Quote from Woz :

Actually, most of what is required is already in place. There is already a dynamic darker path that builds up during a race based on the most used area of the track.

Problem is, that dynamic visual rubber path is unique to each user. A fresh install of LFS has clean tracks, and the most frequent racers probably have corners with jet black streaks around them.

So the server would have to send the rubber path to the client each time you connected. And then what happens if two different servers are running different classes that put rubber down on slightly different lines or in slightly different places? You could have two servers running (eg) AS2 but each with subtle but significant differences. Yet, aren't they supposed to be the same track? Should one AS2 not drive the same as AS2 on another server? So, maybe the rubber file should be global and retrieved from the master/LFSW server? Or would it be preferable to keep it unique to each server?

Not meaning to piss on your suggestion here - I'd love to see a dynamic grip line and marbles introduced too - just providing some food for thought.

Come to think of it, if dynamic track conditions were combined with dynamic weather, I guess it would make sense for each server to have it's own rubber file. If ServerX is running AS2 with the weather permanently set to "hot and dry", it should have much more grip/rubber laid down than ServerY which is set to "typically wet/changeable sh*t English weather" and would be quite a green track in comparison. So another question is, how do you convey this information to the player? A real driver would surely have some idea of what state the track was in and what the weather had been like recently before they even step in the car.

I really can't believe that so many people are unable/unwilling to cough up a deposit and commit to going. I can't commit for health reasons (namely that I damaged my knee cartilage in the gym and don't yet know when or how it's going to be fixed) - so I guess kettles shouldn't meet pots - but c'mon guys it's not that expensive or time consuming. £60 karting + petrol + a shared room of some sort + beer money = bargain weekend away.

Quote from jahvetti02 :

EDIT: I switched off the web traffic scanning from F-Secure's real time scanning settings. LFS seems more happy now.

Yep, thanks for that. I did the same and could connect to several populated servers as I choose.

I guess for F-Secure's "web traffic scanning" it should actually read "random UDP packet blocker"

Quote from The General Lee :

They do have adverts on the Beeb, but not interrupting ad breaks.

Dunno what you're smoking , but the Beeb doesn't have any adverts. It's not allowed to. The likes of BBC America is different, afaik, as it is part of the BBC's commercial arm which doesn't fall under the BBC charter (I think), and thus isn't funded by licence money, and must be self-sustaining.

Quote from Lateralus :

I was really disappointed when I watched Melbourne FP1 to see that ITV had kept that terrible "Lift Me Up" song and a very similar intro theme. It's just awful. Snakes crawling on bared shoulders, what the hell? Seems like they tried to make the whole presentation look as ridiculous as possible.

I think it's supposed to be a James Bond inspired way of making it glamorous and sexy. I have to agree it doesn't really work.

I also have to agree that getting Melissa Theriaux to present would be a win for everyone. It seems unlikely though. But F1 is supposed to be glamorous and sexy (which it generally is, have you seen the women strolling around behind Steve "Rigid" Rider and Mark Blundell in the paddock?!), so I've no objections to the selection of any new female presenters being chosen on the basis of them being eye candy.

Last edited by STROBE, Thu 20 Mar 2008, 16:24.

Yup, I'm only going to say the same as everyone else is saying:

Stop the cock, bring Brundle over, and it's great news all round!

Hope you're not right Sam about the FIA forcing Brundle out. Why do they want everything so sterilised and controlled? Some of Brundle's grid walks and cheeky questions were the most interesting thing in F1 in some recent years. If you're right, no doubt it'll be part of the small print of the Beeb's contract that they don't employ Brundle.

Quote from horrgakx :

See here too...

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=40544

And curiously enough, I'm using F-Secure too...

Will give it a poke tonight and see if I need to fire off a complaint to them.

Yes I'm sure. CTRA was just an example.

I've switched on network debug in Y14, and when it's waiting for guest info, it's flooding the screen with "UDP: send again".

Now why wouldn't my UDP packets be getting through?

This is getting wierder.

I switched to my test installation of LFS (i.e. version Y14). It was locked, and in demo mode I've just connected to half a dozen demo servers with no problems at all - connected straight away, like it used to.

I unlocked this version of LFS and tried to connect to CTRA1, and failed with the "waiting for guest info" problem. Switched back to demo mode, and now couldn't connect to anything there either.

First time I go online for several months, with a new computer, and I get the dreaded "waiting for guest info" followed by "did not receive guest info. Lost connection to host".

LFS is allowed in both directions by my software firewall.
I've rebooted the router.
It's a fresh, full download of LFS S2Y.
On the rare occasion I can connect, pings are good. I don't appear to have a problem with latency or dropped packets on my internet connection. Nothing else I've used my connection for has so much as hiccuped.

Curious things:
- Clicking "back" on the multiplayer screen (going from the screen with options to set skin downloads and browse servserlist or join specific host, going to the LFS main menu) produces a noticeable delay. I don't remember it being like this in the past.
- Going back to the main menu and then back into multiplayer seems to increase the chances of being able to connect.
- Empty servers are easier to connect to than populated servers.

Any ideas? It's driving me up the wall, and given my previous history with a perfectly good connection and no other system issues, it's looking like an LFS-specific issue.

Woohoo, in-game FSAA controls! Thanks Scawen!

Just had a quick test in XFG around Blackwood (my test version of LFS isn't unlocked) and the in-game FSAA controls work a treat. Superb - no more faffing around with the crappy nvidia control panel!

I was unable to notice any performance drop, FPS was maxed out at ~260 regardless of my graphical settings.

Still couldn't tell any difference between the AF settings though. Could anyone post some full-size screenies to show LFS with and without full AF? Mine looks fine, I'm not noticing textures blurring anywhere, so I'm just wondering whether mine is somehow fixed on or off.

Curiously, switching on 8×FSAA causes my gfx card fan to spin up. It's an 8800GT, which has a rather noisy cooler. Fortunately, I've got a Thermalright HR-03 GT waiting to go on it. I thought it odd though, as I was under the impression LFS was generally CPU-bound and didn't come close to even slightly taxing modern gfx cards. I guess the extra work of FSAA makes enough of a difference though to need more fan speed.

Quote from Joe_R :

P.S. this is for my school homework

Your homework is to ask a bunch of people on the internet a vague question about Las Vegas?

Quote from srdsprinter :

That's what I was thinking when Kimi was hounding him, but even after that he kept doing it. It just looked peculiar.

It's usually for airflow into the airbox, I believe. Maybe the Honda engine is affected more than the others by thin/hot air?

Haven't seen any of it yet, only the results, but...

Yay! Williams are better again! One of the few remaining "proper" (independent) teams in F1, it's great to see them setting at the front of the midfield.

Quote from Scawen :

Did you move the mip bias sliders up to zero? You won't see much if any effect of AF on the road if the mip sliders are at their default settings.

Zero mip bias allows the maximum amount of blurring that AF's purpose is to correct.

Sorry, yes, I forgot to mention that I'd moved all the mip bias sliders to 0.

Something strange going on with my nVidia drivers/control panel (who ya gonna call?).

It's an 8800GT with Forceware 169.21. Individual game profiles have never worked for me - if I choose "use the advanced 3D image settings" and create/modify profiles for games, it gets completely ignored. The same happened with my old GeForce 5900 and a much older Forceware.

So anyway, I set it back to "let the 3D application decide" which works fine for games that have their own AA/AF settings (which is to say, most of them except LFS).

I've just tried the test patch and found that AA and AF were still most definitely on! I had a profile set for LFS forcing AA and AF, which was obviously still being used even though I'd told it to globally allow the application to take control.

So now with AA and AF definitely application-controlled at a driver level, LFS' AF control doesn't seem to be doing anything for me. There's a subtle change in the foliage when switching AF between "off" and 16× (no AF seems to draw more/denser foliage) but absolutely no discernable difference in tarmac textures, white lines or barriers receding into the distance, etc.

Quote from amp88 :

According to overclockers.co.uk the CPU should be here "by the end of the month" so now I'm just sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting.

Good luck.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Er... What's the point in flying this old plane again? Just for nostalgic "Look, there's an old plane" reasons?

Pretty much.

Damn good reason if you ask me.

This might be of help you.

Quote from CobraDrifter :

Maybe because not everyone speak english as maternal language on this forum.

Here I tend to find that those without English as their primary language often make a better effort at it than those who do.

I'm referring mainly to the younger British and American contributers who "typ lik dis 2 u", as if there was a tax on keystrokes, especially vowels.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Ron Dennis is a charmless, humourless corporate ****sucker, and Martin Whitmarsh is no better. Screw both of them.

The less of these grey men in F1 the better.

I agree.

However, he also has an obvious contempt and dislike for Max Mosley, and the more of those men in F1, the better.

Quote from danowat :

any suggestions for some decent trance complations

Not a compilation, but for me Sasha - Xpander always does the trick. Find something with that on it.

Quote from danowat :

I guess, because it's easier to browse forums at work, rather than play LFS , I spend more, much more time, on the forums than LFS.

Shhhh! We're supposed to be working. :hide:

I know exactly how you feel though. I wish I felt more attraction to LFS right now. It's easy to hop on the forums during work time, but in my own time I never get round to playing it. There's always something more tempting/important to do, like another game or going to the gym or doing chores or going out or doing photography.

*subscribes to thread to get motivation suggestions too*

God I wish Jordan could come back. Not only does it sound so much better than "Force India" (wtf? What next? GP Team America?), but the first years of the 7-Up green cars and the early years in B&H colours were cool.

Very good point, I usually carry a black bin bag and swiss army knife in my camera bag. Time to add a roll of electrician's/insulating tape which is usually sticky enough for such things. Fortunately my tele-zoom lens has a massive hood - keeps the front element clear and provides plenty space to tape bin bags to.

You can get proper raincovers for DSLRs with long lenses (they seem to be designed for photographing birds, although I don't see how they would help me outside a sixth form college) but the tank of fuel and gate fees will be quite enough to spend for a day out.