Hi kx_spawn,

The news is that our personal lives have become more hectic recently and our ability to complete another season with the same quality has dropped a little.

The good news is that I am starting to kick the next OLFSL season into life, so there will either be some good news (ie a schedule and a start date) or some bad news (ie sorry, long delays) in the very near future.

I hope to have this news to you before Saturday 18/12/2010 is over.

Watch this space.

Tim

Quote from AtomAnt :

Obviously you have no IDEA of the coding powers of T1ger.

This is the guy that they said,,,you can't sort 32 drivers by some quali app you dreamed up...He did, and the OLFSL is the only league to have it...because Tim K drives here and cares.

IRH Sonic...Redline MOE...they can't do what T.Kay and Sami do, they don't have OLFSL quali system and grid order...that took years.

SO...code everyone to a set, or we use new F1 rules...Full fuel at race start on R1...but you must pit ...either swap the green strip tire out (No Re-Fuel) allowed..or like I said...Tim K. Writes a program to have everyone drive the same UF1 set.

It's Not Impossible. Nothing is Impossible.

Hey Ant,

Praise indeed, which is somewhat misplaced I am afraid. Whilst my coding is nowhere near "great" it is sufficient for our purposes. Having just spent a few minutes reminding myself of the contents of a small text file by the name of "insim.txt", I can tell you that my ability to code anything to fix sets is seriously lacking. LFS Insim has nothing in it which allows sets to be checked at any level. I am sure that a real coder/hacker could check memory locations and see what bits are set to understand the setup (much in the same way some of the LFS tweaks worked to increase car power etc) but I simply don't know how to do this.

Tim

www.lfs-league.com

(shameless self promotion!)

We are aware of it and we are working on it.

Thanks
Tim

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

I don't understand what you mean by host availability issue, can you explain?

See reply from Russ.

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

I'm vey interested in racing hours. We are a big team and we have drivers with different levels, but for most of us anything before 20:00 UTC on a sunday is very soon to race, so I don't think that our people who would qualify to the pools that take place on early hours could participate. Can you explain how is usually time distributed in a normal race?

See "The Grid" page on the site - Expand "Race Weekend", then click "The Grid" - you will see all the races from last season and the times they started. Be quick though, because when the new season comes, these will all vanish.

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

It's a shame you don't do full grids. In my opinion that was the best addition for league racing, but I guess that with people from very different countries lag issues may appear with many drivers connected.

(Reply via PM if you think this is off-topic).

That is exactly the reason.

Tim

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

Have you thought about the possibility of using additional servers so the time frame can be reduced? Teams with private servers might be willing to lend their servers for league races on sundays so you can run several pools simultaneosly on different servers.

Hi MaKaKaZo,

Firstly, welcome to you and your team to our league. The reason for the timings is more a host availability issue than a server issue - we have four separate servers, all capable of 47 slots (however, due to potential lag issues we never use more than 20-25 slots per pool).

Thanks to everyone for their comments so far.

Tim

As the title suggests, let us know all the things you did like and all the things you didn't like about last season.

This is not guranteed to keep a feature or make us drop a feature, but we are intersted to know to help us make the best decisions for the league.

Also, try to make it about other things than just the car/track combos. Think about things like qualifying, rules, website, race format, league format etc.

Thank you
OLFSL Staff

I managed to last all 29 laps on your set bozo

Started 2nd, had some good battles with [SG] D Robb on the first lap, then fell back into the jaws of Carrera GT who eventually managed a very good overtake move on me at the end of lap 4. We both then made it past [SG] D Robb at the end of lap 7 and I was back into 2nd. Then, at the start of lap 8, Carrera GT made a mistake and spun off just going under the bridge and I took 1st place.

I held a strong lead and managed to pull away from [SG] D Robb, Sheepy and horrgakx who were fighting for 2nd 3rd and 4th. Sheepy took 2nd early on and I held a 2.5 second lead over him for a couple of laps. I felt confident and in the zone, lapping and keeping Sheepy behind at a good length.

Then, on lap 11, I checked my tyre temps, and I don't know if it was psycological or what, but I suddenly felt like I was on ice, and I lost all 2.5 seconds and Sheepy closed right up on me. And that is how it stayed (because this track is really hard to overtake on), nose to tail, Sheepy slightly faster and with slightly cooler front tyres, but not able to get past.

Until the end of lap 17, when I thought Sheepy had the edge on me out of the last corner and would have been past anyway, I stopped for my pitstop. I had wanted to change front tyres so that I can do the last 12 laps with good grip again, but unfortunately, with no time to think watching my mirrors and no straight on which to take time in the F12 menu, I ended up stopping and going without and tyre change.

I was still in 2nd place and 3rd place (Carrera GT) was just under 5 seconds behind. I needed to push, but I couldn't with the tyres and I had lost a bit of time to Sheepy.

However, somehow I was now able to lean a bit more on the tyres again, they didn't feel as slippery (since checking the replay, I can see that they are no cooler, so it must all be in my head!) and I was able to keep going, just not at ultimate pace. I was 2 seconds a lap slower than my best lap of the race.

Sheepy pitted at the end of lap 20, and emerged right in front of me. I didn't know at the time, but he had changed his front tyres, so my hat goes off to Sheepy, who was fast enough to stay stationary in the pit longer than me and still come out in front.

Sheepy then just gradually gained ground on me and I was left in a comfortable 2nd place. Carrera GT was 6 seconds behind me, and this time not gaining. Also at this point I had dragged my times back up into the 1:40's (somehow).

Towards the end, Carrera GT pitted for his one and only stop, which left me comfortably in 2nd.

As I have said previously, I hate starting near the front because its all to lose, however, starting 2nd and finishing 2nd, I will take.

Thank you to Sheepy for a great race. Thanks also to [SG] D Robb and Carrera GT for great battles. Everyone raced with respect and care, and you are all to be congratulated for it.

Blue flag thanks to <FF> GS, [FF] Russ Greeno and Rasta, who all took great care in letting us past and not spoiling our races (probably at a detriment to their own).

Tim

Thanks for letting us know Thunderdome.

Tim

I had the same set too (from Setupgrid) and changed the camber (not as far as -0.5 though) and increased the pressures (to around 33PSI) but I still couldn't keep it cool and be quick.

Thanks for posting though, bozo. I will try it later and see what happens.

Tim

Hi Thunderdome,

Do you mean you want to qualify, but if your pool starts before 18:00 you will not be able to make it so you want us to remove your lap for you (so you don't get -40.0 points)?

If you do mean this, then yes, that is fine. In fact, email Sami and ask if you can have a pool time after 18:00 - if it is possible to accomodate you, we will.

Please note: requesting a specific start time is only done IF we can accomodate you and on a first come, first served basis. We can't, obviously, accomodate everybodys specific time requests.

Tim

Pool 3 for me too, and I would like to start by apologising to Ki-Men for the bump at turn 1. The point I braked was my normal braking point (the crest of the hill just before the turn). I wasn't able to slow down enough to not hit you, but there was nothing malicious or intended about it. I am well aware of a race not being won in Turn-1 and I was not trying to knock you off to gain an advantage. I slowed down even more, braking around the outside of turn one to try to let you back in in front of me, but you had slid too far out onto the gravel, so I carried on with every intention of letting you back past if the opportunity arose.

Anyway, back to my race. I managed to steal 1st place by the end of lap one and I was thinking "wow, could this be a win on the cards!". However, it soon became clear after the next lap that prodrive`Ap0 was hugely faster than me. In fact as the time went on, the first corner incident plagued on my mind along with the really bad setup I had, and so after about 13 laps, I simply pulled into the pits and gave up. (Easy to do when you don't have any multi-million pound sponsors on your back).

My setup was the same I had used for Qualifying, and I had intended joining the race server early and giving myself 20minutes to tweak it to last a few more laps. Anyway, things as they were, I was required to start the race instead, so I quickly changed the tyres to R4s and lowered the pressures. This proved to be a terrible combination with no heat getting into the tyres at all. It was like driving on ice.

Lesson learned, next time, more setup and practice.

Tim

ps sorry Ki-Men

Quote from tomylee :

How I see it: It's a bug of LFS and the race should be finished at the point when number 1 (at this point) crossed the line.

I can see why it is a grey area. I don't class it as a bug, it's just Scawen's interpretation of the rules. This may be wrong, but in LFS there are no post race enquiries and changes to the results, so they have decided to implement the penalty straight away. Once you know and understand, it becomes clear.

Tim

Just to clarify, this was not the result of a bug in LFS.

Thunderdome: this is standard LFS functionality - the lap counter turned orange, but you do not get the finished indicator.

As soon as the leader crosses the line the lap counter goes orange. You only get your end position once you cross the line AFTER the leader. The difference with this particular race was that the leader crossed the line after you did because you were all a lap down.

It is complicated, but it does make sense. Especially as LFS enforced the 30 second penalty on the leader as they crossed the line.

Sol: yes, both racers could see before then end of the race that they had been judged to be speeding in the pits.

Tim

Hi racers,

To those of you in Pool 2 who thought the end was a bit weird, I will try to explain what happened.

OK, just before crossing the line to finish lap 76, Speedcore.Luisii is leading, ahead of 2nd place man MXM betonomeshalka and 3rd place man SRTA Mensafest.

However, when Speedcore.Luisii crosses the line, he is given (by LFS) a 30 second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane and not doing anything about it.

2nd place man MXM betonomeshalka is also punished for speeding in the pit lane and promptly disqualified from the race when he crosses the line.

Why LFS chose to give one person a penalty and disqualify another I don't actually know. I guess the speeds could have been different.

Anyway, this mean that SRTA Mensafest is actually the leader at this point, which means that the racers who were in between 1st and 3rd on the track:

[KA]Thunderdome
(PM)Istabraq
Monkfish
Solar Hydro
sccc GianniC

are not actually a lap down and still have another lap to go. Unfortunately, [KA]Thunderdome does not realise this and slows down to a stop thinking that the race has ended. GianniC rams into the back of Thunderdome and then hits Solar Hydro (who also thinks the race has actually ended).

Thunderdome and Solar jump to the pits thinking the race has finished and end up with DNF. These results will be upheld by OLFSL.

istabraq and GianniC continue around (limping) and secure 9th and 10th places.

The penalties enforced by LFS on Speedcore.Luisii and MXM betonomeshalka will be upheld by OLFSL. Speedcore.Luisii will finish 6th and MXM betonomeshalka will be disqualified.

Thanks
Tim
OLFLS Points/Results Manager

Last edited by t1ger, Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:30.

And practise, even if its against the AI (although they are stupid and slow).

However, I tested all 76 laps against the AI and I crashed about 3 laps from the end, had to hobble around and pit, most of the AI re-lapped and overtook me to finish ahead of me. The slightest mistake will cost you loads, so be warned.

Do some more practising!

Like Sami said, we haven't done anything like this before on the OLFSL, but lets try and make it a good event - play safe and be careful, respect your fellow racers.

Tim

ps practise - did I mention that!

Thanks Dean,

As always we appreciate your efforts.

Tim

All four of our servers are reporting as not being on the master server and the control panel is not showing

Any ideas Dean?

Tim

Hi all,

Firstly, I was supposed to start 12th, but because something happened, I was disconnected from the server just before the start and then I forgot to join the grid before I set the grid, so I started last!

After about turn 5 I was in 12th!

After lap 1 I was about 8th, I think. Then I carried on and managed to claw my way up to 6th. Mainly because others slid off the track and let me past.

Anyway, I was managing to stay out of trouble, only sliding off the track slightly once or twice - nothing major. I past lap 11 and thought "YAY my tyres last". During lap 11 or 12, I set my pitstop up ready. I would not refuel or repair damage but I would replace any tyre which was over 60% worn. I felt confident.

I lost a few places then, down to 10th - just the faster guys who had slid off coming back past, but then some more places gained by pit stops and offs. Its OK, I thought, as long as I finish higher than 12th, I'll be happy and judging by how far behing me 12th was, I was OK.

So I planned pitstop for about lap 15. On lap 13 or 14 I tried to take the big right hand corner after coming off the banking, and WOOOAH, whats going on here, I can't turn, massive understeer! Checked tyres - damn it a puncture, left front. Limped all the way around to the pits, managing to keep it on the road and not loosing a place until I was leaving the pit - two places lost - this is OK, I am still 10th.

Then I was being caught fast by Dr PublicEnemy! He spent about 2 laps closing really fast, then he touched the grass under the bridge on the far side of the track and he spun around - I was free. Phew, I thought. Unfortunately, I was still thinking about how luck I was and how unlucky Dr PublicEnemy had been a few turns later and I forgot to slow down and ended up running across the grass for the sand.....noooooo, avoid the sand, turn left you stupid car, not the sand, not the ...... sand! Stuck. Damn. Spectate.

Now I have headache and I am really annoyed that I managed to make so many laps but was unable to finish.

Oh well, see you next time.

Tim

I like the idea and I agree that we are not the best when it comes to race reports (as I league I mean) but the time is the main issue for us. Now, if as you suggest, three people could step up to the mark and write these reports for us (well not even just for "us" the staff, but for "us" the league as a whole) then that would be great! I welcome that with open arms.

Sounds like GianniC is volunteering as one, do we have any more takers?

Thanks
Tim

Quote from GianniC :

I actually don't follow why the hotlapping got removed ?

The reason was, I had always had an idea in my head for an InSim program to do something like this - so I wrote it, and we liked it, so we are using it.

It seems popular and we like to keep it. Who knows, at some point we may go back to hotlapping or something else might come along in LFS that is even better - who knows. For now, we stick with the Qualifying server.

Tim

Quote from varjsa-9 :

Thanks for noting us - we really didn't notice.

Now that this was mentioned - I really hate this late "fashion" of making layouts. I recall back in the good old days racers kept on the line without barriers all over the place.

Good old times.. can't get them back eh..

We can if we go back to uploading hotlaps

Sami would obviously be able to give the best answer because he wrote and designed it, but....

We had quite a few teams who were made up of a few racers (say 5 racers), however on a regular basis only 2 or 3 of them would race in events. This meant that the others who didn't race an event dragged the event score down for their team. Also, some teams have A and B teams, and drivers moved between teams as they progressed, just as a driver may change team mid season - the old system didn't allow this to work very well when it came to calculating the team scores.

We have tried to address this, and the current system is the result of this (and quite likely to address other things that I haven't thought of) however, in my opinion, it is too fiddly for the following reasons:

1. Team captains/leaders have to select which members are racing an event.
2. Once an event is finalised and racers are allowed to change teams, the points can't be modified again without affecting team points (this needs confirmation from Sami too, but I believe it to be the case).
3. Racers can not change teams until we have finalised the previous events results (which could take time if penalties or issues arise).

These all make it very fiddly and tight on time and I personally don't think it is worth the effort (and Sami has put a lot of effort into this, and I don't want him to think that I am dissing it in anyway, because I am not) I am just stating the reasons I am not entirely in favour of it. If we were more slick with the points/penalties and everything (i.e. didn't have real lives and paying jobs to contend with) we would be able to make it so much better and keep the functionality, however, as it stands, I am not in favour.

Sorry Sami, just my humble opinion.

Thanks
Tim

Quote from N I K I :

I have noticed one thing and I don't know where to point it out and ask my question. This seams like a good place to do that, so here it goes.

This season has started pretty late (to be exact on 17th of May 2009) compared to previous seasons (which used to start in like March), so it's gonna be kinda tight with summer brake.

Also I've noticed that races are in two weeks cycle, like they always have been, but it looks like there is one exception to this.
Last race before the summer brake (which is currently planed for 19th of July 2009) is three weeks after the race with will occur before it (on 28th of June 2009), which makes already shorten summer brake even shorter.

So I'd suggest to move race 5 (Westhill International / XRT) from 19th of July 2009 to 12 of July 2009.
This way it stays two week cycle between races and gives slightly longer summer brake, which is very important, because the real season for vacation at see side hits 19th of July 2009 for sure.

Thanks in advance.

Hi NIKI,

Thanks for your comments. We did spend a long time arguing and coming up with the calendar this year. We did want a shorter break though because we feel people lose interest if it is too long.

I don't think the dates will be changing now. Sorry.

Tim