I've uploaded a minor update, this time it's E to E14 (not A to E14) so it won't update any background image unexpectedly.

This update simply adds favourites to the List of Hosts screen, which is helpful as there is no longer a ping column. You can sort by that column and also the two-letter country code column.

I'll wait for it to be tested before adding it to the auto updater.

Download: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/106967

Quote from redekizde :

Any idea of what it could be or is there any way to fix this?

I've sent you a PM about a quick test to get some more information.

EDIT: problem solved.

Last edited by Scawen, Mon, 24 Jun 2024 07:15.

Quote from Flame CZE :

I see, it's because the patch is from 0.7A to 0.7E13 and the new background was added in 0.7C. Ideally the patch should only include changed files from 0.7E to 0.7E13, but maybe there are some technical reasons why it's done this way

I think this should be possible and I've made a note to look at it for the next test patch.

A very few hosters will encounter this restriction (actually only 3 including you). This is part of an ongoing process to reduce the number of open ports and firewall rules.

I don't know of any reason why you need to allow more than 8 IP addresses to connect to your InSim port, as there are only 7 InSim slots available.

If there are good reasons for this then we can reevaluate the restriction.

There has been a change but it does not require you to purchase a host.

You must enter your IP on this page after starting your host: https://www.lfs.net/hosting/admin

E15 has some more improvements and is now the only supported version.

When convenient, please restart your hosts in E15.

It is fully compatible so I may restart some of the hosts if there are no connections. If you find your host has been restarted in E15, please do not be offended. I am doing it for good reasons.

There is no important urgency as there was last time so there should be no disruption but I reserve the right to close down hosts if necessary or when people don't upgrade in a reasonable time.

Just to be clear, I'm not pushing you around. I'm working on security measures all day every day, and need to get these updates out there. I don't believe it is a big deal for you to close the host and restart in the new version.

Thank you for your cooperation!

I looked at your host and see there are no IP addresses allowed to connect to InSim. You need to add your IP address in the "Access Control" section.

Quote from Windx :

I did it when change version, but it doesn't help.

Hi, I've been having a look into your host.

I found one setting was out of bounds. I don't know how it happened but I see that pps is 16, which is not possible. I hope your host will start if you set this to something between 6 and 12.

The setting is "Packets per second" in extended settings.

OK, good to know you got it sorted.

It seems strange, if the antivirus blocked the installation, that it did not inform you of this.

Something tells me it could be antivirus software. Every time we do an update there are several reports about issues with antivirus. I wish people would report the problem to the antivirus software developers, instead of us, as the bug is not in LFS but the antivirus software.

Anyway, maybe that's not what's happening in your case. Do you have antivirus software?

Do you see something like the attached image when you run the installer?

EDIT: If you have the correct LFS.exe in your folder, it will have date: 18 June 2024

Hi,

1) I don't know why the auto updater doesn't seem to have worked on your computer. That's the first I've heard of that (after a few thousand downloads) so I assume it has been working for most people. Can you see the install file LFS_PATCH_7A_TO_7E13_setup.exe in your LFS folder?

2) If you don't update to E13, no servers are shown in the list due to a change we have made.

You do need E13, so if the auto updater doesn't work then I suggest you get E13 from the first post of this thread and manually run the installer.

I can't reproduce that issue. I can start a host in Brazil with no problem.

Your host "TEAM AMERICA®INDYCAR" is set to E13. It is intentionally not possible to start a host in version E13.

After setting to E14, remember to click "Submit changes" at the bottom of the page, before you start the host, or it will certainly not start (because it will still be E13 which is no longer supported).

EDIT: I've added a duplicate "Submit changes" button at the top of the page. It was easy to miss as you would have to scroll down to see it.

Last edited by Scawen, Thu, 20 Jun 2024 08:11.

That is a feature to allow sidecar outfits to be driven by only one wheel. I haven't heard of another type of vehicle with drive wheels not aligned, but would be interested to know about it.

I can see that the E13 update makes your local servers harder to find.

Maybe I can add a text quick filter to compensate for that, similar to the one on the mods page but probably will not implement favourites at this time as it's more complicated.

Maybe it should be possible to sort by the location column too, to finish off this change for now.

I would recommend the 7zip software from the official site: https://7-zip.org/

It's very small and efficient and seems to be able to unzip everything including rar, zip, 7z, etc.

Sorry for the disruption.

Of course it wouldn't have been done if it wasn't necessary.

E14 has some more improvements and is now the only supported version.

Please restart your hosts in E14.

In LFS you must put the car into gear before it can move (even if you have automatic gear shift enabled).

With some changes in Test Patch E13, you should now be able to join hosts even if UDP packets cannot get from your computer to the host.
https://www.lfs.net/forum/post/2077190#post2077190

With test patch E13, you should now be able to join hosts online even if UDP packets cannot get from you to the host.
https://www.lfs.net/forum/post/2077190#post2077190

No, I don't believe there is anything so easy for games with custom TCP and UDP protocols. There are solutions that you can pay for but also you must integrate your game into such systems. You can't just send your money across the internet and suddenly you are immune to DDoS.

I think any such complex solutions involving large amounts of development would be a bad idea while there are two separate branches of LFS. Also the 'old' version (that everyone uses) is built in such an old compiler that it is impossible to incorporate modern software into it. So one part of the solution could be to just stop spending 100% of my time working on server issues, and get back to finishing the version we are all waiting for. But that's not really a great idea if for a few more days work the current system can be made more robust.

Just to answer a couple of points.

1) DDoS was common before we did the hosting, so developing a new solution for self-hosting would not miraculously solve DDoS issues.

2) It's not just about developers earning a bit less money due to piracy. I don't think you understand the severity, when an illegal master server was able to replicate our services (allegedly 'free' although that wasn't quite true) we didn't earn enough money to live on. This isn't about asking for sympathy, it's a simple statement of fact that if you can't earn enough to pay the bills, you have to get another job.

There are still more things to try, of course I don't know if they'll do much good. The trouble with DDoS these days, for everyone, not just LFS developers, is that every time you increase your defences, the attackers just come back with a bigger attack.

We're on the same side here, I'm working long days on this.

Quote from d_cury :

I know there have been problems, but our SV TAM®INDYCAR is not working...

Quote from manolixsvouros :

Mine has a similar issue, can't restart the server at all...

The Brazilian host controller stopped working for some reason, possibly a rare bug. I'll see if I can find a fix.

I have restarted the controller so hopefully you can start your hosts now.

We are under attack again so various things will not work.

Apparently someone's hobby is to destroy the online activity of LFS.

I don't know why that is. The only insight I can give is there are various types of DDoS attack.

Last edited by Scawen, Sun, 16 Jun 2024 17:02.

UDP is better, faster, definitely preferable unless you have a problem.

Sometimes TCP packets get through when an ISP or router fails to pass UDP packets correctly.