I don't have it saved, but this exactly what don was showing is the same thing as what is in this tutorial:
http://www.creativepro.com/art ... -blur-with-alpha-channels

Quote from Bawbag :

Can you post a pic XCNuse? Sorry if you allready did, I did a quick search but couldn't find any of your damage.

At our garage we have a painter so I could ask him about it tommorow, though I wouldn't luse the 'uber hairdryer' on anything with paint tho, inside or out if it's enough to bend the plastic, it will most likely kill your paint too.

I dont know, I debadged my car and I don't know how much of it got onto the paint.. maybe heating it from the inside? I don't know, it may just not be fixable, you have to look hard to find it but.. I think right now I'm more worried about the scraped paint we're in the middle of fixing just because of how noticeable.. feel bad for my sister though lol!
Told her I would pay for it but she isn't doing anything about it so..

Ah, here was the night of the accident:
http://twitpic.com/9jzsm/full

Attached is the set sitting behind me, first I didn't think I did any damage to reverse portion but if you look about a quarter down you can see a chip out of it so.

Decided to keep the taillight and take it down to school and make some artwork or do something with it..
I love the reverse light, i think the taillights on this car is cool looking lol

that is one ghetto rigged clutch!

That's a good idea though, what about the thrustmaster wheel though, was that just set off to the side?

I just don't like my setup now being in college and not having a desktop anymore where it wouldn't move, but the G25 is a nice little package, 2 wheels, 2 pedal sets, and the ACT Labs H shifter.. is a lot of junk!

@amp
yes, and the people that can afford a 3 pedal set is even smaller than that!

I mean I guess I'm getting to the point that an option .. depending on how long it would take to code in comparison to insim .. would make sense.. but do you really think anyone will actually USE it a year from now?

Like I was saying earlier about force cockpit, sure it was a fad and a lot of public servers were running it.. but now.. only a few Leagues use it if any leagues at all, everyone pretty much came to the decision why force someone to do something.. For some people they really didn't care because they never changed their view because they have three monitors, but how many people here play LFS on a laptop? Chances are they have a 15" I would shoot myself with a laptop that small, I still consider my 17" rough..
Forcing cockpit on everyone may be fine for some, but that's like putting a patch on one eye and forcing them to look down a toilet roll tube to have any clue as to what is going on.

In all reality.. force cockpit isn't fair technically speaking..

@matrixi, that is what i've been saying lol.. it isn't affordable, not to mention it hasn't even been made yet, frex.. seriously? lets not get into that discussion, there are maybe 5 people in this entire forum that wouldn't mind spending that much money for a cage setup.. that's 5 people.. that is like paying attention to one star in the night sky by comparison..
I'm just saying.. you're the one trying to show how realistic it is.. but it isn't and you said so yourself, i'm not trying to fight, just trying to get you to understand.. the technology just .. isn't here yet. And it doesn't look like it will be here anytime to soon.

Quote from amp88 :

I know how to write such an application. I could knock one up in half an hour or so. The problem is then I have to make sure that application is running on my server, it's another piece of software that can go wrong. Putting it into LFS makes it much easier for a wider range of people to use.

I know, but you see what I'm getting at though right? If it ain't broke.. don't fix it.

But if you say it's that easy to code and you've seen it once.. apparently not many people want it then because I haven't ever come across it.. just saying, if it was a big enough deal then sure I might cross it once or twice, but I didn't even know anyone had done this.

@matrixi, I don't have a G25, but I can gaurantee it doesn't feel anything like a real car would feel in the same situation.
No pedal feedback, no gearbox feedback, and extremely limited wheel feedback.. not looking so good if you think it's almost as real as a car..

Well then if you say there is already an instance that .. works.. then why are we discussing this anymore?

I bet if someone asked the programmer would be willing to hand out or at least give tips as to how he coded something like that....


@morpha, if Scawen wanted something to be perfectly real.. and didn't care about US.. the BUYERS.. then he wouldn't be eating dinner tonight. .. just saying, LFS is his income

Just because LFS is meant to be 100% real means he can drop the entire purpose of a business being run here off the board.
A lot of people forget that part, LFS.. sure its a game trying to mimic reality, but it's also a business, and not a good business seeing how few people in this world want to play something.. they can do if they went outside and had a lot of money to throw away.

Well it depends on the car you look at in reference today I suppose, but I don't know any cars that have tiptronic (my car if it were an automatic even has tiptronic) but it shifts as fast as an automatic car normally shifts (then again.. that's because it is an automatic car, now I just sound like a dummy)

so really.. how fast does an automatic car shift compared to a manual car?
(in a real car situation, we can move on to LFS once this gets solved)

allll about progress.. anything can be refined.. well.. except maybe mothers' cooking!

That beast surprisingly only weighs about 35 pounds!
Which.. imo sounds light for something of that size!
I think the problem with it really is the weight distribution lol, not so much the weight itself


I've had my 10-20 for a year and I haven't had any problems with it, but then again I'm not ravaging through a jungle with it every day either lol

I think it's safe to say if you keep it in the bag it came in and generally take care of it it will be just fine!

Got my taillight fixed!

Just dealing with the paint scratches is about all.


Does anyone know if you can fix a wrinkle in plastic?
What about using a heat blower (one of those uber powerful blow dryers) and work with it from the inside?

True you could change the shift time.. but then that would technically make the shifter 'unrealistic'

HOWEVER.. you have something going there with that.

A long time ago back in the days of the RSC forum, there was a thread.. I don't remember who started it (could've been me for all I know)..
It isn't anything new to see the driver in the game shift the gears, GPL had it, Gran Turismo has it, Forza has it.

The arguement for that solution however was.. what if you are using an H gate shifter, then it would technically make it unrealistic because the game would be shifting alone.. OR.. have the game know if you're using an H gate (by having keys set for each gear would be the easiest solution), so it wouldn't have that delay.

Weight penalty, yes I agree with you, but LFS has always been about trying to get the right mix, the FXO, RB4, XRT leveling battle has been going on since S1, and even today they aren't perfectly even cars, not because of how they react, but as simple as it comes down to weight and horsepower, yes vehicle dynamics makes it much more complicated, but keeping the playing field is not easy to balance.

Another old arguement will probably be brought up after this.. well if you're going to force everyone to have the same equipment, then.. why not force everyone to use the same everything including setup to? Again.. Leagues already do this, and they don't bother with public races were you can just get on, have some fun, get off.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Holy crap, these Sigmas are tank-like. The 70-200 weighs 3lbs!

Gonna have to start lifting weights if I wanna take this beast hiking.

oh god.. I can't imagine what the Nikon feels like then lol

by the way, does yours have that weird.. metal.. but feels like felt material?
It's hard to explain, you have to feel those Sigma lenses to know what I'm talking about

I remember the first time I picked up my dad's 100-400mm 4-5.6 Canon, that.. man, it double proved how much I hate holding on to a Canon camera, I couldn't hold the camera for more than a few seconds without it hurting! And that was supporting majority of the lens with the tripod mount of course, those things hurt!

Quote from Matrixi :

Whattef..? Are you serious?

Aren't realistic real world controls the most basic of the basic starting points of simulator realism? Please tell me you are joking.

Games won't be real until I taste that bug I just got between my teeth!

But on a much more serious note, well.. problem is.. even the controllers we are using (Racing games, joysticks are as realistic as any joystick you'd see in a normal plane except.. it's made of plastic)
We are a long way off from getting a controller that has the control and feel as a real car. Not to mention it will take just as long to be able to code anything so it works.
AKA.. force feedback, it has come a long way, but there is so much to improve on.. and the main problem with racing games and no matter how badass a setup you have... no force feedback on the pedals.. and if you do.. it isn't realistic seeing no game even has any control over such a thing because they aren't being sold to the general public.

So.. really.. the most realistic thing about LFS is its physics, but even then they are quite flawed (no offense Scawen, but he knows how much work he has put in to the code, but in the end.. not everything is a mathematical equation..)

@amp88 why is weight penalty a bad idea? You said you wanted it to be fair.. you penalize those with advantages, you don't banish them..

Quote from r4ptor :

Go away. I'm boycotting GI for now

Hah, I did that for a while trying to prove how 1337 I was at rendering with my 1 minute render times and no lighting up had a shadow under the car.. it looks terrible lol!

uploaded an example; this render was done by me 4 years ago
those were bad times in my life lol


@john5200, use the mitchel netrevalli AA filter, area or whatever you're using is making the render very blurry

Quote from gxgung :

How can you downshift when you aren't moving ? )
Dude, do you even have a driving licence ? If you do, did you buy it ? Or did you steal it?

Same way you shift a car when it's standing still.. I suppose lol
And yes, I've had my license for 5 years now.
Good grief that long?! that's just under a quarter of my entire life, wow!

@Tristan I know, but remember, a lot of people don't have money to upgrade stuff, heck if I still had my desktop, chances are it would be running the same specs it was, Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with some terrible Nvidia card that was top of the line probably back in 2002. With my laptop I have to run no AA an no AF to keep the FPS reasonable to race online, it runs considerably faster than my desktop, especially since I put a high end heat sink on my graphicss card and can OC it in my laptop, otherwise I wouldn't be getting flat 50 FPS, but rather mid/high 30s.
And remember I don't use in cockpit view, if I use it I have low and steady 40s that can dip down 40% typically in all views.

@Glenn, that's what I'm saying.. if I want to have fun, I use my H shifter and have a good time, but if I want to be fast I don't mess with it because there is such a high chance I will mess it up with it. But as I was saying, the only times I ever was trying to hit fast laptimes was when I was part of the OLFSL (oOriginal LFS League) but that was short lived because I kept having race time issues with my life.

I'm actually.. well.. in the works over time, I'm making my car instead of the Speed3, it has a slightly different bumper, not as much plastic in the back but that's about it.

Body kit wise there aren't to many good looking options on the mazda3, so I won't be making one (since I wont be getting one lol!) for the front I want to get the GV Lip and the GV grill but that's about it.
This is what the rear bumper looks like on my car: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/sl0wthe0ry/Zach.jpg

@gxgung, I have a complete setup I made and I PREFER it to autoclutch because of how much more fun it is... but me going down to school this time with my wheel, you can't pay me to take my entire setup, it takes up way to much space.

So for me, and those that can't afford it, it is unfair.
Again.. if you want 100% fairness which is.. I mean while we talk about realistic.. there is no such thing as a 100% fair race ever.

Also, your comment about heel toe going up a ramp doesn't make sense, why would you be downshifting going up a ramp and have to blip your throttle to keep the car steady?
If you're going up a ramp you put it in first gear and don't shift. Maybe I'm not reading what you said correctly but it doesn't make sense to me as why you would be downshifting going up a ramp. Or do you mean keeping it in first gear, and just braking and gas at same time so you don't go back? If that's the case, it would be much easier with the handbrake than the brake but whatever suits you I suppose.

Quote from Not Sure :

Did not read the thread, too much negativity.

+1 for a server side option to force manual clutch

Do not want to race with cheaters

You wouldn't do very well in the real world of racing with an attitude like that.. no one ever said racing was perfectly fair.
Which is another reason why I am against this completely.. Racing has never been fair.

Quote from amp88 :

Aren't they? I've just taken a look at some of the hotlap charts and auto clutch is on on the vast majority of the quick laps for road cars. If there's an advantage over a single lap it can be multiplied over the race distance plus we need to remember about the possibility of missing gears or wrong slotting.

edit: How many people are there in the hotlap charts who use manual clutch and h shifters?

Not sure about the edit part, I don't know if the devs have knowledge over that (I guess they could though..)

We need to set a basis as to which cars though. The only cars you can use an H shifter or sequential is the lower end cars (and FZR) I can see it almost making a difference in FZR, but anyone makes so many mistakes per lap the time difference I just .. I see what you mean, but I still think the time difference is so little it makes up for all the mistakes.


I still think my idea at the beginning was a good idea.. weight penalty for using an auto clutch vs not.

Quote from morpha :

This is still just about a server-side option.

Yes but who is going to use this option..?
Leagues. That is who.

Leagues have control over everyone anyway, they know who has what setup etc. So really turning on an option isn't going to change a single thing.

All it will do is just be a toy (like I said earlier) for other server managers to play around with for a little while until everyone starts complaining because they don't have a clutch.

Quote from pik_d :

Your point would hold water if auto-clutchers were routinely at the top of leagues and races in general. As I said before I don't really feel like I have any advantage over clutch users. Your argument is almost entirely theoretical and if not, marginal.

I honestly feel slower without my clutch and H shifter..

Then again in the end I'm not trying to set world record lap times in the middle of a race, rather.. have fun.

Quote from kingcars :

Riiiiiight. Like how we should ignore common racing technique since it may not be doable in the real life car cause of its pedal spacing?

No you're just confusing the context from when we were talking about real cars and nothing to do with LFS.

Quote :

Nowadays? It's been done for decades. Show us a better way of doing it, Oh Great One.

Uh no, but how do you think the guy that came up with toe heel felt? There is always something better out there, you just haven't found it yet.
Don't be so snappy.

Quote :

I've never had a problem changing view in servers. I always use cockpit view, but i do like to mess around with other views sometimes and have never been specced or kicked because of it. Just the other day, me and some friends tried racing with TV cam.

You also haven't been part of LFS that long.

About the keyboard thing, I wasn't at home I was just messing around and got bored with Rigs of Rod (great game.. its free.. download it! enjoy it!) uhm. As for not being great.. you sure? A lot of the WRs used to be mostly keyboard and mouse users believe it or not.

Quote from amp88 :

Controller type and "driver aids" (which is what auto clutch is) don't come into it.

I don't know if you were around, but early on when Scawen was messing with the controller types, when the MRT came out specifically is when the keyboard 'stabilized' came, an argument like this was similar where people thought it was unfair for those running stabilized.. as you can see though, everyone got over it and there was no limit, just other people calling other people panzies for driving with a stabilized keyboard.

It all just came down to user preference.. Some people today don't use stabilization while a lot do.


I drove with keyboard today testing out sounds, I tell you what.. I couldn't drive at all without stablization lol

Quote from kingcars :

You first.

..Win!

Quote :

Exactly...because your ARGUMENT makes no sense!

It does.. I promise

Quote :

Wow dude, are you really that dense? Race drivers use heel toe because it's the BEST WAY to downshift a manual into the corner. Likewise, LFS drivers use heel toe when given a clutch/h shifter setup! Is it that hard to understand? The reason it relates to autoclutch is because autoclutch makes it a lot EASIER to do! Goodness gracious...

I wouldn't go as far to say it's the best.. It is just what is done nowadays.. who knows, someone may figure out a better way.. else.. how was toe-heel invented?
Also.. autoclutch in LFS is really not that great when downshifting to fast, it jitters a lot I think..

Quote :

Hence why only a minority of servers would have this option on.

Hence what I said earlier about force cockpit and its abuse.

Quote from amp88 :

To be honest I don't think you've demonstrated much of a knowledge of vehicle dynamics as I said above. I consider myself a novice but I like to learn. I read books, I watch videos of drivers etc.

Get me in a car and I do, maybe not written down but otherwise I know what I'm doing.

Chances are if you race LFS and don't wreck everyone or yourself, I'm pretty sure anyways that you probably know more about driving than anyone.. I should say _In America_ then to make it more clear.

True I agree with you, in some situations.. but hold on there buddy, you and I both know that we probably know more about our cars and how they handle than most others on the road.

I tried to left foot brake my dad's GMC Jimmy.. that was a very bad decision on my part, never again will I two foot an automatic!

As for braking in straight lines, not.. necesarily, you have more time to react, if you are trail braking and you get mid turn and something happens, you are much more likely to disrupt the dynamics and throw the car off its path than the guy lazily going around the corner at a slower entry speed.

@king you need to end with that fail thing.
Plus what you just said doesn't make any sense really, of course I acknowledge it because toe heel is used every day by race drivers.. but what does that have anything to do with autoclutch, that's just the current off topic discussion.

My argument against it is that not everyone can afford a clutch etc.