@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
Am I?
I read "remaining with fantasy material" as "not adding further real content".
And a special case of not adding further real content is denying new free real content.
Vain
I read "remaining with fantasy material" as "not adding further real content".
And a special case of not adding further real content is denying new free real content.
Vain
@ajp71: 'bullshit' is a pretty strong word for a free interpretation of a post. I wouldn't agree with your idea of 'achievable'.
I'm still a bit puzzled at the result. If I imagined that tomorrow Scawen posted "We were approached by several track owners and car brands to include cars and tracks for free in LFS, but we decided we won't ever again add real content to LFS" I surely wouldn't be pleased. I can't believe 80% of the forum members would go "Yay! Good decision! "
Vain
I'm still a bit puzzled at the result. If I imagined that tomorrow Scawen posted "We were approached by several track owners and car brands to include cars and tracks for free in LFS, but we decided we won't ever again add real content to LFS" I surely wouldn't be pleased. I can't believe 80% of the forum members would go "Yay! Good decision!
"Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
I like the fact that there are real cars like the RAC, MRT and BF1 in LFS and I hope that there are going to be more real cars in LFS.
I'm wondering wether those people who would like LFS to stay with fictional content want the devs to remove those real cars.
But ultimately I'd appreciate any type of content. LFS lacks content. A lot of it. There just isn't much fun in having to resort to driving a combo like XFG on So Sprint 2 Rev just to find something new, even though you already know XRG on that track.
Vain
I'm wondering wether those people who would like LFS to stay with fictional content want the devs to remove those real cars.
But ultimately I'd appreciate any type of content. LFS lacks content. A lot of it. There just isn't much fun in having to resort to driving a combo like XFG on So Sprint 2 Rev just to find something new, even though you already know XRG on that track.
Vain
Or just a nice patch of static caltrops. There won't be any more cutting.
Vain
Vain
I'd go for a Smart Roadster Coupe and put a turbocharged 1.6L inline 4 into it. As far as I can see the result would be both sensible and fun. But I didn't get a chance to look at the chassis to see what fits and what doesn't.
Vain
Vain
Wow, that's what I call a DoS attack.
Vain
Vain
Nice trip.
I was at the Nurburgring on that saturday until 3 am . There was a race on the track that day that my brother and I watched. Actually we wanted to stay a little bit longer to do some laps after the race but went early.
About the atmosphere around the ring: I always wonder how kids in Adenau or in any other of those towns grow up - they wouldn't believe you if you told them that 911 GTR RS are *not* every-day cars. If you watch the traffic around the ring you'll think the 911s are for free somewhere around there.
Vain
I was at the Nurburgring on that saturday until 3 am
. There was a race on the track that day that my brother and I watched. Actually we wanted to stay a little bit longer to do some laps after the race but went early.About the atmosphere around the ring: I always wonder how kids in Adenau or in any other of those towns grow up - they wouldn't believe you if you told them that 911 GTR RS are *not* every-day cars. If you watch the traffic around the ring you'll think the 911s are for free somewhere around there.
Vain
For everyone who craves racing but can't watch it, take a look at www.racing-underground.com .
I use it exclusively, that means I don't own a TV. RU.com is enough for me.
(The F1 coverages is the only one that usually take a while to come up to RU.com, but hey, it's more fun to wait 5 hours for the torrent than 2 hours for the first pass! )
Thanks for the recommendations. I forgot to add the SuperV8 series to the list. I usually watch Bathurst. The racing format doesn't really suit my taste, but the racing is great. I'll give MotoGP a shot.
Vain
I use it exclusively, that means I don't own a TV. RU.com is enough for me.
(The F1 coverages is the only one that usually take a while to come up to RU.com, but hey, it's more fun to wait 5 hours for the torrent than 2 hours for the first pass!
)Thanks for the recommendations. I forgot to add the SuperV8 series to the list. I usually watch Bathurst. The racing format doesn't really suit my taste, but the racing is great. I'll give MotoGP a shot.
Vain
I like how the internet teaches your brain to analyse and sort information within seconds. I just listened to the flash-movie linked by joen in the 2nd reply which started with "A new type of computer..." -> whoever wrote that has no clue -> window closed within 3 seconds of the start of the media.
Great, isn't it? Saved me enough time of sensless gibberish and pseudo-information to write this post .
And about the topic: Touchscreens are not a perfect input method. I work at the computer most of the day and using the tip of my finger to navigate (similarly to the touchpad of a laptop) for such a long time wouldn't work out well.
Vain
Great, isn't it? Saved me enough time of sensless gibberish and pseudo-information to write this post
.And about the topic: Touchscreens are not a perfect input method. I work at the computer most of the day and using the tip of my finger to navigate (similarly to the touchpad of a laptop) for such a long time wouldn't work out well.
Vain
My thinking is that the masses don't use pitspotter either because pitspotter is only known to the people who go to the forum which are incidentally also those who use the testpatch. And those people managed to deal just fine to drive without pitspotter.
Personally my driving has improved greatly since I don't use pitspotter anymore. I check my mirrors in a completely different manner and drive more responsibly. Also I'm well aware that no effect has a single cause - I'm merely making an observation and suggesting one of the many reasons for that.
Vain
Personally my driving has improved greatly since I don't use pitspotter anymore. I check my mirrors in a completely different manner and drive more responsibly. Also I'm well aware that no effect has a single cause - I'm merely making an observation and suggesting one of the many reasons for that.
Vain
I hope he doesn't.
Somehow the standard of driving has hugely increased from W to the incompatible W testpatch and I believe this has something to do with people thinking: "There won't be someone telling me where other cars are, I have to think about that myself."
Wether or not, fact is: Without pitspotter the standard of driving was better than with.
Vain
Somehow the standard of driving has hugely increased from W to the incompatible W testpatch and I believe this has something to do with people thinking: "There won't be someone telling me where other cars are, I have to think about that myself."
Wether or not, fact is: Without pitspotter the standard of driving was better than with.
Vain
Hints and recommendations on which racing series to follow
Hello.
I created this thread as a basis for racing fans to exchange recommendations with each other. Which series do you like that others might also find enjoyable?
My favorite series is the WTCC. Good action, proper moves, great cars.
Directly behind that WRC. Loeb's domination kind of kills it a bit but I just love everything about rallying. There's something about driving a twisty gravel stage at insane speeds that just makes me addicted.
Usually I also watch the reviews of the FIA GT. Partly because the cars are just plain gorgeous.
I've been considering watching MotoGP, but I'm not really into bikes.
DTM looks too much like F1 to justify the time to watch it. Also I can't help seeing it as a "retirement home for aged drivers".
BTCC is too much of a banger-type of series.
F1 is propably the only motorsport series that is more boring to watch than the advertisment in between.
What series would you recommend?
Vain
I created this thread as a basis for racing fans to exchange recommendations with each other. Which series do you like that others might also find enjoyable?
My favorite series is the WTCC. Good action, proper moves, great cars.
Directly behind that WRC. Loeb's domination kind of kills it a bit but I just love everything about rallying. There's something about driving a twisty gravel stage at insane speeds that just makes me addicted.
Usually I also watch the reviews of the FIA GT. Partly because the cars are just plain gorgeous.
I've been considering watching MotoGP, but I'm not really into bikes.
DTM looks too much like F1 to justify the time to watch it. Also I can't help seeing it as a "retirement home for aged drivers".
BTCC is too much of a banger-type of series.
F1 is propably the only motorsport series that is more boring to watch than the advertisment in between.
What series would you recommend?
Vain
Last edited by Vain, .
Decals is propably meant to mean stickers, e.g. for the car's bumper.
But on that topic I wonder wether it'd be possible to make stitch-on logos. Those are easy to attach if you have basic eye-hand coordination and they go everywhere. Cap, shirt, backpack, even a racing suit.
Perhaps printed and then stamped felt? I guess that stitched logos are too expensive unless you find someone with a machine for that.
Vain
But on that topic I wonder wether it'd be possible to make stitch-on logos. Those are easy to attach if you have basic eye-hand coordination and they go everywhere. Cap, shirt, backpack, even a racing suit.
Perhaps printed and then stamped felt? I guess that stitched logos are too expensive unless you find someone with a machine for that.
Vain
Even huge FEM-simulations that take days to calculate on super-computers don't produce real brake-squeel behaviour. Many major car manufacturers tried it, but not a single virtual brake ever squeeled similarly as a real brake.
It's just not known to mankind how the geometry of a brake, temperature and speed work together to cause brake-squeel. If Scawen managed to approximate the squeeling behaviour of a brake accurately he'd be the first in the world.
That said, I'd appreciate a simple model that involves random factors a lot.
Vain
The point is:
"I know cross-compression sucks and the youtube version will look crappy, but what original format and settings give the best result (read: pretty crappy instead of absolute crap)."
Vain
"I know cross-compression sucks and the youtube version will look crappy, but what original format and settings give the best result (read: pretty crappy instead of absolute crap)."
Vain
Actually the way the discussion went nicely shows that there isn't a specific direction. Before the change *everyone* said that the FZR and FXO are overpowered. Now there isn't such a general opinion. If that's the case then that is an indication of a good balancing.
The more people disagree and the more they throw mud at each other for different opinions the more even the balance must be.
Vain
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