE :
This is a compatible patch, that means it can connect to all versions of LFS back as far as 0.5P. There are no physics updates. We know that a lot of people are waiting for them, but we always keep physics updates, track and car changes, multiplayer changes, to a single patch, because each time we do that, the online community is divided and the hotlaps must all be deleted. That's why we don't release single physics updates here and there. The important physics updates are the next thing on the list!
Hope you enjoy the Patch Q updates!
Have fun!
Just for interest...
I think there can be a misunderstanding sometimes, about how the things come around. If you don't know the full picture, you might think that we sit there with "Language Support" on one side and "Physics Updates" on the other, thinking, which one shall we do? And then take this apparently random decision to go one way or the other.
But it's not like that at all! The work takes on a course of its own, a bit like water flowing down a hill. In this case, this whole language section started with a one-day experiment with a Japanese codepage, requested by a Japanese person and then crudely implemented by me into the old system. It worked nicely, in one sense, but you would need the same font on your computer, as the person typing the text on the remote computer. At the same time, there were mentions about Russian and Greek, and with a little experimentation and reading up about codepages, i got this idea of a way to implement several codepages into the game without using up much more memory. It looked like around a week's worth of work, and indeed, most of the characters were implemented and fixed up in a week or two.
Anyway the story continues because there are more and more complications that come along with the support of multiple codepages. The translation codepages might be different from the user's keyboard, and the user can change keyboard layout at any time, meaning that there are different codepages within a single line of text. There are many different ways of text being drawn in LFS, so many situations that come up! Anyway, even when these were ironed out, there was still a problem with entering text - in fact some old problems with colours and filename characters but now they had got worse. So, a new text entering system had to be created!
All this coding involved changes in thousands of lines of code - and high speed work to get it all done, meant there were some bugs in the new systems, and overlooked issues that needed fixing. There was never a time, when it would have seemed a good idea to scrap everything and go back to the start - new translators were working on 5 new translations that couldn't be properly supported before - and it was always exciting that we were going to cover more of the world with this "international" online simulator! So that's what i mean, the work takes on a course of its own and is basically unstoppable.
The nice thing is that we are here now, with a stronger and better version of LFS than ever before, more accessible to more people in the world, and i'm free again to work on the physics that i have been thinking about!
But it's not like that at all! The work takes on a course of its own, a bit like water flowing down a hill. In this case, this whole language section started with a one-day experiment with a Japanese codepage, requested by a Japanese person and then crudely implemented by me into the old system. It worked nicely, in one sense, but you would need the same font on your computer, as the person typing the text on the remote computer. At the same time, there were mentions about Russian and Greek, and with a little experimentation and reading up about codepages, i got this idea of a way to implement several codepages into the game without using up much more memory. It looked like around a week's worth of work, and indeed, most of the characters were implemented and fixed up in a week or two.
Anyway the story continues because there are more and more complications that come along with the support of multiple codepages. The translation codepages might be different from the user's keyboard, and the user can change keyboard layout at any time, meaning that there are different codepages within a single line of text. There are many different ways of text being drawn in LFS, so many situations that come up! Anyway, even when these were ironed out, there was still a problem with entering text - in fact some old problems with colours and filename characters but now they had got worse. So, a new text entering system had to be created!
All this coding involved changes in thousands of lines of code - and high speed work to get it all done, meant there were some bugs in the new systems, and overlooked issues that needed fixing. There was never a time, when it would have seemed a good idea to scrap everything and go back to the start - new translators were working on 5 new translations that couldn't be properly supported before - and it was always exciting that we were going to cover more of the world with this "international" online simulator! So that's what i mean, the work takes on a course of its own and is basically unstoppable.
The nice thing is that we are here now, with a stronger and better version of LFS than ever before, more accessible to more people in the world, and i'm free again to work on the physics that i have been thinking about!
Kid_Paddle, you can find so many answers to this question, it's very boring and irritating to hear the same thing again and again, and have to answer the same over again.
Physics is more important to you, but do you think it's more important to someone who is Russian, or Greek and can't speak English?
LFS involves a physics core and a game around it and an interface around that. There's no point updating one without the other. And there's only me working on all these sections. You got S2, with a MASSIVE physics update. Now some other parts had to be updated. This is a very nice update because it inlcludes 5 new translations, and allows many more people to type in their own language.
As i keep saying, over and over again, physics is next. Quite honestly, when i am bugged about things that are already on my list, it makes me not want to actually do it! So just be patient. With LFS, you get more updates than most other, so you shouldn't be complaining. And you should accept that we keep the incompatible things together for another update, not releasing one physics change after another, splitting the community every time. This is explained in more detail in other places.
Physics is more important to you, but do you think it's more important to someone who is Russian, or Greek and can't speak English?
LFS involves a physics core and a game around it and an interface around that. There's no point updating one without the other. And there's only me working on all these sections. You got S2, with a MASSIVE physics update. Now some other parts had to be updated. This is a very nice update because it inlcludes 5 new translations, and allows many more people to type in their own language.
As i keep saying, over and over again, physics is next. Quite honestly, when i am bugged about things that are already on my list, it makes me not want to actually do it! So just be patient. With LFS, you get more updates than most other, so you shouldn't be complaining. And you should accept that we keep the incompatible things together for another update, not releasing one physics change after another, splitting the community every time. This is explained in more detail in other places.
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.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG