EDIT : This test is now finished.
The updates are now in the full version.
www.lfs.net



WARNING : THIS IS A TEST

NOTE : THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN NEW TYRE PHYSICS / VW SCIROCCO / ROCKINGHAM

PLEASE TEST BEFORE YOU POST

NO OFF-TOPIC FEATURE REQUESTS

NO UNRELATED COMMENTS


Hello Racers, here is a new TEST PATCH : 0.6E19

This test patch is fully compatible with version 0.6E

It now uses DirectX 9
There are not many graphical changes yet but some people report better frame rates
Mirror antialiasing has been implemented (Options - Graphics)
Screenshots can now be saved in bmp / jpg / png format (Options - Misc)

The Oculus Rift and many 3D TVs and monitors are now supported
See "How to enable stereoscopic 3D" below

You cannot upload hotlaps made with this test patch because it is only a test patch, not an official patch

Please keep a backup of your LFS.exe from 0.6E so you can easily go back if there are any problems


Changes from 0.6E18 to 0.6E19 :

FIX : Dedicated server would not start up in reversed or open configs


Changes from 0.6E17 to 0.6E18 :

More translations have been updated and corrected
Random weather selected by default when loading a track
Message "Track loaded" now shows which track was loaded

Commands :

/track command (change track) accepts a weather parameter
e.g. /track BL2R 3 <- selects 3rd weather on Blackwood 2 reversed

Fixes for new bugs :

Selected track image vanished if /weather command was used

Fixes for old bugs :

Joining host OOS if host started with invalid /weather value


Changes from 0.6E16 to 0.6E17 :

Translation updates for most languages

Fixes for old bugs :

OOS error after an idle car was hit by objects
OOS error when an car was pushed out of bounds
Joining car could not enter physics when many objects were moving


Changes from 0.6E15 to 0.6E16 :

The 3D support is now translatable - awaiting translations
Improved and optimised the Oculus Rift distortion function
Some other small performance optimisations in graphics code
FIX : Mouse drag movement in SHIFT+U mode in 3D modes


Changes from 0.6E to 0.6E15 :

3D device support :

Select 3D near the top of View Options to select device
Supports Oculus Rift, 3D monitors, projectors, TVs, headsets

Various :

LFS now uses DirectX 9 (previously used DirectX 8.1)
Mirror antialiasing is now available (in Graphics Options)
Misc option to select CTRL+S screenshot format (bmp / jpg / png)
CTRL+ and ALT+ (assign text to F keys) visible in mouse / kb mode
Lateral and longitudinal accelerometer now works realistically
Improved transitions when switching between interface screens

Commands :

/refresh refreshes list of setups / hosts / replays
/setup now works correctly (loads setup) in garage screen
/join hostname from entry screen now tries to join the named host
/exec and /wait can now take filenames with spaces in quotes
/colour and /setup without a parameter now select default

Fixes for old bugs :

Some glitches in the movement of vertical sliders
Helmet stayed the same after changing driver in MP replays
Some controllers could make mouse axes unavailable for use
MAX ALPHA (unsorted) message after adding 900 chalk objects
High frequency changes in acceleration were filtered in OutSim
LFS would crash if more than 8 game controllers were connected
Cleaner transition from track select back to race setup screen
Text entry was not always cleared when entering the meeting room
F key text was delayed if pressed in warning or selection dialog
Stuck in game after Alt+F4 / X button after edit in SHIFT+U mode
Setup could sometimes be corrupted when joining - now spectated
NumConns was set to zero after disconnecting from an online host
Arrow keys in input dialog were re-enabled by code page selector


HOW TO ENABLE STEREOSCOPIC 3D :

1) At the top of the View options screen, select 3D mode.

2) Select your Display type - three options are available :

- TV / monitor / projector
- Conventional 3D headset
- Oculus Rift

Each mode has different characteristics.

- TV / monitor / projector mode - it is important to set your horizontal screen width, measured in mm. Not the diagonal, just the horizontal measurement from one side to the other. This, in conjunction with the interpupillary distance, should set the image up properly if you set the FOV to match the true horizontal view angle between your eyes and the TV edges. The virtual eye positions are affected and the centres of the two images displayed on the screen are offset by the same distance so the horizon appears to be in the distance.

- Conventional 3D headset - also has an interpupillary distance slider but in this case it only affects the virtual eye positions. There is no compensation for the use of wider FOV angles than actually available. So if you use wider FOV than the true horizontal FOV of the device, you will see exaggerated depth.

- Oculus Rift - this will try to load a DLL and connect to your Oculus Rift and from there it will get the interpupillary distance and other values, and head tracking should work.

3) In TV / monitor / projector or Conventional 3D headset modes, select your Format for 3D output - four options are available :

- side by side (half)
- top and bottom (half)
- side by side (full)
- top and bottom (full)

Choose the setting that works with your device. Many devices can accept different input formats.

- side by side (half) is a commonly used format that causes some loss of resolution in the horizontal direction.

- top and bottom (half) causes loss of resolution in the vertical direction. This is the best choice for passive displays with alternating polarisation horizontal scan lines. This type of display discards half of the lines if supplied with a full height image. When supplied with half height images, no further information needs to be discarded.

- side by side (full) and top and bottom (full) can output 3D at full HD resolution to a device that supports this. However, most devices do not support this output (even if they can accept full HD 3D from a Blu-ray player). In Windows XP it was possible to set your desktop across two screens and then LFS could go full screen on two screens. Then side by side (full) could be used, for example, to send output to a twin projector 3D setup. Unfortunately this possibility seems to have been removed from recent versions of Windows.

4) For Oculus Rift mode some text functions have been included.

/rift reset - reset the orientation
/rift on - switch on 3D with Oculus Rift as the display type
/rift off - return to 2D mode
/rift toggle - switch Oculus Rift mode on or off

The /rift reset command is automatically assigned to ALT+F12
The /rift toggle command is automatically assigned to ALT+F11

You can assign ALT+F11 and ALT+F12 to wheel buttons under the ALT+ tab in the controls options screen.

5) Screen resolutions for your Oculus Rift.

Now that LFS adjusts the render target texture size to suit the output screen size, you may benefit from downsampling if you select a higher screen resolution than the native resolution of the Rift. This may produce some helpful antialiasing. Try to select a 16:10 resolution (e.g. 1920x1200) because that has the same aspect ratio as the Dev Kit's native resolution (1280x800). If you select a 16:9 resolution (e.g. 1920x1080) you should check carefully that the output image has the correct aspect ratio. This seems to vary between computers. Some have reported that the image looks the same in 1920x1200 and 1920x1080 but others report that 1920x1080 causes the image to be slightly stretched vertically. You need to make sure the dimensions appear the same as when you choose the native resolution of 1280x800. If you find the image is stretched vertically when you use 1920x1080, you can try the Aspect ratio correction option, or look at the GPU scaling setting (in your graphics card driver software).

There is a device selector in LFS which may allow you to put LFS on the Rift without it appearing on your monitor, and to do this without touching any Windows desktop settings. This is probably available when your desktop is set to extended mode. Using the device selector may make more modes available to you than when you use cloned mode.

At the bottom of the Graphics Options screen, just above the Z-buffer depth option, there is a button which has the name of your graphics card. If you click that button you may be able to select the Oculus Rift device which will be used the next time you start LFS.


NOT YET DONE (some of these will be done) :

- render mirrors in 3d
- chromatic aberration correction
- allow head tracking and wheel button instead of mouse
- replay cameras (TV view) may be put on a virtual monitor
- include object selection buttons in SHIFT+U mode


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS :

A full version of LFS 0.6E must already be installed - www.lfs.net

To install the PATCH using the SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE :

1) Move or save the patch into your main LFS folder
2) Double click the patch to extract it to that folder
3) When you see "Confirm File Replace" select "Yes to All"
4) Now you can start LFS in the normal way

NOTE : You can see if the patch is correctly installed when you run
the program. At the bottom of the entry screen : 0.6E19


DOWNLOAD :

TEST PATCH 0.6E19 (SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE) (if you already have 0.6E) :
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6E_TO_6E19.exe (1.3 MB)

TEST PATCH 0.6E19 (ALTERNATIVE ZIP) (if you already have 0.6E) :
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6E_TO_6E19.zip (1.5 MB)

DEDICATED HOST 0.6E19 (non-graphical version for hosting only) :
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_S2_DCON_6E19.zip (1.5 MB)

working late for the week-end Mister

edit : working fine for me.

Scawen, does DX9 help with doing multiple Alpha testing? (fixing the ol' disappearing fences through windscreens).

I've given the test patch a try, and I have nothing to report, other than my computer is ridiculous and runs it with obscene amounts of AA (set by nVidia control panel).

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Scawen, does DX9 help with doing multiple Alpha testing? (fixing the ol' disappearing fences through windscreens).

I'll quote his post from January, when I asked the same about tyre smoke, not sure if it helps.

Quote from Scawen :

Found a comment in the code

// NOTE : These are drawn after the alpha...
// They do not write to z buffer, so if drawn before alpha they would be overwritten by car windscreens.
// The negative side effect is the puffs cannot be seen through fences.
// An expensive solution would be to alpha sort all puffs and include them in the alpha sort tree.


Quote from Flame CZE :

I'll quote his post from January, when I asked the same:

Right, now I recall seeing that (but forgot about it obviously).

I guess in single threaded, sorting the alpha layers would be quite expensive and potentially create delays. Maybe if LFS ever gets multi-threaded, it could be a nice addition.

AFAIK, most games use shaders these days instead of traditional alpha testing - probably way more efficient and likely prettier.

Alpha testing has been deprecated in DX10+ probably for that reason.

Quote :

...features in Direct3D 9 that have been deprecated in Direct3D 10
...
Alpha test. Alpha test is a fixed-function pixel behavior for Direct3D 9. Alpha test is moved into programmable pixel shaders for Direct3D 10 and higher. For info about emulating the Direct3D 9 alpha test functionality in Direct3D 10 and higher, see the FixedFuncEMU sample in the DirectX SDK for June 2010.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-g ... c308047%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Thanks for the updates.

Will test the tomorrow!

working fine as usual, apart that missing screen when race restart.

look like it's ready for stable patch.

Awesome. Thank you for the update. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks, working well so far, and of course I will come back and report any problems or bugs I encounter with.

Pleased to report my crash is now fixed with this version :-D

Thanks, pleased the crash is fixed!

I hope this SoftTH crash reported by Fordman may be fixed too :
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1843317#post1843317

I did a couple of online races. No issue noticed.

Quote from Scawen :

Thanks, pleased the crash is fixed!

I hope this SoftTH crash reported by Fordman may be fixed too :
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1843317#post1843317

Don't know if it's fixed or not:
Downloaded the newest SoftTH (v2.08b alpha test) from their forums, placed that d3d9.dll in LFS folder. LFS started up normally. Started connecting to a host, while connecting switched to windowed mode (Shift+F4), and then back to fullscreen while still connecting to that host, no crashes. Connected to that host, no crashes.
Everything seems ok. Now I don't know what happened at Fordie, maybe you know what should and what shouldn't happen, just tested it.

Quote from Scawen :

Thanks, pleased the crash is fixed!

I hope this SoftTH crash reported by Fordman may be fixed too :
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1843317#post1843317

I dunno if Fordman would be able to give feedback, as it seems he's replaced his GPU with one that can natively do triple head.

Quote from MandulAA :

Don't know if it's fixed or not:
Downloaded the newest SoftTH (v2.08b alpha test) from their forums, placed that d3d9.dll in LFS folder. LFS started up normally. Started connecting to a host, while connecting switched to windowed mode (Shift+F4), and then back to fullscreen while still connecting to that host, no crashes. Connected to that host, no crashes.
Everything seems ok. Now I don't know what happened at Fordie, maybe you know what should and what shouldn't happen, just tested it.

You can check an older test patch to see if then it crashes, so you know if it is really fixed or maybe you weren't suffering that bug anyway

Quote from Whiskey :

You can check an older test patch to see if then it crashes, so you know if it is really fixed or maybe you weren't suffering that bug anyway

Tried with 0.6E and 0.6E14, both seems ok. It must be rare problem Fordman had. Sorry for my useless report...

Quote from MandulAA :

Tried with 0.6E and 0.6E14, both seems ok. It must be rare problem Fordman had. Sorry for my useless report...

It may not be that useles if we figure out that only Fordman was suffering this issue. I wonder how many people uses SoftTH, nobody seems to be reporting their experience :S

Quote from Whiskey :

It may not be that useles if we figure out that only Fordman was suffering this issue. I wonder how many people uses SoftTH, nobody seems to be reporting their experience :S

Which, is now ironic considering Fordman doesn't even use SoftTH after buying a new GPU.

Wow.. It's so good to be back

Just tested with SoftTH and it seems to hold up as well now, though I'm not using the same configuration as before.

Quote from Black_Santa :

Wow.. It's so good to be back

Wow! Welcome back mate!

Yeah sorry guys, cannot test anymore, as not only changed my GPU but also got rid of the three VGA 20" LED's for 1 HDMI 27" wide as with my new GPU, 1 monitor had to be DVI-D.

The crash I got was strange, but I was using a Geforce 210 PCI-e and also onboard Intel HD 2000 for the triple screens, so this might have been the issue.

All I got was LFS has stopped working......

Fordie

Apparantly it doesn't work me . while joining a Host , Entering Single Player mode it just instantly Crash ..

Hi paovi, thanks for the info. Please can we have more information? This will soon be the official version so we need to fix it.

1) At exactly which point does it crash? Do you see the race setup screen, and then it crashes when you press "go" or does it crash before that, when you are loading the track?

2) Can you provide information about the crash? Usually Windows gives you a dialog and you can click "more information" or something like that and it gives you information about the faulting module and the crash address or crash offset.

3) At the moment yours is the only known case of a crash. Are you using 32 or 64 bit Windows 8?