choxaway - have you played around with the Field of View settings in LFS' options? I think the default is 90, and I find lowering it to about 55 gives a better "connection" to the car, or at least to me with a 20" screen. Problem is, it makes you blind on the sides, and using the left/right look buttons completely makes you lose track of where you're going (or maybe it's the smooth look that throws me off).
I was in a friend's truck the other week and he decided he wanted to steer left and right real fast to scare me (at about 25 mph). The truck gripped easily, and you could feel the bodyroll like it was no problem. Do this same thing in LFS, and you've got skidding tires and loads of understeer, even at those low speeds. Then again, I was using the default setups in LFS, so I don't really know what to believe.
I was in a friend's truck the other week and he decided he wanted to steer left and right real fast to scare me (at about 25 mph). The truck gripped easily, and you could feel the bodyroll like it was no problem. Do this same thing in LFS, and you've got skidding tires and loads of understeer, even at those low speeds. Then again, I was using the default setups in LFS, so I don't really know what to believe.
Autohotkey doesn't deal with network packets as far as I know; or are you saying it does? I know it's able to control OTHER programs that have access to the network, but it'd be news to me if it was actually able to itself.
In it's current state, I don't think that little thing I made would want you to shift at all--it'd just shift back down or up by itself. A way to override that would be to map a pause script button on the controller/wheel. In the video, you could see that little GUI was movable, so you could put it somewhere not important on the car (passenger-side dashboard maybe), and have it act as an overlay of its current on/off status, etc. It'd also be a pain to get the coordinates for each car, but that could also be scripted to be easier.
Hmm, now that I think of it, I suppose I could add basic gear detection (reverse, neutral, drive) to stop it from activating while you're in neutral or reverse. Something like "-1 = reverse; 0 = neutral; 1 = drive," and you just make it add or subtract to the variable when you press the gear buttons. I don't think it's really worth working too much more on this, though. Like you said, outguage would be more accurate, and you wouldn't have to worry about color detection, coordinates, and all these cheap workarounds. You could add all the formulas you need to determine when it needs to shift, and then it'd probably be enjoyable.
In it's current state, I don't think that little thing I made would want you to shift at all--it'd just shift back down or up by itself. A way to override that would be to map a pause script button on the controller/wheel. In the video, you could see that little GUI was movable, so you could put it somewhere not important on the car (passenger-side dashboard maybe), and have it act as an overlay of its current on/off status, etc. It'd also be a pain to get the coordinates for each car, but that could also be scripted to be easier.
Hmm, now that I think of it, I suppose I could add basic gear detection (reverse, neutral, drive) to stop it from activating while you're in neutral or reverse. Something like "-1 = reverse; 0 = neutral; 1 = drive," and you just make it add or subtract to the variable when you press the gear buttons. I don't think it's really worth working too much more on this, though. Like you said, outguage would be more accurate, and you wouldn't have to worry about color detection, coordinates, and all these cheap workarounds. You could add all the formulas you need to determine when it needs to shift, and then it'd probably be enjoyable.
Last edited by tigerboyz, .
Well, shows what I know from only observing and not actually driving.
Some really do like auto more than manual, though. In games, I've always preferred manual since auto was usually both unrealistic, and slower. Not sure which I'd like more if there was a realistic auto. What you're about to read below certainly doesn't help the debate, either.I completed a workable, yet not ideal, compromise, but I'll probably never use it again. Done purely by color detection and joystick axis detection. Similar things like H-shifting mouses/mice can be done in a similar way, but again, not really enjoyable.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IJM2b9GqZ8 (updated 3/10)
Last edited by tigerboyz, .
I would also like to see/use realistic automatic transmissions. I think this is something many car-based games are missing. Actually, San Francisco Rush Extreme Racing (made in 1996 according to the title screen) simulates auto gears. If I'm right, it was originally an arcade game (had H-shifters and everything when I played it). The N64 version was my number 1 game back then for cruising around, because there's these AI buses on track 6 that cruise around on the roads. Not only that, but the ones in the left lane went faster (around here, left lane is usually the faster lane)! I'm not sure if those buses are on the arcade version, because that could get costly by the time I reach that track, if it's even in there.
From some experimenting I've done, LFS actually does simulate some sort of kickdown (that's the right term, right? when you floor it and the gear changes to the one before); but the biggest problem, I think, is that the gears aren't shifting up to the next gear when you're off the throttle (kickup, maybe?). When I ride in real cars with auto gears, the RPM usually doesn't go above 2.5k during normal acceleration. In LFS, the gear will not change if you're, for example, anywhere between 4k RPM and just below the auto's shift area, regardless what you're doing to the throttle. I have definitely got it to kick into the previous gear at about 3.5k by flooring it, when usually it waits until about 2.8k when off the throttle.
I think it's possible to code this using information from outguage (or was it insim?). For example, in a macro language called Autohotkey, if it was able to communicate with LFS, I think could be something simple like:
It basically says "if you're both 40% or over on the throttle, and the RPM is under 5k, go to the previous* gear." (I might've actually reversed the < and > signs; I'm never really sure which is which until I try it both ways.) Of course that won't actually work, because you'd need to have the right variables and define the nextgear() function; but it's just an example of how simple it might be to do it! Theoretically, You could also do it in Autohotkey WITHOUT communicating directly to LFS, by color detection at certain coordinates (RPM needle goes below certain position) and throttle axis detection, but that wouldn't work for everybody, because we don't all use the same view. There's ways to make that stuff user-definable, though.
Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I first drove that car, how different it shifted. I bought the car in career mode just for that reason.
Edit: *didn't realize up there, I put next instead of previous gear.
Edit 2: I'm taking a shot at the color detection in Autohotkey right now, but I'll have you know it's not practical one bit. It's watching for the RPM needle to hit a certain point, and it'll shift according to your throttle percentage. I managed to get it working, but it has no gear detection, only RPM detection. This means if you're revving in neutral, it might send you flying in reverse. Might post a video up on youtube so you guys can see it in action.
From some experimenting I've done, LFS actually does simulate some sort of kickdown (that's the right term, right? when you floor it and the gear changes to the one before); but the biggest problem, I think, is that the gears aren't shifting up to the next gear when you're off the throttle (kickup, maybe?). When I ride in real cars with auto gears, the RPM usually doesn't go above 2.5k during normal acceleration. In LFS, the gear will not change if you're, for example, anywhere between 4k RPM and just below the auto's shift area, regardless what you're doing to the throttle. I have definitely got it to kick into the previous gear at about 3.5k by flooring it, when usually it waits until about 2.8k when off the throttle.
I think it's possible to code this using information from outguage (or was it insim?). For example, in a macro language called Autohotkey, if it was able to communicate with LFS, I think could be something simple like:
loop
{
if throttle > 40%
{
if rpm < 5k
{
previousgear()
}
}
sleep,100 ;to prevent loop lag
}
It basically says "if you're both 40% or over on the throttle, and the RPM is under 5k, go to the previous* gear." (I might've actually reversed the < and > signs; I'm never really sure which is which until I try it both ways.) Of course that won't actually work, because you'd need to have the right variables and define the nextgear() function; but it's just an example of how simple it might be to do it! Theoretically, You could also do it in Autohotkey WITHOUT communicating directly to LFS, by color detection at certain coordinates (RPM needle goes below certain position) and throttle axis detection, but that wouldn't work for everybody, because we don't all use the same view. There's ways to make that stuff user-definable, though.
Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I first drove that car, how different it shifted. I bought the car in career mode just for that reason.
Edit: *didn't realize up there, I put next instead of previous gear.
Edit 2: I'm taking a shot at the color detection in Autohotkey right now, but I'll have you know it's not practical one bit. It's watching for the RPM needle to hit a certain point, and it'll shift according to your throttle percentage. I managed to get it working, but it has no gear detection, only RPM detection. This means if you're revving in neutral, it might send you flying in reverse. Might post a video up on youtube so you guys can see it in action.
Last edited by tigerboyz, .
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