I think the ART skins are easier to tell apart than some others. In almost every reasonably close shot the encoding lets at least one color from the driver's flag shine through. I also run aluminium colored rims and David uses black rims. I have a big red logo on my bonnet and David has a clear spot there. I have "The Obstacle" written in black letters on my rear bumper and David has a bright white logo there.
Of course you need to look out for these differences. But the skins of a team need to be very similar. Compare it to Formula 1. You can't tell the two BMWs apart unless you look out for the helmet color and know to associate the colors with certain drivers. It's similar with our skins. It's the commentators' job to give that information to less educated viewers.
Vain
[Edit]
Oh, and Lang: You would've had 4th if you had just left me alone. Liigman was slower than both you and me in the end. If you had avoided the battle with me you would've easily passed him and finished 4th. But you rather wanted to finish 7th...
In round 9 Raemisch had the similarly stupid idea to rather battle with me than follow me. He could've been 4th, but he elected to become 10th.
Vierumäki didn't want to concede 3rd to me either in round 9. Well, the 13th place finish was hopefully enough food for thought.
Resistance is futile!
Of course you need to look out for these differences. But the skins of a team need to be very similar. Compare it to Formula 1. You can't tell the two BMWs apart unless you look out for the helmet color and know to associate the colors with certain drivers. It's similar with our skins. It's the commentators' job to give that information to less educated viewers.
Vain
[Edit]
Oh, and Lang: You would've had 4th if you had just left me alone. Liigman was slower than both you and me in the end. If you had avoided the battle with me you would've easily passed him and finished 4th. But you rather wanted to finish 7th...
In round 9 Raemisch had the similarly stupid idea to rather battle with me than follow me. He could've been 4th, but he elected to become 10th.
Vierumäki didn't want to concede 3rd to me either in round 9. Well, the 13th place finish was hopefully enough food for thought.
Resistance is futile!
Last edited by Vain, .
Becky has done it before. The pre-race show of round 3 was very good. The order wasn't correct because the highlights from the last rounds were first and the introduction "Hello and welcome" only came after that, but it had all the elements a good pre-race show needs. The post-race show was also great. The complete #3 broadcast was only 5 minutes longer than the round 10 one, but that was enough to avoid the hurried atmosphere of the latest broadcasts.
Vain
Vain
Listen to the commentary from some eurosport-broadcasts and focus on how the commentators choose the topic to talk about. You'll learn a lot about how this is done by professional commentators and what you need to look for.
As far as I can see, eh hear, the commentators from eurosport have one or two sheets in front of them with thumbnails of the liveries, driver names, nationality, team name, car number and some interesting info you might want to address "#127, P. Galaske, Adrenalin Racing Team, never out-qualified Szabo except for Blackwood RallyX, seemed quite happy with rear tyre temperatures at the end of practice though he had serious troubles before, *add driver's opinions from pre-race discussion*" and additionally the same sheets again with "get out of jail"-information if nothing happens on screen "#127, P. Galaske, finished only approx. 50% of all races due to ISP problems mid-season, teamed up with Horvath after round 3 to challenge Muroc, never had any appeal filed against him, etc."
Becky has all skins, so I'm sure you could fix together the thumbnail-sheet rather quickly. Then spend an hour adding information with a pen and you should be good to go.
However, what I noticed listening to eurosport is that the "get out of jail"-sheet is a temptation you should avoid. Sometimes the commentators start chatting about the championship position in the 2003 Formula 3 season of a driver who was on-screen 3 minutes ago, while actually there is a hell of a race going on on screen.
Apart from that, you're doing great as a co-commentator. You add information where you have space, but you let Becky talk when something happens on the screen. You should try to make a full-stop as soon as possible if a passing-situation arises to allow Becky to start talking without interrupting you more often though. It's very difficult and you're doing fine so far, but there's always room for improvement.
Wow, driver of the day!
Great broadcast. Best commentary yet.
Though you sorta forgot to discuss the championship table.
[Edit]And the website doesn't have the current table either. *rant*
[/Edit]
Vain
Great broadcast. Best commentary yet.
Though you sorta forgot to discuss the championship table.
[Edit]And the website doesn't have the current table either. *rant*
[/Edit]Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
It was a brave move and well executed.
Though I still have a grudge against Chris for insisting to go side-by-side through the chicane. He could've tugged in and challenged me for second on the remaining laps (in which he would propably have succeeded), but noooo, he wanted to become 9th...
But hey, the way it panned out all Muroc cars removed themselves from the top-three. Team ART for the win
.Vain
Thanks for the nice words.
Vain
Vain
I found that to be completely useless. I don't even use it when I drive. When I developed the LFSpitboard I just recorded all IS_LAP and IS_SPX packets, sorted them chronologically and had a nice list of all cars with positions, splits, development of split-times over the last laps, laptime-development and everything I needed. It may eat some kbytes of RAM in long races, but this isn't MoE.
If you view more than one car those cars would be good candidates, wouldn't they?
I guess you can work something out both regarding splits and the camera focus indicator. I don't know how well it'd work out on the actual broadcast though.
I understand that it's not sensible for one commentator to abort the other unless they are very experienced. The commentator that is talking needs to watch the screen and just switch the topic when necessary. In real broadcasts the two commentators usually have well defined roles. One has the role to always shout and scream when something happens and the other has a couple of nice stories to tell when nothing happens on screen. Try enforcing such role-behaviour with regards to lag and I'm sure you can come to a good result.
Well, call me stupid, but I think you already have the alpha-version of an incident-search-program.
Vain
The camera software worked great. I knew it was coming up from the stcc-boards but I was surprised how well it actually worked. The visual quality and framerate was perfect. The car position overlay is awesome.
Some feedback I can think of at the moment:
- Perhaps you can improve the position overlay by putting two cars that are alongside in the same position while their position is undeterminable. That stops the position overlay from flicking around and announcing false position changes.
- Add an indicator to the position overlay to signify the car that is being looked at, if a specific car is in focus. That'll help the viewer to identify what end of the field he's looking at. I personally got mixed up a couple of times during the show.
- Onboard cameras are a good filler. Instead of watching two cars driving behind each other for laps and laps and laps show some bumper-cam or rear-view footage to make things more interesting. If interesting stuff is happening onboard cams don't work (unless you look at AussieV8 moving onboard cams).
- Try some static cameras that don't focus on a specific car. Just a static camera on the inside of a turn that shows the field as it streams past. Very much like the curb-cams they have on some circuits. Again, that works as a filler.
- Add more information to the button interface. What is the split between the viewed cars? For internet broadcasting it wouldn't be sensible to view laptimes or other more sophisticated data because it's too hard to read, but you can view it to the commentators so they can filter out the important bits and read them out for the viewers.
- You did a great job commentating. You always managed to stick with what happened on screen. In round 7 you and Tristan got lost in a conversation a couple of times while everybody else was busy watching the most awesome racing-action ever recorded. This was a lot better in round 9.
- That said, you definitely need a second commentator. You didn't miss out on anything and did as good as you possibly could, but a conversation of the commentators makes the viewing experience a lot better. Don't hesitate though to stop a conversation at the end of the syllable you were just saying if anything worth noting happens on screen. There's nothing worse than watching a race and have the commentators talk about something else.
- Pre-show and after-show were a bit lacking this round. Most noticably there was a lot of complete silence while you had to talk the viewers through everything. How about showing some replays from quali or something like that to have something happen?
- The name death-wall was over-dramatic. "He's in the wall" is specific enough, and it doesn't make me smirk.
- Last point: Get the whip from the drawer. Driver discipline was lacking. I thought my defending against Vierumäki was bad driving, but some of what we saw on the broadcast really just wasn't on.
We had better races before, but the broadcast was fantastic.
Vain
[Edit]
Oh, and the camera-tool can be tricked into viewing a certain car during the SC phase by excessive weaving. I was in focus a lot because my tyres were at optimum temperature when the SC was called and I was the one who weaved the most. I need to keep that in mind once I have sponsors to statisfy.
Some feedback I can think of at the moment:
- Perhaps you can improve the position overlay by putting two cars that are alongside in the same position while their position is undeterminable. That stops the position overlay from flicking around and announcing false position changes.
- Add an indicator to the position overlay to signify the car that is being looked at, if a specific car is in focus. That'll help the viewer to identify what end of the field he's looking at. I personally got mixed up a couple of times during the show.
- Onboard cameras are a good filler. Instead of watching two cars driving behind each other for laps and laps and laps show some bumper-cam or rear-view footage to make things more interesting. If interesting stuff is happening onboard cams don't work (unless you look at AussieV8 moving onboard cams).
- Try some static cameras that don't focus on a specific car. Just a static camera on the inside of a turn that shows the field as it streams past. Very much like the curb-cams they have on some circuits. Again, that works as a filler.
- Add more information to the button interface. What is the split between the viewed cars? For internet broadcasting it wouldn't be sensible to view laptimes or other more sophisticated data because it's too hard to read, but you can view it to the commentators so they can filter out the important bits and read them out for the viewers.
- You did a great job commentating. You always managed to stick with what happened on screen. In round 7 you and Tristan got lost in a conversation a couple of times while everybody else was busy watching the most awesome racing-action ever recorded. This was a lot better in round 9.
- That said, you definitely need a second commentator. You didn't miss out on anything and did as good as you possibly could, but a conversation of the commentators makes the viewing experience a lot better. Don't hesitate though to stop a conversation at the end of the syllable you were just saying if anything worth noting happens on screen. There's nothing worse than watching a race and have the commentators talk about something else.
- Pre-show and after-show were a bit lacking this round. Most noticably there was a lot of complete silence while you had to talk the viewers through everything. How about showing some replays from quali or something like that to have something happen?
- The name death-wall was over-dramatic. "He's in the wall" is specific enough, and it doesn't make me smirk.
- Last point: Get the whip from the drawer. Driver discipline was lacking. I thought my defending against Vierumäki was bad driving, but some of what we saw on the broadcast really just wasn't on.
We had better races before, but the broadcast was fantastic.
Vain
[Edit]
Oh, and the camera-tool can be tricked into viewing a certain car during the SC phase by excessive weaving. I was in focus a lot because my tyres were at optimum temperature when the SC was called and I was the one who weaved the most. I need to keep that in mind once I have sponsors to statisfy.
And 4 more screenshots.
I hope you enjoy them.
Vain
I hope you enjoy them.
Vain
Road Sport Summer Cup Season 2 Round 3 pics (lots of pics)
These are the pictures from round 3 of the Road Sport Summer Cup. There was a lot of good action going on.
The shots are in 1280x1024@8xAA&16xAF using the 512² skins from LFSW.
Vain
The shots are in 1280x1024@8xAA&16xAF using the 512² skins from LFSW.
Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
You're propably driving by what you see, not what you hear.
Try making rules. When I started out I used:
Flat right: 6th gear
Easy right: 5th gear
Fast right: 4th
Medium: 3rd
Everything below: 2nd
When it rains just drop a gear from those figures.
That should get you through most turns safely. Change accordingly if something scary comes up, like fast right into medium left. Later, when you feel safer you can speed up a little depending on what the copilot says.
The line you drive is *very* important. A basic strategy is entering the corner from the outside and planning the apex *very* late. When I can't judge a corner I plan a so late apex that I only hit the inside of the corner when the corner is over. That way I can always react when the corner is longer than I thought, or if I overheard a "tightens".
Make sure you really learn how to plan your line just by what the copilot says. "Easy left over crest into fast right" is completely different from "Easy left into fast right over crest" which is completely different from "easy left into fast right" which is completely different from "Easy left 30 fast right over crest" etc. etc.
Use your ears to decide which line you want to go. Use your eyes to correct the line you pictured in your head, if there are any bumps, holes, or cambered-parts to take note of.
When you go quick the risk never approaches zero. Even Loeb and Grönholm wreck their cars once in a while.
I reinstalled RBR a few days ago after not having played it for 6 months. I really didn't know any of the stages. Yet I managed to complete a season with exactly one incident, which happened today.
On my 2nd stage of the Australia rally, New Bobs, I approached a "100 fast right narrows 100", put the left rear wheel on the rough bits as planned, something I never saw coming lifted the complete rear axle into the air, I struck a tree and hit something with the radiator, lost cooling and the engine died on the next stage. Despite the wreck I finished the stage well below the RBR-WR, which means I could've tackled the corner 20km/h slower and would still have won the stage. Instead I lost the rally. (No deal though, still won the championship, and I only did the Peugeot/Pro rally to unlock all stages so I can practice the Toyota and do a Champion difficulty season.)
Once you know how to plan the lines according to the pacenotes it's really easy - if you can concentrate.
Oh, and a concentration hint: *Always* watch the replays. You need the cool-down time.
Roger that. After that mistake I did the first run of Noiker in the dry with the Toyota and did a very nice 8:14. The stage is completely mental, hammering down a bumpy cart track in a forest at 180km/h, the copilot announces "over crest flat left" and you have to turn in before the crest into a 3 meter wide corner you can't see while driving 180km/h. Real "I'm gonna die now!"-moments. It's just awesome.
Bisanne is another stage that is completely mental when you have to really nail it because you need the championship points. If you concentrate hard enough and later watch the replay you go: "How is that even humanly possible!"
Vain
Try making rules. When I started out I used:
Flat right: 6th gear
Easy right: 5th gear
Fast right: 4th
Medium: 3rd
Everything below: 2nd
When it rains just drop a gear from those figures.
That should get you through most turns safely. Change accordingly if something scary comes up, like fast right into medium left. Later, when you feel safer you can speed up a little depending on what the copilot says.
The line you drive is *very* important. A basic strategy is entering the corner from the outside and planning the apex *very* late. When I can't judge a corner I plan a so late apex that I only hit the inside of the corner when the corner is over. That way I can always react when the corner is longer than I thought, or if I overheard a "tightens".
Make sure you really learn how to plan your line just by what the copilot says. "Easy left over crest into fast right" is completely different from "Easy left into fast right over crest" which is completely different from "easy left into fast right" which is completely different from "Easy left 30 fast right over crest" etc. etc.
Use your ears to decide which line you want to go. Use your eyes to correct the line you pictured in your head, if there are any bumps, holes, or cambered-parts to take note of.
When you go quick the risk never approaches zero. Even Loeb and Grönholm wreck their cars once in a while.
I reinstalled RBR a few days ago after not having played it for 6 months. I really didn't know any of the stages. Yet I managed to complete a season with exactly one incident, which happened today.
On my 2nd stage of the Australia rally, New Bobs, I approached a "100 fast right narrows 100", put the left rear wheel on the rough bits as planned, something I never saw coming lifted the complete rear axle into the air, I struck a tree and hit something with the radiator, lost cooling and the engine died on the next stage. Despite the wreck I finished the stage well below the RBR-WR, which means I could've tackled the corner 20km/h slower and would still have won the stage. Instead I lost the rally. (No deal though, still won the championship, and I only did the Peugeot/Pro rally to unlock all stages so I can practice the Toyota and do a Champion difficulty season.)
Once you know how to plan the lines according to the pacenotes it's really easy - if you can concentrate.
Oh, and a concentration hint: *Always* watch the replays. You need the cool-down time.
Roger that. After that mistake I did the first run of Noiker in the dry with the Toyota and did a very nice 8:14. The stage is completely mental, hammering down a bumpy cart track in a forest at 180km/h, the copilot announces "over crest flat left" and you have to turn in before the crest into a 3 meter wide corner you can't see while driving 180km/h. Real "I'm gonna die now!"-moments. It's just awesome.
Bisanne is another stage that is completely mental when you have to really nail it because you need the championship points. If you concentrate hard enough and later watch the replay you go: "How is that even humanly possible!"
Vain
Autocross track "Colorblind"
Hello.
I messed around a bit with the autocross editor and came up with the following layout. In theory the layout should work properly with multiple cars, although I didn't test it.
The track is called Colorblind because I used colored cones to give 'names' to each corner. That way you can address each corner easily.
There are a couple of layouts around that look similar because that's just the longest way a track can go around the AU arena. I still wanted to bring out my own interpretation. The key feature is that, despite having driven it for quite a while, I'm still not sure what the real ideal line is.
Feel free to modify.
Vain
I messed around a bit with the autocross editor and came up with the following layout. In theory the layout should work properly with multiple cars, although I didn't test it.
The track is called Colorblind because I used colored cones to give 'names' to each corner. That way you can address each corner easily.
There are a couple of layouts around that look similar because that's just the longest way a track can go around the AU arena. I still wanted to bring out my own interpretation. The key feature is that, despite having driven it for quite a while, I'm still not sure what the real ideal line is.
Feel free to modify.
Vain
I'd love to participate in an endurance-event, especially with driver change. FZ5 and Fern Bay is a great combo for an endurance run, even though the car is horribly inferior to the other cars there . I sometimes do a couple of Fern Bay Black Rev laps in the FZ5 just because it's so much fun 
.
However I don't think the event will happen. You propably won't be able to gather 64 interested drivers...
Vain
. I sometimes do a couple of Fern Bay Black Rev laps in the FZ5 just because it's so much fun .However I don't think the event will happen. You propably won't be able to gather 64 interested drivers...
Vain
Actually there are hundrets of those attempts each year over the globe. And no, they are not stupid. Actually very smart.
The principle works like this:
You act like you came up with something that is going to revolutionize the world as it is. The 0.5 litre engine with 500 hp, a lightbulp that converts 95% electric energy to light, the super-alloy that weights less than magnesium and is stronger than steel, whatever. With your new and genius invention you start a new company, and offer yourself to become it's CEO.
Now you convince banks to finance you. After all, this invention is going to change the world as it is, and undoubtably your invention will generate money like plutonium generates radiation, so the bank will make great profit by financing you. During this phase you need to stirr up as much attention as possible. Every bank and every bank's advisor on this planet needs to believe that your invention works. And since you're talking about banks you don't convince them with physics but with flashy papers and nice powerpoint-presentations.
Being the CEO of the aspiring company you pay yourself a very hefty wage for something like two years. Then you go "Whoops, it didn't work!", declare insolvency, fire yourself off the position as a CEO, claim that you as your own employee may keep the wages you received and try to get away with it.
* ToDo: Study laws and add a proper legal explanation.
Vain
The principle works like this:
You act like you came up with something that is going to revolutionize the world as it is. The 0.5 litre engine with 500 hp, a lightbulp that converts 95% electric energy to light, the super-alloy that weights less than magnesium and is stronger than steel, whatever. With your new and genius invention you start a new company, and offer yourself to become it's CEO.
Now you convince banks to finance you. After all, this invention is going to change the world as it is, and undoubtably your invention will generate money like plutonium generates radiation, so the bank will make great profit by financing you. During this phase you need to stirr up as much attention as possible. Every bank and every bank's advisor on this planet needs to believe that your invention works. And since you're talking about banks you don't convince them with physics but with flashy papers and nice powerpoint-presentations.
Being the CEO of the aspiring company you pay yourself a very hefty wage for something like two years. Then you go "Whoops, it didn't work!", declare insolvency, fire yourself off the position as a CEO, claim that you as your own employee may keep the wages you received and try to get away with it.
* ToDo: Study laws and add a proper legal explanation.
Vain
Hello.
Since TBO and GTR seem bearable now I thought LRF should get some more attention. For that sake I summed up all LFSW WR-times and then calculated the "average LFS lap".
Over all 48 combos the cars score on average:
FZ5: 1:36.72
RAC: 1:36.61
LX6: 1:36.03
Note how the LX6 is on average 0.6 of a second quicker than the other two.
For those who want to see how those numbers came about and where each car has it's strenght here is the textfile that shows all WR's as of 25.6.07:
* Those are quite many numbers. I take no responsibility for typing-errors, though I checked everything twice.
Conclusion: The LX6 is superior to the other two in both absolute laptime and fuel usage. In a pitstop it has to stop almost only half as long as a FZ5 and carries fewer additional weight than a FZ5.
There are two possibilities. Either de-tune the LX6 by adding 20kg (*) to it, or speed up RAC and FZ5, which would require an incompatible patch and doesn't mix with the real stats of the RAC (though the current RAC doesn't fit its stats on www.raceabout.fi anyway). My personal suggestion would be to add 3% power (~7bhp) to the RAC and remove 3% (~40kg) weight from the FZ5. That needs testing though of course. 0.6 a lap is the target.
(*) Personally I think 20kg is a very conservative measure. The LX6 will propably still be quickest, but it's margin should decrease a lot since 20kg is significant relative to the car's absolute mass.
[Edit] (**) Alternatively a power reduction by ~5 bhp would also have a significant impact on the car.
Vain
Since TBO and GTR seem bearable now I thought LRF should get some more attention. For that sake I summed up all LFSW WR-times and then calculated the "average LFS lap".
Over all 48 combos the cars score on average:
FZ5: 1:36.72
RAC: 1:36.61
LX6: 1:36.03
Note how the LX6 is on average 0.6 of a second quicker than the other two.
For those who want to see how those numbers came about and where each car has it's strenght here is the textfile that shows all WR's as of 25.6.07:
- FZ5
BL 79.14+80.66+63.95+64.08 = 287.83
SO 49.03+49.75+53.35+54.65+40.95+41.35+107.02+109.02+87.20+88.18 = 680.50
FE 43.90+44.62+75.61+76.55+90.32+93.18+169.86+172.67+71.35+72.19+29.62+29.54 = 969.41
KY 44.98+45.06+113.97+114.77+160.33+163.19 = 642.30
WE 111.19+110.53 = 221.72
AS 55.24+55.69+68.00+68.75+118.14+119.65+167.12+168.87+191.92+193.68+184.52+185.25+131.97+131.80 = 1840.60
Sum: 4642.36
Avg: 96.72
- RAC
BL 80.15+81.41+63.46+63.58 = 288.60
SO 49.21+49.39+53.31+54.87+40.57+41.12+106.88+108.76+86.59+87.93 = 678.63
FE 43.72+44.38+75.52+77.20+90.39+93.47+169.31+172.57+70.91+71,99+29.55+29.26 = 968.27
KY 46.48+46.54+114.09+114.16+161.03+162.59 = 644.89
WE 111.27+111.15 = 222.42
AS 54.91+55.66+68.57+69.07+119.52+120.87+169.18+170.34+191.95+194.86+184.76+187.73+131.86+132.01 = 1851.29
Sum: 4654.13
Avg: 96.61
- LX6
BL 79.51+79.69+63.44+63.46 = 286.1
SO 48.33+48.76+52.89+53.63+40.27+40.57+105.43+107.14+85.99+86.64 = 669.65
FE 42.72+43.95+74.25+75.33+88.43+90.75+165.56+167.23+70.70+71.60+29.36+29.18 = 949.06
KY 47.87+47.85+113.77+114.58+159.73+161.25 = 645.05
WE 110.35+109.95 = 220.30
AS 53.77+54.59+68.45+68.58+120.31+120.57+168.68+169.89+191.29+193.54+184.59+185.61+129.23+130.20 = 1839.30
Sum: 4609.46
Avg: 96.03* Those are quite many numbers. I take no responsibility for typing-errors, though I checked everything twice.
Conclusion: The LX6 is superior to the other two in both absolute laptime and fuel usage. In a pitstop it has to stop almost only half as long as a FZ5 and carries fewer additional weight than a FZ5.
There are two possibilities. Either de-tune the LX6 by adding 20kg (*) to it, or speed up RAC and FZ5, which would require an incompatible patch and doesn't mix with the real stats of the RAC (though the current RAC doesn't fit its stats on www.raceabout.fi anyway). My personal suggestion would be to add 3% power (~7bhp) to the RAC and remove 3% (~40kg) weight from the FZ5. That needs testing though of course. 0.6 a lap is the target.
(*) Personally I think 20kg is a very conservative measure. The LX6 will propably still be quickest, but it's margin should decrease a lot since 20kg is significant relative to the car's absolute mass.
[Edit] (**) Alternatively a power reduction by ~5 bhp would also have a significant impact on the car.
Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
Actually it should, but it doesn't. LFSpitboard initialized OutGauge exactly once, which is directly after connecting to LFS (within a tenth of a second).
That can cause it to lose OutGauge under certain circumstances (you can see that when it doesn't remove pitboards after 15 seconds anymore).
Usually you'd be able to disable LFSpitboard's OutGauge functionality by setting the OutGauge port to zero. However, I made an exception in the program and considered zero to be an illegal port, which causes LFSpitboard to set the default port. I'll fix that in the next release.
Vain
In LFSpitboard I work with C++ in conjunction with SDLnet. You might already know SDLnet if you come from a unix-background.
But generally it's a snap. Some basic code from LFSpitboard:
I'm aware that I could also write all packets into a buffer, store the address of the first byte and cast the pointer to *IS_WHATEVER so I don't have to copy data from the header to packets that store something important in the fourth byte, but I do it this way to stay type-save.
Vain
But generally it's a snap. Some basic code from LFSpitboard:
IS_TINY header;
SDLNet_TCP_Recv(tcpsock,&header,4);
switch(header.Type)
{
case ISP_TINY:
switch(header.SubT)
{
case TINY_NONE: // A connection-keep-alive packet, respond with a IS_TINY
IS_TINY tmpTINY = { 4, ISP_TINY, 0, TINY_NONE };
SDLNet_TCP_Send(tcpsock,&tmpTINY, sizeof(tmpTINY));
break;
}
break;
case ISP_LAP:
IS_LAP tmpLAP;
SDLNet_TCP_Recv(tcpsock,((char*)&tmpLAP)+4,16); // receive the rest of the IS_LAP, which is 20 bytes long, but we already have 4 of them in the header
tmpLAP.PLID = header.SubT; // Complete the IS_LAP with data from the header
cout << (unsigned int)(tmpLAP.PLID) << " crossed the finish line! << endl;
break;
case default:
char* pBuffer = new char[header.Size];
SDLNet_TCP_Recv(tcpsock,pBuffer,header.Size-4);
delete pBuffer; // discard unknown packets
break;
}
// To-Do: Remove typos, tell everyone who doesn't like my code to STFU! :)
I'm aware that I could also write all packets into a buffer, store the address of the first byte and cast the pointer to *IS_WHATEVER so I don't have to copy data from the header to packets that store something important in the fourth byte, but I do it this way to stay type-save.
Vain
@dungbeetle:
Do you think the best lap should be included in the standard layout or is that rather something for a later stage where the pitboard is customizable? I don't really fancy the idea of having up to 5 lines on the pitboard - the aim of LFSpitboard was to show as much information as necessary while distracting as few as possible.
I plan to work on the customization features for the next release. I want the display-mode (should the board disappear after X seconds or after X meters driven distance?) and display-location (At the s/f line? At the 1st or 2nd split-time? Or rather at node number X?) to be editable, prepare the drawing code for custom layouts and definitely implement changeable pit-strategies.
So the next release should hopefully cover your request since you will definitely be able to customize your pitboard to your taste.
@tade:
Does CSR even support patch X? LFSpitboard requires InSim v4, which came new in W9. CSR was done for InSim v3 as far as I remember, so it should be impossible to run them together anyway, since CSR doesn't work under patch X, which is required for LFSpitboard.
However your question raises the question wether LFSpitboard should require LFS's UDP function. LFS supports up to 8 TCP connections but only one UDP connection. So I should allow an option to disable the fuel-tracking to clear LFS's UDP-functionality for another program.
Vain
Do you think the best lap should be included in the standard layout or is that rather something for a later stage where the pitboard is customizable? I don't really fancy the idea of having up to 5 lines on the pitboard - the aim of LFSpitboard was to show as much information as necessary while distracting as few as possible.
I plan to work on the customization features for the next release. I want the display-mode (should the board disappear after X seconds or after X meters driven distance?) and display-location (At the s/f line? At the 1st or 2nd split-time? Or rather at node number X?) to be editable, prepare the drawing code for custom layouts and definitely implement changeable pit-strategies.
So the next release should hopefully cover your request since you will definitely be able to customize your pitboard to your taste.
@tade:
Does CSR even support patch X? LFSpitboard requires InSim v4, which came new in W9. CSR was done for InSim v3 as far as I remember, so it should be impossible to run them together anyway, since CSR doesn't work under patch X, which is required for LFSpitboard.
However your question raises the question wether LFSpitboard should require LFS's UDP function. LFS supports up to 8 TCP connections but only one UDP connection. So I should allow an option to disable the fuel-tracking to clear LFS's UDP-functionality for another program.
Vain
I updated the top post and attached the current release R3.
Changelog for R3:
- Added basic qualification functionality.
LFSpitboard tracks the best times of all cars and shows the position of the viewed car. It calculates the gaps from the viewed car's best time and the best time of the car in front and behind on the laptimes-table. It also displays the last done laptime by the viewed player.
- In a race LFSpitboard will now calculate the amount of fuel you need to finish the race and automatically set it if you are running out of fuel (this only works if you don't have the F12 menu displayed while crossing the s/f line). This feature currently only makes sense if you need less than 100% fuel to finish the race. More in-depth functionality like editable strategy and tyre-advice will come later.
- LFSpitboard can now start LFS by itself. In cfg.xml under the category "LFSExec" there is the option "start" which determins wether LFSpitboard attempts to start LFS (can be 1 or 0). If 1 LFSpitboard will try to load "LFS.exe" which is located in the path given by the location-variable (which is relative to the position of LFSpitboard.exe). The standard configuration is set up so it works if LFSpitboard.exe resides in .../LFS/LFSpitboard. If "InvokeInSim" is 1 LFSpitboard will set the "/insim="-parameter to its InSimport so LFS automatically initializes InSim.
- During a race the pitboards now use color-coding to inform you about the development of the displayed values. Position and gaps are colored if they get worse or improve. The pit-instructions are colored red if you ran over them once.
- There is now an additional fourth line on the pitboard that is displayed if LFSpitboard has additional information, like the amount of fuel the driver should set before pitting. In this line LFSpitboard will also anounce the last lap.
- Fixed a bug in the laptime-lookup function that could cause negative fuel usage to incur.
- Removed some debug output from code-sections that seem to work properly.
Scroll up to download. Have fun.
Vain
Changelog for R3:
- Added basic qualification functionality.
LFSpitboard tracks the best times of all cars and shows the position of the viewed car. It calculates the gaps from the viewed car's best time and the best time of the car in front and behind on the laptimes-table. It also displays the last done laptime by the viewed player.
- In a race LFSpitboard will now calculate the amount of fuel you need to finish the race and automatically set it if you are running out of fuel (this only works if you don't have the F12 menu displayed while crossing the s/f line). This feature currently only makes sense if you need less than 100% fuel to finish the race. More in-depth functionality like editable strategy and tyre-advice will come later.
- LFSpitboard can now start LFS by itself. In cfg.xml under the category "LFSExec" there is the option "start" which determins wether LFSpitboard attempts to start LFS (can be 1 or 0). If 1 LFSpitboard will try to load "LFS.exe" which is located in the path given by the location-variable (which is relative to the position of LFSpitboard.exe). The standard configuration is set up so it works if LFSpitboard.exe resides in .../LFS/LFSpitboard. If "InvokeInSim" is 1 LFSpitboard will set the "/insim="-parameter to its InSimport so LFS automatically initializes InSim.
- During a race the pitboards now use color-coding to inform you about the development of the displayed values. Position and gaps are colored if they get worse or improve. The pit-instructions are colored red if you ran over them once.
- There is now an additional fourth line on the pitboard that is displayed if LFSpitboard has additional information, like the amount of fuel the driver should set before pitting. In this line LFSpitboard will also anounce the last lap.
- Fixed a bug in the laptime-lookup function that could cause negative fuel usage to incur.
- Removed some debug output from code-sections that seem to work properly.
Scroll up to download. Have fun.
Vain
@gwendoline:
LFSpitboard release R2 (download link above) supports admin passwords. You can set the password in the file cfg.xml (open with notepad, or whatever program you want to use).
I won't make this a server-side application because I need to use OutGauge to track fuel-usage. OutGauge only works locally. Also unrequested pitboards are very disruptive to users and in the future the pitboards will be very customizable, which isn't sensful as a server-side InSim-application.
@X-ter: Thanks.
@axus: I'd like to implement the coloring of important information. But first I'll have to experiment how LFS responds to large amounts of buttons and how quickly I can draw them on the screen. That will determin how freely I can format the pitboard.
But at the end of the story I'd like the pitboards to work like a third eye for the driver. LFSpitboard should one day be able to tell you everything a team-member could tell you via VoiceCom. Notification of the development of gaps is just of the important things LFSpitboard should be able to display.
@Misko: Right now I don't track the car coordinates at all. I thought about it and I'd like to add it as an option, but for now there are more important features to implement.
There won't be a release for a couple of days because I'm rather busy with work. Waiting for the weekend.
Vain
LFSpitboard release R2 (download link above) supports admin passwords. You can set the password in the file cfg.xml (open with notepad, or whatever program you want to use).
I won't make this a server-side application because I need to use OutGauge to track fuel-usage. OutGauge only works locally. Also unrequested pitboards are very disruptive to users and in the future the pitboards will be very customizable, which isn't sensful as a server-side InSim-application.
@X-ter: Thanks.
@axus: I'd like to implement the coloring of important information. But first I'll have to experiment how LFS responds to large amounts of buttons and how quickly I can draw them on the screen. That will determin how freely I can format the pitboard.
But at the end of the story I'd like the pitboards to work like a third eye for the driver. LFSpitboard should one day be able to tell you everything a team-member could tell you via VoiceCom. Notification of the development of gaps is just of the important things LFSpitboard should be able to display.
@Misko: Right now I don't track the car coordinates at all. I thought about it and I'd like to add it as an option, but for now there are more important features to implement.
There won't be a release for a couple of days because I'm rather busy with work. Waiting for the weekend.
Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
@haelje: Under which circumstance was the counted position wrong? I can't guarantee correct position counting of positions when LFSpitboard wasn't active at the start of the race.
I count the amount of laps each car did and in what order the cars crossed the finish line. So when in lap five of six car A, the leader, crosses the finish line and then disconnects the second car, car B, will recieve "P2" on his pitboard for lap 5. On the other hand LFS will state that B is the leader. However, strictly speaking the retired car A has done the same amount of complete laps and finished the last driven lap earlier than car B. So despite having retired it is still in front. Only from the 6th lap on car B has both done the most laps and finished the last lap first. In that particular example car B will finish the race as the leader (first to have finished 6 laps), but the pitboard at the chequered flag (which reports the race as of lap 5!) will still say P2. I admit that this can cause confusion, but it's the better implementation. At the end of the cool-down lap (when car B sees the pitboard for the end of lap 6) the position should coincide with what LFS reported as the finishing order.
@Split-timings: On the Nordschleife the drivers get a pitboard every ~9-10 minutes. Don't complain!
If I iron out the system I could perhaps improve LFSpitboard with more information like gaps at the last split, however then the laptime-measurement-position wouldn't be the same as the measurement-point for the gaps, which is confusing. I could perhaps go so far to turn LFSpitboard into a button-driven clone of LFScompanion. LFSpitboard could then add information in realtime as it appears. Yellow flags-report for the whole circuit, gaps, changes of position, strategic advice, etc. I'll decide on that depending on how much time I can spend on this.
I wrote the InSim implementation myself. Using C++ it's a real snap to do. I use SDLNet for receiving and sending strings of data via TCP and UDP. SDLNet is very convenient to use, and it supports almost all plattforms you can think of. Learn to use one library, master all operating systems.
Apart from SDLNet I also use the XML-engine IrrXML. Another very small but effective library, that also supports all major operating systems and architectures.
(So yes, actually LFSpitboard supports Linux and Mac.)
* Immediate to do List:
- Make the PIT-instruction for the mandatory pit smarter. The driver shouldn't be instructed to pit as long as he has zero pits, but only when he is running out of laps to serve the mandatory pit and didn't yet stop at the pits.
- Think about splitting the different bits of information into different buttons to allow important changes to be highlighted in a different color. E.g. I'd like to color the "PIT" instruction when the driver *has* to pit *this* lap.
- Raise LFSpitboard's awareness of the events in the race and display advice. If the player runs out of fuel and has to pit tell him "SET 12% FUEL" below the "PIT" instruction. Perhaps give advice on other cars too. If a much quicker car comes up from behind and there are still many laps to go LFSpitboard could inform the player that the car behind is much quicker so the player can decide wether it's worth to defend the position.
Vain
I count the amount of laps each car did and in what order the cars crossed the finish line. So when in lap five of six car A, the leader, crosses the finish line and then disconnects the second car, car B, will recieve "P2" on his pitboard for lap 5. On the other hand LFS will state that B is the leader. However, strictly speaking the retired car A has done the same amount of complete laps and finished the last driven lap earlier than car B. So despite having retired it is still in front. Only from the 6th lap on car B has both done the most laps and finished the last lap first. In that particular example car B will finish the race as the leader (first to have finished 6 laps), but the pitboard at the chequered flag (which reports the race as of lap 5!) will still say P2. I admit that this can cause confusion, but it's the better implementation. At the end of the cool-down lap (when car B sees the pitboard for the end of lap 6) the position should coincide with what LFS reported as the finishing order.
@Split-timings: On the Nordschleife the drivers get a pitboard every ~9-10 minutes. Don't complain!
If I iron out the system I could perhaps improve LFSpitboard with more information like gaps at the last split, however then the laptime-measurement-position wouldn't be the same as the measurement-point for the gaps, which is confusing. I could perhaps go so far to turn LFSpitboard into a button-driven clone of LFScompanion. LFSpitboard could then add information in realtime as it appears. Yellow flags-report for the whole circuit, gaps, changes of position, strategic advice, etc. I'll decide on that depending on how much time I can spend on this.
I wrote the InSim implementation myself. Using C++ it's a real snap to do. I use SDLNet for receiving and sending strings of data via TCP and UDP. SDLNet is very convenient to use, and it supports almost all plattforms you can think of. Learn to use one library, master all operating systems.
Apart from SDLNet I also use the XML-engine IrrXML. Another very small but effective library, that also supports all major operating systems and architectures.
(So yes, actually LFSpitboard supports Linux and Mac.)
* Immediate to do List:
- Make the PIT-instruction for the mandatory pit smarter. The driver shouldn't be instructed to pit as long as he has zero pits, but only when he is running out of laps to serve the mandatory pit and didn't yet stop at the pits.
- Think about splitting the different bits of information into different buttons to allow important changes to be highlighted in a different color. E.g. I'd like to color the "PIT" instruction when the driver *has* to pit *this* lap.
- Raise LFSpitboard's awareness of the events in the race and display advice. If the player runs out of fuel and has to pit tell him "SET 12% FUEL" below the "PIT" instruction. Perhaps give advice on other cars too. If a much quicker car comes up from behind and there are still many laps to go LFSpitboard could inform the player that the car behind is much quicker so the player can decide wether it's worth to defend the position.
Vain
Hello.
Below is today's work, release R2.
But first thanks for the kind words. Some issues above have been dealt with in R2, so I won't comment on those. About the rest:
Cue-Ball: I have a couple of text-colors available and can change the button background between light and dark. I could theoretically make each letter an own button (so it gets a rectangular shape drawn around it), but it'd be rather slow to build up on screen. I'll try to look into more advanced formatting later. LFSpitboard first has to learn what important information is and what isn't.
joen: Basically yes, you can do a lot things with the new buttons system. Just so you get an imagination of how versatile the system is: Except for the graphs it'd be definitely possible to do something like an InGame-implementation of LFSworld.
axus: I wondered myself about wether I should record the gaps at the last split. But I thought that if you want to be informed about everything just hit shift+f. My objective isn't to give you all information possible, but the information you could find on a real pitboard. And that's usually what the guy with the three stop-watches manages to put on it within one lap. The point is that gaps should just give you an indication of how the race is progressing. Are the gaps increasing? Decreasing? Is the car infront a position or a lapee? That kind of thing. I don't think 0.2 deviation in the gaps make much of a difference there.
About LFSpitboardR2:
New features:
- The pitboards now disappear after a user specified amount of time. Default is 15 seconds. They still disappear if you cross a sector time before that, hit shift+b or switch the view to another car.
- LFSpitboard can now load some data from a config-file (cfg.xml). It can now read the InSim-port, OutGauge-port, admin-pass (only important when you are hosting) and the maximum lifespan of pitboards.
- LFSpitboard now tracks the fuel in the tank of the viewed car. From the last two fuel readings at the start/finish line it will predict your current fuel and fuel usage per lap. If you don't have enough fuel to complete 2 more laps it will display the "PIT"-instruction. That means if you wish to do so you can ignore the PIT-instruction once. If you don't pit after that you'll run out of fuel.
Please note that this feature only works properly if the view stays with the viewed car for several laps.
I also made some minor fixes, like moving the pit-instruction to the end of the third line.
To update just copy the new files over the old ones.
Vain
Below is today's work, release R2.
But first thanks for the kind words. Some issues above have been dealt with in R2, so I won't comment on those. About the rest:
Cue-Ball: I have a couple of text-colors available and can change the button background between light and dark. I could theoretically make each letter an own button (so it gets a rectangular shape drawn around it), but it'd be rather slow to build up on screen. I'll try to look into more advanced formatting later. LFSpitboard first has to learn what important information is and what isn't.
joen: Basically yes, you can do a lot things with the new buttons system. Just so you get an imagination of how versatile the system is: Except for the graphs it'd be definitely possible to do something like an InGame-implementation of LFSworld.
axus: I wondered myself about wether I should record the gaps at the last split. But I thought that if you want to be informed about everything just hit shift+f. My objective isn't to give you all information possible, but the information you could find on a real pitboard. And that's usually what the guy with the three stop-watches manages to put on it within one lap. The point is that gaps should just give you an indication of how the race is progressing. Are the gaps increasing? Decreasing? Is the car infront a position or a lapee? That kind of thing. I don't think 0.2 deviation in the gaps make much of a difference there.
About LFSpitboardR2:
New features:
- The pitboards now disappear after a user specified amount of time. Default is 15 seconds. They still disappear if you cross a sector time before that, hit shift+b or switch the view to another car.
- LFSpitboard can now load some data from a config-file (cfg.xml). It can now read the InSim-port, OutGauge-port, admin-pass (only important when you are hosting) and the maximum lifespan of pitboards.
- LFSpitboard now tracks the fuel in the tank of the viewed car. From the last two fuel readings at the start/finish line it will predict your current fuel and fuel usage per lap. If you don't have enough fuel to complete 2 more laps it will display the "PIT"-instruction. That means if you wish to do so you can ignore the PIT-instruction once. If you don't pit after that you'll run out of fuel.
Please note that this feature only works properly if the view stays with the viewed car for several laps.
I also made some minor fixes, like moving the pit-instruction to the end of the third line.
To update just copy the new files over the old ones.
Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
I tested it. Outgauge works fine in patch X, without modifying any cfg-file.
Do you await OGpackets on the in the IS_ISI specified UDP-port?
Is it possible that your code only seldomly gets executed because of some blocking calls (I know several libraries where the TCP-receive call is a blocking call).
But beside that: Does anyone know why sizeof(OutGaugePacket) yields a size of 96 bytes, but the actual OGP is only 92 bytes long?
Vain
Do you await OGpackets on the in the IS_ISI specified UDP-port?
Is it possible that your code only seldomly gets executed because of some blocking calls (I know several libraries where the TCP-receive call is a blocking call).
But beside that: Does anyone know why sizeof(OutGaugePacket) yields a size of 96 bytes, but the actual OGP is only 92 bytes long?
Vain
LFSpitboard
Hello.
I created a small application for LFS patch X that displays a virtual pitboard using LFS's new button interface.
The application will display some relevant race information (lap, position, pit-instruction, gap forward, gap backwards, laptime) on the left hand side of the screen when you pass the start/finish line. The pitboard will always contain the information from the last time you crossed the finish line. That means the second time you cross the finish line the pitboard will display the position you had after lap 1, the gaps after lap 1 and the laptime you did in lap 1. That is because I can't predict the time the car behinds you needs to finish the lap, but I need that time to calculate the gap between you and the car behind you.
View the attached screenshot if you still can't imagin what this program is supposed to do. On the screenshot I finished the second lap and recieved information about lap 1 of 5. I finished lap 1 in position 1 and had a drive-through (D/T) penalty (there is also Stop & Go 'S&G' and 'PIT' which tells you that you didn't yet serve the mandatory pit). Being first there was no gap to any car in front, but the gap to the car behind was +4.04 seconds. I did a laptime 1:54.38 in lap 1.
The purpose of this program is to replace the top-right part of the LFS hud. If you don't need any other on-screen information you can now hit shift+f and you will still have all necessary information since the pitboard will still be displayed. That way you can race without the HUD.
To install LFSpitboard extract the attached archive into any folder. The default configuration expects that you extract it into the LFS folder so LFSpitboard's poath is .../LFS/LFSpitboard/LFSpitboard.exe.
To run the program follow these steps:
1. Start LFSpitboard.exe
LFS should be starting now.
2. After having loaded LFS should now report that LFSpitboard connected in the top left corner. LFSpitboard will state that has connected to LFS.
3. Start a race or qualification or join a host.
Note: If the above procedure doesn't work or you want to disable it for any other reason you can open cfg.xml in LFSpitboard's folder and search for the value "start" in the line "LFSExec" and set start="0". LFSpitboard won't attempt to start LFS.exe anymore then. You will have to start LFS manually and manually type "/insim=12500" (12500 being the configured InSim-port in cfg.xml) into a chatbox to allow LFSpitboard to connect.
LFSpitboard will only work in a race or qualification. It won't work in practice mode. If you join a host mid-race LFSpitboard's data won't be reliable. It will only work properly after a restart has occured.
Later releases will hopefully have an improved behaviour regarding this.
The pitboard will be displayed each time the viewed car crosses the finish line if it has already finished more than one lap. It will disappear if you switch the view to another car, hit shift+b, cross a sector-time or more than 15 seconds have passed. The program will stop to track the race if a car has done more laps than necessary to finish the race.
The purpose of this release is to test the program on a wider userbase. It is an early release and is expected to fail once in a while. For this purpose it displays a lot of debugging information. I didn't remove the debug-messages so if you run into any problems you can send me its logged data.
Later down the line I'd like to improve LFSpitboard's behaviour for situations like mid-race join and practice, add customizable pitboard-layouts and a editable fuel and tyre strategy.
Please report any issues with running the program so I can fix them. Also report all questions and suggestions you can come up with.
Update to R4
Changelog for R4:
- Recompiled for InSim v5.
- No other changes.
Update to R3
Changelog for R3:
- Added basic qualification functionality.
LFSpitboard tracks the best times of all cars and shows the position of the viewed car. It calculates the gaps from the viewed car's best time and the best time of the car in front and behind on the laptimes-table. It also displays the last done laptime by the viewed player.
- In a race LFSpitboard will now calculate the amount of fuel you need to finish the race and automatically set it if you are running out of fuel (this only works if you don't have the F12 menu displayed while crossing the s/f line). This feature currently only makes sense if you need less than 100% fuel to finish the race. More in-depth functionality like editable strategy and tyre-advice will come later.
- LFSpitboard can now start LFS by itself. In cfg.xml under the category "LFSExec" there is the option "start" which determins wether LFSpitboard attempts to start LFS (can be 1 or 0). If 1 LFSpitboard will try to load "LFS.exe" which is expected to be located in the path given by the location-variable (which is relative to the position of LFSpitboard.exe). The standard configuration is set up so it works if LFSpitboard.exe resides in .../LFS/LFSpitboard. If "InvokeInSim" is 1 LFSpitboard will set the "/insim="-parameter to its InSimport so LFS automatically initializes InSim.
- During a race the pitboards now use color-coding to inform you about the development of the displayed values. Position and gaps are colored if they get worse or improve. The pit-instructions are colored red if you ran over them once.
- There is now an additional fourth line on the pitboard that is displayed if LFSpitboards has additional information, like the amount of fuel the driver should set before pitting. In this line LFSpitboard will also anounce the last lap.
- Fixed a bug in the laptime-lookup function that could cause negative fuel usage to incur.
- Removed some debug output from code-sections that seem to work properly.
Update to R2
New features:
- The pitboards now disappear after a user specified amount of time. Default is 15 seconds. They still disappear if you cross a sector time before that, hit shift+b or switch the view to another car.
- LFSpitboard can now load some data from a config-file (cfg.xml). It can now read the InSim-port, OutGauge-port, admin-pass (only important when you are hosting) and the maximum lifespan of pitboards.
- LFSpitboard now tracks the fuel in the tank of the viewed car. From the last two fuel readings at the start/finish line it will predict your current fuel and fuel usage per lap. If you don't have enough fuel to complete 2 more laps it will display the "PIT"-instruction. That means if you wish to do so you can ignore the PIT-instruction once. If you don't pit after that you'll run out of fuel.
Please note that this feature only works properly if the view stays with the viewed car for several laps.
Vain
I created a small application for LFS patch X that displays a virtual pitboard using LFS's new button interface.
The application will display some relevant race information (lap, position, pit-instruction, gap forward, gap backwards, laptime) on the left hand side of the screen when you pass the start/finish line. The pitboard will always contain the information from the last time you crossed the finish line. That means the second time you cross the finish line the pitboard will display the position you had after lap 1, the gaps after lap 1 and the laptime you did in lap 1. That is because I can't predict the time the car behinds you needs to finish the lap, but I need that time to calculate the gap between you and the car behind you.
View the attached screenshot if you still can't imagin what this program is supposed to do. On the screenshot I finished the second lap and recieved information about lap 1 of 5. I finished lap 1 in position 1 and had a drive-through (D/T) penalty (there is also Stop & Go 'S&G' and 'PIT' which tells you that you didn't yet serve the mandatory pit). Being first there was no gap to any car in front, but the gap to the car behind was +4.04 seconds. I did a laptime 1:54.38 in lap 1.
The purpose of this program is to replace the top-right part of the LFS hud. If you don't need any other on-screen information you can now hit shift+f and you will still have all necessary information since the pitboard will still be displayed. That way you can race without the HUD.
To install LFSpitboard extract the attached archive into any folder. The default configuration expects that you extract it into the LFS folder so LFSpitboard's poath is .../LFS/LFSpitboard/LFSpitboard.exe.
To run the program follow these steps:
1. Start LFSpitboard.exe
LFS should be starting now.
2. After having loaded LFS should now report that LFSpitboard connected in the top left corner. LFSpitboard will state that has connected to LFS.
3. Start a race or qualification or join a host.
Note: If the above procedure doesn't work or you want to disable it for any other reason you can open cfg.xml in LFSpitboard's folder and search for the value "start" in the line "LFSExec" and set start="0". LFSpitboard won't attempt to start LFS.exe anymore then. You will have to start LFS manually and manually type "/insim=12500" (12500 being the configured InSim-port in cfg.xml) into a chatbox to allow LFSpitboard to connect.
LFSpitboard will only work in a race or qualification. It won't work in practice mode. If you join a host mid-race LFSpitboard's data won't be reliable. It will only work properly after a restart has occured.
Later releases will hopefully have an improved behaviour regarding this.
The pitboard will be displayed each time the viewed car crosses the finish line if it has already finished more than one lap. It will disappear if you switch the view to another car, hit shift+b, cross a sector-time or more than 15 seconds have passed. The program will stop to track the race if a car has done more laps than necessary to finish the race.
The purpose of this release is to test the program on a wider userbase. It is an early release and is expected to fail once in a while. For this purpose it displays a lot of debugging information. I didn't remove the debug-messages so if you run into any problems you can send me its logged data.
Later down the line I'd like to improve LFSpitboard's behaviour for situations like mid-race join and practice, add customizable pitboard-layouts and a editable fuel and tyre strategy.
Please report any issues with running the program so I can fix them. Also report all questions and suggestions you can come up with.
Update to R4
Changelog for R4:
- Recompiled for InSim v5.
- No other changes.
Update to R3
Changelog for R3:
- Added basic qualification functionality.
LFSpitboard tracks the best times of all cars and shows the position of the viewed car. It calculates the gaps from the viewed car's best time and the best time of the car in front and behind on the laptimes-table. It also displays the last done laptime by the viewed player.
- In a race LFSpitboard will now calculate the amount of fuel you need to finish the race and automatically set it if you are running out of fuel (this only works if you don't have the F12 menu displayed while crossing the s/f line). This feature currently only makes sense if you need less than 100% fuel to finish the race. More in-depth functionality like editable strategy and tyre-advice will come later.
- LFSpitboard can now start LFS by itself. In cfg.xml under the category "LFSExec" there is the option "start" which determins wether LFSpitboard attempts to start LFS (can be 1 or 0). If 1 LFSpitboard will try to load "LFS.exe" which is expected to be located in the path given by the location-variable (which is relative to the position of LFSpitboard.exe). The standard configuration is set up so it works if LFSpitboard.exe resides in .../LFS/LFSpitboard. If "InvokeInSim" is 1 LFSpitboard will set the "/insim="-parameter to its InSimport so LFS automatically initializes InSim.
- During a race the pitboards now use color-coding to inform you about the development of the displayed values. Position and gaps are colored if they get worse or improve. The pit-instructions are colored red if you ran over them once.
- There is now an additional fourth line on the pitboard that is displayed if LFSpitboards has additional information, like the amount of fuel the driver should set before pitting. In this line LFSpitboard will also anounce the last lap.
- Fixed a bug in the laptime-lookup function that could cause negative fuel usage to incur.
- Removed some debug output from code-sections that seem to work properly.
Update to R2
New features:
- The pitboards now disappear after a user specified amount of time. Default is 15 seconds. They still disappear if you cross a sector time before that, hit shift+b or switch the view to another car.
- LFSpitboard can now load some data from a config-file (cfg.xml). It can now read the InSim-port, OutGauge-port, admin-pass (only important when you are hosting) and the maximum lifespan of pitboards.
- LFSpitboard now tracks the fuel in the tank of the viewed car. From the last two fuel readings at the start/finish line it will predict your current fuel and fuel usage per lap. If you don't have enough fuel to complete 2 more laps it will display the "PIT"-instruction. That means if you wish to do so you can ignore the PIT-instruction once. If you don't pit after that you'll run out of fuel.
Please note that this feature only works properly if the view stays with the viewed car for several laps.
Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
Actually they don't rev that high at all.
The XRT has it's peak power at 6000 rpm, the XRG only at 5950 rpm and the XFG peaks at 6871 rpm. Those are ambitious, but alright figures. However the redline isn't where it should be. In most roadcars the red line is just above peak power. In LFS there is a fair margin. That has a lot to do with LFS's very very basic (and very forgiving) engine damage simulation.
So if you discount the very optimistic redline the rev-figures aren't that far off at all.
Vain
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