Quote from Jamesisinthehouse12 :

Solution
I would recomend reinstalling xp with sp2 and don't install any updates or just upgrade to vista

Lol, yeah, sure. Vista isn't going near my computer any time soon, thanks.

Yes but before everyone has a fit of excitement you have to remember that horizons are, quite often, rather far away.

EDIT - ignore me, I should scroll down more.

Last edited by STROBE, Sat 29 Sep 2007, 15:02. Reason : oops

Quote from Jakg :

Well i think Scawen did this new downloading-skins-before-you-connect and the DDS switch for this exact reason, to PREVENT this issue.

If you've got a 7200.7 then that throws me theory out the window.

I would say RAM, but i doubt it's that either

Yep, I thought that too but the stuttering is worse, not better. Pre-X, when jpgs were used in memory to skin the cars, I got a slight delay as a new car left the pits, but nothing significant and it was often imperceptible. Now that it's handling dds files, the stuttering is massively worse for me. There's been times on small grids when the start light sequence is quick, that I've almost missed the green light due to the stuttering on the rare occasions it has to load nearly all the car skins around me (if for whatever reason they weren't loaded the previous race).

I also fail to see how the hard drive brand would be a cause of this. The dds files aren't big, no desktop hard drive in recent history would fail to have enough throughput to load the file into memory and cause this kind of stuttering. In addition, if the skinfile has just been downloaded from LFSW the same session, is it still stored in memory before it gets applied to the car, and does it cause the same amount of stuttering as an older, previously downloaded skin that is sourced from the hard drive? That's something that could be tested to determine (or rule out) where the problem lies in the process of applying a skin.

RAM is surely also not the cause. Not unless the LFS pixies crept into my flat at around the time patch X was released, and switched my pair of 512MB sticks of Corsair PC3200 for something that causes problems.

Quote from Becky Rose :

I will be dropping UF1 from Race 2 and reducing TBO to silver...
...We tried, it didnt work, so TBO's return to silver shortly.

Music to my ears; thank you for that decision.

I get this too. Caused me to have a massive crash a few weeks ago whilst leading a close race.

I was under the impression that the (major) stuttering appeared at the same time LFS switched from using jpgs to texture the cars, and started using dds files. Whatever the problem, it doesn't appear to have anything to do with processor type or hard drives, etc. In my ultra-n00b knowledge of programming, it feels as though the process of loading the dds file as a new car leaves the pits is given such high priority that everything else in LFS just halts.

My rather ageing system:
Win XP Home SP2
Athlon XP 2600
Asus A7N8X Deluxe (nForce2) mobo
1 gig PC3200 RAM
GeForce 5900 128MB
LFS runs from a Seagate 7200.7 SATA drive that is kept reasonably well defragged.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Currently we're in a bit of a lull for players. We've had to amalgamate several servers into 1 for our Race 2 server and single seaters are not proving as successful as our tin top servers, BnJ is almost always empty. This is the quietest CTRA has ever been.

Well, please don't make any knee-jerk reactions (not that I expect you would). What I mean is that if the CTRA goes through a quiet phase, it doesn't mean things have to start being changed. If you want this tiered system to last, then trying to populate all the servers so quickly will surely shorten the lifespan in the long run. Yes, SS2 and SS3 are routinely empty. But give it time, and as the number of SS2 qualified drivers reaches a critical mass, there'll be some terrific racing on there.

Likewise with the Race 2 (and what used to be the Race 3) server. Haven't had time to drive CTRA lately, but Race 2 isn't really working for me at the moment, and Race1 doesn't interest me much except the odd track I find great fun in the XRG. Nothing to do with the quality of driving on Race2, that's generally excellent. It's more the switching between TBO+UF1 and GTRs, the multiple classes on track don't work on smaller tracks (or indeed the UF1 which is often much too slow to mingle with TBOs), and as a Silver driver you actually go backwards in the car progression by being forced to drive the UF1 at times. I don't like the castrated big GTRs either. As a silver driver on Race2, I race there more for points in order to progress to some proper cars in the otherwise excellent CTRA system. If it were up to me, I'd bring back Race 3, even if it stands mostly empty like SS2. Make Race2 for the TBOs, Race 3 is GTR. Silver and above is TBO on Race 2, Gold and above is GT2 on Race 3, and Platinum/Titanium is full-bore GTR on Race 3. You know you want to.

Quote from The Very End :

Maybe gold drivers and people above could be denied to join Race 1 server? Like, if they joined - "kicked - gold lisence drivers and above please use Race 2 server".

But as you said, this is not what this topic is for.

Indeed, it's been discussed many a time. But I see no reason why a Gold driver should be excluded from the racing on the XFG/XRG server if those are the cars they like. They should just be excluded from the points calculations, and roughly speaking, the points assigned as if they weren't there.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Any and all suggestions that the CTRA 1 server is populated by a higher portion of new and inexperienced drivers is bullshit.

CTRA 1 allows new drivers, unlike our tier 2 servers, but that does nto make them magically appear...

...To call it a newb server is frankly insulting and wholly innacurate.

Quote from Becky Rose a week previous, discussing the Race1 server :

S1 does allow 32 cars to start. We just are not stupid enough to enable 32 car grids on our entry level server. No offence, but you guys still crash on 28% of the laps you try to complete

Hell of an improvement in just a week, I'd say.

Quote from Stang70Fastback :

What about something like a bit of tiny AI that detects when a car is going to careen straight ahead and just momentarily makes the car "transparent" so that it just goes through anyone else he might otherwise hit - if just for a second...

Or maybe just implement radiator damage which we already have the engine temperature gauges for. Won't stop them taking you out, but their race is most definitely over too.

I'm only eligible to compete in leagues via my team - I'm not entered in anything personally as an individual driver. I tried out the STCC as an individual, but soon discovered after the first round why I don't drive in leagues as an individual. I simply don't have the time required to practice, acquire and develop sets, and race at every event. I'd like to do more league stuff, but simply can't due to the amount of time it takes me to do so. :-/

Quote from BlueFlame :

Vauxhall's Styling house is Opel, who are governed by GM overall. So Vauxhall is more tacky than an Opel, in that sense.

lmao! Keep it up.

I dunno about spanking, but I can heartily recommend playing on the puss.

Quote from Jakg :

I love the irony of that statement versus the BnJ userbar in your sig.

Erm, you mean the one that randomises between all three so I only have to display one bar?

Now weren't we having a little discussion about your sig the other day...?

B'n'J has never done much for me, tried it a couple of times but never got into it.

I vote for scrapping it and replacing it with an LX server of some description.

Quote from Aquilifer :

Mmmm...where have I seen that car...oh yeah...

Did you buy it from Imran?
(http://www.vx220.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=54660)

Lol, that popped into my head when I first saw these pictures too... "oh no, it's not VXR #16 is it?!"

but it's a 220 anyway. I think. Isn't it? The VXR has more bulgy bits on it I thought.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Vauxhall.... just buying one is bad enough, but spending TIME on it!? and the worst thing is its a VX220, giving it some James Bond type name, aint gonna make it cool.

The fact that it's actually a Lotus underneath in pretty much all but name kinda suggests you haven't got a clue what you're talking about, or are just making a fairly feeble attempt at trolling.

@ Chris: nice looking car, not my style personally but it looks good in red with the black wheels. Decent photos too - how high up were you for the first one?

Quote from Becky Rose :

This is a fair difference in pace, positionally speaking you probably where not too far apart on points so with the gap in lap times being quite large that would account for the difference, especially if Dustin was driving close to the lap record.

Thanks for the information. Yes, it is a fair difference in pace and I could understand the points changing so much to reflect that...


...if the race was over 1 lap.

But it was over 3 laps. Surely you can see why people keep asking if/how/why laptimes have so much to do with the points, when you can score more points than someone who beats you, just because you put in a single super-hot lap. It's the old hare and tortoise analogy again. Although I don't particularly want to associate myself with being a tortoise.

Quote from niels1 :

I still dont get it why people want to know how the points are being calculated. What does it matter. Becky and her crew made it this way. So take it or leave it. Its simple, if your off pace no points. Fair enough.

Treat them like deities if you want, I'll treat them respectfully as human beings. I want to know because I don't enjoy racing the UF1, not even that keen on TBOs, so I want to advance my licence in order to enjoy the cars I do like on the clean CTRA servers. Therefore I wanted to find out why winning a race isn't the quickest way of doing that.

How will the CTRA continuously improve if nobody questions or wants to know anything about it, or nobody mentions things which they think could be improved? If Becky and her crew wanted nothing but a bunch of "yes men" commenting on the CTRA, I'm sure they could moderate this forum a lot more vigourously. And they'd not get any more constructive feedback.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Yes, position has always been a key factor in scoring points. I've found it very frustrating trying to defend the comments who say it is all about lap time when it never was.

Well, I'd love to understand how the points were assigned to me recently. A couple of nights ago (definitely before the servers closed last night) I was racing on AS4 in the GT2 class. Dustin was racing there too. He was much quicker than me in his FZR, I didn't even have a setup to use in my XRR. In one race I won the GT2 category, and Dustin finished 2nd. Dustin had much more pace but that race he'd had a couple of big excursions off the track, he was driving quite erratically and beyond the limit, trying to set a new CTRA lap record. His fastest lap was a good 1½ seconds faster than mine. Final result - me (winner) +40 points, Dustin (2nd place) +44 points. Both on a silver licence.

How can he score more points from that race when it was me who drove consistently enough to beat everyone else? Am I better off just using a hotlap set for a single banzai lap than concentrating on racecraft and consistency?

Quote from wheel4hummer :

army in Iraq

To which army are you referring?

Quote from SamH :

in there

lol!

Thanks for all your hard work Becky (and "colleagues"), looking forward to trying out the updates (especially endurance days) when I get the chance.

I've got the Sigma 70-300 DG APO too. It's a cracking lens, simply unbeatable for the price imo. I haven't noticed much in the way of softness when wide open, my only complaints are the speed of focussing, and how much it can hunt for focus in low light. But then you look at the cost of the big white 'L' or 'G' telezooms, and you forgive it.

Quote from TypeRCivic :

I'm getting a Nikon D40 and it comes with a lense, it's 18-55mm, anyone know if that good for range and starting out??

It's just a standard typical kit lens, nothing great but fine for getting started. I hear it's better than the Canon kit lens, which some people regard as junk. But the most important thing is the photographer, not the equipment.

However if you're wondering what kind of range it has then I'm guessing you don't understand what 18-55mm means, so I'd query whether a DSLR is right for you at all.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

The trouble is they are being patched up on a basic design, after all the armour add-ons they have received the weight has seriously increased and it is putting too much stress on moving parts and the life expectancy is greatly reduced. Not great for long tours as vehicles constantly run into the ground. However with the bigger and better weapons in the conflict zones the small arms armour they do have is inefficient. They are being redesigned all the time by GM so they leave the factory with better armour and less weight so not to slaughter parts, but they have a lot of old models to finish off before the new ones are rolled out all over.

They are not quite the work horse as a Land Rover, don't look as nice, but there has only ever been one reported case (Note: I was told this a while ago, not sure how accurate it is now) of a H1 being flipped in the military (Landys get flipped all the time, but you can just roll it back onto it's wheels and keep on going), and that is because the driver was cocking about. It is just a shame the vehicle sucks so much.

You don't know much (anything?) about the HMMWV, it seems. Especially compared to the utterly shite outdated Land Rovers the British Army has to use.

Quote from Demon68 :

If you give slow drivers points then they go to the next server and than the whole server 1 enviroment idea is gone

But we're not talking about dishing out points for just turning up! CTRA doesn't do that any more. If you can't place in the top few positions you generally get very few points.

So we're talking about giving points to copper/bronze drivers that can go faster than the other copper/bronze drivers. And if you can regularly beat the other copper/bronze drivers, then you're ready (or getting ready) for the next level, imho.

Quote from JTbo :

edit: If you feel that current tires are slippery at rain, perhpas put new tires on back and old rear tires to front so you don't get surprising tail out situations on wet if you need to dodge some chavs in their Novas

Hmm, hadn't really considered that. However it has to be said that it seems my car is set up very safely. All it does is understeer. The brake bias seems heavily front weighted - the ABS kicks in too readily when the front wheels hit a manhole cover under braking and slide, but never even a hint of ABS or locking from the rears. The back end doesn't even hint of twitching if you come clean off the throttle half way round a quick bend.

Wheel alignment should be okay thanks, it was checked at the same time the car was M.O.T.ed earlier this year (MOT = mechanical inspection for cars in the uk, done once it's three years old then every year after that). Besides, these Bridgestones haven't worn out in two weeks, they've worn out in three years.

Quote from wheel4hummer :

Bridgestone Turdanza tires are horrible. I was driving in my moms Honda that comes with them stock, and I understeered slightly making a right hand turn at 20mph. The tires began to skid, and the steering wheel started feeling a little more loose. I obviously did not hit the brakes. I just straightened the wheel a little, and took the rest of the corner really wide. When we got home, I waited for the tires to cool, and then checked the tire pressure. The left front tire was at 17psi, and it's supposed to be at 32psi. So, I pumped it up to 30psi, and figured it was good enough. My mom drove it the next day, and the tire was down to 25 psi! I keep adding air to it, but the air just leaks right out. Same thing happens to the right front tire, except at a slower rate.

EDIT: The road was dry as a bone BTW.

Erm, thanks for that, somehow I doubt that's a fault of the Turanzas though. My fronts are supposed to be 33psi and I've had to top up the air in them about three times in as many years.